update – Scandelights

Happy New Year!

Published on January 7, 2022 by Hanna1 Comment

Hello! Hope you’re all well and have a lovely break over Christmas and New Year!

I had two lovely weeks in Sweden over Christmas and really enjoyed a slightly slower pace than I have managed there before. I had more dinners at home with my dear parents than I usually do, and loved it. Every year is trial and error as I try to work out the best way of seeing my friends, spending time with family AND having some time to relax after a busy autumn. I definitely haven’t cracked it yet, but this trip was more restoring than usual, which is great.

As I got back to London I quickly repacked to go to Norfolk for New Year’s Eve. It was so lovely with a little break; no snow, and walks by the beach.

This week has mainly been about getting back into the work groove, pack away our Christmas decorations and tick things off the to-do list.

I hope you all got off to a lovely start of the year. Have you got any new year’s resolutions. I haven’t other than that I will try to write on here more regularly. I have so many recipes to post but have lacked both the time and inspiration to write, but I hope that will change.

Hello from Norfolk!

Published on August 10, 2021 by Hanna1 Comment

Every summer I have the intention of keeping up with the blog and yet I never manage to. It’s already August and I have absolutely no idea what happened to June and July.

Well, I have some idea. There was a lot of the Euros and Olympics, trips to Norfolk and summery days in London as well as some rainy ones.

Now we’re in Norfolk once again and it’s absolutely lovely! We had friends staying at the weekend so did little outings to the beach, to the golf club for lunch, to Holkham and did some shopping in Burnham Market. I’ve also done a lot of cooking, utilising the barbecue at every opportunity.

I go to the farm shops as soon as we need fruit or vegetables and to the fishmonger for weekend shellfish. Love it here!

Hope you’re all having a lovely summer!

Burgers, theatre and a weekend in the country

Published on September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

I’m so pleased I managed to do some more cooking last week, than in the recent weeks. Nothing life-altering but I feel so much better eating proper home cooked food. On Monday I made my go-to fast food supper of rosti with creme fraiche, lumpfish roe and chopped red onions. It’s quick and yummy and I even made some extra for lunch the next day.

On Tuesday we went to the theatre, but as it was a long play we made sure to eat something beforehand. Luckily Bleecker on the Southbank is perfectly located for a pre-theatre burger, which also happens to be one of my favourites!

The play we saw was The Lehman Trilogy at The National Theatre and it was OUTSTANDING! Amazing actors and amazing story! A must see!

And as always when I walk from the office across the Thames to the Southbank I always stop on Hungerford Bridge to admire the view (and take a few snaps). London is such a beautiful city!

The rest of the week I tried on dresses and packed for the weekend. As I like to be prepared I even brought backup dresses, but luckily I didn’t have to use them! But I also cooked and made enough of this pasta with spinach and nuts for two suppers. Really yummy!

Friday night was a chilled out night in, with some yummy food. To stop me from becoming hangry while I was cooking the mains, we had some shop-bought blinis with smoked salmon, soured cream and chives to start. Then steak, roasted new potatoes, homemade bearnaise sauce and vegetables. And we watched some more Handmaid’s Tale and Stan Lee’s Lucky Man.

On Saturday morning we left London for Somerset and enjoyed the beautiful countryside on the way there and stopped at a pub en route for a quick bite. Then it was party and dancing all night long followed by a lunch day before driving back to London and collapsing on the sofa in front of (more) Handmaid’s Tale and some yummy grilled cheese.

Full on!

Published on July 3, 2018July 3, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

Last week went by so quickly, but was filled with fun things! Apart from maybe the baking I did on Monday night. A warm flat due to the lovely British summer gets HOT with the oven on for hours. But the cake turned out great, luckily! And I had ice lollies to cool me down.

Apart from that I’ve just been enjoying the sunshine (I seldom get too warm) and made the most of it. Wednesday evening was spent in the setting sun in a beer garden sipping rosé with one eye on the Brazil game and then pizza afterwards.

For the England-Belgium game on the Thursday we had rosé in another pub and delicious burgers. Afterwards we enjoyed the beer garden till closing as it was such a lovely evening.

Friday I went down to Surrey for the weekend where some friends were having a party and I was cooking. It was a great party on Saturday with games in and out of the pool, lots of prosecco, nibbles and a proper dinner in the evening.

I stayed over that night too and enjoyed the pool a bit more on the Sunday before heading back to London and going to the cinema to see Ocean’s Eight.

Such a great week all around – loving the weather and hoping it’s here to stay!

Taking it easy…

Published on May 2, 2018May 2, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

This week was very quiet by my standards, and it was much needed. The beginning of the week was quiet. I made sure to walk home from work enjoying all the flowers. I can’t believe the lilacs are flowering already, but it’s so pretty and the scent heavenly.

On Wednesday I tried a new-ish restaurant in Clapham and really enjoyed it, so a write-up is coming soon, but here is a little sneak peak.

It’s not often it happens on Friday a few of colleagues and I had drinks. Always lovely and as it starts early it means you get home early too. I was in bed by 10pm and it was perfect.

Saturday was lovely with a lie-in (so needed to sleep!) and some pampering before meeting up with Gaby for a dim sum lunch at Grand Imperial.

After lunch we met up with Rowena and then spent the afternoon at the Dominique Ansel Bakery escaping the rain and enjoying his delicious cakes!

Sunday was totally unplanned and I stayed in with the company of Netflix and a takeaway from Bleecker. So lovely and needed!

Spring and snow in the same week!?

Published on March 19, 2018March 20, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

Friday was such a wonderful day here in London; it was 14C and sunny and it felt like Spring really was here. Fast forward until the next day and it was -1C and snow. Most of the snow has melted again now and I really hope this is it. Spring, please come back!

Apart from the weather changes it was a lovely week. I had some time to myself to just relax and catch up on feel good series such as Grey’s Anatomy (don’t judge!), Madam Secretary and Elementary (yes, crime makes me feel good. Any questions on that?).

But I also had quality time with friends. On Tuesday I met up with my friend Laura at Flesh & Buns for sushi, fried squid, steamed buns with duck and wonderful doughnuts with black sugar caramel.

On Friday I had sushi again, at Sticks ‘n Sushi and an early night. Saturday started with a long lie-in and a blissfully quiet morning before I reorganised my whole wardrobe and tidied up at home. So nice to get it done and so needed!

Yesterday I met up with dear friends from Sweden in town. We had a lovely afternoon with lunch at Carluccio’s, a trip to the playground in the snow (!) and tea and cake to warm up afterwards.

So lovely to spend quality time with my friends in London. It’s always such a whirlwind trying to fit everybody in when I go home so this was a real treat!

Dinner with the girls and a weekend in Norfolk

Published on February 26, 2018February 26, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

BA chicken3.jpg

This past week was just lovely. I had a few evenings to myself but also had a wonderful dinner with Ro and Gaby one night. Ro cooked this really yummy chicken dish with mustard and panko breadcrumbs – recipe here – and we had a lovely time chatting and drinking prosecco.

Gaby brought pudding; amazing doughnuts from Crosstown Doughnuts! We tried three different ones and they were all yummy (yuzu & passionfruit; cinnamon and raspberry) but I think the winner was the raspberry one.

On Friday night I went up to Norfolk for the weekend and had such a lovely time walking on the beach, breathing in the (very) fresh air and just taking it easy.

The countryside there actually looks a lot like the part of Sweden I’m from so I felt right at home, although the beaches here were even wider. It was so nice to be in the countryside and lower the pace for a bit.

And eat nice food in cosy country pubs and have fish and chips by the beach. Now, it’s back to the real world, but that’s quite nice too!