EL Moped 电摩托车

Moped refers to a small motorcycle, which generally has a less stringent licensing requirement as it usually travels the same speed as a bicycle. The term was actually coined by a journalist Harald Nielsen in 1952, as a portmanteau of the Swedish words "motor" and "pedaler". A portmanteau is a linguistic blend of words, which parts of multiple words (or their sound) are combined into a new word. Some examples are, smoke+fog =smog, motor+hotel=motel.


Nowadays, a moped is nowadays known as a small scooter, which is quite a convenient way to move around in the urban city. Linda and I work in Hisingen, and we usually try to car pool to/from work depending on working hours. There are alternatives like trams, buses and bicycles but I am just used to dropping off Linda to work and fetching her on my way back. At times when I need to work overtime, Linda would just walk to Backaplan for some simple shopping until we meet. Occasionally we would purchase a monthly public transport card but due to our habit of car-pooling together, it feels that we are not getting our money's worth.


So recently, a new idea came. In order to embrace the idea of urban living and environment friendliness, we have decided to take a look at an electric scooter. After some scouting around via the internet, we decided to visit Scooter huset (Scooter House) to test drive the electric scooters manufactured by the company called NIU. And the products from the company have received international awards like the German Red Dot, the United States iDEA, the Japanese G-Mark, and the Chinese Red Star.


The mission: Redefine urban mobility and make life better. (Wow, we are very impressed!)


We went for the test ride yesterday on a Saturday morning. We test rode two NIU scooter models: The M1-Pro and the N1s with a power of 1.2kw and 2.4kw respectively. We only took one scooter each time during the test ride, so it was pretty fun riding pillion through the spiral pedestrian/bicycle flyover to find a spot away from busy traffic, with hills and straight roads to test the scooter.


The ride was smooth, the Borsch electric motor felt powerful and responsive, and it really brought back a lot of childhood memories. We felt like two teenagers again on the bike as we were cruising down the road, enjoying the wind breezing by, feeling carefree and slightly daring. We found a slope which was around 20deg steep and we went up and down with the scooters. Well, we survived and so did the scooters!


Both M1-Pro and Ns models have their advantages (and small disadvantages). The main advantage with the M1-Pro is the agility it provides. It is much easier to reverse and make small turns during the maneuver. Whereas for the Ns model, it felt bulkier but more powerful in comparison (more expensive of cause).


You can see Linda riding the M1-Pro/Ns models in the pictures I am sharing.


Moped指的是一种小型摩托车，由于它与自行车行驶的速度相近，因此通常具有较低的交通法律要求。这个词实际上是由记者Harald Nielsen于1952年创造的，是瑞典语 “motor” 和 “pedaler” 的混合词。


如今，轻便摩托车现在被俗称scooter，这是一种在城市中便捷的方式。 琳达和我在Hisingen工作，我们都尽量互相配合自己的工作时间共用一辆车子上下班。当然还有电车，公共巴士和自行车等来替代，但我已经习惯于接送琳达上下班。有时我需要加班，她就会走到Backaplan做一些简单的购物直到我们见面。偶尔我们会购买公交月卡，但由于我们都习惯拼车，所以月卡都我们来说并没有那么实惠。


最近，出现了一个新想法。为了体现城市生活和环保的理念，我们决定看一下电摩托车。在网上搜查一下，我们决定去Scooter huset（Scooter House）来试骑由NIU公司制造的电摩托车。该公司的产品已获得德国红点，美国iDEA，日本G-Mark和中国红星等国际奖项。


公司的使命是：重新定义城市交通，让生活更美好。（哇，听了都爽！）


我们昨天星期六早上去了试骑。我们试骑了两个NIU型号：M1-Pro和N1s，功率分别为1.2kw和2.4kw。我们每次只能带一辆电车，两人骑过螺旋的行人/自行车天桥，找个交通不多，有斜波又有直道的地方来测试摩托车。


试骑很顺利，Borsch电动马达感觉很强，它真的带回了很多童年的记忆。当我们在路上行驶时，我们感觉又回到了青少年时代一样，享受着在耳边经过的风，无忧无虑，略显大胆。我们发现了一个大约有20度陡峭的斜坡，我们骑着电摩托车来回上下。还好，我们和电摩托车都幸存了下来！


M1-Pro和Ns两种型号都有其优点（和小缺点）。 M1-Pro的主要优点是它的灵活性，容易扭转并做出小转弯。而对于Ns型号来说，相比下它比较笨重但功能更强大（当然更昂贵啦）。


在照片里你可看到琳达骑着NIU M1-Pro和Ns的型号。


1. NIU M1-Pro / NIU Ns


2. Comic 漫画

Hari curry 咖哩日

As a Malaysian, I am often hit with cravings for curry or something spicy. As it implies in my title, the word "Hari" means "Day" in the Malaysian language which somehow signifies my satisfaction in indulging myself on curry yesterday.


Interesting to know (from Wiki), the word "Curry" is derived from the Tamil word "Kari" meaning "sauce, relish for rice", and it is also understood to mean vegetables and/or meat cooked with spices. The spices usually consist of key ingredients like coriander, turmeric, cumin and fenugreek. The curry powder that we know today, is actually a commercially prepared mixture of spices, thought to have been sold by Indian merchants to members of the British Colonial government and army returning to Britain in the 18th century.


Depending on the recipe, additional ingredients such as ginger, garlic, fennel seed, caraway, cinnamon, clove, mustard seed, green cardamom, black cardamom, nutmeg, white turmeric, curry leaf, long pepper, and black pepper may also be included to make specific curry dishes (again, these are all from Wiki).


In Malaysia, while is largely popular to have curry with rice, we have a local delicacy which we would blanch the curry gravy/soup with noodles. And it is one of my favorite street food in Penang. In the Northern part of Malaysia (Penang included), we call this street food "Kari Mee" (Curry Noodles) where the curry is more dilute and soup based. On the southern part of Malaysia, it is known as "Kari Laksa" where the curry is thicker, gravy based.


Enough said, so what did I have on Saturday breakfast? I brought some award winning "My Kuali -  Penang White Curry Noodle"instant noodles from Penang when I was back to Sweden just for this specific reason -  to appease my Penang food craving. A packet of this instant noodle comes with dried curly ramen noodles, a packet of seasoning, coconut milk powder and chili paste. Cooking the noodles with all the seasonings in boiling water is all you need to prepare it. Naturally, I added some dumplings (pork with chives), cabbages, fried tofu cubes and a boiled egg to give it more weight. The taste was pretty close compared to the authentic Penang white curry noodles. I would rate it 4 out of 5 giving its roasted, aromatic flavor of the chili paste. I attached a picture just to compare the authentic street food with the instant noodle. And a picture of the instant noodle taken from the My Kuali website.


For a couple of hours, I was lazing on the sofa, watching the tv and surfing the internet in between. It felt kind of restless to be indoors. It was soon lunch, and I noticed Linda was already in the kitchen cleaning the chicken.


"What are you making Honey?" I peeped over her shoulders and asked curiously.
"Curry chicken of course!" was her replied. Wow, I think I am on a curry row!


The apartment was soon again filled with the aroma of curry powder, caramelized onions, coconut milk, lemon grass with chicken. As the rice was also cooking beside the kitchen, a small hint of smell from the bubbling rice through your nostrils made it even more irresistible!


After some anticipating wait, I was soon served rice with Linda's homemade chicken curry! The look of the dish was appealing and colorful with small round chops of carrots and potatoes, with parts of lemon grass still remaining, giving it a sense of tropicalness. The gravy was thick, creamy and I liked the sauce dripping down slowly from the chicken as I scooped it to my plate. As I was delivering the food to my mouth, the aromatic smell of mixture of lemon grass, coconut milk and curry was mesmerizing.


The level of spiciness was just right for me and the texture of the chicken was still moist and tender. The taste is heavenly. I would rate it a 5/5 :)


Let me share some of the pictures below.


作为一名马来西亚人，我经常会犯想吃咖喱或辣椒的瘾。”Hari”这个词在马来语中代表“日”，而我在标题上用咖哩日来表示我这天吃咖哩的满足感。


有趣的是，”咖喱”这个词来自于泰米尔语“Kari”，意思是“酱汁来配饭”，它也被理解为用各种香料来烹饪蔬菜和/或肉的料理。香料的主要成分有香菜，姜黄，小茴香和胡芦巴。我们今天所认识的咖喱粉据说是印度商人经过商业包装，里面包含着各种香料，方便将其出售给英国殖民政府成员和军队来带回英国的。


咖哩粉的配方不定，依据菜肴的做法，咖哩粉还可以包括其他香料，如生姜，大蒜，茴香籽，香菜，肉桂，丁香，芥菜籽，绿豆蔻，黑豆蔻，肉豆蔻，白姜黄，咖喱叶，长胡椒和黑胡椒。（这些都来自维基）。


在马来西亚，虽然咖喱配饭很受欢迎，但我们有一种当地的美食，会把咖喱汤汁浇在碱面上。它是槟城最受欢迎的街头美食之一。在马来西亚北部（包括槟城），我们称它为“Kari Mee”（咖喱面），咖喱的汤汁是稀的。而在马来西亚南部，它被称为“Kari Laksa”，咖喱汤汁是浓稠的。


说到这里了，我到底在周六吃了什么？ 我从槟城带回来了“My Kuali - 槟城白咖喱面”的方便面 - 以满足我对槟城美食的渴望，这方便面听说还得了不少国际的奖状哦！ 如果把包装拆开来，你会看到里面含有一块卷曲拉面，一包调味料，椰奶粉和辣椒酱。 煮法很简单，把面和调味料混合在锅里用沸水煮熟就好了。 当然，我添加了一些饺子（韭菜猪肉），卷心菜，油豆腐和鸡蛋，以增加它的份量。 与正宗的槟城白咖喱面相比，味道已经非常的接近，加上辣椒酱的烤香味，我会给它评4分(满分为5分)。 我这里附上一些照片来做一些比较: 正宗的咖哩面，我煮的咖哩面， 还有一张从My Kuali网站上采集的图片。


几个小时，我躺在客厅沙发上懒洋洋地看着电视，刷手机。不久就要吃午饭了，我注意到琳达已经在厨房清洗鸡肉了。


“亲爱的，你在煮什么？”我在身边看着，好奇地问道。“当然是咖喱鸡啦！”她回答。哇，今天真是太棒了！


公寓很快又充满了咖喱，炒洋葱，椰奶，柠檬草和鸡肉的香气。由于米饭也在厨房旁烩着，米饭的香气让它变得更不可抗拒！


经过一些等待，我很快就坐在饭桌上，享用着琳达自制的鸡肉咖喱饭！这道菜的外观有很强的吸引力，色彩维和，有圆圆的胡萝卜和土豆，还有一小撮柠檬草，给人一种在热带生活的感觉。咖哩汁非常浓稠，滑嫩顺口，当我把它舀到我的盘子里时，我喜欢看从鸡肉慢慢滴下来的酱汁。当我把食物送到我的嘴里时，柠檬草，椰奶和咖喱的芳香真令人着迷。

辣味的程度刚好，鸡肉仍然湿润和柔软。 味道是非才常的好。 我评这道菜5分！


让我在这里分享一些图片。1. Curry Mee 咖哩面

2. Linda's Curry Chicken 琳达自制的鸡肉咖喱

3. Longan for dessert 龙眼为后餐

4 Comic 漫画

Seafood Festival at Björkö. Björkö 海鲜节

One of the best things when you live on the west coast of Sweden is the seafood. And so happened there was a seafood festival this weekend on the island of Björkö, which is one of the bigger islands in the northern Gothenburg archipelago.

We decided to set off to Björkö at noon as we needed to make some grocery shopping in the morning. In order to get to the island by car, we needed to drive to Lilla Varholmen and to take the car ferry from the terminal. The ferry trip took us only 6 minutes and it is free of charge.


The festival was situated right at the harbor and the place was packed with people. We had difficulty finding a parking spot at first, but as we were weaving through the traffic, we spotted a place with a slightly elevated grass pavement beside a villa.


"Well, what the heck. Let's park the car there!"


I could not care less right now as I was currently starving and craving very much for food. So I carefully maneuvered and pushed our car onto the pavement. And then I caught Linda's wary eyes as she was worried someone might complain and tow our car away. One of the lessons I learned is to always thrust a woman's instinct so we decided to ring the villa's owner door to ask if he was ok for us to park our car there.


"Det är helt okej! Ha det trevlig på festivalen!" was the response in Swedish from the owner which meant, "It is ok! Have fun at the festival!" So that basically solved our concern.


We headed straight to the stall with the longest queue as we saw smiling people walking away with sumptuous portions of their food. And moreover, the price seemed reasonable and the food just looked so delicious! While Linda was queuing, I tried to sneak onto one sailing boat to take some pictures of the surrounding. I attached a picture here, see if you could spot Linda in the crowd! :)


It took us roughly 20 minutes to reach our turn for the order (not too bad). From the menu, Linda ordered "The best soup in the coast" and I ordered a "Smoked pork chop". Yes, a pork chop at a seafood festival. Sneer at me as much as you want! :)


We brought our orders to an empty standing table and started digging into them, and the taste of the food were indeed pretty decent although I would honestly say I enjoyed Linda's company and the surrounding atmosphere better. After lunch, we took a walk around the harbor and had coffee in Seaside restaurant where we sat inside closed to the window, enjoying the sea view with the warm sunlight as well as some peaceful moments.


It was soon time to leave and we were glad to find out our car was still in tact at the parking place :) When we about to drive away, a young women knocked on my window and asked if she could hitch a ride with us to the ferry terminal. We both said yes simultaneously. On the small journey to the terminal, we learned that she was on a work assignment on the island. Her job that day was to interview some of the inhabitants to understand the sea pollution of the island, and hence hoping to create more awareness on the environmental issues among the people. And I think this is absolutely meaningful and I salute to that!  


Our conversation ended as she bid farewell when we reached the ferry terminal, leaving us pondering silently what we could do more for this beautiful planet as we were heading home...


Below are some pictures to share:


住在瑞典西海岸有一个好处，那就是可以吃到鲜美的海鲜。碰巧Björkö岛在这周末有举办海鲜节。Björkö是哥德堡群岛北部较大的岛屿之一。

我们决定在中午时才出发，因为我们早上需要买一些家里的日常物品。前往Björkö，我们需要开车到Lilla Varholmen并从码头乘坐汽车渡轮。乘渡轮仅花了6分钟，而且是免费的。


海鲜节的地点在岛屿的港口，这个地方挤满了人。我们一开始很难找到一个停车位，但是当我们在人群和汽车中穿行时，我们在路边发现了一块草坪，刚好一个车位大小，就在一个别墅旁！

“不理了，我们就把车停那边吧！”


我已经不能理那么多了，因为我正饥肠辘辘。当我小心的把车子停好，我发觉琳达担忧的看着我，说她担心可能有人会抱怨并拖走我们的车子。在我人生中，我学了许多的教训，其中之一就是要相信女人的直觉。所以我们决定敲别墅主人的门，询问我们是否可以把车子停在那。


“Det är helt okej！Ha det trevlig på festivalen” 主人用瑞典语回答，意思是，“没问题的！在海鲜节里玩得开心吧！”这基本上解决了我们的担忧。


在众多的摊位中，我们直接走向队伍最长的摊位，因为我们看到微笑客人们带着丰盛的食物离开。此外，价格似乎合理，食物看起来很美味！当琳达在排队买餐时，我试图爬上其中一艘帆船来拍下周围热闹的环境。我在这里附上一张照片，看看你是否能在人群中找到琳达！ :)


我们花了大约20分钟才买到我们的午餐（不算等得太久）。从菜单上，琳达选了“海岸上最好的汤”，而我点了一份“烟熏猪排”。是的，我竟然在海鲜节上点了猪排。尽情嘲笑我吧！ :)


我们把午餐都带到一张空的餐桌上，然后开始享用它们，食物的味道是相当不错，虽然老实说，我很是喜欢有琳达在身边，和周围热闹的气氛。午餐后，我们在海港边散步，过后在Seaside餐厅喝咖啡，我们坐在靠近窗户的地方，享受海景，温暖的阳光和一些宁静的时刻。


很快就要离开了，我们很高兴车子仍久无恙停在那草坪上。就当我们要开走离开时，一个年轻姑娘轻轻敲了我的窗户，请求她是否可以搭乘我们的车子到渡轮码头，我们俩同时答应了。谈话中，我们了解到今天她在岛上工作，采访一些居民，目的是为了解岛上的海洋污染情况，也因此希望提高居民们对环境问题的认识。 我觉得这工作很有意义，我向此致敬！


我们谈着，一直到渡轮码头时才告别。我们和她的谈话虽然结束了，但在回家路上，我和琳达都默默地思考着谈话的内容，想想我们可以为这美丽的星球做些什么。。。


在这里分享一些图片:
1. Car ferry to Björkör. 到Björkör的渡轮

2. View of the harbor. 港口的景色

3. Queue for the food. 排队买食物

4. Food and coffee 食物和咖啡

5. Enjoying the view. 享受海边美景

6. A comic to describe the day. 漫画



Me and you and a fish named...我和你以及一条名为...的鱼

We have always wanted to have a pet at home and the idea had been going on for years. A cat and dog could have been great but the huge responsibility seems to hold us back.


"A tortoise...?" Some friends asked.
"No...it lives for too long and may grow quite big. And in addition, it stinks" was our answer. Later, I felt really bad for the tortoise, they have not done anything to deserve these comments.


After all the discussion, we have finally resorted to getting a fish. However, it took us another year as we could not decide which fish tank, the type of fish and the place to keep it in our apartment.


Until one fine day, which was a couple of weeks ago, Linda came across a used, empty fish tank kept in a friend's storage room. It was a simple rectangular 10L tank and there was a small sack of river rocks as well as a filtration pump lying beside it. And Voilà! It was the right size will all its readiness, and the most important thing of all... we could get them for FREE.

Linda knew immediately where to place the tank - at our dining place beside the window with the view of our balcony. And the next thing we knew, we were at the pet store at Hornbach Hisingen. And after some scouting as well as consulting the store attendant, we came back with a red Siamese fighting fish - code name "Betta" on the same day!


Linda tried hard to create a comfortable habitat for the fish. She planted two different fresh water plants at the two sides and placed a nice rock in the middle of the aquarium. So the fish could rub and wiggle between the leaves when it is bored circling the rock. Looks really cute when he does that. Yes it is a male fish :)


According to what we read, Siamese fighting fish lives a solitary life due to its aggression and highly territorial. When we were just about thinking he would lead a soul of solitude, something amazing happened! We found a small living creature crawling on one of the leaves and it turned out to be a baby snail!


Here are some photos to share with you all!


我们一直想在家里养只宠物，这想法已持续多年。养只猫和狗应该是很不错的，但巨大的责任似乎让我们放弃了这个念头。

“乌龟呢...？”有些朋友问。“不......它活得太久了，而且可能会长得很大。而且，它很臭！” 是我们的答案。后来，我觉得非常愧疚，因为乌龟根本没有做过任何值得这些评论的事。


经过一些讨论，我们终于就决定要养一条鱼。然而，我们又花了一年的时间，因为我们无法决定哪个鱼缸，鱼的类型以及放置在公寓里的地方。


一直到几个星期前，琳达在一个朋友家的储藏室里发发现了一个旧鱼缸。这是一个矩形10公升的鱼缸，旁边还有一小袋的河石和过滤泵。真是踏破铁鞋无弥处！尺寸和一切正是我们所需要的，而更重要的是......我们可以免费获得它们。

琳达立即知道要将鱼缸放置在什么地方 - 就在餐厅窗户旁边，直对我们的阳台。接下来，我们在Hornbach Hisingen的宠物商店里，在经过一番搜索以及咨询商店服务员之后，我们在同一天买回来了一条红色的暹罗斗鱼 - 代号“Betta”。


琳达努力为它制造一个舒适的栖息地。她在鱼缸两侧种植了两种不同的淡水植物，并在鱼缸的中间放置了一块漂亮的岩石。因此，鱼可以在岩石上盘旋，也可以在叶子之间酐畅游乐。当它再玩耍看起来真的很可爱。对了，它是公的 :)


据我们所知，暹罗斗鱼由于性格过于侵略性，还很重视自己的领域，所以只能孤独生活。就在我们为它感到惋惜时，发生了一件令人惊奇的事！我们在其中一片叶子上发现了一只小生物，竟然是一只小蜗牛！


这里有一些照片与大家分享！


1. The Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta) 暹罗斗鱼

2. The baby snail 小蜗牛

  3. The weirdo who is feeding him every morning (fish eye view). Only 5 to 8 granules a day!
      每天早上喂他的怪人（鱼的角度）。 每天只有5到8粒！

4. Comic piece to describe the day 漫画