om livet på en ö i Medelhavet
Malta
Shining stars
06040 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Stars are shining in our windows now
- Advent wreath without decorations
We now have red-and-gold coloured star in the livingroom and a golden star in the study. Unfortunately the light from the energy bulbs are very white and cold, but maybe I’ll get used to it…
I bought this advent wreath today, but I didn’t find any better candles or decorations. I’ll buy that tomorrow on Bay street.
Findus
06040 days
- Findus Wok
Findus vegetables are found in the freezer counter in most stores on the island.
Wasabröd
06040 days
We bought Swedish bread today! Wasa Original from Filipstad in Sweden.
- Different types of bread from Wasa
Is crispbread Swedish?
Crispbread has been baked in Sweden by Wasabröd since 1919, and is now sold in over 40 countries around the world.Where does the name Wasabröd come from?
Wasabröd is a combination of the two words Wasa and bröd. Bröd is the Swedish word for bread and Wasa is associated from the name of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa and was picked to create an easy recognizable brand for all Swedes.
Made by Jönköping Vulcan
06040 days
Three Stars Safety Matches - Jönköping Sweden
Swedish matches are popular here in Malta. The match boxes in the photo are from Pavi but I’ve also seen them at Greens and other stores.
Shopping all day long
06040 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
…well, in the afternoon at least.
We got up late this morning. I think we were all tired, even Gizmo. After breakfast Kalle played guitar hero, while I lay on the couch half asleep, listening, with Gizmo sleeping in my arms. Mmm, it was nice!
We didn't buy anything in the first shop.
Here they had a lot of stuff and we bought 2 Moravian stars
I think the maltese people like Christmas lights a lot. The more they blink the better it is.
Flashing stars... not my type of Moravian star
Sweet memories!
In one of the stores I found porcelain figures just like the figures that me and my sister got when we were children. I still have mine, but it is broken and glued together again.
Mixed peel
We also went to Pavi’s for grocery shopping, and I bought ingredients for ginger bread and mulled wine (glögg). But we didn’t find all the spices for glögg. I think we spent 40 minutes trying to find bitter orange peels (pomerans-skal). The only peels they had was a box of diced and coloured mixed peels. I bought it of pure frustration, but I think I will use the peel from fresh oranges instead.
Majjalata – pork feast
06041 days
Tonight we were invited to a Majjalata (pork feast) in Birżebbuġa. We were immediately served Maltese specialities such as Maltese goat cheese and bigilla. Together with the snacks they served a strong punch made of gin, vodka, red wine, sambuca, fresh fruit and probably other stuff. It was strong but tasted good.
Bigilla is a traditional Maltese snack, made out of beans. The main ingredient of bigilla is a special type of broad beans known in Malta as “ful tal-Ġirba”.
I think there was about 20 people at the majjalata. Everyone but me was men. I don’t know if that’s how is usually is or if it was a coincidence. I felt very welcome anyway.
It takes about 6 hours to roast a suckling pig. This weighed about 45 kg I think, and was ready about an hour after we arrived. The meat was served with Maltese bread and sliced potatoes and onions cooked in wood-fired oven . It tasted really good!
After dinner it was time for telling stories and funny jokes. They tried to tell some stories in English, but some of them were only funny when told in Maltese, they said. It was fun to just listen and see the other’s reactions anyway.
Later on they served cake and had fun with firecrackers.
It was a fun evening and I’m glad we got invited.
Almost ready now
Ready!
Who wants the first piece?
On with the rodizio!
06042 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
As long as we were still dealing with soup and sallad the red side was up.
Nice afterwork at Do Brazil today, together with Kalle, Mattias, Frippe, Brolle and Martin. Really nice food I must say! The chef came with this big skewers once in a while with various kinds of meat; chicken, beef, pork. It was just to dig in on whatever you wanted, as much as you wanted.
When we were ready for the serious stuff, we turned the green side up.
Gävlebocken soon on his feet
06042 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
They have started to build the goat in Gävle now. I wonder how long he will live this year?
Status at 13.47
The biggest Christmas Goat in the world
The strange history of the Gävle Goat began in 1966. A man named Stig Gavlén came up with the idea of making a giant version of the traditional Swedish Christmas goat of straw. The aim was to attract customers to the the shops and restaurants in the southern part of the town centre.
On 2 December the 13-metre (42,6 feet) tall, 7-metre long, 3 tonne goat stood on the square. At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the goat went up in smoke. The perpetrator was found and charged with vandalism.
The Gävle Goat has been burned down 22 times since then.
There are two webcams showing Gävlebocken on his website (in both Swedish and English): http://www.merjuligavle.se/Bocken
Gävlebocken has his own blog (in both Swedish and English): http://merjuligavle.blogspot.com/
…and he is also tweeting! http://twitter.com/Gavlebocken
Christmas decorations, sushi and a king!
06043 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
After work today I went to Valletta with Kalle, Brolle, Frippe and Martin. Frippe wanted to have more of the sushi he had at Premier last time he was here, so we all went to Premier for dinner. The guys all had sushi and I had 4 kind of tapas. I liked it a lot!
It was nice to walk down the main street with all Christmas decorations which lit up the street.
Outside Savoy
Still some people out when we went home
On out way to the car I noticed that there were a lot of police officers walking along the main street and just as we were about to leave the main street, a caravan of police cars and motorcycles came through the gate. When I came home I read in timesofmalta.com that the Spanish king Juan Carlos is here for a 2-day visit, so I guess that’s who we saw.
Spanish King Juan Carlos has arrived in Malta on a two-day state visit.
The King was greeted by President George Abela and was introduced to the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps and senior civil servants. He also inspected an AFM Guard of Honour after the anthems of the two countries were played.
The King will hold official meetings tomorrow with the President, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and will lay a wreath at the foot of the War Memorial in Floriana. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, who is accompanying the king, will have talks with Foreign Minister Tonio Borg and sign cooperation agreements.
Queen Sofia had to cancel her visit to Malta because she is indisposed.
The farewell ceremony, tomorrow afternoon, will be held on the Palace Square in Valletta.
King Juan Carlos?