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Meeting fellow food bloggers

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During my long weekend in Gothenburg I had time to meet up with two food bloggers. Both Åsa who I had lunch with on the Monday and on the Saturday Charlotta invited me over to her flat for some icecream.

She had made three different types of icecream; raspberry, blueberry and liquorice (how Swedish!) and served them together with an amazing liquorice sauce that even non-liquorice lovers would like.

It is fascinating how well you can get to know someone online. We talked about that and realised how much we know about each other, and meeting IRL was a good way to fill in the gaps.

Friday update

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It is Friday again, and that means a little London update from me.

It has been a short week because of the Monday bank holiday, but I still managed to go out twice. On Wednesday I met Gaby at Busaba and enjoyed calamari and a crab pad thai. Delicious, and I really must say that this restaurant chain is great value for money. The food is fresh, tasty and cheap and although dining at communal tables with benches the interior is very pleasant with dark wood and burning incense.

Yesterday I met up with four girlfriends at da Polpo, where I have been before, and we had a great time as always. It is another great-value-for-money-place and it is nice to go out with friends for a nice meal without it being too expensive.

I have not made a weekly menu for next week, because we are going away, but during this weekend we will enjoy the following, probably:

Have a great weekend!

Summer’s last lunch?

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Our dear friends Ian and Anna have moved to a new flat and last Sunday we came to visit for the first time.

The flat is large and light and situated just by the Thames. They can just open their doors to the patio, take a few steps further onto the grass and then they’re by the river. I probably don’t have to tell you how jealous we were, living in a flat without both balcony and patio.

With the doors wide open and the sun shining in, we enjoyed a lovely lunch. First salad, olives and garlic bread, followed by stuffed chicken breasts with feta and sundried tomatoes served with potato and broccoli mash, asparagus and green beans.

Ian had made a heartshaped cheesecake for dessert. Not heartshaped because he tried to be romantic or anything, but they had lost the regular tin while moving. 🙂

It was a perfect Sunday with great company and good food. Almost felt like it ended the summer, seems to be autumn from now on…

Friday update and weekly menu

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Wiie, it is Friday again! And for us it is not just any weekend, but a bank holiday weekend with Monday off. Poor Christopher is working the whole weekend, where as I will be going to Gothenburg, Sweden to visit my friend Linus. Best friend Emma is also going there, so it will be a nice weekend with old friends.

I haven’t been very outgoing this week, have just stayed in cooking, baking and sorting out other chores. Oh, and packed my bag for the weekend.

But I still have something nice to report, thanks to Time Out. A Swedish pop-up fika place is coming to Soho Square, last day today. There will be Swedish coffee and cakes and apples from my part of Sweden (the south).

If you need some inspiration for the coming week’s suppers, here is what we’re going to enjoy:

Friday: Nigellas seafood bake with potatoes and homemade mayo

Monday: pork cheek confit

Have a great weekend!

Friday update and a weekly menu, sort of

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I skipped the Friday update last week because of the sad news of the riots in this lovely city.

But things are back to normal now, and regular people have claimed back the city. It almost feels like a bad dream what was happening here 2 weeks ago.

This week I have been extremely tired, after a shock to the system of being back to work for a full week. But I had time for meet up with my friend Jenny for a fro-yo at Snog one day after work. I tried a green tea version which was nice, but didn’t taste that much of tea. Jenny chose passionfruit which tasted more and was really nice. Apart from that it has mostly been early nights, but at least I have a busier weekend. I will spend the day tomorrow with my friend Nick, we will go to a few (food) markets and have a nice dinner. He’s basically showing me some of what East London has to offer. On Sunday we’re going to Ian and Anna’s new flat for lunch and a much needed catch up.

The autumn is nearly here and it feels like people are getting organised for weekday life again after the summer holidays. Most blogs show this by posting a weekly menu, which is great for mid-week dinner inspiration.

I plan our meals too, most weeks, but I usually decide what to eat but not when to eat it. And I prefer to start my week on the Friday because that is when I get the weekly shopping. I like to have a well-stocked fridge for the weekend and indulge a little extra then.

The following week, starting today, will look like this in our household:

Friday: sirloin steak, celeriac gratin and port and porcini sauce

Sunday: out for lunch, so paninis with salami in the evening

To post a weekly menu is more for my own sake, but hopefully you will find inspiration from it too. It is just so difficult to think of what to have for dinner some days, don’t you think?

Have a nice weekend!

Back in London

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It is insane that a week can pass by that quickly! We had a lovely time back home in the south of Sweden and got to meet up with both friends and family.

We got back last night to a pretty much closed London, the shops on our high street closed early and we were lucky to get a take away pizza before they closed as well. It seems like it was a quieter night last night though, and plenty of police on duty.

I will tell you all about our holiday as soon as I have caught up on work, washed some clothes and sorted the photos. Tomorrow in other words. 🙂

Friday food

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Staying in the summer house means no internet, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make, so instead of the usual Friday update I will show you what we like to nibble on on Fridays.

We really enjoy nibbles, but for dinner they need to be quite substantial. Pork rillette with pickled onions and cornichons is good, together with some nice crusted bread. And chakuterie; parma ham filled with a mixture of cream cheese and chopped sunblush tomatoes (it’s lovely!), chorizo and saucisson. We also shared a baked camembert, which is pure heaven. Adding onto the French theme we also had some proper French butter with sea salt crystals. Together with chilli mayo and crema di balsamico this was a lovely meal.

Friday update

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Friday again, my favourite day of the week. This week has been fairly quiet, due to the holiday coming up I think. I am suddenly aware of how tired I am.

After a weekend away it was nice to relax at home this week, but at least I have had time for baking and cooking.

We’re off to the cinema tonight. For the first time in our part of London, Clapham, and I am ashamed to say that we have lived here for over a year now. We have been to the cinema in this year though, not often, but a few times, but usually we go straight after work in central London or to see obscure (no, not really) Swedish films that only the arty cinemas show.

Tomorrow, we’re going to Trinity for the tasting menu to celebrate dear Gaby’s birthday. I am tres excited about that, haven’t been to Trinity for, let’s see now… 3 months. That is too lon! We don’t have to cook at all this weekend as we are going for dinner at our friends Jess and Chris on Sunday, and on Monday we’re eating out again, at St John this time, to celebrate my birthday.

Have a nice weekend guys!

Another Friday, another weekend

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This week has just whizzed by, although the weather has been grey and miserable. I love Fridays in general and this Friday in particular; because I have the afternoon off today to go to a spa with my friend Jenny and get pampered. After that we’re grabbing a bite to eat and, later on I will meet up with some friend and play boule and drink wine.

I have absolutely no plans for the whole weekend otherwise, and I love that feeling of freedom sometimes. I can do whatever I feel like. Maybe sunbathe if the sun is out, or maybe go shopping, visit an exhibition or stay in and bake and cook.

As mentioned above, London is not a nice sight today, grey and miserable and rainy, so I prefer this photo of the twilight in Lymington, near Southampton. Much nicer…

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Midsummer luncheon

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Yesterday we had a lovely lunch at Ian and Anna’s house, so us scandos (Anna and me) could celebrate midsummer. There were eight of us, and everyone brought something for the meal, so we had a very international selection of food. Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Polish and, of course, English.

The weather was gorgeous so we stayed outside in the garden and cooled down with first Pimm’s, then white wine.

The first course was fish: two types of herring (mustard and dill), matjes cheesecake (more herring), smoked salmon on rye bread, borgis (Polish cabbage stew with sausage), salad and bread.

Second course was meat: shaslik (Russian lamb scewers), meatballs, Salad Olivier (Russian potato salad with sausages, mayo, gherkins, apple..) and Polish piergi with cheese and potato.

After that we had to take quite a long break, then we had two desserts; English Eton Mess and Swedish strawberry cake (which is compulsory for Midsummer).

It was a lovely day and to be able to sit outside in the sun, eating and drinking and chatting – that is quality time well spent!

Matjes cheesecake, serves 10

6-8 slices German style rye bread

50 g softened butter

400 ml creme fraiche

200 g cream cheese

75 ml mayo (Hellman’s)

1 tin matjes herring

1 bunch of chives, finely chopped

salt

white pepper

3 gelatine leaves

1 tbsp water

Mix the bread into crumbs. Mix with the butter. Cover the base of a 20 cm springform. Press properly. Chop the herring. Mix cheese, mayo, creme fraiche, herring and chives. Season to taste. Place the gelatine leaves in cold water. Squeeze out the excess water. Melt on low heat in a pan with 1 tbsp water. Leave to cool slightly. Mix with the herring mixture. Spread it out in the springform. Cover with clingfilm and leave in fridge overnight.