Dalarna: Part 1 - Njupeskär

29 April 2018

It was the long Labour Day weekend. Time to explore more of Sweden. While Stockholm is approaching spring (and goodbye to winter), my partner decided to go back to winter. I forgot how cold winter could be. We were in Dalarna for the weekend, and there was still 1 meter of snow! Dalarna is situated north west from Stockholm and is about 9 hours' drive. 

We went to Njuperskär (pronounced as 'yu-per-hweh') Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Sweden of 93 meters. The waterfall is frozen and one has to trudge on 1 meter height of snow and not sink in. I sank in a couple of times. Initially, I was afraid and then I got used to it.  

Kompis Sverige: Theater and Concert

I found out about Kompis Sverige (pronounced as 'kom-pis s-veh-reah') in December 2017 and never got myself to research more about it, until one fine day, I got bored with all the Meetup activities and wanted to do something different. So, I went into Kompis Sverige website, and entered into a whole new world of theater plays and soprano singing which would never have been possible for me due to the tickets' prices. 

Kompis Sverige is a non-profit organisation by Red Cross that helps foreigners to integrate into the Swedish society. Bless their kind heart because it is REALLY difficult to integrate into a Swedish society. Kompis Sverige connects foreigners with Swedes and befriend one another. Unfortunately, I am not privileged to that because I live in Stockholm municipality which does not have an agreement with Kompis Sverige to connect me with Swedish friends. Do I have any Swedish friends? Just one - my mentor at work. I went on a guided walk once upon a time and the tour guide said that all Swedes have found their friends by the time they are 5. Haha! It sounds funny but it is the truth. It was difficult for me initially without a friend when I came to Sweden. Then, I found out that there are a number of websites that offers this 'getting-to-know-a-Swede' as a friend - which shows that it is not easy to get a Swede as a friend. Swedes are reserved. It is part of their DNA. Don't ask me why. Soon, I started school (to learn Swedish) and I have friends from other parts of the world except Sweden. Haha! The irony when I am in Sweden.

In the website, there are a list of activities where one can click to join and if you are late, you can join the waiting list and may be able to join if you are lucky. So far, I have clicked to join concert performance, theater play and a musical comedy. At no cost. Thank you, Kompis Sverige. 

26 February 2018

Final rehearsal of a play titled Ilya. It was staged in Kulturhuset (The Culture House) - a blue colour building. The play is about a lady who lost her daughter, found her but the child was sent to social services because the parents were not in a condition to bring up the child and finally found her again after 10 years. A 3-hour play with a 15-minute pause. A staff came out and rang a bell to get the crowd back in.

22 April 2018

Play by William Spetz. I had no idea who he was but apparently he is quite well known in the arts and acting industry. A 15-year old told me to check him out on YouTube. It was a 1.5 hour play about his memories of his late grandmother. His performance was amazing and he managed to hold the crowd's attention the whole time. He even got a standing ovation at the end.

Sakura Flower (Japan) Festival 2018

21 April 2018

Japan is in town! Japan organised its festival in collaboration with the blooming of the sakura flowers which marks the start of spring. Unfortunately, the sakura flowers were not in bloom yet and they bloomed the following week. This year's festival is special because it marks the 150 year anniversary of Sweden and Japan relationship. Also, the 20th anniversary of the first Sakura tree planted in the venue - Kungsträdgården. Today was extremely and overly crowded!

Culture Night Stockholm 2018

21 April 2018

Stockholm appreciates art and culture. Theaters, plays, music, comedies, and with their various museums. So, it is not surprising to hear of Culture Night Stockholm. A night where a majority of museums, culture houses allow free entry from 6pm to midnight. So, one needs to choose wisely on the places to visit. I can't wait to explore more of this next year!

I chose to go to the Royal Swedish Opera. I have always seen this from afar but never entered in because you need a ticket to see a performance. So, on this evening, I got to go in for free. 

1) I saw a short ballet using visual technology. Just a 5-minute virtual reality play. One get to see the dancers closer through the eye-wear.

2) I listened to a short opera performance. It was packed in the concert hall. It is a beautiful hall, by the way. I left after 10 minutes. 

3) I listened to a live opera performance right before me. The 2 opera singers were just 5 feet away from me. Amazing!

Archipelago - Gällnö

14 April 2018

Today's outing to Gällnö (pronounced as Yell-ner'), one of the islands in the archipelago. Mind you, this was still winter in Sweden, or at least the end of winter. It was a 2-hour ferry ride from Stockholm. Although it was winter, it was sunny and about 12 degrees. 

As it was still winter, the island was empty. It is usually packed during the summer. Plus, the place has only 20 houses. 

Baker wannabe : Onde-onde

2 April 2018

I made onde-onde. I know, I am shocked myself that I could do it. This has always been my favourite delicacy because I love it when the dark palm sugar oozes out when I bite into it. 

Nyonya are descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, and Malacca, inter-marrying with local Malays and combines Chinese, Malay and other influences. Nyonya refers to the woman and the man is referred to as Baba. Source from wikipedia. Onde-onde is one of their delicacies. 

Onde-onde is boiled glutinous rice ball infused with pandan leaves extract, filled with palm sugar and rolled with dessicated coconut. I grinded the pandan leaves and got the natural green colouring. I got a 454g Thai palm sugar (SEK19/RM9.50) which is lighter in comparison to Malaysia's palm sugar. So, you can imagine how sad I was when I could not see any dark palm sugar oozing out. It was transparent instead. Nevertheless, it tastes like onde-onde! Success! I never imagined it was so easy to make it.

Recipe:

• 80g glutinous rice flour
• 10g tapioca flour (use lesser as it will result in the onde-onde being harder)
• Gula melaka / Palm sugar - smashed into small pieces
• 25g sugar
• 60ml pandan leaf extract
• 50g desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix salt and desiccated coconut. Steam for 15-20 minutes. Add sugar to glutinous flour and tapioca flour. Add a little bit of pandan leaf extract and mix to dough. Keep adding the extract slowly until you get a nice dough. This needs your own estimation. I ensured mine was sticky but not very sticky.

Roll the dough into a long piece. Break into small bits. As I made this a couple of times, I got lazy into rolling to a long piece. I tore from the dough and rolled them onto my palm. Of course, the size varies in this method. 

Flatten each piece. Add small pieces of gula melaka. Ensure that they are really small and not huge chunks as it is easier to melt when it is small. Roll into a nice ball.

Put into a pot of boiling water. The balls are cooked when they float to the surface. Scoop out and mix or roll it around in the desiccated coconut. I got 17 balls of onde-onde.