Physics Experiment for 3-year-olds

Stefan has started showing an interest in ice cubes. He's fascinated by the clinking sound they make when in a glass as well as their cold- and wetness. And he's baffled, when they've suddenly disappeared. 'Mummy, iskump gone!' (Ice cube in Danish: Isklump, isklumper (pl.)) I've tried to explain about ice and heat, but felt I needed some visual aids, hence I created a physics experiment. (Before people, who know me, start to laugh, I'd like to share the relatively unknown fact that my friend (Sims then, Charlotte now) and I got the SECOND HIGHEST GRADE in our physics and chemistry exam in year 9. (All we seemed to have to do was to play with the geiger counter and locate the one item in the whole school, which had a tiny bit of radioactivity in it (some stone from Greenland) But still, a grade is a grade.))

THE EXPERIMENT:

I put an ice cube in a glass with a piece of paper on top (to illustrate to Stefan that he shouldn't touch the cube) and then told him to wait. This was made easier by the fact that we were in the middle of dinner at the commencement of the experiment. Asking a 3-year-old to sit still whilst watching frozen water melt is a pretty big ask.

The idea was that he would have a lightbulb moment, when he noticed that the ice cube had turned into water and that this would lead him towards the path of receiving his first Nobel prize at the age of 20.

However, I'm not entirely sure how successful the experiment was, as, after the ice cube had melted, Stefan took off the piece of paper and drank the water.

Below are two pictures (not from the actual experiment, but one I did this morning) showing what I've described above:

During the melting process

After the melting process

Yes, I believe I could have become a great scientist.


HO rocks.
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Potato Salad with a Boiled Egg and Other Ingredients

This is just a potato salad. Nothing exciting about it at all. But I like the picture. (And the salad was nice.)

An example of a salad where each part is crucial.

 General comment on lettuce in salads:

I don't really like salad leaves apart from perhaps rucola once in a while. I don't see the point of them and unless they're very fresh, they often end up looking like an afterthought on a plate of food. What IS the point of them other than make a serving look bigger? If it doesn't add to the dish, leave it out.

Sunday Morning

It's 7.16. Stefan and I have been up for one hour and twenty-six minutes. Paul is still sleeping.

Stefan is alternating between doing puzzles and watching the Minions on YouTube. Sometimes doing both at the same time. And asking for and drinking milk. 'Mummy! Milk!' Tilting of head and smiling at me: 'Bitte.' Still smiling. I heat up and serve him milk. Again and again. The shawl, I'm currently working on, grows bigger and bigger and I'm regularly asked to stop what I'm doing to admire yet another finished puzzle. I find myself wanting to cover myself with these slow and relaxing moments of contentment and use them as a protective blanket that keeps out the moments when I'm feeling down, lost, overwhelmed - and sleep too much. The last two months, there has been a lot of that. Sleeping, lying in bed, staying inside. Basically hiding from the outside world.

Despite the early start, I love these mornings.

Cheese and Onion Soda Bread

Me choosing to make this bread coincided with the discovery of several bags of grated cheese in our fridge. Some people make sure they never run out of liquorice, lip balm or socks, in our household it's grated cheese. Even after I had made this bread - with its 75g of cheese - we still had four bags left...

Anyway, I decided to try out this recipe which is from a Paul Hollywood book enigmatically titled: 100 Breads.

Two lumps of dough criss crossed with a knife.

There's an appearance of bread here...

As I'd made such deep cuts with the knife at dough stage, it was very easy to break the bread into suitable pieces using our hands only. 

Considering how easy this bread was to make (just mix everything together, no proofing, no worries about making it look pretty), I didn't expect it to be as delicious as it was! And it was even great the following day. I'll definitely make this again - perhaps without the onion and cheese just to see if that works as well.

Smørbirkes / Special Danish Morning Rolls

These rolls were incredibly easy to make, once I got the hang of the 'folding'. They weren't as 'puffy' as the ones, you can by at the baker in Denmark, but I still thought they tasted really well. I froze some of them, and they were delicious warmed up.

I love it when I get to use my rolling pin.

As I didn't have any poppy seeds, I used caraway seeds, which worked well.

The finished product.

I really want to make these again soon.

I'm back...

Hi,

So, I didn't manage to stick to writing a post at least once a month in 2015. Neither did I keep up most of my other tasks on my list from January. But as we say in Danish: 'Pyt!' Which I guess could be translated into: 'Oh, well, the intention was there but I might have been slightly over-ambitious and under-realistic. Time to move on.'

My lack of sticking to certain projects hasn't hurt anyone and I'm still here, happy and hopefully back to blogging on a regular basis again.

What didn't I do:

• Weekly baking / bread making: I'll look into this again as we've moved since my last post and now have a bigger kitchen. And I have colleagues who like cakes. 

• Be more conscious of what I'm eating and drinking: I'm still conscious when I eat and drink, but that's about it. More work is needed here.

• Walk 10,000 steps a day: I did actually take this up again recently, but only recently.

• Find a yoga teacher: I have tried a few different ones and the best one is actually someone on YouTube. I did two weeks of regular yoga following her videos and then stopped. I need to go back and then not stop.

• Regular Zumba classes: Yeah, not really any excuse for this one. 'Karen, get back on the dance floor.'

• Avoid Starbucks: I tried and failed. I even have a gold card now. 

• Read German for at least 15 minutes a day: I'm not too worried about that, though, as I read, speak and occasionally write German at work (one of my Swiss-German colleagues always looks through any written text first in order to make sure I haven't inadvertently offended anyone before I send it out...).

• Write more reviews for TripAdvisor and become one of the 10% most popular reviewers in Zurich: Well, I haven't actually written many this year (if any), but I've still managed to move from being among the 20% most popular reviewers to the 15% most popular ones. I should get my act together, as we went to some fabulous places in Italy during our summer holidays.

• Use mindfulness and meditation daily. I really need to make this part of my routine again.

What did I do:

• Find out what to do professionally: Since July I've got a full-time job which I enjoy, so that's pretty good going. It's through a temp-agency and the contract runs out end of January - what happens then is still up in the air.

• Continue craft projects: I've finished the Cross Stitch Bitch and framed her, and started a new cross stitch project.

Here she is. I'm still not sure where to hang her.
According to my husband, it won't be in the living room.

I hope this will be finished before I turn 50.

• Furthermore, I've really got into colouring books (check out instagram @stefansmor)  as part of mindfulness and finding new ways of honing my focusing skills.

My first attempt.

This is a close up of a 'colour-in-yourself' postcard.

• Take a daily picture for Instagram: I don't take one every day, but I do post regularly. I've realised how much I like taking pictures of in particular buildings!!! My favourite subject is unsurprisingly Stefan and luckily he is very photogenic. (She writes humbly.)

I love how many vertical and horizontal stripes are present in this picture. Choosing the black and white setting helps display them beautifully. 

This is part of the Allianz Tower not far from where I currently work.  It is absolutely stunning and this is just a small part of a complex structure. I have taken quite a few pictures from various angles already...

Overall: I think what I have succeeded in and continue to do well without any effort is to prioritise spending time with Stefan and Paul and be happy and content with the here and now = life.

The Rosinger Family anno late summer 2015.

Thanks, if you're still out there and reading my blog. And welcome, if you stumbled across this in your search for something else.

Lots of love,

Karen x

Beautiful Italy, Beautiful Elba - a Family Affair

(This was written a couple of weeks ago. We're now back in Zurich.)

I'm currently sitting on our balcony with the most beautiful view towards a well-maintained garden, three pools and a little bit further out, the sea. After some discussion over a bottle of wine last night, I finally worked out which sea. Or did I? Maybe I just managed to boil it down to not being the Baltic Sea. Paul knows but he won't tell me and I don't trust the information on Wikipidia about Elba since it said that the population of the biggest town here is 500,000,000. Anyway, I can see a lot of water and a lot of sky. It sounds as if Paul has managed to get Stefan to sleep, so all I can hear are the birds doing their thing and a man carrying a ladder (yes, it's THAT quiet!).

We arrived on Saturday and will be leaving on Sunday. Driving. I love the fact that we can just get in our car and six-seven hours later (depending on traffic and strength / weakness of the passengers' bladders) we've exchanged a cloudy sky, sweaters and scarfs for sun, sandals and swimwear.

As a mother in possession of a mobile phone and no shame, I have minutely recorded Stefan's first proper meeting with the sea (last year, he had only learned to walk, so we were a bit worried about letting him too loose near the water), Stefan discovering sand, Stefan discovering sand in his shoes, socks, between his toes (his parents later discovering it in his hair, body, nappy...), Stefan eating ice cream, Stefan sitting on his dad's shoulders part 1, 2, 3, etc. Stefan playing in the sand with his dad part 1, 2, 3, etc. Basically a never ending series of pictures and videoes of Stefan and Stefan and his dad. I'd sent some of the pictures to some family and friends and one of my friends said, it would be nice to see some pictures of me as well. And I agree. Because I'm actually also here. But behind the camera. Which I think is quite often the case with mums.

Luckily, my sunny disposition and always positive attitude meant I found a solution to immortalise myself in pictures along with my son and husband:

Stefan and his stalker mum

A crazy big footprint in the middle of this picture

There's no stopping her

We might use this for our Christmas cards 2015

And the good old selfie