sunday markets and more

a friend asked if stockholm's overt "boatiness" got annoying and it wasn't something that had occurred to me. it's an archipelago after all, and i like bridges, so the interconnected waterways and miles and miles of waterfront real estate was more charm than cringe. but i did get the point, walking around it felt like one was never far from the water, or a boat or two. went wandering to skeppsholmen and castleholmen and tried not to blend in with the horde of chinese tourists on bikes. it was a perfect day, skies so blue they looked unreal and air of calm serenity about the place. 

went to the sunday market at hornstull but was waylaid by the floating bar. blue skies, beer, boat and palm trees - what's not to like? was also a little nostalgic (sensing the general theme here?) because it's one of the few parks where alcohol is allowed and the first time i met team oz when A.Mc organised a class picnic. i think he might've secretly been trying to get to know J better. six years -four of which they've been living together- three countries, four cities, two jobs and a couple of graduate degrees later, they're in KL and more loved up than ever in KL :))))

 

ok and i don't know what they put in these loaves but the bread was sensational. i'm a relatively undiscerning carbohydrate queen but even my lead palate could tell that this was something else. we saw it everywhere and wished i could've secured a steady stream of swedish bread fresh and hot on my doorstep daily. one can dream...

fika

fika was a habit i'd always practiced but hadn't realised was swedish. i mean, what's not to like about tea and cake in the afternoon? what was a pleasant surprise (probably not new, i'd just forgotten) was how there were hipster cafes aplenty in stockholm, with something interesting every few metres or so. it was amazing! quite sure each was as good as the next and it was only a matter of time (i.e. stop when Hungry and not merely peckish, which is generally me 24/7) that determined where our feet actually fell.

i also go on like a broken recorder about how the light in stockholm is different. soft and dappled, it changes everything and gives it a soft, glowy feel. not unlike a good instagram filter.

fuel-ed by cinnamon rolls, went walking along the soder and relived one of my first few days in stockholm where C, introduced by a parisian family friend, very kindly took me around and gave the best introduction to the city. bumped into a german student at kth (asked him to take my photo, how else) and was invited to join him and his swiss friend on the rocks. politely declined (was feeling antisocial) but my corridormates were from kth but decided to spare him the long and boring spiel about how i used to study in stockholm too and boy aren't we lucky :)

gumball 3000 2015

hadn't heard of gumball 3000 till i excited texted team oz from the plane. A.Mc, arbiter of cool, said it'd be a good weekend with pretty cars in the city. not much of a car fan but like to think i appreciate beauty. wasn't going out of my way to locate said race but it was everywhere, and the crowds pushing forward to get up close and personal with these sleek metal monsters were equally unmissable. happened to pass it when walking in the morning, then maybe three more times as the day went by. tells you something about my abysmal sense of direction, and how i might've essentially been going in circles.!

love how sweden is egalitarian max, and no one is above the law ;)

stockholm revisited

give me half a chance and i'll wax lyrical about stockholm and the idyllic time i spent there as an exchange student 2009/10. it was a different season of life, one i thoroughly enjoyed and probably spend a little too much time dwelling on. trying to distil into words just what made it so special is difficult. it was the first time i was away from home on my own for an extended period and a journey of self-discovery, to sound so very cheesy. i learnt what my trigger points were, how i function best and just how many loo rolls i go through in a month. granted, much has changed, i've changed many times over, but it was a time where life was simple. my biggest decision was whether i wanted a cinnamon roll with my coffee in the morning. 

have sort of resisted going back too soon after leaving so as to better avoid going down the nostalgia rabbit hole, but i think half a decade is a good enough length of time. and what struck me was the power of the subconscious. went for a walk the first morning with absolutely no agenda but muscle memory won and i ended up retracing steps i didn't know i'd remember.

stayed at a hotel next to ostermalmstorg and went past cafe opera, along the water by the grand hotel, passed old town, the ferry docks where we took the hell-ish overnighter to hellsinki, then up the stairs to hermans (closed) where i chuckled at the bus loads of tourists at the designated view point, not about to tell them the soder is more picturesque, the down to medborg, the anthony bourdain kebab stand and ventured into sofo before heading back via slussen.

what was also funny was how i remember tunnelbana stations by who lived at which one. J was at st erik's, I was at slussen... there was literally a memory on every corner even though the names of places had changed, the streets were the same. there was cafe where my parents interrogated F (A chickened out) before letting me travel to portugal with two german strangers, the city garden i left f11 for because drunk swedes was not my thing, berns where i'd lunch but not club at, cafe opera for wednesday nights. 

was also conscious to discover new things and not merely try to condense an entire exchange into 72h. hadn't expected to feel so strongly being back in the city i once called home (but proud resisted going back to uni or old flat) and sorely missed the friends i'd spent glorious swedish summers (and less glorious winters) with. but hey, people move on. and if i could do anything differently, it'd have been to utilise the time and learnt svenska, and maybe audit more law classes taught in english. more social, more hedonistic then and i wonder what regrets i'll have five years down the line.

will be posting some photos and thoughts over the next couple of days if you'd like to see :) also, have added some commentary to the previous photo posts!

boatride along the thames

lived in london for almost four years and had yet to take a boatride down the thames. had friends in town a couple of summers ago and we had dinner on a boat on the thames but it was stationery, and a bit of a scam if you ask me. but they'd a young son and i'd no clue what to do with children and taking him onto a boat seemed like a fun-ish thing to do. pity about the food! so i was skeptical when C, my fellow abandoned wife, invited me to gatecrash a bschool boat party. but it was an enjoyable evening on the water despite my initial apprehension and the bbq-ed dinner was surprisingly tasty! had no expectations, really, so gimme salmon kebabs and salad (and lots of garlic bread) and i'm one happy camper.

ever the one trick pony, linked up with C at primrose hill (and bumped into the talented ivan tan who took our wedding photos and i hadn't seen since!) then moseyed over to embankment to board the boat after we went in search of pubs at primrose hill to use the facilities of. looking for a loo is the story of my life.

london was so pretty from the water, and the weather cooperated. went quite a distance, past canary wharf and then on to greenwich and the stadium before turning back. as it got dark, the boat became a dance party (ugh) and i tried to blend into the woodwork, but not before inadvertently nicking a nice boy's drink coupon. oops.

luiz' supper club

one of my laments about the london scene is how it tends to reward the hyper-organised. we love luiz's supperclub but having to commit upwards of six weeks in advance isn't realistic for most of the friends we'd go with. visibility is something in short supply on our end so i usually book first, invite later. after all, having secured a place, finding someone who wants to go isn't too difficult. we were fortunate to have my aunt and uncle visiting that weekend and they were game to attend their first supperclub. like to think it was a fun experience for them and not something too common in sg. we do try to make it at least an annual affair, having last gone to celebrate our second wedding anniversary summer 2014. luiz outdid himself, again, and i thoroughly enjoyed the lighter dishes as the weather got warmer. much as the sukiyaki warms the cockles of my heart in the colder months, the dashi daikon with minced beef and foie gras took my breath away, as did the fantastic brazilian topside done to perfection. as usual, we washed it all down with some serious junmai daiginjos, courtesy of aunt and uncle :)

kupp

was working while rui was in town and didn't get to hang out as much as ideal. but she's lovely and understanding, and before leaving for paris she met me for a cheeky brunch by the water. had found this cute cafe a stone's throw from hospital and managed to sneak out between morning MDT and afternoon clinic for some stolen time. it was a bonus to see more of her and lovely sunny day on the basin.

isn't she a sight for sore eyes :)

abandoned wives club

went for a walk on mothers' day and chanced upon the peter pan statue at hyde park. ironic seeing how there was a tribe of (motherless) lost boys. only noticed the shadow-y couple later on and thought it funny, seeing how peter kept trying to lose his shadow (or vice versa) and wendy had to sew it back! there's also the henry moore (below) that inspires awe and tranquility at the same time. and also apt for mothers' day were the duckies :)

with busy misters who travel for work, it was only natural that C and i gravitated towards each other.  she's a relatively recent london transplant (formerly living in milan!) and i'm so grateful for a friend who gets me, commiserates about being an abandoned wife and is a ton of fun to be around. and as the men are on somewhat similar schedules, we're left to our own devices in london around the same time. we've been meaning to get together for some time but friday nights in after a busy week are so few and far between that we've firmly rooted to our respective sofas. last weekend, however, we got organised and rallied for a lunch in the 'hood (brunch would've been over-ambitious) then went on the hunt for the farmers' market. alas, they were closing by the time we arrived, but no loss, as the lower common was full of wild flowers and we ended up going the scenic route all the way to the wetland reserve.

R in town!

R's one of my dearest friends, quite notably one of three friends i'd at iceland wedding. she's accomplished so much in the same time i've had on this planet that she puts me to shame. we're in constant imessage contact and low maintenance as far as regular electronic check-ins go. when i've a problem, she's quick to offer sensible solutions, troubleshoot and sense-check at the same time. so you can imagine just how excited i am that she's done with HBS and on the way to mega career stardom. love catching friends during transitions, where the future is slowly coming into focus and yet on the verge giddy with delicious anticipation of the next stage. it's such a special time and i'm flattered she chose to spend some of the precious postgrad holiday with me. absolutely delighted to have had her in london for a few days and we did the non-touristy things, because she's familiar with the city having done her first degree in a small town just north-west of the capital.

ever grateful that she took me to congee in NYC when i was there last summer and starved of chinese food and felt compelled to satiate her dimsum craving in london. we're such creatures of habit, after the wedding her mama treated us to dimsum at the same place :) then we went for a long walk, she hustled us into a cheeky loo break at edgeware road (i was too shy to use the facilities without eating there but she charmed the waiter's socks off and got us in!) before riding the double decker home via my favourite thai in london. 

regents park

primrose hill

closing down sale complete with comp-ed bubbles!

too soon?

regents canal (photo credits to R)