Wednesday recipe: Ensalada rusa and how do you cut?

I am not sure yet of the significance, but I feel that I reached a new level of intimacy with my MIL this summer when she asked me to help her make dinner!! You see, Spanish (and Italian, and probably Greek as well) mothers don’t let just about anybody into their kitchens – it is their territory and they guard it fiercely! I had actually been allowed to cook once before, a Swedish smörgåstårta but that was O’s idea and this time it was on her initiative and we worked together.

An old Spanish kitchen – in the apartment where O’s parents first lived when they got married. One of our projects is to clean and renovate the whole apartment… eventually

The dish we made is called ensalada rusa (Russian salad) and is a classic in Spanish speaking countries. The base of the salad is potatoes and mayonnaise, and the other vegetables are optional and changeable. I love potatoes, and to a certain extent mayo but as I am trying to watch what I eat (sometimes at least, ha ha), I asked if we could go easy on the fattening stuff… My MIL was very kind and decided that we wouldn’t add any mayo and let everybody help themselves to it at the table. (My parents-in-law, O and his brother finished a whole jar of mayo that night, while I didn’t touch it!)

Ensalada rusa
2-3 boiled potatoes
1-2 boiled carrots
a handful of green peas (if fresh, boil them quickly, if frozen thaw them in room temperature) or another type of beans
2-3 hard-boiled eggs
optional: a can of tuna, white asparagus
olive oil
mayonnaise
salt & pepper

Cut the vegetables and eggs in small cubes and pour some olive oil on top. Add generous amounts of mayo if you want a “true” Russian salad.

Spaniards loooove mayo as you can see on this photo with tapas

I was very happy that I finally got to help out at cooking dinner, even if it was just cutting veggies, but I felt so silly… Why? Well, I can’t cut “in the air” – I need a cutting-board!!! In O’s family everything is cut “in the air”; bread, vegetables, chorizo, fruit is peeled and cut without a cutting-board… Sometimes a simple piece of wood is used for cutting bread. I feel like such a child for not knowing how to cut without a board! O usually helps me by peeling the fruit or cutting the chorizo, but you can imagine how silly I feel…

Fortunately the boiled potatoes and eggs were quite soft and I managed to peel them and cut without a cutting board but I could feel how my MIL was watching my [lack of] technique. I would have been in trouble if the potaoes were not boiled and needed to be peeled without a peeler – don’t know how to do that either! And fruit – forget it, if it is too soft to peel with a peeler… but then again, I hardly ever peel fruit anyway.

When we were in Spain in February, we had an indoor BBQ / pic-nic with O’s friends in an old cottage – the Spanish girls quickly made a tuna salad… without a cutting-board!

Afterwards I said to O that we need to buy a cutting-board or two from Ikea to keep in his parents’ house – and he reminded me that we have actually already bought 2 cutting-boards, that are still wrapped in plastic and stored somewhere in his mother’s kitchen! I definitely need to find it for next time I am asked to assist at dinner-making (or maybe she will never ask me again after having seen how bad I am at cutting) 😕

Can it be a cultural difference? Or a generational one? Or a combo? I asked my aunt when she was visiting us, and she said that she always uses cutting-board as well, and that both her mother (my grandmother) and grandmother would always use cutting-boards.

How do you cut? And do you need a proper peeler to peel vegetables?

To finish the post, a quote from my MIL:

My son C is no longer a Spaniard, he likes pepper on his food!

O’s mother never uses pepper in everyday cooking, only salt and sometimes oregano*. I have no idea if that is typically Spanish or maybe regional? C and his German girlfriend have bought a pepper grinder that I use all the time to my MIL’s amusement… Fortunately she doesn’t take it as criticism of her cooking, phew!

*) Everybody is very surprised when they hear that I use fresh or dry basil (albahaca) in cooking – in Aragón it is used to keep mosquitoes away (typically planted beneath the windows).

Wednesday sandwich & a new etiquette poll

Today I am blogging from the big mall, Plaza las Americas, where the Alliance Francaise has an information stand at the moment. I should be informing about the French classes that start next week but unfortunately most people are asking me questions about the mall itself – where are the bathrooms, where has Banco Popular moved etc. I have also helped a surprising number of French tourists, who were very happy to be able to speak French at the mall. 😉

The information booth at Plaza las Americas

While waiting for prospective French students, I take the opportunity to share a new Wednesday recipe:

Bocadillo Cubano (Cuban sandwich)
– half a “pan de agua” (or baguette)
– a few slices of ham
– a few slices of roast pork (pernil)
– mustard
– a few slices of cheese
– pickles (sliced whole gherkins)

Fill the sandwich with these ingredients, heat it if desired, and enjoy! It is a classic sandwich in Puerto Rico (and Cuba, I guess) that you can find in panaderias and cafeterias all over the island.
My aunt and I tried it for the first time in La Bombonera in the Old San Juan together with my Peruvian colleague M. The sandwich was a bit too big for me but I love the combo of pernil, cheese, mustard and pickles!

Bocadillo Cubano and lots of fries – not the healthiest of lunches…

And to the etiquette question of the week:

When my aunt arrived to San Juan two weeks ago, she talked about her experiences of travelling alone. Everything went fine but she thought that it was a pity that nobody was really interested in talking to her on the two flights. We had a long discussion about whether or not we talk to people next to us on planes, and if yes, when during the flight…

My travels are almost always done alone, for example O and I have only travelled together to / from Puerto Rico a few times as I usually stay longer in Europe than O. When I was single I would very often travel alone to visit family & friends, i.e my holidays were not spent alone, only the travelling to and from places. I actually prefer not talking to other people when travelling – I bring a book, magazines and music (and I sleep like a baby on planes, trains, buses and cars*!).

If the person next to me starts talking to me, I fear that with a little encouragement from me they will never stop and leave me alone to do my thing (reading, sleeping…). Another reason might be that I have met my fair share of freaks when travelling alone and I prefer avoiding those kind of experiences!! My poor aunt was wondering if people had thought that she was a freak when she tried to speak to the passengers next to her but I don’t think so! Maybe I am the “freak” for not wanting to be more social and friendly when crammed together in a plane for hours? Let me know what you think!

*) My best friend and I once travelled by train from Switzerland to Hamburg – I turned on my walkman and fell asleep… and woke up just before Hamburg! My friend was sooo bored, ha ha!

Wednesday recipe and an quickie update from the summer house

Blogging from the summer house where my father is taking a break from his work, which means that I can use his computer and internet… My sister has bought a “mobile internet connection”* so we will be able to use our own computers next week, instead of fighting for my father’s 3G-card connection.

A Swedish summer breakfast – NB the marmelade on top of the cheese

Everything is great in Sweden, except that O is not here – but he arrives on the 11th July. Before that I am going to Strasbourg for my friend P No 1’s wedding (civil ceremony on Friday, religious wedding on Saturday), visit my grandmother and aunt in the old summer house, and celebrate my father’s 60th birthday (shhh, he doesn’t want us to really mention it) and my own birthday…

The sun has been shining, it has been 25-30 degrees every day and I swam in the Baltic on Monday – it was 21 degrees! A Dutch friend and her boyfriend came on Monday and we had a very nice time catching up before they headed to Gotland – fortunately they had already booked their hotel because this is probably THE busiest week on that island (all the politicians and organisations in Sweden meet every year in Visby for debates and conferences).

And before I forget, the Wednesday recipe (the etiquette question will have to take a summer break): my father and I went to a small village nearby to check a flea market. It was quite a disappointment but we visited a farm with storks where they sold fresh vegetables. We decided to buy cauliflower even if we suspected that we would be the only ones to eat it… Fortunately my brother’s girlfriend also likes cauliflower!

Cauliflower in vinaigrette
– a small cauliflower head
– white wine vinegar
– olive oil
– French Dijon mustard
– salt & pepper
Put the trimmed (the green parts) cauliflower head upside down in a bowl with water and a few drops of vinegar. Check it after 15-30 minutes to see if there are any worms or insects… Boil the cauliflower (head up!) in water and some salt until the consistency you like – we forgot to check on it and it became a little too soft.
While the cauliflower is boiling, mix the olive oil, vinegar and French mustard together for a simple vinaigrette. When the cauliflower is ready, drain the water and pour the vinaigrette on top.
Serve with a side salad or as a side to grilled fish.

*) If anybody else is interested in how to get a cheap internet connection to the summer house without a landline, I will let you know as soon as I know more about the details 😉

Wednesday recipe & etiquette: O’s Yummy Sandwiches and the same dress twice

Since I am busy packing for Europe and preparing the apartment for our next visitors, O’s brother C and German girlfriend G who will arrive one day earlier than us to San Juan end of July, the Wednesday recipe will be very short and concise:

O has become an expert sandwich maker in the last 4 years and he is in charge of making our breakfast sandwiches on the weekends. He is a sandwich artist!! Always using cucumber and tomatoes for decoration, he has completely adopted the Swedish way of making sandwiches, however using olive oil instead of butter:

O’s yummy sandwiches
– whole grain bread, lightly toasted (since I broke our toaster we nowadays use a grill pan on the stove – even better than a toaster!)
– a flavourful cheese, such as Manchego – we love a rosemary goat’s cheese that we buy in Costco or why not just some slices of Brie
– salami / chorizo / ham
– thin slices of cucumber and tomato
– olive oil, O’s spicy olive oil for example
– salt & pepper

Pour a little olive oil on each toasted bread slice. Add the tomato and cucumber slices, salt and pepper and finally the cheese or sandwich meat. Enjoy!

O has a different way of putting the vegetables first and then the cheese / meat on the sandwiches. It actually tastes really great as the bread gets more of a flavour from the tomato juices combined with the olive oil.

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And for this week’s etiquette question (from DNs Etikettfrågan):
Would you wear the same dress* twice?

Of course you probably would, if you are not extremely rich and wasteful. But let’s say that you have been invited to two weddings the same summer and more or less the same guests will be expected to both weddings, would you then wear the same dress to both weddings? It is an interesting issue, which I find only applies to us women – men can wear the same suit to all weddings, parties and even funerals, maybe just changing the tie and shirt.

This summer I only have one wedding, but we have been invited to another one with the same group of friends, but unfortunately we won’t be able to make it to Ireland in August for my dear friend O’s wedding. However, for many summers in a row I had several weddings but I always managed to avoid this issue by the fact that there were different guests at each event. I also have a few different dresses that I can choose from for every wedding as I definitely recycle outfits. For my friends who are going to attend both weddings this summer, I doubt that they will wear the same dresses for both events but I am actually going to ask them next week when we meet in Strasbourg!

Maybe if I had such an amazing dress I would wear it twice in a row 😉

*) As most of my readers seem to be women…

Wednesday recipe & survey: Spicy Olive oil & sheet etiquette

One of the Swedish newspapers that I read, Dagens Nyheter or DN for short, has an etiquette column written by a famous etiquette expert called Margareta Ribbing. I find it absolutely fascinating to read the questions sent in by readers, the answers written by Margareta and the sometimes outrageous debates that follow through the readers’ comments.

Maybe I have been away too long from Sweden and have gotten used to adapting to foreign cultures with different traditions, or maybe I am completely oblivious to the trail of insulted Swedes and foreigners I leave behind me?? Nevertheless, I am often astounded by the etiquette issues people have. You would assume that common sense and communication would be enough to solve most problems – especially when living in a relatively homogenous society such as Sweden. Why not actually ask people what they expect from you – do they want you to take off your shoes or not, split the restaurant bill or calculate everyone’s share by the decimal…

I found this quite unusual sign in a condo in San Juan

I don’t know if this is a typically Swedish phenomenon or if people all over the world encounter the same dilemmas in everyday life? We usually say that we Swedes are so afraid of confrontation and making fools out of ourselves, is that why etiquette is so important? I am not saying that etiquette wouldn’t be important abroad, but are Swedes more anxious to not make etiquette blunders?

And do you expats, Swedish or not, find it easier or more difficult to interact with your countrymen after having lived abroad? And how do you deal with etiquette issues with people in your adoptive country? Sometimes it might be easier to be a foreigner and blame your faux pas on that!? Are the so-called unwritten rules in Sweden stricter than abroad?

My new idea for the Wednesday posts is that I will continue publishing recipes but also polls on etiquette to see how you reason around these, at least in Sweden, hotly contested etiquette dilemmas! I know that most of my readers, or at least the ones that comment, are Swedish expats but let’s see if we all agree or disagree with Margareta Ribbing and her readers… Every Wednesday I will choose one of the questions from Etikettfrågan (The Etiquette Question) for you to vote on. Let the debate begin!

The first etiquette question:
Do you bring your own sheets & towels when you stay at friends’ places (this is a link to the original question in Dagens Nyheter – in Swedish of course)?

Do you assume that if the host doesn’t mention sheets, it means that you should bring your own stuff? Or the other way around? Does it matter if you are visiting friends in a summerhouse (maybe without a washing machine) or at their permanent home? Do you even bring your own pillow and duvet? In other words, what is your sheet & towel principle?

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And now to the Wednesday recipe, which once again is one of O’s recipes! One of the many reasons why I love my O is that he is a great cook, I find that very attractive in a man! We both enjoy cooking, and as you might have guessed by now from the recipes I publish, we prefer simple recipes. This is not a recipe for an actual dish but can serve as a future ingredient in all kinds of dishes – salads, frying meat, fish or vegetables…

O’s Spicy Olive Oil
– a clean empty glass bottle
– olive oil
– fresh herbs – for example rosemary or thyme
– a few peeled cloves of garlic
– sundried tomatoes and / or a few small dried chilis
– peppercorns, preferably a mix of red and black etc

Put all the ingredients in the glass bottle and add olive oil. After just a day or so the oil will have a wonderful flavour from the spices and herbs!

NB. I found that the rosemary sprig that sticks up in the air above the oil level started to grow mould – so it is probably better if you don’t use entire sprigs of rosemary (i.e cut them in smaller pieces) or regularly add more oil.

Wednesday recipe: A super easy chicken & rice lunch

What a busy week I have! O is on a business trip to New Jersey – I am hoping that he will come home with some news about our future… He did ask me if I wanted to join him and visit New York City during the days when he works, but to my disappointment this is the first week ever in Puerto Rico that I need to be here!! Talk about bad timing! Hopefully he will go back in August and I will get to join him!
Since I came back from Europe in March I have been working on a project for the Alliance Francaise which culminates tonight and tomorrow night with two perfume events. A famous French perfumer (creator of perfumes), Christophe Laudamiel has come to give presentations on the sense of smell and the perfume industry, and afterwards the participants will be served a three-course meal in a fancy French restaurant. We had the press conference this morning and it was absolutely fascinating to listen to the perfumer!! I took notes like a mad journalist and hope to find time to write a blog post as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, I hope you like this improvised super easy lunch recipe that I threw together a few weeks ago.

Canned fried red peppers (pimientos) are a staple in the Spanish kitchen – try frying them with some sliced onion and serve with meat

My super easy chicken & rice lunch (or dinner) for one
1 chicken breast, newly fried or cold left-over (fried with salt, pepper and some herbs such as basil or oregano)
1 portion of rice, newly cooked or cold left-over
1 small can of fried red peppers
a few tablespoons of pesto
a few tablespoons of French Dijon mustard

Mix together the pesto and mustard (you might recognise this mixture from my pesto salmon recipe – I love it!!). Cut the red pepper into small pieces and mix with the rice. Slice the fried chicken breast and place on top of the rice. Spread the pesto-mustard mixture on the chicken. If you are using cold left-overs, microwave for 1-1½ minute before serving!

A really colourful lunch!

Wednesday receipe: O’s Pan de guineo / Banana bread

I seem to make a lot of promises on the blog and some I forget to keep (for example I never wrote about the third part of our trip in November to Niagara Falls and Canada…), but I didn’t want to forget to share the recipe for O’s pan de guineo with you! He actually calls it his yoghurt [pot] cake as his sister taught him to use a small yoghurt pot (of 125 ml) for the measurements. I call it pan de guineo as that is the Puerto Rican word for banana bread and nowadays he always puts a very ripe* banana in the cake mixture.

O’s Pan de Guineo
3 eggs
4 deci-litre flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
125 ml plain yoghurt or milk
1 pinch salt
125 ml sugar
few drops of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1-2 ripe bananas

Bake for one hour in the oven (180 C / 350 F).

3 eggs.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together.

Add the dry ingredients – through a sieve if you want to avoid lumps…

Melt the butter and add to the cake mixture, as well as the ripe banana (cut into pieces) and the yoghurt / milk.

Grease one big cake tin or two smaller ones.

Pour the cake mixture into the cake tins and sprinkle some brown sugar on top.

Bake for approximately 1 hour. Check if the cakes are ready by sticking a fork or knife into the middle of the cake, if clean when pulling it out – it is ready.

Ready to enjoy!

Swedish B had made a yummy pan de guineo as well last weekend and we had a cake tasting fika at home – both O’s and B’s cakes were good, but B’s banana bread had that little extra… chocolate chips!

*) The bananas are a bit of a problem for us – we buy the bananas green on the weekend but after 4-5 days they are completely rown and mushy. So instead of eating them with our cereal or porridge as we do when they are less soft, we try to use them for cooking and baking. Miri told me that you can freeze bananas if you plan to use them for smoothies or baking – but we can only have that many frozen bananas (especially as the blender is broken so no more smoothies)…

Wednesday recipe: The best pasta sauce ever with spinach & roasted tomatoes

Wednesday again and I haven’t written anything for a week! I blame it on the visits we had last week – the Mexican friends + my blog friend Desiree and her C from Alabama. Desiree is half-Mexican, halft-Swedish – the Mexicans were very excited to meet a Mexican Swede / Swedish Mexican 😉 We had a lovely time with both couples, very intense with lots of activities, late dinners (Spanish timing!) and a long Sunday brunch.

The weather stayed quite stable, which was lucky because both before and after the weekend the weather has been utterly crap! I am writing this while the rain is pouring down outside, the apartment has become very dark, thunder is rumbling very loud and lightning is striking!* 

Our Sunday brunch

I will write about our excursions but today I wanted to share with you the best pasta sauce ever. Annika wrote today that she is bored of her everyday recipes and was hoping to find inspiration among us Wednesday recipe-bloggers (we are not that many and not very consistent about publishing recipes on Wednesdays..):

The Best Pasta Sauce ever (at least according to me!): Spinach and roasted tomatoes

4-6 roma tomatoes (or any other tomato)
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
500 g fresh [baby] spinach
2½ dl (1 cup) vegetable stock
1,25 dl (½ cup) cream
juice from 1 lemon
50 g fresh parmesan cheese, grated 
pasta (fettucine, spaghetti or pasta of your choice!)

Heat the oven to 220 C / 425 F. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and put in an oiled baking tray, sprinkle some salt on top. Bake for ~30-35 min. (or just fry the tomatoes in a frying pan in some olive oil, on high heat)
Fry lightly the chopped onion and crushed garlic. Add the spinach, stock and cream. Let it boil up and lower the heat to let it simmer for 5 min. Add salt & pepper + freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Blend the mix in a blender / food processor together with a few of the baked tomato wedges + a handful of parmesan cheese.
NB. Blending really is the secret here, I tried to make the sauce without blending (since the blender broke!) but it just doesn’t taste the same!!
Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and serve with the parmesan cheese and tomato wedges on top.
It is possible to freeze the sauce if you have left-overs.

(Inspired by a recipe from the cookbook Bowl Food. The new comfort food for people on the move. I love this series of cookbooks including titles such as Fast Food, Cool Food and Family Food)

*) Getting just a little worried about how I will get to l’Alliance Francaise this afternoon without getting drenched…

Wednesday food: Banana Cake, a Rum Cocktail & a Culinary Fest

It has really been a while now since I published a Wednesday recipe, and I would love to share the recipe for the banana cake that O has baked the last two Sundays in a row… But unfortunately I forgot to write down the measurements of the ingredients while taking photos of the baking process last Sunday. Maybe I’ll publish the recipe + photos next week. However, both Anna in Stockholm and Desiree in Alabama have published Wednesday recipes today.

O’s yummy banana cake – in Puerto Rico it is called “pan de guineo”.

Yesterday we had an improvised rum tasting after dinner with our Mexican friends – Bacardi Coconut and Bacardi Select (a dark rum), as well as some ron cañita (Puerto Rican moonshine rum / hembränd rom) with a chocolate flavour (not entirely convinced of that flavour!). I really like the Bacardi Coconut, and I have “invented” a simple cocktail, which is a great alternative to the Cuba Libre (Coke + rum, preferably dark, and lemon juice) that we usually drink at home (we prefer to drink mojitos in a bar):

Petchie’s Coco Rum Cocktail

½ can of Sprite
Coconut flavoured rum
freshly squeezed lemon juice
ice

Mix the ingredients together and enjoy!

This cocktail probably already exists under another name but I thought of it one evening when I was trying to figure out how to drink the coconut flavoured rum our Belgian friends bought for us at the Bacardi factory last year… As we had lots of Sprite left over from a party I thought that I would mix the two, and the “cocktail” actually really tastes good!

If you have a bottle of Bacardi rum at home – check the writing on the bottle; if it is an European bottle it will say “Casa fundada en Cuba” but on the Puerto Rican / American bottles it says “Puerto Rican rum”!!

Speaking of rum, the Mexicans have probably (they are not home yet) visited the Bacardi factory today, a perfect excursion on a rainy day! I have visited the factory three times already with different guests and even if the guided tour is brief, it is still interesting to hear about the rum-making process and it is free (+ two drink tickets per person).

The Bacardi factory

Tomorrow the Condado Culinary Fest starts in our neighbourhood and our visitors have promised to cook a Mexican dinner for us! We will of course take the chance to taste the artisan tequila they gave us as a present – Tequila Ortigoza. Maybe we should buy some normal supermarket-bought tequila to be able to make a comparison as at least I am not an expert tequila-drinker…

The wooden case for the Ortigoza tequila bottle

We thought that the Condado Culinary Fest was a little disappointing last year but we will give it another try this weekend. All the restaurants along Avenida Ashford will have tables and stands in the street and according to the event information on Facebook there will be the possibility to taste coffee, wine and Puerto Rican rums…

Wednesday recipe: Tuna & lime egg salad and our fridge…

Lately I have had problems finding lemons in the supermarkets, and a few weeks ago we came home with a big bag of limes instead. The problem is though that lime is a difficult fruit; if it isn’t completely ripe it is impossible to squeeze any juice out of it and most recipes call for lemon [juice]. And it is funny, in Puerto Rico they don’t really make a distinction between limón y limas and the French actually call lime “citron vert” (green lemon). Aren’t they two [almost] completely different fruits?? You wouldn’t make a mojito with lemon or … can’t think of more examples since I did make the lemon meringue cake with a mix of lemon & lime.
I have been experimenting with the limes though and we have ended up eating a lot of different dishes with lime peel as an extra flavour. Not bad actually!

Here is a recipe I made during Easter:

Tuna & lime egg salad
1 can of good tuna (in oil or in water – just make sure it is chunks, otherwise it looks like cat food to me!)
2 teaspoon French Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon mayonnaise (or swap quantities with the mustard, depending on what you prefer!)
½ box of Philadelphia cream cheese (can be excluded, and replaced with more mustard & mayo)
olive oil
lime / lemon zest (peel)
lime / lemon juice (if possible to squeeze any juice out of the fruit)
salt & pepper
4 soft-boiled eggs
lettuce / fresh spinach
tomatoes, cucumber
2-4 bread slices – slightly toasted

Mix the tuna with mustard, mayo, Philly, lime / lemon zest, lime / lemon juice and a little olive oil. Salt & pepper. Prepare a salad with the lettuce / fresh spinach, tomatoes and cucumber on big plates. Cut the soft-boiled eggs in quarters and add as decoration to the salad. Spread the tuna mix on the toasts and place in the middle of the salad plate. Pour a little olive oil on top of all of it.
Enjoy!

Emma in Aberdeen published a photo of her fridge a few days ago (by the way, what do I mean – it isn’t just her fridge, but also her banana-growing husband’s and beautiful son’s fridge – trying to be politically correct here!), and I went straight out in the kitchen to take a photo of our fridge as well… Here is a “before & after”, I am not sure if you can see any difference!?

Our fridge before Sunday shopping – top shelf houses coffee, almonds, and rice to avoid any unwelcome guests (bugs!) if stored outside in the humidity + one tomato, milk and eggs, the plastic containers on the second top shelf contain chick peas (boiled by moi-même after a year or so of O asking me to do it – I just find using canned garbanzos so much easier!), pickled herring from Xmas that I should throw out, another tomato (!), Maizena and half a loaf of bread (for same reason as above). Third shelf – lettuce, blueberries (thanks to Costco) and a tin box of ginger snaps (also left over from Xmas)… Well, maybe I won’t list every little thing in the fridge.

The fridge is supposedly more full – you can’t really see the smoked salmon underneath the new tomatoes, and there are some quesitos instead of the chick peas in the plastic container on the top shelf… The cabbage, lettuce and cucumber don’t seem to have moved an inch but the tomato on the second shelf has moved from one side to the next – absolutely fascinating!! 😀

Oh, and the rest of the shopping ended up in the freezer and the cupboards. We have decided to try to empty the fridge as much as possible this week and that’s why we didn’t buy more on Sunday. It is so easy to just buy more food instead of trying to create something with what you have  so every once in a while we try to have an “empty-the-fridge-week”.

Don’t forget to watch The Daily Show tonight at 11 pm (23.00), as supposedly more on Sweden is coming up (see below post about The Stockholm Syndrome)!?