"...There is only one break in the wall; an opening about six feet in width, a little to the north of the village..."

I really love Chester.

I always find something I didn't notice before when I am here.  Also, the wall has been under repair since the second time I came here, so sometimes bits can not be accessed.  I felt as if I had been to the Water Tower or Winter Garden in years.

Which is probably correct.

 

Also the shopping area is divine.

 

"...I couldn't hit sideways...Oh, just like, just like Sister Ray said..."

I was impressed with all the exhibits at the Liverpool Tate Museum.

Admittedly there was no way to hear sound for the Warhol Commercials, but there was some text, and still we are talking early footage of Deborah Harry, John Waters, The Velvet Underground...

There were original record covers, some that I had never seen, and a few I have just forgotten.

They had a room, I think to emulate 'the exploding plastic inevitable' happening- which brought me right back to mid-to-late 1980s clubs in Los Angeles, with a room draped and darkened, boxed in by projecting cool footage onto all the walls, adding color slides on top and piping through loud, good music, in this case live recordings of The Velvet Underground. 

There was also a small room of Gretchen Bender, including the videos she did for R.E.M., Megadeath, and Babes in Toyland.

Lastly, they had a series of pieces arranged in an interesting way.

The pieces were arranged as 'constellations'- as a means I think to connect pieces together, or ones that could be considered related somehow. There was a room where the art by artists like Renoir, Cezanne, Modigliana in a way that they were staggered - I found it really lovely.

"...some kind of happiness is measured out in miles..."

I took a train from Chester to Liverpool to see the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Tate Modern in Liverpool.  It was well worth the trip,  even with the crowded trains, and crowded Christmas shoppers on the streets.

I walked to a coffee shop I had read about on Bold Street, and then went on to Chinatown, I thought I had read that it was the largest Chinatown in Europe.  All I found was the beautiful arch and a street that looked like a ghost town. I think what I read must have been about the arch itself.

 A lot of this area was empty, beautiful old buildings boarded up.

 I really came to Liverpool on a whim, no real research, and I have never bothered before.  Normally, when I am in this area I go into Wales, or North to Scotland. Also, of course with the season comes short days. 

 Basically my aspirations for my day had a low bar, so I easily exceeded them by means of cheap train fare, no itinerary, and not getting lost even without access to the Internet.  Liverpool had many signs to point tourists the right direction.  The street signs themselves were a bit harder to come by, but all in all, very easy. 

The dock where the Tate is located has a (new seeming by the number of locks) love lock.  If I could have done one more thing in my day it would have been to make it to see 'Another Place' by Antony Gormley.

 

Lussekatter Jul Recipe Swedish Saffron Buns

Lussekatter is traditional for all Swedish Christmas gatherings. Lussekatter can be found everywhere, and people eat a lot of them because they only eat them at Christmastime.
Even 7-11 and the Stockholm version of 7-11 (Pressbryån) have them.
Last week I had my first one ever, thanks to a new friend, Kelly and I liked them so much I begged Zok to make more.

Zok combined a recipe we had from Rosendals Trädgårdscafe, and Kellys' which she kindly sent to us.

Rosendals as you might know if one of my favorite places in Stockholm.

Basically Lussekatter is a saffron bun in a cute shape with just the two raisins.

We had some friends over for Glögg, sugar cookies, and Lussekatter.
I think now, that baking Lussekatter is good luck, because as the first batch came out of the oven snow started to fall!

160 grams Butter (unsalted)
2 cups of full fat milk
50 grams of yeast
.5 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of sugar
1 gram of saffron (some say a little more, I thought this was plenty)
1 egg
6 cups of flour
1 egg for glossing the tops

Melt butter in a pan
Add Saffron
slowly add milk and heat to 37 C- keeping the constant warm temperature
Take out a small amount of the liquid to then crumble in the yeast to dissolve the yeast.
Then transfer the rest of the melted mixture, dissolved yeast mixture, and the rest of the ingredients.
Zok took his mixing bowl from his electric mixer and used that bowl to first dissolve the yeast.
Then he added in the melted saffron and butter from the stove pan.
Then the salt and sugar which he mixed a bit with a rubber spatula before turning on the mixer.
He used the dough hook attachment and the mixer set on low adding in a half cup of flour at a time.
Mix until smooth and elastic dough then he removed the bowl and covered the dough which took about thirty minutes to fully rise.
He then floured his baking board and kneaded the dough a bit by hand, cutting and making the s-curl shapes which he covered again and let rise another fifteen-to twenty minutes.
Add raisins.
Pre-heat oven to 180c, lightly beat the last egg and brush on rolls.
Bake about 5-10 minutes.

Zok said the Lussekatter was easy to make, just remember you need time to let the dough rise.
Serve warm with mulled wine or glögg and invite nice friends.

Julgran

I have only seen a few xmas tree lots which are a favorite of mine as I am reminded about them each time I watch an American movie like 'Charlie Brown's Christmas' or 'A Christmas Story'. There are live trees for sale all over the city though, and more seem to appear each day.
Zok was a bit hesitant about getting one home, but as you see not only do people find taking them home by subway normal, every seller has a machine that quickly wraps the trees up nice and tidy!
Of course my huge collection of ornaments is in Tasmania. But I find that I am happy with what I have come up with. Monte and Roberto bought me fabulous ornaments, a platypus and a hedgehog, two of my favorite animals.
Zok and I also picked up a couple ornaments in Budapest.
I am still making a paper ring chain for the tree as soon as I find the time.

I also studded an orange with cloves, although I doubt it will be dried by Christmas day, but already the smell is really nice, and I have it stashed in the headboard cupboard of our new bed.

Sadly, the sprinkling of snow you see here in our courtyard is the most we have had so far. I am being tortured by the stories of how much snow there was last year at this time.
I am keeping a positive outlook and appreciating the lights and early dark days.
Next on my list is more Christmas crafts and trying to make eggnog, but the warm kind as this year I'll be drinking eggnog while it is cold, not out on my lawn in the sunshine.