Emma's blog
this & that from my everyday life
Dry orange slices for decoration
Nov 29th
First I sliced an orange
Then I decided to add lemon and lime as well
I placed the slices on a baking sheet and dried them in the oven for a few hours
Oops, the slices burned quickly at the end...
I used the dry slices as decorations for the advent wreath. But tomorrow I will throw away the burned slices and buy more decorations and better candles.
Gizmo in Santa’s hat
Nov 28th
I tried to take a Christmas photo of Gizmo,but he was only still for a a few seconds...
...before he shook of his hat and wanted to do something else
Shining stars
Nov 28th
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
Nov 28th
- Findus Wok
Findus vegetables are found in the freezer counter in most stores on the island.
Wasabröd
Nov 28th
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
Nov 28th
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
Nov 28th
…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
Nov 27th
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!
Nov 26th
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.
