Eldfesten (The Fire Festival)

19 March 2019

Today, Stockholm celebrated Chaharshanbe Suri, an Iranian festival that is celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday before their New Year, which is known as Nouruz. Nouruz also marks the beginning of spring and it is the day where the daylight and night hours are equal. The celebration was held at Skansen, Sweden’s open air museum. Skansen is a huge museum and I can only think that there are a lot of Iranians in Sweden. Chaharshanbe Suri is associated as the fire festival as people celebrate it by jumping over small bonfires to purify themselves and forget the old year.

There was a display of the Haft-sin (seven foods beginning with the letter sin (س‎)) indoors. I did not know it represented something until an Iranian friend showed me her Haft-sin. I asked her what have you seen? Hilarious!

There was a huge stage where a number of performances were being carried out. I saw a fire performance, because it is, after all, a fire festival. It was 3 degrees and luckily, I was dressed in warm clothes.

The highlight of the evening for me was to jump over the bonfires. They are gas-ignited bonfires. We went to look for food but there was an extremely long queue and I did not want to wait for the food. So, I went back.

Tastebud : Relais de la Gare (second time)

18 March 2019

French food for lunch at Relais de la Gare. It is my second time here. The first time I was here, I had sourdough bread with cheese. I had club sandwich with fries and bacon slices and chicken pieces. SEK195 that includes salad and tea/coffee with pastry. It was a huge sandwich by the way. I shared the fries with 2 other friends of mine. 

I feel that french food is really expensive.

Hallwyl Museum

17 March 2019

Today, I met up with 3 of my friends from Kulturkompis and we visited Hallwyl Museum. Not many people know about this place although this museum is conveniently located in town. It is a house that belonged to a rich family and was donated to the local district. This is my 3rd time visiting this place, and I find this time the most educational. I believe it is due to my improved Swedish vocabulary. I can understand what I am reading and I can appreciate the place better. The first time I went, it was my first summer in Sweden, so it was a month after my arrival where I visited all the free museums in Stockholm.

Plus, there was an exhibition of women empowerment during my visit. It was on the main woman character of Hallwyl House. Her name carries the Hallwyl's family name. 

This is the armory room and it is mostly for displays. The owner bought all this stuff to show status. And in my head - gosh, with all the money he has, and he invested in armory that he cannot use.

Korean performance - Coreyah and Nanta

14 March 2019

I had a fantastic evening watching the performances of 2 Korean groups (Coreyah with the instruments and Nanta with the kitchen equipment) that were brought to Stockholm to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sweden and Republic of Korea's diplomatic relationship. It is as if I just watched a live performance of K-Pop concert! The Coreyah group even wore the colors of a Swedish flag.

Coreyah is a Korean music ensemble consisting of 3 performers of traditional Korean instruments, one vocalist, one guitarist and one world percussionist. Nanta is a non-verbal performance integrating traditional Korean rhythm with comedy and drama in the kitchen. 

The event started with an opening speech by the Ambassador of Korea. 

The Coreyah performance took about an hour and it was fantastic and lively. The drummer spoke and I thought he was cute on how he expressed himself. Haha!

I had no idea about Nanta until I saw its performance. The group came in by creating music with kitchen equipment and danced up to the stage. It was definitely loud because they were hitting pots and pans but there was a rhythm, of course. Nanta was really hilarious with their comical actions in the kitchen. I laughed out loud which I never expected myself to. Finally, it ended with the group playing their make-shift drums from barrels.

Tastebud : Cassi Restaurant

14 March 2019

Today, a friend and I had French dinner at Cassi Restaurant. The street has a couple of French restaurants because the French ambassador stays there. 

I had sauteed beef with rice. SEK190 that includes salad and bread. Friend had sausage, sour cabbage and potato for SEK188 and we shared a non-alcoholic beer for SEK44. The food is nice but the taste is nothing different from the usual. So, I am not sure what is French about it. The place has a nice ambience and it is opened between 4.30pm to 8pm. It got pretty crowded by 5.30pm. I suppose this place does not need much advertising at all since it has short operating hours during weekdays.