The long Saturday in June

It´s quite rare for the days to be as hot as today.

And it is rare for the weekends to be as long as this weekend.

On Thursday it was a "red day" because it was the day when Jesus was called up to heaven. And on Monday it will be a "red day" again because of Sweden´s national day. "Red day" is what public holiday is called in Sweden. So we took the chance to go up on the hill for barbeque with some new friends. Which was really nice because we get to grill and I always love grilling, and we get to grill under the shadow. Plus, plus, plus points!

However most of the people came late, like two hours after the time they promised to show up. And some didn´t even show up. After some time I just lost my mood because I get hungry and my headache started to make small appearances. And the one-time grill kit took so long to burn it was such a pain to wait. (Oh my god, I am such a complainer, am I not? Since when have I turned to become to such a person?) Anyway..

Then a couple turned up, then a man and then three more people showed up. So we were quite a small crowd there, grilling hotdogs and sausages. I didn´t take any good photos, even though I wanted to snap photos.

After few hours sitting on the grass, talking, eating and drinking, we were back home to change and then we decided to go to Andra Långgatan because it is Andra Långdagen or something like this they call it. There are DJs playing on the street, with performances of musical instruments, and other things which I am not too clear about. Andra Långgatan is located near Jarntorget or The Iron Square, if translated to English (but no, don´t ever mention it when you are finding the road here in Sweden because most people only recognize the road in Swedish). It is the street where you can find pubs for cheap beer (as mentioned by many students), a couple of strip clubs, Netto (a home grocery chain store), and few Thai places.

Although when we arrived there, the main attractions were probably already over and there were just a lot of scraps on the street, and a lot of drunk people. So we skipped the road and walked to Jarntorget to meet up with few more people. From Serbia, India and a girl from the north of Sweden, Dalarna (like the horse, you know?). They were quite cool. Hubby showed all of us around to the old city wall at Kungshöjd and then we walked to Haga before going back to Jarntorget and ended up in a pub inside Hagas bio.

The day ended a little bit after midnight when we get our ride home (thank you guys, if you are reading this!) and it was not even dark yet (because soon the sun will rise again).

Varieties of food - Kepelbagaian makanan

‘Kepelbagaian’ merupakan perkataan utama apabila kita memperbincangkan tradisi makanan Malaysia. Di dalam perbincangan ini saya akan membawa anda sekelian melalui serambi gastronomi pelbagai kaum di Malaysia: Melayu, India dan China. Kita mulakan dengan pembudayaan makanan Melayu.

Dari segi sejarah, kaum Melayu ini mempunyai elemen-elemen dan usul asal dari Sumatra, Jawa, Thailand, Sulawesi dan juga Polinisia. Dengan pengaruh-pengaruh negara tersebut tidak hairanlah jika masakan Melayu mempamerkan sedikit sebanyak kualiti kulinari dari negara-negara tersebut. Di Selangor, kaum Melayu dahulu kala merupakan pahlawan Bugis dari Sulawesi dan bagi orang Melayu Negeri Sembilan, menamakan diri mereka sebagai Minangkabau dari Sumatra. Kita beralih ke Utara: Pahang, Perak, Pulau Pinang dan Perlis di mana pengaruh Acheh, Bugis dan Siam amat ketara. Pada abad ke 16, kaum Acheh mempunyai seorang ketua yang dikenali sebagai Mahkota Alam atau Iskandar Muda.

Beliau juga dikatakan mempunyai pengaruh besar ke atas negeri Pahang, Kedah dan Perak. Bagi negeri Kelantan, Kedah dan sebahagian negeri Terengganu pula dipengaruhi oleh Thailand atau Siam. Ini dapat dilihat dari segi penyediaan makanan dan dialek percakapan mereka: ala Siam.

Kita ke selatan iaitu ke Johor. Di sini terdapat beberapa penempatan kaum Jawa dan Bugis. Pada tahun 1639, di dalam perjanjian antara Johor dan Belanda, kerajaan Johor bersetuju untuk membantu menakluki Negeri Melaka dengan pertolongan pahlawan Bugis bernama Daeng Prani. Sebagai balasan terima kasih dengan kejayaan cemerlang ini, Daeng Prani dilantik sebagai Yam Tuan Muda Johor.
 
Sekarang kita ke Negeri Melaka untuk mengikuti perkembangan sejarah kaum Cina. Pengaruh dari negeri China ini telah mula menular pada abad ke-15. Ianya bermula dengan lawatan Laksamana China Yin Ching dan Cheng Ho. Mereka singgah di Melaka dalam perjalanan ke Barat. Admiral Cheng turut membawa bersamanya adat resam dan budaya kaum Cina.