Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

The Mid-Autumn Festival, is a harvest festival typically celebrated by the ethnic Chinese and is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with full moon at night. It is sometimes called the Lantern Festival in Malaysia.

Nowadays, the festival is usually celebrated with friends and family, eating mooncakes and lighting lanterns (in Malaysia). Some would go to a temple to pay reverence to the deities, and people may even see performances of lion dances in shopping malls during the festival. It is basically a joyous and jubilant festival!


So, after having said that, you might be curious and start to wonder how Linda and I celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Sweden?


Our answer is: Nothing :)


Sad to say, that was exactly how mundane we are during this festival in Sweden for many years :( And it would have been the same this year if I have not discovered a friend left me a gift on my desk in the office.


The gift consists of two small beautiful boxes. To my surprise, what is inside each of the boxes is a cute mooncake!


Let me share some pictures of the mooncakes below!


中秋节是一个典型的华人节日，在农历八月十五日(满月)庆祝。在马来西亚，这节日也被称为灯笼节。如今，这节日通常与朋友和家人一起庆祝，尝月饼和点灯笼（在马来西亚）。在节日期间，有些人会去庙供拜神明，在商场上甚至还会看到舞狮或舞龙的表演。基本来说，这节日是蛮喜庆的！


说到这里，您会不会很好奇琳达和我如何在瑞典庆祝中秋节？


我们的答案是：什么都没有 :)


很遗憾的是，这节日对住在瑞典的我们来说并没有什么太特别的意义:( 今年也会是如此，如果我没发现在办公桌上，一位朋友给我留下的礼物。


礼物是两个漂亮的小盒子。令我惊讶的是，每个盒子里装的是一个可爱的月饼！


让我在这里分享一些月饼的图片吧！

Roti Canai 印度煎饼

Roti Canai is a popular breakfast or snack dish in Malaysia. It is an Indian-influenced flatbread dish usually served with dal (usually lentils) or other types of curry. The word "roti" means bread in the Malay language, and the word "canai" has a disputed origin as many believed the word derived from Chennai, the Indian city formerly known as Madras.


In Southern Malaysia, the dish is known as Roti Prata (similar to the Hindi word "Paratha", which means "flat"). In Chinese, it has a more interesting name - Flying bread, due to the skill performed by the chef, tossing and spinning the flat dough in the air while preparing the dish.


And that brings back to the reason of this blog today. I had Roti Canai for breakfast this morning :)


The preparation was simply by frying some frozen Paratha which I bought from the Indian grocery store, and boiled some lentils with water, curry powder and some spinach.


Let me share some pictures of my Roti Canai to you all!


Roti Canai是在马来西亚非常受当地人欢迎的早餐或小吃。 它一种印度煎饼，一般都是和dal（扁豆）或是其他的咖喱来搭配。 “roti”在马来语代表面包，而“canai”这个词的起源多少还是有一些争议的，因为许多人认为这个词来自印度的一个城市，前身为马德拉斯。


在马来西亚南部，这道菜被称为Roti Prata（类似于印地语“Paratha”，可解释为“扁”）。 在华人圈里，它也叫"飞饼"，非常有趣，原因是厨师在准备这道小吃时，会把面团在桌上压扁，再甩在空中，试图把它弄得又大又薄。


讲了这么多，就想跟你们说我今早吃了Roti Canai :)


其实非常简单，我只是从印度超市买了一包冷冻的印度煎饼，用中火煎2分钟就好了。Dal 的煮法也非常简易，把扁豆用开水煮熟，再放一些咖喱粉和菠菜碎就成了。


让我分享一下我的Roti Canai的照片给你们吧！


1. My breakfast 早餐

2. From the Indian grocery store 从印度超市购买的




3. Making Roti Canai (Flying Pancake) 制作飞饼

4. Comic 漫画

A final glimpse of Summer 2018 抓住2018年夏天的尾巴

"There is no bad weather in Gothenburg, only bad attire."


These are usually the wise words from my friends in Gothenburg. After the unusually long and dry summer, the typical autumn weather is here - which is a combination of both rain and wind. Good quality, warm and waterproof attire for outdoors can be a bit pricy but it is definitely a good investment based on my experience.


Contrary to this weekend, last weekend was warm and sunny, with light breeze throughout the day. Having realized that during breakfast, Linda and I spontaneously decided to take a small trip to the island of Tjörn to visit the "Sculpture in Pilane", which was only a one-hour drive away from Gothenburg.


In case you wonder, "Sculpture in Pilane" is an art exhibition in a nature park where art sculptures from famous artists are arranged in the middle of this ancient cultural landscape. The reason why Pilane is described as ancient and cultural is due to its archaeological excavations that can be dated back in the stone age (4500 years ago). Recent findings even show that Pilane was not just a settlement and a burial place, but a meeting place for people and cultures.


It was quite a unique art experience for us. While we fancied the wide view of the landscape, we enjoyed especially the calm strolls along the paths over the meadows and hillsides, posing and taking pictures with the beautifully-craft sculptures when we encountered them. Occasionally, one would see traces from the stone age and sheep grazing under the sun.


Speaking of sheep, please watch out under your feet if you know what I mean! You would not want to have smelly shoes after your visit :)


Let me share some photos of from the trip. The highlight of the day was taking a picture with the 14-meter tall "Anna" (crafted by artist Jaume Plensa) on top of the hill.


As a small interlude, I would also like to share some nice pictures of Dahlia flowers we took from the botanical gardens on the next day.

“哥德堡没有恶劣的天气，只有糟糕的装束。”

这些通常是哥德堡朋友的明智之词。在异常漫长而干燥的夏季之后，秋季就在眼前。所谓瑞典秋季的典型的气侯，就是让人无奈的漫天风雨。说到户外装束，品质稍微好的，防风防水的可能会贵一些，但根据我的经验，这绝对是一个很好的投资。

与这周相反，上周的天气格外温暖晴朗，微风习习。所以早餐后，我和琳达立即开车前往Tjörn岛参观“Pilane雕塑”。参观地点距离哥德堡不远，才只有一个小时的车程。

“Pilane雕塑”其实是一个在公园举办的艺术展览，举办当局都把名家的雕塑作品摆设在这个公园的四周围。 Pilane也是瑞典的古文化的景点，是因为从当地发掘出来的古物，可以追溯到古石器时代（大约4500年前）。而且，最近的考古研究表示，Pilane不仅仅是一个古代的居住点和埋葬地，而且还是一个古代重要的文化场所。

这对我们来说是一次非常独特的艺术体验。我们沿着公园里的草地和山坡上的小路漫步，路过古石器时代的痕迹，欣赏着优美宁静的大自然。途中还摆姿势，跟漂亮的雕塑拍照。偶尔，我们还会看到在阳光下吃草的绵羊。

说到绵羊，走路时请注意你的脚下！如果你不想参观后发觉鞋底沾上了不该沾上的东西 :)

让我分享一下这次参观的照片。亮点是在山顶上拍摄了14米高的“安娜”（由艺术家Jaume Plensa制作）。

作为一个小插曲，我也想分享第二天我们在植物园里拍摄的大丽花。

Three Duck Dishes 一鸭三吃

A few weeks ago, we were at a restaurant at Majorna (west, out of the city center of Gothenburg) to have Peking duck. Peking duck is a dish from Beijing which originated back since the Yuan Dynasty. It is a version of a roasted duck which requires special seasoning before being roasted in a closed or hung oven.


The dish is usually served in sliced crispy roasted duck skin with little meat, and it is eaten with spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings.  The fragrance and sweet saltiness of the caramelized roasted duck skin , juicy tenderness of the meat, freshness of the cucumbers, the slight biting taste of the spring onions wrapped in warm thin pancakes will just blow you away at your first bite.


But hold on a second, didn't the topic of post mentioned three duck dishes?


Yes, and that is where it gets interesting.


After the chef has sliced away the skin (with little meat) of the roasted duck, the rest of the meat on the duck will be cut and fry it together with Yi-mien as the second dish. Yi-mien is variety of the Cantonese egg noodle made of wheat flour, which are known for the yellow color and chewy characteristic.


As for the third dish, the duck bones are dapped with flour, salt and Szechuan pepper and deep fried in hot oil until they are crunchy.


Let me share some pictures of the dishes.


几个星期前，我们在Majorna（哥德堡市中心以外的西部）的一家餐馆点了北京烤鸭。北京烤鸭是北京的一道名菜，起源于元朝， 它需要用特殊的调味料腌制后才能在特制的烤炉中烘烤。


这道菜的吃法是把削出来的烤鸭皮（和少许的肉），与大葱丝，黄瓜丝和甜面酱放在薄饼上，用薄饼把它们都卷起来一同食用。烤鸭皮的焦香气和甜咸味，嫩又多汁的肉，新鲜的黄瓜，大葱的辛，以及薄饼的柔软口感，第一口就让你回味无穷。


但不是说一鸭三吃吗？还有两道菜是什么?


且慢，让我娓娓道来。。。


厨师会把鸭子上剩下的肉切下来，并与伊面一起炒，所以第二道菜其实就是鸭肉炒伊面。伊面是由小麦粉制成的粤式蛋面，颜色稍黄和耐嚼。


至于第三道菜，就是椒盐炸鸭架。也就是把鸭架切段，裹上面粉，盐和胡椒，再用热油炸至嘎吱嘎吱。


让我在这里分享一些照片吧！


 1 Peking duck 北京烤鸭

2 Eating the Peking duck 北京烤鸭吃法



3 Duck meat fried noodles 鸭肉炒面

4 Salt and pepper duck 椒盐鸭

5 Comic 漫画

The Metamorphosis 变形记

Have you ever had a bad dream, which you were a cockroach, crawling in dark places scavenging for food? And subsequently waking up abruptly in cold sweat, heaved a sigh of relief, realizing that it was just a bad (almost comical) dream?


That was exactly what happened to me after I read the novel "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. The novel relates the story of Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning to find himself  transformed into a huge insect and has to struggle to adjust to this new condition. He became unable to work and was confined to only his room. His appetite changed, feeding by choice only on rotten leftovers from his family. The remainder of the story tells how he and his family try to cope with the change, which directly affecting their living conditions, psychology and family relationship.


The story itself is melancholically dark, sad and downright kind of absurd. It took me several attempts to finally finish the novel due to its psychological impact on me. But please don't get me wrong, I am still glad I finished reading the book and I would still recommend it to others.


Aside from the story from Franz Kafka. It reminded me of a somewhat similar story by Chuang Tzu (Chinese philosopher during the Warring States period, 4th century BC), which he dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering happily in the air. When he woke up, he was not sure if he dreamed that he became a butterfly, or rather, the butterfly dreamed that it became Chuang Tzu!


Anyway, let me share a cool sculpture of Franz Kafka when we were in Prague.


你是否有过一个很糟糕的梦，梦里你是一只蟑螂，在黑暗的地方爬行寻找食物？过后突然惊醒，冒着冷汗，随着松了一口气，意识到这只是一个几乎可笑的恶梦？


这正是我在阅读卡夫卡的小说“变形记”后所发生的事。这部小说讲述了格雷戈尔萨姆萨的故事，他在一天早晨醒来发现自己变成了一只巨大的昆虫，不得不努力来适应这种新的情况。他无法工作，只被限制在他的房间里。他的食欲改变了，只能选择性的吃着家里腐烂的剩菜。故事的其余部分讲述了他和家人如何应对变化，直接影响他们的生活，心理和家庭的关系。


这个故事的题材感觉就是黑暗，悲伤和彻头彻尾的荒谬。由于心理的负担，我花了不少时间才终于读完这部小说。但请不要误会，虽然读的过程很沉重，我仍然很高兴我读完了这本书，而且还会很愿意地推荐给别人看。


除了卡夫卡的故事。它不禁让我想起了庄子（战国时期的中国哲学家，公元前4世纪）类似的故事 - 庄周梦蝶  ，他梦见他是一只蝴蝶，在空中愉快地飞扬。当他醒来时，他不确定自己是否梦见自己变成了一只蝴蝶，或者更确切地说，蝴蝶梦见它变成了庄子！


无论如何，我想在这里分享在布拉格时拍的一个很酷的卡夫卡雕塑。

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