Waiting for the Sluts to Arrive

Okay, now before you get too offended, a simple lesson in Swedish:

Rea = Sale

Slut Rea = Final Sale

Post-holiday shopping swings into high gear with the arrival of the Slut Rea in display windows across Sweden. This isn't just any old sale. It is THE sale. A Slut Rea usually lasts through the end of January. And they usually provide some great discounts. But, this year, they came early (as they did everywhere), but reached unheard of discount levels.

We walked by this store and decided that TJ had to go in and investigate. Who passes by 90% off. Apparently, no one. TJ couldn't find anything in his size.

Don't feel too bad, he has been able to partake in the sales. As is his ritual, each Saturday morning as I sleep in, TJ investigates what is on sale around town. And by around town, I mean IKEA and other home furnishing stores. His shopping usually entails replenishing the candle supply. Or replacing the [poor, sickly] plants that mysteriously disappear on weekends. He is a good shopper. And frugal too.

As for me, I'm pretty good about shopping. I usually don't. But, I did go into this fun store on Kungsgatan called Weekday. On sale for 75% off were a pair of Cheap Monday jeans with a Día de los Muertos skull on the label. Heaven!

But, I could not find my size. Seems like the sizing is geared for all these skinny bitches [and, here, I'm referring to guys] who like the tight style. So, I thought, it was not meant to be.

Until this weekend, when TJ and I went out to peruse the sales. Again, I found myself in Weekday. The sales were gone. Oh no! But, upon closer inspection, there were still tables with sale items. I picked up a pair. It was close to my size. I picked up a second pair. It was my size! Destiny! After the discount, the jeans were 100SEK (~$13USD).

So, thanks to the arrival of the Sluts, I will be walking around town with a Skelly on my ass.

Far East Treat

No, this is not a blancmange. Though it looks like it might have appeared in a Monty Python skit. This is annindofu; a Chinese dessert that is also found in Japan. Translations range from almond tofu to apricot pudding. It is also known as kanten jelly because the main ingredient is agar-agar. Which, of course, has a variety of names around the world, including kanten. Basically, it is a thickening agent derived from seaweed. It is 80% fiber, binds with glucose during digestion, and is part of a diet craze in Asia. Other diets facts about agar-agar can be found here. As for me, it is a new ingredient in my cooking arsenal.

So, annindofu? How did I ever stumble upon this? Well, it is a dessert. But, the story begins with my business trips to Tokyo over the years. I had a habit of eating at convenience stores. The variety of ready-to-eat food was too great to pass up. A far cry from a 7-11 hot dog (no, I've never had on, just referencing it). And, this is where I found the best steam cakes. But, I digress. There were small cups of what I thought was yogurt or custard with white translucent cubes. It was something better. And though I had no idea what it was called, I have been obsessed with it ever since.

Recently, I mentioned this to my friend Tari who lives in Tokyo. And, she not only found the name of this delectable treat, but also provided me with a recipe. I did run into an obstacle finding one ingredient (almond powder), so I searched for more recipes online. And found some here, here, and here. I experimented a bit and came up with my own variation. Mine is much sweeter than regular annindofu. Go figure. The truth is that I accidentally used sweetened, condensed milk instead of evaporated milk in one experiment. Best mistake I ever made.

An optional ingredient and one that was in the stuff I had in Tokyo is nata de coco, the white translucent cubes. Another high fiber ingredient, nata de coco is extremely sweet. The texture takes some getting used to. TJ spit it out. But, I love it. You should be able to find it in most Chinese and Thai grocery stores. Same for the agar-agar/kanten powder.

Here is the recipe. It takes all of 15 minutes to make this.

Swedonia Annindofu
4g (slightly less than 1 teaspoon) agar-agar (kanten) powder
400 ml water
1/4 teaspoon almond flavor
100 ml sweetened, condensed milk

Options:
A few drops of food coloring
1/2 cup nata de coco cubes

Bring the water to a boil. Then, add the agar-agar powder. Whisk/stir continuously until all the powder is completely dissolved. This is key. If you need to, remove from heat and look at the bottom of pot to ensure that no granules are left. Add the almond flavor. Lower the heat and simmer. Add the condensed milk, turn up the heat, and stir continuously. Add optional food coloring here. Let the mixture come to just under a boil. Remove from heat. Pour into cups or a flat pan. Add the optional nata de coco to each container. Refrigerate for a few hours. Then, either serve directly out of container. Or, if you used a pan, cut it up into squares and serve with fruit. Bon appetite!

I leave you with Annindofu at Sunset. Enjoy. [Clicking on image will take you to my Flickr photostream]


One word about the color. Since I made the annindofu with condensed milk, it has a slightly yellowish tone instead of the normal milky white if I had used just plain milk. I wanted to add a little color. But, I added a bit more in order to mask the yellow. Still, it makes a nice contrast with the nata de coco cubes.

Below Freezing

You have just returned to Sweden from a vacation in the Canary Islands where the temperatures were in the mid-20's (that's 70+ degrees for you Yanks). It's cold. Colder than usual for the West coast of Sweden. The ground is actually frozen. So, where do you go? Well, North, of course. To Norway. To attempt a little skiing. Of course. We've never claimed to be sane. Photos of the trip can be found here.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel in the foothills northwest of Oslo: the Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica. It has some of the best views of Oslo and the surrounding area. And, it had a big fireplace which made TJ happy.

Did I mention that it was cold outside? At one point, it was -18C (which is around 0F). C-C-C-Cold. We observed an interesting cold weather phenomenon that occurred in low-lying areas. The surfaces of all objects, both natural and man-made, were coated with ice crystals.



It was a beautiful thing to see. From the inside of a warm Volvo. Okay, we did get out to see it up close and personal. Very cool. As a side note, as we went to pick up the dogs at the kennel a few days later, we observed the same phenomenon in the areas East of Göteborg. My guess is that a moisture-heavy valley fog or low clouds is responsible. And, I'll believe this until someone tells me otherwise.

Now, our idea was to try and do some skiing. We had read the ski reports which indicated there was snow at the resorts around Oslo. Just not a lot of it. This turned out to be the case. So, we (I) reasoned that cross-country might be a better option than downhill. TJ was a novice. And I had not been on CC skis for over 10 years. Those were our excuses. It was not pretty. Funny, but not as much fun. Unless you call bruise-producing spills fun. The trails were practically ice. Poor TJ did not get a good introduction to cross-country. And, I, well, I apologized a lot. And fell almost as much. Though, we did have some fun sliding down a large snow hill without skis.


We squeezed in a day trip to Lillehammer and then it was back to Göteborg. Where, surprisingly, it was still cold. But, not for long.

Parting Shots [Canary Islands]

Bright. Colorful. Exotic. Faded. Textured. Decay. My perspective on the Canary Islands. For more fine art images from this trip, visit my Flickr photostream here.

Colors on the side of a fishing boat in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife.



A rusting fence along the boardwalk in Playa de las Américas.


Home of the most delicious calamari. A colorful cafe on the beach at Playa de Santiago.


The sunny side of the street. Doorways in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.


Hidden on a side street in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, this doorway begged to be photographed.

Sun, fun and the new year has begun

We're back from holiday. Actually two holidays that will be handled in two separate posts. Up first, the Canary Islands. We left Göteborg on December 23rd and after a night's stay in Frankfurt (damn you Orbitz!) we headed for Tenerife on Christmas Eve. Spent the night in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Quaint city. Absolutely shut down on Christmas Eve. But, that didn't stop us from walking about and enjoying the festive holiday decorations. Note: The images below link to my Picasa photo album with all trip photos.


The next day we headed South down the western coast of Tenerife. We stopped at a couple of towns including Puerto de la Cruz. Saw the lighthouse at Punta de Teno. And drove along some pretty steep and twisting roads before arriving in Playa de las Américas. Now, Playa de las Américas is a true resort town (for better or worse) that seems to cater predominantly to Brits. Every restaurant served an English breakfast (lots of beans and sausage). There were more English pubs than in SoHo. And some grocery stores even advertised "we sell English food." Cause who would want to eat paella all the time? Um.....I would. But, at the end of the day, you could always count on a great sunset and cool drink to refocus attention on where you were...


The next day, we headed up. Not just North, but up. To El Teide. The highest point in Spain (of which the Canary Islands is a part) and the Atlantic Ocean at 3718 meters. We waited over 2 hours for the gondola cables to be cleared of ice before we were allowed to head up. Unfortunately we didn't have time to get a pass that would allow us to climb to the summit and inside the crater, but we made due at 3600 meters just below the top. And we were rewarded with awesome views of the surrounding volcanic landscape, nearby islands, and a winter wonderland.


The next day we headed by ferry to the nearby island of La Gomera. We stayed two nights in San Sebastián de la Gomera. La Gomera is a small island that has a large park (Parque Nacional de Garajonay) in the center and coastal towns and beaches at the peripheries. We toured the entire island the first day. Did I mention how steep the roads were? Very. Scary. On the way back, [I made] TJ pose for this photo.


We spent the remainder of the afternoon in Playa de Santiago. At a brightly colored beach cafe, we enjoyed beer, some fried calamari, and a lot of sun. Then back to San Sebastián de la Gomera for evening sangria and dinner. San Sebastián is small but vibrant. The building facades provided a great subject for my photography. The next day, we headed back through the cold, foggy mountains to the warmth of Valle Gran Rey. This little beach and port enclave is well-known by German tourists. The highlight of our trip. Then back to San Sebastián de la Gomera for evening sangria and paella. The paella took 40 minutes to make but was well worth the wait. The wait included a few Dorada cervezas and some almogrote spread made with goat cheese and mojo sauce.

And, then, all too quickly, back to Playa de las Américas on Tenerife. There, we met up with Jenn and Bridget. TJ and Jenn went to Kellogg together. We celebrated TJ's (43rd) birthday. I opted for a variety of treats instead of a cake. The cakes I looked at were the size (and shape) of a log. Still, the four of us did some damage on what we had.



TJ, Jenn and Bridget stayed out until 3am both of our final 2 nights in Playa de las Américas. I was the old man who goes to bed [relatively] early. I did, however, go the distance on New Year's Eve.

We drove back to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. And, as was the case on Christmas Eve, most restuarants were not serving dinner in preparation for the evening's festivities. Luckily, we found a cafe off the main square where we were able to sample Canary Island cuisine. Bars were not opening until AFTER midnight. So, we walked around town for a bit. This small park with tiles benches afforded a nice backdrop for a group photo.



Then, to the hotel to have some cocktails, count down to the new year, eat our 12 grapes by the 12th strike of the clock at midnight, and toast with champagne. And into the streets we went. There was a street with a live band and a group of trendy bars/cafes. We stayed there until the wee hours. The locals, especially, the young, were dressed in their finest suits and dresses. We didn't mind slumming it a bit. A great way to end our winter holiday. You can find all the photos from our Canary Islands trip here.