Quilty @ Sjöstugan

On Sunday afternoon, 3-Swedish man Irish-music band Quilty played at the cozy, beautiful lake side cafe Sjöstugan [lake cabin] in Bergshamra just north of Stockholm's city center. Unlike my mom, who seeks out Irish anythings around every corner, this concert found me - Nik's brother and his wife live close to the cafe and invited us to join. 

We sat at a picnic table beside tall reeds, surrounded by apple trees just turning ripe. The music was great, the kladdkaka delicious (despite slow lines to the counter), and the day - a perfect, nearly fall day. K and I did sneak in a swim before dinner - because summer isn't over just yet. 

And I couldn't resist 450g of Sjöstugan's homemade muesli, all organic except for the butter. Mmmmmmmmm

Cupcake Stockholm

For months I've been aching to try Cupcake Stockholm, and this evening as I biked home from work, I decided: today is the day. I can't say I was disappointed

The top is a classic Red Velvet and the one below is Fäbodjäntan, which is apparently a very strange old Swedish movie (really not sure where the name came from, but it was kind of a strange cupcake as the top was sprinkled with pepper). They also had one called the Michelle Obama (chocolate, raspberry, and licorice) and the Elvis (chocolate, banana, and ... wait for it ... bacon).

I fully indulged in these delicacies, as last night I ran the 5K i-form race in 23:26 minutes (not a far cry from my old days of running cross country) and placed 23rd out of 837! 

Nothing like a Thursday night of red wine, tacos and cupcakes!

Beautiful Fredhäll

I know it's been waaaaaaay to long - but that means it's been a good summer, right? It absolutely has, and as much as I want to catch you up on all the happenings, it's a bit too much for me on this Tuesday night as my eyelids are starting to droop and it's not even 10. So for now, I will leave you with a photo I took this evening as Nik and I traversed the rough terrain of Fredhäll's cliffs only a couple blocks from our apartment in search of a perfect swimming spot.

We passed this little boat, where a couple was having dinner on deck in the sunset. (No, I wasn't spying, I just casually took a shot of the view which happened to include their romantic  meal). 


We weaved our way along the cliffside to a little swimming dock where I did a quick 'Swedish change' as I call it (Swedes are ever so fond of changing into their bathing suits beneath their towels by the water's edge, which takes quite a bit of practice to accomplish and is even harder in reverse taking off a wet bathing suit) and we plunged in. After the initial shocking chill, the water was incredibly refreshing, more so after my 90-minute hot Bikram yoga class, which I managed to complete only by dreaming of my swim. 


Nik keeps saying it could be the last swim of the year, but another good day always seems to come along - hopefully there will be many more.