Swedish Specialities

Sweden is known as the home of many things especially modern technological things, as I mentioned earlier there is IKEA, Volvo, SAAB cars and their fancy defence computing things, Ericsson (now merged with Sony) and maybe even H&M, and Electrolux but, something that you you never think about is their food. With the exception of the food you get at IKEA, the Swedish chef on the Muppets, and the great word Smörgåsbord not many of us know about their cuisine and what it consists of. Having been to Sweden before, visiting friends and their families there, I kind of had a small knowledge of it, but I was young in those days and really not as "foody" as I am now. Of course I knew things like Gravlax, Pepparkaka (what we in Australia call Brandy snaps), the fantastic Salmiak, and my sister's favourite Ahlgrens bilar. So, I was very excited to find out what else was about in Sweden. From my previous visits I had tried lots and lots of berries, and even some moose, but in all honesty couldn't remember much about the food with the exception of when I was trying to read a meat name in Swedish when in Stockholm and the meat counter lady just said to me with a smile "It will be quicker if you ask in English". From memory it was some form of ham..... but, I digress!  

We were talking to John and Madelene, and to a lesser extent Loke, about food. They suggested that we go to a local organic farm. Off we got into the car and headed to the farm.

Our organic location

You can visit the shop of the gardens

Organic Basil

Organic but not free range eggs, as they would eat the vegetables.

Organic flour, some really great Spelt flour here only 59SEK!!!($AUD8.5, 26PLN, 5.65GBP, Euro6.48)

The shop had a great and simple lay out.

Some of the local cheeses, yes one of my other passions.

We purchased a 2kg bag of spelt flour. Delightful stuff!

Marty looking proud

And now a flour model to boot.

I can't remember what this flower was from! If anyone can tell me that would be great. But isn't it pretty?!

Glacé Cherries? No these are just normal slightly sour cherries, as the season in Sweden is a few weeks behind us here

Zucchini or Courgettes looking great in the glasshouse

The garden appears to be set out in a way for permaculture.

More nameless flowers... please help botanists!

The old scales still used to weigh the produce.

So after going to the farm shop we started to get a little peckish, so John and Madelene drove us down to the Göta Canal. Which runs across Sweden as a water highway if you will. We stopped off at a great place that could only be described as a little fish shack. It was here we dove head first into another Swedish delicacy, smørrebrød, the open prawn sandwich. It comes with plenty of Mayonnaise, hard boiled eggs, some dill and lettuce. For 95SEK (13.90AUD, 9GBP, 14.80USD , 41.80PLN, 10.40Euro) you would think "Hey that is a bit expensive" but the fact was it was a complete meal. You certainly couldn't eat two of them!

Pretty big, no?

There are plenty of prawns in this sandwich.

Marty struggled to finish hers but she couldn't let a prawn go to waste, she loves them that much!

Also the shop had some delightful looking smoked fish this here is Roding is Char in English.

Do you want some extra Sik with your fries? This is the common or European whitefish also called Lavaret in English

We also made a little salad later on for the kids with boiled new potatoes, prawns, a little spring onion and some garlic with a decent helping of mayo and black pepper.

Of course we could always go back for snake, if you have space.......

Soon the FUCCers will arrive..... let the games begin!

The very best of the best of Warsaw #3

#3
Palace of Culture and Science (Pałac Kultury i Nauki)
I have to admit that this one really surprised me, as almost everyone always complains about the Palace as being an eyesore (part of the reason for the name of my blog). It was a "gift" from the wonderful and benevolent Josef Stalin. When I say gift, I mean it was paid for by Poles, built by Russians who were housed in luxury at the expense of the Poles and made from Polish material. But Stalin did allow them to build a structure, of which there are 7 identical ones of varying sizes in Moscow, to Russian plans and ideas. It only took three years to build and at this point in time it is 187th tallest building in the world!
It goes even better by being the second tallest clock tower in the world!
I love the Palace, it always lets me know where I am when I get lost. It can be seen from most anywhere in Warsaw and I really don't think it is as ugly as many suggest. Also, it hosts many events, has a cinema, a night club and an observation deck. A deck I am still yet to visit! Some joke (like they do with the Eiffel Tower) that is has the best view of Warsaw, because you can't see the Palace of Culture from there.

Around the base are some fun communist statues like this one.
I really just wish they would make the surrounding square nicer, remove all the car parks, shut down the roads around it and install some cafes, restaurants, link the central station and the metro line by a tunnel and just pretty it up a little. They have removed a horrid market that was standing when I arrived and it will be replaced by a new Museum (of modern art) which looks great, so it shows some promise and progress for an other wise dead heart.
Even with this moaning, I still love the Palace and it looks great at night too!

Cultural influences

There are many things that influence the culture of a country, from language to neighbouring countries, through to weather and freedoms. Something I have noticed lately in Poland is somewhat of a revolution in people from the first few times I came here. That is to do with a new national hero. The advantage of my job is that I am able to talk to a wide variety of people and am able to learn about the current and past psyche of Poland.

In the past, Poland (or more correctly, Polish people), had a wide variety of heroes, tending, in general, to be more matched to their national persona being more conservative in their choices. Common examples given to me in class have been people such as Pope John Paul (Jan Pawel in Polish), Copernicus, Chopin, Marie Curie (Maria Sklodowska in Polish) as more historical champions. Where as in more recent times, choices have been still conservative but slightly more modern, in Adam Malysz (pron. Adem Mow-wish) a multiple world cup ski jump champion and now in Robert Kubica (the F1 driver - pron. Coo-Bit-zar).

It is with Robert Kubica that I wish to stay as well. Something I have noticed is that his relative success has inspired many of the Polish people. In specifics, the people who drive public transport. Recent trips have seen my self along with countless grannies flying around the bus as the driver feels a round-a-bout is a perfect chance to practice his chicane form. A red light is a great chance to practice late breaking, and a pedestrian crossing means nothing, as they don't exist in F1. Sometimes, when riding the bus, I catch a glimpse of excitement in a granny's eyes as they enjoy the small moment of entertainment, as someone goes flying past them while they sit securely in their seat. Also, you can see a similar glimmer, of a time past, when they get thrown round the standing zone in the bus, it kicks their minds back to the days when nubile and flexible. The days when their hips weren't so fragile and a skinned knee was the sign of a day well spent. Then reality kicks back in as they curse at the driver and frown at the younger person who didn't give up their seat to them.

So you can see cultural influences and national pride is not just for rednecks and sportsmen, but for everyone that can take a small amount of pride in what someone does in the name of their country. Even if it threatens the secure existence of grannies.

P.S. I wanted some granny photos to go with this but couldn't get them in time. Maybe another post