Aug
14
From Castles to Crayfish
Filed under Sweden 2010
It has been a week since I arrived in Sweden; I can only hope that the second half of my visit will take its time and not hurry along to my departure.
On Thursday, Fredrik and I took it pretty easy. We drove down to Laholm to check out a Swedish castle which looks more like a French country estate palace than a castle with ramparts, etc. The castle is privately owned and serves waffles in its cafe, so we ordered up two waffles and two cups of tea to enjoy outside. Peacocks roam the grounds so it was funny to hear their unique cries once in awhile.
Back in town, we went to the grocery store to slowly wander around and look at the different foods available. There are huge sections on caviar in tubes, liver pastes, and other weird seafood products not available in the U.S. All sorts of fresh fish are for sale. I did see Dove bath products, Green Giant canned vegetables, and Uncle Ben’s rice.
After that adventure, we returned home to scarf down a bit of dinner and then headed to Röda Kvarn (i.e. “The Red Mill” or, more well-known in French as “Moulin Rouge”), a movie theater, to see “Inception.” Get this, in Sweden, when you buy a movie ticket online (which is what we did) or in person, you purchase a ticket for a specific seat! How weird yet brilliant is that?! We arrived about 5 minutes after the movie started, but no worries on getting stuck with the worst seats. What also surprised me was that I figured being late was ok since, in the U.S., you have to sit through 20 minutes of previews before the feature film starts. Not in this case; “Inception” started right at the advertised time. A bonus for me was the Swedish subtitles, but I sometimes had a hard time focusing on the plot because I was trying to follow the English dialogue and read the translations below.
Yesterday, Fredrik had to study for an exam that he’s currently taking this morning, so I spent part of my day reading outside in the sun. I also helped Eva prepare food for that evening’s dinner. In the afternoon, we went to play badminton and had really good workout from that. And finally it was dinner time. The clouds that had drifted in that afternoon had mostly gone away, the air was still, and the neighborhood was peaceful so that you could hear dogs barking from blocks away. Eva had already set out plates and lit candles when Fredrik and I came out. The spread was amazing: crayfish, bread, cheeses, cherry tomatoes, dry sparkling wine, and a quiche. With the weather, the ambiance of the candles, and the delicious and beautiful food, it was like being at a fancy restaurant — but better! After a leisurely feast, we had baked meringue topped with lemon cream and red wine berries for dessert. YUM! What a perfect ending to the day.
