Sawadee!

It was another weekend to be spent at my Parents-in-law's place and so I volunteered to cook some food for dinner.

It's Summer here in Stockholm and fresh groceries at cheap prices are abundant during this period. And I thought it would be appetizing with something sour and spicy. Sawadee it is!

This was what I prepared:

Wok Fried Honey Chicken Bits in Lemon and Oyster Sauce with Leek, Shallots, Rabarber and Ginger

Ingredients needed were simple but the list was quite long. And the most difficult part was de-boning the whole chicken. I stood at the sink for almost 45mins just to get the bones off the meat. Salut to the chicken butchers! No wonder de-boned chicken fillets cost so much more expensive. For the record, it's SEK99 per kg of chicken fillet to SEK20 per kg for one whole chicken. Maybe being a butcher is quite a lucrative business afterall! Ha!

Sarlot's Dreams

I was in Prague between 5-8 Jul together with Olof, who was there to attend a conference. I was totally excited about the trip because I have heard so many good reviews and feedback about this capital city of Czech Republic.

We arrived in style at the Praha international airport with a BMW waiting to whizz us to Mandarin Oriental, situated 10mins away from Charles Bridge. (Karlův most).

Charles Bridge is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Malá Strana. Its construction was commissioned by Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and began in 1357. Baroque statues (a total of 30) began to be placed on either side of Charles Bridge in the 17th century. The most popular statue is probably the one of St. John of Nepomuk, a Czech martyr saint who was executed during the reign of Wenceslas IV by being thrown into the Vltava (river) from the bridge. The statue has been polished to a shine by countless people having touched it over the centuries. Touching the statue is supposed to bring good luck and ensure your return to Prague. I touched it. Ha!

Crossing the Charles Bridge, I stepped into the Old Town. As I meandered through this 12th century old town, hole-in-the-wall shops and cafes lined up along the sides of the narrow but bustling streets, tourists with fat wallets packed the stone pavements, the air in Old Town is filled with commerce and the enthusiasm of a new generation of Czechs who are eager to ride on its booming tourism.

Then I came to know of a 16-year old Czech girl, working as waitress in a hotel as summer job, who aspires to be a Psychologist. But Sarlot has still a long way to go. She has about another 8-10 years before she's any closer to realising her dream. Interestingly, her academic quest to becoming a Psychologist includes 2-4 years of studies in London. According to Sarlot, this is not a pre-requisite, but rather something she wants to do before she enrols into the Czech university. She thinks that fluency in English is very important, if not, extremely important. I really don't know if I can agree with her now, because I think fluency in Swedish is very important, if not, extremely important. Ha!

Back to Sarlot, coming from a blue-collared family, she has reservations whether or not she will be able to reach her goal, since education is not free in Czech. Indeed, this could be one of her biggest obstacles, if not her resolution to succeed. But I believe she will and she can do it, because her eyes sparkle the resolution to make it. I hope to reignite the fire of resolution in me too. I desperately so needed something to propel me forward in this nordic city, where summer temperature clocked at 13degrees celcius when I returned from Prague on Sunday. So summer. I have been lamenting so much about the Swedish weather that it is getting old to me.

Sarlot, all the best to you!

Midsummer 2007 @Gotland, Sweden

Featuring rolling green countryside, forest-lined roads, fine beaches and small fishing villages and the spectacular medieval town of Visby – you’ll find real charm in Gotland. No other area in Scandinavia can boast such a concentration of unspoiled medieval country churches. There are also hundreds – maybe even thousands – of prehistoric sites, including burial mounds, stone ship settings and hill-top fortresses across the island to explore.

This was where Olof and I celebrated Midsummer with his friends too... and some of this friend's friends... and his friend's cousins... and his friend's cousins' friends... quite a big group eh...

Midsummer holiday falls on the Friday of the week where the longest day of the year occurs. This year, it was on 25 Jun. In Stockholm, where we are at the South of the country, the sun rises at 2+am and sets at midnight. In the north, the sun doesn't set at all. Amazing, isn't it?! Midsummer, to me, is a paganish activity. People dance around a big cross decorated with flowers and two big rings of flowers and twigs hung on each end of the horizontal pole. Quite phallic looking actually. Well, Midsummer is a festival that celebrates fertility and good harvests in the summer. But of course, you can imagine the fertility here extends far beyond the crops planted in soil! Indeed, according to one of Olof's cousins, many people are born in Spring, which means their parents conceived them in summer!

Anyway, back to Gotland, the largest of the Baltic islands, was an important trading post from long before Viking times and became a major power base of the Hanseatic League in the 12th and 13th centuries. You can start your trip at Visby, the main port and town of the island, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk around the magnificent three-kilometre city wall, which dates from the end of the thirteenth century. It was built to isolate the city's foreign traders from the islanders and has over 40 towers.

Wander through narrow roads and lanes...