Welcome to the House

So...we made it.

Mountain Man, little brother (not so little anymore) and I left Ireland last Saturday, got the ferry to France (somehow reminding me of that Kerrygold Ad) and drove for 3 days across France, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, arriving in Malmo on Tuesday at 5pm, local time.

Some might call it an amazing adventure.  I would call it pretty tedious to be honest.  Miles and miles of motorway, ugly motorway motels, bad food.  I would generally make a big effort with food for long road trips, to avoid eating rubbish from service stations, but this time the packing got the better of me and all I had were some nuts and a few packets of Nak'd Bars.  My digestive system is still considering whether forgiveness is an option.  A good friend of mine could probably find movie material in it, but I am very very glad that part of the 'adventure' is over.

Yesterday we registered with the tax office - very important if you want to function in this country.  Without your 'personnumer' you cannot open a bank account, buy a mobile phone on contract, get insurance for anything... We were so chuffed with ourselves we bought a double scoop of home made icecream from Dolce Sicilia, a Sicilian ice-cream parlour around the corner.  I think this must be the best ice-cream I have ever had, made with organic ingredients, they also serve amazing fairtrade coffee to boot.  Worth a visit if you are ever in Malmo.  Watch out for the icecream, I suspect we will have to resist finding an excuse to have one every day...

 Something else we achieved yesterday was to buy some vegetables and yoghurt in the little health food shop on the ground floor of the building in which we are renting.  Outside, the perimeter of the shop is littered with small squash and gourds - obviously Autumn is something they celebrate here!

 It felt so good to be shopping locally and most of the produce seemed to come from Denmark, Sweden and Germany.  Lovely.  To top it all off the gent who served us was an absolute delight.  When he realised I hadn't a clue what he was saying, he switched to English and asked that next time I'm in, I remind him and he'll adjust for me.  I mentioned, excitedly, that we had just moved in upstairs and he made my day with 'welcome to the house.'  I couldn't stop smiling.  What a beautiful sense of community.

Rocket Fuel

I woke this morning at 5am, struggled to get back to sleep and eventually dragged myself out of bed at 6.30.  I suspect the tension of moving country had something to do with it.  Maybe it was also because this morning was my last chance to visit Mahon Farmers' Market before heading to Sweden?

This is where I buy my food.
This morning, the lovely pink shirt clad 'Rocket Man' in the photo sold me my lunch, which turned out to be dinner when lunch got sidetracked by packing.  Stomach comforting, whole food goodness. Thank you Rocket Man.


Almost every Thursday morning I can be found at this market.  I think it is one of the best in the country.  It is dedicated almost entirely to food, with a couple of flower stalls thrown in, just to cheer us up.  There are 3 or 4 excellent coffee & cake stalls, of course, to keep the punters awake & sugar fuelled, but more importantly for me, there is an organic meat and eggs stall.  Organic, local, grass fed beef, chicken and lamb.  Wow.  I love it and do a little dance inside my head as I give my hard earned euros directly into the hand of the farmer.  Alongside Dan Aherne's meat, there is the local veg grower, so fresh you can tell their produce was picked that morning.  The Real Olive Co. provide the most delicious buffalo mozzarella I've ever had, from their very own buffalo reared in Toonsbridge, West Cork.  I could go on and on about how incredible the food is there.  On a sunny day it's one of my favourite places to be.  On a wet day, the stallholders retreat indoors, so no matter the weather, you can always buy this kind of incredibly good food.

How will Malmo compare?
Will I be able to eat as well as I do here, without blowing the budget?

We leave our little house in Cork tomorrow and depart for France on a ferry from Rosslare on Saturday.  Then comes a 3 day road trip.  Bring it on.

The big move...

I am moving to Malmo, Sweden.

In 11 days I will be on a ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg, from where I will share the driving with my husband and my brother to bring all of our belongings to our new home.  We're going in convoy, borrowing my parents' van to bring everything with us.  That journey alone will be an adventure.

The bigger adventure is what comes next.  2 years in Malmo.  2 years where I get to choose how I spend my time, without having to work to pay the bills.  For the first time in a long long time, the plan is, there is no plan.  This is exciting.  So far, fear hasn't made an appearance, but I am sure it will.

Leaving my rather wonderful husband aside, my biggest love is food.

I am almost always hungry.  I wake up hungry, already thinking about breakfast, my day moving from meal to meal.  I adore food, finding new ingredients and turning them into something delicious.  I love meeting the people who put love and attention into producing much of the food that I eat and choose to feed those I love with.

I intend to eat (and cook) my way around Malmo.  I will recount my experiences here and share my story of living in Malmo as a Hungry Irish Cailín.