Last night's rain melted some of the snow on the ground. This morning when I got up, there were bare patches where snow used to be. It looked cold, too. And wet. I was not looking forward to going to school at all.
After a nice hot bowl of soup for lunch, I put on my layers and prepared to head out. Outside, the air was chilly but fresh. Luckily there wasn't much wind. As I walked, my boots crunched the snow that has turned to slush. I had to tread carefully too, since some parts were a bit slippery. As I walked beside the bike lane, I could see some people on their bikes cycling very slowly and carefully. I guess the path is slippery too.
The walk to school was really nice, though cold. It was cold inside the classroom too. I kept sneezing during lessons. Luckily I brought tissues. I used up the whole packet by the end of the class. It was the same at home too. I sneezed and had to blow my nose the whole evening. And in the end, I got a headache from all the explosive sneezing fit. So I guess that's it. I'm done with winter. Let the warmer weather come, please.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Cold again
It's almost the end of January and yet we have still to see the end of winter. Not even close. We have been having a couple snowy days. Not very heavy snowfall, but since the temperature outside has been mostly between -6 and 0C, the snow hasn't melted.
It has been very beautiful outside. I really love the look of snow, as you would have known from my posts. But the cold is something I have to accept as well. That's the hard part. It's fine if I am warmly dressed when I am outside. But sometimes, I either dress too warmly or not warm enough. If I have layers that are too thick, I would end up sweating under all my clothes when I walk or when I am in the bus or a building. If I don't layer enough, the wind and chill will get into my bones.
I guess that is why I have been having colds and coughs very often. I have had another bout of sore throat and dry cough, so much so that I have had to miss my class on Friday. I stayed indoors the whole day and stayed under the covers and rested. But the next day, Pete and I braved the elements. We took a train and visited Pete's sister in Helsingborg. On the way home, as we were waiting for the connecting bus home, it started snowing heavily. Plus the wind was blowing. I don't think that's helpful for my cold.
Today, it snowed and rained almost the whole day. It has been surprising since it hasn't rained as much ever since I got here. Back home, thunderstorms are quite common. When the storms strike, it is not unusual for the rain to fall in almost continuous fat drops and for many hours. The rains here has been very gentle, in comparison, and they last only for a couple of minutes at a time. So today's downpour has been surprising.
Being indoors when the snow falls is quite nice, actually. I love to look at the snowflakes being blown by the wind. It's very therapeutic. I love to look out my kitchen window when it's snowing, especially when I'm baking bread. Looking at the snowflakes as I knead the dough is relaxing. The baking helps to warm up the apartment a bit too.
It does get quite cold inside the past few weeks. Maybe there's something wrong with the balcony door or the heater. Maybe that's why I keep getting colds these days. I guess I should dress more warmly indoors too. Or maybe I should hope for warmer weather. But that would mean there won't be snow any more. Hmm...tough choice.
It has been very beautiful outside. I really love the look of snow, as you would have known from my posts. But the cold is something I have to accept as well. That's the hard part. It's fine if I am warmly dressed when I am outside. But sometimes, I either dress too warmly or not warm enough. If I have layers that are too thick, I would end up sweating under all my clothes when I walk or when I am in the bus or a building. If I don't layer enough, the wind and chill will get into my bones.
I guess that is why I have been having colds and coughs very often. I have had another bout of sore throat and dry cough, so much so that I have had to miss my class on Friday. I stayed indoors the whole day and stayed under the covers and rested. But the next day, Pete and I braved the elements. We took a train and visited Pete's sister in Helsingborg. On the way home, as we were waiting for the connecting bus home, it started snowing heavily. Plus the wind was blowing. I don't think that's helpful for my cold.
Today, it snowed and rained almost the whole day. It has been surprising since it hasn't rained as much ever since I got here. Back home, thunderstorms are quite common. When the storms strike, it is not unusual for the rain to fall in almost continuous fat drops and for many hours. The rains here has been very gentle, in comparison, and they last only for a couple of minutes at a time. So today's downpour has been surprising.
Being indoors when the snow falls is quite nice, actually. I love to look at the snowflakes being blown by the wind. It's very therapeutic. I love to look out my kitchen window when it's snowing, especially when I'm baking bread. Looking at the snowflakes as I knead the dough is relaxing. The baking helps to warm up the apartment a bit too.
It does get quite cold inside the past few weeks. Maybe there's something wrong with the balcony door or the heater. Maybe that's why I keep getting colds these days. I guess I should dress more warmly indoors too. Or maybe I should hope for warmer weather. But that would mean there won't be snow any more. Hmm...tough choice.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Bring back the fun
This is the start of the third week of school. I enjoyed school last year before the break. My class was great with helpful, friendly and fun-loving friends. And we learnt a lot in class. The teacher would introduce new topics and we learnt new vocabulary and construct sentences with these words. Some times, she would hand out worksheets and we learn even more words through reading the passages contained in them.
When I got transferred to this new class, I thought we would be doing the same, only at a faster pace. However, it has been many days and sadly, I have not learnt much in class. Instead of being taught new words and phrases, we had to write about what we have done during our short break, what we have done during the weekend, what we were going to do the next weekend. To me, it hasn't helped me to acquire new words. It's purely repetition of words and sentences. Repetition is good but this is too much.
I would get bored since I would finish my writing quite quickly since I would just use the sentences I have already used and just replace a few words here and there. At other times, we would be given newspapers to read. We were to select an article and then tell the others in our group what we have read. This is the hard one. Too tough for beginners like me. I had to use the translator of almost all the words in a short article. Harder still to summarise it before I can tell it to my group mates.
So for the last two weeks, I have been quite miserable in class. Every morning, I would tell Pete that I dread going to school. This is very different from last year. I was always eager to go to class because I simply can't wait to tackle the worksheets and reading passages. Now, it's boring yet stressful in class since the rest of my classmates have learnt much more than me and they are better at speaking.
I thought I was the only one feeling like I'm wasting time in class. Last Friday, I talked to a classmate who lives near me. I learnt from her that the rest of the class also feels quite frustrated about the little progress that's made. She said that their previous teacher was much better. He insisted on everyone speaking Swedish only in class and would teach them a lot of new words every day. They had to make him slow down since he was teaching too much.
And then yesterday, somehow, someone brought up this issue in class and I found that everybody felt the same. Our regular teachers were not there yesterday so we talked about it with the teacher assistant. We shared our feelings about the lessons and she promised to discuss our issue with the teachers and to let them know how we feel. Let's see how it goes from now. I really hope the lessons would be like how they used to be. I want school to be fun again.
When I got transferred to this new class, I thought we would be doing the same, only at a faster pace. However, it has been many days and sadly, I have not learnt much in class. Instead of being taught new words and phrases, we had to write about what we have done during our short break, what we have done during the weekend, what we were going to do the next weekend. To me, it hasn't helped me to acquire new words. It's purely repetition of words and sentences. Repetition is good but this is too much.
I would get bored since I would finish my writing quite quickly since I would just use the sentences I have already used and just replace a few words here and there. At other times, we would be given newspapers to read. We were to select an article and then tell the others in our group what we have read. This is the hard one. Too tough for beginners like me. I had to use the translator of almost all the words in a short article. Harder still to summarise it before I can tell it to my group mates.
So for the last two weeks, I have been quite miserable in class. Every morning, I would tell Pete that I dread going to school. This is very different from last year. I was always eager to go to class because I simply can't wait to tackle the worksheets and reading passages. Now, it's boring yet stressful in class since the rest of my classmates have learnt much more than me and they are better at speaking.
I thought I was the only one feeling like I'm wasting time in class. Last Friday, I talked to a classmate who lives near me. I learnt from her that the rest of the class also feels quite frustrated about the little progress that's made. She said that their previous teacher was much better. He insisted on everyone speaking Swedish only in class and would teach them a lot of new words every day. They had to make him slow down since he was teaching too much.
And then yesterday, somehow, someone brought up this issue in class and I found that everybody felt the same. Our regular teachers were not there yesterday so we talked about it with the teacher assistant. We shared our feelings about the lessons and she promised to discuss our issue with the teachers and to let them know how we feel. Let's see how it goes from now. I really hope the lessons would be like how they used to be. I want school to be fun again.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
A walk on the windy side
The days have been rather cold the past few days. It's been on average -4C but would be colder when it's windy. Today was still the same. But this morning the sun shone nice and bright. I love it when it's sunny in winter, especially when there's snow on the ground and everywhere. It really is beautiful.
Rather than to stay indoors, it was the perfect day for a walk. We bundled up tightly in our layers. I even had to put on one of Pete's old jackets since mine is a bit short. It's a bit too big for me, but hey, at least I won't freeze my butt off.
When we got outside, the wind was blowing. It wasn't too windy but you can feel the cold air being gently blown at your face. It was cold but with the wind on our faces, we got really cold. But the beauty of the view sort of took our attention away from the cold.
We walked towards a mall just outside of town. It wasn't too far, about 3km away from where we live. So since the day was nice and sunny, we walked. We took a scenic route, along small streets row and rows of cute, cosy looking houses. The snow on the roofs look exactly like the roof of my gingerbread house when I sprinkled icing sugar on it. As we walked, I tried to sneak peeks through the windows. I am very curious to see how the inside of the houses look like. I imagine they would be filled with furniture from Ikea. I could see that at least their curtains were mostly from there.
Anyway, about 20 minutes into the walk, I started to get really hungry. I was getting light-headed and I knew I had to eat. And soon. Breakfast was more than 3 hours ago so I was really starving. I guess walking in the cold makes me got hungry even faster. It didn't help that we were deep in the residential area. The mall seemed so much further that what I had energy for. It didn't help that when we were walking past some houses, we could smell something so delicious, so Swedish. Cinnamon rolls! Some one's baking them! I could smell them! That made me hungrier.
Luckily, we weren't too far away. When we got inside the restaurant, the first thing I ordered was hot chocolate. That appeased my tummy for a bit. When our meals came, we took no time to finish it all. We got very stuffed from our lunch so we had to take another walk. This time, walking inside the mall was so much more comfortable.
It is really great that Sundays have been nice and sunny. That makes it so much more enticing to get out and just enjoy the scenery. On our walk, we also saw many other people taking walks too. Kids were also out to play in the snow or go sledding down the many slopes around the area. The mall was crowded too, though not at all to the same extend of the crowd in Orchard Road back home. In all, the past few Sundays have been great for families to spend time outdoors.
Once we got home, though, we had to keep warm. We opened the windows to air out the apartment before we went on our walk. It was really cold inside when we got home but I wanted to bake something for fika later. What else if not Cinnamon rolls. I had a craving for them since I smelled them this afternoon. The only thing is that the apartment is too cold for the dough to rise properly. It's taking longer since it's so cold. The yeast needs warmth to grow so I have to be more patient to let the dough rise enough before I can bake it. No matter how long I have to wait, I am going to have cinnamon rolls today.
Rather than to stay indoors, it was the perfect day for a walk. We bundled up tightly in our layers. I even had to put on one of Pete's old jackets since mine is a bit short. It's a bit too big for me, but hey, at least I won't freeze my butt off.
When we got outside, the wind was blowing. It wasn't too windy but you can feel the cold air being gently blown at your face. It was cold but with the wind on our faces, we got really cold. But the beauty of the view sort of took our attention away from the cold.
We walked towards a mall just outside of town. It wasn't too far, about 3km away from where we live. So since the day was nice and sunny, we walked. We took a scenic route, along small streets row and rows of cute, cosy looking houses. The snow on the roofs look exactly like the roof of my gingerbread house when I sprinkled icing sugar on it. As we walked, I tried to sneak peeks through the windows. I am very curious to see how the inside of the houses look like. I imagine they would be filled with furniture from Ikea. I could see that at least their curtains were mostly from there.
Anyway, about 20 minutes into the walk, I started to get really hungry. I was getting light-headed and I knew I had to eat. And soon. Breakfast was more than 3 hours ago so I was really starving. I guess walking in the cold makes me got hungry even faster. It didn't help that we were deep in the residential area. The mall seemed so much further that what I had energy for. It didn't help that when we were walking past some houses, we could smell something so delicious, so Swedish. Cinnamon rolls! Some one's baking them! I could smell them! That made me hungrier.
Luckily, we weren't too far away. When we got inside the restaurant, the first thing I ordered was hot chocolate. That appeased my tummy for a bit. When our meals came, we took no time to finish it all. We got very stuffed from our lunch so we had to take another walk. This time, walking inside the mall was so much more comfortable.
It is really great that Sundays have been nice and sunny. That makes it so much more enticing to get out and just enjoy the scenery. On our walk, we also saw many other people taking walks too. Kids were also out to play in the snow or go sledding down the many slopes around the area. The mall was crowded too, though not at all to the same extend of the crowd in Orchard Road back home. In all, the past few Sundays have been great for families to spend time outdoors.
Once we got home, though, we had to keep warm. We opened the windows to air out the apartment before we went on our walk. It was really cold inside when we got home but I wanted to bake something for fika later. What else if not Cinnamon rolls. I had a craving for them since I smelled them this afternoon. The only thing is that the apartment is too cold for the dough to rise properly. It's taking longer since it's so cold. The yeast needs warmth to grow so I have to be more patient to let the dough rise enough before I can bake it. No matter how long I have to wait, I am going to have cinnamon rolls today.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A sunny, snowy day
Just when I thought the temperature was getting warmer and thus more comfortable, it snowed on Monday night. We woke up to snow everywhere. It was beautiful. I always love it when it snows at night and leave a pleasant surprise for us in the morning. But that morning, I wasn't as pleased though. It was still snowing when I left for school. Worse still, it was windy. I walked with my hat as low as possible and my scarf as high as possible over my face. It was difficult to see with the snow getting into my eyes, but I got to school alright.
In class, the snow stopped and started. It's a pity I sat far from the windows but from whatever little I could see, it was really beautiful. I love a sunny, snowy day. When I went home that day, it was snowing again but the sun was still out and it was bright. Snow does that. It reflects the light, I think, and so it looks nice and bright. Cold though, but with nice, warm clothes, I love being out and about on days like this.
Pete and I went to town after school since we had a meeting there in the afternoon. So it was a great day to be out and about. It was cold but luckily for us, it wasn't windy. Perfect. After our meeting, we decided to take a walk. The sun is now out for a bit longer since sunset is later now, so we had a bit more time to walk in the sun. We weren't the only ones with that thought. I could see many people enjoying the sun and snow as well. Or maybe it was the many sales in the stores that drew them out. Either way, it was crowded there.
It's Wednesday evening now, and the snow is still there, even though it stopped snowing yesterday afternoon. After I came home from school today, the day was really bright and the air was crisp. It was -5C but I didn't want to stay indoors. I managed to persuade Pete to go for a walk and again, it was a great day for that. It wasn't too windy or too cold and it was nice and sunny and bright. And there was snow everywhere. We couldn't make a snowman or snowballs though. The temperature was too low for that. Pete says the temperature needs to be above 0C so that the snow can be compacted together and stay in shape. If not, it would just fall apart.
I do hope to get to make a snowman this winter. When the snow in December disappeared, I thought there wouldn't be any more snow, so the latest snowfall was a nice surprise. Pete said that in 2005, it snowed in May! So maybe I would get a chance to build that snowman soon.
In class, the snow stopped and started. It's a pity I sat far from the windows but from whatever little I could see, it was really beautiful. I love a sunny, snowy day. When I went home that day, it was snowing again but the sun was still out and it was bright. Snow does that. It reflects the light, I think, and so it looks nice and bright. Cold though, but with nice, warm clothes, I love being out and about on days like this.
Pete and I went to town after school since we had a meeting there in the afternoon. So it was a great day to be out and about. It was cold but luckily for us, it wasn't windy. Perfect. After our meeting, we decided to take a walk. The sun is now out for a bit longer since sunset is later now, so we had a bit more time to walk in the sun. We weren't the only ones with that thought. I could see many people enjoying the sun and snow as well. Or maybe it was the many sales in the stores that drew them out. Either way, it was crowded there.
It's Wednesday evening now, and the snow is still there, even though it stopped snowing yesterday afternoon. After I came home from school today, the day was really bright and the air was crisp. It was -5C but I didn't want to stay indoors. I managed to persuade Pete to go for a walk and again, it was a great day for that. It wasn't too windy or too cold and it was nice and sunny and bright. And there was snow everywhere. We couldn't make a snowman or snowballs though. The temperature was too low for that. Pete says the temperature needs to be above 0C so that the snow can be compacted together and stay in shape. If not, it would just fall apart.
I do hope to get to make a snowman this winter. When the snow in December disappeared, I thought there wouldn't be any more snow, so the latest snowfall was a nice surprise. Pete said that in 2005, it snowed in May! So maybe I would get a chance to build that snowman soon.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gone to the dogs
The Swedes love pets, mainly cats and dogs. Everywhere I go, there's always someone walking his dog/dogs. Even when I go to the centre of town, I see people walking their dogs, bringing them along on their shopping trips. They would tie the leashes outside the stores as they shop inside. Dogs are even allowed into buses and trains!
I don't mind at all since I love looking at the dogs. I have seen many types of dogs here, from tiny puppies to the very huge Great Dane and Mastiff. They are all very adorable. And I think they are generally quite well-behaved. Apart from some barking sometimes, the dogs followed their owners obediently everywhere.
Pete doesn't really like the dogs though. Well, he doesn't like the dogs owners, mainly because they don't pick up after their dogs and they don't follow rules. There are open spaces and fields around the city and where we live but some areas are supposed to be dog-free. There are signs indicating that but some dog owners let their dogs roam there. Also some dog owners allow their dogs to run unleashed. All these makes Pete uptight about these dog owners.
I used to think that he was maybe a bit too cynical and harsh but after tonight's incident, I am beginning to think that he is right after all. After supper, as we were settling down to watch a movie, we heard a commotion outside our door. We tried to listen carefully and found that the loud noises were the barking of dogs and some shouting. The noises got louder and we could hear footsteps running down the stairs. Then we heard a lady screaming and crying.
After a few more tense minutes of shouting, the noises stopped. Whatever that was, I got chills when I heard the commotion, especially when I heard the lady's voice. Pete later told me that it seemed like a small dog got attacked by a bigger one. From the sounds of the lady, the small one got bitten and was probably seriously wounded. It also seemed like the big dog wasn't leashed. The owners of the small dog were heard demanding compensation from the owner of the attacking dog.
How sad. Having had lost a few pets in the past myself, I could understand the lady's anguish. I am glad, though, that I didn't witness the attack or see the wounded dog. I can't stand looking at animals or people in pain. Anyway, I hope these people would learn from this and at the very least, keep their dogs leashed. I really don't want to witness another incident like this.
I don't mind at all since I love looking at the dogs. I have seen many types of dogs here, from tiny puppies to the very huge Great Dane and Mastiff. They are all very adorable. And I think they are generally quite well-behaved. Apart from some barking sometimes, the dogs followed their owners obediently everywhere.
Pete doesn't really like the dogs though. Well, he doesn't like the dogs owners, mainly because they don't pick up after their dogs and they don't follow rules. There are open spaces and fields around the city and where we live but some areas are supposed to be dog-free. There are signs indicating that but some dog owners let their dogs roam there. Also some dog owners allow their dogs to run unleashed. All these makes Pete uptight about these dog owners.
I used to think that he was maybe a bit too cynical and harsh but after tonight's incident, I am beginning to think that he is right after all. After supper, as we were settling down to watch a movie, we heard a commotion outside our door. We tried to listen carefully and found that the loud noises were the barking of dogs and some shouting. The noises got louder and we could hear footsteps running down the stairs. Then we heard a lady screaming and crying.
After a few more tense minutes of shouting, the noises stopped. Whatever that was, I got chills when I heard the commotion, especially when I heard the lady's voice. Pete later told me that it seemed like a small dog got attacked by a bigger one. From the sounds of the lady, the small one got bitten and was probably seriously wounded. It also seemed like the big dog wasn't leashed. The owners of the small dog were heard demanding compensation from the owner of the attacking dog.
How sad. Having had lost a few pets in the past myself, I could understand the lady's anguish. I am glad, though, that I didn't witness the attack or see the wounded dog. I can't stand looking at animals or people in pain. Anyway, I hope these people would learn from this and at the very least, keep their dogs leashed. I really don't want to witness another incident like this.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
As Swedish as sandwich cake
Pete and I had a craving for something very Swedish -smörgåstårta, the sandwich cake. The first time I heard about it, I was not really in a hurry to give it a try. I love cakes - the sweet, delicious ones. This 'cake', in my mind, is NOT real cake. This one is not made from flour, sugar and eggs. And it's not garnished with buttercream, strawberries or chocolate. This is a savoury cake.
From far, it might look like an ordinary cake but it's definitely not. The cake is actually a huge sandwich with layers of bread and filling, covered with a creamy mixture of mayonnaise, cream cheese, sour cream and whipped cream. On top of that, garnishes such as tiny prawns, slices of hard boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, smoked salmon, cheese and roe or caviar are used to cover the cake. These cakes can look quite pretty, actually.
Once I got used to the idea of a savoury cake, I was willing to try. I can't remember now when I first tried it, but with that first bite, I got hooked. I love sandwiches, so it was very easy to like it. The whole thing was creamy but there lies the skill of the person making the cake. The fillings in the layers should have a nice balance. Here, the fillings are usually made up of egg salad, tuna salad, salmon and pate. Some people put slices of lemon and kiwi and sprinkling of fresh herbs like parsley and dill to brighten up the taste.
The sandwich cake is usually served during special occasions here. You can make them yourself or simply order it from a bakery. There are speciality bakeries that sell these but they are expensive. It could cost about 750kr (SGD 150) for a cake that serves 10 people. You could also buy them from some supermarkets.
Pete and I decided to make one ourselves yesterday. He has made them before but it was my first attempt. The first thing we had to do was to get the ingredients. They are all easy to find except for the bread. They have a special type of bread for this. Instead of slicing the bread cross-wise, the bread is cut length-wise. The longer slices mean that you can build a bigger cake more easily. We went to two supermarkets and two smaller stores and they all were out. It made me wonder if Saturday is the day that people here like to make their sandwich cakes.
Anyway, in the end we bought bread that is semi-circular. That is a much better option than the usual sandwich bread since it's more stable. Using this bread, we would get a circular cake but it's fine. I made egg salad and creamy chicken for the fillings. The frosting was made with simply whipped cream and mayonnaise. We decorated our cake with strips of cucumber, tomato and cucumber slices, prawns, salmon, lemon slices and roe.
Although it looks simple, we really love the look of it. The bright red cherry tomatoes and the green cucumber make the cake look so beautiful and fresh. The lemon slices also make it look nice, but most of all, the tangy juice lifts the dish. When we cut into it, it didn't fall apart. Best of all, it tastes good. And as a bonus, since the cake ended up to be a huge one, we have leftovers to eat more of today! That means one or even two fewer meals to cook today.
(note: At the time of posting, I couldn't upload pictures of the sandwich cake but you can view them at my facebook page)
From far, it might look like an ordinary cake but it's definitely not. The cake is actually a huge sandwich with layers of bread and filling, covered with a creamy mixture of mayonnaise, cream cheese, sour cream and whipped cream. On top of that, garnishes such as tiny prawns, slices of hard boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, smoked salmon, cheese and roe or caviar are used to cover the cake. These cakes can look quite pretty, actually.
Once I got used to the idea of a savoury cake, I was willing to try. I can't remember now when I first tried it, but with that first bite, I got hooked. I love sandwiches, so it was very easy to like it. The whole thing was creamy but there lies the skill of the person making the cake. The fillings in the layers should have a nice balance. Here, the fillings are usually made up of egg salad, tuna salad, salmon and pate. Some people put slices of lemon and kiwi and sprinkling of fresh herbs like parsley and dill to brighten up the taste.
The sandwich cake is usually served during special occasions here. You can make them yourself or simply order it from a bakery. There are speciality bakeries that sell these but they are expensive. It could cost about 750kr (SGD 150) for a cake that serves 10 people. You could also buy them from some supermarkets.
Pete and I decided to make one ourselves yesterday. He has made them before but it was my first attempt. The first thing we had to do was to get the ingredients. They are all easy to find except for the bread. They have a special type of bread for this. Instead of slicing the bread cross-wise, the bread is cut length-wise. The longer slices mean that you can build a bigger cake more easily. We went to two supermarkets and two smaller stores and they all were out. It made me wonder if Saturday is the day that people here like to make their sandwich cakes.
Anyway, in the end we bought bread that is semi-circular. That is a much better option than the usual sandwich bread since it's more stable. Using this bread, we would get a circular cake but it's fine. I made egg salad and creamy chicken for the fillings. The frosting was made with simply whipped cream and mayonnaise. We decorated our cake with strips of cucumber, tomato and cucumber slices, prawns, salmon, lemon slices and roe.
Although it looks simple, we really love the look of it. The bright red cherry tomatoes and the green cucumber make the cake look so beautiful and fresh. The lemon slices also make it look nice, but most of all, the tangy juice lifts the dish. When we cut into it, it didn't fall apart. Best of all, it tastes good. And as a bonus, since the cake ended up to be a huge one, we have leftovers to eat more of today! That means one or even two fewer meals to cook today.
(note: At the time of posting, I couldn't upload pictures of the sandwich cake but you can view them at my facebook page)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
My new favourite store
Finally today, I got well enough to step out of the house. I still have bouts of coughs but I had no headaches, body aches or fever. Anyway, even if I wasn't feeling well enough, I would still have to go out today. We had a meeting with someone in town today regarding our business and so there was no choice.
I could handle the walk to the bus stop. I could even run when I thought the bus was coming. I also managed to get through the meeting. The morning was looking great - windy and a bit cold, but the sun was out and it was a great day for a walk.
So instead of going home, we had brunch at a cafe and then went on a walk. It was a good decision because I came across some exciting finds! We passed the mini Chinatown where the Asian grocers are. We have only been inside one of them and that one didn't have many ingredients that I wanted. I didn't bother to check the rest out because I thought they were all similar and sold the same things. But we had a lot of time today so we checked out another store.
I was pleasantly surprised. I found stuff that I didn't think I could find - fresh pandan leaves that were very neatly wrapped, fresh galangal or lengkuas, soya beans, glutinuous rice and frozen prata. I even found dried bamboo leaves that are used to wrap traditional Chinese dumplings called bak changs. There were also lots of sauces, even the ones produced in Singapore. I am so glad to have found this gem of a store. Looks like I am going to be able to cook more Malay dishes in future. And I'll even attempt to make pandan chiffon cake and kaya. These are the traditional sweet treats back home.
We didn't buy anything today, since we were in the middle of our walk and didn't want to carry anything in our hands. But I am planning to return there very soon - this could well be my new favourite store! When I do, I will be cooking dishes that I have not tried before. Success or failure, I will write about them here, of course :)
I could handle the walk to the bus stop. I could even run when I thought the bus was coming. I also managed to get through the meeting. The morning was looking great - windy and a bit cold, but the sun was out and it was a great day for a walk.
So instead of going home, we had brunch at a cafe and then went on a walk. It was a good decision because I came across some exciting finds! We passed the mini Chinatown where the Asian grocers are. We have only been inside one of them and that one didn't have many ingredients that I wanted. I didn't bother to check the rest out because I thought they were all similar and sold the same things. But we had a lot of time today so we checked out another store.
I was pleasantly surprised. I found stuff that I didn't think I could find - fresh pandan leaves that were very neatly wrapped, fresh galangal or lengkuas, soya beans, glutinuous rice and frozen prata. I even found dried bamboo leaves that are used to wrap traditional Chinese dumplings called bak changs. There were also lots of sauces, even the ones produced in Singapore. I am so glad to have found this gem of a store. Looks like I am going to be able to cook more Malay dishes in future. And I'll even attempt to make pandan chiffon cake and kaya. These are the traditional sweet treats back home.
We didn't buy anything today, since we were in the middle of our walk and didn't want to carry anything in our hands. But I am planning to return there very soon - this could well be my new favourite store! When I do, I will be cooking dishes that I have not tried before. Success or failure, I will write about them here, of course :)
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