We moved house on Monday. I started writing this on Tuesday and began to see double, so thought it best to wait. We've moved house 3 times now in the the last year. Boy am I tired of it.
I have learned a few lessons in the process though. Probably top of the list for me is this one:
Never, ever attempt to cook the day or two before you depart House A & move into House B. It's not worth the stress of trying to find what you need, explain to your family why you need to hang onto that saucepan, that baking tray, those utensils for another day and then, more than likely, beating yourself up for abandoning ship and getting a pizza.
This time, I didn't even attempt to cook the night before we moved, or any of that day. We found a gorgeous Thai takeaway down the road, which served us well for dinner and lunch leftovers on Monday. At 7pm on Monday night, when we had been on the go for 10 hours, with another 4 ahead of us, we stopped for dinner. Another wise move. We drove our hire van into central Malmö and parked down the street from what has become our favourite pizza place, ModoMio on Stora Nygatan.
Didier owns and runs the place. He bakes his own bread & makes the best pizza bases I've had in a while. He uses really high quality Italian ingredients, for his breads and pizza toppings and also creates what look like lovely fresh salads and pasta dishes all day (I've only ever seen them as they are whisked past my table to be served to someone else).
I'm a fussy pizza eater - I make my own, so rarely eat them elsewhere, but I make an exception for these pizzas. I've learned from experience that, with pizza, less is more. A light crispy base, with a selection of flavourful toppings that don't swamp the pizza and turn it into a puddle of juice and cheese is the way to go. If that is done right, then there is very little left to say or do, except eat! The pizzas at ModoMio are this, they are perfect.
Didier is from Corsica originally, but has lived all over the place and speaks four languages - French, Italian, Swedish & English. We learned all this on our first visit to his lovely little restaurant, when we shared with him our own woes about trying to find somewhere new to live (our landlord sold our first home before we had even moved in) and spending a small fortune on parking our car, while we waited to be registered in the Swedish system and get a resident's permit. Didier listened, sympathised and even made suggestions on where to find a new home. When his English failed him, Mountain Man asked him for the word in French and kept the conversation going.
Where else can you find service, good food and empathy like that?
I'm almost ashamed to admit, we tried pizza in a place called Mira Mare one evening before viewing an apartment to rent. We were stuck for time and so, made a decision on where to eat with a hungry belly growling at us. Needless to say, we regretted it after the first bite. Fake extruded ham, cheese like glue, nasty old veggie toppings...yuck. The pizzas there cost between 8-15 Swedish Krowns less than in ModoMio, but it's a false economy as they are almost impossible to eat. We told Didier on our last visit that we believed his to be the best pizzas in Malmo. He glowed with pride. We then broke it to him that we had strayed from the path of good pizza and eaten elsewhere, but it hadn't measured up. This stocky bull of a man almost shrunk at the news. We had hurt him with our betrayal. I think we have been forgiven though, it certainly seemed that way on Monday night. This man takes his food seriously and if he fails, it's definitely personal.
Malmö truly is a diverse city, with nationalities from around the world providing a rich offering when it comes to food. Now that we are in our new and hopefully permanent (for 2 years!) home I am looking forward to trying more of what this city has to offer.
I have learned a few lessons in the process though. Probably top of the list for me is this one:
Never, ever attempt to cook the day or two before you depart House A & move into House B. It's not worth the stress of trying to find what you need, explain to your family why you need to hang onto that saucepan, that baking tray, those utensils for another day and then, more than likely, beating yourself up for abandoning ship and getting a pizza.
This time, I didn't even attempt to cook the night before we moved, or any of that day. We found a gorgeous Thai takeaway down the road, which served us well for dinner and lunch leftovers on Monday. At 7pm on Monday night, when we had been on the go for 10 hours, with another 4 ahead of us, we stopped for dinner. Another wise move. We drove our hire van into central Malmö and parked down the street from what has become our favourite pizza place, ModoMio on Stora Nygatan.
Didier owns and runs the place. He bakes his own bread & makes the best pizza bases I've had in a while. He uses really high quality Italian ingredients, for his breads and pizza toppings and also creates what look like lovely fresh salads and pasta dishes all day (I've only ever seen them as they are whisked past my table to be served to someone else).
I'm a fussy pizza eater - I make my own, so rarely eat them elsewhere, but I make an exception for these pizzas. I've learned from experience that, with pizza, less is more. A light crispy base, with a selection of flavourful toppings that don't swamp the pizza and turn it into a puddle of juice and cheese is the way to go. If that is done right, then there is very little left to say or do, except eat! The pizzas at ModoMio are this, they are perfect.
Didier is from Corsica originally, but has lived all over the place and speaks four languages - French, Italian, Swedish & English. We learned all this on our first visit to his lovely little restaurant, when we shared with him our own woes about trying to find somewhere new to live (our landlord sold our first home before we had even moved in) and spending a small fortune on parking our car, while we waited to be registered in the Swedish system and get a resident's permit. Didier listened, sympathised and even made suggestions on where to find a new home. When his English failed him, Mountain Man asked him for the word in French and kept the conversation going.
Where else can you find service, good food and empathy like that?
I'm almost ashamed to admit, we tried pizza in a place called Mira Mare one evening before viewing an apartment to rent. We were stuck for time and so, made a decision on where to eat with a hungry belly growling at us. Needless to say, we regretted it after the first bite. Fake extruded ham, cheese like glue, nasty old veggie toppings...yuck. The pizzas there cost between 8-15 Swedish Krowns less than in ModoMio, but it's a false economy as they are almost impossible to eat. We told Didier on our last visit that we believed his to be the best pizzas in Malmo. He glowed with pride. We then broke it to him that we had strayed from the path of good pizza and eaten elsewhere, but it hadn't measured up. This stocky bull of a man almost shrunk at the news. We had hurt him with our betrayal. I think we have been forgiven though, it certainly seemed that way on Monday night. This man takes his food seriously and if he fails, it's definitely personal.
Malmö truly is a diverse city, with nationalities from around the world providing a rich offering when it comes to food. Now that we are in our new and hopefully permanent (for 2 years!) home I am looking forward to trying more of what this city has to offer.
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