Sunday afternoon

Last Sunday we took a ride in the car in an attempt to catch a shop or two which all closed right about when we got there. We always do that, linger at home until it's almost too late, just to end up in a shop 15 minutes before they close. Well, at least we save some money. :-)

While we were out there we didn't feel like going back so we went for a drive. We were already quite some distance north of Stockholm so we headed out to beautiful Vaxholm. One of the many "suburbed" islands in the near vicinity of Stockholm. We walked around for a bit and found an open restaurant - Restaurant Portobello.

Apart from a very poorly brewed latte and slow service, a fantastic eatery!
It was operated by four elderly Spanish gentlemen, very correct, oozing experience and they treated us with utmost respect despite the casual feel of the place.
It was a truly enjoyable experience to have dinner there, the food was a 7-8/10 on the scale but the atmosphere made up for anything lacking in the food department. These four gentlemen sang to a lady who were celebrating her birthday there, they greeted all the locals with warmth and they were smiling and joking (with style) amongst themselves. All in all something rather unique in this dreary country of ours.

I can't but recommend making your way out there, should you ever be in the neighborhood.

Pork-pancake

The upside of living with an immigrant is that you occasionally get a visit by a mother in law who cooks strange and wonderful food for you.
:-)

When my mum visited a week ago, I asked her to please make us "fläskpannkaka" (pork-pancake?), which she lovingly did.

Swedish Fläskpannkaka:
------------------------------
Egg
Milk
Wheat flour
Salt
Salted pork (sidfläsk)
Butter

Whisk the egg and milk while adding flour. Cut the pork in small cubes, sear them lightly. Butter an oven pan and spread out the pork cubes, pour the pancake mix over.
Bake in a hot oven for 40 minutes, until it's solidified and have turned golden brown on top.
Serve with sugar and jam and a side of shredded carrots.


Norwegian Fläskpannkake:
--------------------------------
Egg
Milk
Wheat flour
Salt
Salted pork
Butter
Potatoes
Turnip (swede! :-D)

Whisk the egg and milk while adding flour, fry thick pancakes in butter in a frying pan. Cut the pork in slices, sear it in a frying pan. Boil the potatoes. Cut the turnip in large slices and boil.
Cut the pancakes in four pieces, serve together on a plate and pour melted butter over it all.


I tell ya. Mouthwatering it is. Healthy it's not. At least not when S' mum cooked it, I tried to not see how big the chunk of butter was that she used to fry each pancake. But it tasted heavenly...

Not quite the same as our own "fläskpannkaka" though, my taste buds were expecting that salt-sweet mixture... :-D

Immigrants

The downside of sharing your life with an immigrant (which I'm lovingly reminding my Norwegian de-facto he is whenever he needs to find his footing in reality) is the fact that you on occasion get the house swarming full of family members from that other country, speaking a language you _almost_ understand and generally demanding your best behavior throughout their stay.

It is, urrm, fun. It is all about good times. But I do have issues with a few things - like the fact that with people sleeping everywhere my home looks very much like it did that first day when we moved in. But I've already seen the benefit of having a bigger place - there are actually non-occupied floor space throughout the house now, unlike how it used to be in the apartment.

Another issue is the fact that I don't know how to handle all these subtle little cultural differences in what to eat, when to eat, what to do, when to do what etc. I'm used to some form of planning, dynamic or well in advance. That's not something S' family seem to worry about. Some of them require coffee and cake, but never at a time when I'd be forewarned that it is due. Others don't like to eat much, so food need to be planned carefully or not at all (really haven't worked that one out yet). Activities are kick started by everybody getting up, putting shoes on and leaving the house in a rush, never mind where we're going or when we're coming back - just hurry up and follow.

And why on earth does these people not realise they'd get more quality time with us if they didn't all arrive at the same time?

I just have to realise I'm a boring old fart of a control freak and the man I love have a family which is put on this earth to make me become a better person.

8-)

Marriage!

Ha ha! :-D My sister is getting married, how cool is that?! :-D
She's been wanting to get this done for so many years and finally, finally it's going to happen! :-D

I also managed to find my password for blogger.com so I can sneak in here and make notes from work. Still no internet at home.