Last week of January

On Monday it’s -17 outside, and I leave for a photoshoot in the morning. Me and a journalist head an hour outside of town to do a reportage on dog sledding for our local destinations magazine. With 50 dogs there’s so much cuddling going on! On Tuesday it’s a few degrees above zero.

The contrasts of weather is getting to me, and I spend my day inside with too much coffee doing office work. Sorting through and editing photos, photographing jewellery, sending invoices, paying bills and responding to emails. I end my work day a little earlier and make two plates before it’s time to head over to a couple of friends place for dinner.

Tasty, filling burritos and good conversations about what art actually is (sparked by everything going on with AI art), what makes a bad taco, zombies and cordyceps (we are of course watching The Last of Us). There’s something so, so nice about food. I really enjoy cooking, and I love eating too. But what I really value is gathering with people around a meal. If I am making it I get to share something I enjoy with others, and when I am treated to dinner I often get something I would never have made myself.

We watch chef’s table in the evenings and seeing all the food from different cultures and hearing their philosophy on food get’s me thinking. Is food just about communicating, sharing what we feel? If we really listen to our body when we cook, can we tell a lot about how a person is feeling based on what they choose to make and / or eat?

My photoshoot that I had out in the cold on Monday took longer than expected and by the time I was back home I was both cold and hungry. I did not want a quick bowl of cereal, a sandwich or to toss together a sallad. I wanted a warm, hearty and savoury meal. Noodles swimming in warm, salty and spicy broth. Mushrooms and spinach. Leek and sesame seeds. Soy sauce and chili. Heat and umami. A soft boiled, creamy egg on top.

You could tell a lot about my state of being based on the food I chose to make for myself. I find that very interesting.

The rest of the weeks kind of continues in the spirit of eating. Me and a friend have the first semla of the year, her cat wants in on it and I use him as a model for photos. We drink coffee, play with her son and do maintenance on my hair. Later in the week I have two more semlor. Well the last one I only scoop out the almond paste. There’s just too much whipped cream and boring bread for my liking. I let Luci try a tiny amount of whipped cream and even she is not really a fan, she mostly looks grumpy having gotten whipped cream on her nose.

But since this pastry has its own holiday coming up in February, I shoot a lot of new content for it to sell at my image agency. It’s nice to have that as a carrot to produce new stuff and stay creative!