Norway has once again been voted the best place to live in the world. Is it the food? Is it the weather? The jumpers? Whatever is may be, it has come top in the UN pole once again.
You can read the full article right here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8290550.stm
The rest of the Scandinavian countries featured 3rd (Iceland), 7th (Sweden), 12th (Finland), 16th (Denmark). Niger and Afghanistan came bottom of the list out of 182 countries.
Snus is a very Swedish thing. Basically, for those of you not in the know, it is moist tobacco packed tightly together and "left" to infuse under the top lip of the user. Basically, a cigarette with no harm to others and no smoke at all.
While we do not think nicotine is a wonderful thing at the best of time, we do think that people should be able to do what they want if it does not affect people around them. Currently, the EU has a ban on Snus across Europe except Scandinavia (where the use of Snus is considered "traditional" and is therefore legal to sell).
This means that nobody in the UK is allowed to sell SNUS - although it is perfectly legal to import own use and to use it.
You can read more here about the current debate - feel free to add your comments on the blog.
http://www.thelocal.se/22086/20090915/
Ever wondered why some of us left? These are some of the highlights from our local areas newspapers this week:
Henrik’s Rydsgård: Thieves broke into a ticket machine at the train station for the second time in a row – and didn't even steal the cash, that’s how bored they are there: http://www.ystadsallehanda.se/article/20090826/SKURUP/19073669/1365/&/Nytt-inbrott-i-biljettautomat
Bronte’s Hong – local person vigorously denies sowing hemp plants and blames the local birds for sprading the seeds to the 40 plants found in his garden. http://www.sn.dk/artikel/13471:Kalundborg----Fuglene-maa-have-saaet-hampplanterne
World record attempt in pumpkin growing was aborted at last minute in Ystad http://www.ystadsallehanda.se/article/20090826/SKURUP/931850365/1365/&/Nytt-rekord-trots-misslyckande
Got any better ones? Please do send us some links.
Honestly, Officer, the birds did it...
This is the most unsettling animal picture we saw this week. Thanks for sending it in to us (from The Guardian).
Kissing is so, so nice and it is nice to know that if you don't have anyone to kiss right now, yhou can always go to the annual snogging party in Malmo.
Yes, that is right: many love sick Swedes turned up last Saturday to take part on the event that was all about spreading love and presumably also a few colds. Orgasnisers hailed the event as a success, with categoeries for both "men-women", "men-men", girl-girl" and "Don't care".
You can read more about the event here http://www.thelocal.se/20918/20090726/
We'd like to remind you that our Henrik is from this wonderful inventive place that is Malmo, although sadly, he did not take part in this year's snog event but may well be up for taking part in any spontaneus events of similar nature (taking part after the 5th pint on Friday evening outside the Crown & Sceptre pub). Maybe.
Ms Ramsay pops in to see us most mornings for her strong filter coffee to keep her going. When she's not busy being here, she's busy being with her horses - and today her horse Valentino Rossi is running at Ascot. Here is the lady herself in all her Ascot glory waiting to go to the races - and posing with her favoured Scandi boys (although we think Sebastian may be her favourite).
Here are the odds for today http://horses.sportinglife.com/Racecards/0,12495,314633,00.html
We do not encourage betting and we do think that if you do choose to bet your pocket money, you should do so carefully and responsibly, like with only 25 pence stakes at the time and only ever bet on Norway to win Eurovision. However, if you do choose to bet on Ms Ramsay's horse it is your own choice and has nothing to do with us. Good luck ayway, to both you, Ms Ramsay and Valentino.
It's nice when you get compliments, especially from really lovely people like Hardeep Singh Kohli, the funny Scottish TV presenter. This is what he wrote about us in his column for Scotland on Sunday:
"There are very few cafes that you leave with a takeaway coffee and a smile. There's a wee place called the Scandinavian Kitchen in Great Titchfield Street, London W1, that does exactly that. Before you even enter the place the board outside offers a heart-warming message: "hugs help but kisses never misses". Inside the greeting is warm and welcoming – and true to its word. One of the staff offered me a free hug with my Americano. I took him up on his offer and left smiling and embraced. Scandinavia might be cold but the people aren't."
Thanks, Hardeep. Here's the full column:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/hardeepsinghkohli/Hardeep-Singh-Kohli-It39s-Hardeep.5297908.jp
This is Henry and Tim - they are our reigning hotdog eating champions at Scandi Kitchen.
The other day they popped by to try for 6 hotdogs each - and succeeded.
Here's the proof - and yes, we did check up on them. Let us know when you are ready to try for 7, guys...
Everybody say AWW: Swedish Crown Princess Victoria has finally got engaged to her boyfriend, Daniel. The Swedish press is not so happy about a "commoner" marrying the future Queen of Sweden, but we think it is just fantastic. So what if he is a middle class gym owner from the back end of Northern Sweden? Haven't they ever read any fairy tales?
The Danish government has always been good at finding ways of taxing people. Their latest proposal is to tax animals as they burp and fart.
You can read the whole article in English here
Photo kindly borrowed from Politiken.dk (thanks, we hope you don't mind)
They say good things come in threes. Well, we'd been quite happy with one of these, but three in one day was also very nice, thank you.
The Evening Standard wrote about our meatballs and winter warmer dishes in London. The London Lite wrote about breakfasts and we were the Scandinavian entry.
Time Out did a Nordic Special where they features both us and also our wonderful friends at KIDSEN - a Scandi style kids shop in Kensal Rise as well as lots of our other Nordic friends in London. Read the whole article here.
Just in case you are wondering if Scandi Kitchen will be open today despite the heavy snow in London: well, of course we will.
So wrap up warm, pop by and join us for a nice mug of hot chocolate and a moan about the weather.
And a hug, if you so prefer.
Love
The Kitchen People (who LOVE snow)
What Kensal Green looked like when some of us left this morning at 6 am...
We love Thor. Not only does he do thunder very well, he also scares off burglars in Scotland.
Full link here
Win the new festive Finnish Movie called The Christmas Story. The touching story of how Santa Claus came to be Santa.
To be in with a chance to win, answer the following question:
What is “Father Christmas” in Finnish?
a. Tomte
b. Yule Goat
c. Joulupukki
d. Sinterklaas
Answers by e-mail, please to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk before next Friday. Usual rules apply.
A bit about the film:
Hundreds of years ago the world’s greatest story was born…
In a remote village in Lapland, young Nikolas loses his family in an accident. The villagers decide to look after the orphaned boy together. Each family will take care of Nikolas for one year. At the end of each year, -on Christmas Day-, Nikolas has to move to a new home. To show his gratitude to the villagers, Nikolas decides to make toys for children of the families as good-bye presents. Over the years, Nikolas’ former adoptive families become many and soon almost every house has presents on its doorstep on Christmas morning.
When the village suffers a food shortage, the villagers have to send Nikolas to work as an apprentice for the hermit carpenter Iisakki. Under the cruel tutelage of Iisakki, Nikolas develops skills that enable him to create even better presents and to work even faster. The child-hating Iisakki, however, forbids Nikolas from making presents. The Christmas present tradition is in danger of coming to an end.
More details:
http://www.finnsworldwide.
The Christmas deliveries are starting to come in... Some of the new stuff added this week includes:
Gløgg spices
Vortmix
æbleskiver
Brunkager
Pebernødder
Klejner
Swedish Chrsitmas beer and Swedish Chrsitmas aquavit
We've been using Normann Copenhagen's fancy pansy Famiglia mugs in our cafe since we started and we love them. And this week, the lovely people at Normanns thought you might like a mug or two as well. And if not you could always give them to Auntie Kirsten at Christmas.
To enter our competition to win a set of cups, answer the following question:
Which country is furtherst North?
a) Sweden
b) Norway
c) Finland
Email your answer to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk. Usual rules and regulations apply and if we don't follow them, you can call the competition police in on us. If indeed there is such a thing.
Wow, what a party. We did the canapes for the official launch of the new Scandinavian kids store in Kensal Rise (just outside the station on 111 Chamberlaine Road). It was so much fun and there were about a hundred people in the store.
Here are some pictures from the evening - do pop by there to stock up on your Scandinavian brands: they do anything from all the Pippi Longstocking stuff to the new BRIO pram / buggy and all the really cool Scandinavian kids clothes brands such as Lille Barn, Ida, Mini a Ture, Flawless and many more.
the lovely Corina, the owner of KIDSEN - holding onto the wall a bit!
Per Nordangard is a lovely chap. Not only does he make sure the Swedes back home find out about stuff happening in the UK (he is the UK correspondent for Goteborg Posten, ed.), he also writes great books.
Per's new book is called Utrikeskorrespondentens London - dag for dag (The Foreign Correspondent's London) and it is a really lovely book in which he travels the country and stays in Fawlty type hotels, drinks good pints in strange pubs and such like. We can really recommend it. Unfortunately, it is only available in Swedish at the moment. Well, it is brand new and has its official launch on 23rd October.
We have a signed copy to give away - just answer the following question to be in with a chance to win:
Per writes for which Swedish newspaper?
a) Expressen
b) Goteborg Posten
c) Darlarna Daily Delightful Digest
Answer to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk, please, by next Monday - winners will be chosen by drawing a name out of a hat/sock/cardboard box (whatever's handy at the time) from the correct entries. There is no cash alternative to this prize and there's only one winner and the winner takes it all. Staff at Scandi Kitchen cannot enter this competition. Why not? Because then Sebastion would just try to win everything and we just can't have that, can we?
Danish Trina has written a great Scandinavian cookbook - with some really stunning photographs by Lars Ranek. Trina used to live in the UK before returning to Denmark again where she's currently writing for Alt for Damerne and runs catering for the cafes inside the Danish House of Parliament.
There are plenty of Scandinavian cookbooks - but most are written in Scandinavian languages. Trina's book is being published in English. The launch of her book is on 21st October at the Danish Embassy and one lucky Scandi Kitchen blog reader can win a ticket to go to the official launch as well as a signed copy of this fantastic book. Two runners up will win signed copies of the book.
To enter the competition, all you need to do is answer this question:
Which one of these is not a traditional Scandinavian dish:
a) Crayfish with dill and vasterbotten cheese
b) Linguine Carbonara
c) Meatballs with cowberry jelly and cream gravy
Mail your answer to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk before 13th October. Terms and conditions apply. Only one entry and prize per person. There's no cash alternative to the prize and it cannot be exchanged. Winning the entrance to the Danish Embassy do does not guarentee Ferrero Rochers free-for-all: just because the advert says that all ambassadors eat them doesn't make it true, you know. We will draw the winner from all correct entries on Monday evening.
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
Yum yum. Mums mums, as they say in Sweden. Welcome to our homemade Princess cake - Prinsesstårta as it is called in Swedish - a wonderfully indulgent sponge layer cake with raspberry coulis, creme patisserie and whipped cream, all wrapped up in a thin layer of marzipan. Green marzipan, at that.
We have also added home & handmade Kladdkaka - directly translated this would be splat-cake or sticky cake, but that doesn't sound too good so we're instead going to tell you that it is a bit like a really gooey brownie - expect richer, more gooey and served with a dollop of cream. In fact, it's a little bit like if you image a brownie crossed with a chocolate fondant. Voila, the Swedish infamous Kladdkaka.
We make these cakes daily at our shop here in London - but when they are gone, they are gone. £2.50 a slice to eat in.
Cakes can also be made to order - lagkage as well (Danish layer cake) - price on request - email bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk for details.
Our Bronte used to work for innocent drinks looking after the People area before she became a full-time herring fanatic. While she no longer spends her time at Fruit Towers, she does like to help out a bit now and then - especially when it comes to finding nice people for the Scandi towers.
There's a Marketing/office role at the Swedish Blueberry Tower at the moment - it is based in Stockholm. The ad's in Swedish, but basically, it says you need to be really nice, have good experience, speak Swedish and be a member of the international brass-rubbing society.
If you decide you want to apply for this role, you need to mail a nice lady called Lautje - she does not speak Swedish, so pleae write to her in English. With an English CV and stuff.
There's a lovely Japanese publication called Lovely London and we're featured in it. It looks really fab and they've taken some really nice photos. We're wondering what it says? Maybe "Henrik Rock Star is simply the most gorgeous at SK" or "Louise is an angel and she makes the best coffee around". Or maybe it simply says "the best place in London open sandw iches" but we think there are a lot of letters if it says just that.
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