Calvin had to stay home from school today because of a cold/flu but since he is almost 15, he really didn't need me to be here. So, I headed out to this beautiful part of the city for my book club first thing this morning. We read East of the Sun by Julia Gregson and it was time to discuss it. Great book and once again, an excellent discussion! It just makes such a big difference when you have someone with experience and insider knowledge involved in your discussions! This book was about India and the English coming to India. Great fun discussing from both perspectives.
Some of us actually had to leave book club a bit early to walk (through the cold rain) to the PTA sponsored julbord at a local restaurant on our favorite island of Djurgården. Julbord is an essential part of the Swedish Christmas season and literally translated means Christmas table.
It is the huge smörgåsbord of traditional Swedish foods that were to celebrate the end of fasting during Advent. The main dishes for the cold portion of the "table" are varieties of herring and salmon. I counted 18 types of herring at our table and probably 10 types of salmon. I tried many, although not all and liked all but one. The fish paté did nothing for me...
The warm portion of the table has ham as the center piece but also other types of meats, potatoes, and vegetables. I thoroughly enjoyed the reindeer/moose meatballs, much to my surprise! We also enjoyed a glass of snaps, a Christmas beer, and the wonderful array of desserts!
A fantastic way to spend an afternoon and learn about another tradition. I did have a Swedish person and a Norwegian person sitting near me so that I could ask questions and have things explained.
My Norwegian friend doesn't even like herring though!
This evening, it was time to celebrate another huge event for the Swedish population and that is the Nobel Banquet! The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony is always held on Dec 10 and is a huge event for the city, as you can imagine. The royal family is present along with huge numbers of important people from around the world. The live coverage started at 2 p.m. and is still going on. We watched it on television but a friend of a friend was actually going to the dinner so we had a great time discussing her dress at book club. Many people stand outside the concert hall where it is held to see people "walk the red carpet" and to catch glimpses of important people. The kids even had a fancy 3 course dinner at school today with cloth table cloths, etc to mimic the real dinner tonight.
While watching the royal family on television, I realized that their escorts wear those crazy sailor hats like the kids wear for high school graduation! I am going to have to research this a bit and learn more about those hats...
No comments:
Post a Comment