Skål!

Anyone who has been to a festive Swedish dinner knows that drinking invariably is part of the action - and on extra festive occasions it starts with a "skål" of snaps or schnapps.  This is usually ice-cold aquavit flavored in different ways like these and taken like a shot.  Otherwise known as "brännvin" it literally means "firewater".  

And then there's the singing.  Everyone joins in singing the easy songs with twisted lyrics sung to tunes that we all know.  You get the words so you can follow along, and it's hysterical, especially when like my American husband you don't know the song or how to read the words!  Good times.  Ha, ha!

So now there's a fun competition at Nordstjernan where you send in your own snaps-visa.  Here's mine (sung to the tune of "Take me out to the ballgame")

Bar-room Skål

take me out to the bar-room

take me out to say skål!

buy me some schnapps and some aquavit

it better be cold or I'm stomping my feet

For it's root, root, root for blue, yellow

and here's the keys to my car

for it's one, two, three times you drink

and I'm sleeping on the bar!

Make sure you click over if you want to learn more about the tradition of singing "snaps visor" (schnapps songs) and how to enter the contest. Here are the rules   Good luck!  Finally, just for fun, here's a nice looking snaps recipe for the adventurous.  Thanks Patrik at Santa Maria for sharing.  It looks yummy (see the picture above) I think I'll try it for my next party.  And maybe I'll get people to sing my new song too!  

LEMON AND FENNEL SNAPS

700ml vodka

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tsp Fennel SEEDS

The PEEL of 1 lemon, just the yellow!

Rinse the lemon well and finely grate the ZEST.

Add the lemon zest, fennel seeds and sugar in the bottle. Let stand for a few days at room temperature. Strain the spices and pour it back into the VODKA bottle. LET STAND LONGER FOR MORE FLAVOR. The taste is fresh, round and soft with perceptible sweetness and low bitterness.

Welcome back summer people!

Hej!  Här är jag igen (here I am again.)  Refreshed, and ready to go.  Does it have something with sending the little ones off to school perhaps? ;-)  I hope you all had a very happy summer, we did.  We spent four weeks in the motherland, i.e. Sweden, i.e. literally the land of my mother!  It was a wonderful break and luckily for us the weather was great so we enjoyed days on the beach, touristing, walking in the forests, and basically hanging out with friends and family.  The province that my family comes from is Skåne in the far south, and it's beautiful, but I'd love to know more about your roots dear reader and where you are from.

from blog http://sondotter.com

There's a wonderful book that I've enjoyed called Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi that I highly recommend.  It introduced me to another province in the highest north, Norrbotten, right next to Finland. Pajala is the name of the town and it's rough and fierce and full of characters that grab your heart and make you wonder about humanity.  "Popular Music from Vittula" on Amazon

Here is a quote from the book that I can relate to:

“The most dangerous thing of all, and something he wanted to warn me about above all else, the one thing that had consigned whole regiments of unfortunate young people to the twilight world of insanity, was reading books. This objectionable practice had increased among the younger generation, and Dad was more pleased than the could say to not that I had not yet displayed any such tendencies. Lunatic asylums were overflowing with folk who'd been reading too much. Once upon a time they'd been just like you and me, physically strong, straightforward, cheerful, and well balanced. Then they'd started reading. Most often by chance. A bout of flu perhaps, with a few days in bed. An attractive book cover that had aroused some curiosity. And suddenly the bad habit had taken hold. The first book had led to another. Then another, and another, all links in a chain that led straight down into the eternal night of mental illness. It was impossible to stop. It was worse than drugs." 

- Ha, ha!  So true.  But luckily for me our whole family enjoys reading so I've not been locked up quite yet.  :-)  

Beware of Swedish Skinny dipping!

These nasty looking creatures have been found in Oresund so now, not only do you have to worry about ecoli, you have to watch your privates!  Read more here: Pacu Fish  Luckily they don't have them on the East Coast (yet!) where we are headed this weekend.  Of course there are sharks so there's that.  ;-) Not to worry though, we're going to swim where the seals are not!  I plan to catch up on my painting, socializing, eating and maybe a little skinny-dipping next week so I won't be blogging as much.  There's a lot of cleaning to do too before heading out so I need to hop to it, but first I wanted first to wish you all a happy weekend, and a relaxing last week before school starts!

Formex

Formex, Scandinavia's largest design and interior design exhibition, is opening its door tomorrow in Stockholm, Sweden.  It runs this time from August 15 - 18 (http://www.formex.se/).

Last year my friend Christina and I took the train to Stockholm to enjoy the vast hall of innovative designers of different home items.  The creativity of the exhibitions and the beautiful items on display showcased Scandinavia's talents to the utmost. There were some interesting forums and lessons on retail design that we could partake in (I saw one on color trends that was fascinating) and I loved the way they set up the booths.  It was a lot of fun poking around the 800+ exhibitions with Christina. Here's the approximate layout for the event.

We saw many beautiful products that I would be proud to sell in the States if not for the cumbersome import regulations, shipping complexities, and high cost of the product which would allow for null profit in America. Let's hope that the talks between the U.S. and European Union lead at some point to what could be the worlds's largest free-trade zone.  Streamlining complicated rules and regulations might make it a little easier for me to bring beauties like these over here.

Formex - wish I could go again!

The hazy, lazy days of summer

Are the glorious days of summer turning into a fight for the remote?  This HOUZZ article reminded me of all the things I liked to do as a kid.  I would paint stones, make a soup out of gross stuff, comb the beach for shells, you know - keep bugs in jars and probably suffocate the poor things, etc.  I wish the same for my kids.  I find that electronics keeps nature out and the kids enclosed, kind of like those poor little bugs I used to stick in jars with a stick and some grass.  Set them free!  Today we are going to the beach and we'll make sure to build a sand castle or two, find some special rocks, and make a soupy mess.  Can't wait! Have a great Sunday everyone. Enjoy the article and this beautiful weather.  :-)

Turn Off the Video Games and Turn On Your Kid's Creativity

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Medieval week in Visby

Hello, please indulge my traveling back in time.  Just one brief year ago we were in Visby, on the island Gotland in Sweden for "Medieval week", this year taking place from August 4th - 11th, 2013. Gotland is a gorgeous island off the coast of Stockholm which is about the size of Long Island but sparsely populated.  It took us about 4 hours to get there by ferry.  We booked a cabin at 'Visby Strandbad' (here) north of the town several months in advance as it's a popular time to go, and we got their last "budget cabin".  Phew, it was expensive despite the name, so I'm glad we snagged it!   But check out the beach by the hotel and you'll see it was well worth it. The hotel had a nice restaurant and was close enough to town to bus.

Here's another pic from our hotel at night, stunning isn't it?

I had heard a lot about the Visby Medieval Fair over the years and it didn't disappoint.  Held annually for the past 30 years it allows people a glimpse into the past when Gotland was an important Hanseatic trading port, and a cosmopolitan city of the era.  Check out the events here: Medieval week 2013. Some of our family photos follow... ah, memories!

The copy below is picked up from http://www.visbysweden.com and has all the information you need and many more pictures. Hope you can make it there sometime soon, and if you've been please drop me a line! I'd love to know what you thought about this very special place.

"Visby is a walled town with roses, ruins, narrow cobblestone streets, a wide range of cozy restaurants and pubs, markets and of course the town wall itself: Visby was formerly a Hanseatic town in Sweden. The Hansa ruled Gotland for hundreds of years during the Medieval Times, today it's a popular destination for tourists.  Discover the beauty of this medieval town in Sweden. Look at the pictures in the photo galleries, or read about the growth of Visby here.The town of Visby in Sweden was in 1995 chosen by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites. The Medieval Week on Gotland is a medieval history event with thousands of participants, and here we show The Medieval Week in pictures. Medeltidsveckan is one of many big medieval events in Europe." - from www.visbysweden.com

Beach, blanket, books!

Living la vida lagom has meant for me this week: books, beach and cleaning.  Do you sometimes find that summer flies by too fast carting kids to camps, and making do with a quick hotdog to truly enjoy the season?  Well I do too so yesterday we opted to hit the beach, Wallis Sands to be exact, with good friends and good books.  I finished Henning Mankell's " A Treacherous Paradise" and Master Luke worked on the Code Alera serie (book 5) while his little sister read more from "Ivy and Bean."  I love that the kids now enjoy reading as much as hubby and I.  It's such a wonderful thing to pass on to your children.  (Former 2nd grade teacher talkin' here.)  Speaking of wonderful things to pass on - a couple of ancient tomes were reacquired by the Swedish government lately.  Stolen by a library worker, who later killed himself, they were purchased by an antique dealer in Baltimore and sold.  When he found out that they were stolen he bought them back from his clients - out of pocket- and returned them to Sweden.  Honest bookseller makes good, that's a feel-good news story don't you think? Swedish stolen books returned  Now on to cleaning!

happy pride week

Last year we happened to be in Stockholm for the annual gay pride festival.  It was a total surprise to us but helped answer my question why the city hotel rooms were so packed.  Luckily I had booked early and in the coolest youth hostel imaginable.  It was a beautiful boat moored by Skeppsholmen, one of the many islands in the Stockholm archipelago, and very comfortable.  The name of the boat was "Af Chapman" and we had two rooms on board, one for the kids to share, and one for hubby and I. (Af Chapman here and above pic)

(video from You Tube captures the 2012 festival pretty much as I remember it)

We spent the day of the pride festival touristing in Gamla Stan (the old part of town) and were caught on the wrong side of our hotel Af Chapman by the steady stream of pride parade revelers, floats, and large trucks dunking disco music from the 70's.  I'm all for a good party, and was happy to watch until a particularly graphic float went by and I had some uncomfortable kid questions to answer about whips and what not, and then we fled across to parade route to our own party boat for dinner and dancing!

For more information on the parade, check here: http://www.stockholmpride.org/en/

It's all his fault...

Sorry that I haven't posted in so long.  The cross-Atlantic trip tired me out for a while (major jet-lag) and then I discovered Henning Mankell.  (http://henningmankell.com/) so he's also to blame! I'm one of those people that doesn't usually read crime novels (at this point I'm guessing that there aren't a lot of us left) but they don't typically grab me like a good work of fiction.

But this time I got hooked by Henning Mankell's One Step Behind, (Steget Efter in Swedish) a Kurt Wallander mystery.   The book was exciting in a very unexciting way - it's hard to explain but the tone was very factual and low-key - and yet, as you read the facts and were led down the path that Wallander was following it became very intense and interesting.

Kurt Wallander's fictional home town is Ystad, a beautiful little town in Southern Sweden that I've visited many times.  Here's a photo of the charming hotel, Hotell Sekelgården, that we stayed at the last time there. Well worth a visit!

http://www.sekelgarden.se/

So blame Mr. Mankell for me disappearing, I may actually have to put this blog on hold for a while since there are at least 9 more Wallander books and several films from the series to watch! Find the inside scoop: http://www.inspector-wallander.org/mysteries/one-step-behind/

And FYI, Hotell Sekelgården pops up in several of the Wallander mysteries, and has a suite named in his honor.  Contact Peter at info@sekelgarden.se if you want to book it, and partake in one of the Wallander tours of Ystad.  I think I will the next time I'm in Ystad, after I plow through more of Mankell's books.  A Treacherous Paradise is next!  NY Times Treacherous Paradise review