Candles & Pie! Yums!

Today is the start of a new week but the very last day of the month. I can't quite believe that tomorrow will be October. Once October is upon me, I always find that the rest of the year is pretty much a blur. Christmas will come and then it will be a whole new year. I do hope 2014 is a much better year than 2013. Just looking at the number 2014 is better.. it's even for a start, which would please Hank and it has the number 4 in it.. 4 is after all, a good number!

This past week hasn't been the greatest but there were a few good moments over the weekend.. for instance, a little story about a gal named Emma. She got up one Sunday morning, got herself a bread roll with honey cream cheese smothered on it and plonked herself down on the couch to enjoy breakfast with a little tv time. Munching away happily she enjoyed the soft sweet cream cheese on her bun. It wasn't long before she had finished and put her plate down upon the coffee table. Just as she did that she decided that she needed her phone and asked "Now, where did I put my phone?" as she looked around on the couch and table. Her trusty well seeing wifey asked if she had actually brought it in with her.. which of course is a stupid question. Anyone who knows Emma, knows that her phone is an extension of her! Emma answered with a very definite yes! Just then, Jo.. the trusty well seeing wife looked at the table and saw the phone... with the plate resting right upon it! That's right, folks! Emma had managed to place her breakfast plate directly upon her phone without realising. I guess that is the 'problem' with the iPhone being so flat?!

While on the topic of Emma, she made a delicious apple pie hybrid.. not quite a pie, not quite a crumble.. but all kinds of delicious! [photo] All I had to do was cut the apples.. Emma did the rest! But to get said apple pie, she had to endure little altercation with an older lady at the apple market. While Emma was trying to pay the older lady got all snotty and wanted Emma to move out of the way. Wait your turn, nanna.. just wait your turn. The apples aren't going anywhere, there's plenty for all. It was after all, a market for apples. They weren't going to run out of apples. Is it really that hard for people to just be considerate of others? It seems it is all ages where people are complete douchebags. I know I am not perfect, but I do think I am more considerate & respectful than the majority. And, don't even get me started on spitters.

We were also at a shady supermarket where a guy.. errrm douchebag cut in line coz he just wanted to buy cigarettes. Lots of heated words were exchanged. The cashier justified the douchebags behaviour by actually allowing him to cut in line.. she had started to put through the correct customers items and then cancelled it out just to do the transaction for the douche. I don't condone this, they have lines for a reason and if you don't want to stand in line to purchase it, then go elsewhere and find a place with no lines. The douchebag was outside waiting for the other customer when we went to leave. This is also where Emma told me that that particular supermarket often has robberies and the like. It is not really a place we go often and I am thankful for that.. but they had a good deal on fabric softener so you know.. it is worth the possibility of a confrontation for soft yummy smelling clothes! Right?! Hahahaha

Speaking of yummy smells, we were drawn into the store that stocks Yankee Candles by the lovely scent that ooozed out of the place. We ended up buying a new (to us) scent for our collection.. 

Salted caramel! OMG! it is so delicious! It is sweet yes, but it is a delicious sweet and makes your house smell good enough to eat! Not that I recommend eating houses.. I could imagine that would be hell on the dental hygiene. Gingerbread houses on the other hand, that would be ok.. in moderation of course!

We also got in a little puppy time over the weekend with the boys, Affe & Hjulle are so cute together! Especially when Hjulle decides that Affe's face needs a little cleaning and gets a-lickin'! We also got a little duck time in and headed to the pond to feed the duckies and check on the bubba ducks! So much cuteness!

We put up a couple of new prints too.. this most epic Caffeinated Owl one [photo] and this Boston one [photo] coz we love Boston! Oh a foxy plate that we picked up from the second-hand store! We also picked up a nekkid lady plate.. but that didn't make it onto the wall. Foxes seemed to be a better fit for some reason.. perhaps from the lack of nekkid ladies on our wall? Nekkid ladies certainly goes with the theme in the town.. many nekkid lady statues around! Truth!

Oh and I have officially drunk the kool-aid. It was grapey! I survived!

Yeasted Pancakes!

It looks like I am lacking again in the blogging department, it is harder to find things to actually blog about when you aren't up to much. Em is back at work and busier than ever. I am Nemo-less and so my days are filled with even less than usual. I have really discovered just how much I talked to him and harassed him. No wonder he had such love for me! hahaha

We have had a portrait commissioned of him, it is currently in the post.. I am hoping it will arrive in the next couple of days. Once it has, and we have it framed and up I will show it off. I have seen what it and it is so truly awesome and I love it so.

This week it has gotten just that little bit colder in the mornings and not to mention darker, we have actually put our elements on to take the chill off. Outside we are having the change in colours, Autumn is here and it is a pretty time.. albeit wet. I mean look at this photo that Em took yesterday as we took a morning stroll.. [photo] We also stopped by to feed the ducks.. [photo] It has been a while since I have been there, it was something Nemo and I enjoyed doing. I think he liked to try and eat the stray bread more than anything.

After our lovely early morning stroll, I whipped up some pumpkin pie spiced yeasted pancakes. What a way to start the Sunday. We polished off our stack of pancakes with some maple syrup and washed it down with some delicious Swedish milk! 

The rest of the day was spent between the parentals drinking coffee and playing with the pups and our couch with a cuppa tea! I also made another bread for the ducks, as when we were there.. we noticed some new late to the game bubba ducks! Of course once it came time to feed them.. it rained. lots. But ducks need to be fed so we donned jackets and headed out! It was well worth it to see them run over the water so fast towards the yummy fresh bread! I really enjoy these simple things in life, I still, would like my own duck pond.

Skånska Skafferiet.

After a very long wait, Em & I finally got around to heading to a little local place called Skånska Skafferiet. Last year, we purchased a 3 course meal gift card for Emma's parentals with the idea that we would go along and have a lovely evening out. Life got in the way as well as operations and the next thing we knew, we were quickly approaching the 1 year validity limit of the card. Em's dad decided he didn't want to go so Em's mum invited someone else, we booked in and Saturday night was our night!

My first impression of the table set up was.. umm.. like they were going to serve breakfast. I did love the wooden plates they used as place mats. I wanted to take mine home. The miss-match of chairs are always a hit in the older, friendlier feel of a restaurant. After all, the were serving new takes on old classic regional dishes. 

Soon after being seated, we were presented with the menu and we opted to go with the drinks package as well. If you can't splurge a little in life, then what is the point? I personally think there is something nice to not having to think about what you will be drinking and having something paired to the meal and all 3 drinks were well suited to the 3 courses.. as expected. I am not sure we actually got enough wine for the cost of it but perhaps that was because we didn't drink fast enough? I noticed the table across from us, who seemed to be swift drinkers, were getting refills.

Our server was quietly spoken and I had a hard time understanding him, which at the end of the meal Em told me everyone else did too so I didn't feel so terrible about my Swedish skillz. With wine and water poured, we were soon served our starter. 3 of us got egg and eel, while Em just got egg. Which is a little bit of a disappointment. We were informed that they cater for vegetarians so we were expecting an additional dish that was vegetarian, not just the same dish minus the 'meat' element. This happened on 3 of the 4 dishes served. Which really means, Em got an incomplete dish. I personally don't feel that they should say that they cater for vegetarians. It was a slight cop-out. 

Back to the dish, it was served in a closed glass container, and when you opened the container you got wafted with a smoky scent. It was a fun and rather nice little way to start the meal.

I am not a fan of eel, but I didn't mind this at all. In saying that, I am not now going to try eel everywhere I go. It is not a must eat for me. haha

For the first course we were served cod, that was similar to that we tried at Nordic Taste along with a 1920's carrot pudding. A purple and yellow carrot salad, tomatoes and a chive cream with a splash of burnt butter. There was a real sweetness to the dish, which came from the cod as it was sugar cured. 

In-between the courses we were served a delicious little frozen apple mouthful to cleanse the palette.. which was loads of fun having the hardcore frozen spoon getting stuck to the mouth! They say wait a little.. I say.. no way!! have fun with it! Why not?! Right?!

Second course was nicely sliced soft deer, a little handmade meatball/short as sausage. Accompanied by a celeriac, discovery apple and truffle infused kale.. stack. Pumpkin! All doused in a delicious sauce. Oh and buttery potatoes off to the side in it's own cute little pot. 

I found the vegetables to be a little hard for my personal liking and the awesome wooden plates as place-mats were the wrong size for the main so my plate kept slipping, due to the fact that my veg was a little hard. It was a little annoying.

Before our last course was served we were asked if we wanted coffee, which we said yes to. 4 times over. 3 cups came out. The English at the table threw them. Then another was given once they realised their mistake. We sat there and waited for the cups to actually fill with coffee.. I started to think maybe it was invisible coffee. We were then served a port wine to go with dessert, still no coffee was served. Once the dessert came out, it was only then noticed that our cups were coffee-less and had no signs of there being any coffee in them that they came out and actually poured some coffee in them. That was it. Black coffee. No milk. No sugar. No love.

Dessert on the table and the chef comes out to set off the dry ice effect. The table filled with the 'smoke' and the whole place went "OOOoooooOOooooo" There was a delicious apple scent that was let out and it was a little bit of fun and theatrics. We tucked into our third course of that sea-buckthorn (like I mentioned in my Nordic Taste entry) and pumpkin ice cream, caramelised apple, vanilla pickled pumpkin and honey roasted nuts.. with a little meringue on the edge of the plate.. which I would have liked more of!

Really delicious end to the meal, I could have gone more of that but that would have been piggish! All in all it was a good meal, I would go back again even with the hiccups, however I was a little disgusted to discover that we were actually charged for coffee, we were only charged for 3 not 4 but still.. at the normal price of 40kr a head, it's a little steep.. especially when you have already purchased the drinks package. I know I will never say yes to coffee there again if we do go back again. It is not a place you could go to often, or even afford to go to often but with the new seasons, comes a new set menu and that in itself makes it a little exciting. Supporting a local business who also uses local ingredients is definitely worth it. I just hope that by the time we go to dine there next that they have worked out their kinks, perhaps they aren't kinks and just lapses of concentrating which show that it is more a family run local restaurant. I would like to see them actually come up with proper vegetarian alternatives. In this day and age, there really isn't an excuse. The chef clearly has talent so it shouldn't be that much of an ask.

Welcome to the Fold!

We have a new addition to the family, the parentals couldn't hold out any longer and they have just welcomed this cute little cairn terrier to the fold. His name is Hjulle.

Isn't he adorable?!

Here are a few more photos that Em and I posted on Instagram..

[look at that butt] [fourpack] [closeup] [instagramvideo - playtime] [he's just so cute!] [cannonball!] [chewchewchew] [the boys together]

And also a video.. the ending is classic.. sound on!

We have spent the weekend saying hello and playing with the new arrival, as well as Affe, he isn't so sure about this new guy coming in and taking control of his bed and toys.. even though Hjulle has his own beds! Polly the bird isn't quite sure of him either.. Hjulle however likes to watch her and it is about the only time he is still.. apart from when he sleeps that is.

We also did a little redecorating over the weekend.. finally got rid of the old couch that just reminds me of the beginning of the end of Nemo and managed to finally get a hold of the comfy couch from the parentals.. which meant we had to totally re-do the living room to be able to fit it. Small price to pay for a free couch! We will still buy a new couch, now we can just wait until we move.. where-ever that may be. We will however, be buying a spunky comfy chair and foot stool to have in the corner by the element for those cold winter days spent reading or on the iPad. & we may have ordered a few more prints for the walls.. one can never have too many! Oh! & a new rug! We need a new rug.. pronto!

I quite like the new layout, makes me feel like I am in a new place.. some change is good with how lonely the place feels. Summer is officially over and the colder weather is starting to appear along with some wetter weather.. life is moving along at a steady pace.. it is hard to believe that we are half way through September already.. I sure don't know where the time goes.