Since I've come to Sweden, I have really learned how to be thrifty. In Japan I used to eat out or buy pre-made food about 3-4 times per week. That was when I had a job. Here I have eaten out (in a real, sit down restaurant equivelant to Applebee's or Royal Host) about 4 times in the past 7 months. Occasionally I stop by the deli and grab my favorite Pesto and Mazzarella sandwich but especially since I've moved far away from town, that is a rare case.

The fact that I'm in a great corridor for cooking helps a lot, too. Before moving to this dorm, I cooked for myself but always easy, bad tasting food. Here I'm inspired by my corridor mates who are always making gormet-style food. Sometimes we get together and cook and sometimes we cook for eachother. The other day I made wet burritoes with one of my corridor mates. I also made the salsa and guacamole-all from scratch. All relatively healthy (we altered the recipes a bit). The were amazing and since then, I've been scouring the internet for other easy, healthy recipes.

Yesterday, I made bread for the first time. I don't mean that instant kind where you just add water or where the dough is already made. No, it was completely from scratch Oatmeal Bread. The great thing is that I already had most of the ingredients. I only had to buy the yeast! It was surprisingly easy and I even added some personal touches such as multi-grained musili with raisins, nuts, oats, and dried fruit instead of just oatmeal. And a pinch of cinnimon to top it off. Believe it or not, they came out beautifully my first time around. Who knew it would be so easy?! I'm hooked and am researching my next loaf...banana or wheat? I don't think I'll go back to store bought bread...although it takes a long time to make it from scratch, I don't eat so much bread to start with so two loaves should last me a long time if i can freeze them. Here is a (slightly blurry) picture of my first Oatmeal/Musili Bread.

Actually, In addition to bread, I made some hummus. I really love the stuff but havn't found it anywhere here so I tried to make it myself..It came out ok but with a little to much lemon juice. finally, for dessert, I made some pineapple/peach/banana sorbet. It was super good and easy to make. I think I've found a new addiction...cooking!

Oh yeah, my corridor had a party the other night and here are some pictures from that. It wasn't nearly as exciting as my bread so I won't bother to talk about it...you can look at the pictures and make your own stories.