Onsdag 7 November 2007
We all heard about how healthy it is wiht living food, but the questions is: how much living???
Hungry and nearly starving, thirsty and warm, we found a sign that says ” Seafood restaurant” in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo.
We wented in, at first a huge hall filled up with bubbeling aquariums and basins, filled with ratteling seashells,enormous langusters, a small shark, all kind of shellfishes and of course fishes in all kind of colours and shape.
-Fine, this will be very fresh and newcooked food here was the first thought.
Then in to a large and almost empty dinningroom and in a second we had a table and a menu in our hands.
There was only one problem, the menu was in chinese, so it wasnt easy to decide what to eat.
Well, we decided to have ”Steamboat”, the only english word on that list…
Our quick waiter were running like an yo-yo between our small table and the kitchen, he started to place a gasolinstove, all kind of instruments and plates.
We didnt have a clue at first, but after a while a big pot with boiling boullion were placed at the table, and we understood that it going to be FONDUE. Nice…
That fact was just a part of it, cause the next thing coming in was a big plate with all kind of raw products like fish, shellfishes, chicken, egg, meat and noodles, very beautyful arranged.
It was just one problem, a big problem…
On the top of the plate were 4 shrimps; ABSOLUTELY ALIVE!!!
They were sitting there and waving with the tentacles to us.
HELP! Was the first reaction, then we started to laugh, what to do with four living shrimps…
Ok, the most human thing to do was to make the pain short so they wented directly in to the boiling water, followed by curious fishballs, which swalled up to three time double size.
We also put in something white and slimy, it might could had been seacucombers.
We did had company at the table, the waiter with friends were standing there all the time, watching us with big eyes and whispering to each other.
They proberly never had seen such a strange foreigners sitting and fishing in a bowl.
Hungry and nearly starving, thirsty and warm, we found a sign that says ” Seafood restaurant” in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo.
We wented in, at first a huge hall filled up with bubbeling aquariums and basins, filled with ratteling seashells,enormous langusters, a small shark, all kind of shellfishes and of course fishes in all kind of colours and shape.
-Fine, this will be very fresh and newcooked food here was the first thought.
Then in to a large and almost empty dinningroom and in a second we had a table and a menu in our hands.
There was only one problem, the menu was in chinese, so it wasnt easy to decide what to eat.
Well, we decided to have ”Steamboat”, the only english word on that list…
Our quick waiter were running like an yo-yo between our small table and the kitchen, he started to place a gasolinstove, all kind of instruments and plates.
We didnt have a clue at first, but after a while a big pot with boiling boullion were placed at the table, and we understood that it going to be FONDUE. Nice…
That fact was just a part of it, cause the next thing coming in was a big plate with all kind of raw products like fish, shellfishes, chicken, egg, meat and noodles, very beautyful arranged.
It was just one problem, a big problem…
On the top of the plate were 4 shrimps; ABSOLUTELY ALIVE!!!
They were sitting there and waving with the tentacles to us.
HELP! Was the first reaction, then we started to laugh, what to do with four living shrimps…
Ok, the most human thing to do was to make the pain short so they wented directly in to the boiling water, followed by curious fishballs, which swalled up to three time double size.
We also put in something white and slimy, it might could had been seacucombers.
We did had company at the table, the waiter with friends were standing there all the time, watching us with big eyes and whispering to each other.
They proberly never had seen such a strange foreigners sitting and fishing in a bowl.
Fredag 1 December 2006
The Swedes loves their christmastraditions, and God forgive if someone trying to regulate them!
On the day of Lucia (13th of december) the blond lucia offer us ofcourse gingerbread and luciabuns, but infact, the real Lucia was from Italy and not blond at all..
The scent of saffron and gingerbreadspicys are fantastic and belongs to christmas.
The way of saffron is a long and expensive way. The little yellow mark from wild crocis from Turkey and Afghanistan is handpicked by nimble fingers. 100 000 marks from crocus makes one kilo saffron, worth its weight in gold.
Gingerbread is the most important cookie for Swedes in christmastimes and an old phrase says that if you eat many gingerbreads you will be nice and gentle.
The juicy spicemix in gingerbread are cloves, jamaican pepper, cardamom, ginger and cinnamon.
Cloves are buds from the clovetree and we also use the cloves in our warm mulled wine, which is also importent in december.
Ginger is a root with a funny form, the plant has an amazing flower, and it want grow at our degrees of latitude.
If you do suffering from travelsickness, chew a piece of ginger, it helps!
Genuin cinnamon can easily be confused with the bark from the cassiatreem which is used as a cheaper variation.
The bark from the real cinnamon tree are ripped of every fourth year, and follows by an another peeling and drying.
Cardamom is the seeds from a capsule of the cardamomplant, when you have a bad breath, chew a few seeds and that bad breath is gon with the wind.
The jamaican pepper tree you will for sure find in the caribeans, after blooming the minimal fruits (more like seeds) is picked and dryed and the characteristic arom makes the Swedes comes in the right christmas mood.
A little fragrance of vanilla also belongs to christmas. Pure vanilla is coming from the pod of the vanilla orchid, which is a climbing orchid living in tropical areas.
And ofcourse there are plenty of nuts and fruit from all parts of the world who find its way to our christmastable, dades and figs from the orient, kiwis from New Zeeland, oranges from Israel, the list can be very long.
If you had the chance to visit Zanzibar, the spice island, you must visit Mr Spice, a legend who taking you around on his property and shows you all kind of things you normally have in your spicebox in your own kitchen, but on Zanzibar you can see them in their own habitat.
Well our christmas is a really worldaroundtrip for your eyes, taste and soul.
On the day of Lucia (13th of december) the blond lucia offer us ofcourse gingerbread and luciabuns, but infact, the real Lucia was from Italy and not blond at all..
The scent of saffron and gingerbreadspicys are fantastic and belongs to christmas.
The way of saffron is a long and expensive way. The little yellow mark from wild crocis from Turkey and Afghanistan is handpicked by nimble fingers. 100 000 marks from crocus makes one kilo saffron, worth its weight in gold.
Gingerbread is the most important cookie for Swedes in christmastimes and an old phrase says that if you eat many gingerbreads you will be nice and gentle.
The juicy spicemix in gingerbread are cloves, jamaican pepper, cardamom, ginger and cinnamon.
Cloves are buds from the clovetree and we also use the cloves in our warm mulled wine, which is also importent in december.
Ginger is a root with a funny form, the plant has an amazing flower, and it want grow at our degrees of latitude.
If you do suffering from travelsickness, chew a piece of ginger, it helps!
Genuin cinnamon can easily be confused with the bark from the cassiatreem which is used as a cheaper variation.
The bark from the real cinnamon tree are ripped of every fourth year, and follows by an another peeling and drying.
Cardamom is the seeds from a capsule of the cardamomplant, when you have a bad breath, chew a few seeds and that bad breath is gon with the wind.
The jamaican pepper tree you will for sure find in the caribeans, after blooming the minimal fruits (more like seeds) is picked and dryed and the characteristic arom makes the Swedes comes in the right christmas mood.
A little fragrance of vanilla also belongs to christmas. Pure vanilla is coming from the pod of the vanilla orchid, which is a climbing orchid living in tropical areas.
And ofcourse there are plenty of nuts and fruit from all parts of the world who find its way to our christmastable, dades and figs from the orient, kiwis from New Zeeland, oranges from Israel, the list can be very long.
If you had the chance to visit Zanzibar, the spice island, you must visit Mr Spice, a legend who taking you around on his property and shows you all kind of things you normally have in your spicebox in your own kitchen, but on Zanzibar you can see them in their own habitat.
Well our christmas is a really worldaroundtrip for your eyes, taste and soul.
Onsdag 22 November 2006
At last the dumbness in my legs leaving after a hectic weekendtrip to Amsterdam. A weekend which was very intensive with a lot of golden grains, many experience and many moments of horror and moments of joy.
Amsterdam is really a city for all kinds of tastes and wallets.
I was rised up in the lark, and then the first early flight to Shiphole, then the shuttletrain to a new borned day in Amsterdam. The first sight of the capital was three nearly awaked ladies who has really past once time, ladies with forms swelling over their corsets, ladies without anything on their hook yet!!
Then further on to Waterlooplein, with one of the biggest fleemarkets, here you can find evrything you need or not need, for exemple gasmasks from second worldwar or carved walrusbone and of course, bargaining about the price is a must here!
A coffebreak, enoying the late novembersun, think about that,, +15 C and almost first advent...
A couple of tired streetmusicians playing an early morning blues.
A postivie surprise was to once again visit the fantastic photoexhibition Earth from above made by Yann Arthus Bertrand, an absolutely matchless artist.
The canals are lined with barges and handpainted houseboats, decorated with balconyboxes and pots with autumntired flowers. A colourful painted bicycle parked by the wharfline. In this town you really have to watch up for thousends of cyclists, cause they are everywhere.
In the early eve a nice supper on an argentinian restaurant, and there are hundreds of restaurants to choose,with food from all corners of the world, but the trend seems to be latinofood.
The tramtour next morning taking us to the district of Jordaan, old querters with many funny shops and cosy coffebars. The tulip museum is worth a visit even if its very small, but its cosily and if you want to find some welldoned handcraft, you can find it here. On the museum you can also learn a lot about tulips, from its early beginning in Turkey to the daily massindustry.
Saturdaymarket in Jordaan calls a lot of visitors, you can meet dairy managers, bakers, farmers and antiquetraders, they have all their specialities to offer you, taste the most fantastic cheese or homebaked bread for exemple, or try some freshly pressed wheatgrassjuice.
After some hours at the farmers market its necessary to rest the legs and wet the throat with a cold wheatbeer or get warmed up by a nice tasty coffe.
If you do wanna see the backside of the medal, visit the Red Light district, a big touristattraction in fact.
Insensibel hookers dressed in leather and chains let the public look at them, and hordes of men walking around and watch young asian girls sitting in their small cabins in the light of the red lanterns.
Amsterdam is also the Mecka of drugs, there are plenty of coffeshops with smoke thick like the fog in Lutzen.
Prospective visitors are able to buy funny mushrooms or smokingpipes in all kind of colours or design.
Grey and washed out drugaddicts walking around like zoombies, also a lot of beggers on the streets.
The floating flowermarket might give some lifeenergy back and this street besides one of the canals is an ocean of colours and forms and fragrance. Bulbs, bonsaitrees, cactees and plenty of cheap and fresh cutflowers.
What about new cutted, crispy tulips, 50 pieces for the prices of 10 euro, in november. You almost faint!!
A caribean dinner the second night, accompained by swinging rhytms and rattling from the bartender mixing marguritas.
Sunday 19 th november and its my birthday, but its also an important day for all children in Amsterdam, its the day when Santa Claus coming to visit and hordes of children with sweaty parents are packed together to get a gleam.
To visit the museum of Van Gogh get the nervs a bit calmer, but the pulse is going up when visit the museum of torture and the museum of sex. On the sexmuseum you can watch old black and white french cards, carved ivory with erotic motives and african phallos symbols. But watch up for the flasher!
And after these days it was only left to take the shuttletrain again back to the airport, find the right flight, kick of the shoes and fly back home again.
A trip to amsterdam claims comfortable shoes, enough money and a big portion of tolerance, cause everything can happen here.
November 2006
Amsterdam is really a city for all kinds of tastes and wallets.
I was rised up in the lark, and then the first early flight to Shiphole, then the shuttletrain to a new borned day in Amsterdam. The first sight of the capital was three nearly awaked ladies who has really past once time, ladies with forms swelling over their corsets, ladies without anything on their hook yet!!
Then further on to Waterlooplein, with one of the biggest fleemarkets, here you can find evrything you need or not need, for exemple gasmasks from second worldwar or carved walrusbone and of course, bargaining about the price is a must here!
A coffebreak, enoying the late novembersun, think about that,, +15 C and almost first advent...
A couple of tired streetmusicians playing an early morning blues.
A postivie surprise was to once again visit the fantastic photoexhibition Earth from above made by Yann Arthus Bertrand, an absolutely matchless artist.
The canals are lined with barges and handpainted houseboats, decorated with balconyboxes and pots with autumntired flowers. A colourful painted bicycle parked by the wharfline. In this town you really have to watch up for thousends of cyclists, cause they are everywhere.
In the early eve a nice supper on an argentinian restaurant, and there are hundreds of restaurants to choose,with food from all corners of the world, but the trend seems to be latinofood.
The tramtour next morning taking us to the district of Jordaan, old querters with many funny shops and cosy coffebars. The tulip museum is worth a visit even if its very small, but its cosily and if you want to find some welldoned handcraft, you can find it here. On the museum you can also learn a lot about tulips, from its early beginning in Turkey to the daily massindustry.
Saturdaymarket in Jordaan calls a lot of visitors, you can meet dairy managers, bakers, farmers and antiquetraders, they have all their specialities to offer you, taste the most fantastic cheese or homebaked bread for exemple, or try some freshly pressed wheatgrassjuice.
After some hours at the farmers market its necessary to rest the legs and wet the throat with a cold wheatbeer or get warmed up by a nice tasty coffe.
If you do wanna see the backside of the medal, visit the Red Light district, a big touristattraction in fact.
Insensibel hookers dressed in leather and chains let the public look at them, and hordes of men walking around and watch young asian girls sitting in their small cabins in the light of the red lanterns.
Amsterdam is also the Mecka of drugs, there are plenty of coffeshops with smoke thick like the fog in Lutzen.
Prospective visitors are able to buy funny mushrooms or smokingpipes in all kind of colours or design.
Grey and washed out drugaddicts walking around like zoombies, also a lot of beggers on the streets.
The floating flowermarket might give some lifeenergy back and this street besides one of the canals is an ocean of colours and forms and fragrance. Bulbs, bonsaitrees, cactees and plenty of cheap and fresh cutflowers.
What about new cutted, crispy tulips, 50 pieces for the prices of 10 euro, in november. You almost faint!!
A caribean dinner the second night, accompained by swinging rhytms and rattling from the bartender mixing marguritas.
Sunday 19 th november and its my birthday, but its also an important day for all children in Amsterdam, its the day when Santa Claus coming to visit and hordes of children with sweaty parents are packed together to get a gleam.
To visit the museum of Van Gogh get the nervs a bit calmer, but the pulse is going up when visit the museum of torture and the museum of sex. On the sexmuseum you can watch old black and white french cards, carved ivory with erotic motives and african phallos symbols. But watch up for the flasher!
And after these days it was only left to take the shuttletrain again back to the airport, find the right flight, kick of the shoes and fly back home again.
A trip to amsterdam claims comfortable shoes, enough money and a big portion of tolerance, cause everything can happen here.
November 2006
Måndag 15 Maj 2006
This morning I was driving my old renault to town and I was thinking, its so beautyful now...
In the treeaveny the mapleleafs showed their most fantastic forsummerdresses, and I was thinking, why not writing about my own hometown, Enköping.
Enköping is a town that you normally driving through in five seconds, some roundabouts and then back on the highway again, so why not take a break here?
Here we have an eldorado for flowerentusiats, for the one who needs ideas for the homegarden and for the one who just want to enjoy an explosion of colours.
Now in the middle of may, all the late blooming bulbs are in full blossom in the famous Dreampark, later on all kind of perennials are coming up.
The magnific Frittellaria with its orangecoloured clothes and black tulips with petals looked they are made of velvet are amazing. Bright colours in tasteful and brave combinations.
In the monastarypark the magnolias shows their pink or white big flowers.
And in a short time all the azaleas and rhododenrons start to show their colours in the schoolpark.
The schoolpark also invite you to a multicultural festival the first saturday in june, a festival with music, performance and food from all parts of the world.
In the small park of reverend Spak it will be a large number of roses and clematis, showing their best side.
Everywhere in this small town you can find "pocketparks", small parks just made for take a rest, cause there are many more parks to see, but you will be finding them easily by your own.
If you feel for a good cup of coffe there are plenty of places for that too, for exemple in the harbour at the old seedmagasins, with a view over the small river and hanging bridges.
Well dear readers, hope this blog maked you a bit curious about my hometown, you are very welcome.
In the treeaveny the mapleleafs showed their most fantastic forsummerdresses, and I was thinking, why not writing about my own hometown, Enköping.
Enköping is a town that you normally driving through in five seconds, some roundabouts and then back on the highway again, so why not take a break here?
Here we have an eldorado for flowerentusiats, for the one who needs ideas for the homegarden and for the one who just want to enjoy an explosion of colours.
Now in the middle of may, all the late blooming bulbs are in full blossom in the famous Dreampark, later on all kind of perennials are coming up.
The magnific Frittellaria with its orangecoloured clothes and black tulips with petals looked they are made of velvet are amazing. Bright colours in tasteful and brave combinations.
In the monastarypark the magnolias shows their pink or white big flowers.
And in a short time all the azaleas and rhododenrons start to show their colours in the schoolpark.
The schoolpark also invite you to a multicultural festival the first saturday in june, a festival with music, performance and food from all parts of the world.
In the small park of reverend Spak it will be a large number of roses and clematis, showing their best side.
Everywhere in this small town you can find "pocketparks", small parks just made for take a rest, cause there are many more parks to see, but you will be finding them easily by your own.
If you feel for a good cup of coffe there are plenty of places for that too, for exemple in the harbour at the old seedmagasins, with a view over the small river and hanging bridges.
Well dear readers, hope this blog maked you a bit curious about my hometown, you are very welcome.