Gingerbread man

Looking for a perfect Christmas gift? My favourite man mr gingerbread never fails to bring smile to anyone's face young or old.

Last night we went to have dinner at Emon in Surry Hills my workmate gave everyone a gingerbread cookies which bring lots of smiles to the table

If you are interested in making it yourself here are my gingerbread recipe:

Ingredients

• 140g butter
• 1 cup (160g) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (175g) treacle
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 cups (600g) plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Icing, to decorate
• Thin ribbon, to hang

Method

1. Melt the butter, brown sugar, treacle, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a saucepan over a medium heat. Set aside.
2. Stir in the eggs and vanilla essence. Stir in the flour and baking powder until smooth. Divide the dough into 3 portions. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with nonstick baking paper. Roll out 1 portion of the dough to 4mm thick between 2 sheets of baking paper. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut out biscuit shapes. Place on the trays.
4. Use the end of a piping nozzle to make a hole in the top of each biscuit. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden and firm. Repeat with the remaining dough portions. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. Decorate with icing. Thread with ribbon to hang on the Christmas tree.

• Merry xmas!
  x

The beautiful and strange land of Sweden

 Stockholm, Sweden

ABBA, Roxette and Swedish House Mafia! yes they are all made in Sweden, the first time i ever step foot in Sweden i was surprised on how empty the airport is. Unlike any other airport in other big city in Europe Stockholm Arlanda is incredibly clean and again there weren't that many ppl!!  

My boyfriend picked me up and we caught the bus to Stockholm, the view was crazy for someone that never step foot in the northern part of north of the world, I've never seen that my pine trees in my whole life, they are basically everywhere and between the woods you can see a traditional red swedish farm house with white window and flower gardens...oh soooo very cute...

50 minutes later we entered Stockholm and i was in total shock! If you think Singapore is clean imagine this city is cleaner and more beautiful with old buildings and gorgeous harbor, lined with beautiful flowers everywhere. 

The Stockholmers are very cool towards visitors they just passed you and go about their own thing but when you need help they are very helpful and very polite, mind you physical contact is a big no no unless you know the person so yes you cant just grab anyone or touch them. 

On the first day we went to Skansen open air museum, which has everything from traditional house from the Viking time to Swedish animals.

Tips:

• Swedish cinnamon roll dust with sugar in Skansen Museum
• Bike around stockholm, very very beautiful 
• Go out! Stockholm is the place for lux bars, so dress up and have a drink or two
• Vasa Museet, a ship that sunk even before it sails.....go there have a laugh and very interesting swedish maritime history... which is constant war.....
• Skagen sandwich...prawns, caviar, mayo 
• Swedish Meatballs of course!
• Love to decorate your house...u have endless choice of very cool design houses scattered around the city 
• London is not the only one that got Changin of Guards ceremony, the swedish are big on this as well check out the royal palace it is for free! plus you get to perve on hot swedish boys in uniform...welll hello officer!
• Drinks are expensive so its nice to do bar hopping just to check out the places 
• You can go around the city for free by tram if you bought the hourly ticket and just go around by tram for an hour
• Shop Shop Shop lots of brands and design that you cant find in Oz