First Swedish cultural experience - milking ketchup, sausages for birds, crayfish, and singing

This past weekend was over flowing with all things Swedish.  There are photos that instead of posting here, I will post in Picasa and give you links to specific photos.  CLICK HERE for full album and scroll to bottom for the latest photos

It started Friday when a couple of us went into town for the yearly Lindesberg "Market". Its a small market that only comes once a year and is for just 1 day.  There wasn't a lot of variety.  Lots of meat to buy.  Lots of reindeer, wild boar, moose, red deer, and salami.  I got some strange bread and this traditional chocolate puff thing.  I was expecting it to be something like marshmallow, but it was more like whipped cream.  I do get a kick out of their sausage things.  I remember when Bryan, Byron and I were here and we were laughing at the length of the hotdog vs. the bun...but now I get to laugh at the ketchup dispenser

That evening I was invited by the students to their Crayfish party.  Typically they celebrate this day in August, but the students decided to celebrate here together.  This was my first real experience of a Swedish party.  This typically involves a LOT of singing.  The food was kind of funny because they had the "American" crayfish that were packaged and imported from China - whoohoo America really knows how to outsource our invasive species!  They had "Swedish" crayfish that I couldn't tell the difference in taste - rather the exoskeleton was more pokey yet softer to crack.

The meal had "rules".  The men had to escort a lady that they were then responsible for the rest of the evening.  The guy was responsible for the women on their left.  He had to offer his arm for escort, pull out a chair, and toast her first every time we toasted.  Upon a toast, the pair must toast each other first, then toast the person to their opposite site, then toast the person across the table, drink your drink, then toast the person across from you, a person to your right and then back to your partner.  This happened every time anyone wanted to drink, BUT it followed a song.  So - basically, if you wanted to drink, you had to sing first.  They had a "program" of songs that were all in Swedish!  It was very funny because 1/2 of us were not from Sweden and we had no idea the tune or what we were saying. 

 

After the appetizer, came a cheesy pie thing and then another cheesy cornbread type thing along with the crayfish.  These were "traditional" foods for the celebration.  It ended in this blueberry pie which just looked like they threw raw blueberries into a pan and covered it in oats...raw oats.  The drinks were also "organized" in that we started with a mojito type drink, then came beer, and this traditional liquor that was like fennel, and then wine.  oh then the champagne.

After the dinner it was dancing.  Lots of dancing.

Lets just say Saturday morning came really late for some people.   

Navigating Sweden - frogs, taxes, microwaves, timers, shoes...

So far Sweden has physically been much like Alaska.  However due to the warm stream coming from somewhere things are warmer here than they would be on the same latitude in USA.  Stockholm is slightly more northern than Juneau Alaska which is very close to my current location.

This is the type of frog that visited
 me in the shower

Of all the places Ive been in the world (including Juneau and my most recent trip to Costa Rica), Ive never knowingly had a frog in my shower until I come here.  Yesterdays cleaning routine was more interesting when the frog wouldn't leave.  I didn't want to get soap on it, but it kept getting under foot.  Much like a dog or cat that winds itself between your feet.  Eventually I shoo'd it out and finished my cleaning.

On a slightly more complicated note, the exchange and transparency of information in this country is interesting - you can look up anyone's license plate number and get all sorts of information about that car's mechanical history as well as some basic information about the person who owns the car.  No flipping people off and having anonymity while doing it.  Not only can you get personal information from a license plate, but you can look up anyone's phone number and find their address.  The ramifications of this transparency  - how would that work in USA??  Don't know if it would.  Socialist economy I guess?

In concert with this is something they call a Personal Number.  This is a number that you can't do anything without.  I can't get a bank account, get into social security, get retirement, buy things on line in Sweden, buy a car, buy a home, get drivers insurance, get to be a functioning citizen in the country...Even register at the university I currently work for...well, technically Im not working for them without it.  If you are here less than a year, you do not get a number.  I am going through issues because my VISA was only issued for 1 year at a time, and they issue the visa from date of application, not from arrival into the country.  This number is generated and overseen by the equivalent of the IRS called Skattavarket.  We all know how wonderful it is to deal with the IRS - well, that is similar attitude here.

Today, I tried to heat up some milk.  Yes, its low fat milk, but Ive never had a microwave "cook" the milk to the point where it completely separated and created cottage cheese? yogurt? whatever it is, its solid and clumping swimming in clear-ish liquid.

Lots of things here run on timers.  To turn my stove top on, I first have to turn on a timer that allows power to the stove tops.  If your cooking requires longer than 60 minutes, you have to be there to return on the power.  The oven I get to borrow in the student kitchen only runs for 15 minutes at a time.  Talk about being tied to the kitchen!

Taking off your shoes is "common" - not sure how far out this extends and if its more of an expectation - basically how strict is it??  Even to come into my office place, I take off my shoes.  Everyone has different shoes that they leave in the office or they just walk around in their socks.  They have slippers you can borrow if you don't want to walk in your socks.  My feet get cold at my desk so Im glad I brought my crock's!

Mastering the art of French Cooking - with Lea

One of my new friends Ive made is from France.  Her name is Lea and she LOVES food and to cook.  Also, I just recently rewatched that movie Julie and Julia....so Julia Childs is in my head and very apropos.

Lea has been great - very outgoing and taking me in and including me in things.  Its lovely to have someone like this, just assumes you will join in because it will be silly not to.  So, she has taken me berry picking and mushroom hunting and has been "teaching" me how to cook the items we harvest.

the paper acts as a stove pipe to let
the heat escape without boiling over

Two weekends ago (gosh its been that long?), we went blueberry picking.  Ive been told the blueberries here in Sweden are different from the ones in the USA.  Sometimes they call them (spelled my phonetically) Bullberries (Im sure its something like boulberries with a crazy symbol above the o).  Anyway, they are short and only come to your knee at best.

The oven - reminds me of a toaster oven on steroids

Lea then taught me how to make pie crust - the same way my grandmother taught me to make chocolate chip cookies....you sort-a kind-a follow some measurements, but really its off of feel/smell/texture and whim. Somewhere in the recesses of their minds they were taught the proper ratios, but this has been lost to instinct and taste.  Somewhere in there was a measurement of 250 g of flour and 125 g of sugar, but after that - it all goes to pot on how much.  I did learn that using an egg is necessary to make the dough elastic and then will not require flour to be put on the counter or the rolling pin.  I also learned that you can make the dough without the egg and how different the dough then reacts.  So, I made my 2nd pie ever a blueberry pie using the ingredients we could "find" in sweden.

This followed a course of Moose Taco! My favorite meal ever!!