Food: Rude Food Recipe 4: ‘Keep the cold at bay’ soup

 

The #Beastfromtheeast has left its mark over all of northern Europe it seems and snowy Malmö is no exception. I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands with this stalwart soup that will batten down the hatches with plenty of fresh alium and flush out any lingering nasties with the heat of the chilli. The level of any of these is preferential, but here are the amounts that I used.

You will need:

• 1 pack of cooked Beetroot, and its juice
• The zest & juice of 1/2 lemon,
• 1/2 tsp chilli, (go full tsp if you’re feeling particularly under the weather!),
• 2 medium potatoes,
• 1/2 an onion,
• 1tbs Sauerkraut juice (optional, I used some, leftover from my dear friend Kathe Kaczmarzyk’s pop-up here in Malmö) ,
• 3 cloves of garlic,
• 3 rhizomes of fresh turmeric, grated,
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger,
• Salt & pepper,
• 500ml homemade veg stock
• 1tbs dried parsley,

For the orange, ginger & mustard crème:

• 2tbs dairy free crème fraîche (I used Oatly fraîche)
• 1tsp wholegrain mustard
• zest & juice of 1/4 orange
• Thumb- size piece of ginger, grated

Garnish:

Handful of fresh parsley, chopped.

 

 

The method for soups is always fairly simple, the magic here is the contents and not the process.

Chop the onion, the garlic and the onions roughly, separately chop up the beetroot into chunks and make sure you keep the juices.

Gently soften the onion and the garlic in a little oil and then add the potatoes, stir them through. Begin to add the lemon juice, the sauerkraut, the beetroot pieces, the beetroot juice and then grate in the lemon zest and the turmeric. Be careful with the fresh turmeric as it will stain anything, including your skin, so you might want to use gloves. Add the spices, the herbs and then pour over the stock, season to your taste including the chilli!

Bring the whole thing up to a robust simmer before sticking in the oven at 140 degrees celsius (fan assisted) and allow it to do its thing for at least an hour. Take the whole thing out, stir and check the seasoning. When you’re happy with it you can blast the whole thing with a stick blender or a food processor until it’s thick.

The aroma should be rich and earthy with the beetroot and the garlic, the back notes from the sauerkraut and the lemon should be sharp and punchy. The heat should be there to the taste too from the chilli. The colour should be like you’ve liquidised rubies.

For the punchy crème, simply mix all the ingredients together into a bowl and leave to thicken for 5 minutes.

Serve with a good loaf of your favourite sourdough, a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a generous dollop of the punchy fraîche.

Enjoy!

Food: Rude Food Recipe 3: Vegan ‘Tatws pum muned’

As St. David’s Day, or the National holiday of Wales was last week, I’d thought that I’d make a Welsh dish with the rescued food from Rude Food Malmö.

This is my vegan take on the traditional dish, ‘tatws pum muned’ or ‘five minute potatoes’. It takes a little bit longer than five minutes to cook and prepare, but not much longer. This is proper home cooking so the flavours and method are super simple, but considering how cold the weather has been this week then this is exactly the kind of food I crave.

A hearty dish of thinly sliced potatoes and onions, cooked in some homemade stock, topped with some fried ‘ham hock’, made with Like Meat kebab chunks. Finished with some freshly chopped parsley &  a sprinkle Halen Môn celery salt.

You will need:

• 3 medium potatoes (peeled)
• 1/2 an onion,
• 1 small carrot,
• 250ml of stock, I used homemade veg stock using up leftovers & peelings
• Handful of fresh parsley (chopped, to serve)
• Salt and pepper,

For the ‘ham’:

• 1 pack of Like Meat kebab chunks,
• Couple of drops of liquid smoke,
• 1 tsp smoked paprika,
• 50ml of beetroot juice (if you have it),

 

Method:

Slice the potatoes thinly with a mandolin and put them in a bowl of cold water so that they don’t go brown while you’re doing the rest. Parboil the carrots in the stock water, when they’re beginning to soften remove them from the water.

Prepare the Like Meat kebab chunks (or as we are making them into a ‘ham hock’ substitute) in a medium bowl by adding the liquid smoke and smoked paprika. Add a splash of beetroot juice to make it a bit more pink (like ‘ham hock’ basically). When it’s stirred through you could leave it to marinate if you want. Along with the potatoes, they can sit until you’re ready to start cooking.

When you’re ready to begin, place a medium frying pan on a high heat and fry off the ‘ham’ pieces in a little oil. When they’re the colour of your preferred bacon put to one side on a plate. Give the pan a quick wipe to get rid of the colours that will stain. Lower the temperature of the pan and soften the onions. Drain the potatoes from their water and add to the pan.

In a wide frying pan brown the onions in a little oil and then add the potatoes, the carrots and the stock. I placed a Le Creuset lid over the potatoes to keep them under the water while they cook. Now, the name says five minutes but the cooking time is more like eight! When the potatoes are nice and tender remove from the heat and get rid of most of the stock (you can keep the stock once again and use in something else).

Plate up with the potatoes and carrots first, then scatter the ‘ham’ pieces on top and then garnish with plenty of freshly chopped parsley and a generous pinch of sea salt, I used Halen Môn’s celery salt.

 

Enjoy/ Mwynhewch!

 

 

Food: Rude Food Recipe 1: Sage roasted parsnips on a bed of meaty green lentils

New for 2018! I’ve been made the Rude Food Ambassador for the next few months. Rude Food is Sweden’s first food rescuing service and I am lucky that it’s based here in Malmö. They stop perfectly good food from going to waste and promote good food practice to everyone. They usually return the food to the catering world to be used again but in order to help the promotional side of things they have asked me to write two recipes a month using some of their ingredients. Reducing food waste is a massive issue for me, not only for environmental and ethical purposes, but on a practical and economic level too. It just makes sense to make use of what you’ve got, so I’m thrilled to be taking on this role!

This first recipe is for sage roasted parsnips on a bed of meaty green lentils, served with a sour apple purée, blueberry pickled onions, plump sultanas and a sprinkle of fresh sage.,

If you’re wondering, here are the rescued ingredients I was given for this recipe: rescued parsnips, sage, lemons & apples.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the stock and the lentils:

600ml of water,

1 regular onion – ½ cut into half rings; ½ other half finely chopped.

150g of green lentils,

1 tsp of dried sage,

For the parsnips:

• 4 parsnips,
• 3-4 tbsp of rapeseed oil,
• 2 tbsp of cornflour
• 1 tsp of dried sage,
• Salt,
• Black pepper

For the sour apple puree:

• 2 apples
• 1 heaped tbsp of sugar,
• 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar vinegar
• Juice of ½ lemon

For the sultanas:

• 20g of sultanas
• A cup of the stock,

To serve:

• Black pepper
• Salt
• A handful of fresh sage,

 

For the stock and the lentils:

 

To begin you need to create a stock to cook the lentils in, one that’s imbued with the flavours of the main ingredients. To do this, simply peel the parsnips and the onion and add the skins to a Dutch oven of gently boiling water. Season with salt, black pepper and some of the dried sage. Having peeled the parsnips, cut them into decent sized chips; cutting off the thin ends then quartering the thickest part is best. Parboil them in the stock water for 2 minutes and then remove.

Allow the stock to reduce by a third. Ideally allow the stock to do its thing for at least an hour before taking out all of the skins. You can do this by straining the mixture over a bowl and then returning the water to the heat in the dutch oven. (Keep a small cup of the stock aside for the sultanas).

 

Fry the finely chopped half of the onion gently until soft in a little oil and then add to the water with the lentils and allow them to cook slowly in the Dutch oven for at least 45 minutes. Cooking them low and slow will give them all the time to lose their grittiness and take on all the flavours of the stock, leaving them meaty and moreish.

 

For the parsnips:

 

Preheat your oven to 220°c and layer a baking tray with the rapeseed oil and place in the oven until super hot.

 

Pat the parboiled parsnips down with kitchen towel to remove all excess water. Put the parsnips into a medium sized bowl and rough the skins up a little with a fork. Dust over the corn flour and season with black pepper, a pinch of salt and dried sage. Make sure the parsnips are thoroughly covered with the seasoning mix.

 

Remove the pan from the oven and place the parsnips into the hot oil carefully, they should immediately start to sizzle. Be careful to avoid spitting fat. Make sure the rapeseed oil covers all of the parsnips and return to the oven.

 

Continue to cook for 5 minutes on 200°c before reducing to 180°c. Cook for a further ten minutes before checking them.The undersides should be crispy and golden. Turn them all over and return to the oven for a further ten minutes. When they’re golden and crispy all over you can take them and remove any excess oil with some paper towel.

 

For the sour apple puree:

 

Peel and core the apples, cut them into small cubes and place in a small pan. Cover them with water and add in the sugar, lemon juice & apple cider vinegar. Allow the water to reduce and the apples to break down until you have a thick sauce. When it’s ready, remove from the heat and blend with a stick blender.

For the pickled onions and the sultanas:

 

Quick pickles are really easy to do and they can really add zing to a dish. You don’t need to use fancy vinegars but it is nice if you have a couple of bottles of nice flavoured vinegar ready for dishes like this.

 

Fill a small bowl with a third of water and add the vinegar, break up the half of the onion that’s been cut into half rings and sprinkle into the pickling liquor. Allow to absorb the vinegar for 20 minutes, but ideally a bit longer if you have the time. This can easily be made in advance, in fact they’ll keep in the fridge for a while and can be topped up and reused regularly.

 

For the sultanas, leave some of the stock aside and put in a handful of sultanas in a cup. Let them plump up in the warm stock.

 

To serve:

 

Layer a bed of the lentils in the bottom of a dish and place the parsnips on top. Spoon a little of the apple on the side and sprinkle with the sultanas, the pickled onions and some fresh sage.

 

Food: Madamilen – Malmö 9 December 2017

Recently I was asked by the lovely founders of Madamilen to participate, which roughly translates as “the food mile”. It’s essentially a food tour of the city, where you stop at 10 participating establishments and sample food based around a theme. The movement began in September 2016 and has since had 3000 participants. What with this being the December event, the theme was based around the idea of Christmas gifts. So on a chilly Saturday morning, Tom and I loaded up the camera and headed to the first stop!

 

1. Ingelsta Kalkon – Östergatan 26

Our food journey began in southern Sweden’s premier turkey (kalkon) delicatessen. You can find their products sold throughout the region in supermarkets and great care and attention is given to quality and ethical standards. It’s a smart and high end establishment in the heart of the old city, not far from the train station. Our offering was a festive selection of turkey products, including a style of turkey ham, with a delicious mustard edge, a prinskorv style sausage and a Swedish style meatball. It was served with a coleslaw of red cabbage, kale and cranberry. It was basically like a miniature Christmas dinner and packed with big, festive flavours. The quality of the ham, which we found out was made from the darker thigh meat of the bird, was almost indistinguishable from actual ham. Quite how you could gift the whole thing was a bit beyond us, but any of the ingredients bought as a gift or collectively given as a hamper would be warmly received by anyone.

 

2. Mat och Chokladstudion – Amiralsgatan 16

Stop number two took us south of the old city, near Stadshuset (city hall) and one of the only desserts on the menu for today. Joel Lindqvist is a pastry chef, cook and author of a number of Swedish cookery books. He’s been on Swedish TV and has a simple philosophy when it comes to cookery: don’t compromise on quality. This is seen clearly in the artistry and care on show in his work. We were served a Spruce fir flavoured ice cream with cacao soil, spruce emulsion and Italian meringue pieces. The smell and taste of the fir hits hard with wintery freshness, delivered in the ice cream and complemented by the crunchy texture of the crumb and the meringue. We concluded quickly that any gift bought from Mat och Chokladstudion would be incredible. Again, the question of how you’d package the ice cream with all the elements left us both a bit baffled, but as a dessert to a high end Christmas taster menu, this ice cream would be very welcome indeed. I was even lucky enough to meet the incredible Titti Qvarnström, who was helping out in the studio that day. She is not only Sweden’s first female Michelin Starred chef (for Bloom In The Park) but also the co-founder of the collective ‘Malmö Cooking’ and a Malmö food hero, respectively. She is such an amazing person to talk to and reaffirmed in me that Malmö was the right place to move to.

 

3. OST & Vänner – Ö Rönneholmsvägen 6

Our next stop took us to the cheese course of the day at OST & Vänner near Triangeln in the heart of the city’s shopping district. It’s part of a trinity of quality stores along Ö Rönneholmsvägen that often collaborate closely on food projects and ideas (one of those stores was next on our agenda to visit on the tour!). It’s the brain and love child of Daniel, Elin and Melissa who all have other professional lives but share a passion for cheese and drink. Daniel is a jazz musician, who regularly utilises his music in the experience of tasting the cheese. They are currently up this year for the best bar in Malmö. Here we had a canapé of a Danish blue cheese on a homemade gluten free seeded biscuit, with served with fig jam, flambéed figs in an Österlen VSOP and salted almonds. The smokey richness of the cheese was complemented beautifully by the rich fig jam and the biscuit. The canapé was accompanied by a glass of warm apple Glögg.

 

4. Ola & Ko – Ö Rönneholmsvägen 6

Immediately next door was the equally charming Ola & Ko, a butcher and meat deli with some truly delicious things on display. Ola & Ko prides itself on being totally additive free and mainly sources from producers in Skåne with a smattering from southern Europe too. The emphasis on quality is paramount and clear in the taste of the products too. We were treated to another capapé but this time of pork rillette, made from local Skånian pork on a slice of baguette from Bageri Leve with a topping of the owner’s sister’s homemade caramelised onion marmalade. Perfect for a winter picnic or a hearty lunch.

 

5. AB Småland – Södra Förstadsgatan 25-27

Next on the map was AB Småland, again in the heart of Malmö’s shopping district, a well established face on the city’s lifestyle and fika scene. AB Småland are all about green living, contemporary Scandinavian chic mixed with traditional, sometimes recycled elements, in their homeware and fashion. Their cafe is a big draw in the city with its open plan, indoor garden feel. They served a hearty cauliflower soup with saffron and curry. Served with some crusty baguette with a choice of either herb or chilli infused oil to dip in. Big, hearty flavours, indicative of the kind of flair for taste that AB Småland are famous for.

 

6. Gottelisa – Engelbrektsgatan 20

This little candy store near Gustav Adolfs Torg in the centre of town was one of our shortest stops, but it was arguably the one that hit the brief the best. “Welcome to our world of quality calories!” reads their website and quality is certainly in evidence. Combining well known brands with a range of off piste delights, Gottelisa is a small store but packs a punch. Established in 2002 it is clearly still going strong. They offered a small gift wrapped package of three German chocolates – one white (a lemon truffle), one milk (an apricot truffle) and one dark (A salted caramel truffle). They even threw in an extra morsel of liquorice from Lakrids by Johan Bülow, his 2017 special edition liquorice. Golden balls of chocolate coated, salted caramel liquorice dusted with some gold dust. We weren’t there long but the great service and atmosphere left a great impression!  

 

7. Lanthandeln, Saluhall – Gibraltargatan 6

Malmö’s Saluhall describes itself as a food lover’s paradise and it’s hard to argue with that description given the amount of quality produce available. It’s certainly earned its reputation and its claim to being one of Malmö’s premier food destinations. Lanthandeln is a (literally translated) “country store” and is a relatively new addition to Saluhall occupying three open units along the north side of the hall. Their offering of quality and diverse grocery products have, in part filled the gap that GRAM once occupied. Their Madamilen contribution was another soup, but served and executed with a twist; a cauliflower cappuccino with pickled Shiitake and crispy black cabbage shard, finished with a drizzle of white truffle oil. which was bursting with flavour. They had the ingredients necessary to create the soup around their display which seemed the most sensible way of answering the brief while providing something which isn’t exactly gift ready! We paired it with a tasty Pale Ale Soda by GBG Soda. 

 

8. Favvo Glass, Saluhall – Gibraltargatan 6

Technically speaking, this stop was a bonus one as it brings the number of stops to 11. Must have been an eleventh hour offering, excuse the pun! We were glad it was added however as it gave us an opportunity to sample some of their delicious samples of ice cream. Most were festive inspired so we went for the Glögg and saffron flavours which absolutely delivered on quality and taste. But we couldn’t stop long as the day was winding down and we still had three more stops to get to!

 

9. In the Pink – Neptunigatan 2

Conveniently situated outside Malmö Central station, In the Pink is a small cafe and bistro aimed at health conscious and busy city dwellers who want to be able to go out and eat something but not set back their training regime at the gym! As such, great thought and care has been put into each of their dishes and drinks. It has a flexible dining space that’s ideal for casual customers as well as busy professionals, (it’s even hosted a Creative Mornings: Malmö recently). Their offering for Madamilen hit their own brief perfectly but didn’t quite live up to the brief of the event itself. That said, it was absolutely delicious and hearty too. They served a red lentil dal style soup with spinach, tomato, ginger, garlic, onion, garam masala and vegetarian broth, topped with a mint raita. We decided to pair it with a Roots ginger kombucha, so that it would compliment with the flavours of the dal. The verdict: not really very Christmassy or gift ready but tasty nonetheless!

 

10. Restaurang KP, Posthusplatsen 4

By now we were pretty tired and the night was beginning to draw in, so we headed across the road to Restaurang KP which is situated overlooking the water near Central Station. The building is opulent and grand but the atmosphere inside was very stale. We ate in the bar and the whole experience was quite cold. Kudos for offering a vegan christmas inspired soup (topped with pumpkin kernels, fried kale and soured red onion) but that’s where the good will towards the experience ended. The food itself was well made and delicious, but again it definitely missed the brief and didn’t really tie in with the Christmas spirit. Altogether a bit of a disappointment. By this point the amount of soups that we’d had in quick succession really made us wonder whether or not the restaurant’s approach to the event was balanced enough, but I’ll return to that later.

 

11. Vigårda Grill – Centralplan 10A

Fortunately our final stop of the tour redeemed the experience and restored our faith in the spirit of Christmas. Vigårda is one of those restaurants in Malmö that you see on a regular basis as it’s part of the Central Station complex and immediately opposite the bus station. It’s a high-end burger restaurant that offers a wide variety of options that change regularly. Served American style (with fries and dips), their burgers are often guest created by chefs from the Swedish food scene. As it was quiet, one of the three co-owners brought us our sliders, which were smaller versions of the Cheddar & bacon burgers on their menu and talked with us at length about the place, he even threw in some gratis fries! Again, we did wonder how you would gift someone a slider for Christmas, but at least the effort was made to try and adapt the concept to fit the restaurant. And it was delicious, which helped immensely! We paired it with a great Winter ale from local brewers, South Plains Brewing Co. Great flavoured ale!

 

Closing thoughts:

Madamilen is now an established food event in Skåne region, Sweden, especially with two more events planned for the new year in Malmö (February 10th) and Helsingborg (March 10th). The scope and range of possibilities does seem pretty endless, especially in a city that has swollen in size and diversity over the past decade, and in a region that prides itself on being the food producer of Sweden.

 

The offerings we experienced as part of the December 9th event were delicious, every single one. Fine examples of the quality and attention to detail that good food producers put into their craft. From Ost & Vänner’s bespoke canape to the fir flavoured ice cream from Joel Lindqvist, the imagination was there for the most part. What lacked a little more thought was the tendency towards soups. Maybe if they’d been more spread out we wouldn’t have noticed them so much! Don’t get me wrong, the soups themselves were delicious and included some incredible ingredients, but it would have been nice if there had been a limit on the number of similar types of dish.

 

Despite that, it was great fun going round to the different vendors and sampling what they had. We made some great personal discoveries and we certainly have plans to return again in the future, which was, of course, the whole point of the tour!

 

As a newcomer to the city, this is a great way to introduce people to the bustling, independent food scene that Skåne has to offer. It would be a great idea as an early Christmas gift to a loved one, or an experience for someone visiting the city. The only hitch, would be that the ticket website currently is in Swedish only, but with translating programs, it’s an easy one to get around. I’d definitely recommend this tour to my friends, family and to any foodies out there. Thanks once again to Madamilen and Malmotown for letting me take this opportunity!

 

Food: Brekkieklubben launch

Whilst being here in Malmö, I’ve noticed the lack of breakfast options. Sure, Malmö is a culinary hotpot of different cultures & cuisines, but they don’t really ‘do’ breakfasts here. Sure, there’s the Scandi style cold-cuts frukost and then on the weekend plenty of places offer a ‘brunch’ but, it’s yet again a buffet affair, where people queue up and many miss out to what they want. Seeing the gap in the market, this is where Brekkieklubben (literally, The Brekkie Club) comes in.

Together with my Aussie mate, and fellow Swedexpat, Anya Trybala (who I’d check out her music project & label Ninoosh & Synth Babes Records) came together to bring the best of a Melbourne & British Brekkie to Sweden! And as I’d been listening to a lot of Kate Bush that morning and with Stranger Things 2 (then) on its way to be released, we wanted it to have a cool 80s & early 90s vibe.

We’ve been working together with Gro’up, an amazing community run space & restaurant founded by Nina Christensson (one of the founders of both SMAK & Bastard) and run by the bloody stellar duo of Project manager, Edith Salminen and Head Chef Marcus Schön. They are such a great addition to the food scene in Malmö and conveniently around the corner from our apartment.

So, myself, Anya and Tom spent from the end September to mid November honing our idea & concept, Tom creating original art for the project with his illustration business, Jom Tones Illustration, myself pitching the idea at Ideon’s ‘Pitcher’s Corner’, until we set the date for our launch on Sunday the 26th of November. Selling Tickets through Eventbrite, we managed to drum up both trade, in the guise of 19 tickets (plus a further 4 walk-in orders) and interest by regularly updating our social media channels. With the menu written up, containing our spin on British & Aussie favourites and classics such as Eggs Benedict that you simply cannot get easily here, we were ready for the launch!

The prices for the tickets were 146kr for a Brekkie plate (that you ordered, in advance, especially for you), coffee & a special surprise (which were vegan bread & butter puddings, inspired by the very British combo of ‘tea, toast and marmelade’, topped with Oatly fraîche. I Even made my own bitter orange marmelade for them!). We catered to people of all diets with a gluten free ‘Punked Porridge’ option and I made it my mission that most of the dishes were or could be made Vegan Friendly.

 

 

On The launch day itself, Edith thankfully helped us through our very first service. It went amazingly well considering, albeit, I’m an accomplished cook and have worked in the service industry, but I had never been this side of the kitchen before. We got the food out, with relative ease and every customer was satisfied, together with some 80s & early 90s hits rocking out on the speakers. Edith then gave us a de-briefing on how to improve next time.

Check out Brekkieklubben on

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/Brekkieklubben

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brekkieklubben

So, people of Malmö look out for the next opening of Brekkieklubben, very soon!

 

 

Drink: Raspberry Limemade

After visiting Möllan market on Monday, I came home with more than a surplus of limes for only 10kr (like 94p!) thus, limes were on the menu. I’ve made homemade lemonade in my time, why not limeade? Well, with this simple recipe, you can make a tasty, zingy drink that will refresh & tingle your tastebuds. To make, you’ll need:

• 7-8 limes, juiced
• Handful of frozen raspberries, thawed
• 200-300g raw sugar
• 1 litre of water

Start by cutting the limes in half and juice them into a mixing bowl or a jug. Once this is done, add in the raspberries that have being thawing for roughly 10-15 minutes, they should be a lot softer now and exude their crimson juice. Mash them with a fork or muddler into the lime juice until it all turns bright red. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved (the acid in the juice should do this fairly quickly). Once it’s all dissolved into the juice, add the water, stir again. Strain the mixture into a second mixing bowl/ jug, leaving the pulp and seeds behind. Finally, pour into a bottle and place into the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. When ready it will be a zingy, tangy, yet sweet and fruity for you to enjoy! Good on its own, but try it with a bit of white rum for an amazing long drink!

 

Food & Design: How to do Malmö on a budget

 

Everyone says Sweden is expensive. I knew it was going to be expensive. In the back of my mind I brushed it off, “Yeah, yeah – I know, I know!” After all, I’d been there on holiday, I’d seen the prices in supermarkets, I knew what I was talking about. That is, until I actually moved here and began living with the reality of it being as expensive as it is. 30% tax on your wage plus nothing costs less than a pound in supermarkets. The bargains aren’t as tempting, the staples aren’t as cheap and you’re surprised on a daily basis by the things you’d assume would be a similar price are actually three times the price!

This was my reality for the first week of living here while my partner and I found our feet. Everything we did was tinged with a sense of “can we really afford to keep up our old eating habits long term?” So much so that the both of us started losing sleep over it. So far, our Swedish adventure wasn’t working out the way we expected it to. After a week or so we knew that things would have to change but we weren’t prepared to totally give up on quality. Having lived on a budget before I knew we had to be canny about what we bought, where we bought it and when we bought it to make our SEK stretch further.

Two months on and here we are, making it work in Malmö! I’ve gathered some of the best tips and hints for basic survival, but also ways of maintaining those treats that keep you sane. Living here can work long term if you’re on a budget and a bit sneaky!  Here are some of the solid gold tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the past few months:

 

Food and Drink

Checking your local ICA Nära from 7-8pm for cheap sourdough, fikabröd & rolls should become part of your weekly (if not nightly) routine. Conveniently, ours is just around the corner but chances are wherever you’re living in Malmö you’ll be close to one too. You can pick up sourdough for 12kr, big baguettes for 5kr & rolls & pastries for 3kr a piece if you catch them at the right time.

Livs (grocery) stores are the way to go in Malmö. Cheap, good quality produce, good variety & they reduce their prices in the evening around about the same time as ICA. I’ve often got big bags of passionfruit, apricots & strawberries for 10kr & big sacks of potatoes for 25kr. Picking up a “ten bag” of fruit and veg has become a staple of our evenings!

Möllan market is like the beating heart of the city when it comes to food. With so much competition in the area you can be sure that prices are always as low as they can be. If you catch them just before closing you may end up picking up some mega bargains, but be warned you’ll have to compete with other people to get the best stuff!

 

 

If you’re looking for snacks in Malmö then you’re also in luck. Cheap falafel can be found practically on every street corner, but the cheapest storfalafel I’ve found is for 25kr at Chaplin Grill on Bodekullsgatan and Värnhem. Babylon Grill near Folkets Park also offer a great range of Vegan alternatives. There’s a lot of competition here too so you won’t be out of pocket wherever you go.

If you know where to go you can always get a cheeky gratis coffee when you’re out and about in Malmö. How about some free organic coffee, tea & hot chocolate at the design shop Bolia, with a free chocolate accompaniment? So you can have a cappuccino whilst you ‘windowshop’ all of the lovely interior design pieces. Think of this as flicking through a real life catalogue over a nice cuppa!

IKEA Malmö (like other IKEAs) offer free coffee & tea on weekdays for IKEA FAMILY card owners. Even in the most unlikely places you can get a cheap coffee a free påtar (second cup), like at the Form Design Center in the middle of town. Enjoy the stunning examples of cutting edge or classic Scandinavian design (for free) AND not feel guilty about it!

 

 

Out and about.

The JOJO (pronounced yoyo) SOMMER KORT is the best way of getting out and about in the summer. It’s only 640kr (£62 ish) and is available from June 15th to August 15th. It will take you all over of Skåne, working on busses & trains, so you can visit the beautiful features & quaint little towns of the whole Skåne region. Public transport in general is very good and the prices can be flexible. You’re encouraged to use the regular Jojo Kort or your phone with 10% discounts and the ability to pick and choose where you go (why pay for all of the city when you only go to half of it?).

Malmö city is ideally designed for biking. Picking up a second hand bike on Blocket is pretty straightforward but biking is always available for the whole year for 250kr, around (£25!) with Malmö City Bike. You just have to sign up to the service. You get the bike for an hour before having to put it in one of the many docking stations dotted around the city at key locations, where you can simply pick up another if you need to. Nothing in Malmö is more than an hour’s cycle ride away. They even have a handy app to show you where your nearest docking station is in realtime, showing you how many stations are free and ready to use.

 

 

Malmö is a hive of activity, especially in the summer when it seems there’s a festival or event every other week. Malmöfestivalen is a week long festival of culture, food, music and entertainment that sprawls across the city offering free performances from some big name Swedish acts.

In addition to that there are regularly free shows & events at Folkets Park where you can see a wide variety of things in a small area. The park draws together people of all ages as there isn’t a square inch of it not buzzing with something going on. There are plenty of free art exhibitions at Malmö Konsthall, Form Design Center & Moderna Museet Malmö. If art is your thing then you’ll find the quality and variety is high.

There’s also Malmö Gallerinatt & Malmö Art Walk, which happened on the eve of September 30th. They are events in which open spaces around Malmö from 6pm till 12am to showcase the city’s galleries and up-coming artists and designers. That night the city is overflowing with great exhibitions, talks and projects to become a part of; FOR FREE!

 

Shopping

Loppis hunting is a big thing and a great way to pick up some bargains. Literally translated as “flea”, loppis stores are the equivalent of second hand and charity shops. This being Sweden you can pick up some big design names like Höganäs, Iittala, Stelton and many more. Emmaus near Triangeln is like a second hand department store with a huge range of men’s, women’s and children’s wear, not to mention household items and books. You can also visit Humana second hand clothes shops. Loppis Lounge on Djaknegatan also offers free black coffee and biscuits for its customers. So while you’re on the hunt for bargains, perusing the shelves for some Scandinavian design gems, you can rest assured you’re not bleeding cash as you go.

 

 

Getting stuff done.

Need to do some DIY? Can’t afford to just drop 500SEK on a drill? Then ToolPool is the place for you. Situated in a handyman shop on Störa NyGatan, they offer a service where you sign up and are allowed to take any of their power tools/DIY equipment for 24hrs, free. It’s a great way of getting things done cheaply and is a perfectly Swedish solution to a potentially expensive problem.

Malmö is a hotbed of startups and small companies eager to make money and get recognised. That means there’s plenty of talent and competition out there, but it’s great for getting the ball rolling with meeting people, creating new business or job searching, which can otherwise be a daunting prospect.

Sign up to Creative Mornings: Malmö, for free events. They are great places to network and offer free coffee. Minc Malmö StartupLabs offer the possibility of a free-of-charge workspace, with wifi & coffee included for up to 6 months. Even though the tickets for ‘The Conference’ business networking event are expensive, there are many side events, talks and workshops for free. Also, Boxspace Malmö, offer a quick and easy sign-up to their free day-pass; including wifi & coffee.

I hope my little guide has helped any budding travellers or people wanting to move to this great city!

Drink: Banana, apricot, vanilla & passionfruit Oatly smoothie

One way of getting by in Malmö, on a budget (for me, at least) has been to shop at my local ‘livs’ store. ‘Livs’ stores are small, little corner shops, come greengrocers. They often have great prices on veg and sometimes reduce great quantities as the day goes by. This it where it really gets fun (AND CHEAP!). My local ‘livs’ store, last week had huge bags of passionfruit, bananas & apricots all reduced to 10kr (just under £1), and I had used them in a myriad of different ways, but time came to that the last few needed using up. This is one great way of using up leftover fruit, that has maybe gone a-bit-too ripe, to make a nutritious & healthy breakfast option.

 

To make you’ll need:

• 400ml water
• 4tbs rolled oats
• 4 ripe bananas, roughly chopped
• 5-6 ripe apricots, de-stoned & roughly chopped
• 1tsp Vanilla bean paste/ vanilla extract (optional)
• 1tsp Maca powder (optional), sifted
• 1tsp Young barley grass powder (optional), sifted
• Pinch of salt

 

For the yogurt top:

• 200ml dairy-free yogurt (I used Oatly)
• 1 Passionfruit

 

Start by placing the water and the oats in your blender and pulse until you get a creamy, thick solution. Then, add about half of the rest of the ingredients, remembering to keep pulsing it down. Once you start getting a creamy & fruity mix you know you’re on the right track. blend it with the final portion of ingredients and pour into a jug/pitcher. In a separate bowl mix up the yogurt with the passionfruit pulp & seeds. To prep the passionfruit, I’d recommend using a small, serrated knife to cut the fruit in half and then scoop out the tart & sweet pulp with a spoon.

To serve, pour the smoothie mix into your desired cup/ bowl/ glass. If the mixture is a bit too thick, then try thinning it out with a splash of water. After, you have the desired amount,  spoon the yogurt on top and drink.

 

Enjoy!

Food: Oatsicles

We may well have had our fill of sunshine for the year already, but on the off chance that there is more sunshine to come here’s a quick and easy recipe for a dairy free alternative ice lolly for keeping cool in the sun.

 

You’ll need:

• Lolly moulds,
• 1 carton of chocolate Oatly,
• 1 banana.

 

Chop the banana into slices and fill the lolly moulds. Don’t pack them in too tight, you need to leave enough space for the chocolate drink. Pour in the drink to the brim, stick the lids/handles in firmly and leave in the freezer for a good couple of hours or overnight if possible. One carton can easily make between 6 – 8 lollies, depending on the amount of banana you use and the size of your moulds. I used the small ones from Lidl. The creaminess of the chocolate drink combined with the fudginess of the banana are a fantastic (and cheap) alternative to the usual sugary lollies. This way you can control their sugar intake with natural ingredients!

It also works great with other flavours of Oatly like Orange & Mango, or for a grownup take on the above recipe, mix some coffee into the chocolate Oatly mixture for an iced mocha lolly!

 

Enjoy!

 

Update: We are moving to Malmö!

My Facebook friend’s know and a few other people, so just in case you haven’t heard yet, I will be moving to Malmö in late July/ early August.

Tom has got a job teaching in nearby Lund, at Lund International school and as for myself & jobs, I have a few things up my sleeve 😉  Lund, btw is a stunning university town, home to one of Europe’s most prestigious of Uni’s, Lunds universitet. Only being roughly 10 minutes away from Malmö on the train, if you come visit Skåne, take some time to see Lund!

Jag kan inte vänta! (I can’t wait!)

I’m writing this morning, with news that the Brexit Bill put forward by PM Theresa May passed in The House of Lords last night, with no amendments to the original Bill; which doesn’t guarantee EU citizens rights living over here. It doesn’t guarantee for people who have set up their homes and families in the UK, who have paid their taxes. Instead, it will no doubt use EU citizens & their rights as bargaining chips when the negotiations start with the European Union and its 27 members. We will be effected by this, but It is better to try before the whole opportunity for young, working class people like myself to live & work within the EU fades into the ether.

The language isn’t much of a barrier, with Malmö being both in Sweden, where proficiency in English is impeccable, and it being a World city, I can get around with my English. However, this does not mean I’m not going to learn Swedish. Being interested in languages it’s a must. Having been learning the language on & off for years, now is the time to get my head down and learn it!

I have wanted to move to Norden for years and visiting Copenhagen/ Malmö 3 times in the last 12 months I had truly fallen in love with it! So before Brexit totally stops us, we are trying. We cannot do more than simply try.

A reason I love Malmö is how multi-cultural it is! Supposedly the city is home to people from 170 countries of this world. Which is bloody fantastic! It is so important, in these times, seeing the rise of Rightwing populism and xenophobic rhetoric and attitudes, that we expose ourself to as many cultures as  we can. Hopefully then, people will humanise eachother which stops the main strategy of the current Right; to de-huminise and see people from different nationalities as ‘other’ and usually, therefore, lesser.

Being only across the bridge from Copenhagen (and a hell of a lot cheaper!) loads of infrastructure has crossed over. So, whilst Copenhagen is the top city for cyclists in the world, Malmö is also in the Top Ten.

Ever since the Öresundsbron/Øresundsbroen  (the setting for the Nordic Noir drama, The Bridge) opened in July, 2000, Malmö has benefitted from being Linked to it’s Danish sis. These days Malmö is a young, creative city, reportedly one of the most inventive cities in the world. So much is happening these days, so many startups! Like the Studio Malmö, or Media Evolution City.  Malmö even, recently hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, following singer, Loreen taking the crown in Baku, Azerbaijan with her song ‘Euphoria’.

 

As a foodie, the city seems like heaven for me! There’s new places popping up all the time, providing great food/ drink. From the new gourmet/ artisan food market, Saluhall, Djäkne kaffe, a quality coffee shop & great place for fika, the HQ of one of the most innovative vegan brands in the world, Oatly to Wunderchef, a new innovative food delivery service, serving up home-cooked food.

Or for the restauranteur, there’s, Michelin starred, Bastard, to amazing concept canteen, Saltimporten. You can pretty much get any cuisine in the city, with it being so diverse. The shawarma you can get there, is one of the best I’ve ever tasted and as a Brit, thinking i’ll miss the unctuous cuisine of back home, well no fear, theres even a fish & chip shop in Malmö. I love it!

And as a design lover, it’s simply amazing. Being only 30 mins from the Design Mecca that is Copenhagen, you are spoilt for choice in Malmö. There are plenty of design & interior shops, written about here. The city is home to Scandinavia’s tallest structure, The Turning Torso, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. There is also the Form Design Center, home to the famous and coveted Cocoa Ögon poster by Midcentury master, Olle Eksell. The city is home to my friend’s design brand, Emerybloom. Check them out if you’re looking for amazing prints for your interior! Malmö even has its own Moderna Museet, it’s like the Comparison between Malmö and Stockholm; Stockholm is bigger, Malmö is smaller, but both are as cool as eachother!

 

I cannot wait to move! If you haven’t noticed I’ve fallen completely in love with the city;

Jag älskar dig malmo! Ses Snart!