Back in Sweden.

W. O. W.
That pretty much sums it at the moment.
I have just had the most amazing 2 weeks.
I went to Isle of Wight and Brighton - which I'm dying to write about - but I'm so scared that those memories will get lost before I have a chance to get them down properly... (after I write for Lonely Planet)

BECAUSE...

OMG....

I just attended an amazing conference.
Quite possibly life changing.
I had the pleasure of spending time with some amazing women over the last few days. One of whom not only has refocused my lagging enthuasiasm for a career in the field of humanity... but who I am going to make all my closest friend JEALOUS AS HELL over the time I spent with her. (Clydey you are going to love this story - it's with regards to your neck of the woods!!!!)
Oh and did I mention that I dinned in King James 6th of Scotland/King James 1st of Englands private dining room - and attended a drinks reception in the very room Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to him.... follow by a private tour of the room holding "The Crown, The Sword and The Stone".... Yes THAT Sword and THAT Stone!!!
ahhhhh..... where to start?????????????

I've been tagged!

Ok so Fona double tagged me - and seeing as i'm still too brain dead to write anything worth reading..... here is part 1!

Here are the rules!
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others you like and tell why.
3. Tag 5 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
This is much harder than expected!

Share 5 songs that I am embarrassed to admit to!

1. Ceclilia by Simon and Garfunkle. Can't help it this song ALWAYS makes me smile. It reminds me of sooooo many nights out - and I always picture Nicci completely wasted trying to iron her uniform for work singing "Cecilia... your a big fat tart...."

2. Put another log on the fire by The Outlaws. Childhood song, was possibly my Dad's favourite song??? (this song + every Johnny Cash song - but I couldn't pick just 1 Johnny song). I'm pretty sure that Fo, Nat and Nic are nodding their heads going ohhh yeah - I remember that one!

3. Keep me Hanging On (sung) by Kim Wilde. In fact I was singing this song last night... I got many a strange look from the Swede.... I bought Guns and Roses and Kim Wilde - Greatest Hits - on tape on the same day and listened to them endlessly. I loooooooved both of them!

4. Ice Ice Baby.... by Vanilla Ice. Don't think this one is so much about the song, more the reaction of everyone when this song comes on. My very first concert was Vanilla Ice at Festival Hall in Brisbane. My friends step-mother worked at a radio station in "the big smoke" and got us tickets. Man I felt so grown up to get to go to Brisbane and go to a gig unescorted!!!!! Now everyone loves to remind me... as soon as the song starts all i hear is "hahahahahahaha - quick where's Cas?" LOVE IT!

This is a tie for me... I know - I'm cheating. But to me these songs go hand in hand. If you hear one played you will always hear the other played shortly after. It's true. Whenever either of these songs come on the Swede gets extremely anxious that I know EVERY WORD and am happy to sing EVERY WORD to both songs.... so here you go in the number 5 place of my all time favourite embarressing songs are:
5. Funky Cold Medina by Ton Loc and Bust a move by Young MC.
(and for an extra piece of triva - Young MC wrote Funky Cold Medina for Ton Loc!!)

Now I don't think I have anyone to tag.... so ????

Please Vote For Maddie!!!

You will remember a while back that my friend Maddie was writing some excellent gig reviews for V-Fest. She wrote by far the best reviews and had the most amounts of comments etc... However NOW WE HAVE TO VOTE! (The person who is winning wrote 2 very ordinary reviews - but obviously has the most amount of friends!!)

Please do the following:

The good people at virgin finally got their shit together, and you are now able to vote on my blogs, and me generally. Here's what you do:

1. Go to http://music.virgin.com/author/Mads/

2. On the top right hand side, where it says 'Do I deserve to win the Global Vpass' - click 'Vote for me'

3. Scroll down the page - at the end of each review, click on the little button that says 'Vote'.

4. Follow steps 1 to 3 once or twice a day, or whenever you are bored. (It might not let you vote again within a couple of hours, but keep trying!)

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Counting down the sleeps....

2 sleeps until I see N.E.R.D. and Kaiser Chiefs.
3 sleeps until I see Ian Brown, The Zutons and The Sex Pistols.
4 Sleeps until I see The Music, New Young Pony Club and The Police...
5 sleeps until I fear an impending death and suffer from the D.T.'s

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!

Stenbrottet! The waterhole of Sverige.

After exploring a little of Dalby, with the hot Swedish sun beating down on us, we decided no visit would be complete with out a swim at Stenbrottet. A Swimming hole if you will. It is such a beautiful place! In fact it is a old rock quarie which has filled with water. You can jump in from as high as 10-12m above the water level (the water is probably another 10-12m deep!) I of course was a chicken and didnt jump in. No testosterone running through these veins!

It was a great day. We took a "disposable grill" and grilled some vegetables and haloumi. Ate a little, swam a little, ate a little more and basically enjoyed the sunshine. Who knew summer in Sweden could be so nice. (Of course the water was too cold for me but who cares!!)

Oh did I mention it was 32 degrees on Saturday????





Please note - only in Sweden would you find people sunbaking in the paddocks.
Literally the paddocks. Earlier in the day there were cows grazing on the grass around approx 5m from the sunbathers!

Dalby, Sverige!

While technically I had visited Dalby, Sverige in July 2007 - I visited during a hideous period of my life that we tend to refer to as "that first summer". It was a time when I thought I would return home to Australia as unemployment, endless rain and homesickness were taking their toll on me.... lets just say I wasn't appreciative of anything in Sweden let alone a rainy day in Dalby!



Soo.. (Thanks to Wikipedia)

Dalby is a village in Lund Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden, about 10 km east-south-east of Lund, and about 20 km east-north-east of Malmö. Population 5000+.

It has the oldest stone church in Scandinavia (Heligkorskyrka or the Holy Cross Church).


Dalby (as was all of Skåne) was originally part of Denmark, until 1658 when Sweden wrestled it from the Danes. (The population of Skåne was not receptive to Swedish rule, a fact that helped the Danes win the Scanian War [1675–79] against the Swedes. Victory, however, did not result in a return of the province; France vetoed the move - Therefore Skåne remains part of Sweden!)

An article appearing in The Dalby Herald (AUST) on Nov 27, 1931 claims that it is most likely that Dalby, Qld got its name from Dalby, Isle of Man (and not in fact Dalby, Sverige as I had suspected!). At the time Dalby, Qld recieved it's name there was a high proportion of "Manx" (Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language spoken on the Isle of Man) residing around the Myall Creek area.

The name Dalby is derived from two Norse words - Dal and By (meaning Dale Town).
Dalby, Isle of Man was was christened so by Norse Conquerors (Vikings). So while there appears to be no direct links between Dalby, Qld and Dalby, Sverige, it is safe to assume The Vikings of Danmark and Sweden indeed had an input with the naming of Dalby, Danmark/Sverige and Dalby, Isle of Man - which led to the naming of Dalby, Queensland, Australia!

Phew - that's a whole lot of Dalby!

Tosselilla - Sweden's Summer Land!!

Having grown up in Australia, and more accurately Queensland - the home to some of the best adventure parks in the world - being told that we would be headed to an adventure park on Sweden's National Day was a very exciting prospect. I did however have to quickly overcome my disapointment when I discovered this was the Willow Springs style adventure park (for those who knew S-W Qld in the 80's) rather than the Dreamworld,Seaworld or Wet n Wild.

I did however have the pleasure of experiencing my first traffic jam in Sweden! Tosselilla has no public transport to nor from, and with one of the major banks in Sweden offering it's customers free tickets to celebrate the national day, our car became motionless some 15km before the park. Approx 40mins later we were happily parked and eager to relase our inner child!

We were invited along by Johannes, his parents and of course Nettan. Johannes neice and nephew came as well - and can i just say they were the most well behaved children who didnt seem to mind a bit that the "big kids" were just a little selfish with regards to what was next on the agendar!

Some pictures of the "big kids" enjoying their day...







oh and the very best part! Choklad Banan... do you know that Sweden (read: Håkan) has hidden this little treat from me until now. It is literally a banana - cut a split down one side (not all the way through) - shove some chocolate in the slit and throw it on the bbq!
I like!

and as you can see - so did Isabel!

Watch this space....

I am writing another blog for Lonely Planet Myspace. I intend to write about The Isle of Wight Festival. It's a while since I wrote about a gig (like 8years?????) so this might be a little more challenging that I thought!

Do you think that this means I need to behave and actually document what is going on around me - or simply write about how my "whole" festival experience... hmmmm...
I mean The Sex Pistols are headling.... I am sure that Johnny would never want a sober writer in the crowd??? Can you imagine it - sobriety and the sex pistols....

Phhhhurlease!!!!!!

What a difference 9 weeks can make!!

9 weeks ago (before a shopping trip to Copenhagen) lib took this photo. click here

Today - same thermomoter, same balcony. (see I made sure you could see in the apartment so noone would accuse me of being in Spain!)


Sometimes life is wonderful.

p.s. The temperature wasnt strictly 40+ degrees - the sunshines directly onto the balcony which is semi enclosed and heats up in the early evening (photo taken at 7pm).
I imagine it was about 30degrees today. So so so nice!

My Swedish Gift To You!

Kladdkaka!

or Chocolate Sticky Cake... It can be eaten one of two ways.... As a pudding, hot, served with ice-cream OR as a cake I find best served with a little whipped cream and raspberries. It gives you all the joy of mudcake yet, is ten times easier to make! This is a rich, gooey cake!! (Similar in consitency to a Brownie!)

A little tip on Sweden - for those who may visit one day. You generally can not guarantee that your food will be up to scratch when dining out in Sweden - YOU CAN however guarantee your cakes, slices, ice-cream, basically anything desert like - will be fantastic!!!! Unfortunately it's a fact!! One that has seen me turn into a sweets lover :D

So here is the very basic reciepe for you!


Kladdkaka

150g Butter
300g Castor sugar (1 1/3 cups)
100g Cocoa (4 tabelspoons)
2tbsp Vanilla sugar (or few drops vanilla essence)
2 Eggs
150g Plain Flour (1/2 cup)

Pre-heat oven 180degrees

Whisk together the eggs and sugar. Gradually mix in the sifted dry ingredients.
Stir well.
Add melted butter and stir well.

Place mixture into well greased baking dish (8-9inch springform tin or use baking paper as is very sticky!!)

Cook for 20mins.

When the cake comes out of the oven, it will still be runny in the middle. If you are eating as a cake - just leave it to cool. Dust with icing sugar when cooled!

If eating as pudding - add some ice-cream and enjoy... All that sugar will go a bit fudge like when the cold ice cream hits it!!

For non cooks. Go to Ikea and get the pre-made frozen version :D