LearnSweden Blog

Celebrating the Colors of Autumn

:: The Colors of Autumn

Truffles

The black gold, the mushrooms of Gotland, Bourgone truffles. Every fall the season starts sometime in September and lasts until sometime in December. Around 40 truffle dogs, Lagottos are working with their noses around the forests to find the truffles. It grows about 10 cenimeters or deeper under ground and you need a very good nose to find them. Lagotto are perfect for it. They are traditionally used in Italy, but they have become our tradition here in Sweden too.

Gotland is a good place for truffles, but they have also been found on Öland and in a few other places, but Gotland is the best place. You can´t pick truffles in other peoples land, so you need to own your own forest for it or pick in other people's forest by invitation only.

We have a big parcel of land, but we also pick for other people and our dog Diesel is a truffle king. Very fast he scan the area we are in and dig out the truffles. This weekend he picked over two kilos in about two hours. So we were very pleased and all the truffles were sold out directly.

You can eat truffles raw or heated up to maximum 70 degrees Celcius. Otherwise they loose their taste. If you have more than you can eat during the two weeks they are fresh, a good thing to do is truffle butter. Just cut small pieces of truffles into room temperature butter, stir and mix. Then put it in the freezer and you got a perfect taste for fried meet, boiled fish or in an omelette.

Happy Weekend

It's the weekend, which means it's stuga time.  We hope wherever you are that you have a great weekend. We'll be back on Monday .....

 
 
 
 

New Adventures in.....Love

While I've been in Sweden, Per and Lotta along with their friend, Mia Jiewertz, have welcomed a new arrival. In the beautiful country of Thailand on the island of  Kho Lanta,Per, Lotta, and Mia, are now organizing beautiful wedding ceremonies complete with photography and reception. Have a look at their new site and take advantage of this incredbile opportunity to love the one your with and get married in Thailand.

Here are a few words from Mia......

Jag heter Mia Jiewertz och likt många andra människor har jag en dröm om att kunna ägna mig på heltid åt min hobby.

I tio års tid har jag arbetat som lärare och funnit det givande och roligt.

När hela familjen fick chansen att flytta till Koh Lanta för att påbörja våra nya karriärer var beslutet att lämna familjen, vännerna och kollegorna i Sverige naturligtvis svårt.

Maken lämnade IT jobbet hemma och startade www.distansstudier.com och jag mitt arbete som bröllopskoordinator.

Efter  många planerade och genomförda vigslar kan jag säga att jag är överlycklig! Det är ett fantastiskt privilegium att få ta del av så många människors glädje på deras bröllopsdag.

Våra två barn fick dessutom chansen att börja på svenska skolan här på ön där de följer den svenska läroplanen.

Vårt liv här på Lanta berikas av alla trevliga människor, vackra miljöer och den fantastiska kulturen!

Jag önskar Er alla välkomna hit!

The site in English is coming soon .....

 

 

 

 

An Auction....Bergman Style

 

This auction has had many of us talking. Famed movie maker Ingmar Bergman stated in his will that he wanted some of his "stuff" to be sold after his death. Thursday the viewing opened in Stockholm and how what great stuff he had.

 

 

 

I didn't realize that Bergman and I both loved Carl Malmsten. The only difference is that Ingmar actually owned several pieces and I just gawk at the catalog and walk through the store. Of course I have to try many items in the store,.... I'm the one sitting in the comfy chair asking if there's any coffee.

Other items up for bid are the famous mora clock which inspired him to put it in several of his movies and the great "magic lantern".

Then there are those spare items that I don't think anyone really cares about except me......well in my own little world anyhow. I can dream you know.....dreaming is free.

You can go and view these items at Bukowski's in Stockholm. Viewing goes through Sunday and the auction is on Monday September 28th. Anyone is free to bid. The catalog is online and worth a visit.

Glad Helg Allihopa!

(today's photos are from the Bergman auction catalog)

The Stone Industry

 

During the Medieval period in Sweden people learned how to use lime stone and sand stone to build churches. In the fifteenth century lime stone and burnt lime were shipped from Gotland to Germany and other countries around the Baltic Sea. During that period many small factories were built, mostly on the east coast of the island.

 

Lime could also be burnt in Kilns. Big kilns were built and into them they put lime and wood and after five days of heat, the burnt lime was ready. After storing it for awhile, it was shipped all around the world.

Nowaday there is just the lime stone factory in Slite left and from the deep harbor lime stone still is shipped all over the world.

Today you can find a couple of the old kilns and factories left and some of them have been renovated and work as museums. These pictures are from one of them, in Barläst on the north east coast of Gotland.

Today

By Valarie Budayr

is the beginning of the weekend...... so off we go for a little relaxation and time together,because in 4 days it will be time to... (stay tuned)

Happy Weekend. See you Monday !

Auction

One - two - three - sold. An auction outside means summer. All around Sweden you will find summer auctions, where people put up their unwanted items for sell. Often things come from homes of people that have died and new generations want to have things from the older generation and if you are lucky you may buy things very cheaply.

The auction is totally run and ruled by the auctioneer. Sometimes the bidding is slow and suddenly he just knocks the gavle down after the first bid. Someone just got something very cheap. So you have to be attentive. And as that, you also may buy things you didn´t plan to buy. But that's is a part of the game.

So what can one buy? The answer is easy, everything - furniture, skates, carpets, paintings, bikes and you name it, everything is possible. It is very common to later see people on a TV program telling stories of how they bought a box of something at an auction for no money and in the box they found a small statue which happens to be worth millions. So it is really fun, ten crowns, twenty crowns, one - two - three - sold

The Stockholm week

Every year for one week in July, Visby is filled with young and beautiful people from Stureplan in Stockholm. This week the harbor is full of big fast yatchs. The town is full of people partying all day and night and the town is full of police.

 

This year the week that usually is after Båstad tennis week, was the same week, so the jet set people had to choose either Visby or Båstad. Well, it seemed most of them chose Visby, as the town was crowded all week.

 Many people dislike this week in Visby. Because of  all the parties means a lot of work for the police, with fights, stealing and drunk people. The restaurant owners and Systembolaget  (packaging store) have a very good week as they sell a lot of food and drinks and most of the drinks and bottles are champagne.

Near the water is Kallbadhuset, were you can dance from early morning until very late and when you are warm you can just jump into the sea and get cool to be ready for dancing again. 

Oh the places I've wandered.

It's great to be back but before I hit the road to go home, I just had to stop by one of my favorite places,Hood River Oregon. First stop........the lavender farm.