I’m not sure exactly where this post sits in saltygardener world. Definitely under travel but also very much under food as I didn’t seem to stop eating the whole time. Either way it was a wonderful, unexpected and very welcome diversion to Stockholm!
We started out in pure hotel luxury and although the room was awesome there were such little things that I appreciated so much more.  The first being an electric kettle for a cup of tea and a Nescafe pod coffee maker which I am not ashamed to admit I needed to call on the concierge for driving lessons. This simple level of ‘instant’ was a bit of a rush coming from our gas cooker for boiled water tropical lifestyle. Then came satellite TV, fresh sheets, a cloud for a pillow, a lovely cool room, a HOT shower with a head I didn’t have to hold up over me. Oh boy we were almost in nirvana folks and then I found the gourmet ROOM SERVICE menu and literally cried. As I said, it’s the little things.

Boatlife in SE Asia for a year has me fairly accustomed to going without the familiar and I guess I wasn’t at all prepared for the reverse culture shock. Take the simple experience of walking into a European (or even Swedish) supermarket.  I know, I know, not the height of adventure for most but that first aisle of mega bread choices with rustic, wholewheat, dark, cereals, spelt, crusty, baguettes and more OMG sent my head spinning.  Then came th cheese and meat choices and variety and oh yes – even with the foreign to me Swedish packaging – that lovely sense of familiarity. Dairy,red meats and any tinned foods (can you even imagine?) are not part of my local store that’s for sure.  As a bonus we had now moved into a self-contained apartment and this is where I confess to being both a market AND supermarket addict. I love nothing better than cruising aisles of ingredients imagining all the interesting local dishes that are created with them. Drives Captain Crackers (CC)bonkers as I literally can spend hours doing this… let’s just say he sent me out alone on the first excursion.

With dinner secured it was great to join all the other summer tourists walking though cobbled streets of the city centre, waterside buildings had classical boats moored alongside,  ferries touted their river trips. The 3 hour  Shrimp and Tacos evening trip sounded intriguing if not authentically Swedish! The Royal Palace changed the guard and we walked the city, absorbed it,  rubber necked and loved every bit.

Having crossed the supermarket fix off it was time to drag Captain Crackers to the local market area in pursuit of the Östermalms Korvspecialist streetfood stall I had read about in visit sweden.  We found it Nybrogatan 55 and persevered with the massive list in Swedish until the girl took pity on us and offered an English version from behind the counter. I tried the house special which was suprisingly spicy even to my chilli loving taste and served with sauerkraut, potato salad, mustard and pickles. CC had one called The Austrian in a baguette and gave it a thumbs up. The sun was shining and we were able to use one of the 2 small tables by this roadside cafe which served us well to watch a steady stream of customers proving it was equally popular with the locals.

Next stop and pure foodie heaven was the Östermalmshallen at Östermalmstorg.  The prior sausage refuel was so we (ok, I) didn’t tackle this place on an empty stomach and buy a ton of food which would be impossible to consume in 1 day. Oh boy what a good tactic as danger hit the minute we entered and found some of the best of Swedish produce in reindeer, beef, pork, seafoods, smoked fish, gravadlax, roe/caviar, cakes, fruit, vegetables, beers, coffee and ready meals . All this inside a beautiful vaulted and skylit 1880’s building. It was wonderfully traditional, even CC loved it and rather than hinting to leave actually looked for a table to grab a beer and soak in the wonderful atmosphere. I crumbled and purchased traditional pickled herrings and fresh roe to add to our dinner menu and with that the budget was blown so we headed out for more foot touring.

I was only in Stockholm for 3 nights yet managed to put a mighty dint in my bucket list of ‘must try’ local delights. It really was an impressive degustation of cured meats, the classic shrimp sandwich,  local beers, cheeses, specialty crispbreads, pickles,  mustards, meatballs (of coarse!) and even salt liquorice. All I can say it was a very good thing the next stop on my travels was to be a mountain fitness boot camp. Thank you Stockholm,  you were wonderful!