Scandinavian Kitchen

Welcome to Nete and Helena

Our busy Christmas times have certainly begun already - and we've got two lovely newbies who have joined our team at the cafe to help out.  Be nice to them if you see them around.  Nete is Danish - from the deepest, darkest Jutland - and Helena is from Iceland, which is also quite dark in the winter time.  Did you know that beer was illigal in Iceland until 1989?  Or that they have 13 different Santas?  Or that they grow bananas on Iceland? 

Which one of our Iceland facts are not quite true?  Send us your answer for your chance to win a free lunch.  Witty replies also accepted iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk

L to r: Helena and Nete

Humble beginnings...

We found out each other's secret first jobs this week and we were not short of surprises...

Henrik used to drive a van that looked like a cow.  Jonas used to sell Bjorn Borg underpants on the streets of Sydney.  As if that wasn't enough to take in, Moa revealed she used to work as a post man.  Bronte used to flip burgers and Sam used to work dressed as a Koala bear.  But the best one of all:  Sebastian has now got the new nick name of sh*t stirrer:  he worked for a while for the Karlskrona Sewage Fascility.  Oh dear. 

It matters not that you have grown up in a duck's yard when you've been laying in a Swan's egg.

The reason why the gals love popping by...

Here they are.  Your favourite boys.  Posing, as per usual.  Enjoy it.

Super Seb and Henrik RockStar, local lotharios.

Two jobs going at Scandi Kitchen - woo hoo

Kitchen Angel or Superman  Full time   /   Christmas  Elf 25-30 hours/week from now till 23^rd Dec inc

Hello

Christmas time is always busy – and we’re looking to fill two spots at the moment and we were wondering if one of these might be you-shaped?  One of the roles is a full time role in our lovely Kitchen and the other one is a part-time Christmas helper role. 

Kitchen Angel/Superman FULL TIME

The kitchen is the heart of Scandi Kitchen and we’re looking for that special someone to join the team and help them continue to make the most lush of lovely open sandwiches, bake the bestest cakes and prep the yummiest salads.

The job is 5 days a week, either the 7-15 shift or the 9:30-16:30 shift (we chop and change so everyone gets to do a bit of everything). 

Responsibilities include:

Kitchen area

·   Preparation of open sandwiches and salads in time for lunch rush

·   Keeping the kitchen exceptionally clean and to high hygienic standard

·   Help with ordering and daily prep, ensure stock takes are done

·   Train in catering and take charge of this area when needed

What we’re looking for:

·   Some experience in kitchen work – training will be given, but we need you to know a bit about working in a commercial busy prep kitchen.  This is essential.  We’re not looking for a five star chef, but we want someone who loves food, can cook and who understands the commercial aspect of kitchen life.

·   Buckets of initiative and lots of common sense and logic thinking. 

·   Can-do positive attitude and ability to keep a clear head under pressure – we get super busy sometimes.

·   Presentable with excellent interpersonal skills

·   Ability to speak/read one Scandinavian language fluently as well as fluent written/spoken English

·   Know all the lyrics to “The Final Countdown”.  Backwards.

This job starts around about now and as one of our lovely current Angels is moving back to Sweden after Christmas  –so we need you trained up before she flies off on her new adventure.

Christmas Elf

We're looking for some part time help during the Christmas period as we tend to get really, really busy.  In fact, it has already started.

The job will be in all areas of Scandi Kitchen - from helping out behind the counter, making great coffee, serving lunch and helping people with their shopping.  You will also be helping in the kitchen, stock room and with all our incoming orders from Scandinavia (and helping pack up our overnight orders that we send out to all over the UK).  It is also likely that you will help on some catering assignments out-of-house.

This role is likely to be around 20-30 hours a week, likely to start now and go all the way through till 23rd December (when the role will end).  It is very important that you can commit to working right up until and including 23rd December (we will close in the afternoon on the 23rd) as well as being available to work on Saturdays and some Sundays.    More hours may be available the busier we get and the more flexible you can be.   

We're looking for a lovely, presentable, nice, friendly Elf who has experience of Scandinavia/Scandinavian food.  You will have some experience of working in a food related business - ideally in a cafe/deli environment. 

Sounds like you?  Then let us know.  Interviews will starting for both roles already on Monday 16^th, so get your skates on, dude.  To apply, please pop us over your CV and a note stating why your chosen role is perfect for you to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk.  If you have not heard back from us within a week, we’re really sorry, but this means your skills and experience were not quite the right fit this time around.  

Part Time opportunity at Scandi Kitchen (Christmas Elf Wanted)

We're looking for some part time help during the Christmas period as we tend to get really, really busy.

The job will be in all areas of Scandi Kitchen - from helping out behind the counter, making great coffee, serving lunch and helping people with their shopping.  You will also be helping in the kitchen, stock room and with all our incoming orders from Scandinavia (and helping pack up our overnight orders that we send out to all over the UK).  It is also likely that you will help on some catering assignments out-of-house.

This role is likely to be around 15-20 hours a week, likely to start in early to mid November and go all the way through till 23rd December (when the role will end).  It is very important that you can commit to working right up until and including 23rd December (we will close in the afternoon on the 23rd) as well as being available to work on Saturdays and some Sundays.    More hours may be available the busier we get and the more flexible you can be.   

We're looking for a lovely, presentable, nice, friendly Elf who has experience of Scandinavia/Scandinavian food.  You will have some expereince of working in a food related business - ideally in a cafe/deli environment. 

The pay is £6.88 an hour.  Interviews will be held next week and week after.  To apply, please pop us over your CV and a note stating why this assignment is perfect for you to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk.

Bye bye lovely Sara

Our Sara has left us, seeking new exciting horizons.  We'll miss her and had a lovely little leaving do with her last week.  Pictures are all from Sara's blog.

We wish you all the best Sara xxx

 

Lene and Seb's pretty baby...

Seeing as we're all a bit baby mad at Scandi Kitchen this week what witht he arrival of little Elsa, we thought it fun to try and see what some other pairings might look like. 

Seb and Lene from Aqua's baby - both as a baby and an adult:

 +   =

     

Hmmm... very pretty baby, slightly odd looking as an adult...

Henrik and Seb

+   =

     

Surprisingly pretty result. 

Make your own baby images on Morph.

 

 

 

Welcome to the new boss

Well, sort of.  Probably.  Our Bronte finally went pop and out came Elsa.  Thanks for all your well wishes: Mum, Dad, Big Sister Astrid and Elsa all doing very well.  Both Mum and Dad have taken a few days off to be with the kids and get to know the new one.

Elsa Gudrun Aurell 23/9/09

When Sara met Peter Andre

We quite like our little celeb filled mornings - mostly, we don't recognise anyone because our lives are all about herring and not so much about Heat Magazine, but once in a while, we do get a bit star struck.  Like last week, when Peter Andre popped past Scandi Kitchen and our Sara had a bit of a chit chat with him. 

They discussed quantum physics and world peace.  Well, the future's bright, the future's orange, as they say.

What's it gonna be?

Bronte and Jonas are preparing for the arrival of another nipper and the guys in the shop have started to take bets if it will be a boy or girl, a Swede or a Dane or maybe a true Scandinavian?

Most importantly, though, is the naming of the little squid:  Bronte favours the old Scandinavian name of Elvis for a boy and Jonas is still trying to find any excuse not to agree to that.

Any good suggestions for both boys and girls names are appreciated - must be Scandinavian in origin, easy to pronounce in most languages and ideally something that works with the surname "Aurell"  (any votes for Marcus Aurell(ius) will be ignored by Bronte).   The old Swedish names  "Odd" and "Jerk" and "Bent" are also blacklisted by the wife.

ETA is about 8 weeks.  If you don't see Bronte around for a while, it is probably okay to ask.

Sebastian's 2 second beard

The gentlemen, Dave and Bertie, have done it again.  Here's Watermill's "2 second beard" for Sebastian.

More about Bertie and Dave here http://www.watermill-london.com/

We are two years old this week

This time around two years ago we knew a lot less about herring than we do now.  We had also never encountered the Seb/Henrik double act, nor had we realised just how many people love open sandwiches in the UK.

It's been a real blast so far and we love getting up every morning to come to the Scandinavian Kitchen, whether its to make the Monmouth coffee we serve or if it's to help people get introduced to the wonders of Kalles Kaviar from Sweden.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 7th July, we'll be dishing out the cake and maybe wearing silly party hats too.  We'll certainly be feeling happy and cheerful and ready for a lot of birthday hugs.

We'd love to see you, so pop by and have a chit chat, a little piece of cake and maybe a hug or two.

Thanks for making Scandi Kitchen happen every day - we would not be here without you guys.

Lots of love

The Birthday Crowd

x

Happy Birthday, Sebastian

We love Sebastian, that is no secret.  Ever since he walked into our lives over two years ago, he's been part of the family.  Lately, his hair has grown quite a bit, so for his birthday today we bought him an assortment of pretty hair clips.  We also gave him a voucher for a haircut.

Should Sebastian cut his hair?  Or keep it long and put it in a pony tail a la bon jovi?  Get a perm? Are you popping by to wish him Happy Birthday and give him a hug?  So many questions, so little time.  But feel free to send your greetings to him via the blog.  He'll love it.

 

with hair and with not much hair

And what a lovely afternoon it was...

We had fun in Hyde Park on Saturday for the Swedish/Finnish Midsummer celebrations - and judging by the turn out, about 992 of you guys seemed to as well - wowsa, there was a lot of people.

One thing, though - the pole was a bit small this year, let's all remember next year that we need to bring a bigger pole along.

 all photos taken by our Sara

Fancy a nice job at Scandi Kitchen?

Kitchen Angel / Barista (Full Time from August 09)

We’ve got a great job here at Scandi Kitchen for someone who is looking to get a good year’s all round experience at being an integral part of running a growing cafe/deli business.

Responsibilities include:

Kitchen area

·          Preparation of open sandwiches and salads in time for lunch rush

·          Keeping the kitchen exceptionally clean and to high hygienic standard

·          Help with ordering and daily prep

·          Help with catering when needed

Front of House

·          Serving our wonderful customers

·          Consistently making excellent coffee

·          Cash management

·          General store maintenance and stock control

·          Make sure the shop is always clean, presentable and organised at all times during shift

What we’re looking for:

·          Some experience in both areas of work – training will be given, but we need you to know a bit about both working front of house and in a kitchen.  This is essential.

·          Buckets of initiative and lots of common sense

·          Can-do positive attitude and ability to keep a clear head under pressure

·          Presentable with excellent interpersonal skills

·          Ability to speak/read one Scandinavian language fluently as well as fluent written/spoken English

·          Know all the lyrics to “The Final Countdown”.  Backwards.

This job is a one year contract, starting August 2009.  We are unable to accept shorter placements as this is also a maternity cover – so please do be realistic about your timings when you apply.  Please note we are not able to offer this job as two part-time jobs as hours vary from week to week in the different areas (some weeks may be mainly kitchen cover, some weeks mainly front of house).  Note there will definitely be weekend work involved.

To apply, send your CV and a cover note to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk before 21^st June 2009.  We’ll then invite selected people in for a chit-chat and a cup of coffee.  If you have not heard back from us within a week of the closing date, we’re really sorry, but this means your skills and experience were not quite the right fit this time around. 

innocent is all over Scandinavia

Many moons ago, our Bronte used to hang out at the innocent 'Fruit Tower' quite a lot.  For around five years, her quest in life was to ensure the people of UK and Europe got their daily fruit.  One day, she woke up and decided her new quest had more to do with herring and open sandwiches and she set up Scandi Kitchen together with The Swede, also known as Jonas.  But she never forgot the friendly bunch in West London.

We just had a bit of a peek this week and wanted to tell all you Scandophiles that you can now get innocent in both Denmark, Norway, Sweden and even Finland.  Bronte is very proud.

Just so you know, Strawberries and Bananas is called Mansikka & banaani in Finnish.  Don't say we don't teach you anything...

Welcome Signe and belated hello to Michaela

With Elisabeth departing back to the fjords and fjells of Norway, we filled her spot with a lovely Danish girl called Signe, who just started today.  Signe is from Jutland - from a very, very small place called Beder.  Random fact:  she is addicted to Tetris and loves hotdogs.  Also belated picture of Michaela who started a while back in our kitchen.  Michaela is from Gothenburg, once won a vodka gurgling competition and is the only person we've ever met to have suffered from the Flu in her left leg.

Please be nice and say hello if you see them around.

 

From left to right: Swedish Michaela and Danish Signe 

Rocking Chair

Our dear neighbour Noel Hennessey has decided to move shop, so no longer will we be greeted every morning with requests for his daily cup of "diesel Gevalia".  We miss you already, Noel - thanks for sending us this wonderful photo of Henrik Rockstar on your designer rocking horse.  We will teasure it.  And now we know where Henrik was all those times we could not find him. 

You can still get in touch with Noel and his fancy fab furniture via his website http://www.noelhennessy.com/

Kitchen Angel (part time) wanted

Kitchen Angel / Superman

We always knew we had Mette on borrowed time - and she is now heading back to Denmark so we need to fill her shoes.  Therefore we’re looking for someone to join our wonderful kitchen team part time (initially - you never know, it might end up full time).

The main job responsibilities are:

·         Daily prepping of open sandwiches, salads and sauces

·        Part responsible for catering and out-of-house bookings

·         Daily baking of wonderful cakes and help invent new exciting ways/foods to keep SK ahead

·         Keeping the kitchen in excellent working order both operationally and with regards to hygiene

·         Responsible for stock takes, rotation and re-ordering of catering goods

The person we’re looking for is:

·         Experienced in the kitchen.  We’re not asking for a top chef here, just relevant all round kitchen/cafe/restaurant experience and knowledge of how working in a busy kitchen should be.

·         Team worker and good people skills – you’ll be working closely with the other Kitchen Angel and will be sharing the responsibilities for the day to day running of the kitchen.

·         Flexible – we’re open 6 days a week and you need to be able to be flexible in your working hours and days

·         Good at a Scandinavian language and has excellent knowledge of Scandinavian food.  The language bit is so you can understand labelling, ordering, recipes and such practical stuff.  The Scandinavian food knowledge does not have to be from a professional side, but can be from a passion for Scandinavian food in general.

If this sounds like you, send your CV and a few paragraphs about yourself to: bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk.  

Please note we do not accept CVs from agencies and while we do try to get back to everyone, if you had not heard back in 2 weeks, we’re sorry, but this means your application wasn’t quite successful this time around.

Welcome, ladies

Two lovely new girls started working at Scandi Kitchen this week - the lovely Moa from Sweden and Mette from Denmark.  Be really nice to them if you see them around.

Left to Right:  Moa with the prawn, Mette with no prawn. 

Hello and Goodbye

Marcos, who is off on his world tour of India: we will miss you lots, not least for your crazy potato peeling techniques.  And welcome Jeanette, who joins us this week - be nice and say hello to her if you see her around.

 

 

Job at Scandi Kitchen

Kitchen Angel / Superman

Our Timmo is going to seek his fame and fortune in the finance world and is leaving us as from January.  Therefore we’re looking for someone to join our wonderful kitchen team full time.

The main job responsibilities are:

·         Daily prepping of open sandwiches, salads and sauces

·         Part responsible for catering and out-of-house bookings

·         Daily baking of wonderful cakes and help invent new exciting ways/foods to keep SK ahead

·         Keeping the kitchen in excellent working order both operationally and with regards to hygiene

·         Responsible for stock takes, rotation and re-ordering of catering goods

The person we’re looking for is:

·         Experienced in the kitchen.  We’re not asking for a top chef here, just relevant all round kitchen/cafe/restaurant experience and knowledge of how working in a busy kitchen should be

·         Team worker and good people skills – you’ll be working closely with the other Kitchen Angel and will be sharing the responsibilities for the day to day running of the kitchen.

·         Flexible – we’re open 6 days a week and you need to be able to be flexible in your working hours and days

·         Good at a Scandinavian language and has excellent knowledge of Scandinavian food.  The language bit is so you can understand labelling, ordering, recipes and such practical stuff.  The Scandinavian food knowledge does not have to be from a professional side, but can be from a passion for Scandinavian food in general.

If this sounds like you, send your CV and a few paragraphs about yourself to: bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk.  

Please note we do not accept CVs from agencies and while we do try to get back to everyone, if you had not heard back in 2 weeks, we’re sorry, but this means your application wasn’t quite successful this time around.

 

 

 

 

Little places in Scandinavia - Jonas' Sarö

By Jonas

Sarö, on the west coast of Sweden some 30km south of Gothenburg, is home to 3,000 people and a disused railway line.  The name – Peculiar island (extremely loosely translated) – doesn’t do it all that many favours, although when considering Sarö is an island only in a technical sense (jumping across the ditch that separates it from the mainland is quite achievable - for a six year old) we can suppose the name bears right in a sense.

Home to the Ghost Hill- which must have been the steepest hill in the world for at least five years at the end of the seventies - and The Love Cave’s diving spot which surely rivalled any 10m platform at the Olympics, it is strange for anyone having grown up there that the place is best renowned for having a couple of kings cajoling with the locals around the turn of the 19th century. Well, the place can possibly be said to have a strong royal connection as the first king is rumoured to have left enough of a legacy to ensure his son should never have had to worry about finding a suitable blood donor should he cut himself on a rock while following a guy down the cliffs around the Love Cave.

Arguably some of the above items could be dismissed as pure speculation so here are some other facts about the place: it is the home of one-quarter of Ace of Base; it is the first spot in Sweden where a woman was caught for speeding (go grandma!); and, of course home to Pappa Leif’s Janssons Temptation. Other reports have it that the football team isn’t all that prolific at the moment, the tennis club hasn’t produced any major stars yet and the best golfers coming out of the place all played for neighbouring clubs. But then, who said life on a little island was easy?

Jo's 'Mo' gets a seeing to

As promised, seeing as the "grow" camp beat the "mow" camp last week, Jonas has been to visit the amazing Mo Emporium on Charlotte Street to have his moustache seen to.  Our good friend Mikael went along with his camera.  More pictures in the photo album if you haven't seen enough after this.

 

 

 

A little place in Scandinavia - Sebastian's Karlskrona

 

This post refers back to Henrik's Rydsgard, Elisabeth's Drammen  and Bronte's Hong

 

By Sebastian

 

Karlskrona is a gem of a city nestled in the south-eastern Swedish archipelago. Founded in 1680 by the then Swedish king Karl XI with the purpose as to serve as a naval base to protect Sweden from the aggressive Danes. Something must have gone right as it is still Swedish today.  Karlskrona is home to 62.589 people and is still Sweden’s most pub dense city and the one with the most dangerous street, Ronnebygatan.

 

Karlskrona has always been heavily influenced by its maritime heritage and still is today. Every year there’s a big regatta held called “Sailet” (swenglish for the word sail) with ships coming in from all corners of the globe. You may also have heard  of Karlskrona watching the news back in 1981 when a Soviet submarine stranded there.

 

The city is built on a number of islands, the largest of which is Trossö. This island was owned by a stubborn farmer called Wittus Andersson back in the day of Karl XI and he was forced to sell the island so that the city could be built. Wittus was so enraged that he cast a curse on the city, he vowed that it would burn to the ground, be ravished by pestilence and sink to the bottom of the sea. Karlskrona  was ravished by pestilence between 1710-1711 and burnt to the ground in 1790, all that remains is for it to sink to the sea.

 

The best bar in Karlskrona is “Schlager-baren” where you can sing all of your favourite Schlager anthems every Friday and Saturday. After a long night out you might want to enjoy some fabulous pizza or kebab at “Bernes”, where everything comes drenched in garlic sauce whether you want it to or not.

 

Karlskrona is also home to many famous people - even Kofi Annan has a summer cottage here.   Karlskrona’s Janne Lindello, who you often bump into when you roam the streets of the city. writes poetry and played a minor role in SVT’s (Sweden’s BBC) movie “Det grovmaskiga nätet” as a police officer. 

 

A nice place in Scandinavia # 3 - Henrik's 'Rydsgaard'

By Henrik

 

Rydsgård was conceived after the railway between Malmo-Ystad was built in 1874. The village, on the south coast of Sweden, boasts a population of 1301 and the “Skivarpsån” river divides the village in two parts – very much like the Thames in London. Both sides have their own church but the pizzeria, the newsagent and the nursing home are situated on the south side, hence making it the town centre. The local school, on the north side, educates years 1-6 with almost 200 pupils enrolled. It houses kids of the local farming communities as well as a few of the more urbanised pupils from both sides of the river. It is, however, highly unusual for people to get along with villagers from the other side and marrying someone who grew up on another street than your own is almost unheard of.

 

Rydsgårdians have always been jealous of the neighbouring village Västra Vemmenhög, from where the young boy, who rode the length of Sweden on the back of a goose, started his journey.

 

The village’s biggest tourist attraction used to be Rydsgårds Stängselnät AB, the nail and barbed wire factory. It had a very distinct smell and every now and then a big truck would arrive to pick up the daily production. It did however burn down in 1984, even prompting a 30 second feature on the local news. 

 

Football is the most popular pastime in Rydsgård. We are very proud of our team that currently sits in 12^th place in southern Sweden’s sixth division. Throughout the eighties the first team consisted of seven brothers and three cousins of the same family. Their mother was the kit man for the whole club because she had two washing machines. One of the brothers, Ola, even had a trial with Trelleborgs FC who used to play in the Swedish premier league. Another famous footballer from Rydsgård was Anders Fredriksson (a.k.a. “the elk” due to his long legs) who once hit a penalty kick to a throw-in.

 

Other famous members of the community include Rickard Andersson, who played keyboards for Yngwie Malmsteen and Laine Olsson, who won a Volvo on “Bingo lotto”.

  Rydsgaard last thursday in Rush hour?

Mow or grow?

 

Awwww... so fresh faced...

Our Jonas decided, about 7 months ago, that it was time to Grow a Mo.  It then became a competition with Henrik Rock Star and Sebastian – but since then, his Mo seems to have stayed around.  And gotten bigger.  And bigger.  At one point he said the aim was to become a member of the Handlebar club, but have not seen any application forms so far.  His girlfriend thinks it’s time to go back to being a fresh faced Swede, but what does everyone else think?

We’ve now decided to make it up to you.  Over the next few weeks, there’ll be two pots in Scandi Kitchen – one for MOW and one for GROW.  At the end of this time, the pot with most dosh in it wins.  If it’s GROW, Jonas will keep his tash and if it’s MOW, well, then we’ll get the shears out and maybe knit a scarf from all the wool.

You can also donate to the cause here - we’ve chosen the charity CHICKS (Country Holidays for Inner City Kids) as this is the charity Scandi Kitchen supports.

Last date for having your say is 6^th November.  We’ll keep you posted on news on the blog.

A nice little place in Scandinavian #2

The "tourist" photo of Drammen

This post refers back to this one

Our Elisabeth is a true Norwegian – and indeed, she does not come from Oslo and she is not into Morten Harkett.  No no, she is from a lovely little town called Drammen, located about 50 km from the capital, totally A-Ha free.  Drammen has rock carvings dating back 7000 years – one of them depicts a moose.  Originally, in Norse times, Drammen was actually called Drafn, deriving from the Drammensfjord.  You can read more about Drammen’s history here http://www.drammens.museum.no/

Drammen has a bout 60,000 inhabitants and life in centred around the town square and something called Drammen Beach (basically, tonnes of sand dumped near a big road – but it’s really lovely, apparently ).  One time, several years ago, Bryan Adams came to Drammen and people still talk about that.  Katie Melua also popped by, but that was not as exciting.  If you go to Drammen, bring your skis or board:  there are two great places to go practise just on the outskirts of the town

Elisabeth says that if you go to Drammen, you have to go get a kebab at “Snappys” – people drive from miles away to get one of these.  And if you’re ever in the area, pop by and say hello to Kristin, Elisabeth’s Mum, she’s really nice

This photo is called "summer in Drammen 2007" and is by John Tollefsen

A little place in Scandinavia...

 The centre of Hong - you can see Mr and Mrs Blomhoj's house in this picture (the white one right at the back to the left) - don't forget to pop in for a cup of gevalia if you pass by... 

You always hear about the big towns such as Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen.  Seeing as we see ourselves as a bit of a mini-Scandinavian tourist board, we thought we'd introduce you to the places where we come from.  So, over the next few weeks we'll write about Henrik's Ystad, Elisabeth's Drammen and Jonas' Saro.

This week:  Bronte's Høng

The village of Høng on Sealand in Denmark has about 2000 inhabitants (and about 25,000 piggies).  Høng is mostly known for its cheese.  Some of the best Danish cheeses you can get your mitts on come from this region, the more famous one being the Danish version of Camembert and also an amazing type of cheese called rygeost (smoked soft cheese) - incidentally, Bronte's granddad used to make the most famous of rygeosts in all of the land and gave her a secret recipe which she'll one day have the courage to try and make.  Maybe.

Høng is a sleepy village with just one main street running through it.  It has a great kebab shop and and even better proper bakery where people meet in the morning to stock up on Danish pastries and catch up on the local gossip.  There are not any real famous landmarks in Hong, so most tourist drive a few miles south to Trelleborg - an old Viking Fortress, most definitely worth visiting if you're in the area.  Bring your wellies.

Other notable points to see in the area:  Reersoe, a lovely sleepy old island with a sweet habour and cats with no tails.  then there's the beaches by Stillinge Strand - some of the cleanest water in Europe and the lovely bridge of Storebaelt (incidentally, at 254 metres above sealevel, also the highest point in Denmark).

Which one is our Jonas? Help be the SK Moustache judge

Despite Bronte's best efforts, Jonas still sports a moustache long after the SK Moustache competition seems to be over.  We've all heard the stories about someone in his extended family being an honourary founding member of the Swedish Moustache Society and all that - but the new question is more about what kind of tash he has?

We found this web page which describes the different categories of moustaches.  Do send us your opinions on this and we're make sure we enter him for the right category at the next event.

                                    

From top left to borttom right: dali, english, hungarian, imperial or free-style - and Jonas.

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

 

Our Sara from Sweden

Long awaited since our Louise's departure last month, Sara has arrived and has settled in nicely to SK. 

Sara is from Stockholm and she once studied sign language and is pretty good at it.  She is totally addicted to dark chocolate - the more bitter the better - and the used to work on a boat as a "jungman".  We've not been able to work out what a "jungman" is in English (nope, it had nothing to do with YMCA), so if you know - do let us know.

Be nice to her if you see her around.

Sara and Sebastian (wearing a crayfish hat as usual).

Postcard from Heather & Jo #5

 Stockholm Culture Festival "Carnival"

All good things come to an end and so it was time for us to leave. Following the grand finale of the Culture Festival on Saturday night, we awoke to the pouring rain (being British I believe it is my duty to always talk about the weather) and the knowledge that team GB were third in the Olympic medals table. Go team GB!

On reflection, we think Sweden has the answer to London's knife crime problem - Swedish female police officers; that is if the two we saw are a good representation. Gone would be the thoughts of knifes, in the hope of being searched thoroughly by a female police officer!

Our final day took us to Stockholm's City Museum where we learnt about the city's "filth" and "prohibition" - even chocolate was banned and servants could be jailed for wearing silk! The horror!

As we stocked up on choolate with Daim (no longer prohibited), Stimorol chewing gum and Swedish literature, the call came for us to reluctantly catch our flight. I did try to take SK to new heights of the mile high club (not that one!) and serve tea in my SK t-shirt, but was not successful. I think I lacked the lucky SK mug, so will try again next time. In retaliation I ripped a page out of SAS's 'Scanorama' magazine, to help plan my next holiday to Sweden. If I were to only travel to Sweden for my annual holiday every year, I would be very happy.

Until next time....

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 #3

Heather, SK t-shirt and the elusive "Hagabulle" - Can I have a semla this big please?!

We awoke to sunshine and a new day, although by the end of breakfast it had already clouded over again. Nevertheless, off we headed Jo, SK t-shirt and I in search of the elusive 'Hagabulle'. So much had been promised by the information book in the hostel and thankfully we were not disappointed. It was huge (see photo above) and we had to share it (although we were not prepared to share it with the wasps, who were stalking us yet again!), too much for one person after breakfast! I challenge Tobias to make a giant semla for my birthday in February!

Our stomachs very full we headed off to the guided city walk, which was part of the Göteborg Culture Festival (previously the Göteborg Festival, but too many Swede's used it as an excuse for getting very drunk and so the word 'Culture' was added!). Our guide from the Stadsmuseet was very funny and in summary, we learned that all you need to know about the history of Göteborg is that there was a fat man, a man who brought potatoes, it burnt down several times (although they were told to re-build in brick the Swedes did not, hence multiple burnings!) and that it was built around the same time as Cape Town, New York and Jacarta, by the Dutch and so the streets are on a grid pattern in the centre at least!

Our swift history of Göteborg complete and having escaped with only a spitting of rain so far, we went in search of willow weaving only to find not only was it not on, but that it cost SEK100 entry fee.....we think not, cheap skates that we are we are saving our hard earned pennies to spend in SK! Mildly disappointed we headed off to the Konstmuseet to look at Scandinavian art and were mightily impressed, especially when we got away without paying the SEK60 entry fee to the special exhibition that was on!  We do not endorse such activity of course, but hey, no one asked for tickets, who could blame us and that's 3 pieces and a drink in SK! We left into the glorious sunshine we had not seen since Copenhagen, but this soon set and we were left cold again and still being hassled by the damn wasps and we didn't have any food or drink this time. Time for dinner. As the rain pours down outside, I don't think we will be heading out again!

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!

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........

Are you really nice?

Our Louise, our wonderful Lou-Lou, PolsePrinsessa of the Front of House and Angel in the Kitchen...  Much loved and will be sadly missed when she heads back to Sweden in a few weeks.  University, PAH!  Who needs it?  Well, we tried to convince her but we have to admit that it's a pretty important thing and that it is a wonderful thing for her to do. 

Her departure will leave a spot open at Scandi Kitchen - and seeing as our Louise was both master of the upstairs and downstairs, we have two part time jobs open as of now.  These jobs do not have to be filled by the same person, by the way, but could be two people.  On the other hand, if you love both making coffee and open sandwiches, this could be for you.

Kitchen Angel (Part time, approx 25 hours)

The role reports into Tobias, who's our man in charge of all things food.  It's 4 days a week, around 25 hours a week in total, sometimes more or less depending on demands of the catering side of things.

Duties of the Kitchen Angel includes prepping open sandwiches to a high standard, making all our our home made salads and dressings, keeping the kitchen in good order and generally assist with the daily running of the kitchen.  Specifically, we need you to have great attention to detail as we want to train you up on the catering side of the business, making super-duper lunches for our ever increasing bunch of corporate customers.

We're looking for someone who has experience of working and preparing food in a professional kitchen/busy sandwich shop/cafe.  We’re really busy so you need to be able to work well under pressure and keep a clear head when things hot up.  Fluency in English, both spoken and written, is absolutely essential and good knowledge of Scandinavian food is essential.  If you speak a Scandinavian language it's a huge advantage.  The person we're looking for should be presentable with great interpersonal skills, tidy, clean and organised, full of initiative, team player and must possess that wonderful common-sense gene and be willing to learn. 

Super Barisata (Part time, approx 15 hours)

The role reports into Henrik, who's our man in charge of the Front of House.  This job is to help out in the cafe, serving food and making excellent coffee - approximately 2 shifts a week (we can be flexible as to what day, but usually it means one weekend day and on week day).

We're looking for someone who has experience of working in a busy sandwich shop/cafe/restaurant - or at the very least who has experience of working in a retail setting. It is most definitely an advantage if you are already trained in the art of making excellent coffee - however, if you tick all the other boxes we can teach you the coffee bit.

Fluency in English and a Scandinavian language, both spoken and written, is absolutely essential.

The person we're looking for should be presentable with great interpersonal skills (able to talk to anyone, a likeable person), tidy, clean and organised, full of initiative, team player and must possess that wonderful common-sense gene and be willing to learn. 

Plase note we're looking for a minimum of 6 months commitment.  In return we promise a lovely place to work with some super top people and as many meatball sandwiches as you can shake a stick at.

We'll be doing interviewsover the next few weeks so do get your skates on if this sounds like something for you.  Send your up to date CV and a bit about yourself to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk

Celebrated in style

Henrik Rock Star

Our first birthday was celebrated in style at Scandi Kitchen.  We served nice herring and even nicer lagkage (layer cake) all day to ayone who fancied it and we even had a little soiree in the evening for some close friends from the hood and around.

The best bits from our birthday were:

• All the nice flowers and cards we got - thank you to everyone who brightened up our day, we love them
• Knowing we have lots of friends
• A few of you feeling the warmth afte a few aquavits in the evening - we liked the dancing.  And hugging.
• Jonas sticking his whole face in one of the lagkager

Photos are courtesy of Anu, Camilla and a few that we took - but mainly Anu and Camilla.  Thanks for remembering your cameras, girls.

More photos here

About 700 canapes were eaten at our little party - these are the crayfish and coriander tunnbrod rolls - very popular indeed.

Seb was doorman, Josh popped by and Phil the Photographer didn't take many photos but did spend time trying to get away from Jonas wo was on a mission with a lagkage...

It's our birthday - we are ONE on 10th July

We can hardly believe it ourselves:  it's been a year already.  A year of lots of excellent Monmouth coffee, a serious amount of herring and quite a few open sandwiches.   

Stuff we've achieved since opening on 10th July 2007:

• Had a baby (well, the owners Jonas and Bronte have anyway...Astrid will be a year old on the 11th July... she arrived 21 hours after the shop did)
• Grown three moustaches (Henrik, Jonas and Seb) and removed one (Seb)
• Tried to be funny in 52 newsletters (phew...)
• Served enough coffee that if you stacked all the mugs on top of each other they'd reach the top of the London Eye over 7 times
• Realised that curry herring really is the new black
• Henrik's worn out 3 pairs of shoes running around the store
• Sebastian's learnt 119 words in Danish (at least)

Much more has happened, we're sure - it's been a very eventful year.  Thanks to all of you guys for your support, we've had such a blast and we can't wait to get stuck into year two.

If you are in the area today (61 Gt Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PP) - Thursday 10th July - pop by the store for a chit-chat, maybe some herring or some cake and a nice hug.  We do so like hugging.

Our Henrik Rockstar and our Jess.

innocent drinks looking for a Marketing Assistant for their Stockholm office

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.

Seb, we miss you

Everyone should take holiday once in a while.  It's nice to go and put your feet up and drink pina colada.  We wonder if our Seb is sitting in Sweden right now, drinking fancy cocktails and wearing a straw hat?  He's on holiday back home, you know, and we're missing him quite a lot.  Seb is our main man, a sort-of hybrid Dane*/Swede with a fondness for full shelves and excellent coffee.

Seb, we know you'll be checking this blog (Ha!  gotcha!) - so stop thinking about work and go back to your hammock and we'll see you back here in a week or so.

Jonas and Louise pointing to an empty space on a shelf today - this would never, ever have happened if Seb had been around....

*at least his alter ego is Danish

Lovely innocent smoothies

Bronte went to Fruit Towers (as innocent's head quarters are called) today - she's worked at innocent for many years but now she is finally full-time Scandi Kitchen.

To celebrate, the Cheese CLub at innocent had a Scandinavian day today - and we brought along several interesting cheeses that we also stock at our little shop:

Sweden:  Vasterbotten, a 12-14 month ages hard cheese not unlike parmesan in texture but so seriously tasty on crispbread it is hard not to eat the whole packet.

Norway: Brunost - brown cheese, literally.   Whey, cream and milk is boiled until the sugar in the milk turns almost into caramel and this gives the cheese it's distinct colour and sweet flavour.

Denmark:  Gamle Ole - stinky, stinky cheese.  Strong.  Lovely. Great finish.  Blaa Kornblomst: Blue cornflower, a lovely creamy blue cheese with a great finish.  Not too strong, but still with a good bite (Organic from a small Danish dairy).  Last but not least:  Esrom cheese.  Some claim it is the king of Danish cheeses; strong, and as our Tobias desribes it: "with a nice flavour of cow shed at the end".  Yummy.

It's tradition at innocent drinks' Cheese Club to vote for the favourite at the end of a long tasting session and Gamle Ole was a clear winner. 

Fruit towers, where Bronte used to work and where people love smoothies and cheese.  A lot.

Fancy working at Scandi Kitchen?

We've got two vacancies at Scandi Kitchen at the moment:

Kitchen Angel (PT)

We currently have a vacancy for a part-time Kitchen Angel (28 hours +).  Our wonderful Mai is going back to Denmark in August so we need someone to come fill her shoes.

The role reports into Tobias, who's our man in charge of all things food.  It's 5 days a week, around 28 hours a week with scope to add more hours as we get busier.  Usual days of working are Wednesday to Sunday inclusive, but hours/days can change due to catering demands and holidays (you'll be covering for Tobias when he is away)

Duties of the Kitchen Angel includes prepping open sandwiches to a high standard, making all our our home made salads and dressings, keeping the kitchen in good order and generally assist with the daily running of the kitchen.

We're looking for someone who has experience of working and preparing food in a professional kitchen/busy sandwich shop/cafe.  We’re really busy so you need to be able to work well under pressure and keep a clear head when things hot up.  Fluency in English, both spoken and written, is absolutely essential and good knowledge of Scandinavian food is essential.  If you speak a Scandinavian language it's a huge advantage.  The person we're looking for should be presentable with great interpersonal skills, tidy, clean and organised, full of initiative, team player and must possess that wonderful common-sense gene and be willing to learn. 

This job starts end of July/beginning of August.  We'll be doing interviews in a few week's time so do get your skates on if this sounds like it up your street.  Send your up to date CV and a bit about yourself to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk.  Note that this job is ongoing and is offered on a minimum 6 months contract.

Super Barisata (Part time, going to Full Time from August)

Our most beloved Louise has decided to go back to Sweden to study. Well, we're very excited for her andwe're reluctantly untying her apron trings and letting her go. This means we now have a vacancy for a barista, initially it is pat time but form August it will be full time.

The role reports into Henrik, who's our man in charge of the Front of House.  The job is 5 days a week, full time, with one day off during the week and one of the weekend days (although initially it will be 2-4 days a week)

Duties of the Super Barista includes preparing exellent coffee, serving customers throughout the day - both at quieter times and over the super busy lunch times. You will also help look after the shop on your shifts - from stocking up to sorting out things that need fixing and cleaing day to day - as well as helping to open/close the cafe.

We're looking for someone who has experience of working in a busy sandwich shop/cafe/restaurant - or at the very least who has experience of working in a retail setting. It is most definitely an advantage if you are already trained in the art of making excellent coffee - however, if you tick all the other boxes we can teach you the coffee bit.

Fluency in English and a Scandinavian language, both spoken and written, is absolutely essential.

The person we're looking for should be presentable with great interpersonal skills (able to talk to anyone, a likeable person), tidy, clean and organised, full of initiative, team player and must possess that wonderful common-sense gene and be willing to learn. 

This job starts prettymuch now.  We'll be doing interviewsover the next few weeks so do get your skates on if this sounds like something for you.  Send your up to date CV and a bit about yourself to bronte@scandikitchen.co.uk

Jeg er også dansker...

The Danish newspaper Politiken are doing a campaign for integration into Danish society.  This basically involves Danish people from different backgrounds wearing t-shirts printed with the sentence "Jeg er ogsaa dansker", meaning "I'm also Danish".  The sentiment of the campaign is good, although we're not yet convinced the way of doing it is quite the right way - but that is a different story all together.  Never the less, we like to support such initiatives - and the Danes here at SK would just like to add for the record that "we're also Danish, even though we live abroad.   

You can read more here http://politiken.dk/indland/article504074.ece (Danish only)

Bronte (32) - Born in Denmark, lived there for 16 years

Henrik (from Southern Sweden): he's not Danish (but he wishes he was)

Where's Jonas?

We're still unsure of his reasons for his moustache growing, but we salute his top-lip efforts.  He's been mistaken for famous people all week - now can you tell which one is our Jonas and which is part of the American A-list society?

See our Sebastian on Graham Norton show

We found it.  A clip of our Seb on You Tube.  You have to scroll for it, though, he's on at 7.50 minutes. 

Enjoy.  By the way, we've decided to start a new movement:  "Sebastian for Eurovision 2009".  We may even print badges.

Our famous Sebastian

Yes, in case you were wondering, it was indeed our Sebastian appearing on the Graham Norton show this week.  We're in awe of him - it takes quite some guts to go on national TV, let along singing Herreys songs in front of Graham Norton himself (and half of Britain).  Sebastian, we salute you - you can sing Diggiloo Diggeley for us anytime.

Oh baby, it's the moustache man...

Our Jonas has decided to grow a moustache.  In his own words "I'll not shave it until it is so big so that I can wax it".  We think he secretly wants to become a member of this special club.

Ten points if you can guess which one of these beauties is our Jonas.  Hint: he might be posing with our equally bearded Henrik Rock Star.

Photos courtesy of above named website.