Increasing EU - US Relationships (aka French Dislike is Universal)

During my Swedish class the other day, I was talking with the 22 yr old german dude and the 20 yr old French guy (trying to get the hook up for where the coolest parties are in Stockholm – but they weren’t going to give up that info to a 30yr old, married father). I was asking them about Vienna (where Lisa and I are visiting in a few weeks), and the Parisan said that it was a gorgeous city, but that Austrians were all jerks. He had to leave after that, so I asked the German what was wrong with the Austrians. He explained that Austrians were fine, but that everyone in Europe hated the French, and therefore the French probably think the rest of Europe was filled with rude people. We then bonded over our mutual distrust of French people (although the kid in my class seems fine). Evidently they are all snotty, refuse to learn/use any other language and think they are better than everyone. We did some good solid french bashing until the train came - good to know that anti-francophiles are not just a US thing…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophobia

(finding the pictures for this blog was a good time, not going to lie)

The Swedish Chef Diaries – Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (and lingonberry jam)

Samantha was the first brave soul to visit us out here, coming in all the way from LA. I knew that there was only one option to greet her at the door when she arrived after a long day in the air. The original Swedish dish - MEATBALLS

Evidently the grocers were taking care of Sam (not a fan of seafood) and had chicken breast and ground beef for sale during the week. First time I had seen either of those options discounted, so we wanted to take full advantage. After some quick research I found a traditional Swedish recipe at the Annesfood blog (link below) and went to work.

I’ve made meatballs pretty often – usually using recipes from my mom or the Giovanello’s family secret. This recipe was a lot different with much “sweeter” spices used (probably not the correct word). Instead of basil and oregano, it called for cinnamon and allspice (among others). One problem we’ve run into so far is that our spice rack is still in route – so we haven’t bought too many temporary replacements. We have pepper, salt, paprika and an Italian mix. After checking out the spices and potential substitutes, I figured that I could just buy cinnamon and it would give a pretty good replication of the taste.

I decided to traditionally fry the meatballs, and they were just finishing up as Sam walked in the door. I quickly transitioned to the gravy (using greek yogurt instead of cream), and the mashed potatoes. Gravy – solid. Potatoes – oddly shiny….not sure why, probably bought the wrong type of potatoes?

Overall, we had a few substitutions and some things that didn’t exactly as planned, but I think it was a pretty solid “welcome to swwwweeeeeden”

Overall Score (out of 5)–

Jon – 4 BORKS

Lisa – 3,5 BORKS (the potatoes really hurt the overall score)

Samantha – 5 BORKS!!!

http://annesfood.blogspot.se/2006/12/swedish-meatballs-oven-baked.html

The Swedish Chef Diaries – Swedish Pancakes

Swedes LOVE their pancakes – but they aren’t the bisquick and aunt jemima kind. At the ericsson cafeteria, every Thursday is “pancake and pea soup” day – which is evidently very traditional.

In the spirit of going local, we substituted these pancakes for our normal betty crocker recipe the other day. Not going to lie, not the best Swedish recipe we’ve made yet. The recipe created a very liquid-y batter that made a much more “crepe-like” pancake. They did not look appetizing, but were kind of tasty. We ate them all (obviously), but will probably go back to our good ole ‘merican style pancakes going forward.

Or next time we will have to make some pea soup on the side….

Jon – 2 Bork

Lisa – 3,5 Borks

http://annesfood.blogspot.se/2007/02/swedish-pancakes.html

Our Real, yet Unofficial “Welcome to Sweden”!

As normal, Calvin woke us up at 6am this morning. What REALLY woke me up this morning though was the blinding snow storm outside. I was totally ready for snow when we showed up in January. I was excited for the snow in February as we walked around the city. I was getting a littttttle bored with snow in March. When we got snow on Good Friday I called it a “freak snow storm”. When I saw over an inch of the heavy stuff this morning, I lost it a little. I updated our weekend plans to include “hiding under the covers until it was 70 degrees”.

Luckily Lisa looked on the positive side and Calvin gave me a little pep talk (bah bahhh bah), and we decided to make a big pot of coffee and some tasty pancakes. After that, we decided to take the girls to a new dog park and play around outside a little bit. The hounds loved it, running around and chasing rabbits. Calvin loved watching the dogs, and I was able to show Lis the new dog park I had found.

I remembered that you can’t be scared of the weather in Stockholm. Maybe it snows here year round, but we are able to have fun and enjoy ourselves in any weather. No more snow depression for me right now! And we also prioritized getting some winter sports gear soon so we will be able to rock the cross country skies when it snows in July…

The Swedish Chef Diaries – Mussel and Cabbage Soup

My Monday morning routine is now focused on picking up the new weekly flyers to see what is on sale. This was the first week of our new “Swedish-cooking motivation” and I got pretty pumped up when I found mussels advertised on sale for something like $2 a pound. I found the mussel soup recipe on the official Swedish blog (link below) and was ready to do this on Saturday night. It was a pretty easy recipe, mostly mussels, cabbage, white wine and cream – which I grabbed Friday afternoon. When I was at the store, I put in my order for one kilo, and then when I increased it to two, I gained the respect of the fish monger who was impressed with my eye for value.

I started cooking everything as soon as the big guy fell asleep, and told lisa to get ready for a feast. She came in as I had begun to sauté the cabbage, laughed at me and then began to eat it raw. Evidently, while I can pick out shellfish like a viking, I am not so good with my non-nutritious greens. So I had spent 5 minutes sautéing iceberg lettuce….not the best start when it was one of 4 major incredients.

Further “adjusting” the recipe, instead of using cream we used some of the greek yogurt we have been feeding Calvin lately (this substitution worked better to no surprise).

This was a very quick recipe, only taking 15 minutes or so to make, so we were chowing down in no time. The clams (UPDATE - NOT CLAMS, MUSSELS - evidently we aren't used to shellfish yet) were huge (almost too big - couldn't fit on a spoon) and fresh. While the lettuce didn’t make the cut, and it wasn’t very “soup” like, it was a tasty broth that went great with some French bread we brought.

The best part of this was that the “soup” was great as leftovers – the next day I heated it up again and added a little bit of flour to thicken it up. We then put it over some pasta and we were good to go all over again.

Although I think that Lis and I were both pretty much done with it after 4 days of mussels, it is definitely one that I would do again.

Overall Score (out of 5)–

Jon – 4 BORKS

Lisa – 3,5 BORKS

http://blogs.sweden.se/food/2012/03/09/mussel-soup-with-shredded-cabbage/