torsdag 20 september 2012

Afternoon tea back on Sundays!



Open 12-16, Vic and I run the smooth Sunday service. Call us and book a table, you know you want to!

fredag 14 september 2012

Don't feel like cooking dinner on Fridays?


Don't feel like cooking dinner on Fridays? These are Kim's extra special chicken pot pies. Just pop round to the Shack on Friday afternoons and pick up a couple of these wicked pies. Starting next Friday!

torsdag 13 september 2012

The things you wish you'd never read on the internet



 That's what you get for trying to be an "informed consumer". You become an over-informed, paranoid, vegan scientist refusing to eat or drink anything that hasn't been produced under sterile conditions. The very Swedish adage that "a bit of shit only cleanses the stomach" doesn't work on a half-breed like me.

fredag 7 september 2012

Wine: dogging it

I recently had a long discussion with a well-to-do gentleman about white wine. He maintained throughout the conversation that red wine was the state of the art, so to speak, and that white wine is what Kopparbergs is to Cidre de Normandie. I maintained throughout the conversation that the only thing red wine does better than white is stain your clothes. Anyway, he wanted to know about full, buttery whites - I suggested something Alsatian. He looked very confused for a couple of minutes while I rambled on about chardonnay, riesling and gewurztraminer - until I said something along the lines of that you can never go wrong with a French bottle. He was all full of relief. "I was worried that there was some dog reference in there that I was not getting. I was like "what does a German sheep dog have to do with this?", but now I get it. Alsatian as in Alsace. Thank god." Yes, thank god for that.

söndag 2 september 2012

Bloom in the Park at Malmöfestivalen

The concept of feminism, misguided

Every time a journalist speaks to Titti or myself, we inevitably get the question "as a young woman, what's it like to be in the restaurant business?". Most of the time, it's a man asking the question. And the answer to the question, with the same inevitability, is that as women, we find it to be no different than any other business were we would meet other people, sell things, produce things, trade things, or offer services. Only on very isolated occasions do our ovaries object to certain chores, such as doing the dishes.

I jest, of course. But that's as far as feminism has got us: into the business, but still novelty enough to be considered aberrant and worthy of dumb-ass questions about our gender in relation to our knife-skills. In the words of the last perfect man: D'oh.

Anyway. We get ourselves some pretty dumb-ass emails about the fact that I'm on the website in my bikini. Let's really analyze the anxiety that drives people to write to us about this. Firstly, although one may disagree with the value of it, the website has an obvious artistic intent. It's satirical, and although many would take that for obvious with Miss P. Hilton's face saxed onto my body (thanks Chris for that, by the way...), that particular message is lost on the denser populus of the cybersphere. And let's face it, once that feeling of being insulted by our highly outlandish character, it just keeps coming. Titti as Jesus in "The last supper". A woman!! Surrounded by men!! With possible religious undertones!! A woman in a bikini, with Paris Hilton's face photoshopped in!! Surrounded by other bodies with the faces of celebrities cut in!! All highly offensive scenarios. Oh the lack of FEMINISM at Bloom in the Park, the scandal of "forcing" the female staff to pose in photos! All for the eyes of men, teh horror!! For God's sake people - it's a JOKE!

What I want to say to those of you who feel the need to write to us about feminism and our apparent lack of awareness of women's rights: get with it. I guess it may be too much to ask for you all to get a sense of humor, but failing that I ask you to get educated. If the worst thing you've seen on the internet is me in a bikini then I feel quite sorry for you. Not even Facebook, the dragon with the moral code of a medieval monk, has judged the picture offensive. Titti and I are both highly educated, skilled and professional young women and NO, we are not as self-obsessed to put up with the regular rockstar, masculine-feet-spread-wide-arms-crossed-shot-from-a-low-angle photos that restaurants usually stick to. We don't take ourselves that seriously, we have fun at work and we had a laugh making the website.
If you're offended by the bikini, then I hope you don't shop at any clothing chain that does any marketing. Seriously. We did not put me up there thinking it would draw the men in. We put me up there portraying a glam beach party on the terrace. It's satire! And let's face it, when did you ever see miss Hilton with clothes on?

I want to round up by saying that I've in several restaurants and in several other businesses. Bloom in the Park is an open, friendly place where it's never mattered what gender you are, who you have sex with, what god you believe in (although something food-related is a good answer to that one) or who you vote for politically or otherwise. I tell you from experience that that is rare. In fact, Bloom has several exceptionally competent and strong women in leading positions, and the majority of staff is female. That is even rarer still! Get back to me when you find an equivalent place of work.

And no, a casual dress code does not mean a bikini. No one has ever worn a bikini to Bloom (apart from me for the shoot). If someone wants to show up in a bikini I guess that would be ok. I might bring a wrap though - it's getting chilly in the evenings, see.