planet kensington

Once upon a time there was a bar in Kensington Market around the corner from my work that had taco Wednesday, the best taco EVER for only a toonie ($2). I used to look forward to Wednesdays and was sad when I stopped working there. Unfortunately the bar closed and now there’s just some yuppie burger joint that sells burgers at $7 a pop. Planet Kensington was the name of the bar and it was the watering hole for the punk rockers in the area. It wasn’t a fancy bar and their bathroom smelled like fish because of the fish store next door but it had good food and was full of super friendly people.

Before Fredrik went on his tour, we decided to have a taco night. I made my taco like the ones I used to get at Planet Kensington. The key to the goodness is the refried beans spread onto a soft taco wrapped around a completely stuffed hard taco.

Sometimes I really miss working in Kensington Market. The guys at work were all really awesome (with the exception of 1), Chinatown was right next to it, great food, super awesome people and great yarn store (Lettuce Knit).

surprise! korean!

Fredrik and I went browsing today. We went to check out prices for things that we’ll need in the house.

We found a Korean restaurant in the least expected place. Hidden in a “business park” area. Restaurang Izumi Gumi.

We were actually looking for some sort of lunch restaurant. In our search, we also discovered the Vivels bakery. If we weren’t really hungry, we would’ve probably bought some bread. There were some seriously nice looking bread. Their jalapeno bread looked pretty interesting.

We ate out of the lunch menu. Fredrik got the yakitori bibimbap. I got the yakiniku bibimbap. It was as good as the bibimbap I’ve had in the Korean restaurants in K-town Toronto.

You’ll have to excuse the blurriness. I took the picture with Fredrik’s cellphone and I have a hard time holding my hands still.

I’d like to see their dinner menu. There are probably other authentic Korean goodness.

Damn… now I want all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ.

Restaurang Izumi Gumi
Svetsarvägan SA
171 41 Solna
08 28 01 01

oh yeah… london…

So I went to London on Sunday to see Fredrik’s band play. The show was fantastic. There were a few disappointments in my journey but for the most part, it was pretty good. May have something to do with being able to hang out with Fredrik.

I had planned to have dinner at Asakusa, a Japanese restaurant by the venue that served traditional and REAL Japanese food but they were closed on Sundays. I was actually surprised by the amount of shops closed on Sundays in London.

I ended up walking 1.2 MILES to Ikura for dinner. Their food was good but I was still disappointed because it was just a run of the mill Japanese restaurant. I was most disappointed because Ikura was a recommendation on Chow as an izakaya. I wanted izakaya food. I wanted chicken skins on a skewer and fish heads!

On the plane over to London, I made a list of things I wanted to eat while in London. The list included fish and chips, full English breakfast and fried chicken. I managed to eat it all despite my short visit (Fredrik and I flew home on Monday morning).

I got fish and chips from Crown Fish & Chips which wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the fish was definitely fresh. Read my review at Tasty Fish & Chips.

After the show, I got some spicy fried chicken wings, chips and Ribena. Just the right kind of food for after a concert.

We had about 3 hours of waiting at Heathrow before our flight so we got breakfast at The Bridge Bar and Eating House. They apparently renovated the place since I was last there. I think I prefer the old cozy British pub atmosphere. Perhaps the next time they renovate it again, they’d name the place The Bridge Bar and Food Shack.

I got the Classic Full English Breakfast, 2 fried eggs, bacon, 1/2 tomato, mushroom and sausage. I forgot to take a picture of it before I started eating. Unfortunately it was only AFTER eating that we saw that the cafe across from the waiting hall that had baked beans in their breakfast. Perhaps that’s where I’ll get my full English breakfast next time in Heathrow.

Ever since Hong Kong, I’ve decided that I would buy food to bring on the plane. This is even more important when flying with SAS because they don’t even give complimentary nuts/pretzels and drink. I got myself a delicious Peking duck wrap from EAT. It could’ve gone without the mayo. It made me wish I had found out about it sooner. I could’ve eaten at least 4 of them while I was in London.

I’m hoping that Fredrik and I can go to London in the near future for a proper vacation. If I had a few more days to spend in England, I would’ve liked to add Jamaican food, a couple more helpings of fish and chips and Chinese food from Chinatown to my list.

fried fish and some sort of mayo covered cauliflower

Yesterday I met up with some forum folks at the Southside Pub in Södermalm. Thursday nights are pub quiz nights. We didn’t win but I won a drink.

I had the Irish style fish and chips. I’m not too sure what the Irish do differently from the rest of the UK. It was however not just covered in bread crumbs like the usual fish and chips one gets in Stockholm. It may not have been a delicious bit of deep fried batter covered halibut but it did satisfy me. Until Sunday that is (I’m heading to London on Sunday.).  ;)

The confusing thing about it was the mayo covered clump next to the salad. I thought it was tartare sauce at first but then I found a cauliflower hidden in it. I wonder what the hell that was supposed to be.

There’s a lovely girl in Halifax that blogs about the fish and chips: Tasty Fish & Chips.

Southside Pub
Hornsgatan 104
117 26 Stockholm
08 669 50 52

mmm mmm good

I’ve had a craving for soup in the past couple of days. I would make some soup today but I’m going out to a pub tonight so making soup would conflict with dinner plans.

About a month ago Fredrik and I ate at Stockholm’s Hard Rock Cafe. It’s one of the few times I’m actually willing to go to a Hard Rock Cafe. They offer a fix of North American food when there’s the need.

On our way back to the car, we passed by a soup stand on Sveavägen. It’s times like this that I wish I lived closer/in the city. Perhaps I’ll get some soup tomorrow since I’ll be heading into town to have coffee with a friend from MDH.

http://www.alltomstockholm.se/restaurangbar/article144286.aos

a small piece of france

I went out for lunch with Emmanuelle at Petite France.

I had a hot sandwich with French ham, raclette and onion compot. She had a lax and broccoli pie. She had orginally had her heart set on a croque monsieur but they were all out of croque monsieurs.

I definitely will be heading back in the near future because they have proper croissants and other fabulous French pastries. I’d love to bring Fredrik there for lunch. I think he would enjoy it too. They have a small patio like most Swedish restaurants and it’s on an inner street so you’re not eating road dust while you’re eating your lunch.

sick but surrounded by everyone i like

We’re reaching the back end of the week Fredrik will be here. Kinda sad that he has to go but our boys need him and so do his boys. At least the key people got to see him and he got to meet and greet some others.

I have been dementedly sick since Friday. Great since we had our appointment for our wedding photos. I did most of those feeling ok. Then things kinda went downhill. Fredrik was feeling a bit ill too. I slept for most of the evening feeling like someone had severely beaten me. God I love having a fever.

Luckily I managed to get myself back together for Saturday. We went to my favourite diner (Patrician Grill) for breakfast. Fredrik got to meet Terry and Terry got to give us our congrats and his condolences.

Then we wandered the streets of the downtown core. I made my first Apple store purchase: an USB Power Adapter. My iPhone comes with the old iPod power adapter with the interchangable sockets. I wanted the North American USB power adapter because it looks like a sugar lump with the prongs sticking out of it. I fell in love with it when I saw it last year (my aunt and uncle has iPhones).

We bought a ridiculous amount of food from Buddha’s for the potluck. Managed to run into nearly EVERYONE at my old work.

There was so much food and everything was so lovely EXCEPT I was loosing my voice. Irene said that I sounded very serious or angry. Someone suggested that I was sounding sultry. I started to relate the term sultry to chicken. Don’t ask why. Mmm… sultry chicken. Maybe I’m mixing up sultry with salty.

We got 2 wedding cakes. One from everyone at the manor. Awesomely crafted. One from Salma which was more targeted towards me.

“Go have your own babies!” is what I have to say to her.

We got Black Metal Brunch at Graffiti with Denise. There was a brief guest starring Genevieve. Linda makes the yummiest food. We’re hoping to go again this coming Sunday.

I got a prescription for Effexor from my doctor yesterday.

I’m still coughing out green chunks and occasionally getting bouts of vertigo.

Today is going to be a full day. Lots to find and we’re going to see the results of our photoing on Friday. Hope they’ll turn out ok. I don’t usually photo well.

OH. I also bought that Juicy bag I had my eye on but had no justification for. Tara bought a Juicy bag and I checked out the insides and what not. Then Denise, Irene, Tara and I had a council meeting. After much debate, my justification is that it’s my wedding gift. Since we went with “no gifts” from our friends. I’m hoping that it’ll arrive at my aunt’s place before I leave. *fingers crossed*

OH. It’s also not a Juicy bag once I get my hands on it. I’ve been calling it my succulent bag. I’m thinking about taking out the Juicy stitching and sewing in “succulent” instead.

an ugly and a yellow

I was randomly browsing for restaurants in Stockholm that serves traditional Chinese food and looks like there’s a place we must try. The place is called En ful & en gul which translates to “an ugly and a yellow”. Looking at their menu, it looks like they have hot pot. 

Chinese new year dinner

Last night we went out for dinner with some friends of ours for Chinese new year. We would’ve done it on new years day or new years eve but Fredrik was off in Spain. This year we got a table at Dragon House.

I wanted to order thousand year old eggs but they were out of it. In fact there were quite a few dishes that they didn’t have. But we still got plenty of good food and had a great time. We did come very close to ordering the pig stomach.

The bill was actually quite reasonable too. We split the bill 7 ways and ended up paying 250kr per person including drinks and desert. For eating out in Stockholm, that’s really good.

our day

Last night we talked about what we wanted to do with the organizing of the things in our flat. Decided that we would to go IKEA. We need to buy our headboard, after months of saying that we should.

We drove to IKEA, realized that it was a big mistake to be there on a Sunday, tried to find a parking spot, decided that it was better to just go back on a weekday and went to eat fake Chinese food.

We went to Åkermyntans Centrum for Chinese food. It was the best fake Chinese food I’ve had in a while. Both Fredrik and I ordered fyra små rätter (4 small dishes).

I bought a laminating machine at Lidl for 199kr.

We also got the best lattes at the bakery in Åkermyntans Centrum.