The poor kids essentially had to go to school today even though it was in the comfort of our own home. It was time for them to do their "cultural training". An introduction to the history, customs, traditions, etc of the Swedish people. When we moved to France, this was suggested by Josh's company only for the adults but since the kids are older this time around, they wanted to do a session with the kids as well.
So, the kids sat from 9 til 4 with a very nice woman and man who taught them all sorts of things about Sweden. Although they did not enjoy giving up their Saturday for this, they all said that it was interesting and they felt like they learned something. Josh and I will do our adult session of this on Monday.
Josh and I just had to kill time all day and although we did not want to abandon the kids for long, we did take a long walk through the park at the end of our street. It was a beautiful, breezy day with temperatures in the 50's so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Weird to see how all of the boats are now out of the water and dry docked in the various marinas. Not nearly as pretty with everything covered up and under tarps, waiting for the snow and ice to come.
As soon as the door closed behind the cultural trainers, Tabitha was out the door. Heading to the subway station to meet her friends, go out to eat and to see a movie. She certainly enjoys her city life in Stockholm!
The rest of us took a long walk through the city, window shopping and just enjoying the old town after dark. Today, the sun set at 3:18 so it was fully dark before 4 p.m. It is quite hard to not just want to go to bed at this time! You almost have to force yourself to do something and get out of the house. Too easy to curl up on the couch with a book!
I have been practicing my Swedish baking the past couple of days. Swedish people seem to love sweets and always have them with their fika so there are all sorts of sweet treats that we see all over and often. The most common thing is the chocolate ball (chokladboll). It is seen and sold in EVERY coffee shop, 7Eleven, bakery, grocery store, etc. They are simple, delicious and loved by all. They are either covered in coconut or more often, in the Swedish pearl sugar.
I made my first batch today. Yummy!
On Thursday, I made the very famous St Lucia saffron buns or lussekatter. Saffron is another spice that is used very frequently in Sweden. It is expensive but sold in tiny, little affordable packets in grocery stores everywhere, especially as it gets closer to Christmas. The saffron buns are a big tradition on Dec 13 as the Swedish people celebrate St. Lucia day. I want to make sure that mine are good, and ready by then, so I started to practice. They are certainly delicious and the whole batch is already gone!
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