Past sins

Having been out and about for the last couple of weeks, I have fallen behind a bit with the running, so today I have done two 12k runs in Skatås, the first one with Eddie, who was not overly amused when it started raining, and the second one on my own in the afternoon when I had better luck with the weather.

As for making up for past sins, I have tried to compensate for that Uruguayan steak house visit with lots of oven roasted vegetables and alcohol-free beer. Unlike the commuter madness before we left for South America, the coming week also looks fairly stress-free with only one trip to Halmstad on Wednesday.

Sayur

Today, I had lunch with my colleague Tomas at the Indonesian vegetarian restaurant Sayur on Olivedalsgatan. The food immediately brought me back half a decade to the streets of Jakarta so I would give the restaurant a 10 out of 10 for authenticity.

Otherwise, with all running on pause after pulling my calf yesterday, I started the day with 1,000 meters in the pool at Valhallabadet before returning to Powerpoint. While I am coming up with new slides on research methodology, Germany is busy burning yet more coal, with record imports of thermal coal from Colombia now used to replace Russian gas, and the electricity carbon intensity still more than tenfold that of nuclear-powered Sweden. As if the irony of the Energiewende was not enough, the creativity of the anti-nuclear crowd reached a new peak when Arne Kaijser, in a recent article in Svenska Dagbladet, argued that building new nuclear in Sweden may risk causing an “enormous overproduction” of low-carbon electricity and that it would therefore be better to wait 10-15 years until any decisions are made… funny, last time I checked, we had increasingly interconnected Europeans grid and a climate emergency to deal with... 

Seasalter

After commuting back and forth for two days with high-speed trains, it is finally Friday night. Thanks to this summer’s Mediterraneo magazine and an outstanding Sauvignon Blanc from the Western Cape, I have already forgotten how soaked I got when walking to the station in Halmstad, and instead I am back dreaming of places in the sun.

With exactly 40 days left until departure, and SAS leaving Star Alliance in a week from tomorrow, Anna’s and my autumn award trip to Argentina is hanging by a thin thread in case there are any last-minute schedule changes. But, if all goes according to plan, we will first fly to Istanbul, then across the Atlantic to Bogotá before continuing all the way down to Buenos Aires. With Montevideo being located a short ferry ride across the Rio de la Plata (Taube anyone?), we are of course planning to include the Uruguayan capital as well before returning to Europe on one of Lufthansa’s few remaining 747-8s. All in all, an epic adventure which I really hope I will be able take you all along for here on Rawls & Me.

Tuvessonskan

After skiing with Anna around Luossavaara for 80 minutes, another polar night was upon us, and I went down to El Giganto to pick up a new laptop for Anna’s dad and then make one of the dishes from Tuvessonskan's book “Plåtmat” for dinner.

Being here in Kiruna is really like stepping out of time, that the autumn rush with all the new courses is finally over and that everything is now covered in deep snow.

Oyster mushroom

Waking up ungodly early as per usual, I caught the 6:10 am service to Halmstad for our joint department breakfast before walking over to the S-building for my classes. 

Somewhere I read that it has become a trend in the post-pandemic corporate world to show up for morning coffee with the colleagues before heading home well before lunchtime so, today, I did just that, even giving me time to stop by at Nordic Wellness Lunden for 5k of indoor rowing. Unlike with the swimming, I have been able to make up for the kilometres that I lost in the spring after injuring my shoulder, meaning that I should be able to meet my goal of rowing 300 km this year with relative breeze.

For dinner, I made halloumi with black cabbage, mushroom and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Sadly, it was too tasty so now I still have to come up with something to bring to Halmstad for lunch tomorrow.

Done marking

A moment ago, I submitted the final batch of grades to the Umeå Ladok system, effectively completing my last task as a university employee after nine years at the Department of Political Science. In six days from now, I will officially start my new job as Associate Professor at Halmstad University, but I am already busy preparing slides and teaching activities for, what I expect will be, one of my most demanding semesters ever.

Otherwise, I spent an hour yesterday morning with my PT at Nordic Wellness Järntorget which left me feeling incredibly sore yet thrilled to have a large set of new exercises for the autumn as I prepare for my upcoming ultra races. Today, however, it is Anna’s birthday and we plan to celebrate with a chickpea curry from Kerala and strawberries.

Winter mushroom

Apparently, funnel chantarelles are also known as “winter mushroom”, and when living in Umeå and cooking them, it always felt like winter was just around the corner as the air took on an unmistakable chill.

Not so today. If anything, it feels like living through an eternal summer, even as the winter will of course come to Gothenburg as well at some point (although probably not for many months yet). Earlier today, the kids and I took the bus over to Säve and deep into the mountain to check out “Aeroseum” with lots of Cold War memorabilia, including GDR posters, spy life stories, and tons of planes and helicopters. 

Overtraining

While making some roasted vegetables with halloumi and kale for dinner last night, I opened a view in my Samsung Health app that I had not seen before, similar to Strava’s activity summary. I have to say that seeing the last month of training summed up like this was a bit shocking, especially the fact that I have not taken a single rest day in all of May. 

While I do not have any pain in my Achilles tendons or anywhere else (except my left arm which still has not fully healed from the skiing injury but that is obviously unrelated), I am wondering if I am maybe pushing myself too hard here and that I would see bigger improvements with more rest? Yet, not running is not that easy for me as I have clearly become addicted. And today is race day in Stadsliden but perhaps I should be kind to myself if I am not able to run my fastest. However, before racing Öland Ultra Trail on 17 June, I promise to take a few days off.

Peach

When I grew up, my dear mother sometimes served conserved peach halves for dessert. With neither fresh peach or apricots anywhere to be found (it is called winter, stupid!), I bought a can with conserved ones for a summery potato salad with halloumi, mint and rocket. Absolutely yummy as the snow keeps falling outside.

Down on the High Coast, my friend Madeleine just finished second in the same race that I did last year. Being able to run those 50k of snowy trails with 1,780 meters of climb in under seven hours is truly an incredible achievement! Meanwhile, over in California, Seth James DeMoor is getting ready to race “Fourmidable 50k” which will be his first race in ten months. I am really looking forward to the results as he has done some insane training with a few weeks topping out at 220+ km of running per week.

Gin pasta

Thursday night and the spring semester is off to a flying start. Today, I had a short break between classes, allowing me to swing by the gym for a first tempo run after North Cornwall and 5k of indoor rowing. Once back home, I used the leftover BA gin to make a spicy pasta with cream and rock chives which turned out way better than most penne alla vodka that I can remember.

Australian Red

Today, Australia came jumping back like wallaby, giving the whole day a magic glow as I taught my class on the Reaction and reviewed a couple of manuscripts. As such, I obviously had to go with a bottle of Shiraz from South Australia and some Spaghetti alla Nerano from the Sorrento Peninsula, the latter as a taste of what is to come when we head down to Italy with the kids in a couple of months from now.

Though the post-Lyktvägen future remains most uncertain, I am somehow much less stressed about it than I was only a couple of weeks ago. After all, there is a certain freedom in not knowing, and just accepting that many different things may happen, ranging from us renting a cottage in the Kvarken Archipelago for the winter months to buying an apartment in Malmö...

Gateshead

While Anna is busy putting the last words to her PhD, I accepted an offer from Routledge to review a book proposal as the notion of simply having “vacation” felt a bit too relaxed. And to somehow offset my long evening in the bar last night, I started the day with 5k of rowing and a run next to the runways of Newcastle Airport before taking the train into town and the Gateshead area where we are staying for one night at another Hilton, all slightly reminiscent of our decadent hotel-hopping life in China a decade ago. 

As for being entirely predictable, I also had to return to Nando’s for one more spicy chickpea burger and some chili and mint peas, super-yummy, especially when you do not have to go running directly afterwards :-)

De La Mer

Sadly, William has come down with a cold so our return to normality turned out to be short-lived. To somewhat offset this, I found a twist to an old recipe by Tuvessonskan, this time with lemon-fried black cabbage and Gruyère sauce to go with a glass of cloudy Australian wine from the Central Ranges. 

Otherwise, as for the unreality of distant continents, I just read a story about a group of Ukrainian researchers on Antarctica who have been watching what is happening to their country from afar. While safe themselves, it must be so incredibly stressful to know what your friends and family are going through back home and not being able to do anything.

The world made local

Waking up at 5 a.m., I briefly considered going for some cross-country skiing around the lake, Shackleton-style, but with the temperature close to −20 degrees, I decided instead to prioritize my swimming. After a morning excursion to Navet, I now only have 2,843 metres left to go this year.

Having compiled this year’s Gold List, I then picked up the latest Condé Nast Traveller at Pressbyrån to get some inspiration for the year ahead. While much remains uncertain with regard to travel in general, I am tempted to make one more attempt at running the Cyprus Marathon in March. I am also already registered for Chiltern Wonderland in September, even if Elin’s participation remains uncertain.

For dinner, I made a creamy soup with chanterelle, parsnip, celery, and “Inocente” sherry from Jerez de la Frontera, perfect on a winter day like this.

Autumn galore

Red and yellow autumn leaves everywhere as I ride with the kids to town. It is incredible to think that it was just a couple of years ago that I had them both in the German bike trailer and now they are very confident on their own wheels as we ride down “Svingeln” together.

Tonight, I made another recipe from Tuvessonskan’s Brynt smör, this time with Lithuanian chantarelles, corn and gnocchi topped with kale and toasted walnuts. And, obviously, plenty of brown butter.

Tricky

Back at home, I immediately tried to recreate the SAS lounge salad from Oslo but it was a lot trickier than I thought. Though absolutely edible, my version turned out rather dry in comparison, probably because I only had red onion and no other pickled vegetables. In any case, it feels great to be back on the ground and get to see my mother who has been here to help out with the kids while I have been away.

Truffle

Somewhere I read that truffle oil is the “tomato ketchup of the middle class” and that it gives a “simplified picture, a sort of cartoon version — bright and colourful but ultimately false” of what truffle should taste like. However, since Umeå is not Umbria, my choices are slightly limited, and I felt like attempting another recipe by Gennaro Contaldo based on what I could find at ICA earlier today.

In the real world, Afghanistan is quickly falling under Taliban control with President Ashraf Gani resigning. Though perhaps not that surprising per se, the speed by which it has happened has been shocking, with possibly grave humanitarian implications. As I have argued many times in the past, the 2001 invasion was a fundamental mistake. Even if one believes that the invasion was somehow justified, the half-hearted way that the occupation has been carried out has only prolonged the suffering of the Afghan people and, now, ultimately led to defeat. If one were ever serious about turning Afghanistan around, millions of soldiers would have had to be deployed to pacify the country from the ground up and build a new democratic society based on the universal provision of education and health care. Instead of this, short-termism and the worst tendencies of NGO projectification have been given free roam, creating a kind of New Public Management hellscape of bottomless youth unemployment, lots of drug money and unresolved ethnic strife.

Atmosphere

Having barely sent off my book review to Oxford University Press, I accepted another peer review assignment, this time for the journal Atmosphere. Otherwise, I have tried to stay away from work as much as possible over the summer, prioritizing hanging out at Umelagun with the kids (where Eddie just learnt how to swim!) and running around the lake with Anna every morning. Not to mention making risotto with zucchini, halloumi and basil.

Tomorrow morning at 5 am, Elin and I will take the bus up to Åmsele which is the starting point for the 60 kilometres long “Isälvsleden” that I have been dreaming of running for quite some time. With Fjällmaraton 100k just nine days away, it may be stupid to do another ultra adventure but, since I am not planning to run particularly fast on either run, I think my legs will be able to cope.

Chickened out

Today at COOP, I discovered that they had a firesale on Dutch plant-based chunks for 5 SEK per package. Known as “chickened out chunks”, they were just perfect for lunch after a morning of trail running around Klasmyran with Anna. Otherwise, the last days have been surprisingly busy as the semester is quickly coming to an end. On Tuesday, we are all off to Lycksele where we were super fortunate to find a slot for Covid vaccination, meaning that I will (hopefully) be fully vaccinated in time for the autumn semester and Trondheim Marathon.

Geheimrat J

Of all the wines I did not expect to find at Systembolaget, Geheimrat J from Rheingau was quite high up there on the list. 

In my early teens, I remember being completely absorbed by the Hamilton spy novel series, in particular the novel The Democratic Terrorist. Set in West Germany in the 1980’s, it was a novel about the limits of democracy and the radicalization of German society. On a visit to Sankt Augustin, Hamilton drinks this particular wine and speculates about the etymology of its name. Ever since, I have been curious to taste it myself.

Making the same mint and melon salad as I did after getting back from California in 2019, I can report that Geheimrat J is a perfect summer match full of pear and smoky minerals.