Second Sunday in Advent

Last weekend Kasper and I went shopping Christmas presents. But we will have to contiunue next weekend, not even half way through! And no pictures of that since some of the people we bought for are reading my blog ;)

I also made Swedish lussebullar, which is a bun with saffron on it that is typical in Sweden during Advent and Christmas, read more here.

The dough

Lussebullar!

This week I will make pepparkakor (gingerbread).

More Barcelona pictures

And of course the obligatory pictures of the lunch and dinners!

(click to enlarge)

Tapas as El Rovell in el Borne.

Chocolate fondue. Chocolate magdalena (Spainsh sort of muffin/brownie) with mango ice cream

Sallad and assortment of ham, salami and cheeses at Recasens in Poble Nou.

Coffee in the sun outside Maremagnum. Using the mirror-ceiling :)

Swedish (?) waffles

After our walk yesterday, we were a bit cold even if it was sunny. So we decided to make waffles. Well some might say that this isn't the right way to make waffles.. But when I called my mother some years ago and I was about to make waffles my self for the first time after I had moved from home, I asked her which recipe she used to make those lovely waffles..? She giggled a bit and then said that she always use Ekströms powder that you mix with water and melted butter! So from that on, that is how I do it aswell. So if you want to taste them, you will have to come to Sweden and buy a package of Ekströms Frasvåfflor!

Pour some batter in a våffeljärn

Open after some minutes and voila! Put some whipped cream and jam ontop

Mix it. Eat! :)

Danish pølsebrød - Food for Friends

Last weekend, before the case-writing-marathon (Ok, it wasn't that hard but I had no time for other stuff) I made Dansih pølsebrød. That is hotdogs in bread. Here is how you make them:

First make a dough for white bread, here is a recipe I use:

(for 20pc)

25g yeast

1dl lukewarm water

50g melted butter

1dl yoghurt

1 tsp salt

1 egg

~450 g flour

Mix the yeast with the water and the butter with the yoghurt. Then put the butter mix into the watermix. Add salt, egg and flour and mix it well together. Ferment covered for 30min.

Then devide the dough into two and make them round. Roll out so you have a flat circle and slice it into 10 "triangles". Put a hotdog on the wide side of the slice and roll the dough around the hotdog. Place the hotdogbread with the tip down on a baking tray and let them be for 10 min. Brush the breads with milk or whipped egg and put them in the oven for about 20 min or until they have gotten some color. Done :)

They are perfect for picnic, in the lunchbox or as a snack.

Food for Friends - Apple Pie

This is (as the rest of the Food for Friends-recipes) a very simple apple pie that is called smulpaj in Swedish ("crumble pie").

This is what you'll need and how you do it:

About 2 apples (or other fruit like raspeberries, blueberries, sliced bananas)

100g butter (NOT melted!)

1,5 dl flour

1,5 dl oatmeal

0,5 dl sugar

If you want you can add some syrup and/or cinnamon in top of the apples. If you use bananas you can put some cocoa (powder) on top.

Peel and slice the apples and put them in a buttered form. Drizzle syrup and cinnamon on top of the apples.

Then mix the other ingredients in a bowl, using your hands to make "crumbles", and put them on top of the apples.

Let the pie be in the oven for about 20min (200deg C) or until it has gotten some color.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Ready to be served!

Nyponsoppa

This is just so Swedish, I haven't seen it in any other country. It's a sweet soup made of rosehips (nyponsoppa = rosehips soup) that often is drunk but you can also eat it with a spoon. You can drink it cold or hot, as it is or together with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and/or small mandelbiskvier (almond macaroons). It's perfect as a dessert or just a snack :)

Do you have anything similar in your country?

Dating food

No, I'm not dating, but dating food is a common and returning topic among me and my friends. For example, if you are going on a date and are thinking of having sushi; only order the small pieces like small maki rolls or maybe nigiri. You all (?) know how hard it is to bite or devide a large sushi roll with seagrass! And with rice falling out of you mouth and soya dripping, we do advise you not to have sushi on a date if you're not in controll of your chopsticks.

I will return with more inputs on what food to eat on a date.

To be continued...

Suprise visit!

In silver wedding gift, Kaspers parents got plane tickets and hotel for a weekend in Stockholm from us. What they didn't know was that the day before their departure, Kasper and I borrowed the car (well they did know that we borrowed the car, but we said that we were going with some friends to a summerhouse) and drove all the way up to Stockholm during the night. The next day we waited for them in the airport! :) You shuld have seen their faces!

My parents actually did something similar for my moms parents some (read many) years ago, but their stunt were even more extreme. They drove my grandparents parents to the airport in Stockholm, waved goodbye and my grandparents went on a plane to Paris. After saying goodbye, my mom and dad went with the Concorde, arriving before my grandparents in Paris :D I would have loved to be there and see their faces!!

Anyway, back to Stockholm. The first day my parents (who live in Stockholm) had arranged a private flying over Stockholm for Kaspers parents, us and them. Because there only were 3 seats + the pilot, we went two times. First Kasper, my mom and Kaspers dad, then me, my dad and Kaspers mom :) Here are some pictures:

The first plane. After the first trip the radio broke, so we changed plane for our ride.

Stockholm from above. Lots and lots of islands. Stockholm is actually called Venice of the North.

The pilots t-shirt ;)

Kaspers mom Lisbeth and me

My dad got to steer

Kastellet next to Vaxholm

That night we continued the theme "over the ground" by eating at Gondolen, a restaurant situated 33meters over sea level. I didn't bring the camera, but everything; the food, the veiw the company was just perfect.

That weekend, we also had a small Kräftskiva at my parents house. It's a Swedish crayfish party, where you eat kräftor, drink snaps and sing snapsvisor (songs).

Boiled crayfish (from rivers and lakes)

Hello there

Charlie the dog tries a party-hat. It didn't stay on for long

My brother Oscar in typical kräftskive-outfit ;) They didn't stay on for long either..

My dad and Kasper with crayfish

It got my nose ;) Me and mom

We also got some sea-crayfish

Cold snaps

My goodlooking brother ;)

Dancing crayfish

Typical kräftskive-decorations

Have a great weekend!

BBQ at Louise

During one of the days we had in Denmark before moving to Sweden, we went to our friend Louise and together with two other friends, Esben and Jens, we had a little BBQ on her rooftop terrace.

View over Copenhagen

Copenhagen roofs

Zooming on the Marble Church (the green dome) next to the royal palace

The cute grill

Jens and Louise

Esben and Kasper

Me

Delicious food

It was a very nice evening which included the usual topics food, music and cars, and of course the quiz "Bezzerwizzer" was played ;)