Consumption of Beer!

On Friday, Emma and I headed into the Malmö Beer & Whisky Festival. We were there for the beer, not the spirits and so we stuck to that.. just as well really coz mixing the pair with the amount that was on offer would not have made for a pretty two-some heading home.. oh who am I kidding! Emma and I are about the prettiest two-some in zee varld!

We went through the beery gates and purchased our ale-cash, scooped up our glasses and got started! I saw in the distance a NZ beer, but it was one I had already tried before, on several occasions so I didn't see the point in stopping by to taste what I already knew. It was a little sad to see it was the only NZ beer there but I guess NZ is a long way. We tried a large varied amount of beer, some more grabbing than others. Like this Canadian brew, City & Colour by Flying Monkeys. It was an imperial maple wheat stout with an extremely bright and out there label! It was the label that drew us in, and then sold us at the addition of maple.. but really, what kind of Canadian brew would it be without maple?! Also, if you are a fan of Dallas Green, City & Colour, whom the beer was 'for' then it was a no brainer to try, coz I like some of his music too. We just happened to be one of the first to give it a go.. here in the land of Swedes. It was really quite good, and I wouldn't mind grabbing a bottle for another occasion.. a specialish kind of occasion at 250sek a bottle.

Just look how awesome this label is?!

This one stood up and screamed loudly, "TRY ME!" It was calling all out, it was named Ginger Joe, I like ginger, my name is Jo(e), it also had a moustache.. an orange moustache at that.. so you know, I really just had to. It was actually really good, it ticked all the boxes for a ginger beer, an alcoholic ginger beer. I would in fact buy that again, especially for drinking ice cold on a hot day. It wasn't anything crazy or out there, it was just a ginger beer and it just so happens that I enjoy ginger beer.. of the boozy and non-boozy variety. I do loves me some Bundy.

We stumbled across a basil beer, yes that is correct. Basil flavoured beer, yes it did indeed taste like basil, it stunk of basil. It was definitely an interesting type drop and not one that I would want to partake in again but the point of these festivals is to give everything a go and that one was so unusual, it was a no brainer to try. 

One beer we just had to try was called Lust. It had actually been banned from retail sale in Sweden because the label was too provocative and I think sexist with a drawing of a large breasted lady on it. However, it was really good and I would drink it all over again. It's part of a whole series, all the sins.. however, we only tried the Lust. After-all, it is the best sin... or well, at least the sexiest!

Not all the beers we tried were great, a couple slipped past in the meh category and others in the nothing special category. One from the meh was a liquorice beer from Helsingborgs brewery. We struggled to actually find the liquorice in it and to be honest, I think it was the worst of the night. Which is a shame coz I do like a few of theirs.. can't win them all. We did sampled from someone else's (no, not a stranger's, that would just be weird!) glass, another liquorice beer that was deliciousness. So it is good to know it can be done well! That particular beer comes from Malmö's youngest brewery, Lilla Ölfabriken and it was called Sideburns.

However, Emma was a winner, consequently I was actually the winner when she managed to nab a beer for nothing more than 5sek (not even a buck!) and a back touch! & then later on the night, a two for one deal. I should get her out drinking more often, she brings in the goods! lol We do have plans for another beer festival, this time in Copenhagen. It is not until May, and it is an early session with the door opening at 10am and then we have 4.5hours to hang with 80 beers and try as many as possible. Emma really is becoming quite the little beer drinker these days, which is nice. Craft beer really has opened the minds and palettes of the people. It has also helped with getting brewers creative juices flowing! Like this one brewer in America released a beer for the season finale of The Walking Dead which was brewed with roasted goat brains! I would love to give that one a try.

This is just a few of the beers we tried, and the snazzy beer glass that we got to take home, to drink even more beer out of! Score! The beer in the middle, well... that one was picked purely based on the fact that it had a dog as the label. A good label can make or break me picking a beer... you know, if you couldn't already tell!

All in all I had a great time, managed to munch on a sausage too, try and buy some yummy cheeses, and even gobbled down a fancy chocolate. Emma chickened out on eating oysters, so I have said that the next time we are in Boston she has to. I am going to hold her to that! bahahahaha or well, hopefully I remember by the time our next Boston trip rolls around. Speaking of trips.. 16 days until Berlin! Not that I am counting or anything...

Colour Me Amused..

So here's a little story that should cause a slight amount of amusement. This is a true story and it happened just the other day in my very own kitchen. No, Emma did not fall over standing still again... that I know of anyway.

Like I said, this story takes place in the kitchen. It stars yours truly, a tea-towel (pictured below), breadboard (also pictured below) and a washing basket. I know, interesting combination and I can only imagine the stories you are concocting in your own minds.

There I was, doing my housewifey duties when I notice the breadboard is all crumby so I take the tea-towel, that had been used to cover the delicious sourdough bread that Emma baked.. which was the cause of the crumbs! I then, pull the breadboard out of it's slot, hold it over the sink and use the tea-towel to wipe the crumbs off and into the sink. Ahhh, a nice clean breadboard I think to myself as I proceed to put the tea-towel down and the head out of the kitchen towards the bedroom where the washing basket is stationed. It's a good dozen steps from the kitchen to the basket and once I reach it, I go to place the breadboard in it. It was only at that point that I realised just what I was about to do. I shake my head, laugh and head back to the kitchen to put the breadboard in it's rightful slot, to discover that the tea-towel was on the floor. I guess I had gone to put the tea-towel in the breadboard slot, coz I am clearly that awesome. Just another day, just another housewife story.

And speaking of stories, Emma has managed to ruin the best part of my housewife stories with the Jehovah's! She answered the bloody door while she was on sick recovery leave. Expecting it to be the delivery of our spunky as Camper shoes. She apologised profusely when she closed the door after being all nice to them and realising just what she had done. Realising she had ruined my life! (Ok, not really) Ruined her chance to witness, in person, the full hilarity of the devil mail slot and the confusion these ladies have when they can't push their flimsy preachy papers through. I doubt I will see them again this year. It was a very sad realisation when it all went down at just how much was lost. It's those small moments in life that make it all worth it. Those small hilarious moments. It's also moments like going to Berlin! Which will be happening in 27 days! Can't wait! Shit is gonna be epic! As always, when Emma and I get our travel on!

Other Stuff & Things!

Emma: Hey baabe, there's a spider over here... can you get me something?

Me: what kind of spider?
Emma: a small one.

*me gets up and walks off to get a piece of paper, comes back, Emma points at a tiny dot on the blanket so I try to coax the spider onto the piece of paper. It doesn't budge.*

Me: are you sure it's a spider?!

Emma: yes!

*me looks even closer at the tiny dot on the blanket*

Me: errr, it's a bit of fluff

*me picks the bit of fluff off the blanket*

Emma: [sheepishly] it.. moved.. like a spider.
Title of above clip... Someone needs glasses.
It also takes me back to the time when she thought a plank of wood was a loaf of bread. [click for a refresher read!] Emma really is the gift that keeps on giving!

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We went a little shoe happy and purchased several pairs of shoes in a single day. 3 online and 2 from actual stores. All spunky! Emma got these.. [Nike] and these [Camper]. I would steal these from her if we even had close to the same size foots! These are mine..

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We also purchased a funky miniature plant from the plant shop, it closes up when you touch it! Ace right?! So as you can imagine, we have minutes of fun several times a day touching the plant to make it close! Life is damn good! 

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We have had some pretty stellar days over the past couple of weeks, the sky from our kitchen window in the morning has been simply wonderful.. examples.. [7th March] [8th March] [9th March] [10th March] The weather forecasters keep threatening us with snow, but I refuse to believe that there will be any more snow this.. side of the year. It's all good weather from here on out, baby! Or well, until Winter rolls around again and you know, the usual rains and bad winds. Someone should really stop feeding beans to the weather gods. We nearly lost our greenhouse and mat on the balcony this morning, and I nearly lost all feeling in my body standing out there trying to re-secure it.

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I shall end this on the most epic blog of animals sucking at jumping, go on and take the few minutes to go through the few pages of .gif's. It is well worth it. There will be tears... of laughter. [click for laughter]

Catch Up!

Our March started with a hospital visit, a 'planned' one but still a hospital visit all the same. Emma had to go in and have them prod her with a robot and remove a lumpy that was inside. For her troubles she got to be blown up like a balloon (if you look really closely you can almost see where they secured her with a string, ok no, not really haha), really spewy, wear her favourite type of pants ever! [photo] AND have 5 incisions on her belleh.. which they stapled together instead of stitching. I went along and watched them take them out 10 days later and it was kinda cool.. they looked just like staples you use on paper! oh and apparently I looked like a kid in a candy store as well as a mother. The nurse asked if I was Emma's mother. I mean really?! Someone needs their eyes checked, coz let's face it.. I am a spring chicken looking gal through and through! No wrinkles here! right... right?!

Half way through the month, Emma is healing nicely and we even managed to head into Copenhagen for the day yesterday. A fun day out before she has to return to the usual grind of work on Monday. Also, I think it was a little reward for me being a fantastic nurse! 

The day started out like any other Friday for me with a little housework and doing the washing, I'm glad that this week was my week off from discovering that something is wrong with one of the machines down there. It is those moments where I curse the fact that we don't have our own in the apartment. Last week, the washing machine held our towels hostage for many hours. I was annoyed to say the least. But anyways, back to our awesome Copenhagen day, we headed off and chugged along on the train, having to listen to a dude with a really annoying voice talk about really stupid things... like clothing brands and walking really fast and the size of his feet. It was easier for me to shut him off but Emma had a harder time with it being her native language. Finally we arrived at the central station a little before lunch time, so we did what you are supposed to do and got a little hotdog and drink before heading off to tackle the outside world of Copenhagen!

First up on the agenda, The National Museum, where we took in some culture and saw some things like we had seen before.. I guess that is one problem with a museum, it is often the same stuff repeated.. coz you know.. history and stuff and things. The Ages stuff was pretty awesome, I will admit. And of course, we saw some things that just made us laugh and also stuff that creeped us the frak out. They really had a hard time back in the day with painting baby faces, often looking like adult faces on baby bodies. The eyes, so large and just creepy. We worked our way around the museum, it was a little back and forth, trying to avoid the noise of class trips but we got it all seen and done and it was a good way to spend a couple of hours and it didn't cost a dime, I think it is pretty awesome when a museum doesn't charge you to go and look at stuff and things. Here are a few photos..

LOOK! Even a little of NZ got in there!
& how weird is that blushy man thing on the bottom left?!

View of Copenhagen from National Museum.. [photo] & be calm.. [photo]

We departed and headed for a department store to buy some chocolate and of course get scented out as we had to pass through the perfume section. That shit is just too much, they need a way of containing all that... stench. We made it out alive, albeit with our nostrils violated a little but we got some Konnerup & Co chocolate to try out, I am still a little sad about missing out on their Christmas range last year. We got some white chocolate and chai coated almonds. Hopefully they will be noms.

Next stop was a supermarket where we grabbed a couple of jars of boysenberry jam, it is not nearly as good as kiwi boysenberry jam but it hits the spot in a pinch. We are on the last jar of our kiwi supply, delicious stuff that be.. but this stuff is pretty good too.. even if it is all smooooooth.

On our travels we stumbled across this rubber duckie house!
There needs to be more of these... just sayin!

We headed towards GRØD for a little foodage, on the way we got to experience a delightful bus ride with some male drunkies 'fighting' and an older lady telling them to be nice. It was nice for some light entertainment to make the bus time fly. We arrived at GRØD, ordered a couple of vegetarian dishes, there wasn't any meaty ones available yet due to it being still before 5.. they were both delicious and proving once again, meat is not required to make a dish great.

After downing our foodage, we headed off to the our bar, Mikkeller & Friends. It really is the best way to finish a day in Copenhagen. First up, we hit the bottleshop where we started off by purchasing 4 bottles to take home.. Vanilla Shake is the one I am most looking forward to trying. Our bounty of beer, stuff & things.. [photo]

After our little beery purchase, we headed into the bar and got started on sampling 6 beers.. you only live once, right?!

#1.. was a little kiwi influence from 8 Wired with Semiconductor. It is always nice to try something from my native land. It was nice and easy to drink but it isn't something I would particularly order again. They had a few bottles of other brews in the bars bottleshop but for over $20 a bottle, I did not partake in bringing some of those home to try.

#2.. because PUMPKIN! We got this one based purely on the fact that it was pumpkin. Brodie's Pumpkin Porter, it went down rather smooth and PUMPKIN! Me likey, we likey! I will admit, I am really loving the fact that Emma has become more willing to get into trying beer.. the girl is developing a taste for the great things in life.. great things, namely beer!

#3.. has the best name! Mine Is Bigger Than Yours! This is a barley wine aged in a muscatel barrel, done by To Øl. It was very nice, very very nice. 

#4.. was a little coffee pick me up.. ok no, it was just a coffee stout with once again, a seriously wicked name! Mikkeller and Amager got together and produced, Hr. Frederiksen Weasel Brunch. Very enjoyable and I have never been big on stouts, but I am liking them more and more these days.

#5.. sounded very interesting, produced by Mikkeller, Orange Yuzu Glad I Said Porter. (Grand Mariner barrel aged) Now it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't on the list to ever pass my lips again. The glass was drunk, it went down but it just wasn't to my liking. Win some, lose some. Don't know until you try!

#6.. rounded out our evening at the bar with a spiced beer from Mikkeller, Dim Sum. Yep, that's right folk's! The name of the beer was called dim sum! It is just a shame we didn't have any dim sum to go with it. It was a good little drop and finished off the evening nicely.

We packed up, headed out back to GRØD for a little dessert. I thought a nice little bowl of appley rice pudd would go down nicely before our trek home. Unfortunately, we misunderstood what they were serving and it was just a apple compot with cream and then a granola type thing on top. It was nice, don't get me wrong but it was nothing like what I was expecting. 

Maybe it was the booze talking, but...
I found the fact that there was a pig statue on a car absolutely hilarious!

We jumped on a bus and after a couple of stops, we jumped off and decided to walk. It was packed and the driver was just too brake happy. We stumbled across a metro station so thought what the heck! Went down and one arrived right away! It was like it was meant to be! We took it to the airport, then headed over and jumped on a train home, which was only a few minutes wait! Score! It was again like it was meant to be! Then it was a train that was going all the way AND with as few stops as possible! No changing at Malmö! Our night was looking to end on the best public transport trip in the history, ok that's an exaggeration but it was looking good. Just as we were pulling into Malmö, an announcement said that we had to depart the train and get on a new train. Foiled! So we had to get all our gear together, jackets on and scoot to the new train but it wasn't all bad, it was comfy and not crowded and soon enough we were in the comfort of our pj's at home munching on some boysenberry jam toast. Bliss.