I still think Swedes are weird because ...

• They love pear and licorice ice cream
  
• They will wait patiently in line while the girl behind the counter picks the stickers off some apples and pretends they don't exist
  
• They use snus (probably deserves its own post, must get pix first)
  
• They frequently tell foreigners how boring they are as a people
• They think it's normal to pay $30 for an entree at a mediocre restaurant
• They refer to time in the future by what week of the year something will happen (Classes start week 34! When the heck is that?)
• The telesales people give up without really trying ("Oh, so I guess you don't want our new service then ..."
• They think falukorv is a) actually sausage and b) yummy (see picture above)
• They love big sing-a-longs and actually televise them nationally
• They watch the Euro Vision Song Contest without a wink wink nudge nudge
• They must actually order pizza with peanuts, banana, curry sauce and ground beef because it's on most pizza menus
• They will bump into you, knocking off your purse and stepping on your feet, and never once look at you or in any other way acknowledge the event
• They are obsessed with their children being outdoors as much as possible, snow and rain be damned

I left my stomach in SF

When I'm abroad, this is the food I miss from SF. Sure, it'd be nice to eat at Gary Danko or Fifth Floor, but I don't miss that with the pit of my stomach like I miss the casual comfort foods of the city, be it Thai, Mexican, Indian, burgers, Pho or whatever is on the next corner. I left my stomach in SF. Sadly I took 5 lbs home with me in payment, but I sure enjoyed it.

France - The Food

We spent a lot of time cooking, eating or shopping for food during our trip. This was partly because Emma, Amanda and I all like to cook (certainly we are gourmandes rather than gourmets) and partly because going out to eat with 5 children is just plain masochistic. So we spent lots of time around the big island in the kitchen (which you can see above with a morning's haul from the market in Carcassonne), chopping, chatting and handing out snacks to the kids who ran in and out constantly.

We stuck to French food (no surprise) and managed to hammer out boeuf bourguignon, duck confit, lentil stew with sausages, moules marineres over linguine, and couscous with merguez sausages and vegetables over the course of the week. I didn't get pictures of everything, but here are a few of the meals:
We also started every morning with a trip to the bakery for baguette, pain au chocolat, and croissant, accompanied by copious amounts of nutella, strawberry jam and strong coffee. Here's a shot from the market of the pastry booth, otherwise known as where I want to go after I die:
And since the Languedoc is cassoulet country, here's a shot of the very tasty cassoulet I had in Lagrasse. I have to say I couldn't quite bring myself to eat the duck skin or the big wedge of pork fat, but did enjoy the sausages, tender duck and cannellini beans soaked in the juices of the different meats and topped with crunchy bits of something quite a bit.

And that's the last of my report from France. Long live the Languedoc!

Goodbye semlor, hello books!

Some of you may recall that I posted in January about the arrival of the semla, the cream- and almond-paste-filled treat that can be found all over town this time of year. Well, yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and so we bade farewell to the semla for another year.

I was a bit dubious about the semla in the beginning, but there's just something about it. Perhaps it's the ridiculous amount of cream or the surprising soft crunch of blanched almonds mashed with sugar you come to underneath all the cream. Whatever it is, semlor keep you coming back for more, and the more you have, the greater you think they are. I've had my fair share this month, and I'm pretty sure that next year, come early January, I'll be jumping up and down in front of Steinbrenner and Nyberg when they post the signs announcing the arrival of the semlor in 2010.

Just as masses of semlor were making their way out the bakery doors on the 24th, masses of books were being unpacked into bookstores across the country for the season's "bok rea" or book sale. Some stores downtown and on the Avenue opened for a few hours at midnight for people who couldn't wait to get their cheap-o books for the year. Frankly, I can't figure this sale out because from what I can tell 80% of the books on sale are those books you find on the bargain tables at Borders every day. You know those books like Flags from Around the World or Thousands of Slippers that you only buy because they're on sale and maybe your friend's kid likes flags ... or slippers. The other 20% are discounted books you actually want to read, and I picked up a couple of cute kids books (with more great Swedish illustrations) for a few dollars. Adrian and I are guessing that there must be some prohibition on discounting books throughout the rest of the year (I think there's a similar rule in Britain?), but we've yet to find out. That sounds really lazy of us. Blame it on the semla obsession.

Swedish vs. American food

I had this whole post drafted about Swedish vs. American food. The thesis was that Swedish food is wholesome, but uninteresting and American food is interesting, but unwholesome. Nice, right? Unfortunately, after getting half-way through the post I realized I couldn't define what "American" food is so the whole thing went out the window. I mean, is American food only food native to the Americas: potatoes, tomatoes, turkey, corn, cranberries, blueberries and a chili or two? That doesn't seem right. Is it foods served at state fairs and bars around the country: french fries, pizza, ribs, chili, hot wings, onion rings and jalapeno poppers (as an aside I have been having a serious fried food craving since about last July since nothing in Sweden is fried. Well, except the french fries and they are crap). It doesn't seem fair to claim Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Indian, etc. as American food, though of course these are things we eat a lot and remind me of home. Maybe American food has to be defined by diversity itself, just like our beautiful melting pot of a nation (queue "America the Beautiful" and a spritz of Cheeze Whiz). That's certainly what I miss in Sweden.

Adrian and I did finally escape boring Swedish food last week (our first night out alone since my Mom was here in October - sad) and went to a terrific restaurant called Wasa Alle. Set in a former pharmacy building, the restaurant bills itself as Swedish eco-gourmet, so everything is supposed to be harvested from close by and produced organically. The seared scallop with deep-friend root veggies and clam foam was hot-cold delicious, as was the blueberry-marinated venison with the tiniest dice of roasted root veggies (though the presentation was a little too reminiscent of California cuisine a la 1986 with like 7 perfectly placed mini items on a big expanse of white plate). And we splurged and did the accompanying wine pairing menu and the wines were a revelation (no, there are NO Swedish wines and who knew there was white Rioja?). So it is possible to have interesting and wholesome food in Sweden after all. It just might cost you your first born.

O Inauguration

Like most of the world I watched Obama's inauguration live on CNN, wishing I was among the frozen masses on the Mall in DC. The inauguration was at 6pm Swedish time and the local Democrats Abroad outfit (If there's a Republicans Abroad group here it's VERY hush-hush) organized a watch-the-inauguration-with-fellow-Americans evening at a place called Stars 'n Bars in Gothenburg.

Like most American-inspired places around the world (and I'm having very bad memories of a place I waitressed in Munich called Ralph's right about now) Stars 'n Bars fails miserably at actually feeling American. Maybe it's the nachos served with cold fake cheese dip and weird garlic aioli and the burgers served with tarragon mayo, or maybe it's the Swedish waitresses. But the vibe is certainly not any America I know, and no amount of stars 'n bars pinned up around the place will fix that. Sorry people. Rant over.

But really, who cares about the surroundings once Obama starts speaking? That man can speak, and the feeling of relief, of hope and of pride was palpable in the room ... until the weird Swedish band called Gumbo started playing Chubby Checker. Here's my friend Deidre getting interviewed by a very sweet Swedish TV reporter about what it's like to be watching the inauguration from Sweden. Since Deidre's main goal in life is to leave Sweden and swears she has learned Swedish "despite herself," she's always good for a quote or two:
In some ways there's a barrier to really enjoying and relishing the moment of this inauguration from 3,000 miles away, surrounded by Swedes who are sympathetic but don't really feel the momentousness of this election. On the other hand, distance plays no role, and this inauguration has reached out and plucked the heartstrings of Americans all over Gothenburg and the world, making us ask ourselves what we're doing HERE when there's so much work to be done THERE.

They're FINALLY here!!!

There are signs all over town announcing that semlor are FINALLY here! Phew, just when you thought you couldn't get through another day without a sweet puffy roll filled with whipped cream and marzipan blob, they arrive. I mean, just, thank heavens!

Apparently, the semla is traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday (February 24 this year), which I guess explains the ridiculous amount of cream. If you're going to fast for the next week, you might as well just fill that puppy up with as much life-sustaining butter cream as possible. I think I just understood why Shrove Tuesday is called Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. Aha! But I guess it's too hard to wait until February 24 because people are chowing down all over town.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is technically next Thursday, November 27, but we are celebrating a little early this year. We'll be hosting friends this Saturday for a semi-traditional meal. Semi-traditional because Adrian is not a fan of:

• Turkey
• Cranberries
• Pumpkin
• Sweet potatoes
• Stuffing

In short, he dislikes all the crucial ingredients of a traditional Thanksgiving feast. He is, however, the only person I know who actually likes brussel sprouts. We are compromising and having turkey and pumpkin pie, but regular potatoes and a chocolate dessert in addition to the pie. Brussel sprouts are permanently outlawed.

Finding the ingredients has been less of a goose chase than expected. I bought a nice Swedish turkey from Saluhallen. He must have been nice because he cost 470SEK (about $60). And all the other key items are available at the ICA store around the corner (see picture of $7 canned cranberry sauce above), just way more expensive than they'd be at home.

I had to post a picture of the "American" aisle at the ICA. I can understand not being able to live without molasses, Pam, or Karo syrup, but are the following truly necessary to have when you're abroad??:

• Fluff
• Baco-bits
• Jell-o
• Pop-tarts
• Stove top stuffing

I think not. Except maybe the Stove top ... or the Jell-o. But definitely not Fluff.

Paj and pie

Paj, pronounced "pie" is a staple of the Swedish cafe menu. Somewhat confusingly, paj can be either the savory thing we'd call quiche or the sweet thing we'd call crumble or cobbler. Sometimes the savory variety is called "matpaj" (food pie) to distinguish itself from it's sweeter sister. I am guessing the term "food pie" only sounds unappetizing in English because people eat a ton of the stuff here. I haven't seen what we'd call a pie (getting confused?) filled with fruit or pumpkin or, drool, pecans, around, so I suppose cobbler is a reasonable, if less visually appealing, substitute. It is slightly intriguing to think what they might call our type of pie. American paj? (Sorry, I just couldn't help that one). Luckily I like pie, paj, quiche, cobbler, AND crumble, so any paj is pretty much welcome at my table.

Swedish pizza

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile. There are a ton of pizzerias in Gothenburg -- some horrible, some delicious, just as you'd expect. Our favorites are a Frenchie place called Cyrano and a take-away place called Il Gambero. The vast majority of pizza here is of the Euro variety i.e. individually sized with super thin crust and a light basic tomato sauce under the toppings.

The beauty of Swedish pizza is that the pizzerias are often combined with kebab shops. Because of this, kebab meat tends to sneak over onto the pizza menu, along with some other fascinating ingredients that were probably best left on the tree, on the animal, etc. Here are some of my favorite pizza topping combinations to ponder (not eat) from the place around the corner:

Verona: tomato, cheese, mushrooms, beef, banana, curry, peanuts
Reale: tomato, cheese, beef, egg, bearnaise sauce
Rhodos: tomato, cheese, pineapple, banana, ground beef, curry sauce
Tzatzikipizza: tomato, cheese, kebab meat, fresh tomatoes, onion, pepperoni, tzatziki sauce

Pineapple AND banana AND curry sauce, really?? Why not just throw some plum sauce and shredded coconut on there and make it really special?

Cafe Culture?

A year ago "cafe" was not the first word that came to mind when I thought of Sweden. But as it turns out Swedish cafes are just great, running the gamut from sleek-modern halls decked with flocked wallpaper to cozy little shabby chic retreats. Here's one of my favorites (of the shabby chick variety), Le Petit Cafe in Haga:

And yes, of course Ava's drinking a latte.

My other favorite at the moment is called the Språkcafeet, or the language cafe, happily located on Esperanto Platsen. They do a mean vegetarian buffet lunch for 69 SEK ($10) and there are nightly language exchanges where you can come and speak your language of choice. It's a bit crypt-like, which is perfect for escaping a grey day.

I try to avoid the American-wanna-be Espresso House (complete with odd 10-ft-tall photos of lonely paper coffee cups posed in urban locations: cup on a newspaper vending machine, cup on a wall) as much as possible. It's one of the few cafes (perhaps the only in town?) that serves decaf.

Cinnamon Bun Day

Yes, there is an official day to celebrate the cinnamon bun (kanelbulle) in Sweden and it's today! Happy Kanelbulle Dag to you!

When you miss La Corneta a lot

It doesn't take much to be a Californian. You have to live in the state, love the Pacific, think people smoking next to you is tantamount to manslaughter, and you have to really love Mexican food. Well I really, really love Mexican food and I miss the Mexican place near our house called La Corneta a lot. In particular I miss the super salmon tostada and the super shrimp burrito with black beans. Yum. I have been missing Mexican food so much that I decided to finally try the Jonberg taco stand (catchy, right?) on the Avenue. A woman from Queens told me she goes there and hasn't died, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I ordered the chicken fajita wrap and you can see the result above. It tasted OK, except there were no beans, cheese or sour cream and it was wrapped more like an overstuffed crepe than a burrito. Note the little plastic fork, which sort of defeats the purpose of the burrito concept. Sigh. Happily, the tortilla was pretty good and the peppers were nice. Overall: C+.

Saluhallen

There's a great food hall downtown called Saluhallen and it's much more fun to shop there than in the Willy's or Coop around the corner. It has tons of stalls selling fresh veg, meat, bread, nuts, cheese, tea, etc. I went down to find some Fontina cheese and plums today for a dinner party thing we're having tomorrow. Here's some pix from the outing:

Strawberries

Yesterday at the store I saw strawberries for $12/basket. Now seriously, who on earth would spend $12 on strawberries except maybe a hormone-crazed pregnant person who, like, NEEDED those strawberries?? Anyone else was just not looking at price tags yesterday. (And I'm not knocking hormone-crazed pregnant people -- I too had cravings but could never be friends with anyone who craved anything as harmless as strawberries. I mean, when there's nacho cheese and french fries and 43 lbs to gain??!)

Speaking of weight gain, Sonja and I were noticing that there seemed to be a lot more obese people in the UK than in Sweden. Not surprising, really, because if YOU were paying $12 for strawberries and $20/lb for chicken and everything had dill in it would YOU be overweight? No, no, now I'm just being snarky (grumble grumble).

Anyway, a quick data search confirms that, among women in 2002 anyway, the percentage of obese women in the UK was 21% compared to 10% in Sweden. And just guess which ladies have the lowest incidence of obesity in Europe at 6%? Hint: they eat Brie and don't exercise.

P.S. The rate of obesity of women in the U.S. in 2002 was 38%. I think the Republicans are behind it. Call Michael Moore!!

Cultural notes

I wanted to meet Sweden with an open mind. So before we arrived I decided to try to disregard peoples' generalizations about Sweden or the Swedes. (Not that there were that many generalizations to disregard since lots of people we told thought we were going to Switzerland, and the rest said "Oh, Swedes are so nice!") Having no familial or other connection to Sweden I thought it would be best to just wait and see what cultural surprises awaited us. So, having been here a whopping 7 weeks, here are some of the things we've noticed:

• Swedes like to take a number for everything. At the library you take a number to return your books. At the little store up the street, you take a number to pay. It's actually very practical because then there's never any confusion about who is first in line and therefore no need to ever say to anyone "Hey, buddy, you cut!" which would be MYCKET un-Swedish.
• Swedish technology is awesome. At the tax office, you walk in and a guy with a mobile tablet asks how he can help, then taps away, gives you a number (of course) and Bob's your uncle. And when you get a prescription, the doctor just sends an e-prescription to all pharmacies and within 15 minutes you can pick it up at whichever location you like.
• Swedes loves their sweets. Man! Ice cream, bulk candy, cinnamon rolls, muffins, chocolate. They love 'em ... multiple times a day.
• Swedish food is tasty but pretty basic and not varied. Potatoes, fish, sandwiches, strawberries. Ho hum. We are spoiled in San Francisco.
• The concept of "lagom," translated something like "good enough" or "adequate," is a very Swedish idea and pops its head up in lots of places. For example, you don't wear super showy clothes, because a Gucci handbag would mean that you maybe have a little too much extra money, and that you are trying to stand out, a no-no in many ways. This can create some weird internal strife when, say, you want a promotion at work -- I mean you're not supposed to stand out, but you want to be recognized for your performance at the same time. What to do??
• There's no cheap labor. This means manicures cost $50 and a cleaning lady will cost you $600/month. I'm all for a living wage in principle, but you should see my poor feet and the state of our kitchen! I really hate cleaning.

Do you know where your chicken comes from?

Well in Sweden they not only know where their chicken comes from, but who raised it. Even better, they get his picture and phone number on the label of the chicken! Check out the label in this picture. I'm thinking of calling Bertil to ask him if anyone ever calls him about their roasters. Also, the chickens are about 3/4 of the size of chickens at home, which makes you wonder what the heck those American chickens are eating to get breasts the size of Pamela Andersons. Anyway, I promise to make this my last post about chicken ... for at least a month.

We made good progress yesterday on administrative stuff. In particular, we were (finally) assigned a relocation person to help us find housing, and I registered for Swedish classes (these are free to all immigrants, plus you get free daycare while you learn Swedish). The woman who took my details spoke better German than English, so we had this strange conversation where I'd speak to her in German and she's answer in Swedish and then I'd ask something in English and she'd answer in German. I guess it worked because she gave me her sister's phone number at AstraZeneca to contact about work. I thought that was really nice, though work is the last thing on my mind.

Europe with kids

You just get to a beautiful European city and what's the first thing you do? Go to a museum? Check out a few churches? Walk from one end of the city to another? No! You go to the pony rides of course! Well, at least that's what we did on our first day in Gothenburg. The pony rides in Slottskogen appear to be one of the few deals in town at a mere 20 SEK or $3.20 a pop. NOT a deal were the chicken breasts I bought a few days ago that were $20/pound or the mushrooms that were $5/pound. Mind you, this stuff is not labeled "organic," "super fancy," or "extra special." Lord help us if we decided to buy organic chicken. I'm thinking vegetarianism is sounding good, as long as we don't eat mushrooms. Or asparagus, that was expensive, too.