Baker wannabe : Apple Crumble Muffin

25 September 2017

After my first baking attempt with apple jam, I continued with my next baking session that involves more apples - apple crumble muffin.

As advised by my aunt, I took the recipe from Guai Shu Shu. It was simple and I could understand all the ingredients.

Recipe:

• 150 grams of shredded apples (I took 2 big apples)
• 100 grams of melted butter
• 200 grams of self raising flour
• 150 grams of brown sugar 
• 50 grams of fresh milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• 2 eggs
• Preheated oven 180 degrees

Crumble ingredients: Put all the crumble ingredients in a bowl. Use finger tips to rub the butter against the flour until it resemble coarse crumble form.

• 90 grams of plain flour
• 60 grams of cold cut butter
• 30 grams of brown sugar (I made the mistake of omitting this out so that it will not be sweet but it turned out to be the key ingredient. Haha! The crumbles were very crumbly. I had this in my second attempt but it does not seem to make any difference.
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Check out the weigh scales that my boyfriend has. I had no idea how to use it and it took me sometime to figure it out. It costed him SEK50 from a flea market. 

Firstly, peel and chop the apples. Then melt the butter. This is how I melt my butter! So old school. I could have just put it in a pot and melt it directly. 

Then, add the shredded apples with eggs, melted butter and milk. Use a tablespoon to stir until well mixed.

In another dry bowl, sift the self raising flour, baking soda and cinnamon powder. Add the sugar, stir until well mixed and make a well in the centre. Add the apple egg mixture. Use a fork or flat bladed knife to swiftly and quickly mix the batter. Do not over mix and lumpy batter is acceptable. 

Caving in Klövbergsgrottan

24 September 2017

Today, I am doing caving! My very first caving in Stockholm. I was surprised that there are caves in Stockholm. This place is in a nature reserve and located in Tyresö (pronounced as 'tee-reh-ser'). I have been to 4 caves in Malaysia (Gua Kandu, Gua Sanding, Gua Batu Maloi, Gua Tempurung) and I wanted to see how different it is in Stockholm. 

The name of the cave is Klövberg (pronounced as 'clerv-beh-ry'). Grottan means 'the cave'. It is a 300m long cave that is formed as a result of a collapsed mountain from above. 

I took the bus to Tyresö Centrum and then bus 819 towards Tyresö Brevik where we alighted at Ällmora. Walk 1300m towards Noretvägen 40 or Klövbergsgrottan. Since there was only one bus that goes there in the morning, most of the participants were in the same bus.

Baker wannabe : Apple Jam

23 September 2017

Being in Sweden has made me adventurous in the kitchen. As I have the kitchen utensils to my disposal, I thought I shall try baking. I baked in Malaysia but I was assisting my sister instead. They always said that there can never be more than 1 chef or baker in the kitchen. So, she gave the instructions and I followed. 

As it was the autumn season which is also the apples season, my boyfriend and I went to pluck apples. For FREE. I thought that my first attempt at baking will be making apple jam. There was a girl in my Swedish class that made apple jam for her son and she told me that it is such an easy recipe. It truly is an easy recipe except for the 'apple-peeling-and-chopping' part. 

Recipe:

• 4 apples
• 1 inch of ginger (you can add bigger slice if you are a ginger fan)
• A spoonful of honey to taste (I replaced sugar with honey. I suppose people use sugar also as a form of preservative.)
• Lemon juice (important to maintain the freshness)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder

All these measurements can change as you desire. There is no hard and fast rule to my measurement. My aunt always said - Agak-agak. That means 'somewhat' in Malay Language. I guess that comes with years of baking experience.

First, peel all the apples and chop them to tiny pieces so they turn to jell-o easily when you boil them. Four apples took me about 45 minutes. 

Görväln

16 September 2017

Today's hike goes to Görväln - 14km. There were about 40 persons who joined. I think it was mostly due to the organiser, Joachim who is pretty knowledgeable in lots of nature stuff. It is the guy with the sunglasses and black jacket. So, the group was split into 2 with the other group led by another organiser. 

During our walk, we paused for lunch and there was a mini competition on how to build fire. It was good knowledge. And Joachim explained a bit on mushrooms too. As it was autumn, mushrooms were abundant. Enjoy the photos!

Apple Picking at Ekebyhov Slott

17 September 2017

Autumn in Stockholm also means apple picking! I did not know that it was possible to pluck apples here in Stockholm till my classmate in Swedish class informed me about it. And the best thing was that it was free! Of course, I am keen to go for it because I have never seen an apple orchard / garden and pluck them! This place - Ekebyhov Slott (means castle) is quite a distance from Stockholm, but it is nevertheless, accessible by buses. I was chauffeured there by my boyfriend. Hehe! 

This is Ekebyhov Slott which does not like a castle, in my opinion.

Drinks are not cheap here, as I am jobless. Haha! The cheapest are the alcohol-free drinks. 

Flea Market in Enskede

9 September 2017

I did not understand the concept of flea market until I came to Sweden. I have seen one flea market in Malaysia where they have one in Amcorp Mall during the weekends but I have been there twice only. I was not very interested then because shopping was not my thing. 

The flea market in Sweden is bigger, well most of it. You can find a flea market outside a home too. Often, communities organise it during the weekends and they organise it huge. Sometimes, classes (from school) take part to fund their class trip and they usually sell food and drinks. The sellers need to pay to book a spot. The items here can be anything. Clothes (mostly), shoes, books, old (which they call as vintage) items from anywhere or anytime (can even be old lamps or old sockets - you will be surprised that people actually buy them), cutlery, jewellery, paintings, and of course, food. The items are sold at a really cheap price. Besides flea market, Stockholm has a number of second-hand shops - Myrorna, Stadshuset, Röda Korset (Red Cross). In some flea markets, they have games for kids, and the one in Enskede that I went today has pony rides. 

Ever since I knew about flea markets and second hand shops, I buy most of my clothes from here. I bought a winter jacket here, winter boots, all my working clothes, and some of my casual clothes (and that is because that I did not bring much with me from Malaysia). They are really a good buy if you are lucky.

Erstaviksbadet to Bagarmossen

2 September 2017

Today's hike goes from Erstaviksbadet to Bagarmossen - about 18km.

I soon gathered that the longer the distance, the happier people get as they are happy to get their exercise. Most usually ask how long have we walked, or how long did we do today, what is our predicted distance. Back in Malaysia, distance was never a question. It was a question of how steep, type of trail, and how many hours to the peak. Well, there is no peak here. So, the question differs. It took a few number of hiking to get used to that question. 

We took bus 26M from Slussen bus station towards Solsidan. It was a beautiful trail and I love it best, when we went up some rocks and saw a view of the lake with a single red house at the opposite side of the lake. We passed by Hellasgården where I soon came to know that it was a well-known spot for people to hang out in as it has an outdoor gym, site for sports, cafe, a sauna and it was definitely a family friendly area. Today's hike - follow the blue mark!

Oktoberfest 2017

31 August 2017

Today, I went for an Oktoberfest. We have a similar kind in Malaysia but I never attended before because I don't drink and my circle of friends don't go for Oktoberfest. Well, since I am in Stockholm, why not? I invited a friend to join me but she cancelled on me the last minute. It was held in Stockholmmässan, not in the exhibition hall but in a huge tent in the area. I took the train here.