Scandinavian Kitchen

A Swedish plague?

This track was a huge hit across Scandinavia this summer.  Some of us wish we'd never heard it and had spent a week in Majorca listening to Latino Beats # 4 and Ricky Martin's Un, Dos, Tres instead.

We had Basshunter in Scandi Kitchen last week - they were filming an interview with him. Basshunter is also Swedish and did stuff such as this track, also a huge hit across Scandi land a few years back (Sebastian has the extended version on vinyl if you want to hear it).   It was eventually made into a UK hit also - called "Now you're gone".

Come back, Roxette, all is forgiven.

A-ha, there you are...

We see quite a few famous people in and around our area, but we're never quite been as excited as when Morten Harkett stopped by.  The A-ha boys even signed a Norwegian flag for us, posed here by our Louise (who is back for the summer, by the way).

End of the Road Festival 2009

Woo hoo - we can't wait.  Thsi is SUCH a good festival.  This year, the End of the Road festival is on in Dorset from 11th, 12th and 13th September.  There's a fantastic line up and magically, still a few tickets available - so don't delay in getting yours.

Scandi Kitchen was there last year, serving up the hot dogs and the meatballs and we'll be there again this year as well. 

You can read more here about this wonderful event: http://www.endoftheroadfestival.com/

Okkervil-River - of the many great bands that will be playing the festival this year

Here's a mix tape I made just for you...

Back in the days of double cassette players, most of us (or at least the ones of us who were born then) made mix-tapes.  Some for our own pleasure and some for the people we fancied.  What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and what a shame we don't do that anymore.

Well, sort of.  Henrik and Jonas are making mix tapes at the moment.  Well, mix CDs, really.  They compiling a list of our best Scandinavian classics and they need your help.  Did you put ABBA's "The Winner Takes it All" on your mix tape to Freddie from Farnborough when he dumped you for Suzie with the big boobies?  Or did you listen to Whigfield and dance your little bottom off on holidays in Spain?  We want to know about it.

Okay, share and share alike, here are some of ours:

Bronte was into a band called Dodo and The Dodos and played their songs endlessly during one particularly heartbreaking summer (1988).  She is not sure she ever made a mix tape for the boy in question, though.

Henrik made mix tapes for a girl called Carolin and Jonas for all the girls in his class that were called Maria (most of them).  Both included the song by Europe called "Carrie".

Over to you - we want to know your fave cheesy Scandi tunes and ideally, why.  It's for our own special mix tape.

Thanks - and here's Dodo and the Dodos.  Powerful stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkQTvbMvOc

I'm a Barbie girl...

Oh yes.  Seb is so happy:  Aqua has reformed.  Whether it was the bank balances that started to dwindle or it was the music that pulled them back together, we don't care.  With lyrics such as these, how could you not want them back together to terrorise us for another while?

"When Eminem was just a snack
And Michael Jackson's skin was black
Back when the coolest thing in store, oo-oh-oh
Was a Commodore 64"

More here:

http://politiken.tv/nyheder/kultur/article732766.ece

Looking for Joey...

Back in the Eighties, Jonas went to his first ever concert.  It was Europe and the song of the moment was The Final Countdown.  He had curly hair and so did Joey Temptest, the lead singer.  Peas, pods and all that.

We've just heard heard that the guys are touring again - more details on their website here about their gig in Derby on 16th August http://www.europetheband.com/fyrabugg.html

The guys at Scandi Kitchen are excited, of course.  Will it be the same as back then?  Will Joey Tempest still have big curly hair?  Will they wear tight trousers?  Will they do The Final Countdown on their new tour?

Do you have any cringy EUROPE stories?  We'd love to hear them and may even rewards you in nice coffees if we see fit.

A bit of trivia:  Did you know that Joey Tempest's real name is Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson?  Talk about killing the magic.  Sorry.

  

Jonas Aurell     /   Joey Tempest

Who's who?

Eurovision 2009 - forget Scandinavia, this is the song...

We've done the work for you to find the truly worst song of Eurovision 2009. Forget all we ever said about Sweden's Scary Lady and the zzzzz.. sorry, Danish Ronan Keating (we were dosing there for a second...).

Nope, Holland is our winner.  Both lyrically, visually and videocally (can you even say that?)

Best dance moves as well.  We're reassured to know this is one of Holland's highest selling artists.  No surprise there, then.

Enjoy.

Almost time for Eurovision 2009

We're excited, as per usual:  It's nearly Eurovision time and nearly time for in-country votings, eating grill chips with holiday dipmix and flying the flags of Norway/ Sweden / Denmark / Finalnd and Iceland. 

The bookmakers are actually making Norway the favourite this year - but here are the 5 clips so you can make up your own mind.

The semi-finals are on 12th and 14th May and the final is on 16th May.  Unfortunately, Terry Wogan will not be commentating this year, but hopefully Graham Norton will be just as sarcastic in the job.

NORWAY - little chap with the violin trying to appeal to the Eastern block voters

DENMARK - Ronan Keating re-incarnated, except not as good

SWEDEN - scary women. We're hiding.

ICELAND - Zzzzzzzzzz

FINLAND - euro-chewing gum mixed with some lordi style guitar that sounds like Aqua on speed

Finland's winning Eurovision entry

One month or so to go... Anyone fancy helping arrange a Eurovision party?  Let us know.

Until then, "enjoy" Finland's entry.  It's almost as bad as the Danish one.  Excellent. 

Do you remember Eurovision 1982? 87? 94?

With Eurovision fever getting closer by the day, we had a little chat amongst ourselves the other day about our earliest Eurovision memories.

Sara - fell deeply in love with Jan Johansson and had her bedroom walls covered in posters for years

Elisabeth: was waiting excitedly for Eurovision to start one year to support Norway, only to realised they hadn't even qualified.  She cried so much her mother had to stay up with her most of the night.

Henrik: attributes Eurovision with learning how to count to twelve in French

Bronte: got so excited one year at the prospect of Denmarks Kirsten Siggaard winning that she pee'd her pants a little bit.

We'd love to hear your stories too.

For now, enjoy a clip form the only year that Norway actually DID win Eurovision.

An entry from Sweden's Eurovision hopefuls

We think it is a bit like Joey Tempest's younger bro who neevr made it.  Soz.  Try better, Sweden.

Great music comes from Faroe Islands...

Yep.  It's true.  the little islands in the middle of the great, big sea has produced a fab artist called Teitur.  It is not often that stuff like this comes out of tiny places - so we salute you.

A Danish hope? Thanks, Slash

It's official - the Danish Eurovision entry 2009 follows every cliche in history (except, no wind machine - but just wait...)

We're wondering what on earth Slash from Guns'n'roses is doing in the background?  Is it him?  Has he been hiding in a Danish karaoke band? Answers, please...

Hear the Ulricae Drängar choir

Ulricae Drängar Annual Rehearsal 2008 -

 

The only Swedish Male Choir in London

Once a year Ulricae Drängar call on their members from all around the world to gather in London for the annual rehearsal and members meeting.

 

This is celebrated by conducting a special rehearsal concert before a select audience.  The event will give you a glimpse of what Ulricae Drängar are all about, what kind of music they create, what type of characters you find within the group, why there are only men and so on.

This event will take place at 16:00 on the 18th of October:

The Swedish Hall

6 Harcourt Street

London W1H 4AG

Tickets: £5

Danish band TV2 playing in London 1 November

The Danes in the UK are gathering once again for another concert - one of Denmarks most well known bands are playing at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 1st November.  With hit songs such as Fantastiske Toyota (Yep, that's 'Fantastic Toyota') and Rigtige Maend Gider Ikke Hoere mere Vrovl (Real men will not listen to any more nonsense), TV2 has been around for many years and there's not a Dane who doesn't know of them.

Ticket prices are £25/£35 - you can buy tickets here here and you can read more here

We've got a pair of tickets to give away for this event courtesy of Danish YMCA - all you need to do is send us an e-mail and answer this question:

TV2's lead singer is:

1)    Steffen Brandt

2)    Steffen Brandmand

3)    Steffen Brande

Terms and conditions apply.  Winners name chosen at random - most likely by us pulling a name out of a hat or sock or old cardboard box or whatever we can find.  Only one entry per household.  There is no cash alternative tot his prize.  You do not have to be Danish to enter this competition but be aware that if you go to this concert, you'll be surrounded by Danes for the entire evening.  Scandi Kitchen staff cannot enter this competition, if they do, we'll have words with them. 

 

Guess which one of these boys just came back from a week in Majorca?

The End of the Road Festival

NOTE - more photos will be added WEDNESDAY - be warned, there are photos of Henrik dancing around lovingly with his guitar too.

We feel very privileged, you know - we've been asked to have a stall at the most amazing festival called End of the Road Festival in North Dorset.  The festival is a part-Swedish event and some of us are going to be there this coming weekend 12th-14th September at our aptly named Scandinavian Lounge, serving anything from meatballs to herring to Scandinavian hot dogs.

The event is totally sold out now - if you were lucky enough to get a ticket, see you there (don't forget to pop over and say hello), if not, you can follow our escapades from the comfort of your own sofa as we'll be updating this link throughout the weekend with pictures from Jonas' phone.

Timmo contemplating what it will be like to share a tent with the Moustache Men Jonas and Henrik for 4 days. Sebastian wishes it was him, secretly.

L to R: Seb and Timmo.

 

Off we go!  Jonas and Timmo ready to leave SK on Thursday morning with a van full of herring - Dorset Bound for the End of Road festival. 

 

The Swedish Lounge / Scandi Kitchen at the festival

 

Henrik is so good at making potato salad now

 

Lovely menu.  Good job Bronte is not there as she's allergic to exclamation marks.

 

One of the lovely stages - the view from under a tree with a glass of cold cider in hand

 

Whatever happened to... Joey Tempest

We got talking the other day at SK about bands we liked when we were nippers.  None of us can lay claim to a particularly great mucal background when it comes to the first albums we liked (Mel and Kim, Bronte?  Seriously?).  After slating each other for a while, we started wondering what on earth happened to those people we used to adore in poster-format during our messy pre-teenage years.

We found Joey Tempest (It's the final count down, do do doooooh doooh) and have decided he's still okay by us.

Currently, looking for others - do send some good links in if you happen to find some good ones

Postcard from Heather and Jo #4

Enjoying my Polkadrom ice cream

As we discovered on our final morning in Göteborg, where we thought we were getting away without paying for things, everything during the culture festival is in fact put on for free! An excellent idea we thought, especially for all the travelling families we saw. We opted to explore the city museum in our final hours and what a fantastic place this is! Most reccommended thing to do in Göteborg after the "Hagabulle". The viking exhibition with the only viking boat on display in Sweden was excellent, as was the history of family life in the city.

As the rain comes down on our last day in Stockholm, we are greatful for the better weather that this wonderful city has given us over the last two days - warmth and sunshine.

Our train journey from Göteborg was swift and we arrived at our hostel to find ourselves in a strange room with no windows or ventilation, however, it did have a proper matress and not a slice of foam to sleep on! That said I at least, have slept better here despite these factors. Although it's very disconcerting every morning waking up in pitch black!

Since arriving in Stockholm, we have spent our hard earned money in Gamla Stan, on Drottingholm and in it's vicinity. We have solved the mystery of the cover of the new Stig Larsson books (why does the first English translation have the cover of the second Swedish book in the trilogy - the clue is in the direct translation of the Swedish title!) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Although sadly the chance to eat some crayfish has not presented itself, I'll have to tuck in back at SK. Any chance you can put some aside for me?!

Like Göteborg, Stockholm has it's Culture Festival this week, which we have been able to enjoy in Gustav Adolfs Torg seeing a concert by Che Sud Aka, that had us dancing on the streets and last nights finale of Opera selections, which was to be followed by a carnival featuring three different themes; Brazilian, Latino and Caribbean. Whilst the opera was great, sadly the carnival was billed to be more than it turned out to be, no carnival costumes except on the three lorries and just a mass of Stockholmers, mostly the young following each lorry in normal clothes, as the Ung08 festival had just finished. Most disappointing of all, no fireworks! Ah well, we can't have everything.

A trip to Sweden is never complete without an escape to the archipelago and we took the boat to Fjäderholmen, with it's craft shops, Swedish whisky and restaurants. What has, after 2 pieces of Princess Torta, 2 vanilla buns and half a hagabulle each, become a "cake tour" of Sweden, was in Fjäderholmen, supplemented with a "Polkadröm" ice cream (picture to be added tomorrow). Whilst expensive, it was a sight to be seen and very delicious. Perhaps it could be used as a template for SK ice cream? - Flavours to include blueberry and elderflower, we suggest.

We have been looking out for words that read funny in English, but have failed to come up with anything new. What does make us smile is the sight of young Swedes in groups looking "hard and cool" (gosh I sound like my mother!) which they do well, until they start speaking Swedish! It's too nice a language to listen to and just doesn't have the right effect!

Time to enjoy our final hours in Stockholm. Last postcard tomorrow.

Postcard from Heather and Jo #2

Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Winning Garden 2007 - Linneas Garden at the Botanic Garden's in Göteborg

It seems that unlike Bronte and Jonas who enjoyed some of Sweden's best summer weather this year, we are enjoying some of it's worst! Plagued by rain, wind and wasps, we are making the mot of things and have been lucky. Now in Göteborg after a coach journey up the coast, we are staying in a very nice hostel. Although rain threatened, we ventured to the infamous Botanic Gardens yesterday, which we enjoyed apart from the damn wasps, again! There is a fantastic waterfall at the end of the gardens, but all illusions of the lovely natural wonder were destroyed when I climbed to the top and saw the big pipe fueling the waterfall. We were impressed with how realistic it was nonetheless. In the evening, although rain threatened yet again, we went to explore the delights of the Gö teborg Cultural Festival and were justly rewarded in Götaplatsen, with a performance by Swedish group Money Brother www.myspace.com/moneybrother  that had us all dancing to this energy filled 10 piece band, although with that many members, the money ain't gonna go far brother!
We followed this up with watching 'Abba the Movie' - with the bag full of sweets we had brought from what was adult heaven, let and child paradise - on a giant screen in the square until just before midnight, when we crawled back to the hostel, taking only one wrong turn!

Having had our fill of Swedish music and with slightly better weather for now, we are off to take a Scandi Kitchen t-shirt for a tour of Göteborg, find out next time what it got up to!

Win tickets for EUROBEAT - the muscial

Many of us Scandinavians long for that time of year when Eurovision comes round and we get to vote for our neighbours.  Sadly, it's only once a year - and some of us struggle to find stuff to do the rest of the time. 

Enter EUROBEAT - the musical.  The story goes that an Australian man was so dissapointed he was not allowed to enter, so he wrote this musical instead.  Basically, Les Dennis and Mel Giedroyc (of Mel&Sue fame) present a mock Eurovision contest and you even get to vote afterward, meaning no two shows are ever the same.  The show is on at the Novello theatre from 4th September till 15th November and has got great reviews all round. 

You can read more about the whole thing right here

We've been lucky and have secured 10 pairs of tickets for the show over the next weeks to give away.  Every week in our newsletter we'll publish a question for you to enter the competition - all you have to do is send your answer to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk and we'll pop your name into the hat*

HOW MANY TIMES HAS DENMARK WON THE EUROVISON SONG CONTEST?

a) Five times

b) Twice

c) Every year.  It's the taking part that counts and we're all winners, deep down.

*The terms and conditions of the Eurobeat competition are simple:  You answer the question right, we’ll pop your name into a hat.  If we cannot find a hat, we may well use a sock of maybe an empty box of some kind.  We’ll ask one of our friends to pick a name out of the sock/hat/box and that person will win 2 tickets to go see the musical.  We’ll then let the musical people know your name and put them in touch with you and they’ll arrange a good day for you to go see the show – this will be between 4^th and 19^th September only.  There’s no cash alternative to the prize and if you forget to buy popcorn, don’t blame us.  Employees of Scandi Kitchen are not allowed to enter this competition, so Sebastian, even if you enter in disguise, you will not win.  Max one pair of tickets per person.

“AS CAMP AS GRAHAM NORTON LISTENING TO BUCKS FIZZ IN A CAMPER VAN…EAT YOUR HEART OUT, SCOOCH – THIS SHOW’S A WINNER” ««««« Metro

Postcard from Heather and Jo #1

Jazz band in Malmo

Hello from Sweden, SK regular Heather and her friend Jo here, on holiday in Sweden via Copenhagen, sending you a few postcards over the coming week (sadly no photo today as can't attach camera to PC).

On arrival at Copenhagen airport, I found it rather funny to see a little sardine tin like pod full of smokers squashed in, smoking that cigarette they have not had for a few hours. You could barely see them for all the smoke!! The joys of the smoking ban, maybe these will start popping up at London airports too!!

We wondered through the large shopping street without spending a single ore, past shops with names we found funny such as a shoe shop called 'Dope' and a ladies clothes shop called 'Kinky Bitch', who know's what those shoes were made from or who the clothes were for, but we didn't hang around to find out. We would like to come back to Denmark and don't want a Danish criminal record! I'll leave the criminal record to my borther who is at Climate Camp in the UK!

Our boat tour of Copenhagen's canals in the glorious sunshine would have left us very sunburnt had we not found some free suncream at a basketball event by the town hall. That however may have covered up our blushes at seeing the Little Mermaid's behind!! An ice cream later and we were off to Malmö.

Described by some as being the Copacabana of Sweden we were looking forward to sunning ourselves on Malmö's long strech of beach. Frankly if that is what the Copacabana looks like, we don't want to go!! Admittedly the pouring rain and driving wind did not help!

A lovely outdoor performance by a jazz saxophonist did end our visit in a memorable way and as we leave we have seen a poster on the back of a bus saying "Live in the Grand Canyon of Malmö"! Clearly the city is not satisfied with having the tallest building in Sweden and has designs on being much grander. I love it! I look forward to the "Las Vegas of Malmö", the "Big Ben of Malmö" and the "Ayres Rock of Malmö"!

Off to Göteborg........

The worst ever music video? Take 1

Could it be Finland's Armi and Danny?  Makes the Swedish frog dance look sane. 

This is how our Dads learnt to dance?

That's it.  We've finally cracked it.  All these years wondering how all Dads in the world seem to have learnt to dance from the same source - it was Finnish Disco Dave. 

Eurovision tonight - reminder

Woo hoo - most of us have qualified for tonight's final in Eurovision, which makes the whole event much more exciting than Euro 08 (unless you are Swedish, of course, the only Scandi country to qualify...).  Hmmm... maybe not.  Anyway, if you're looking for a place to watch the Eurovision Song Contest final tonight in London, do pop down to the Sport's Cafe in SW1, they have everything from "små grå"/salmiakki shots to Scandinavian crisps (KIMS, Estrella, Cheeze doodles) and that infamous 1980's invention: holiday dipmix. 

More about Eurovision 2008 here