Those of you as ancient as me probably remember the late 1960s film The Graduate and the infamous Mrs Robinson, immoralised in the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name. Well, we had our own personal replay of that today, starring Lambi in the place of Anne Bancroft and the hapless Milou as Dustin Hoffman. Not a pretty sight....

It began as an invitation to dinner from Lars-Göran's youngest son and his girlfriend. They have recently decided to live together and moved to a new apartment and invited us for a look-see. We were delighted to accept and this afternoon we made our way there armed with bottles of wine and a housewarming gift.

As well as a new apartment, they have also found themselves the owner of an eighteenth month old ball of energy in the form of a cute Jack Russel Terrier who they named Milou. No, not Milo like I first thought, but Milou, the dog from Tintin. I was slightly confused by this as the English editions of Tintin call the dog "Snowy", but his name is actually Milou. Poor Milou has not had a happy start in life, as the first owner found him unsuitable as a farm dog (he spent a lot of time chasing the horses) so he was passed to the second owner, who had his hands full with two other large dogs and so now John and Emilie are his third owner. Despite this, he is a gorgeous, sweet natured and happy dog, bursting with curiosity and energy and that amazing ability that Jack Russel's have to jump enormous heights. He is only a tiny tacker at around 30cm tall, but he can easily jump on to the kitchen bench and onto my lap when I was sitting on a bar stool!

We wondered how the two dogs would get on. Lambi, at twelve years old, is not so fond of young dogs and being old and crotchety like her owner, she is inclined to snap at them. We discussed this first with the kids and had a contingency plan in place in case the dogs disliked one another. John's sister lives close by and she said she could take Lambi for a while if things got hairy. Well, we did have to take her up on the offer for an hour or so, because they ended up liking each other TOO much. But I'm getting ahead of myself here as usual.

The apartment is on the fourth floor, with the world's slowest lift to get there. I read Tolstoy's War and Peace while we were going from the ground to the fourth floor. "No you didn't" pipes up my husband. Well, okay, I didn't because I only had Joanne Harris's Coastliners with me, but I could have read it is the point I'm making.

The apartment itself is light, bright and fresh and has a beautiful view across the fields to the forest, with a glimpse of the local lake as well.



They have furnished it simply and tastefully in a minimalist Scandinavian way, with light beechwood furniture, white and beige accents and silver or chrome fittings. It was very modern and perfect for their lifestyle. Emilie has a great collection of candle holders, for both the long candles and tealight candles and they are used to add an added touch to the decor. I am a great lover of candles and the pools of light and atmosphere they create, so I made sure that I checked out all of the holders. They also have some nice big house plants which frame the room really well. I was very impressed with what they have achieved.

The dogs were really happy to meet one another, much to our surprise. The main reason this was the case is because Lambi is "on heat" (she began today of all days!) and she sashayed into the room, swinging her hips like the town tart and practically jumped on the inexperienced but very interested Milou.



I started laughing and humming the theme song from The Graduate, while Lars-Göran just looked on at her with growing alarm. He couldn't believe that this was his dog. She just wouldn't let up, teasing and leading him on, then taking him to the bedroom for a spot of privacy! Boy, does this little vamp know what she's doing. We spent a lot of time crowbarring them apart before anything too intimate happened. Can you imagine toy poodle/Jack Russel puppies? Neither can I!

When the food was served, they cooled it for a while as food is really Lambi's first love in life. Dinner was a delicious Thai-style wok cooked chicken and vegetables served with rice noodles and salad. We both love Thai food, so she could not have chosen anything better to serve us. Dessert was the most scrumptious frozen cheesecake. Some people had TWO large serves and I'm sure would have eaten the rest if invited to do so. I've asked for a copy of the recipe as it was so scrumptious, so I'll share it once I've had a go at it myself. It looked like a calorie-filled weight watcher's disaster, so I'm sure everyone will love it.



Later, Annelie popped in and took Lambi for an hour so that we could talk in peace without having to jump up and seperate the dogs. I thought it was better that Lambi rather than Milou went with her, as it's his home after all. Poor Milou sat and waited for Lambi's return and was so happy when she came back, dancing around the room while she did the whole "come on" thing again. She is 12 and he is not even 2.... talk about having a toy boy.