Our Weekend, Week 52 and Week 1 – Christmas and New Year

What a busy Christmas period we have had, but so enjoyable too! We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas at Sofi’s parents in Skåne in the south of Sweden. It is very quiet and peaceful there, and meant we were able to just relax and enjoy the nature. Sofi’s parents live on a lake, which gives very varied nature.

When we arrived before Christmas, the lake was liquid, but after a few days with temperatures below zero, there was a layer of ice more than 3-cm thick on the lake. The roads were also clear when we came, but there was a little bit of snow after Christmas. When we got back to Gothenburg, we were confronted by more snow and ice underneath (it had rained and then snowed on top of the frozen water).

We managed to get in some exercise while in Skåne: Sofi had 2 runs and a ride, and Jason had 2 rides. One of Sofi’s runs was her normal loop around the lake, and the other run was a shorter run in the forest with her sister, Lisa. They ran through the forest on varied terrain and suffered in -10°C!

The roads near Sofi’s parents are quite quiet and there is a nice 50 km loop that usually has very little traffic. Jason rode this loop (anti-clockwise) on Christmas Eve in the rain, and then the same loop (clockwise) on the Saturday after Christmas with Sofi in the snow.

When we got back to Gothenburg and saw the state of the roads (ice and snow), we realised that we might have to take our training back indoors.

Gothenburg when we came home – a real winter wonderland.

For New Year, Lisa and Tommy were coming up to Gothenburg to celebrate it with us. We had agreed to do a three-course meal, where we were responsible for the starter and dessert, and L&T were responsible for the main. We planned on having a wine with each course, and some cocktails thrown in as well!

We started with Bellinis and some baked camembert with black cherries. Then for the starter, we made bruschetta, which included the delicious pesto from our pesto pasta recipe. For the main course, we gave L&T a pasta making masterclass, as they were wanting to make pasta for the main course. This was served in a cream and truffle sauce with roasted “chicken” (Quorn fillets) with a parsley, butter, and parmesan crust, and a salad. For dessert, we kept it simple by reproducing a delicious dessert our friends Malin and Evan made for us, by layering flavoured quark with biscuit crumbs and fresh fruit.

New Year’s Day was a bit of a disappointment though. Sofi’s leg hasn’t healed yet (she injured it on her run in the forest), so that hampered her planned run with Lisa, and then Jason’s team (Chelsea) lost in the evening. Oh well, here’s to 2016! 😛

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year, and we hope you all read our blog and enjoy our posts this coming year.

Take care,
Jason and Sofi

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