One thing that I don't like about Stockholm

Today I'm reminded of one reason for why Stockholm has made my life difficult.

When I work hard, I don't feel like cooking on my own. However, there is essentially no decent, budget quick eatery in Stockholm. All those sushi places are no-nos to me because they are not Japanese sushi but Swedish sushi. (In case you don't know, Stockholm has a sushi restaurant literally at every street corner; and they tend to fall in the budget category for some reason.) Good restaurants are all pricey and not the kind of place to visit alone. Supermarkets do not help because they sell mediocre ready meals. The ICA supermarket's "Bombay curry" ready meal is pretty bad, for example. Swedes do not really understand the concept of curry. It's not just the mixture of colorful spice and creamy sauce.

Eating mediocre foods depresses me, especially when I am tired. As a result, I've started to avoid working hard and to hate Stockholm.

In London, I didn't face this problem because there were some (if not many) decent, budget eateries. I frequented the Brazilian delicatessen next to Tottenham Court Road station (which, sadly, no longer exists due to the expansion of the station) in the evening when I was very busy writing up my job market paper. Supermarkets sold rather delicious Indian curry ready meals. I would buy at least two packs of Indian curry a week and eat them when I had to work till late.

A partial solution to this is to ask my parents and friends in Tokyo to send me packets of Japanese curry ready meal. They are vacuum-packed. But sending a packet from Japan to Sweden is quite expensive. I cannot resort to this option very often.

What should I do? After more than 2 years have passed since I moved here, I still don't know the solution.

Someone who's not really a considerate person would say, "Have a girlfriend who is a good cook or a good companion to fancy restaurants." If things were that easy, I wouldn't complain here.