This will be hard to explain, because it is also a bit funny ... When it comes to the Swedish Christmasboard (smorgasboard) it's all about tradition: cooked salted ham, meatballs, prince-sausages (approx 2" long), browned cappage, herrings of various kinds (flavours), a Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation - potato-gratin with anjovy and cream), ribs etc.
I am into most of that but I JUST GOTTA HAVE the smoked EEL. It is rare and it costs like a Kobe beef.
Today I drove the 90km to a fishing harbour where there was the Christmas Fair today and got me 1/2 kilo eel.
Next to Spiken fishing harbour is the town Lidköping and exclusively at the liquor store there was sold local vodka. In local "language" Lidköping is pronounced "Lischöpping" (hence the name of the distillery - LISCH) and the vodka is made from grain from the vast plains nearby. Plain in Swedish is Slätt, but locally pronounced 'Schlätta' (Could be 'Plainsch' in Englisch).
I am into most of that but I JUST GOTTA HAVE the smoked EEL. It is rare and it costs like a Kobe beef.
Today I drove the 90km to a fishing harbour where there was the Christmas Fair today and got me 1/2 kilo eel.
Next to Spiken fishing harbour is the town Lidköping and exclusively at the liquor store there was sold local vodka. In local "language" Lidköping is pronounced "Lischöpping" (hence the name of the distillery - LISCH) and the vodka is made from grain from the vast plains nearby. Plain in Swedish is Slätt, but locally pronounced 'Schlätta' (Could be 'Plainsch' in Englisch).
50 points for joie de vivre!
You just reminded me to do my own xmas groceries, actually having people over this year, first time in years, so got to buy plenty.
I like local stuff. I have a beef (in the fridge) bought at a local farmers shop and w USA, we always tried to make stops at local breweries/distilleries/wineries. We don't have that much of that kind yet in Sweden (and alcohol is sold only thru the state-owned shops). Therefore it was so funny to see this local made vodka with a name that is so intimately associated with the dialect heard on the great plainsch. Just look at the tractor - it can't get more local.
PS. Just tested the eel and the vodka .... omygod, I am dying ....
PS. Just tested the eel and the vodka .... omygod, I am dying ....
I bought a remote controlled temperature switch to control a space heater because the mechanical thermostat is a pile of garbage (either doesn't run enough or runs when it's 27°C!) so now it's set to come on at 23° and turn off at 24°.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07YXQS5T1/
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07YXQS5T1/
Boxes for car speakers, salvaged from a car breaker.
6" x 9" coaxials, had to get them serviced...and then the polymer cones needed patching, did it using rubber cement to bond with surrounds.
Box pair only $5.
And assembled a small amp for my TV speaker, mono 6283 chip amp, 750 mA transformer, all screwed to a piece of Aluminum section, all of 1.50 US$ in parts.
It feeds a 4" speaker, input is from set top box.
6" x 9" coaxials, had to get them serviced...and then the polymer cones needed patching, did it using rubber cement to bond with surrounds.
Box pair only $5.
And assembled a small amp for my TV speaker, mono 6283 chip amp, 750 mA transformer, all screwed to a piece of Aluminum section, all of 1.50 US$ in parts.
It feeds a 4" speaker, input is from set top box.
Got sex PCBs from Elby-Design thsi week (various synth modules) and ordered the ICs I was missing to assemble these modules.
Have to check for other missing components (Rs and Cs and Ds and Qs and Pots and an echo-thing) later.
Have to check for other missing components (Rs and Cs and Ds and Qs and Pots and an echo-thing) later.
Picked up a pair of ATH-a990z headphones for a huge discount to use testing out a headphone amp I inherited recently.
Were pretty much new, still in the box.
The amp deserved a decent set of cans, has 2sk170 for input transistors, sounds great even with grocery store headphones.
Were pretty much new, still in the box.
The amp deserved a decent set of cans, has 2sk170 for input transistors, sounds great even with grocery store headphones.
This should probably go in the "The smell of your hobby" thread (smell, sound, both reach your lost youth).
Not in the room (dunno about my cellphone mike). The Olympia is a conventional (individual letters) long-throw typewriter plus a rotating shaft to throw keys into paper. The Selectric is a fairly heavy "ball" (and shank) with short heavy throw. The Selectric sounds "heavier" than the Olympia and kin.
Found another trick. There is a "1-2" lever on the keyboard. This is not a single/double-space option. Spacing is a tiny lever on the platten. The 1-2 lever is probably strike-strength: heavy for multiple carbons, or normal for nice letters without punch-through.
Magnus, I am sad to hear that smoked eel is so expensive. Here, because of our large Asian population, it is widely available and quite reasonably priced. Not like Kobe beef. More like regular Striploin.
Going price here is $2,000 a pound. That's "elvers", glass eels, baby sushi. Up here it has been the salvation of many broke fisherfolk. Get paid $28,000 for one night's catch. They broker them to Asia where they are raised to maturity. I have been expecting the asians to save their seeds (eggs) and do the whole operation without us, but that hasn't happened this decade. Apparently the Japanese eels crashed and the EU banned exports.
And as with any bonanza business, there have been criminals. Maine is the only state to allow netting glass eels, so guys from Carolina and Jersey bring their buckets up here. There's also a limit, and that has been violated repeatedly. One of the brokers wrote a book while in a federal prison.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/on-the-coast-of-maine-the-glass-eel-industry-is-booming/39971986
I am unaware of what eels we get here. While they taste smoked, they sometimes call them roasted. Tastes the same to me unless it‘s the roasted ones in tins. It sounds like glass eels are a chosen commodity whereby we probably get something out of a local ditch or tidal pool. I will look into it further. In fact maybe I’ll venture out in the morning and see what I can find out. Usually though if you start asking questions they say ‘ sorry, no English’ even though you talked with him two weeks earlier.
It’s like when they call it pig intestine when it’s Fallopian tube. For all I know the smoked eel is a butterflied garter snake. 🙂
It’s like when they call it pig intestine when it’s Fallopian tube. For all I know the smoked eel is a butterflied garter snake. 🙂
Strangely enough, the house I bought in New Zealand came with an eel smoker in the backyard. I don't know where they were caught and never used it myself.
I bought a pair of Raptors tickets for the bf's birthday. Got lucky, they opened up a gondola box with no ability to resell the tickets so they aren't resale.
MLSE knows how to extort money though.
They are playing the Knicks on January 6th, and the cheapest (resale - legal scalping and ticketbastard double dips with the fees, too!) tickets were 98$ for standing room only with an obstructed view.
200$ for upper bowl tabarnak!
For comparison, upper bowl seats for a Pacers game in Indiana start at 9$USD.
I can buy tickets to see them play in Detroit, sit right behind the raptors bench - close enough to smell them 🙂, stay overnight in a 5 star hotel, and fly there and back for less money than bench seats in Toronto! Amazing!
MLSE knows how to extort money though.
They are playing the Knicks on January 6th, and the cheapest (resale - legal scalping and ticketbastard double dips with the fees, too!) tickets were 98$ for standing room only with an obstructed view.
200$ for upper bowl tabarnak!
For comparison, upper bowl seats for a Pacers game in Indiana start at 9$USD.
I can buy tickets to see them play in Detroit, sit right behind the raptors bench - close enough to smell them 🙂, stay overnight in a 5 star hotel, and fly there and back for less money than bench seats in Toronto! Amazing!