Korean Cooking Class 2018

29 November 2018

For the first time in my life, I joined a cooking class. I am not an excellent cook. I can cook simple meals but I rather that no one else tries them. Haha! Today after work, I joined a Korean cooking class that was organised by the South Korean Embassy. A friend of mine invited me and since there is no fee involved, why not? All the ingredients were prepared and we did not need to bring anything.

This is our menu where each group has to prepare. There are 4 in a group and thankfully, I sat next to a Korean girl (she was adopted and grew up in Sweden) who knows how to cook! There were 14 persons who attended and we were separated into 4 groups.

This kitchen has all the utensils in the world!

Hjulmarknad 2018

24 November 2018

So, I have heard of Julmarknad which means Christmas Market it is very common in December. But this time, I went to Hjulmarknad - Hjul means wheel but the pronounciation of Hjul and Jul is the same. I tell people that I am going to Hjulmarknad with a H. 

Anyone who is crazy about vehicles - cars, trains, trucks and anything with wheels, ought to come here. Too bad it is only for a day. All the collectors' items were selling at not-very-cheap prices.

Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

22 November 2018

Today's evening's visit to Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde is organised by Kompis Sverige. It costs SEK150 for the entrance fee and I had no idea about this place until I saw this activity in Kompis Sverige's website. I will share with you the reason why it costs that much to visit this place.  

On the way to the residential home which is now a museum, we saw a few Santa Claus on the tree. Innovative decoration.

We had a guide to explain to us about this museum. This is the residential place of Prince Eugene. He wanted to be an artist and he studied art in France. He became an artist and was interested in music and photography too. He chose this area to build his residence because it was close to the waters and he wanted to be near to the nature. By the way, the Prince never married because if he married a commoner, he will lose his title and if he married a royalty, she will not accept his artist friends. It sure is tough to be a royalty back then.

Of course, the first thing that greeted us when we went inside the house was a naked statue. Sweden has so many naked statues that I find it weird if I see a place without one.

SMA - Deepavali & Annual General Meeting 2018

17 November 2018

Today, I was surrounded by my fellow Malaysians in a Deepavali event and the Annual General Meeting of the Swedish Malaysian Association (SMA). I had a lovely time today. The minute I stepped in, I heard a mixture of Cantonese and Hokkien dialects, and the familiar languages of Malay, Manglish and Mandarin. I was at home. 

I paid a fee of SEK120/RM60. There were lucky draws where I bought 4 tickets for SEK100/RM50 but I did not win anything, henna drawings, yummy-licious Indian food, games (charades and musical chairs) and karaoke at the end of the event. We voted for a new committee for 2018/2019. 

Tastebud : Wei Dao, A Taste of Asia (2nd time)

6 November 2018

Asian food today which means Chinese food and sushi for me. My friend and I went to Wei Dao. This was my second time here. My first time here was 2 months back where I had sashimi.

I had the lunch offer - 5 pieces of sushi (2 salmon, 2 California roll and 1 avocado) and a wok-fried dish that includes rice. I chose Sichuan wok - beef, capsicum, mushroom and onions with a spicy twist. SEK130/RM65. More worth it than the sashimi I had a month back that costs SEK130 too. A wok dish by itself costs SEK105. It was a big portion, by the way. Well, at least for me.

National Museum of Sweden

3 November 2018

A new museum has opened in town. Well actually, reopened. Sweden's National Museum was closed for renovation for 5 years. Can you see the museum at the far back in the photo? It is the brown colour structure. Best part - free! Well, not all places. There was a temporary exhibition which needed entrance fee, so that was avoided.

Excuse my humongous face in the photo. :-)

There was a queue to go inside the museum. It was crowded inside the museum and so I believe they need to gradually let the crowd in at a slow pace. Of course, the first sculpture that greeted us is a half-naked statue. Stockholm has a number of half or fully nude statues. Culture shock when I visited Stockholm the first time. 

Alla Helgons Dag (All Souls' Day) 2018

3 November 2018

All Souls' Day. I was here in 2017 - Skogskyrkogården (pronounced as 'skogs-sheer-ko-gor-den'). Here I am again. It is one degree colder this year. 8 degrees. We were here early at 6pm and there were not much candles lit up yet. The candle in the small jar costs SEK10/RM5 in the grocery mart but was selling at double the price outside the cemetery. 

This year, we did not walk through the graveyard but went inside the chapels.

This is the smaller chapel. I was surprised to see that the lamps are the shape of a cross.

The main chapel has a mural of the departed leaving on a ship while others waved goodbye. Lightly colored murals which leaves a soft calm feeling. The main chapel has very weak Internet signal. I wonder if this is done on purpose? So that no one fiddles with the phone during a funeral.

Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum)

27 October 2018

Today, I visited Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum), Sweden's number 1 museum! Vasa is the name of  a warship that sank in 1628 and recovered 333 years later. Once again, a huge thanks to Kompis Sverige for this visit which comes with a 1-hour guide. I learnt so much! I did not visit this museum when I visited Stockholm for the first time in 2015. I did not even know then about Vasamuseet. Then, when I moved to Sweden last year, I found out about Vasamuseet's fame but I did not step inside due to the entrance fees of SEK150. When Kompis Sverige put this up on their website, I did not hesitate to click 'join'!

This is it, the humongous warship that is still standing proudly after 390 years. Gosh, 3 centuries. How did it survive so long? Right after it was rescued from the bottom of the waters, the ship was sprayed with water and glycerin for 17 years to preserve it. It is not sprayed anymore but the museum is kept at 18 degrees with minimal light. Any wooden item will break and disintegrate once it is exposed to the air, when it has been in the waters for 333 years. 

Here is a bit of history on Vasa ship.

The ship took 2 years to build. Experts were called in from Germany & Holland. The leader was from Holland but died within a year and his wife, Margareta took over. The team was not blamed when the ship sank because the King approved the voyage although it was highlighted in the tests that the ship is not fit for sailing. There were about 150 persons on the ship. 30 did not make it. Swimming was a skill not many had as waters back then were associated with diseases, monsters and filth which were dangerous. Those survived were saved by the boats that were close to the ship. 

The bolts were broken when the ship was recovered. They were replaced with non-corrosive bolts that can adapt to the wood expansion due to temperature and humidity. Our guide showed us the non-corrosive bolts.