Life in the Land of the Ice and Snow
Infiltrating Sweden one cinnamon bun at a time
This past weekend I went to a book-release party in the book department of a department store. This has to be the strangest place I’ve ever been for a party. I’m fairly sure that whoever runs the department store must have realized that everyone would be using books for coasters and potato chip plates. Even … Read more
… Just a short entry for Friday. I had to put out coffee and sugar at work for for visiting guests today. Never put a sugar bowl in the reach of small children. I caught them three times today licking their fingers and dipping them in the sugar. My apologies to those adults who take … Read more
Home (for the second time this year) with a child who has a concussion. Don’t worry, he’s fine – just needs to rest. We have a family of 4. This year two of us has had concussions and the other has broken their nose (plus a sister-in-law that broke her face). If my husband can … Read more
Sausage. How can anyone mess up a sausage? This was always my belief until I moved to Sweden. How do you mess it up? Turn it into falukorv! I’m not sure what falukorv is either than a nasty sausage that has a slight pickling taste. Sausages are not to be pickled! For some reason, kids … Read more
Unfortunately, I don’t mean the music group… It’s become even darker this week. I woke my youngest son up today who kept complaining that I was a horrible mother for making him eat breakfast during the night. I totally agree. In two weeks we have the time change. When this happens, I will go to … Read more
I stumbled upon a hidden jazz club the other night. It was great! Just a little underground place that you can see when coming out of the movie theater (which I was). There was a man playing a stand-up bass. Everyone was age 65 or older. It was a very Twilight Zone, time traveling moment. … Read more
I went to the movies this week which started me thinking of the differences between movie theaters in Stockholm and Houston. So today I have a list of pros and cons. HOUSTON PROS Pickles STOCKHOLM CONS No pickles One of the best things about the movies in Houston are the giant Del-Dixi pickles. I have … Read more
Last winter, our family went to Prague for the Christmas market. We discovered a wonderful thing about Christmastime there – they start selling hot wine at 10 in the morning! No wonder the entire city was so happy! Stockholm needs to catch up with this. In fact, the whole world should catch up with this. … Read more
In Stockholm, there are always people in the morning handing out the Metro, which is a free newspaper. It’s nice to have it handed to you, as everyone is usually running to a train. But now I have become spoiled. Lately, about once a week, these same people also hand out a free product from … Read more
A Swedish 12-year old asked me today if you are allowed to be a vegetarian in Texas. I told her no.
I just realized that this past weekend, my kids ate meatballs for lunch, danced to Abba and watched the Swedish chef on YouTube. I never noticed just how Swedish they are. Next weekend we will have to eat apple pie, dance to Bruce Springsteen and watch Dallas to even this out. On a side … Read more
One great thing about Stockholm. Every job I’ve worked at, there’s always a bottle of champagne in the fridge.
It’s already getting darker outside. It’s supposed to be gradual after the autumn equinox. Just a couple of minutes a day. LIES! It jumped an hour earlier just 2 days after the equinox. In just a matter of days, it’s already become harder to wake up and we are all contemplating when to switch to … Read more
Why is cherry not a flavor in Sweden? I’m from the U.S. and I’ve travelled to many other countries in Europe. They all have cherry flavors! Cherry candy, cherry liquor, cherry drinks and maraschino cherries. But in Sweden? NO cherries. Why? There are cherry trees everywhere. It’s one of the few things we don’t have … Read more
One of the best things about Sweden is all the pastry-themed holidays. Today is Cinnamon bun day! When I asked why we have a cinnamon bun day, I was told – so they can sell more cinnamon buns. Brilliant! That’s all the reason I need. We also have Luciadagen, with saffron buns (this lasts through … Read more
Let me tell you a little story about a trip we took on one of these discount airlines. To protect the airlines identity, I’ll call them Lyin Air. We chose Lyin Air because we found a price to our destination that was incredibly low and because it was hard to believe anything could be that … Read more
Yesterday my 5-year old son said, “Mamma, when you are killed I will be old.” Mistake in English or warning?
One good thing about living in Sweden – a surprisingly small amount of bugs in the house. No roaches! Only fruit flies for 2 weeks of the year and maybe a small spider or two. It’s really spoiling me for vacations in warmer countries. In Texas this summer, it was an ant invasion. In Italy, … Read more
I was reading an article in the paper earlier this week about activities on the subway. Five people were polled regarding what they like to do while riding the subway. All five answered “Sleep.” Is that really what they like to do, or what happens? I started a job last month which is 30 minutes … Read more