God Jul! (Merry Christmas!)
Yesterday, Christmas Eve Day, was another challenging temperature day. (Funny, my blog seems to be perpetually stuck on the solstice, but it is actually Saturday 12/25/10.) In Dalarna, we looked to be the coldest spot in all of Sweden: - 30 C again. I don't understand the weather patterns here. Though I know our being in a valley and winds from the East plunged us colder than the North, it doesn't make sense to my Chicago mind that we should be warmer than the ice hotel.
Anyway...due to the cold, we drank the neighbor's glögg inside this year, then proceeded to be served every form of form and drink I had been avoiding for months (wheat, sugar, diary and carbs). The menu was glögg (mulled red wine), crispbread with cheese, three types of Jansson's (a traditional Christmas casserole made from potatoes, cream, anchovies, cheese, butter, onions and more cream) and beer, aquavit and Julmust. As the only non-alcoholic choice, I drank the latter...it's a special Christmas soda like Coca-Cola, but much better with a floral or berry-like fragrance and taste.
3 Types of Jansson's
At home before the fire, we ate our Christmas feast a few hours after sunset. (Around the solstice here, the light lasts from 9 am to 3:30 pm.) First, homemade herring pickled with onion & carrots served with boiled potatoes. Then more Jansson's with ham (accompanied by strong, excellent Swedish mustard) and red beets & sour cream and homemade apple sauce. Since it's not made from wheat, we had some fine rum. At some point, Mats and his mom had ice cream, but I was already in sugar shock from all the potatoes and sat covered in blankets (it was about 14 C in the house) watching Ghostbusters until I crashed into bed. I didn't even have the energy to do more than eye the fabulous gift from my mother-in-law: the catalogue of the exhibit Zorn Masterpieces now in Stockholm on loan from the Zorn Museum here in Mora...more on Anders & Emma Zorn later.
Church next to Zorn Museum
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