Winter

Winter is here. Tonight the temperature came down to -20 degrees Celsius. Not as cold as in the north of Sweden (close to -42) or other parts of Europe, but still cold.

This time of the year

Now it's time for "semlor" again (that is, the Swedish Lenten buns). Yesterday I made a batch of 14 and the idea is to eat one every Tuesday for the coming weeks until Feb 21st, which is the official "semmel-day" this year. But 14 are more than enough so there will be a couple of buns in between as well (and maybe even a second batch later on)...

The Lenten buns are made out of a sweet bun with almond filling and whipped cream under the lid and, of course, powder sugar topping it off.

Refund

Unlike in Switzerland, the soda cans and bottles in Sweden are recycled with refunds and therefore we don't have special bins for them. But it's not always you feel like dragging an empty bottle around until you can recycle it so many cans and bottles end up in the regular garbage cans. However, this is not always the last stop for the empty containers since some people; elderly, homeless or just bored, go all around downtown to scan the garbage bins and earn themselves some money by recycling. A while ago when I was walking through Uppsala I saw these pillars here and there - give and take stations for bottles and cans! How clever!

The Vasa ship

Last Sunday we took our guest back to Stockholm and to the Vasa museum where the more than 300 year old Vasa ship is preserved. It is one of my favorite museums and I still find it fascinating that 95% of the original ship is right there on display. This time, however, Inga and I didn't pay 100% attention to the ship, instead we trained on walking - Inga's new favorite thing...

Nordic animals

Last Thursday, Inga and I met up with Liz in Stockholm to visit Skansen, the oldest outdoor museum in the world. There they have lots of interesting things to explore, e.g. different Nordic animals. We saw bears, wolves, wild boars, moose, different kinds of seals and some beautiful reindeer - and learned that reindeer are the only deer where both males and females have antlers.

Springtime - twice

This picture was taken in Lund two weeks ago. Now we are relocated to Knivsta and once more go through the first phases of spring. When we arrived here about a week ago there was still a big pile of snow in our yard. It's completely gone now. Instead, green leaves are showing on our small lawn...

Sunny, chilly Sunday

After only enjoying the beautiful weather from inside yesterday, today Inga and I took a walk in the sun. We followed the same route that I walked almost every day last summer (until it just got too hot even in the mornings) but it was quite different. In Rinnebäcksravinen the water level is low and at some points frozen to ice. The ponds by the sewage plant are covered with thin ice layers now and the thistles along the shores are only dry skeletons. But there are signs of the upcoming spring as well.

Buying vegetables

When I was a child, my parents had to weigh and put price-tags on all the fruit and fresh vegetables they bought. This has long been history in Sweden. Instead, the cashiers learn all the four digit PLU codes by heart (or occasionally look in a table) and all the costumers have to do is to put the apples or onions in a plastic bag. I was amazed to come to Switzerland where the "old" system is still up and running. And when I by mistake forgot to tag my cauliflower or eggplant, the cashier took I run (and I really mean a run!) to the fruit and vegetable department to weigh it in for me. That's what I called service.

But at the same time it's kind of stupid. Because if they had a scale and a catalog of PLU numbers by the counter, they wouldn't have to take that run. And if they had a scale and all the necessary PLU codes by the counter there would be no need for the costumers to do the job themselves at all. In the end, it would mean that the costumers have to wait a tiny bit longer by the counter, but save much more time in the vegetable department since there is no risk of forgetting the cucumber number before reaching the scale (since in Switzerland, every vegetable and fruit have a number, and by the scales you press the individual number for every item). I guess this is what the supermarkets in Sweden figured out long before I bought my first orange.

However, Sweden being in the frontier, the scales are now reintroduced. Not for every Tom, Dick or Harry, but for everyone following the self-scanning trend. So now, we who call ourselves the go-aheaders run around the supermarkets with barcode scanners, fooling ourselves that we are saving time while what we really do is to save the cashiers from work. And of course, self-scanning means that we have to go back to the scales for the potatoes and watermelons we buy since there is no cashier in the end to do the work for us. And to confuse it all even more, even if you are not a self-scanning costumer, you can still use the scales and "save time" at the counter (in case there's an unexperienced cashier who doesn't know all the PLUs by heart) by spending an eternity by the touch screen that goes with the scale to find the image of that fennel...

Some stores in Switzerland also have the self-scanning option, and something tells me that they will completely skip the scales-at-the-counter-step, no matter how costumer friendly that would be.

The shortes day of the year

Today it's the shortest day of the year. Here in Lund the sun will rise at 8.35 am and set at 3.36 pm. Not too bad, I have to say. In Knivsta, where we will live next year the sunrise is at 8.48 am and the sunset is at 2.50 pm. Then comes the "extremes": in Brugg (where we lived while in Switzerland) the sun is up between 8.12 am and 4.39 pm whereas in Boden, where I grew up, it only shows itself over the horizon between 10.03 am and 12.59 pm. This is however very much compared to places above the polar circle, like Kiruna, where the sun neither rises nor sets at the moment. They have to wait until a bit into January to see the sun again, after 25 days of darkness with only a bit of dawn immediately followed by dusk. But on the other hand, the sun never sets there between May 30 and July 15! Feel free to compare to this. Now, what do you say about that? One thing is sure: it'll only get brighter from now on.

Snowstorm

It's snowing today. A lot. And since Skåne is so flat, it's not only snowing, it's snowing horizontal. In this beautiful weather I took Inga to the gym for the last mother-baby-class this year. The walk there was ok, the walk home was another workout session. :-)

Lucia

So, yesterday it was the day of Saint Lucia here in Sweden. I didn't have the opportunity to watch any Lucia train this year, something I hope will change next year since it's such a beautiful thing to experience. Take a look here to see for yourself (it's mostly in Swedish of course, but since music is universal I am sure you can enjoy it nevertheless):

Luciamorgon

In this show, some of the most popular singers in Sweden contributes. The man, telling the story behind Lucia, is a well know actor (and luckily for you who don't know Swedish, the stories are quite short).

This link will work until January 13th 2011.

Saffron buns

Yesterday I finally got down to baking the traditional Saffron buns that we eat this time of the year in Sweden. Tomorrow, December 13th, it's the Lucia Day here and the tradition is to eat Saffron bread and gingerbread cookies on this day while listening to the Lucia and her maids singing seasonal songs. The dough to the buns gets a really nice yellow color from the saffron.

Yesterday night Matts and I had an evening fika consisting of the saffron buns, some Zimtsternen as well as Swedish mull wine with almonds and raisins. Yummy!

Winter wonder land

The new star

This year we sadly had to replace the Advent candlestick that we had in the kitchen last Christmas since it doesn't work anymore. Instead I bought a new standing star that brings the Advent feeling into the kitchen.

Summer memories

The winter is here. Outside it's white and snowflakes are flying around in the air. The sun hides behind clouds, but the clouds aren't thick enough to completely block the sunlight. It's simply beautiful.

This summer we went to Öland, the second bigges island in Sweden, situated right outside the east coast of Småland. It is a beautiful place. At the southernmost point, one of Sweden's most known lighthouses stands, Långe Jan. I have been there once before, but then it was closed. This time, however, we were able to climb the stairs all the way to the top. The view is beautiful.

Beneath the lighthouse, naturum is situated. There are several naturum in Sweden, and they all educate the visitors about the local plants and wildlife. Around Långe Jan there's an ornithological station, so it's mostly about birds in this naturum.

Elderflower cordial

During this morning's walk with Inga in the lovely weather, I collected more than 60 bunches of elderflower. Back home I rinsed them in water and then let them sit on a towel, waiting to become elderflower cordial. I never made elderflower cordial before, so it's kind of exciting, but it's not hard to do so I am quite sure it'll taste just fine.

After rinsing the flowers, I placed them in a big casserole and covered them with three lemons in thin slices. Then I added 2 liters boiling water, 1,5 kg sugar and 50 g citric acid. I stirred until the sugar was dissolved and now it's supposed to stand covered for three days before filtering. Then, hopefully, we will have about 3 liters of concentrated elderflower cordial...

It's getting darker...

Now it's getting darker again. Today the sun rose as late as 4.22 am and it will set "already" at 9.55 pm here in Lund. In the north of Sweden (where I grew up) the sun rose at 1.00 am and will set at 00.06 am... How I love the summer nights in Sweden!

Summer is here

Today it has been a really nice summer day with high temperatures. So when Inga and I walked through the botanical gardens today I wasn't surprised to see lots and lots of white skin... Yes, we Swedes tend to undress as soon as we get the chance. I am however sure that many will regret this later on when their skin is bright red since not everyone uses SPF 20 like I do...

The sun

Today the sun rose at 5.31am and it will set at 8.39pm here in Lund. The days sure are getting longer. But it's much darker here in Lund than in Boden where I grew up - there the sun rose at 4.04am today and will set at 8.59pm. In Brugg, where we lived in Switzerland, the times are 6.14am and 8.32pm...

Springtime

Now spring is really here. A couple of weeks ago, the ground in one of the parks on the way downtown was covered in blue, scilla. I just learned that another name for these flowers is blåstjärna which translates into blue star. Beautiful name for a flower that really shines like a star in the sun!

The scillas are slowly fading now and instead it's the wood anemones that take over. I really like them. These spring flowers are something that I didn't grow up with at all since they don't exist in the northern parts of Sweden. My mother, born somewhere in the middle of Sweden did miss them a lot when she lived up north... Her favorite is the Hepatica and when she was here we spotted them downtown, outside a restaurant. But I haven't seen them anywhere else here in Lund and according to my flora they don't thrive in here in the southernmost parts of Sweden.

Now all the trees really start to burgeon so very soon it will be very green here. In the north of Sweden they still have lots of snow and will have to wait another month or more for the green leaves...