Tastebud : Matcha Ya

10 October 2024

Today's dinner is at Matcha Ya, a Japanese restaurant. I enjoyed my miso ramen (with pork) SEK139, and had a temaki shrimp SEK49. The rice in the temaki shrimp was sort of dry and not sticky enough and I did not really enjoy it. I had a good portion in my ramen. There was not much pork, though. My friend had unadon which is steamed rice with grilled eel (unagi) and egg SEK145. The unagi melts in the mouth. Really yummy! The friend had also onigiri salmon SEK45. Good thing we shared the dessert (photos below), so, in total, I paid SEK218 for my dinner today.

Tastebud : Gojo

7 October 2024

Yesterday, the organisation that I am a volunteer in treated us (volunteers) to a dinner in Gojo restaurant, an Ethiopian restaurant. We shared a beyeaynetu, a mix of hot, spacy and mild stews, chicken stew, beef, vegetarian stew, cottage cheese and salad, served with sourdough pancakes, a local Ethiopian bread known as injera, on the sides and under the stew. It was really yummy in the beginning but soon, the pancakes soaked up the sauce and it was too dry to eat. It would have been nice to have more sauce. Some volunteers said that it was spicy in the stew but it was mild for me.

I tried Ethiopian coffee too. SEK35. It tastes different than brewed coffee or Vietnamese coffee or Malaysian coffee. It was not very strong either so I could sleep when I got home. The coffee was served in a unique coffee pot (made from clay) and we drank from tiny cups. The coffee pot comes with a cushion and wooden cap on top. So cute.

Tastebud : German Beer Hall Norrtull

23 September 2024

It is Oktoberfest and we decided to try a new German beer hall which was a bad decision. German Beer Hall Norrtull was disappointing. I had the German Beer Hall (GBH) burger (185kr) and the bread is thick. I was tired chewing the bread. My burger came with a lot of fries. My friends ordered Schnitzel and they were disppointed as it was frozen meat that was heated up. They could see from the breaded meat and their dish was served with bearnaise sauce which is not supposed to be!

Tastebud : Surfers Stockholm

17 September 2024

My friend and I chose a Chinese-themed restaurant to celebrate Mooncake Festival today. Surfers seems like a place that is recommended. But I do not recommend it. Portions are small and prices are high. When I arrived at the place, I realised I was in a rich-persons area - Östermalm. The street 'Biblioteksgatan' where all luxury brand stores are located is a street next to the restaurant. So, it is not surprising of the high prices. Well, at least I have tried this place and I know that I will not come back here again. Haha!

We shared 4 dishes.

1) 5 individual ribs marinated in 5 spices - 149kr

2) Ginger-scented tofu that is fried twice - 139kr. The tofu pieces are so small... oh goodness. It is tasty, though due to the twice fried. No ginger smell.  

3) Bang bang chicken breast - 139kr.

4) Dan dan noodles -169kr. A small bowl of noodles with 2 pak choy leaves and peanuts for that price. Such daylight robbery. My friend was keen on dan dan noodles so we ordered it. I have heard of this dish and I wondered what is special about it. Apparently, it is the chilli oil. The noodles are slightly chewy.

As usual, I took a photo of my hand with the food to show the size of the portions. See what I mean with the tofu.. 

Ribs in 5 spices.

Ginger-scented tofu. I smelled no ginger.

Bang bang chicken breast. 

Mixed the chicken breast with the peanut sauce.

Dan dan noodles. 

Mixed the dan dan noodles with the chilli oil at the bottom.

Rice is included. Phew. I would be sad if I have to pay for rice. Our rice for 2 in the metal container that is insulated with wood. The rice remained warm throughout the entire meal. 

Self-pick potatoes (2nd time)

14 September 2024

I love this activity so much - self-pick potatoes! Even better when it is sunny. 

We were so lucky with the best sunny weather to pick potatoes! I did this last year and I looked forward then for the next year. Same price as last year - SEK13/kg for the first 100kg and SEK8/kg when it exceeds 100kg. Cheaper than potatoes in the grocery stores now. Stores are selling potatoes for SEK18/kg. I hope the price remains the same for next year self-pick potatoes. 

We arrived early before 10am when it is scheduled to start. There were 15 families in front of us in the queue. It was 9.50am only! Good thing we arrived early as we could finish quickly. We took 30 minutes only to pick 57kg of potatoes - both waxy (fast) and starchy (mjölig). Last year, we picked starchy potatoes only. We picked a full sack of starchy potatoes and a half sack of waxy potatoes. 

The tractor is ready to go on the potato fields and pull out the potato plants.

It is so easy to pick the potatoes once the tractor has pulled out the plants. There were so many large potatoes. Lesson learnt for next year is to not have a full sack. Instead, to get two sacks and fill up to a weight that I can carry. For this sack, a kind man helped me to carry up onto a trailer that goes around to pick up full sacks.