Back in the swing.....

Four weeks flew by and we had an amazing time back in the states with all of our family and friends. So many people jumped through hoops to visit us in Florida, host our family their homes, and went out of their way for us to enjoy the holidays after traveling so far.  We love you all and are so appreciative for all of it!

The trip started out a bit shaky, when a man collapsed on our plane and we had to make an emergency landing in Copenhagen so they could rush him to the hospital.  He was internally bleeding and we are not sure he made it there alive.  It was hard to complain about missing our flight, staying overnight in Amsterdam, getting bumped off our next flight and then losing our luggage for 48 hours, when the man might not have lived to see the next day.  Andrea's lesson learned.... always pack clean underwear and some face products when flying.  You never know when you might need them.

The weather in Florida was beautiful.  The kids loved playing outside, riding skateboards, and swimming in the pool.  I enjoyed soaking up sunlight.  I never knew how hard it would be to come by.

Spending time with my sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephew and parents was awesome.  We really miss the whole crew!  We were especially thankful this year, because both Steve's family and my family, were all together for Christmas.

Thanks to my awesome sister and brother (in law) for hosting not only my family, but Steve's parents as well.  It takes very special people to open up their home like that.  And that... they are!!!

 It was a great time!  Atlanta wasn't quite so warm, but it was an amazing time.  We rung in the new year with the best of friends, and the rest of the week we ran around visiting as many people as we could see.

The boys were in their glory spending nights with all their besties.  I barely saw them the entire week.  Thank you so much for our friends that hosted all of us throughout the week.  A special thanks to the Kenney's for putting up with us for a whole week.  We love you guys like family and can't wait for our big trip this summer through Germany!

Coming back to Sweden was very difficult for me.  Spending that much time back in America, and hanging out in Atlanta with all my friends, doing all the things I used to do... made it very difficult to leave.  I thoroughly enjoyed shopping by the way.  Very glad Leah was able to join us at the mall before she got sick.  Bad timing... but a great day spent together.  Steve was not happy with me when we had to purchase another suitcase to bring back all the things I bought.  If there's ever a time to say "I told you so".. now would be it.  Steve, I told you that I was going to do A LOT of shopping while I was home.  I was true to my word!

The temperatures in America have already dipped a lot lower than any temps we are experiencing here in Scandenavia.  I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but.... I am so disappointed in how warm and NOT snowy it has been.  This is a record breaking winter for the Swedes.  Not sure why I'm not happy about it though.  The rain won't stop and it's very dark and dreary.  Perhaps a little snow would brighten up our days.  Plus, Santa gave the boys new sleds for Christmas and I'm so excited to use them.  :)

Our flight back to the states didn't go any smoother than the one coming.  The first flight was canceled.  We were put on a flight the next day into JFK.  Why they put us on a flight going out of NY in the middle of a blizzard was beyond us.  But when Steve tried to argue this point, they wanted nothing of it.  So.. without surprise, the next day that flight was canceled too.  Instead of staying longer (which of course I was begging for) we decided to go to the airport and Steve would pull rank to get us on a flight to Europe.  The boys had soccer tourneys the next day, and he was determined to make it in time.  Sure enough, he got  us on a flight from Atlanta to Houston to Paris to Stockholm.  Besides the screaming two year old that sat next to us for seven hours, 20 something hours later we made it.  Our luggage was not so lucky.  All six suitcases disappeared in their system.  Actually, my iPad almost didn't make it either.  We had an hour or so layover in Paris.  When we arrived, they told us that we were not on the flight.  Without going into detail, we were the very last people to board while they worked some magic and got us on.  The entire plane was seated and waiting for us.  Walking on the plane as "those people" was not fun.  Of course we didn't care about anything but getting home.  When we sat down and they shut the doors and started the take off process, Chase yells out that my iPad is not here.  I then realized that I left it sitting on the counter.  At that point Steve was annoyed with everything, and just wanted to leave it.  I, on the other hand, was not so willing to walk away from MY iPad.  I jumped up, walked to the flight attendant and told her what happened.  She told the pilot and he opened up the window and started insisting that someone quickly go retrieve my iPad.  Can you imagine what all the people were saying about me while they waited, yet again, for me to be seated.  The Ipad was found and off we went.  Two hours later we landed in Stockholm, went home without our luggage, and Jake and Steve took off for his soccer games.  Jake played awesome and slept like a champ that night.  The following day we all went to Smith's tourney.  He too played awesome and slept great that night.  The rest of the evenings didn't go so well.  I had three boys awake each night from midnight until all hours of the morning.  Wide awake!  The jet lag finally wore off in time for the first day of school that Wednesday.  Those four days were brutal for not only the kids, but Steve and I too.  Thankfully, we are all back on Sweden time and back in the swing of our life here.  They located five of the suitcases a few days later and delivered them to our apartment.  Wouldn't you know that the only suitcase still missing was mine.  A small tear dropped from my eye upon hearing the news.  I was at this point regretting that I insisted on my clothes and new purchases being in a separate suitcase.  To my surprise, the next day, mine arrived.

one of the pilots invited the boys into the cockpit

It was now time to get back to reality.  The vacation was over... no more driving everywhere, shopping in grocery stores where you can read the labels, talking and smiling at people you don't know, and shopping for clothes and essentials at reasonable prices.  I woke up Sunday morning and knew it was time for the dreaded task.... grocery shopping.  I bundled up, grabbed ALL of my grocery bags, knowing this was going to be a big load to lug home.  A few hours later I returned with a cart full of basics and four bag loads of food hanging on every part of my body.  No need for a gym workout today, I just completed it.  The boys received new hockey sticks from Santa.  Since Steve was off from work until Tuesday, the boys were dragging him outside to play with them.  Come Tuesday morning, Mom had to be that fourth team member.  So, out I went, to enjoy some hockey with my boys.  It was actually fun.... and good for my funk of missing life back home.

Wednesday morning came and it was time for school.  The routine went as smooth as it could have after a four week vacation.  No one, including Steve, was mentally prepared for a full day of work.  I on the other hand, was quite excited.  Lori planned a "Welcome Back, Fika" with a bunch of our friends.  We met at a place near the school, The GARAGE.  We sat for two hours catching up, sharing stories of travels around the world, and laughing about our crazy lives here in Sweden.  It was exactly what I needed to push me out of my "I miss America funk".

The highlight of the morning was when a random woman walked up to our table and told us to Shush.  Ahhh and there it is.. Swedish charm.  Like I mentioned so many times in my blogs, Swedes do not like people talking.  I will never understand this.  We were having a great time.. and this rude woman had to tell us to be quiet.  My response, "leave if you don't want to hear people talking".  "Go home, by yourself, in your own apartment, and be miserable"!  Of course, that was my response in my head, and not actually to her face.  I'm not that brave yet!

I was surprised to still see Christmas decor all around the city.  Our apartment building had a Christmas tree at the entrance that didn't exist before Christmas, but was all lit up the first week of January.

 I did some inquiring and found out that Christmas season runs through January 13th here in Sweden.  Here's a little blurb from graphicgarden.com for you to read:
In Sweden Christmas ends at the 13'th of January with Knut's Day. This is the day when the Christmas tree is taken down. In families with children, it's common to have a "julgransplundring" ("plundering of the tree" party). The children get to eat the candy which was used for decorating the tree, but nowadays they usually get little bags with candy instead.

In most countries, Christmas ends at the Twelth Night, so why are we celebrating it for a week longer? No one know for sure, but many believe it's because of something that is said to have been going on during the Viking era: "Midvinterblot" ("Midwinter sacrifice"). The legends say that there were human sacrifices and great feasting, which took place on 13th January. It is believed that Christian Church wanted to put a stop to it by bringing the Midwinter sacrifice into the fold of Christmas.


Thursday morning a group of us met to taste our way through Stockholm.  Francis led us around the city.  His company, Stockholmfoodtours.eu is a must if you are in Stockholm.  We started the tour in the Hörtorget square at the jam shop P&B Delikatesser.  We sampled jams that contained only 30% sugar, the rest is all crushed fruit. 

 It is common to heat up cloudberry jam and pour it over vanilla ice cream for a yummy treat.  Since I absolutely love licorice, I thoroughly enjoyed the next sampling.  Lakrids, made in Africa, is the smallest licorice factory in the world, yet the most popular in Sweden.  My favorite was the chocolate covered licorice.  YUM!  

We sampled pralines from Gothenburg, there were tons and tons of flavors.  

For those of you coming for a visit, we will most definitely visit this shop for all your sweet tooth needs.  I also found this Avocado Garlic salad dressing that is very good.

From there we moved on to Chokladfabriken, where we drank the most delicious hot cocoa, and sampled fabulous truffles.  The hot chocolate was made of 65% cocoa and was so smooth and creamy. A popular spice here in Sweden is cardamom.  I am not particularly fond of it, so when the first truffle was sampled, it was not to my liking.  Since Francis aims to please, he saw my dislike, and offered to buy me any truffle I wanted on the menu.

Since I can't turn down hazelnut chocolate, I took him up on his offer and was in heaven for the next 30 seconds while I savored the taste!

truffles and cocoa

we are all planning to return for a much bigger mug of cocoa

perfection

Francis, offering his knowledge of chocolate 

Our next stop, the 7th best food hall in the world, my all time favorite place to shop, Saluhall.  There are only a few others that meet the quality of the one here in Stockholm, and those are in Barcelona and Budapest, to name a few.  Jamie Oliver claims this to be his favorite food hall in the world.

Francis filled us in on the history of Östermalm, where Saluhall is located.  This area was all farms and then it changed to have more of a city feel.  They copied Paris and added wide sidewalks.  Now this street is hustling with people making it hard to believe it was ever farmland.  Upon entering Saluhall, Husmans Deli was our first stop for sampling.  I learned about the history of Västerbotten cheese, where legends say it was made by love.  We also tried boxholm, spicy cheese.  Here is a picture of Lori that sums up our feelings on this cheese. All the food in this deli are free range, never in a barn.

yuck

 We walked a few steps over to B Anderssons's Fägel and Vilt Specialisten where we were handed a small dish with some cold meats and a cup of beer to enjoy.

Francis, our tour guide

These meats would go perfectly on the antipasti platter at my sister Dee's Christmas celebration.  The hot, smoked elk was my favorite (far right on the plate).  The elk salami tasted a lot like the salami we are used to in the states.  The meet on the far left was cold, smoked reindeer.  I was not a fan.  It was a bit too slimy for my liking.  Dee, you can count on me to bring the antipasti next Christmas!  :)




The produce market, Lisbeth Janson Frukt and Grönt was fabulous as well.  Our wonderful Ecuadorian friend shared about the famous Swedish apples called Ingrid Marie.  They grew in the yards of many homes, and adults become nostalgic when eating them, remembering back to their childhood.  Apple mousse is a popular dessert made with these apples.  Many locals stuff their turkey with them as well.   There are no allergies related to this type of apple.

holding an Ingrid Marie apple

I loved so many things about this tour, but my favorite, most useful piece of information came from this lady above.  She taught us how to pick an avocado.  Too many times I come home from the store with either an over-ripe avocado, or one that never gets soft.  The trick, pop off the little brown stem.  If the color underneath is green, the avocado is fresh and ready to eat.  Any other color, put it back.  

 The beans above are called broad (English) beans.  They're cooked out of the pod.  The best way to eat them, with salt and cheese.

remove the bean from the pod before cooking

After Saluhall, we walked to Norrlandsgatan 33 to the restaurant Pontus, where we were served the traditional toast skaden, shrimp on toast with Swedish spices and wine.  We were also served a mid afternoon glass of wine to enjoy with our toast skaden.

According to Tripadvisor.co.uk, Pontus is ranked #300 of 1,840 restaurants in Stockholm.  I don't have a lot of experience with Swedish cuisine, but I will say that this dish was very good.  Not low in calories by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm very thankful that I brought my gluten and lactose pills along on this journey.

Francis knew what he was doing when he walked us (no public transportation) through more of the city as we burned off some of the many calories we consumed.  We were given a brief history lesson on Kungsträdgården and how it was cabbage fields planted by the royalty of the time.  Then it was all changed to Elm trees in the 1970's as the Metro stations went up and the buildings were being torn down.  Now, some time between April and May, for one week only, you can see the most beautiful cherry blossom trees.  I will make sure that I take pictures of them in the spring and post them on this blog.  For now, my postings of Kungsträdgården are my boys skating on the ice rink.

We walked to the Opera House, where many years ago King Gustav was shot and killed.  We walked past the Royal Palace, which Swedes are proud to say is bigger than Buckingham Palace in England.   Below you'll see me in a  picture with the White House in the back.  The Prime Minister lives here.  In the spring and summer he can be spotted riding his bike across the bridge to Parliament, where he works.

a distant view of the Palace

2:00pm sky

Opera House

White House

We continued to walk across the bridge into Gamla Stan (Old Towne).  We passed the viking restaurant, Aifur,  that I must take the boys back to for dinner one night.  Our next stop, Polkapojkarna, where we learned the story of Amelia Erikson.

 In 1859 she accidentally invented peppermint candy when she put together a concoction with peppermint oil that she hoped would heal her sick daughter.  When her daughter ate ALL of the medicine without complaining, making a full recovery, Amelia made the decision to start selling it.  Back in the 1800's, this would be illegal for a woman to do, so she asked permission, was granted permission, and became the first woman entrepreneur.  She lived to the ripe old age of 99.  These peppermints were the best I've ever tasted.  For those of you that know me, I can't stand candy canes.  These are amazing.  For one, there are no preservatives and artificial ingredients in them.  They are made with vinegar, which helps them preserve.  The candy eventually, after being in your mouth for a few minutes, become chewy.  They had an amazing assortment of flavors to choose from.  I brought home pear, blueberry, wild strawberry, wild rhubarb, and traditional peppermint.  Jake is not a huge fan, but everyone else loves them like I do.

peppermint candy in lollipop form

one of the owners rolling the peppermint sticks

Our final stop on the tour, my favorite,  Fika under the chestnut tree.  This cafe was so cozy with great service.  The patio actually had a chestnut tree, and in the spring and summer you'll see tables and chairs set up under the tree.  I will most definitely be visiting this cafe when the weather warms up.  If you are planning a visit to Stockholm....I promise to make this a stop in our travels.

This cafe is translated "Under the Chestnut Tree"

The actual chestnut tree outside of the cafe

Swedes have a day dedicated to these masterpieces kanelbullens dag

It has taken me almost a full week to write this blog.  At the beginning, I was complaining a bit about the warmer temperatures and the lack of snow.  Well... watch what you wish for.  Within  a few days of writing that, our temperatures have dropped to the teens and twenties and the snow arrived.  Yes, it's freezing, and yes I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold, but... I have to say, the snow did brighten things up.  It's amazing!  I dress completely differently than I did when I lived in the states because we spent more time in a car than actually outside.  Now that I'm walking all over town, I don't leave home without my wool socks, big fuzzy boots, long, heavy winter coat, hat, gloves and scarf.  When I'm dressed properly, it's not quite as bad as I imagined it would be.  UNTIL... my kids want to play at the park after school.  After standing in these below freezing temperatures, in the dark, for over an hour.... well... there's no hope for warmth then.  But.. I did my mommy duties on Tuesday and let them play soccer on the fully iced soccer field.  It was actually very entertaining to watch the boys sliding all over the ice and still managing to hold down an actual game.  Then I looked spot in the middle of the field, and Chase was standing completely bundled up, barely able to move, jumping up and down.  

As for the Swedes, these temperatures or snowny/icy conditions don't slow them down.  I still see people riding their bikes to work, walking their babies in strollers, and even the elderly walking all over the city.  The sidewalks are not paved or even shoveled, so the ice is thick and very slippery.  I am actually very cautious on those streets that aren't traveled on as often because I almost fell a few times.  People are cruising around like it's 70 degrees (although, they are bundled up).  It's very amazing to see the differences in our cultures.  

We were able to use our new sleds this past weekend.  It was so fun sledding down the big hills in the park across the street from our apartment.  Kronobergsparkan seems to be the place to go sledding.  There were tons of people, both kids and adults, at the park until all hours of the night.  The trees and poles are all padded for safety.

Chase wasn't so sure at first...but then loved it

Smith was in his glory

the bottom of the big hill.... but with enough speed... they would fly down the steps

Look at his cute little face

Boys need to eat, regardless of the weather, so I put on my winter garb and headed out the door to the butcher not far from our apartment.  I was in search of ribs.  When I arrived, he told me that he didn't have any left.  Yes, a very common phrase here in Sweden.  They obviously don't buy in bulk like we're used to.  He then remembered that he had some beef ribs in the back.  He came out with two 1/2 racks.  I was nervous that it wouldn't be enough food for my family.  When I asked him how many people he thought that would feed, he asked, "Americans or Swedes"?  I laughed, because that is a great question!  After a bit of discussion, he said, "this is enough for five adults".  "If anyone is eating more than this, then they shouldn't be".  I laughed... because he is so right!  I brought those racks home with that speech in mind.  We actually had plenty and a bit leftover as well.  

I'll end with this story... since we all know how much I love rudeness.  The boys and I were heading home from school today.  We saw that the train had already arrived, but people were still unloading so we started running towards the doors.  One set of doors was not open, so I ran up and pushed the button, which normally opens the doors.  I was standing directly next to the driver (do you call them conductors on the metro?).  He saw us rushing, and obviously struggling, as I'm literally dragging Chase (my stuffed marshmallow man) along.  I quickly run to the next door, where Jake is waiting for us, and right as I get to the door, he closes them, stairs me in the face, and takes off.  If the boys weren't with me, I'm confident I would have yelled something at him.  I was fuming!  I had to take a few deep breaths, call him a bunch of obscene names in my head, and calm myself down.  I thought I had moved past it... until I wrote this post.  Now I'm angry again!

Saturday night we had the Erikson's over for dinner, our friends Åsa, Jimmy and their children Liam and Nina.  I made my mom's famous chicken with wine and mushrooms.  We had a great time, as we always do with this family.  We decided that night that we would all go skiing in February together.  I'm in process of booking that trip as well.  Here's a picture from that night... the kids are definitely wound up.

Well.... next week is my birthday and my awesome hubby surprised me with the most amazing gift.  Lori's birthday is a few weeks after mine, and our husbands are sending us on a girls' weekend to Paris.  We are busy planning that because we leave on January 30th.  Living in Europe is pretty amazing!