It was a fire and police station

I rather like raw beef. Not all raw beef, obviously, but the type that’s used to make steak tartare. Okay, there was the Great Food Poisoning of 2017 but, generally speaking, I love it. And, tonight, I had some brilliant raw beef.

We were out, celebrating…actually, we couldn’t work out what we were celebrating so, let’s just say, we were celebrating the Ascension of Jesus.

Funnily enough, and speaking of Jesus, I thought I spotted a hilarious poster for the Swedish Go Ape facility in Trosa. It’s opening for the season this weekend and I thought this poster said something like ‘Ascend like Jesus!’ Sadly, ‘Kristi Himmelsfärd’ just translates as Ascension Day. It’s a shame, if you ask me, and an opportunity missed.

It should have read ‘Uppstig som Kristi’ instead. I’m guessing that may have upset some people though so probably a good thing they didn’t do it.

And, speaking of The Season, quite a few things are starting up in Trosa at present as we rapidly approach summer. We had a pre-dinner walk through town this evening and there were a lot more people around. It was like Trosa had shaken off it’s hibernation coat and was stretching awake.

On our walk, we met Jim. He was originally Scottish and still has his accent, although he’s lived and worked in Sweden for a very long time. He was in Stockholm for yonks and is now retired in Trosa, along with his wife and two black poodles. We had a lovely chat with him, vowing to meet up again (it’s a small town) and, maybe, have a drink.

“You must drink. You’re Australians,” He assumed.

It was a lovely, friendly meeting on the way to Matstudio, the venue for dinner tonight.

Once upon a time, the building in the photo above was the combined police and fire station in Trosa. It was built in the 19th century. The tower, which I thought may have originally had a bell in it to indicate that the fire brigade was heading out, was, actually, the original tower from the town hall across the river.

Nowadays, it’s the venue for an excellent little restaurant called Matstudio. At first, I was wondering who Mat was but, actually, mat is the Swedish word for food and, given the inventiveness of the menu, it’s an apt name.

Our waiter was a total cack. It was his first night on the job. He commutes from Stockholm and was very entertaining. I’m hoping we see him again, the next time we dine there. That is, if he survives the season. He was worried that he was a bit old for all the partying that the 20-year-olds get up to after work.

As for us, we sat outside, given the day had been glorious and warm. We forgot that when the sun goes down, it gets quite chilly, quite quickly. Mirinda managed to score a couple of blankets, while I just shivered through dinner. Which, following the råbiff entrée, was char with petit pois, Parmesan cream and asparagus.

The waiter said it was his favourite fish. I apologised for eating it, but it was delicious.