Too much indulging here in Melbourne..

All these eating and drinking here in Melbourne, my stomach would have put all those pregnant ladies to shame.. *cries*

A little burnt.. The unforgiving Australian sun

Spent the afternoon sitting outside the G.. (For the non Aussies.. It's the MCG while others are inside watching Australia vs Sri Lanka - cricket ;p

I have no interest in cricket and refused o fork out $60 for entrance. What a rip off!!

So I sat on the grass enjoying the sun and promptly fell asleep.. And woke up with parts of my body burnt.. Whoops! Forgot how unforgiving the sun here is..

Now, I've moved to the city for a spot of Boxing Day shopping, but unfortunately the massive crowd drove me into hiding.. And now I'm holed up at some Asian cafe.. Enjoying something cold...

Think I could finish this by myself?!

Merry Christmas, all! Love from Melbourne!

Merry Christmas!!! No more snow, no more freezing in the cold and...

Hello glorious hot hot summer!! All I did today was stuffed my face silly from noon, pass out from eating too much and woke up at 9pm!!

No gifts to unwrap this year as we came home to surprise the parents and boy!! Were they surprised!!! So, no gifts!!! *tears streaming*

Hope we all have a fabulous Christmas!

Funny emotions today..

It's my Birthday today and I've had a range of emotions playing up since 5am this morning - sad, frustration, angry, annoyed. I blame it on the weather and I blame it on jet lag. Yep, that's it.. Happy Birthday to me, yippee! Another freaking year older.. I wish we age backwards instead of forward..

Bottoms up!

Gifts advise for brides and grooms.. especially asian heritage ;)

With weddings happening everywhere...  Just a word of advise to brides and grooms to be.  ALWAYS ALWAYS have a gift registry... if you already have all the household items, always ask for cash from well meaning wishers...

If you have neither a gift registry, you are going to get a lot of duplicate items and even if you advise your guests not to bring anything, they will still bring something for you... and you will end up with either useless presents or more duplicate items...

and please if you are attending a wedding, anyone would always appreciate money gifts.. especially asian couples.. Trust me ;)

A handmade little bouquet made of red and pink roses - Thanks, YouTube!

A little hat for the bride to be - Pinkish beige with french lace and handsewn rhinestones on white buckram.  All steam and moulded on a round hat block.  Flower on top is made from white goose feather.  All 100% handmade =D

Xx

Christmas Wish List...

Well, since it's Christmas and all, I thought I'll jot down some items I have been lusting for.  Afterall, my childhood was deprived.  I've never written a "Dear Santa" letter and even if the big jolly man is real, he has never got me what I truly wanted when I was a kid ;)

Here goes!

1.  Sewing Machine (functional and not too fancy)
2.  Camera Lens for Canon (I want one which allows me to zoooooom in...) maybe a new camera =(
3.  MONEY!  Cash is always good!  In £, AU$, KR.. =D  and I'm really picky with gifts and travel too much.... so, money is always good, yeah? =)
4.  Jewellery .. Good quality with lots of sparkles... Enough said!
5.  Personal number so I can go back to school and relearn my Swedish
6.  A JOB!!  OMG!!  Give me a job soon... 1 year of pottering around and not working is seriously killing my brain cells!
7.  My website up and running...........  Miss A, I hope Santa pokes your butt!
8.  Start selling my wares at shops here in Stockholm in 2013!
9.  Good health and happiness!

Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
Jingle All the waaaaaay!!

Xx

F12 Studio - If you want something a bit fancier..

Our 2nd choice was F12 Restaurant.  On the evening when we were there, it was snowing.  While dining, we had the pleasure of looking out and watching snowflakes gently floating to the ground.  Everywhere we looked, it was white.  It was such a beautiful sight.  Ahh.. Looks like it's going to be a white Christmas here in Stockholm!

Looking around, the diners were mostly business people, so I guess it is quite fancy.  I believe this is also a Michelin Restaurant.

F12 Restaurant
Fredsgatan 12 
111 52 Stockholm 
+46 (0) 8 24 80 52

To start of with, we had some little tidbits to whet the appetite.  I remembered the middle one were like a fancy version of fish cracker, (which melts in your mouth) and the pink were like some raspberry savoury macaron and the right is some thin wafer with creamy cheese perhaps?  Tasty, tasty and tasty indeed =)

Crackers and bread are a must, and soft soft butter to go with them.  I think I munched loads of cumin seeded sticks. Nom Nom

To start off we had - Venison tartare & oyster muscat pumpkin, chives.  The venison were so tender and goes so well with the creamy sauce at the bottom.

Jerusalem artichoke à la crème, apple, persley.  Was basically a creamy soup.  Was a small bowl but I felt really full after polishing up the whole bowl.  The apple pieces in the soup were quite interesting =)

Cod from lofoten & anchovy farm´s egg, winter vegetables - Soft fresh cod with poached egg in a foamy sauce.  The winter vegetables consist of mini crunchy eggplant like vegetable and some sliced red pieces of some sort of vegs which I couldn't place.  After the last creamy bowl of soup, this was a bit much..  The fish was fresh but slightly bland.  I couldn't finish it as it was too rich for me

This was refreshing after the fish.  This is made of 3 layers.  The bottom is some jelly with bits of crackers in the middle and some cream at the top.  It really does cleanse the palette! =)

To finish off we had white coffee ice cream, meringue, cherries, chocolate.  - The white dollop at the top is actually white coffee ice cream, on the other side is a smaller dollop of chocolate ice cream with a piece of meringue at the bottom..  Lots of flavour, crunchy, sweet, sour and of course cold!..  yum! =)

Ohhh wait..  There's more?  An array of chocolates..  We were supposed to only have two each... but...

I  managed to score us one of each! =)   Left to right:  hazelnut chocolate, raspberry jelly, peanut butter chocolate, dark chocolate, minty meringue and some truffle which I couldn't remember...  They were all yummy! =)

Guess which one we picked?!!

Anywaz, until next time..

Happy Eating and have a Merry Merry Christmas/Holiday!!

Xx

Vassa Eggen Steak House - Drop in if you love your meat!

We did a couple of food tasting in the past 2 weeks.... to find the perfect menu for our special function.. =)

Anyhow, we started with Vassa Eggen.  I have to say, it was quite chaotic.  We turned up on the time proposed and the kitchen knew nothing about our 'food tasting' evening but the chef was good enough to whip up the menu that were proposed plus plenty more!

Vassa Eggen Steak House
Birger Jarlsgatan 29
103 95 STOCKHOLM

Of course we started with entree shared by 3 of us.  They really went out their best with plenty of food for all.

Top:  Tuna baked in olive oil, bread, salsa, capers, onion, pimientos (was delicious, but the tuna steak felt a bit frozen...), Bottom:  Was more of an asian fusion style.  Carpaccio fish with salad.  Very summery and fresh

Blackened salmon, soy tapioka, cucumber, chili.  Another chilled dish.  Gorgeous gorgeous.  So fresh and tasty

If we had to choose, we would have probably picked the carpaccio or the blackened salmon.  They were both delicious.  We weren't too keen on the tuna, perhaps because the steak tasted a bit too frozen and capers were really not one of my favourite dish =)

The main was seriously the best, I drool just thinking of what were offered.

Main:  Cod with prawn, egg, clarified butter and horseradish.  So typically Swedish.. Fish and potatoes..  Rich and creamy and very very tasty... but the steak of course wins.. HANDS DOWN!

Main:  Flank Steak with Sauce Béarnaise, red wine sauce, garlic- and parsley butter, tomato salad, haricot verts and French fries.  Might not look like much but the meat were very filling and cooked medium rare and so tender!  The condiments complimented the meat, but who cares when the focus is definitely mainly on the meat!  The sauces were delicious as one of us couldn't have red wine, hence they added a couple of different sauces.  I love the creamy truffle sauce! =)

 The dessert was seriously good and quite a huge serving so all 3 of us could share.

Dessert:  Was so sinfully good.  Dark, rich chocolate and slightly frozen brownie with some cherry sauce with cocoa powder dusting.  I was seriously in orgasmic heaven when I bit into this... *swoon!*

Good old Creme Brulee!  Sinfully creamy and with the right amount of crunch at the top.  Was really good on its own, but chocolate wins anytime! =)

Good Morning Stockholm!!

Woweee!! I woke up to a mad mad mini snowstorm here in Stockholm!  Guess who wouldn't be leaving the house at all today? ;)

Apologies for my last rant.  I usually write out my rant, leave it for a day or two, and revert it back to draft... but this time I forgot... after a week or so, and was reminded about it by someone and whoops! - Reverted it back to draft form this morning.  Hope not too many people saw it!  Does anyone do that?  So mad about something, write every single detail down and feel sooo much better, but when you read back much later, you realised, whoops!  Boy!  I will need to hide/delete/throw this rant away. I can be quite a bitchy sour puss at times.  Well.. until the next rant!! =)

Anyhow, I'm happily snuggled up indoors, typing this and trying to bake a banana cake, which I've abandoned for a while =P  My butter and sugar mix look a bit weird, kinda clumpy!  The recipe did ask for softened butter, and I didn't see that until I started beating it!  Whoops!  I'm just going to sit here for a bit and enjoy the spectacular view from my window!  I wonder how long before the whole window is covered up in snow?

All snowed in! =D

Weddings weddings everywhere

I think this is the 3rd cycle I'm observing. Young couples begin dating, engagement parties, wedding party.. Then screaming babies...

Sigh! I've been through three rounds of this and I'm not even that old. All these within 10 years or more with the same guy.

Sometimes I feel sad. What girls don't dream about their big day, the planning weeks, months and years in advance.

Sometimes I ask myself this.. Is it really worth it? He loves being in control and usually I don't mind as I prefer going with the flow. But at times I feel like kicking myself especially when he comes home moody and I have to ride the wave for the next few hours.

I've put up with him since 2003 (did i mentioned we had a history waaaaaay before then? That would made a good story one of these days and will put to light for those people who thinks he's the sweetest guy out there) where his indecisiveness should have chased many a girls away. Our relationship throughout those years consist of him never being at home, while working for months overseas or interstates (not to mention all those crazy parties/clubs he loves going to) I still stood by him except for the time in 2008 when I packed my bags and left for London, in the hope of a fresh start away from him, work and everything else.

I made the mistake of letting him back in, all his promises and all. Gave everything up again to 'move' to Sweden for a few months where all I could do was cook, clean and wash at home. So, again I decided to return home to Australia to find work, to feel that I can still find work. During that time most of his friends and family had the idea that it was ME who left him when he's ready to settle down and have a family. Afterall he just proposed (2-3 months after I've decided to pack and return home) . I was there from February, - May/June when I had enough of staying home, had chicken pox and was sick for a whole month and totally hated the cold and the loneliness (he spent Valentine weekend in Norway with his best mate), in Denmark at least 2-3 days each week. I knew he had the ring since Dec, held on to it for months. I decided to leave in May and started booking tickets etc home, it still took him until Midsummer to propose (June/July). Bought an apartment A WEEK before I left. What does that tell you about his character at times? Isn't it ALL about him? He's proposed, bought a place to live for us, so I should just throw away my plans and follow him, no?

I did promised him I'll return but I needed to do my own thing, return home and start working to have my own income in and start some sort of business on the side which will still allow me to travel around.

In the mean time I still wanted to set a date for a wedding. And what did I hear? Him pouring his heart out to his friends about how I'm never there, I left and what kind of relationship is this we are having as we weren't even living together. Seriously!?!

On top of the parties and clubbing he was rocking up in Stockholm and all the drinking he was doing. Having a blast. Meanwhile while I was back in Melbourne, living the 'good girl' life. working, occasional socialising, be back by 10pm while his mother kept telling me how lonely his poor son is and I should really return back to Stockholm for him.

Imagine my surprise when I finally returned to Stockholm. (Aug 2011) He was sick (too much iron in his blood problem. imagine how much partying and drinking he was doing while I was away) we did a 3 weeks road trip with his parents and when they left, boy, did he introduced me to his blonde party friendS whom he's met at his favourite club. All the ladies love him telling me how lovely he is and that they are glad to finally meet me so they can be sure I'm good enough for him. Like.. Seriously, WTF? And in the same sentence asking me why I wouldn't let him come out with them to the club. This is like 12am -1 am after having crayfish party at our place. He was drunk and so were most of his leech sucking friends. Of course she didn't mention about the free cab rides, free entrance to the night club, free drinks they will be getting from him. WTF puts up with his antics?? Oh! Me of course. So, now he knows how much I hated them, he of course now meets up with them behind my back!

Anyway, back to our wedding plans. We decided to return back to Aus for Christmas and New Year as I had to leave Sweden for a few months ( I'm still living here as a tourist), set a registration date in Aus. (For Jan 2012) so, I contacted and made arrangements with the town hall and registrar to be married on the date we agreed on, I told a few friends, my whole family. Then, he decided while in Aus he doesn't want to go with it as he's having problem with his apartment and might need to return back to Sweden earlier AND he's worried about his health blah blah.. More excuses.. While telling some of his gfs back home that he's not sure .. And we were in such a 'strange' relationship .. Like WTF?? So, the date of the registry came and went.. He's still in Australia. Seriously, if he doesn't want to go ahead with the wedding , don't freaking make lame ass excuses . I was so angry with with my family laughing and slightly confused.. And what bout the people I told about the date of the registry?? Made me look like a fucking moron. But seriously, it's all about him! Meanwhile I kept reminding him it's hard for me to get my visa and wouldn't us being married helped? But no, he'll sort it out!

So, I stayed in Oz until March, and again made the journey back to Sweden to be with 'its all about me'. Wtf puts up with all these???

With my visa again coming to expiration, now it's a race of getting our registry on track again. I found a nice little cafe which I thought would be great but of course he wants it at a fancy hotel with 'class'. I mean hey, he's paying right? Or did he ask me to split half with him in front of his friend just a few weeks before? Oh yep. Classy. He thinks his jokes are just funny.

At the moment I'm so furious about everything. We still haven't had confirmation of a venue ( registry is in 2 weeks, and no invites sent) because of course it's all up to him. He wants something classy because it's after all his wedding. Dressed to impressed and all. I suggested making my own flower bouquet with flowers made from feathers and fabrics that I could made myself but the look I got was.. Shouldn't we use fresh flowers??

At the moment, I've given up and I CBF.

Welcome to my happy life!!

It's Winter Wonderland out here in Stockholm

Remember the snow and rain yesterday?  Well..  I woke up this morning to this!

Looking out from our window this morning..  Gentle snowflakes were falling down from the sky... and our yard is all white..

The bikes must have been parked outside all night and are now covered in snow.. So pretty!

The park/church down the street from us were all white.. 

 *sigh*  This is like a taster of what winter will be.  This is just so pretty, so right!  Let's not worry about too much snow = slippery, slush!  Let's just enjoy the first snowflakes of the season!!

Xx

Cute little Cafe - Cafe Tjärlek

After eating such a huge lunch, and sitting around in the restaurant chatting and watching people coming and going, it was a miracle we were still able to run off for an afternoon tea straight after but I'm so glad we did!

Stepping into the cafe, I was quite excited as it is.  The place is cozy and the interior is so cute.  They have a variety of cakes in the cake display and a room at the back which is just... purrrrfect for a small party! =)

The lady who owns the cafe, Dinah Gärtner is Fillipino and is so friendly and warm.  They have brunch on Sunday for just 155KR - It's mostly Swedish food and dumplings, but I heard the homemade dumplings are delicious!  I think twice a week, they have some sort of band playing.  Sounds like quite a happening place to be! =)  Needless to say, Miss A is ecstatic!

Cafe Tjärlek

Tjärhovsgatan 19 , 11628 Stockholm

Tel: 08-46004045

Cake display and counter..

Apologies for the blurriness!  But you get the idea.. I thought the wallpaper is kinda cute!  The exterior room is great dining area

From here, there's another room at the back, which is quite cozy and very homey feeling!

There's a piano at the back and tables and chairs for people to enjoy their cuppa

We had a variety of cakes to splurge on.  There's cheesecake on the top left, and some yummy nutty cake on the right (which Miss A said is very Fillipino and the bottom is chocolate cake)

The lovely ladies.. and my red hat!!

We got some complimentary toasted sandwiches from Dinah.  Isn't she lovely??!!!

 Seriously can't wait to return!!

Yay!!

Xx

Taste of Vietnam - Yummy Vietnamese food in Stockholm

In all honesty, it has been a miserable past few days with the weather and all, but..  it hasn't stopped me from going out and meeting new and old friends and enjoying a few eats.

Yesterday, I tried out Korean.. and today, it was so good to meet up with a few girlfriends whom I first met at Meetups a few months ago.  We opted for Vietnamese, as two of us have tried this some weeks ago, and couldn't wait to go back.  Some noodle soup would be great for warming up our bellies in this cold and wet weather.

This is actually quite a good place for lunch.  The food is fast and the serving is quite generous and most importantly, they are very tasty!  Again, it is best to go at around 11.30 - 11.45am to get a table during the weekdays as by 12.00pm - 12.30pm, the place is quite crowded.  By 2pm, it's all quiten down again and we were the only people left in there!

I am quite happy with today as after this, we decided to venture out in the rain (and snow) to a nearby cafe, which happened to be.... THE CUTEST LITTLE CAFE... and seriously, seriously, I think I have found the perfect spot for that fine day in December!!  But more about that later!

Anyhow, here's some snippets from our lunch.  Btw, they do lunch specials, where different specials are to be had every day.  The last time I was here, I had the Bun Bo Hue (spicy noodle soup) for 79KR.  The specials are usually up on the TV screen at the bar/cash register.

A Taste of Vietnam
Södermannagatan 8
116 23 Stockholm

These are complimentary.  Fresh plain salad or pickled salad with crushed peanuts.  There's some vinegary sauce as well. Bread, butter and prawn crackers are also provided!.  On top of all these, water, tea and coffee are also included

Bun Bo Hue (Spicy Beef Vermicelli Noodle soup) - So tasty and colourful..  

Today we had the flat noodle soup with chicken (79KR).  Quite tasty!

Bun Cha Gio (79KR on special) - Vietnamese Spring Rolls with noodles.  Really yummy!  Deep Fried spring rolls on top of a bowl of noodles with fresh salad (lettuce and thinly sliced cucumber).. eaten drenched with fish sauce dipping sauce

Seriously quite filling!  Can't believe after this meal, we wandered off for... cakes and tea/coffee! tee hehe..

Xx

Another Korean eatery in Stockholm - Korea House

Bad rainy weather today, but I managed to brave the wet and cold and attended a foodie meetup with a couple of people at this Korean place.  I know some people refuse to eat Korean food in Stockholm as they are usually expensive and not very authentic.. but for me, as long as it's spicy and on special, I'm happy ;)

It's pretty empty at 11.30am, but come 12pm, the whole place is so crowded, you wouldn't be able to find a place to sit, but 15 minutes later, when I looked up, the place is half empty as most people came, ate within 15 minutes - 30 minutes and are gone.  We sat and talked after lunch and left at about 1pm, and the place is virtually empty.

So, my advise, come around 11.30am or after 1pm, you'll miss the lunch crowd and can pick wherever you want to sit =)

Dagens (special) for Tuesday is either the chicken or Chap Che (potato noodles and beef) for KR85 and a couple of us picked Chap Che while someone else picked the chicken.  I didn't take a picture of it as it looks kind of 'boring'

Chap Che is so so.. passable, but can't compare to the ones I used to eat back in Oz.. My brother's wife who is Korean, her mum made the best chap che.. as her noodle is so smooth and slightly chewy and she puts spinach in them.. So much tastier!  I guess you can't compare here!!

Korea House

Ynglingagatan 13;

113 47 Stockholm

'Bar' at Korea House

Tuesday Special 'Chap Che' and it came with rice as well, which we weren't expecting.... (the noodles came with beef slices and stir fry vegetables and chinese mushrooms)

Complimentary 'salad' which you could take as much as you like

The food was tasty but was missing something, so we asked for chilli sauce which made the food really delicious!  Comes with complimentary salad, coffee and Korean tea

Until next time, bon appetite!

xx

Koy Shunka - Japanese food in Barcelona ;)

I know.. Shocking, Shocking!!  But we really couldn't resist...  We intended to eat as much fresh seafood as possible while there, and what better way to enjoy than sampling the Japanese menu there on top of all the tapas we were gobbling down.. *gobble* *gobble* ;)

We were there for a few days.. S was there for work, and I dropped in for the weekend..  Pity the weather was a lot colder than I expected.  Not sure what I was thinking when I started packing all my little summery dresses, and ended up all bundled up in jeans and long sleeved tops and scarves ;)

At Koy Shunka, we picked their €74/person menu set, which consist of about 10 different types of dishes, inclusive of dessert.  Drinks of course were on top of that price..  It's so cheap in Barcelona compared to in Stockholm ;(  Seriously, we had an enjoyable meal.. So fresh and so tasty.  Highly recommended!

Koy Shunka

c/ copons, 7

08002 barcelona

tel. (+34).934.127.939  (reservas / bookings)

This was part of the appetiser, miso soup, with a little glass on top of a saucer..

Deep fried crisps with miso sauce

Raw white fish with miso sauce.. was really delicious.  I love how all their plates compliment the dishes served..

Raw scallops with Swedish turnip.  The scallop were sliced thinly and was delicious..  I love the jelly like noodle which seemed to have been infused with miso.. yum yum!

Autumn 'Minori' - Fried herring with shiitaki mushrooms (i think they were marinated with teriyaki sauce).  I love the popcorn like wheat which I lightly scraped with my chopsticks and they drop down and picked up easily to be eaten! =)

Japanese noodles "Somen" in "Dashi" stock. - Love the stock!  So flavoursome!  and I didn't mind sucking on the prawn head, as there were loads of meat in there!... I'm hungry just looking at the pictures.. ;(

The sake shared by the boys!!

I guess I licked my bowl clean and left the head ;(  *blush*

Sashimi - There were salmon, tuna, squid and another type of fish, which I couldn't make out what they were... but they were so fresh, I couldn't get enough!  and the crispy seaweed was quite good as well...  Check out the plate!  

Beautiful colours and display

Grilled Flat Fish "Pinchos" 2 per person.  Reminded me of 'Satay' style ;)

I know I would have got told off by mum if she has seen this.. =P

Lightly roasted "Toro", brown rice with fresh wasabi flavour.  The rice had pieces of mushrooms and the dried seaweed makes it look all pretty...

I ate every morsel.. as they were so delicious!!...  How cool is the plate??  It's the Japan Flag!  I didn't noticed till I finished my food haha =)

 "Wagyu" served on their hot plate!

Yummy sushi..  We had to eat from right to left!  and boy!  The eel for last was definitely the tastiest sushi on the plate!    The prawn head was filled with meat as well!  So, yep!  more sucking and picking out the head for me ;)

and of course dessert...  It's some chocolate cake with fresh berries.. which I thought was so 'unjapanese' haha =)

Chefs in action

The display

 By the end of the night, the boys were drunk.. and I was sooo stuffed.. I had to waddle down the street!