Steam Fish!!

Bought a seabream from hemköp (at Gamla Stan) today.  I feel so excited.  (I know, so sad right?!)  There's actually so many different varieties here in this supermarket!

Our Sea bream!  for KR159/KG (which is roughly AU$24.00/kg)

So, yay to steam fish with lots of coriander, shallots and ginger.  I hope it works well as I'm opening my new box of rock sugar!

Will write more after we have tasted it! hehe!

Xx

Fathers and their children in Sweden

At 3pm this afternoon, I took a walk down my street to the grocery store and guess what I saw?  2 men with 4 little kids in tow.  3 kids under the age of 6 and a baby in one of their arms while the other man was pushing the pram.

I'm not sure if they were partners or just friends out and about with their kids.  To be honest, I see babies everywhere here in Stockholm.  Not just with their mothers but with their fathers (I'm talking about afternoons during the weekdays)  This is pretty much the norm here in Stockholm.  I tend to see fathers out and about in the afternoon, with their babies in the prams.  Instead of mothers group, I presume these are fathers group.

Sweden's paternity leave is one of the best in the world, not surprisingly as their tax is extremely high.  With the standard of living here so good I'm pretty sure the work force here is much less stressful compared to the rest of the world.  Less stress = more time for acrobatics in the bedroom.  Work, Life, Balance..  That's Sweden for you...

p/s  Sweden also has one of the highest divorce rate in the world...

Alcohol, alcohol, where for art thou?

Stockholm is not a place to indulge in alcohol drinking.  For someone who has very low tolerance of alcohol, it usually doesn't bother me too much....

Alcohol is relatively expensive here in Stockholm and unlike most countries where you could get some form of alcohol from the supermarket down the street, you have to get your alcohol from the state operated monopoly chain, Systembolaget.  The opening hours are 10am - 6pm weekdays and on Saturday, they are open from 10am - 3pm!  You'll also need to be at least 20 years of age to purchase alcohol.  Their website stated that it existed to minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive.

hmmph..  Not only is alcohol monopolized here, but it's extremely expensive and the funny thing is, I have seen drunkard people on the street side before 10am on a weekday. (Systembolaget is not open until 10am)

To top it off, they are not allowed to sell alcohol chilled.  Imagine on a hot summer day, (where in Australia we could just get cold chilled beers from drive thrus) you, running off to the shops to get some alcohol just 10 minutes before your party, and you have to wait for a few hours before your alcohol are chilled.

What really annoys me is you can't even get a bottle of Chinese rice wine from the asian grocery store.  I tried the other day as I was running up and down the aisles looking for Shaoxing, but was told they were not licensed to carry any alcohol.  God forbid! *sobs*