In December....

Chocolates, buns, Christmas tree and lots of presents! :)

Shrimps, cakes, salmon and more salmon, hot chocolate and more buns!

Around the island of Hisingen (Buffet lunch on a boat)

Our Saturday was quite nice as we have waited for this event since two months ago. Our housing agency was pretty generous with a lot of activities.

Already since we moved into the apartment three months ago, they have been sending irresistable offers such as; a day trip to Liseberg with a lunch coupon worth of SEK 80; tickets to see circus (to which I took six but did not even go because I got the date wrong :-(  but I managed to give the tickets away, all six of them so at least they are put to use, no guilt :-)); then it is this trip around Hisingen on a chartered boat.

The boat comes with a lunch buffet of salmon and potato salad. I looove salad, so I smiled when I found this out. Though I was a little worried at first because I know that the Swedes love their salmon too. In my mind I already had images of me having to fight for my portion(s) of the fish among the tall and huge Swedes :-P But it was nothing like that because obviously the caterer already knows that this could be a problem so they called out table by table instead of letting everyone go to the buffet table at once. They started out with the last table away from the food, and since our table was second last, we got called second and I was very happy ;-)

I love glasses :-)

Potatis sallad och lax, min favorit!
Potato salad and salmon, my favorite!

Väckert Sverigesnatur
Beautiful Swedish nature

I hope you enjoyed the photos! :-) I promise that there will be more photos to come. I can´t wait until June when I can have some free time to relax and apply for more jobs. Wish me loads of luck!

Hugs and kisses,
Sabby Darlington

Sommar och jordgubbar

It was a really great time for anyone to be in Sweden - during the summer. Even the Swedes admit this themselves. Everyone becomes the cheerful, friendly human beings, so much unlike the norms we find on the streets in the winter.

We celebrated Midsommar, and it's really a great, great celebration! I shall post you some photos, but it's not the usual photos as I will post some that is quite unrelated to my introduction :-P

Nearby of Siv's home there is some strawberries growing wild. I'm not sure how they grew there, but it's just right on the side of her walking paths.

There is also the photo of a couple of souvenirs our friend bought for us from Paris. Foie Gras and Olives Au Chocolat (olive flavoured chocolate) which was very, very nice!

Hot Cross Buns

My bun baking skill has gone up one notch yesterday! Despite being so tired after coming back from class, I still went to the kitchen and kneaded some dough and made this recipe of Hot Cross Bun, which turned out really nice and loved by everyone (at least I think they were not trying to make me feel better). Too bad I did not have a photo of my lovely baked goods.

Photo credit from allrecipes.com

If you are interested to try out the same recipe, you can click on the title of this post.

mat

Swedish entry word

mat [ma:t] maten noun

näringsämne som man äter (also of meals)

English translation

food    

Examples

• laga mat---prepare food
• äta mat---eat food
• mat och dryck---food and drink
• före maten---before eating 

Compounds

• mat|bord---dining table

Every day when it comes to meal time, my feelings are always divided of making something local (in this content I am referring to Swedish meal) or preparing a Malaysian meal.

I am not too much of a fuss when it comes to eating, so I pretty much eat what I can as long as it does not contain any pork or pig based produce. So I don't know why sometimes I take into consideration of what to have for my breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It is always easy to make something simple, like frying a beef burger and boiling spaghetti, or unpacking the pre-packed mixed viggies and fry them wok-style.

Or I could just have bread and a glass of milk, put it in microwave so it is not too cold from being kept in refrigerator, and tear small pieces from the bread to dip it into the warm milk.

Oh isn't that nice..?

Perhaps I will have just that now -- bread and warm milk.

krydda

Swedish entry word

krydda [²kr'yd:a] kryddan kryddor

något som sätter (extra) smak (figuratively, "something that brightens up one's day")

 

English translation

spice

 

Compounds

• krydd|ört -en---herb 

In Southeast Asia, the usage of herbs and spices in cooking was first introduced during the time Indian soldiers and traders sailed into Melaka strait when the sultan back then ruled Melaka (also known as Melacca).

It is amazing that so many spices and food types have been integrated into our lives, the people who live in
Malaysia. I will not specifically mention only Malaysian here, simply because in my view, Malaysia is not only for Malaysians, we welcome so many people from other countries to live with us. And to support my statement here, our government has formed a new program for expatriates or foreigners who are interested to live in our country. You can read more information about it here.

Back to the topic today; spices really help you boost your cooking one notch up. Without any effort at all.

Trust me, I am no expert in cooking. Before I lived here, I have spent some time getting worried of how I am going to survive eating my own cooking.

The most important thing is; you have internet at home, and you have a nearby store that sells a variety of spices.

And from then on -- internet and experiment ;) It worked! Not wonders, but good enough for my simple taste buds :P

I am still at awe as to how great spices and herbs are. To me, they are the most wonderful discoveries ever in the history of mankind.

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.