Celebrated a month in Sweden with some Aloo Paratha, Raita, & Sooji halwa

So little more than 15 days in Stockholm!!!! and what did I do???

Yes, it's been more than 15 days since we landed in Stockholm and life has been a little interesting and a bit of routine. Ain't it everywhere... yes, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the bits and pieces of routine like never before.

1. Packed bags and moved two times - something that I've never done before. (Ah, if you're saying didn't she move after marriage? Yes, of course but it was not more than a 3 km move and I didn't pack my bags then :) ) Packed-unpacked, again packed-unpacked, each time looking forward to a new place to explore. Loved both the moves.

2. House hunting - nope I didn't have to do it all long thanks to my parents and Sri. I was super excited to see the new - my Den, my kitchen, my bedroom.

3. Cab ride in Mercedes E Class - Couldn't afford to buy it, so God said why not take a cab ride, and I loved it :)

4. Set up the new house - I won't take too much credit for this, our dear owner took care of 80% of the things including setting up the dining table and cutlery- Thank you Joakmin. Rest of the kitchen is my baby now

5. Visited a Museum;walked for two hours at a stretch - Yes I did, don't faint mom- I did walk.. The last I remember visiting the Salarjung Musem ages back just to see the Nizam's Jewels. Nope, never stepped into one after that. But I liked the Vasa museum we visited last week. Vasa, the warship, apparently sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm way back in 1628. I didn't see any reason why these people would put in so much effort in salvaging it and then building a museum for it. These things never got into me anyways.. but, after seeing it closely, I loved every bit of the remains of the ship. Salute to the craftsmanship and to the people who took pains to recover it.

6. Saw H&M all over the place and didn't shop - Sheebs, shanti, ammu it is true, I didn't enter H&M (till date, but not for long hehe)

7. Day at an Amusement park - I always wondered why it's called an amusement park, what is so amusing about the lame park? Didn't figure it out this time as well, so I thought why not try one of rides and see if I can make sense. 45 minute waiting time to get onto a ride and for what!!! A crazy roller coaster which twisted and turned every bit of my muscle and hair strand in two minutes.. I have enjoyed roller coaster rides before in Bombay but not this one. I was determined to close my eyes and get done with it, but I am human, I am curious even if scared to death. I had to open my eyes atleast once, and I did. The timing was so bad, I had no clue I was in upside-down position, and I open my eyes to see the water almost touching my nose. Phew!! I shut my eyes the next second and continued with the Saibaba chanting I usually do on a roller coaster. So much for a day of fun at the so called amusement park. I guess people around were definitely amused to see me shit scared.

8. Spent a day doing nothing - People who know me really well won't believe me when I say this. I am kinda on-the-clock looking for some work to do at home. It is hard for me to just sit and do nothing, and most of all let Sri sit and do nothing.. But I did.. It came as a surprise to me as well.

Nevertheless there is no escape from the daily chores to be done. I do miss the royal Indian life (yes it is) I had back at home - A Servant for cleaning, washing clothes, doing the dishes and more and more - You gotta do all of these here.. of course Sri helps a bit. Mom and Mom-in-law who would cook and feed me even if I wasn't hungry. I would make fun of my mom and call her a feeding machine for pestering me to eat everytime I came home.. I know I know, I deserve the punishment. In spite of this, I like the place, the house and the life. Whether it gets more routine or interesting is up to me, I won't forecast before it happens, but will update as it happens.

Happy Birthday Siddu, will make the rava ladoo as promised and send pics

Oh Wow, I finally cooked!!!

After five days of survival on lettuce, uncooked pasta, bread, bread and more bread, my body, mind and soul dragged to me where the kitchen was. We moved to a furnished business apartment equipped with Kitchen & laundry. With a 100W smile on our faces, we went around exploring the induction stove, the dish washer, oven and the utensils. In anticipation of 'Ghar ka Khana', our next mission was to find a grocery store which sold sort of Indian/Asian stuff. I guess God couldn't see us starve any longer, so showed us a store at a walkable distance.

I literally raided the place, as usual when it comes to shopping, picking up everything that remotely looked essential for Indian cooking. Now, can we survive without milk and Yogurt?? Nope, impossible. I went looking for these two and picked up one tall and a short tetra pack in a jiffy assuming the tall one is Milk and the other Yogurt. Finally we ate some food that had salt, some spices and a decent color. I was happy to use my new cooker (yea, the same one I almost threw), coffee filter and the spices I carried all the way from India. Sigh... good day after all.

I kept dreaming of the awesome Coffee day filter coffee I am gonna have in the morning all night I guess :) There comes Sunrise (it's another thing it hardly ever sets) and I jumped out of the bed for COFFEE. Remember the tall tetra pack, ah yea, the same one I assumed to be milk.. opened, smelled it and put it on stove with slight suspicion. Is this really milk, we asked each other with no real answers, but waited for something to happen. What we see is a layer of ghee coming out of the so called boiling milk. Well, it wasn't milk, apparently it's something similar to yogurt. Why on earth did the stores separate types of yogurt in their shelves?? My yelling didn't help, I still needed coffee.. so I sent sri to get some milk from the coffee machine at the reception. Aha, after a half-hour struggle I got my authentic Indian filter coffee. Sri always says, 'You're a bigger coffee addict than I am', it proved to be true today :)

The day got better with some desi masala omelette for breakfast and spicy Brinjal curry for lunch. God bless Indian food.

The first few days!

"Ah, finally" was the expression both Sri and I had on our face when we landed in Sweden. Yes only after landing (thanks to last minute work permit, visa and tickets), we wanted to make sure the sigh of relief doesn't happen before time.

After two days in Sweden, spending time lazing around in the hotel room, I realized amidst all the confusion we were in, I was most concerned about whether I'll be able to carry the Cooker or not. Worse, I cursed the cookers when they were the reason for overweight baggage. (I know, 'Women'). All in all, after crazy shopping, last minute packing and unpacking at the airport, it was wonderful when we landed in Sweden. I can't say I've explored the place yet, but I am happy with loads of green around me.

I haven't quite understood the weather yet as I was zombied both the days, but whenever I wake up there is light (Sun- not much). I never cared for summer before except for Mangoes, but it seems like I am being punished for taking the Sun God for granted. Today has been bright and lovely, so I am going on a bus ride to see some city.

If I don't get lazy, which happens very often, I'll make an attempt to pen down my new adventures everyday. Hmmm, on second thoughts, I'll make sure I do.

Hejda