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New York: Longest walk ever part II

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Due to problems with WordPress, I had to split one post into two, and this is the latter half. Please read the previous post for more NY pictures.

Brooklyn Bridge

Trapeze School New York is situated on FDR Drive and is featured in Sex and the City

The last part of our walk was along FDR Drive and onto Brooklyn Bridge, a walk around Brooklyn and back over the bridge. FDR Drive felt very cosy, walking along the waterfront.

Claes at Brooklyn Bridge

Cool, huh?!

NYC Skyline

We continued over the bridge with its fabulous views of the city. Back on Manhattan after the Brooklyn detour our feet were pretty tired, and we realised in the cab back to the hotel how far we had actually walked. Great day though!

Looking forward to: Taste of London

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I am so excited about Taste of London in two weeks time in Regent’s Park. It will be my first time at Taste and I can’t wait. Hopefully I will get a seat to listen to Jason Atherton, where as the only real Nordic touch is Anna Hansen, but tshe will be there on a different day.

I got my ticket in the post yesterday as well as the Taste specific currency crowns (feels just like home) that you can spend on different dishes. Bring it on!

 

Jubilee Weekend

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In Britain we have a nice long weekend ahead, to celebrate the Queen reigning for 60 years; a diamond jubilee. There are lots of things happening in London to celebrate this; a flotilla on the Thames, street party on Piccadilly and a festival in Battersea Park among other things.

Food wise British classics will be in focus and I am quite excited about finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, jugs of Pimm’s and a nice gin & tonic.

The most funny food thing happening around the Jubilee must be the special edition of Marmite, called Ma’amite. Click on the picture for the link to an article.

Memoirs with food

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Every time I visit my friend Gaby I have a look in her book case and last time she lent me two memoirs with recipes, a for me new genre.

One of the two memoirs is written by Anna del Conte, whom Nigella Lawson has mentioned as one of her inspirations to Italian cooking. Funnily enough, Anna mentions Nigella in this book too. Risotto With Nettles, as it is called, is definitely worth reading. Anna tells us about her childhood in Milan, what it was like in Italy during the Second World War and how she ended up in Britain. Further we get to follow her family life and career and at the end of every chapter follow a few recipes. Apart from the lovely stories and the fabulous recipes I am very impressed with her ability to write in English; you certainly do not notice that Englsh is not her native language.

Madeleines In Manhattan is Colette Rossant’s memoir called. She guides us through her childhood on Egypt and later in France, yhe move to New York?, her career and all her travels.

The language in this book is a bit more basic than Anna del Conte’s but the fabulous stories more than make up for it. I can’t wait to try the recipes either.

This is a new genre for me, which I really enjoyed reading.

Scandi tip #23: mini trips to Scandinavia

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Today I’m off to Gothenburg for a long weekend, and I advise you to do the same. It is very easy to find flights to many Scandinavian cities, and unless you are really into winter holidays the best time to visit is definitely now in spring, during summer or early autumn before it gets dark.

I have friends in Gothenburg so I have been there many times before, but it is the first time for my friend Laura to visit Sweden so I will do my best to be a good tour guide. She is also running a half marathon (that’s the reason we’re going) while I will do my best to cheer. Apart from that bit we plan to eat well, eat as much of fresh seafood as we possibly can and hopefully spend time with some of my Swedish friends.

 

Happy Easter

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It’s Good Friday and I am on the way to the airport because I am flying home to Sweden today. I am so looking forward to spending time with my dear parents and friends.

It is just a four day break for me, but I have really been looking forward to it. Tonight I will be able to hug by best friend again, enjoy my mother’s roast lamb and relax. Tomorrow we’re having a proper Easter buffet (recipes to follow of course) and I hope I have time to meet up with one of my oldest friends as well. Sunday is a girly day with Malin and Emma and on Monday I hope to go the woods with my mother and pick plenty of wild garlic and wild anemones as they are flowering now.

Happy Easter dear readers!

Keep pizza dough?

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On Sunday when Nick came over for dinner I made proper Italian pizzas and used the recipe serving four, because you always eat more when you have pizza.

This time though about half the dough was left over despite our good efforts, so I put the dough in a bowl, covered it with clingfilm and put it in the fridge.

On Monday when I got home from work I just rolled out some of the dough to a pizza and it was superquick since the dough had already risen the day before. I repeated the procedure on Tuesday since there was another chunk of dough left and I enjoyed it just as much.

I wasn’t sure the dought would keep elastic enough being kept in the fridge for a few days but it worked really well, so if you ever get dough over just keep it until the next day.

All the best for 2012

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2012. A new year, even a new beginning perhaps. New Year’s resolutions?

None of the latter for me, more than trying to indulge in less rich foods sometimes, and instead enjoy more healthy, but still delicious, foods.

Whatever your new year will hold for you, I wish you all the best! I can’t wait to toast in champagne when it strikes midnight, sing Auld Lang Syne and say Happy New Year twice to my Swedish family and friends (because of the one hour time difference) and listen to the only song by ABBA that I atually like:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

Some last minute NYE tips

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If you, like me, haven’t planned NYE properly get, I hope I can give you some last minute inspiration by showing you what we had last year. It was a lovely dinner among friends and a proper New Year’s feast.

First we had some nibbles with tapenade, basil cream cheese, sunblush tomatoes and with serrano ham, goat’s cheese and crema di balsamico.

To start we had lovely fresh lobster from Borough Market that I cooked myself and then baked in the oven quickly with garlic and parsley butter. Simple yet delicious!

For the maincourse we had wild ducks with hasselback potatoes, endive gratin, small carrots and a creamy sauce.

And to finish everything off, we had the classic vanilla creme brulee.