Words by Maria

Sofia Mirjamsdotter aka Mymlan has in her blog Mymlan. the real. a weekly blog topic for her readers to blog about. Actually I have never participated in the weekly blogging on Mymlan’s subject. I have blamed it on lack of time or other silly reasons. This week her topic enticed me to write something down though. The topic is actually food. The food we eat on weekdays. My fantasy in the kitchen is terrible which results in lack of variation. So if I will find one or two recipes – in Mymlan’s summation by the end of the week – that I like, I will be happy.  But if I expect to get something, I need to share something as well. So from my own recipe book (the book inside my head) comes a favorite which I have given the name Maria’s tortilla box.

I’ll write the recipe both in English and Swedish since Mymlan’s weekly blog topic tradition is a Swedish thing.

Maria’s tortilla box (4 port.)

• Diced smoked pork (or quorn bits for vegetarians)
• Rice for 4 portions
• 2dl creme fraiche
• 2,5dl cream
• 1 bag of tortilla dip mix
• Grated cheese

Boil the rice. Mix it together with the rest of the ingredients except the cheese in a bowl. Pour everything into a baking pan and sprinkle with cheese. Gratinate it in your oven until the cheese has got a nice color.

Done within 30 minutes!

Oh and btw, I do not know how it tastes if you do it with dip mixes with other flavors. I haven’t dared to try. But if you do, tell me!

Marias tortillalåda (4 port.)

• Tärnad kassler (eller quorn bitar för vegetarianer)
• Ris till 4 portioner
• 2dl creme fraiche
• 2,5dl grädde
• 1 påse tortilla dip mix
• Riven ost

Koka riset. Blanda det med resten av ingredieserna utom osten i en skål. Häll allt i en ugnssäker form och strö över osten. Gratinera i ugnen tills osten har fått en fin färg.

Färdigt på 30 minuter!

Och förresten, Jag vet inte hur det blir om man gör den här rätten med andra dip mixer. Jag har inte vågat testa. Men om du vågar, berätta gärna hur det blev!

A few days ago I read this blog post (Swedish) by Kristoffer Björkman and thought that I should blog about it. But I haven’t got time really and now it’s been some days so I’ll just write that I liked it and that I recommend you to read it.

Inspired by Nollnolltalet.se a lot of bloggers have started to list their 100 best tunes from this decade during the past weeks. When I first saw this I thought I would never manage to list 100 tunes I like and on top of that rank them. But I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind so last night I thought that I might as well should give it a try. And as soon as I got started I couldn’t leave it behind. And to be honest it was far from as hard as I thought it would be.

What I realised though is that I listen mostly to the same artists and over and over again instead of trying to find musicians I never heard of before. In my younger years I was more influenced by my friends and what they listened to. And it’s not that I’m not sensitive to what my friends want to tell me, but nowadays I rarely get any music tips from friends to be honest. It just Stefan who once in a while tells me he’s found some good music he likes, and looking at my list below there are some bands there that from the beginning were tips from him. I don’t listen to the radio either more than when I drive a car, which isn’t that often. The conclusion of this is that there are probably lots of good music out there who would qualify for a position on my list if I had heard it, but I haven’t. So if you miss something that you think I might like, please tell me, I could use some more variation in my Spotify lists.

Talking about Spotify, there are five tracks on my list who aren’t found on Spotify but here are the 95 other tunes. To compensate the five lost tunes I have made them bold in the list below.

1. Coldplay – Fix you
2. 12 stones – Photograph
3. U2 – Beautiful Day
4. Earshot – Fall apart
5. Sigur Rós – Glósóli
6. Coldplay – Viva la vida
7. Gavin Degraw – Just friends
8. Coldplay – Green eyes
9. Melody Club – Electric
10. Jason Mraz – Love for a child
11. Eskju Divine – Struck by the halo
12. Coldplay – In my place
13. The Hives – Hate to say I told you so
14. Marit Bergman – This is the year
15. Pillar – Bring me down
16. Coldplay – Don’t panic
17. Jack’s Mannequin – Miss Delaney
18. Coldplay – What if
19. Eskju Divine – Darkness all around
20. Gavin Degraw – In love with a girl
21. Raymond & Maria – Ingen vill veta var du har köpt din tröja
22. Kleerup & Titiyo – Longing for lullabies
23. Coldplay – The scientist
24. 12 stones – The way I feel
25. Laleh – Live tomorrow
26. Coldplay – Lost
27. Sigur Rós – Hoppípolla
28. Coldplay – Talk
29. Marit Bergman – I will always be your soldier
30. Hoobastank – The reason
31. Takida – Curly Sue
32. Gavin Degraw – Chariot
33. Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars
34. Gustaf Spetz – You and me
35. Coldplay – Yellow
36. Håkan Hellström – En vän med en bil
37. Bad Cash Quartet – Big day coming
38. Green Day – Boulevard of broken dreams
39. Marit Bergman – Julia
40. Gavin DeGraw – More than anyone
41. Coldplay – Trouble
42. Melody Club – Destiny calling
43. Blink 182 – Anthem, Part 2
44. Laleh – Call on me
45. Ceasars Palace – Jerk it out
46. Kent – Dom andra
47. Lars Winnerbäck – Jag vill gå hem med dig
48. Håkan Hellström – Det är så jag säger det
49. Melody Club – Cats in the dark
50. Snow Patrol – Shut your eyes
51. Salem Al Fakir – Good song
52. Bon Jovi – It’s my life
53. Paolo Nutini – New shoes
54. Melody Club – Play me in stereo
55. Hoobastank – Same direction
56. Amanda Jenssen – Our last goodbye
57. Raymond & Maria – Min pappa
58. The Hives – A little more for little you
59. Avril Lavigne – Complicated
60. Hello Saferide – If I don’t write this song someone I love will die
61. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
62. Green Day – Warning
63. Blink 182 – First date
64. Gustaf Spetz – Every word I know
65. MxPx – Prove it to the world
66. Laakso – Norrköping
67. Miss Li, Lars Winnerbäck – Om du lämnade mig nu
68. The Ark – Calleth you, Cometh I
69. Håkan Hellström – Den fulaste flickan i världen
70. Múm – Green grass of the tunnel
71. Staind – It’s been a while
72. Jack’s Mannequin – Mixed Tape
73. Kent – Kärleken väntar
74. Carola – Genom allt
75. Salem Al Fakir – This is who I am
76. Christian Walz – Wonderchild
77. Sugarplum Fairy – Love’s turning to boredom
78. Lars Winnerbäck – Dunkla rum
79. Erik Hassle – Hurtful
80. Lene Marlin – Sorry
81. Jack’s Mannequin – I’m ready
82. The Ark – It takes a fool to remain sane
83. Christian Walz – Never be afraid again
84. Lars Winnerbäck – En tätort på en slätt
85. Avril Lavigne – Sk8er boi
86. Evanescence – Going under
87. Titiyo – Come Along
88. Timbuktu – Alla vill till himmelen men ingen vill dö
89. Dido – Don’t leave home
90. NoFX – What’s the matter with parents today?
91. Jason Mraz – I’m yours
92. Kleerup & Robyn – With every Heartbeat
93. Martin Stenmarck – Nästa dans
94. Lisa Miskovsky – Driving one of your cars
95. Sophie Zelmani – To know you
96. Lilleman – Vart tog pappa vägen?
97. Anna Ternheim – Such a lonely soul
98. Markus Fagerwall – Close but no cigar
99. Oh Laura – Release me
100. Bob Hund – Ska du hänga med? Nä!!

Others who have listed the last decade in music:

• Niklas Jakobsen
• Pelle Sten
• Jonk
• Pella Myrstener
• Kim Grönqvist
• Sofia Mymlan Mirjamsdotter

Another weekend has been spent in Östergötland. I was working in Norrköping mostly but I was also in Linköping for some boardgame playing and social company.

During the weekend my web browsing has been limited to my cellphone most of the time and it was there I found this blog post by Brit Stakston (swedish) about the analogue business value of social media. I wasn’t able to read it in its entirety in the cellphone but I made a note about it and read it yesterday. I like the post and for me who partly worked with this during the summer and also has a special interest in the fashion retail industry and social media it is a must read. I am thinking about sending the link to my boss as well :)

It’s been a week since I posted last weeks, worth to read articles or blog posts. During the last week there are three bloggers who have distinguished themselves a little extra in my eyes. So I would like to share some of their posts. I post them chronologically.

• Twitter is my living room, Facebook my kitchen… – Erik Starck about how he uses different social networks. This one is older than a week but I hadn’t read it before and I can’t agree more so I had to post it here.
• Domen slår mot det fria Internet – Very good written about when the Swedish court forced TPB’s isp to close the site by Mikael Zackrisson.
• This is the Internet: Sweden Social Web Camp – I know I posted a lot of sswc posts last week but this one is so brilliantlty written by Erik Starck that I just have to post it.
• När jag debatterade med Monique Wadsted – After Mikael Zackrissons post he was invited to a debate in Swedish TV4, read what he writes about it here.
• daßlog papier – Sofia Mirjamsdotter aka Mymlan about her blog paper project. Pretty nice idea I must say. Makes good blog posts live longer.
• Birro gör en Mogi – Sofia Mirjamsdotter again about Marcus Birros parody of Mogi

Now gogo read the bloggers who are more creative than me.

I have read some good blog posts and articles during the last week that I want to share with you. Most of them are in Swedish so bare with me Danes, Dutchmen and Aussies, (I don’t know but maybe I have readers from other countries as well?)

• Aftonbladet är ingen martyr – de glömde göra sitt jobb – Emanuel Karlsten about this weeks  most discussed article in Sweden.
• Lider du av uppdateringssjukan? – Sandra Carlsson about Social Update Anxiety.
• The Pirate Bay Taken Offline By Swedish Authorities – Enigmax at TorrentFreak about when the Stockholm district court tried to take TPB offline.
• “Skriv ett hyllningstal till Marcus Birro (utan sarkasm och elakheter). Han är också en skön kille… – Alex Schulman about Marcus Birro, without being mean for once. If he’s serious that is.

Last weekend was also the weekend when sswc took place. Since I’m not old and experienced when it comes to  social media I didn’t even think of going there the first time I read about it. But the week before the camp I felt like I wanted to go there as well (but since my brother turned 30 I probably would’ve had problems to go anyway). Here are some selected posts about the camp that gives a hint about what seemed to be a very successful weekend.

• Min blogg hamnade i tidning – #sswc dag 1,5- Emanuel Karlsten was blogging live from the camp
• Sweden Social Web Camp – Ännu ett fantastiskt möte – Joakim Jardenberg was looking back at a fantastic weekend when he came home.
• Tältmöte = Kärlek – Sofia Mirjamsdotter aka Mymlan is writing her own reflections shortly and linking to other posts about the camp.
• SSCW – Social aktivitet och statistik – Fredrik Stenbeck posted the statistics about the activity on the web during the camp.

I should blog about the last week, for example about the wednesday together with Susanna and my weekend in Linköping. But I am lazy.  So instead I’ll recommend to read this post by a more active blogger than me. It’s funny and in swedish  :)

Edit: I also recommend you to check out this one afterwards. Perdey!

Edit 2: The blogpost has generated a debate without reasonable proportions. I still think it’s fun and won’t stop laughing until I see that one of the three girls has taken offense because of this.

Our hotel in Barcelona was called Bcn Montjuïc and is located close to the park Montjuïc which is the biggest park in Barcelona. The closest metro station is Espanya where the famous fountain Fira Montjuïc also is located. It’s like five minutes to go there with the metro from city. We stayed for three nights and had a really nice apartment at 42 square meters. It had a big room with kitchen, table, chairs, TV and sofa, a bedroom, an office with an extra bed, a bathroom with shower and a big balcony. We paid 157 Euro in total with a big discount included that I don’t know the reason for. I think the ordinary price was close to 400 Euro. Our only supplement was the safety box for 2 Euro per day. The only bad thing about this hotel was that everyone on the staff didn’t know English but they were nice and did their best to help us anyway. I can really recommend this hotel, I can’t promise you to get it just as cheap as we did though :)

Elisabeth is doing the dishes. The kitchen had refridgerator and freezer, washing machine, dish washer, microwave owen and the ordinary utensils you need.

The sofa.

The kitchen.

The office.

The bedroom, sorry for not having made our beds :P

The bedroom from the view towards the bathroom.

The balcony.

So, as you might have understood from my last post I am back from Spain. Elisabeth and I had a wonderful time in the city of Barcelona.

When we arrived there at the Saturday, we took the metro to our hotel which we found pretty fast without too much wandering around. The hotel was very nice. Nicer than I expected for that price (pictures will come). Our apartment was actually twice the size of my own apartment. After we had checked in we were in big need of food, so we went to the first restaurant we could find and had pizza. The rest of the day was spent on the roof of the hotel on sunbeds. In the evening we took the metro to Sagrada Familia to take some touristic photos and then we went to the magic fountain at Montjuïc where we saw the fountain show and just enjoyed the good atmosphere in the area. Good thing our hotel was located at Montjuïc as well so we could go directly from there to bed.

On the Sunday we went to the beach in the morning to get our skin tanned. When we came there it was a bit cloudy and we had a lot of space on the beach which we shared together with the Thai girls trying to sell massage to people. I lost count on how many times I said ‘no’ to massage but I am sure it was at least 30. When we left at around 2pm it was 30 degrees, the beach was overcrowded and the Thai girls had company. There were now tattoo sellers, Indians who repeatedly shouted “cervesa, cola, fanta, aqua, beeeer”, other Indians who yelled “dodadodadodadodadoda coconut” (yes, they sold coconut pieces), people who sold sun glasses, skirts and all kinds of things. We got enough of all these salesmen and promised each other that we weren’t going back to the beach again. Instead we went to Parc de la Ciutadella, a cozy park with some attractions worth photographing. After we had gone through the park we went to the hotel to take a shower. The sweat was actually dropping from our bodies by then. We took the metro back to the city in the evening for dinner and a walk at La Rambla and finished the day with fruit and a drink on the balcony at our hotel.

The Monday was our big shopping day! Barcelona is the prefect city for shopping so in the morning we took the metro to Passeig de Gràcia which is the biggest fashion street in Barcelona.  We found more nice clothes than we had euro to pay for, so next time we go there we will probably bring more money :) When we went back to the hotel after 6 hours I had three tops, one tunic, one skirt and one blouse in my bags so I was quite satisfied anyway. Desigual is my new favourite brand ;) I also bought new sunglasses since I left mine in a fitting room somewhere by mistake.

Our plan for the evening was to take a shower, eat dinner, watch the fountain show again and then go to bed since we had to leave early in the morning today.  But when we came to the fountain we realised that there were no shows on mondays so we just went back to the hotel to sleep. Here is where we failed big time. When the time was 1am, we were still awake laughing like crazy about nothing. I can’t really explain why, but I guess we were over tired or something. Although it wasn’t that hard to wake up at 6am to eat breakfast, check out from the hotel and go to the airport this morning. But at 4pm there were two tired and hungry girls who arrived back in Stockholm. To sum everything up we can just say that it was a nice trip, we could go back to Barcelona any time. If you ever have thought about going there, you should just do it, you won’t regret it.

I went to school today just to check in online and print boarding cards to the Barcelona trip since I have no printer at home. All of a sudden I was at a lecture with Teo Härén from interesting.org that I hadn’t planned to attend. It was a really great lecture about creativity and it actually gave me a whole new picture of what the word creativity means. I got really inspired to be honest. I have never seen myself as a very creative person but after this lecture I have understood that creativity isn’t only about being artistic. Most of all it is about having ideas and solutions that no one else have come up with. If that is what creativity is about, then creativity is definitely something for me. So, if you ever get the chance to listen to Teo Härén, do it!