Tastebud : Österlånggatan 17

25 April 2023

Colleague's treat again! Yay! This time, we went to Österlånggatan 17. Yes, that is the address and place's name. I think that is very smart although it confused me in the beginning. Plus, the name is quite long for  a non-Swede speaker to remember. 

As I have not been eating fish recently because it is expensive, I had fish for dinner in this restaurant. This is Charred Arctic char with lemon sauce and smoked salmon brandade for SEK289. Brandade, according to Wikipedia, is an emulsion of salt cod, olive oil, and usually potatoes. Well, for my dish, it is with salmon instead of potatoes. 

For dessert, I had espresso creme brulee with raspberries for SEK115. I love the espresso taste inside it. This dessert is very small so do not be fooled by the photo. Check out the photo below for the size of the dessert in comparison to me. 

Tastebud : Austin Food Works

15 April 2023

New grill place to try! Austin Food Works. I am starting to like grilled food and can appreciate the flavour. So far, I have been to AG (this is my first experience in tasting grilled meat and it has been my benchmark ever since) twice, Grill (I had grilled lamb) and GUTE (this was almost as good as the one in AG. Almost). Grilled meat in burgers do not count here.

For my boyfriend's birthday, I treated him to this restaurant as he likes grilled meat. We got a BBQ plate for 2 persons for SEK699. It is not as good as my previous grilled meat experience. We were very full and took some back where we had it the next day which tasted better. I could enjoy the taste when I am not very stuffed. To enjoy this meal, you need to be really hungry and have done heavy work for the day.

The food on the BBQ plate as plucked from their website - Smoked brisket, Austin ribs, jalapeno & cheese sausage. Served with butter seared corn cob, dill pickles, mac N´ cheese, coleslaw, Austin style black beans, chipotle hot sauce, BBQ sauce, corn bread with whipped butter. 

The mac and cheese was too much for me. Also, I am not a fan of macaroni and cheese to start with. I enjoyed the sausages and austin ribs. 

Tastebud : La Neta - Bar

15 April 2023

Mexian food! 2nd time at La Neta but this time at a different branch - Bar. The first experience I had was in Söder (South) in 2019. We had grandes tacos for SEK70 each. Since there were only 4 different types of grandes, we ordered all flavours and shared between the two of us. Grandes = big in Spanish. 

The four flavours in their website:

1. Alambre - Shredded chicken fillet with onion, paprika and bacon

2. Gringa - Marinated pork with pineapple

3. Campechana - Marinated pork and beef with guacamole

4. Pirata - Roast beef with guacamole

I like no. 2 best because the taste of the pineapple was sharp and gives a contrast to the pork. Two was sufficient for me and I am glad we shared the meal so we could try each flavour!

I realised that I do not know what is a taco and here is the definition of it, according to Wikipedia - A taco is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. To understand what is tortilla - round, thin, flat bread of Mexico made from unleavened cornmeal or, less commonly, wheat flour. The difference between tortilla and the bread that we eat on an almost daily basis is that tortilla has no yeast added inside the flour so the dough does not rise. 

Tastebud : Choco Mania

11 April 2023

After the meal at Mama, we headed to have dessert at Choco Mania which is in Mall of Scandinavia too. We shared a waffle that was drizzled with milk chocolate (OMG, SO SWEET! but it is dessert, so it has to be sweet) and white chocolate, topped with banana and strawberry slices, a scoop of ice cream and whipped cream. SEK105 shared between 3 of us. 

I walked back home after this meal, so I did not have any guilt. Haha! 

Tastebud : Mama at S2

11 April 2023

Next try at Mall of Scandinavia's food court - Mama that sells grill and deep-fried chicken. I had Crispy Chicken bun as advertised on their counter. I took a photo of the real thing next to its advertisement just to compare if they are similar, and they are! SEK135 for the chicken bun and SEK25 to have sweet potato fries. The crispy chicken was so delicious and crunchy! 

Description of the crispy chicken bun - Harissa marinated & cornmeal breaded fried chicken thigh fillet in a brioche bun with aged cheddar cheese, lettuce, dijonaise & pickled cucumber. Served with fries and sour ceam.

Tastebud : Maiz Mexican

5 April 2023

Mexican food for dinner at Maiz Mexican. This place got pretty crowded fast and it was very noisy as the restaurant is small. It was difficult to hear one another if there is a large group nearby which happened to us.

I had the nachos plate for SEK159 and we shared (the 3 of us) Mexican hotwings (chicken wings) for SEK95, sweet potato fries (camote in the menu) SEK79. The sweet potato fries were very addictive. I think sweet potato fries, in general, are very tasty and yummier than the usual potato fries. Boyfriend had tortillas - 2 for SEK165 and 1 for SEK85. There are different fillings and his had the slow-cooked pork shoulder and chicken. 

I was very stuffed from the nacho plate. I think it is due to the melted cheddar cheese. It is minced beef.

Pottery

18 March 2023

I tried my hands in pottery! It has been in my 'to-do' list to try pottery and when the opportunity arose for an English-speaking pottery course at Medborgarskolan, I signed up for it. The course was split into 3 different times - a weekend (10am to 4pm) and a half-day on a Saturday (10am to 1pm). I paid SEK2995 for it. It was a bit expensive for me but I have been waiting for this for too long. In this course, myself and another lady were total beginners while the others are experienced. It felt quite demotivating for me when the person beside me was making a kettle and plate while I was struggling to make a 'pot-like' shape that does not fall. 

On the first day, the instructor gave a brief introduction on pottery and informed that we will be using the 'wheel' where the wheel spins while we form a shape on it. The spinning is controlled by our foot which steps on a pedal. I learnt that there are different types of clay and today, we used black clay. The clay used is not part of the course fees that I paid. It costs SEK85/kg and I used in total, 3kg for the course. One slices the clay chunk with a wire and weighs the clay prior to using it.

Then, one massages and kneads the clay to remove the bubbles. It reminds me of kneading a bread dough. I could not take many photos while I was working with the clay. on the first day. I made several weird shapes. After a while, I got the hang of using the wheel and could make a small pot. There are two pots that I am proud of while the others are weird. The instructor said that I added too much water (one has to add water gradually while forming the shape so the clay glides from your fingers as the wheel spins) and the clay was 'tired' and the form falls. To fix that, one has to leave the clay to dry and that takes about a day but one can use a heat gun to dry the clay. At the end of the first day, we leave our creations to dry and will paint and trim as well as clean it up it on the second day.

Second day. My dried creations.

The instructor showed us how to make a pretty bottom but mine was hideous as I could not control the tool on the clay while spinning the wheel. So, I did on one pot only (look how ugly it is) and the rest of my creations had a flat bottom.