I’m still working away on my guide to Stockholm, as there are SO MANY places that I love and want to share. I thought in the meantime I would share some of my photos from Drop Coffee, which is a new discovery we made last time we were there. Based in the cool Söder area, tucked away just around the corner from Mariatorget and two of my favourite bakeries (Blooms and Petrus) it’s an unpretentious spot to stop for some liquid refreshment and sit for a while.
As I normally tour bakeries rather than coffee shops, I checked out the great blog Dear Coffee I Love You, where they rate Drop Coffee really highly for the best brews in the city, and made my mind up to go.
Tristan is much more of a coffee aficionado than me and he thought the coffee was the best he’s had in Stockholm in the 6-or-so years we’ve been visiting together, enjoying both a pour over and an espresso. I meanwhile had a black tea which went down very well with an excellent Swedish bun. We shared a cardamom bun and a cinnamon bun, in the name of proper scientific experimentation, and while both were good, the cardamom bun just edged it in my opinion. You can sit inside or outside, but I thought the inside was a winner and I had a load of fun taking photos of all the coffee tools and paraphernalia that they also sell.
bob obviously
bob obviously.
a collection of thoughts and images.
my photography website and blog can be found here.
o d d p o c k e t s
i n s t a g r a m
p i n t e r e s t
l a s t . f m
f l i c k r
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It’s yet another cold and rainy weekend in Norwich, which means I’m tuckering up on the sofa today under a blanket and enjoying some snug time. To compliment that I’ve been making some really lovely comfort foods, which are nice and healthy and packed full of cold busting ingredients, whilst being tasty as hell too.
I initially posted the recipe for this soup a couple of years ago, but being a total blogging novice, I shared it with a picture of some of my awesome cheesy biscuits, which although tantalising, has always niggled in the back of my mind as a bit of a silly thing to do. So being unapologetically pedantic I’m reposting it with actual pictures of the recipe (I know, go figure - I’ve learned so much over the 3 years of running this blog, I can’t even tell you! I wouldn’t know where to start!) so you can see it in all it’s yummy roasted glory.
Unusually for a soup, it’s not got any stock added, so it’s a really thick and surprisingly creamy recipe, which is perfect for when it’s getting chilly outside and you need something to warm your cockles.
the best ever tomato soup: (makes enough for 2 people)
- 12 large beef tomatoes
- 400g cherry tomatoes
- 250g baby plum tomatoes
- 8 cloves of garlic
- a splash of toasted sesame oil
- a splash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
- salt and pepper
Start by heating the oven to 200 degrees centigrade and rinsing all the varieties of tomatoes.
Once the oven is up to temperature, put all the tomatoes in a roasting dish with high sides and drizzle over the toasted sesame oil.
Crush and peel the garlic cloves, and add those in with the tomatoes making sure that they aren’t sitting on top, as they will burn rather than roast. Place the dish in the oven for about 30-45 minutes, checking part way through.
If the tomatoes on the top start to blacken, don’t worry - just prod them down and keep roasting - it all adds to the end flavour!
Once the whole dish is cooked (you can tell because it will be very juicy) carefully put everything in a blender or use a handheld purifier to get rid of any lumps.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a little more sesame oil.
The bowl I’ve used here is by marimekko and the pattern is Kurjenpolvi.
Tried and tested, this is really delish. Nice one Kemmy!
Thought I’d make a short comic about my experience with cheap lighters.
my talented illustrator friend joel drew me / my scraggly shoes!
check out his other great shoe portraits: http://shoeportraits.tumblr.com/
Rummaged through the ol’ hard-drive and came across this neglected shot of Radhika, up in the mountains of Narvik, Norway. I’m feeling pretty inspired by dashes of colour after seeing Spike Jonze’s latest gem, ‘Her’. Did anyone else pick up on the film’s Kodak Portra NC tonality? It’s pretty delicious! Many hats off to Hoyte Van Hoytema, for his absolutely wonderful cinematography.
I feel like, thus far, breakfast is a much neglected area on this blog, which is ironic as it’s one of my favourite meals. So without further ado, let me address the issue and introduce you to the wonder that is Finnish toast. Originally this was something that I discovered not in Finland, but in London, at a café in Hackney called Dreyfus. If you’re in the area I really recommend it as a nice spot for good eats and watching the world pass by. Anything with cardamom will immediately spike my interest, so naturally I had to try it.
In contrast to French toast, which is usually covered in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar (no bad thing) this recipe is more like eggy bread, which my parents used to make on camping trips and conjures up lots of warm and fuzzy memories for me. It’s not sweet, bar the lightly cooked fruit that you dollop on top prior to serving, and it’s oh so filling, which makes it the best kind of breakfast, as you don’t have to worry about being hungry again for a good few hours. The fact that it’s quite savoury means that you don’t get a sugar crash as well as making it almost a sensible grown up breakfast option.
Finnish toast
- 4 slices of day-old bread, such as my dutch-oven bread
- 3 eggs
- A generous splash of whole milk
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom
- A walnut sized knob of butter for frying
- One handful per person of fresh or frozen berries
- A teaspoon of honey
Whisk together the eggs, splash of milk (as much as you’d put in your average cuppa) and spices. Pour this mixture into a roomy shallow dish or onto a plate and lay down the slices of bread, leaving them to absorb some egg, before turning them over and coating the other side. If you wanted to be really lazy/shrewd, you could do this stage before bed, tuck it away in an airtight container, and then cook the toast when you get up in the morning.
In the meantime, in a small pan over a low heat cook the berries with a teaspoon of honey until they start to fall apart. I used frozen raspberries and blackberries that I had left over from the autumn, but you could really use anything you wanted. Keep it over a low heat while you cook the toast.
Heat a frying pan until medium-hot and then add in a nut sized portion of butter. Let it melt fully and then place the slices of bread in carefully and cook them for a couple of minutes on each side, until golden.
Serve straight away with a generous splodge of the cooked berries.
YUM.
a few shots from an autumnal adventure to glasgow / edinburgh.
taken with a minolta x-500, mc rokkor f1.2 / 58mm lens ; fujifilm acros 100 (the dreamiest of b&w 35mm films)
using an lens extension tube is so much fun! such creamy, dreamy results.