...Swedish Food!

EDIT: SO I finally got my work done (oh, yes, we actually study on exchange!) and have decided to set aside time to write something in here because, well, I am very afraid that I will forget this entire experience soon after the 5 months are over. So here is an entry on SWEDISH FOOOOD. 

All right first I have to confess I came to Sweden thinking that they were famous for their seafood, but apparently not really, they're famous for other things. Anyways the things they're really famous for I've more or less already tried at least once, so here we go!

Well this is not going to be in chronological order or anything 'cos I really can't remember what I tried first, so let's just talk about my first visit to a local's home for dinner, shall we? What actually happened was that I found a church to attend for these 5 months in Uppsala, and one of the church members (who is also our translator because the sermons are ALL in Swedish, thank God for her!) invited us to a authentic Swedish dinner (meatballs and all) at her home! Of course we accepted and we went, and we were totally not disappointed! 


Introducing our host for the night, Karin! She's really great at whipping up home-made everything - home made jam, home made meatballs, home made mashed potatoes, everything! And she's really good at Swedish-English translation, too :)



Before the food was ready, Amande (yes, she came alllll the way from France!) and I were just lounging around in the living room.



So that was me waiting to get my food. Was just thinking "I can't wait, I can't wait!"



And finally we all sit down to eat! Check out the dinner table! Such a lovely homey arrangement right? From left to right, it's Sue (South Korea), Christine, Clarice, Melissa (Singapore), Madeleine (Germany/Sweden), myself, Alvina (Hong Kong), and Cha (South Korea)

A more up close view of the meal we had. Everything, and I mean everything you see on the plate was hand-made from scratch. The Meatballs (or Kottbullar as they call it in Sweden), were made out of a mixture of beef and pork (because Karin says that a variety of meat makes the meatball taste good!). Mashed potatoes -- no instant mix was used, just butter, potatoes (peeled from scratch, all 5kg of them!!). And then we have that little potato-beetroot mix there, which is kind of like their 'vegetable' side dish that I notice most swedish meals seem to include. Of course we have the meatball sauce, and Lingonberry jam at the side :) 

Then there was a nice SURPRISE cake! HOME MADE, no less, for Alvina from Hong Kong! Karin whipped up this mixed berry cake, I don't know how she does it, it was heavenly! There was blueberry, blackberry, cranberry, I don't know how many berries exactly were in there.


Myself, Alvina and Cha!



That wasn't the end of dessert. We had Vanilla Ice Cream with again, home-made cloud berry jam! It's the stuff made of heaven, ice cold ice cream with thick, hot syrup over it. Delish. 



And so here are the lot of us, reallllly satisfied with the dinner we just had :)

And that was probably the first dinner I could call an authentically Swedish one. A bunch of us also headed down to one of the nations (student clubs) for a Swedish Food Night thing; it was fabulous. Very chill, laid back place, it's great to just hang out there. 



We ordered a bottle of Pear Cider, it has a littttle bit of alcohol, and its really nice stuff. (Cheap, too!)


And of course, Swedish meatballs, just to see how it's like again at different places. Nice hand-made ones; they always beat the processed ones. 




This is Pytti Panna, with beetroot. Pytti Panna is like this mix of cubed potatoes, ham, and that's about all I can make out of the picture, haha I didn't know what I was eating really! Anyway pytti panna's pretty much widespread in Sweden, I see it everywhere, they even come in those instant frozen packs. 



Pea Soup or ärtsoppa, apparently eaten on Thursdays (but I don't think we went on a Thursday, but anyways.), and served with Pork and Mustard. 



That's Clarice and I, totally happy with the food!



Clarice, myself, Mel and Junyi, great company for the night!



And this was what I was talking about when I said it was chill and laid back, it wasn't too noisy, a tad crowded but not in-yer-face crowded, and it had a very warm, comfortable ambience. I loved it. And even more so I love those posters on the wall.

All right now we're done with the authentic thingums, on to the processed meatballs you find in IKEA. Nessa said it was a sacrilege to eat meatballs in IKEA whilst I was in Sweden, but hey, you have to try it at least once, right? 



And here are the 15-meatballs meal. Its not a bad deal, for 10 SGD you get salad, meatballs, and coffee and soft drinks! And bread. If you notice, the potatoes are a bit bigger than SG's, and the meatballs tasted a bit different too, I really think its the weather that makes a difference.



And here we have a picture taken in Stockholm, Clarice and I were backpacking there and we essentially packed all our food along with us (we bought from Uppsala first, because things were really expensive in Stockholm. Ridiculously expensive.) The bread you see in our hands is Kanelbulle, or Cinnamon Roll. The ones we're holding is quite substandard, we've found better ones so far. It was simple fare, but just eating it and drinking hot chocolate, sitting in a 7 eleven and watching Stockholm go by was... enthralling.




Again in Stockholm, I know it's Pizza and it's not really typically Swedish, but Italian food is apparently very popular here. There are many pizza/pasta/kebab joints, and I must say the quality of the Italian food here is not bad at all! I love their pizzas. Huge, Thin and Crispy, and chock full of toppings!

And so I think I'm done talking about Swedish food here, I'll cover Stockholm, Copenhagen, Daily Life in Uppsala, and a little Gasque (formal Swedish Dinner, gasp!) I went to recently :) soon. Soon. In due time. I will, I must.

Labels: exchange, food, photolog, sweden, travel

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