Posts Tagged ‘things that make me smile’
Tractor, food and too much nature
Coop Online
Who said living on an island was inconvenient?
I finally tried Coops online delivery service and must say, I am impressed: The tractor arrived at my garden gate 16.00h sharp and off jumped Göran with a smile. He is the man with the motorized float, electrical delivery trike and the mini- excavator. He also never drives any of these vehicles without sunglasses. Read the rest of this entry »
Fruit styling – a recap
Mangoes on fire
The swedish speaking community has already given this some attention and with the latest spread to the car industry, I think fruit-styling deserves a translation.
Selling your place requires serious styling in Stockholm. All apartments and houses are so white and light and fresh and modern, there is no chance you will get a good price when your house looks like your house. Read the rest of this entry »
Impressions with mirrors
You can never leave
I have now officially had the most remarkable hotel experience ever. Adam & Eve claims to be heaven on earth and the song they have on eternity loop in the lobby confirms that “you can never leave” either. Their concept is to take their guests to another world i.e. confuse them to the max and start with using mirrors instead of wallpaper. Read the rest of this entry »
Hello Kitty, Manga Margarine and the secret of crema
Continental spread
Butter, toast and jam come in threes, at least in the UK. The years as a colony have successfully planted the idea in Indian heads, that every foreigner wants cardboard with sugar mousse to kick off their day. I usually don’t belong to this category, but learned on a trip to Martinique, that countries with amazingly ripe tropical fruits can make a so called continental breakfast quite delicious.
India has not yet Read the rest of this entry »
Upside down or the cars outside B’s window
Life
I ate dinner at Beautiful B.’s house on the weekend. She made the most fantastic meals to prepare us for our trip to northern India and I learned new words and unpronounceable names, how turbans are warm and hurt on your forehead, that Punjabi and Hindi are to each other like Swedish and Norwegian and I tried mouthrefreshing Paan in the most amazing colors – served in my favorite little silver box.
As we talked our welcome-wine through the inner city apartment, P. wondered how it was going with the traffic outside the livingroom window – expecting an answer about the quality of super-sound-isolation-double-glass. Read the rest of this entry »
Career opportunities down under
Happy Mining
I have been registered with one of Sweden’s big recruiting companies since I moved here. Poolia asks you to take about three hours of your time to fill out their templates, mark empty fields and choose three options from 154 scroll downs. But is worth it because you then you receive tailor made career tips in your immediate surroundings.
I have laughed at their absurd suggestions many times before and thought I would share this one. Read the rest of this entry »
Homestyling Huddinge
Light and fresh
Homestyling is a big thing in Stockholm. Apartments and houses have such a high level of average styling, that it is hard to sell your apartment, if you unveil how you actually live. There is a flourishing business called “homestaging”, that pimps your place with exciting wall colors, Philip Starck chairs and Bauhaus lamps for the couple of weeks it is on sale. This costs a couple of thousand Euros but you sell the place for 20% more and it is so worth it. The housing market is perfect to a degree, it’s scary. Read the rest of this entry »
The world outside my window
Sparkles
The world outside my window was tremendously beautiful today. I immediately stopped complaining about the sudden snow (50 cm in a 24-hour-blizzard) and the wolf we had on our plot last week. It is probably blinded by the light anyway.
With a bit of luck and persistence, you can get freckles even at 15 degrees minus.
Fika, Fredde, Laxative
Sunday
Taking a long, sweet fika is a classic Swedish way of either getting away from work for a little while, or preparing physically and mentally for a tough hour to come. An average fika consists of filtered coffee, a cinnamon bun and at least one colleague. The matching feeling is “fikasugen” by the way, meaning “craving a fika”.
Before heading out for some spontaneous brain stretching on sunday, I took a luxurious fika in the suburbs, with about 27 kids and about as many dads in their 40ies.
Gateau Djursholm, a guarantee for good coffee, fantastic everything – and a lot of dads in their 40ies, Read the rest of this entry »
Love, waffles, horses and the power of cups
Affirmation
Der hat doch nicht alle Tassen im Schrank. He’s missing some cups in his cupboard!
Han har inte alla hästar hemma. His horses aren’t at home.
Der hat doch ne Schraube locker! He’s got a screw loose – at least this one matches, even in Swedish.
You recognize them when you see one but these expressions always just miss the familiar wording. Why? Bad hearing in the Middle Ages? Read the rest of this entry »
