LearnSweden Blog

A Hockey held heart!!!!!! and some skiing

 Live from the sofa............

How happy can one be when Sweden beats Finland to get into the top 8 of men's Olympic hockey? Very happy. Louis Erikkson scored two goals for the Swedish team and one of them in the first quarter,but the best goal was just right at the end. The fans in this living room were going crazy.

Now we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how things are going to go.

Though I will watch any sport when it has to come to the Olympics, this girl stops for hockey. I just love the sport, always have, always will.

The other half of Learnsweden, however, has been firmly planning his day around the ski challenges. We were all so glad to see Anna Pärson come back and wish her much success in the slalom,.... and what about  Sweden's Charlotte Kalla winning a  silver medal in the cross country sprint? Yea!!! Way to go. Today Norway and Sweden will be natural rivals in the sprints. We will just have to see who ski's the fastest. I'm sure it will be Sweden, not that I'm biased or anything.

 

Go Anja Go!

It's the Olympics and I will be the first to tell you that I spend every night in front of the telli watching sports I didn't even know existed or only watch during the Olympics. One sport I always watch, however, and that is skiing. Wednesday night saw me coming off the sofa when Anja Pårson had a horrific fall on the downhill Alpine slope. Clearly she was on her way to a silver medal until she crashed. 

I was sure her Olympics were over, but no........I heard throughout Thursday that she was planning to ski in the super-combined, which is a downhill run and then the slalom. Anja, who was severly bruised on Wednesday was quite proud of her medals of the slope stating, "Normally I never bruise so I'm pretty pleased with my bruises."

Thursday night saw me back on the sofa wondering how she was going to get down that mountain?.... twice. Once I saw her come bounding out of the gate with an intense look on her face and steady skiing, I knew the others in the race had some competition. In the end she takes home a bronze medal. Way to go Anja.

 

Anja has had an illustrious career with a remarkable 41 wins (18 slalom, 11 giant slalom, 4 super-G, 5 downhill, 3 combined) on the World Cup circuit on which she made her debut as a 16-year-old in 1998.

Fru Semlor

What Mrs. Fields is to chocolate chip cookies, Valarie is to semlor. Yep that's me, Mrs. Semlor. Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, which in Sweden means it's the offical day to eat this divine little cardamom,marzipan filled, whipped cream topped, bun.

 

Monday saw me making these wonderful little delicacies for my family and friends. I love these little moments in a Swedish life. Coffee, Semlor, and good moments shared with those you care most about.

And so you won't feel left out......here's the recipe so you can make your own.

Semlor or Fat Tuesday Buns

1/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cup milk
1 oz or 2 packages of active yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp cardamom
4 cups flour
1 lightly beaten egg

filling:
the scooped-out portion of the buns
8 oz almond paste
1/4 cup or as needed of milk

garnish:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls sugar

To make the buns: crumble the yeast in a bowl. Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan, add the milk, heat until lukewarm (not over 100 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in the yeast until it is completely absorbed. Gradually stir in the salt, sugar, one egg, cardamom, and most of the flour. Work the dough until smooth and shiny, then cover and let rise 30 minutes. On a floured surface knead the remaining flour into the dough. Divide into 12 parts and hand roll into smooth round balls. Let rise 20-30 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Set oven for 375 degrees. Brush with the beaten egg and bake in the middle of the oven 15-20 minutes until golden and baked through. Set them out to cool.

To make the filling: cut off the top of each bun and scoop out a hollow in the bottom half with a spoon, or your fingers. Mix the scooped-out bits with the almond paste. Add milk to thin the mixture to a soft, smooth consistency. Fill the buns with the almond-paste mixture and then place a big dollop of whip cream. If you make stiff whipped cream go ahead and use a pastry bag. Place the top back on and sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. 

 

Semlor or Fat Tuesday Buns

1/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cup milk
1 oz or 2 packages of active yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp cardamom
4 cups flour
1 lightly beaten egg

filling:
the scooped-out portion of the buns
8 oz almond paste
1/4 cup or as needed of milk

garnish:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls sugar

To make the buns: crumble the yeast in a bowl. Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan, add the milk, heat until lukewarm (not over 100 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in the yeast until it is completely absorbed. Gradually stir in the salt, sugar, one egg, cardamom, and most of the flour. Work the dough until smooth and shiny, then cover and let rise 30 minutes. On a floured surface knead the remaining flour into the dough. Divide into 12 parts and hand roll into smooth round balls. Let rise 20-30 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Set oven for 375 degrees. Brush with the beaten egg and bake in the middle of the oven 15-20 minutes until golden and baked through. Set them out to cool.

To make the filling: cut off the top of each bun and scoop out a hollow in the bottom half with a spoon, or your fingers. Mix the scooped-out bits with the almond paste. Add milk to thin the mixture to a soft, smooth consistency. Fill the buns with the almond-paste mixture and then place a big dollop of whip cream. If you make stiff whipped cream go ahead and use a pastry bag. Place the top back on and sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. 

Semlor or Fat Tuesday Buns

1/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cup milk
1 oz or 2 packages of active yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp cardamom
4 cups flour
1 lightly beaten egg

filling:
the scooped-out portion of the buns
8 oz almond paste
1/4 cup or as needed of milk

garnish:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls sugar

To make the buns: crumble the yeast in a bowl. Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan, add the milk, heat until lukewarm (not over 100 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in the yeast until it is completely absorbed. Gradually stir in the salt, sugar, one egg, cardamom, and most of the flour. Work the dough until smooth and shiny, then cover and let rise 30 minutes. On a floured surface knead the remaining flour into the dough. Divide into 12 parts and hand roll into smooth round balls. Let rise 20-30 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Set oven for 375 degrees. Brush with the beaten egg and bake in the middle of the oven 15-20 minutes until golden and baked through. Set them out to cool.

To make the filling: cut off the top of each bun and scoop out a hollow in the bottom half with a spoon, or your fingers. Mix the scooped-out bits with the almond paste. Add milk to thin the mixture to a soft, smooth consistency. Fill the buns with the almond-paste mixture and then place a big dollop of whip cream. If you make stiff whipped cream go ahead and use a pastry bag. Place the top back on and sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. 

Snow.....Still

By Per Svangren    

Still there is so much snow here in Sweden. There is snow everywhere and it is very beautiful but we now are longing for spring to come.

Maybe that is why we are buying a lot of tulips. All of us. Yep,that should  give us a feeling of the coming spring.

Long icicles are climbing down from the roofs and we all are very afraid of what will happened when the snow is melting and all the snow will fall down from the roofs. Then we will have a dangerous period, walking on the pavement. 

 For now, we just have snow and the beauty that it brings but oh how I wish for spring.

Alla Hjärtans Dag

~ Wishing all of you the very best on Valentine's Day!

Wishing Someone a very Happy Birthday!

It's amazing how fast it happens but my baby is 11 today. All of us wish you a very happy birthday little "O".

 Along with a family party planned for this evening, another great reason to be happy is the Olympics starts tonight. I really love all of the stories of trial and prevail which come out of the Olympics. I wish all of you a very happy weekend.

 

Linda Olsson

By Valarie Budayr

This winter has been a real winter with much snow and wind. With this brings the on slaught of reading many books and drinking many coffees.

Over the last couple of years I've discovered, as probably many of you have, the novels of Linda Olsson. When I first opend "Astrid & Veronika" I thought I would be reading a quaint "Swedish" story but as the story unravelled layer by layer with it's honest and clear prose I couldn't put the book down. She has an uncomplicated view of human relationships and a gorgeous clarity which grabs you. The story caught me hook,line, and sinker.

When "Sonata for Miriam" came out it was like a meld between my best friend Suzy and myself. Both of us have family in Sweden. Suzy is Jewish and we have been to Germany to find out what happened to her family in WWII and I'm the musician, luckily still living. Along with an intrinsic review of the human story comes the added element of ones personal history. If one doesn't know their story is it possible to move forward? I've seen so many war survivors going back and piecing together their stories. I've seen so many people with Swedish heritage doing the same thing. Tracing their stories from the point of Exodus to the US and back to Sweden again. This story again has that incredbile clear prose which left me sitting in one place for hours until I finished the book. Because the story goes back and forth between time periods and situations I would get confused for only a small moment and then I could pick it up again quickly.

I've recently just discovered that Linda Olsson has her very own blog. While I was reading her posts I also discovered that we share something else in common and that is Visby. Her Swedish publisher sent her to a little house in Visby to write. I wish I could be sent to Visby to write. Honestly, not much would get accomplished because of all the family and goings on. So that's a dream for another person in a another life. I am so glad she made it to Visby.

 

I really like Linda Olsson's books and she just cannot get them out quick enough for me. So here I wait on this snowy day for Linda Olsson's next book. I hope it's coming out soon.  

The Chocolate Fountain

By Per Svangren

Have you ever had a brunch and enjoyed chocolate dipped strawberries. If not, you should try it. You take a red berry and dip it in the running warm chocolate, put it in your mouth and enjoy.
At the wedding exhibition we tried it. You could choose between white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate. We tried berries and marshmallows.
In Sweden, it has come popular to have a fontain at your wedding, instead of wedding cake or before dinner while the married couple are away taking wedding photos
They were selling small fontains, and we had a long discussion if we should buy one or not. After thinking we decided not to buy one. Thinking of our health, we decided to eat only when we are at weddings or at a restaurant that served it.

  

Lingerie

By Per Svangren

Victoria Secret´s may be the worlds most famous underwear producer in the world, but there are many Swedes doing faboulus design of Lingerie.
During the wedding exhibition there was a lingerie catwalk. Here are some examples of what the Swedish designers produced.