Emma's blog
this & that from my everyday life
Interesting article about life in a wheelchair
Dec 3rd
This is something I’ve been thinking about – how does people in wheelchair get around on this island? I’ve seen the parking spaces for people with disabled badge, but it must be a nightmare to shop. My little every-day-shop around corner has a narrow door where I don’t think a wheelchair could get in unless they open both doors (as they actually do in the summer). Just inside the door they have ice-cream, milk, water and vegetables. If you want to pay for your items or buy anything else you have to take 4 or 5 steps down to the rest of the shop.
This is something I’ve seen in a lot of places here in Malta and I hope they’ll do something about it.
Facing life in a wheelchair
On any given day, I can hop into my car, drive to work, find a parking space, alight and rush up the stairs to the street and then onto the office.
I had never noticed the scheme of events in detail; it’s usually just one rushed blur, which I loosely called a “commute”, until I tried to spend a workday in the life of a wheelchair-bound person – specifically, wheelchair-bound me.
It’s not only in Malta people don’t pick up their trash
Dec 3rd
Plocka upp skräpet Gävlebor!
Gävle är näst skräpigast av åtta kartlagda kommuner
GÄVLE I centrala Gävle kan man hitta 240 380 skräpföremål på marken en vanlig vardag.
Nedskräpningen i åtta svenska kommuner har kartlagts. Av dem är Gävle den skräpigaste kommunen, näst efter Göteborg.
– Det handlar om att ändra människors attityder. Det är inte okej att skräpa ned, säger Annette Lundgren, projektledare för Rena Gävle.
Sad news. The only shop and pub in Lingbo is closing down
Dec 2nd
Lingbos enda matbutik och pub i konkurs
Lingbo De båda systrarna försökte länge hålla rörelsen vid liv trots bristande lönsamhet. Men till sist tvingades de ge upp.
Let’s build a gingerbread house!
Dec 2nd
Since I hade plenty of dingerbread dough left, I decided to build a gingerbread house.
First I had to cut out the different pieces I needed.
Let the pieces cool down.
The smaller pieces got a little burned, but it will have to do anyway.
I think I have all pieces now.
The corners must be separated from the wall.
So, all corners at separated from the walls now.
I melted sugar and used it as glue.
The first 3 sides were easy to put toghether.
It was difficult to add the last side without getting burned on the sugar.
First corner piece in place.
All 4 small corners added without any problems.
Corner walls
All corners walls are added now.
The roof is put in place. The hole is for the antenna.
I had to add reinforcement on the roof for the heavy antenna.
Looking good!
I had problems with the antenna, it almost went throught the roof.
Almost ready now!
Time to decorate
I'm done with the decorations.
Portomaso Business Tower as gingerbread house
Falling star
Dec 1st
- Falling star
When I woke up this morning the star in the study was on his way down. I have no hook to hang it on, so I’ve used tape. Maybe it wasn’t my most brilliant idea, but it seemed to work at the moment… and it actually lasted more than 2 days anyway.
1/2 Easter egg + green cone = Christmas tree on Bay street
Dec 1st
Bay street version of a Christmas tree
This is not the most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve ever seen. It falls into the same category as the Christmas tree at the hotel in Thailand -06, I think. The “almost-better-than-nothing” category.
But a tree that I do like is the one in my hometown Ockelbo: Vackraste granen finns i Ockelbo.
One year since we moved to Malta
Dec 1st
Wow, time flies when you’re having fun! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we moved here.
Both me and Kalle like it here even though I do feel homesick sometimes and I really miss my family and friends (you are welcome to visit us if you want to)! As it looks now we have no plans of moving back to Sweden in the near future.
There are alot of things I like about Malta. The sun is number one on my list, as you might have guessed. 
It’s December and still 19°C in the sea! …even though I must admit I haven’t been swimming that much lately.
Another thing I like is the relaxed lifestyle. I like it when the cashier in the corner food store have time to say -Goodmorning Emma, how are you today? when I come to buy fresh bread every morning. And when I walk with Gizmo the lady in the stationery store likes to chat a minute or two. I like to go down to the main street and buy fruit and vegetables from the old farmer who calls me sweetie. I like the cliffs and the palm trees. I like the thunderstorms here.
I could go on forever.
Of course there are also things I don’t like. I don’t like that there is garbage everywhere. I don’t like to drive here. I don’t like the freezing cold stone floors in the winter.
But I can live with that.
I’ve been baking gingerbreads for over 3 hours now
Dec 1st
I made heart-shaped gingerbread this year
…and I still have dough left that I had to put back in the fridge.
A few years ago I made lussekatter (saffron buns). And I thought it was just as good to make a lot of lussekatter, so I almost doubled the recipe. Then I was stuck baking lussekatter for 6 hours. I was sooo tired the next day! But I think my collegues at work were happy when I served the buns at the coffee break.
So, this time I made only 3/4 of the recipe. Next time I’ll only make half!
The gingerbreads are ready!
Making glögg
Nov 29th
Glögg ingredients: ginger, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
I heated the spices in red wine and vodka
I set fire to the alcohol and poured it over the sugar, that melted down in the glögg. I had to work fast because the ladle and the stainer were both plastic and I didn't want it to melt in the heat of the fire. Then I left the spices in the glögg for an hour. Then I filtered it, heated it up again and served it with chopped almonds and raisins. It tasted really good! I also have 1 litre left in the fridge for next weekend.
Making dough for gingerbread
Nov 29th
Some of the ingredients for gingerbread
No, I did not drink the cognac. I used it to flavor the dough.
It smells like christmas in the kitchen now, with all spices...
The gingerbread dough is ready! Now it has to rest for 24 hours before I bake the cookies.
