My New Home: Halmstad

Halmstad is a fun city. It has lots of active people, young and old. Although it is a modern city, there are still traces of when a former Danish king made this city his home. I walked around town and took some pictures. Maybe this will entice some visitors :)

This is the library and our neighborhood.

 This is the bridge that we cross to get downtown. We live to the left of this. 

 Old cool building downtown.

 Brewery. Delicious beer.

 More old stuff.

 Historic old street. 

 Boat in front of the castle.

 Bad picture of the castle.

 Picasso Park form far away.

 Church.

 In Picasso Park. 

 Main street of downtown

 Jolly park between our apartment and downtown.

 Duck pond, sans ducks...

 Cute Cafe. 

 Proof that Sweden is better than the USA: Pipi hangs out in their trees!

 Homeless shelter for kitties!

Don't you want to come visit now??? You know you do!

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

This is one of my favorite dishes I had the delight of making and eating during my year studying abroad in Viterbo, Italy. Bucatini all'Amatriciana was a pasta that was made in my first Italian Cuisine class and I fell in love. It has a lot of flavor and very easy to make. The bucatini is a wonderful type of pasta. It is also called Perciatelli and unfortunately cannot always be found in grocery stores in the USA. Bucatini is a long think spaghetti like noodle with a whole going through the middle, like a straw. It has a delightful chewy consistency. 

Bucatini all'Amatriciana is a much loved dish in Italy. It comes from Amatrice, a town in the Lazio region of Italy, not far from Rome. This is a simple pasta with few ingredients, which is typical of pasta dishes from this region. Also, the use of Guanciale (pig cheek) can easily be found to flavor food in Lazio because in history, the pope and his people would get the 'choice' pieces of meat and the less desirable pieces went to the rest of the people in the surrounding areas, such as pig cheek.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

(Recipe from De Cecco)

1 lb bucatini (or perciatelli)

1/4 lb guanciale (pancetta or bacon can be substituted) 

 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 1 3/4 lbs fresh tomatoes

 1 cup pecorina cheese

 1/4 cup chopped onion

 salt and pepper

A hot pepper, seeded and chopped finely (not from the De Cecco box, but in the traditional recipe)

 Directions: 

1. Cook the diced pancetta and chopped onion in a skillet until brown. 

2. Cut the peeled tomatoes into small pieces and add with pepper and salt, cooking over high heat for 20 minutes. 

3. Cook the Bucatini for 11 minutes (or until al dente)  in briskly boiling salted water, drain and place in serving dish. (reserving some water to add to dish). 

4. Add the sauce and sprinkle Pecorino cheese generously. 

Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Travel Inspiration

This is one of a series of amazing videos this guy has created where he dances in different places around the world with the locals. AMAZING. So inspiring. These make me smile and excited about life. :) If you ever need some inspiration, Youtube this guy!

Wedding cake (practice)

My Dad is getting married in September and I will be making the cake. I am very excited but the pressure is on. Usually when I make a cake it is just for fun, so if I mess it up nobody will ever know. With this cake, that is NOT the situation. 

I will be making a three tiered German Chocolate Cake. Each of the the three tiers will have chocolate frosting in the middle. My Dad's favorite cake is the German Chocolate that my grandma used to make and she is unfortunately no longer with us. To commemorate her, this is the chosen wedding cake flavor. 

Now as many of us know, german chocolate cake is delicious but not very pretty. Lucky for me they are having a beach themed wedding. So I have come up with the idea to ground the coconut and pecans in the frosting down to tiny pieces, thus giving the frosting a more similar appearance to sand. 

I practiced this cake for the first time a few days ago. Although I feel it turned out pretty good for a 'rough draft' the process was not very easy. I just moved into my new apartment in Halmstad and we do not have the appliances or modern baking convenience that makes this kind of adventure quick and easy. That being said, I spent close to 14 hours over the span of three days making the rough draft cake. 

Difficulties that I will not have to undergo again=
- Not having an electric mixer
-Not having multiple (or the right size) baking pan
- Making my own cake boards
-Making a 3 tiered cake in which one must use support ( I used plastic straws and it worked great!)
-Not having a blender (to blend the pecans and coconut)
- Making my own 'sea shells' with white chocolate 
-etc, the list goes on as I had almost none of the tools I needed.

This... is how it turned out:

The shells will look better when they are store bought and my dad's fiance bought a beautiful cake topper to take the place of my white chocolate hearts (which actually turned out better than I thought). Also, the 'sand' will be crushed nilla waffers rather than crushed rice cake and brown sugar (it was raining and I did not want to go to the store just for cookies). The dots around the cake bases that look awful will be those nice edible pearls. And I am pretty sure that when I have three cake pans, the size they are supposed to be, the cakes themselves will be more even. 

I am always hard on myself and although this is not perfect, I think it came out okay considering the inconveniences and the first time attempt at a tiered cake. 

Moving back to Sweden

I am currently in the process of applying for a Swedish residence permit. Excited?! Absolut!

My Swede and I have decided to move there (together) while he goes to school and I get better at Swedish. We are still looking for an apartment as of right now in the wonderful city, Halmstad. Have I been there? Kinda.. I went to a small beach there, walked around, and continued on a road trip.

This week I go to San Diego for my interview with the Swedish embassy and hopefully in a month or less I will actually behold my ticket to Sweden!

Hopes for my near future:
1. Find a job in Sweden quickly
2. Cohabit successfully with my boyfriend (new territory)
3. Not gain my usual Europe weight
4. Become fluent in Swedish
5. Make a Princesstarta
6. Once I become fluent in Sweden, get an awesome job :)  (airport, teacher, groupon, health organization)
7. Get tested for allergies and get good medicine!!! Yay universal health care!

Also excited for Jacqui's wedding! A. she is my best friend. B. this will be my first Danish wedding. C. I finally get the heck out of America!

More to come when things get a little less crazy around here. The Swede comes in 6 days! Let the real relationship begin... (after 2 years of long distance)

Friends!

If you google friends, here is a definition you may find: a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. 

 In my life, I have acquaintences, friends, and best friends. I was thinking to myself about what made some people best friends and this is what I came up with….

 You get two families, the one you are born into and the one you choose. Best friends are the family that you choose. These are people that you know you will be friends with for most of or all of your life. They are the people that are going to love you no matter what you do. 

These are the people that are not going to judge you when you make bad decisions and they are going to give you their honest opinion, even if it is not an easy one to hear. 

These are the people that you can go months or years without talking to and when you speak again, it is like no time has gone by. You know that no matter how much time or distance is between you, you will always be friends. 

These are people that you consider family. These are also the people that see you at your best and your worst. You can tell them your most embarrassing story and not be embarrassed. You can laugh at the difficulties of life together. 

 The reason I am writing about this is because I am very thankful to have such wonderful people in my life. I am far away from every one of my best friends which sometimes hurts but the fact that I can think of a happy memory with them and smile makes distance tolerable. I know that because my friends and myself are little travelers, I will not live close to most of them, but once I have a real job and money, I will see them when I can.

California!

And finally... Back in California. The whole way back, you better believe I was playing California by Phantom Planet. The weather nice (considering it is February). I live two blocks from the beach and I am happy as a clam. Still looking for a job though... Officially slummed as low as Taco Bell. Goal: Job by Thursday. Then it's bridesmaid dress, bf trip, and... wherever this crazy life takes me.

As for weight... 3 pounds down, 7 to go!