For our May anniversary dinner, we decided to make Pork Osso Buco with Citrus Gremolata and Saffron Risotto. We enjoyed a bottle of Villa di Capezzana carmignano wine with the Osso Buco, and a little Cinque Terre Monerosso Limoncino afterward.

Osso Buco in the Le Crueset, ready for the oven:

Saffron Risotto:

Citrus Gremolata:

All together now….

Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare Limoncino

I admit: with not having a full-time job, I should be able to come up with dinner ideas on my own.  But sometimes, it doesn’t come easily.  It also doesn’t help that I’m not the best decision maker in the world.  So after 30 minutes of :

Me: What do you want to eat?
Henrik: I don’t know, what do you want?
Me: I don’t know, that’s why I asked you.

…. etc., my wonderful husband picked up the nearest magazine with recipes, flipped (seemingly aimlessly) to a page, and said, “We’re making this.”

A lobster-crème fraîche base with gös (a fish in the perch family), shrimp (or crayfish if you prefer), sugar peas,  dill, lemon and potatoes.  No really, this was all kinds of delicious.

In Sweden, there aren’t great Mexican restaurants right around the corner like in the US.  So we had to improvise… add a little homemade pico de gallo and guacamole…… and boring tacos turn into awesome.

May 1st is my birthday. In the US, people usually take you out to enjoy your day.  In Sweden, you treat everyone else. As a girl who loves to cook, I seized the opportunity to try out some recipes from The French Laundry Cookbook, which I received for Christmas.

The menu was: Salmon Tartare Cornets, Shrimp with Avocado Salsa, Sage Chicken with Asparagus Ribbon Salad and Champagne Risotto, and Nutella Crepes.  Food + Friends + Family…. you just can’t go wrong with that.

Vendel at Sturehof | Adelgatan 13
Cost for Dagens Husman Lunch: 135kr

Sometimes a restaurant is too expensive to try for dinner… lucky for us, some of them also serve lunch.  Vendel at Sturehof is one of those restaurants. The daily lunch special is 135kr and is accompanied by their own organic bread and a lovely fresh starter (today: a cauliflower salad with cilantro and pimento). Everything was exquisitely prepared and seasoned. The delicate fish entree was not overpowered by the sauce — even with horseradish and lemon. Sure, this is a luxury lunch. But who doesn’t deserve that every now and then?