Celebrating

There have been many occasions for celebration of late. Last Friday, the senior pastor and the chief financial officer of Immanuel church took me and Doug to Gondolen restaurant for a (very) belated celebration of our 50th birthdays!  Gondolen is a lovely, exculsive restaurant that sits high above Stockholm overlooking the water.  Expensive at night, it is surprisingly affordable for lunch.  We dined in style overlooking our beautiful city.
After that, we headed to the American Embassy where Ambassador Matthew Barzun was hosting his final party before departing for the US to serve as chair of President Obama's national finance committee in an effort to get Obama re-elected.  We wish him great success in this role! 

Ambassador Barzun delivering his farewell speech.

Ambassador Barzun throws a great party and this was no exception.  It's always fun to step into an American scene in the midst of our life in Stockholm.  We were full from lunch but still enjoyed some classic American treats like popcorn, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, wine from Gallo, Sam Adams beer along with mozzarella sticks, quesadillas and jalapeño poppers!  Only the Americans could serve classic junk food at a party and get away with it! As we were leaving we noticed a display of classic American cars and motorcycles.  We couldn't resist the urge to hop on the bike! Maybe we should tour Europe like this!The only bummer was the drop in temperature that left me freezing to death on a May afternoon.
The following day, Saturday, was our 17th wedding anniversary.  We were busy in the evening with a church event so we ventured out to Elfviks Gård for brunch.  This place is gorgeous.  It sits on a point off the island of Lidingö and is basically a renovated farm house.  The rooms are elegant and lovely, the brunch was great.  The fireplace in the living room setting created a cozy atmosphere and sadly, even on the 28th of May, we needed the warmth from the crackling fire.
Last night we decided to start our holiday weekend (Ascension Day here in Sweden is a holiday, everyone takes Friday for good measure, and this year, Sweden's national day is Monday so it's extraordinarily long!) by going out for Indian food.  We found a new place, Indian Khusboo, thanks to an internet offer and we both ordered Sizlar platters, basically an Indian version of fajitas!  The food was spicy and delicious. We were even able to sit out and then walk home admiring the gorgeous light that accompanies sunny evenings this time of year.  It's fun to celebrate good times.  It's been a nice week.