A Tog's Trek

Easily mistaken for Gallo Pinto in restaurants by travellers, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, a dish of White Rice & Red Beans, simmered in coconut milk has a similar name, but a very different flavour.

Nothing says Cost Rica quite like the famous Rice & Beans dish, Gallo Pinto. The biggest challenge is finding the Salsa Lizano, the signature flavour of Costa Rica.

Organised by Sounds of Gothenburg, this gig was at a record store along Andra Langatan in Gothenburg. The session started with interviews with the bands before moving into the music.

I was invited along to the premiere of Sounds of Gothenburg to take some photos by a friend of mine. Looking back through the archive, it had been a decade since I last shot a gig.

One of the amazing things about living in Gothenburg is the closeness to nature. A few of us left from work on a Friday and took the train up to Surtesjön, a lake north of Gothenburg. A quick hike from the station and we found a spot for camping, cooking and swimming by the edge of the lake.

Reached easily from Central Gothenburg via Angered Centrum, Vättlefjälls Naturreservat is one of the largest nature reserves in the area and a lovely place to spend a weekend camping and hiking.

Brunnsparken often has Palestinian protestors bringing attention to the ongoing situation between Israel and Palestine. Today, the protestors are bringing the protest to the city, driving in a convoy of cars, flags waving despite the heavy rain as more and more international attention focuses on what is happening.

It has been a very long time since I've eaten Jollof Rice. About twenty years ago I lived in Lagos and Jollof Rice was a staple of my meals.

A nation as huge and varied as the USA offers a wide array of cuisine, but if you're looking for the quintessential main meal, to eat with an Apple Pie chaser, you can look no further than the Hamburger.

A traditional Latvian side dish for Christmas, it also formed a key part of my Christmas meal this year. Eating alone due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, I went all out creating a traditional Christmas meal.

Much like my wander on Christmas Eve, I took an hours break from obsessively scheduled cooking to get some air and sunlight in the nearby Slottskogen Park. Winter sun is a tricky thing, it can be very bright, but its so low in the sky that you get long shadows or it is easily hidden behind low hills or high buildings, plunging your photos into the gloom.

Not one for staying indoors all day, I headed out to the nearby Göteborgs Botaniska Trädgård, walking through Slottskogen park to get there. Even at 1 pm, the sun was low in the sky as we are only two days past the Solstice, when the night is longest and daylight a brief golden splash of a few hours.