#i also got a huge bag of swedish berries

[transgender-catboy]

I got spider-man pasta from the foodbank todayyyy

[scandinaviacroatiaengbergs]

Monday and Tuesday: Stockholm to Gothenburg (with a few extra nice words about the Stockholm Central Station!)

Wow!  I am so behind on these posts!  We’ve been having such full days, with the kids going to bed later than usual, that I haven’t had time to write a post in the evening on many days. OK, so after we successfully woke up on the Baltic Princess to disembark by 6:10, we got off the ship with little fanfare and found ourselves in the chilly Stockholm morning.  It was the first time the weather on this trip has been chilly at all (but it warmed up in the daytime, considerably, during our two daytimes there).  The kids and I actually waited inside for our Uber.  We got to our hotel, the Nordic Light, by 7 a.m. and miraculously, they were able to check us in.  We were so glad. Now, this hotel is one of the last things we booked for the trip (actually, we still have two things to book: our rental car in Croatia and a night back in Gothenburg in a week).  Finding lodging in Stockholm was *so hard.*  I mean, I felt totally rejected because I seriously put booking attempts in at about 7 Airbnbs and was declined on all of them. We have an extensive Airbnb track record with a good set of reviews ourselves, so I couldn’t figure out what the deal was! And all of the places were *so* expensive! We had similar trouble in Oslo and Copenhagen, trouble like I’ve never had booking something anywhere we’ve traveled.  Rejection after rejection.  So, for Copenhagen, I selected “instant book” and got something, and in Oslo, one guy finally accepted our request (I am writing this from Oslo now and the place is totally awesome). Anyway, back to the Nordic Light, it is actually a very good thing we booked a hotel rather than an Airbnb because we were able to check in early, which would’ve been very unlikely for an Airbnb.  It was a really cool-looking hotel, just recently updated and kind of on a main drag, right adjacent to the train station, which I will come back to. We got ourselves collected, after the kids watched some show on National Geographic about extreme truck/equipment repairs in Alaska, and we walked first to the Old Town and, en route, we passed a wonderful shopping street, and I noticed two stores I had to return to later (and did): Paper Tiger (which is based in Copenhagen and I’d noticed two years ago in Warsaw)  and Villervalla children’s clothing.  It looked *totally* cute.  When I went back later that day, I got the kids new sun-protecting long-sleeved swim one-pieces.  So cute.  OK, so on our walk to the Old Town, we passed Parliament and then the royal palace, and once we were on the other side of the royal palace, we actually saw two horse-and-carriages go by.  The kids were pretty into that.  Once we were kind of on the outskirts of the Old Town, we stopped to eat and the kids got quiche and a waffle with ice cream—yes, ice cream at breakfast time. This was Eric’s choice and he chose carrot cake ice cream, and Cece and he gobbled it up, and Rowan actually turned it down!  It was crazy!  The boy has been asking for ice cream like multiple times daily, and then we have it for *breakfast* and he’s like, no thanks! So, after going through the Old Town, we went along one of the rivers (Stockholm is comprised of multiple islands so there are rivers –or inlets, whatever—everywhere and bridges everywhere) and visited the Vasa Museum.  It was recommended to us by our friend Ethan, whose brother lived in Stockholm for a long time.  Anyway, the Vasa was a 17th century multi-use transport/war ship (it had a ton of cannons) which, on its maiden voyage, sunk in Stockholm harbor.  We learned that a lot of ships are lying in the muck at the bottom of the harbor, as capsizing was not uncommon.  What is unique about this ship is that, a) it was brand new, so it was kind of state-of-the-art at the time and loaded with provisions that reflected the times, and b) it sunk in just the right kind of mud and in water of just the right kind of brackishness, so it was excellently preserved.  Its sinking had gone down in lore with people searching for it from time to time, and then, in the 1960s, a private citizen decided to organize an effort to locate it (which he did) and then galvanized the interest of the citizenry and government to undertake the huge project of lifting it out of the sea. So, the whole museum is about the ship being brought back up out of the muck and its restoration and then all about it: its history, its crew, its back-story, what life was like in Sweden in the late 1600s, etc.  It was really interesting, but the kids were not as engaged as would’ve been ideal for parental enjoyment ;) Walking home from the Vasa, we took a meandering route, and that took us to a high-end shopping era and to the central market, something we always love to check out in new cities. From there, we went back to the hotel for naptime, which is when I went out and did a spot of shopping.  Afterwards, I took the kids to the Abba Museum and Eric went for a run.  The Abba Museum was so, so, so amazing!!!! I can’t even do it justice with a brief explanation here, so I am going to spare you all my attempt.  I love Abba, and even if you’re not a huge fan, I think it’s really engaging and fun.  Cece was luke-warm about it, calling it “too boring” from time to time, but Rowan and I were into it ;)

After our museum time, we all went out and managed find a restaurant to eat in before I lost my mind from exhaustion, hunger, overall crankiness, and an aching body, haha.  We actually ate at an Italian restaurant (I think we’ve done pretty good work at eating Scandinavian delicacies, well some, so having a comfort/familiar meal was fine, especially for the kids).  My mood really improved after dinner and we actually walked some more. We didn’t tarry too long this time, and got home and the kids went right to bed (after their first actual bath in quite some time; they’ve had irregular showers on other days) and then I managed to get to bed by 11-ish and the next morning when my alarm went off at 8:45, I was like, whoa, wait, where am I?  I hadn’t stirred or anything that whole time; I slept like log.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the Nordic Light and I put Cece in some new black-and-white Marimekko pants I’d gotten on sale for her at the outlet.  Let me tell you, a four-year-old in black-and-white pants and mixed berry compote do not get along well together.  Within ten minutes of her getting dressed—and seriously, don’t judge me, because I also *knew* this was likely but was looking on the bright side that, for once, it might not—she had red splotched all down the leg of one pant.  I quickly swooped the child and her pants upstairs and did some quick internet research and let me tell you, if you need to get berry stains out, flush them out with boiling water.  It totally worked! I was amazed!  Anyway, we went back down and finished breakfast and then were on our way to our next adventure: to the Swedish Center for Architecture and Design!  It goes by ArkDes for short and it shared a building with the modern art museum.  What a great few hours we had there. Rowan says he wants to be an architect and general contractor when he grows up and Cece wants to be a cat doctor (veterinarian) and a variety of other things when she grows up.  Both kids were really pretty interested in ArkDes!  Rowan loved looking at all of the models and seeing all of the different architectural styles.  We went over to the modern art side and it was really incredible.  So many really interesting paintings, multi-media works, audio installations, and so much more.  We actually had very little time there, but Rowan was interested the whole time (and Cece was not quite as interested and I think she was really getting tired).  Rowan loved this mixed-media large format painting/sculpture by Yves Klein, and we took a picture of him in front of it. There were some Jackson Pollock painting and Picassos and other folks I recognized, even though I am not the most hip to all the important artists, though I can kind of hang ;) We scooched on back to our hotel to collect our bags (passing by the “pink carpet” that was going to be used that night at the Grand Hotel for the Polar Music Prize, Sweden’s biggest award, funded by the royal family).  Bags in hand, we walked around the corner to the Central Station for our 2:32 p.m train to Gothenburg on SJ.  We’d bought our tickets online that day and we had plenty of time.  So, the train station is so crazy convenient.  I think of big-city train stations like London’s Euston or Victoria – you know, insane, busy, lots of tracks and platforms, etc. So, this was also a pretty big situation, but imagine that if you walked into an airport from the curb and approached the ticket counter and the *track* was where the luggage conveyer belt is behind the ticket agent.  It was like so convenient and unexpectedly nearby! There were taxis that were pulled up literally *at* the platform!  Eric and I were both totally thrown off by it, but it seemed great and very convenient. We had a very smooth and pleasant three-hour ride to Gothenburg.  Cece slept for an hour and I managed to get a grant application submitted, which was due in three days, so it was a big relief to get that off my plate. More about our Volvo adventure in Gothenburg in the next post!

[greaseonmymouth]

I’m tasteless celery anon. Read your list I literally love everything you hate. Recipes will say one clove garlic I add a whole gulf I love garlic cooked or raw. The one thing we agree on is rocket it’s bad. Love black coffee. It’s kinda like what you eat influences your taste buds. Like if you don’t eat a lot of dark chocolate and heavy rich surgery foods than a triple dark chocolate cake that I would describe as rich and decadent you’d say too sugary. I just think taste is neat.

oh I love garlic when it’s cooked though! I’ll add insane amounts to what I’m making if the recipe calls for garlic in the first place. my Italian flatmate revealed to me the other day that she’s never had garlic and I was like......but you’re Italian?? turns out the region she’s from doesn’t use it in their cooking. 

also I really love dark chocolate, but it’s an acquired taste. I used to be a milk chocolate kind of person, but then gradually went darker and darker. I draw the line at around 72% though which is the highest I’ll go, 80% and up is way too bitter for me. I can’t stand white chocolate though, it’s basically just fatty vanilla sugar, absolutely vile. I have also had the misfortune of being served what I thought was a rich and decadent dark chocolate cake and then it was mostly sugar and I was just...nope. how can you fail at putting enough chocolate in a dark chocolate cake???

to answer your other ask, some of my favourite foods (also prefacing this with: I am gluten intolerant so don’t eat a lot of pasta or bread because the gf versions are expensive):

Bland Category:

fish - fish and chips, boiled fish with boiled potatoes (I’m Icelandic don’t judge me), fried fish with potatoes (there’s a Theme here), fish stew, fish soup, fish gratin (my mum makes a really good one with yellow curry, pineapple, and grated cheese that she got out of a 90s cookbook). Fish is always cod, haddock, salmon, or rainbow trout (aka the ‘cheap salmon’). I detest herring. I’m very suspicious of most fishes that are eaten in Denmark that aren’t cod because in Iceland where I’m from those fishes are generally considered ‘inedible’ fish and are mostly used as animal feed or bait. Why would we eat them when we can have the Good Fish instead? It’s a cultural thing, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with those fishes. Herring I just have an irrational hatred towards. It’s the Worst fish. 

CHEESE and various dairy products. I like everything from ricotta and mozzarella and cream cheese to mature cheddar to goat cheeses, blue cheese, and Parmigiano. Yogurt. Skyr (Icelandic product). Kefir. Buttermilk. Viili (Finnish product). Rahka (another splendid Finnish product). Sour Cream! Cottage Cheese! I like it all.

The Fun Category:

Indian food - I cook a lot of simple curry dishes for myself though I definitely prefer getting it in restaurants or as takeaway as it’s often much better than what I can manage to make. If it’s coconut based it’s the best. The ones I cook for myself are actually more Sri Lankan than Indian and call for coconut.

Mexican food - two of my staple dishes to cook for myself are chili con carne (or chili sin carne, increasingly, these days) and a soup that is likely more Mexican inspired than actual Mexican (the recipe comes from a Swedish cookbook and I modified it). This is also food I’ll go out for. 

Thai food - mostly fried rice/rice noodle type of dishes. Coconut based curries are my favourite. I go out for these.

Chinese food - if my dad isn’t cooking it for me, which he rarely is because we haven’t lived in the same country in 20 years, I go out for this. I’ll get rice and then chicken or vegetables in some kind of spicy sauce, depends on the restaurant (the ones I know of specialise in regions and the dishes vary drastically).

Vegetables:

eh this one’s hard because for a lot of vegetables it’s “DEPENDS” and also when I was a child I not only was a really picky eater who refused to eat anything but potatoes, fish, and dairy, but also a lot of fancy veggies weren’t available in my homecountry because it wasn’t grown there and didn’t ship well or whatever. so I’m not used to eating a lot of vegetables to begin with. hence why I like canned peas, because that was the only way we could have them. s lentil a vegetable? I love lentils. I’m not a huge fan of beans but I’ll put them in things like chilis, and I’ll have baked beans if I’m eating a full English/Scottish breakfast out somewhere.

I love tomatoes and mushrooms though. I don’t like most vegetables raw, I prefer them cooked. Roasted or fried. I have been served far too many boiled broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mixes in my life to ever want to eat them again. I

These days for my lunches I’m assembling them out of: bistro salad mix, fried mushrooms and fried bell peppers, fresh tomatoes (cherry, san marzano, or other very flavourful tomato that comes in small sizes), mozzarella if I have it (or avocado if I have it), hard boiled eggs or spicy fried chicken or other lunch meat if I can find it reduced in the supermarket. salt, pepper, oregano, sweet chili sauce. if I don’t have mozarella, eggs or avocado in there I’ll add some mayonnaise to the sweet chili sauce to add some fat. it’s very basic stuff but it’s easy to make, filling, and is made of things that I like.

sometimes I don’t have the energy to make lunch and will either have whatever Indian curry & rice on the menu from the restaurant on campus (it’s not great food but the servings are huge and very extremely affordable) or I’ll just eat gluten free oat biscuits.

Fruit:

see above. the only fruit I’ll eat fresh basically is bananas and I don’t even like bananas that much. They’re just the easiest to eat. I kind of like apples but I can’t just bite into one (it’s a texture thing), I’ll have to have it cut and sliced into small bits. Same with pears. Every now and then I’ll get a craving for some soft and sweet fruit and buy like, 1 peach, or 1 nectarine or 1 mango and then eat half of it and then I’m Done. I’ll sometimes get those little plastic cups with bits of melon and pineapple and grapes and eat the contents of that and be like I have now had A Fruit and be good for like, a month.

I like berries to an extent and usually cooked or baked in something. I love bilberries in pie and if I can find reduced raspberries at the supermarket I’ll turn them into a sauce to put on plain yoghurt. I like orange juice and prefer squeezing it myself, but I will not actually EAT an orange (or another citrus) because once the juice is all gone what you’re left with is the fleshy bits and they’re bitter as hell and a Bad texture.

I grew up with artificial fruit flavours in candy so generally I’ll prefer a cherry flavoured sweet over a real cherry because the real cherry will taste Green a lot of the time and the candy will not, and the candy will have a more intense flavour. The only exception to this is marachino cherries in those fancy jars, I’m happy to eat those in desserts.

But also most of the foods that I cook for myself are just Generic Pan European foods or Random Dish I Just Made Up. I’ll be making lasagne one day not following any authentic Italian recipe (I mean, it just has Things In It That I Like and also a can of tomatoes), and the next I’ll be having grilled cheese toast for dinner and the next I’ll not bother cooking and just have yoghurt and the next day I’ll go look at the reduced vegetables section in Tesco and come away with random stuff that I can put into a soup or stew (always tomato based) that again doesn’t follow any known recipe but rather a ‘these are tasty things I like that happened to be on sale and when combined like this will be tasty to me’ method. Not a huge fan of butternut squash for example and would never buy a whole one to cook but here in the UK it’s often in mix bags with sweet potatoes and onion (all diced), and if those are reduced to idk £0.85 down from two pounds whatever you bet I’m taking that bag and making soup or stew out of it. I’ll add lentils, stock cubes, can or two of tomatoes, whatever other veg I have if I have it, spices, and have rice with it. I’ll usually get dinner for at least 4 days out of it. My staple spices (aside from the sri lankan spice mixes I use) are paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, chili flakes, oregano, salt, pepper, cinnamon. we have a basil plant but I’d otherwise have dried basil as well. these are all spices that go well with tomato based dishes and/or mexican dishes and are pretty versatile.