Playing Catch-up

This post is an attempt to tell you about many things all at once. Let's see how it goes, shall we?

First, a very cool gadget, the one you see in the picture up top. It's called a NusCup, and what it is is a.. sort of measuring cup. One that can measure cups (1/2 cup, 1/4 cup etc), tablespoons, milliliters AND ounces. It has a slide thingy that you push back and forth, and thus changing the capacity of the cup. It's extremely cool, and for all of those who like me, enjoy recipes from other countries and don't want to bother with conversions - it's a godsend. A particular nifty thing is that it has a magnet on back, so it can be stuck to the fridge or wherever you want - always within reach! It's made by Dalla Piazza and it'll be in stores all over Sweden soon.



Next, something that sadly probably won't be sold in Sweden. Remember the Food Loop? Well, Fusionbrands have created a bunch of new cool silicon gadgets, including this: the poach pod. This is pretty brilliant! It's the first egg poaching gadget I've tried and actually got to work - and I plan to use it to make things like panna cotta or chocolate fondant as well! Now, I just want to get some more - but there's always Ebay!



I met a lovely lady name Nina a while ago. She runs a company called Ninas Skorpor - skorpor is a Swedish cross between bread and biscuit, some are more traditional, others are, like these, more like cantuccini. So, essentially, they make cantuccini. In many, many delicious flavors! I really liked her saffron variety - brilliant for christmas! Available in gift shops and some gourmet food stores, you can e-mail them for the nearest retailer. Just in Sweden though!



Chocolate! Can't have a whole post without them, can I? This was a gift from some visitors from Waalre in Holland, and apparently it's locally produced. Great stuff!



As much as I like chocolate, I was almost more excited to see a display of Jelly Belly pick & mix at English Shop a few weeks ago! Jelly Belly is not sold here, but sometimes available in tiny, expensive packets. Here, it was a fairly big display with.. oh, at least fifteen flavors. Yum! The sour ones are probably my favorite, but I also chose Strawberry Cheesecake, Juicy Pear, Vanilla, Watermelon and Very Cherry.



A sandwich from my new favorite café - Vurma! I absolutely love it - they have two locations, soon to be three, but I've only been to one of them. They have their own bakery, and bake wonderful sourdough bread and lots of cookies and buns. Their cardamom buns are to die for! The sandwiches have funny names - mine was a Ragata (meaning.. um.. a bitch, basically) and my friend Pia had a Rugguggla (which is pretty hard to translate - but it's not a very endearing term). Most of all, they're very yummy and I can't wait to go back. They make good coffee, too, and the only drawback is that it seems to be very popular with the pram-crowd, so it can be a bit crowded at times. Oh well, it's worth it!