FOOD IN SWEDEN

Gunnel really went out of her way to make sure I had a good taste of Swedish food.

Every day at 5pm after work Bengt goes to his parents home for dinner. This week that has meant me too! So spoiled. Bengt kept commenting about seeing a spoon in the table setting – that meant dessert! Obviously not a normal daily occurrence. 

Tuesday we had pork fillets in a mushroom gravy, potatoes and salad with kiwifruit in it. Strawberries and ice cream for dessert. 

Pork Fillets in mushroom gravy

I went to the local supermarket to get something for breakfasts. The familiar names were not cereals I wanted.  Managed to choose a muesli that tasted good. Looked for the cheapest container that looked like milk and figured that was probably the one most people used.

Wednesday was baked salmon with potatoes, peas and salad. Dessert was strawberry and nectarine crumble with cream. Thursday was meatloaf, carrots, potatoes, asparagus and dessert strawberries and ice cream.

Friday we traveled north and stopped for lunch at a roadside seafood diner where you could also buy fresh fish. I had a baked potato with salmon. Yummy. This place had a variety of breads, water and coffee you could help yourself to. Flat bread is very popular.

We stopped in the middle of the afternoon on the island of Äspo. Evidently it was time for more food. Gunnel's cousin Kerstin (pronounced Chairsteen) had brought some drinks and cookies for us. I think it is a family trait  to keep everyone well fed. 

On Äspo

In the evening  Kerstin had made a cheese pie and salad for our dinner.

The next day was a buffet breakfast at our hotel. So many choices of breads, cereals, hot food and cold meats and cheeses.

We looked at a museum and wandered around the old cobbled streets of Oskarshamn until it was time for food again. We went to a cafe run by all the local churches. All the dining furniture seemed to be antiques. I ordered a hot chocolate and wondered why it had a skewer sticking out of it. Discovered it had a piece of chocolate on the end. Was yummy!

Real hot chocolate

We arrived back in Osby in time for our Smörgåstårta dinner. Wow! What a treat! A bread sandwich cake. Several layers of bread with creamy fillings such as tuna, cream cheese, mashed eggs. Covered with mayo, sliced eggs, shrimps, ham, caviar, cucumber, strawberries, lemon, lime, gooseberries, etc. First time I have eaten caviar. It was okay too.

Sunday afternoon Bengt came for me at 2pm so I could go to Gunnel for more food!. She had the idea that because I did not drink coffee I would not eat cookies! Now she knew I did eat cookies – her cousin must have told her how much I enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies Kerstin had made. So we had to have afternoon tea. When Gunnel was a child this would happen frequently with the neighbors. They would all meet for coffee and there would be 7 types of cookies available. Also some paper bags so people could take food home with them. She said she should have had more cookies on the table. So glad she didn't as I had to taste each one. There were bread buns, chocolate toffee biscuits, shortbread with almond mix on top, orange cake and then jam roll with cream and strawberry on top. She made all these except the jam roll. 

Three hours later we headed to Älmhult for an Asian dinner. I had a Thai red curry, Bengt fried rice and Gunnel and Sten had a mixed Chinese entree.  My last meal in Sweden. Diet to start now!