Summer Pastry

The adverbs just kept coming when the Hunter S Thompson lookalike decided to try this new pastry at the cafe a couple of days ago. A cinnamon bun with cream and strawberries! Unheard-of.

Murphy's law

Stefan, for some reason decided to try the "Sommarsemla" at my favorite cafe yesterday. There's no such thing of course, you can only eat the original semla, and only during the Winter, we all know that. But he didn't so he ordered it anyway, and as he came around the corner, heading for the table, he dropped the pastry on the ground. I asked him if he knew about another fun myth, the five second rule, but he hadn't heard about that one either so he just ate the pastry anyway.

Four snaps from the cafe chair

Four moments in time from my visit to the cafe yesterday afternoon. Not my cigarettes. I gave up that habit a quarter of a century ago. Belongs to the Hunter S. Thompson lookalike in the background. Two weeks from now it will be illegal to smoke at outdoor cafes and a few other public places in Sweden. Can't wait. The warning reads: Children whose parents smoked are likely to smoke themselves. Second photo shows a butterfly on my hand. The Finnish name is 22-pistepirkko. Not a bad band, not sure if they are still around. Flew in while I was chatting away with some of the usual suspects at the cafe yesterday afternoon. www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=mQ0Ueiqy45o The couple on the Honda sat at the next table for an hour or so. Nice nails. The plane comes from Täby Sjöflygklubb. Krister, a contact at flickr usually comes a bit closer with his camera.

Arturo Berly Montalvo

New art exhibition at my favorite cafe Malmens konditori at Lillcentrum in Handen. Had a short chat with the artist, Arturo Berly Montalvo during a visit last week. His art can be seen at 300 locations in Stockholm alone. His paintings here has a 19th century feel to it. This oil painting is called Skönhet. Beauty. If you visit in person you can see the painting in color...

The Haunted Cafe

My favorite cafe, Malmens konditori on a dark November afternoon. As you can probably tell Natalia really likes Halloween and the,(scary?), decoration that comes with it. Dare you enter?

Cookies, Anyone?

I'm pretty sure that I ordered two normal cookies at Malmens konditori, my favorite cafe. But then as I reached for them, sitting at the table with the usual suspects, they suddenly looked like this, spooky...

Natalia

This is Natalia. I see her most every day. She owns my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori in Handen, and she can be seen casually talking to customers while taking care of business. I took this portrait of Natalia with my new zoom lens a while back. She is an interesting woman and I do find her very photogenic so a longish photo shoot with her is around the corner.

Boo!

There's a ghost floating around at my favorite cafe, Malmens Konditori in Handen. It is trying it's best to scare away potential customers looking to score some coffee&cake but no one seems scared of the poor thing.

Rookie Mistakes

It was Hasse's birthday today. I had no idea. That was rookie mistake no.1. I had just finished my lunch before arriving to the cafe. That was rookie mistake no.2. Never eat a big lunch if there's birthday cake waiting around the corner! Rookie mistake no.3 was that I didn't have the camera ready when Lillian came out with the strawberry cake, but thanks to always shooting in RAW I could fix that in PS. We had time to try the cake while sitting in the sunshine outside, and it was very tasty, but within minutes it started to rain really hard, so we had to take cover indoors. All in all a nice day at the cafe.

And then the phone rang

There I was enjoying a bit of Winter sunshine while relaxing on this bench that overlooks the Årsta Havsbad beach when the smart-phone rang. It was my flickr buddy Bengt who claims to be a traditionalist when it comes to eating "semlor". Which means that he can't have one before Shrove Tuesday! But after seeing a few of my photos of said pastry from my favorite cafe he phoned to let me know that he was on his way to Malmens konditori, and one hour later we were both enjoying a "minisemla".

Mini-semla

I have a confession to make. I am totally addicted to the mini semla they sell at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori in Handen. This is already my fourth this year. A bargain at 16SEK.

Candids from the cafe chair

Whenever I can I try to shoot a few candid photos of passersby when I enjoy coffee at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori. Here are two such snaps.

Coffee Talk

There's a new waitress at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori. At least during the weekends. She is a very fun girl. Very positive and talkative. And she has great eyes which I noticed the first time I saw her, so on a recent visit I chased the poor girl around the cafe before I could get a few snaps. She works alongside her grandmother Elisabeth, whom I have at least one photo of. She is the woman behind the wheels here.

A one-man job

It's been a very cold Spring so far, but from today it is supposed to get warmer. The new owners of my favorite cafe Malmens konditori in Handen have hired a handyman and this week he has been busy constructing a new outdoor seating area on the lawn. The lawn is very uneven which probably makes the job more difficult. I took this snap two days ago when the handyman was enjoying lunch and a Danish indoors. Hopefully I will be able to test the new deck in a day or three.

Cafe Window

Leaving my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori one December afternoon earlier in the week. Jim is sitting at the desk by the window working on some 3D thingy. Lasse is leaving after a cup of coffee and a chat with me, he is heading back to the Cultural Centre.

Stearinljus

I don't like November. Dark and gloomy and cold. We use a lot of stearinljus this time of the year. This is from a recent sitting at my favorite cafe Malmens konditori. Shot with the nifty fifty at f/1.8 which means that it is impossible to see the guy cleaning the windows at the eatery at Vikingaplan.

Ice-cream and Coffee

Weird weather of late. As I'm typing this it's 6C from a very grey sky, and it has been raining. Later in the week we are expecting up to 15C and a bit of sunshine, I sure hope that happens. I took this photo four days ago at my favorite cafe. It was maybe 3C, but with a blue sky so tough Viking Micke Klein and one of his sons decided to enjoy ice-cream and coffee outdoors. You have seen Micke before, but as you don't remember that click here.

National Cinnamon Roll Day

You might have missed it so I just wanted to let you know that we celebrated National Cinnamon Roll Day in Sweden yesterday. I enjoyed mine at my favorite cafe, Malmens Konditori in Handen, where they were busy baking kanelbullar all day long. The hip and fun social site Findery that you all should join celebrated with me.

Catching A Ride

Met this cool dog at the cafe the other day. The dogs owner told me that the dog had fallen off once, so he biked very carefully now. The dog looked very relaxed. Getty Images wanted the photo, so maybe someone will buy it now.

Portraits at the cafe

If you sit indoors at my favorite cafe this summer you can see some of my photos on the walls. If you sit outside chances are that I will take your photo. Here are three recent cafe portraits. Kristel was sitting at the table next to me yesterday. I noticed her pin-up tattoo and when she was ready to leave I asked if Í could get a photo. By then I had already figured out that the tattoo depicted Kristel, and her daughter. The daughter, Vanessa had spent the last half hour or so running around the cafe with another little kid. Second portrait is of Veronica. I spotted her as she came walking by, grabbed the camera and took a few candids. She noticed me, walked over and I thought she was going to say something about the photos but she was friends with the guy I was having coffee with so as they were chatting I took another portrait. Third photo is a candid portrait. The young girl were having lunch with her mother (my guess). She was very expressive and was gesturing a lot and she had great eyes. I tried waving at her but she didn't notice me so I opted for a candid.