Monthly Archives: July 2011

Warning: Your Toilet Might Be Trying to Kill You

Written on July 27, 2011 by in Travel

I’m reading David Foster Wallace’s essay on taking a luxury cruise through the Caribbean, “Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise.”

For anyone who has ever been on a cruise through the Caribbean and has experienced the strange sensation of being simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by most of one’s fellow shipmates (as well as the nagging uneasiness regarding the fact that you are on the same cruise as these people), this essay is laugh-out-loud, pee-your-pants funny. If you haven’t been on one of these cruises, it’s still probably funny, but maybe not as much.

This is the only photo I have of our cruise--my youngest sister, Beth, and I are very excited in the car on the way to the ship. I think I was 16 at the time, and these were (obviously) the coolest faces to make.

The essay is quite long and DFW manages to sustain the funniness throughout, not an easy task. My favorite part so far is when he describes the toilet:

… But all this is still small potatoes compared with 1009′s fascinating and potentially malevolent toilet. A harmonious concordance of elegant form and vigorous function, flanked by rolls of tissue so soft as to be without perforates for tearing…

The toilet’s flush produces a brief but traumatizing sound, a kind of held high-B gargle, as of some gastric disturbance on a cosmic scale. Along with this sound comes a suction so awesomely powerful that it’s both scary and strangely comforting: your waste seems less removed than hurled from you, and with a velocity that lets you feel as though the waste is going to end up someplace so far away that it will have become an abstraction, a kind of existential sewage-treatment system.

DFW continues in a footnote:

The Nadir‘s Vacuum Sewage System begins after a while to hold such a fascination for me that I end up going hat in hand back to Hotel Manager Dermatitis to ask once again for access to the ship’s nether parts… Even behind his mirrored sunglasses I can tell that Mr. Dermatitis is severely upset about my interest in sewage, and he denies my request to eyeball the V.S.S. with a complex defensiveness that I can’t even begin to chart out here…

Such is my own embarrassment and hatred of Mr. Dermatitis by this time that I begin to feel that if the Hotel Manager really does think I’m some kind of investigative journalist with a hard-on for shark dangers and sewage scandals, then he might think it would be worth the risk to have me harmed in some way. And, through a set of neurotic connections I won’t even try to defend, I, for about a day and a half, begin to fear that the Nadir‘s Greek episcopate will somehow contrive to use the incredibly potent and forceful 1009 toilet itself for the assassination—that they’ll, I don’t know, like somehow lubricate the bowl and up the suction to where not just my waste but I myself will be sucked down through the seat’s opening and hurled into some kind of abstract septic exile.

For me, this perfectly captures the sheer terror I used to feel when I had to use an airplane toilet. The loud noise, the incredible force with which excrement is sucked out of the bowl, the constant fear that I myself might be caught within the toilet’s awesome power… I used to try to wait until the flight was over rather than use the toilet, not an easy task with an eight year’s old bladder, and when I absolutely had to go to the bathroom, I had a very serious process to stave off the fear. Go to the bathroom, close the lid to the toilet, wash my hands, and then in the same second that I opened the door, I would flush the toilet and run out there and back to my seat.

Childhood fears leave such a strong impression, but for some reason it never even crossed my mind to tell my parents. It would be funny to know now what they would have said then; it will be even more interesting when I have my own kids someday and get to see them in action from an adult’s perspective.

——————–

If you want to read DFW’s “Shipping Out” yourself, Harper’s Magazine has it available as a PDF online. Find it here: http://www.harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

The MV Zenith, the cruise ship David Foster Wallace traveled on in "Shipping Out."

 

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How to be the cutest, ever

Written on July 26, 2011 by in Family, Lund, Sweden

My little nephew, Adam, is almost one year old and he is the cutest baby of all time. (Adam is my boyfriend’s sister’s son, but I’m claiming him as my nephew regardless of whether that’s strictly kosher or not.)

Watch and learn, baby.

Mr. Wide Eyes.

Disclaimer: You may need a time machine to warp yourself back in time and become your pre-pubescent self. My guide to building a time machine is still in beta mode, if you know what I mean.

Constant excitement; constant motion.

The only one who’s not sold on Adam’s charms is Mimi, the dog. Being smart is not her strong point, but she knows that she’s been displaced.

The worst-behaved dog in Sweden is pouting. Life is tough.

Simon is seriously in love with his nephew. It’s really cute.

Adam loves to chase the ball around the room, crawling at breakneck speeds.

Adam is just a few days short of his first birthday, and it is amazing how big he has gotten in that time. Even cooler is that you can tell that he’s starting to understand the world a little bit better, becoming more aware, tracking the situation in the room. You can tell he’s going to be smart because he already knows how to fake cry to get his way. A couple of high-pitched hiccup-cries, and we’re all rushing to his side to see what he needs.

You look confused, Adam.

Ok, I suppose that’s enough doting for one day. I’ll never be able to fool people into thinking I’m all edgy and cool if I keep this up.

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Swedish Sunsets, Pollution, Existential Angst, The Scream

Written on July 25, 2011 by in Lund, Random, Summer, Sweden

Midsummer, the longest night of the year, was just over a month ago, but already you can tell that the sun is starting to set earlier and earlier. All the same, we are having some truly beautiful sunsets, perhaps in part due to the very, very slow progression of the sun towards the horizon and beyond.

Sunset above the train tracks. Lund, June 2011.

I have always associated beautiful sunsets with pollution. Somewhere along the way I heard that polluted skies somehow make for more intense sunsets, so these nightly light shows were making me question all my preconceptions about Sweden’s environmental friendliness and the purity of its air. As it turns out, though, not all intense sunsets are the result of pollution—the reddest sunsets are.

Here’s the skinny from the Scientific American’s “Fact or Fiction? Smog Creates Beautiful Sunsets”:

“In an atmosphere with no junk at anytime, you’ll never get a sunset that would make someone with normal color vision say, ‘Wow that’s red!’” says Craig Bohren, professor emeritus of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. “It is certainly true that the ‘pollution’ results in redder sunsets.”

Apparently, aerosols (tiny airborne particles) lead to sunsets dominated by warmer colors, especially reds and oranges. Aerosols don’t have to be man-made pollutants; they can include ash from volcanoes and forest fires, dust from sandstorms and meteors, and sea salt, among others. The Scientific American article credits the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia with a wave of beautiful sunsets around the world, including one that may have inspired Edvard Munch to paint The Scream. On January 1, 1892, Munch wrote:

I was walking along a path with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

Sue Prideaux writes that Strindberg's interpretation of the painting was as "A scream of fear just as nature, turning red from wrath, prepares to speak before the storm and thunder, to the bewildered little creatures who, without resembling them in the least, imagine themselves to be gods."

To be fair, some interpreters say that it’s ridiculous to try to explain a Munch painting as a depiction of reality, given his highly expressive style. In “Existential Superstar,” Mia Fineman argues that

While it may be true that Norway had some great sunsets in the 1880s, this kind of quaintly literal interpretation doesn’t apply to an artist like Munch, whose style was predominantly expressive rather than descriptive. This is not to say that we should ignore context altogether. Prideaux… identifies the location depicted in The Scream as Ekeberg, a hill to the east of Oslo that affords an overhead view of the fjord. Oslo’s main slaughterhouse was in Ekeberg, and so was its madhouse, in which Munch’s sister, Laura, was incarcerated. He almost certainly went up there to visit her… the screams of animals being slaughtered in combination with the screams of the insane were reported to be a terrible thing to hear.

Spooky. Munch himself said, “‘And for several years I was almost mad—that was the time when the terror of insanity reared up its twisted head. You know my picture, The Scream? I was being stretched to the limit—nature was screaming in my blood—I was at breaking point . . . You know my pictures, you know it all—you know I felt it all. After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again.’”

Setting aside discussions of Munch, volcanoes, existential angst, and getting back to sunsets… The impact of natural aerosols is insignificant when it comes to city sunsets, since human production of aerosols far exceeds the natural in those areas. In the Scientific American article, author Coco Ballantyne writes:

“If the [aerosol] particle is small compared with the wavelengths of visible light, it will scatter short wavelengths, such as blues and violets, more than long wavelengths, such as red.

As far as I can tell—and I barely passed my Chemistry for English Majors class in college—scattering the blues and violets means that those colors disappear, and the longer wavelength colors stay. Ballantyne continues, saying:

Many man-made aerosols are small enough to meet this criterion, so they contribute to the deep crimson sunsets of Los Angeles and other polluted cities across the globe.

Takeaway? The less red, the less polluted the air seems to be. When I look out the window at night, I see mostly yellows and pinks, while the picture I took of the sunset looks mostly blue with a little orange and yellow. Phew! Looks like I get to keep on believing that Sweden’s air is pure… at least for the meantime.

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Books from A to Ö

Written on July 24, 2011 by in Expat Life, Language Nerd, Lund, Swedish

I did a double take when I first saw this sign, but of course! Books in Sweden have to go from A to Ö, not A to Z. The Swedish alphabet includes three extra letters, the pronunciation of which was not easy for me to learn. Now I’m getting a little better… I hope.

"Lund's Book and Paper," a bookstore that is right across from the bus stop that takes me home from the train station.

It makes me laugh when I remember how surprised I was to see “books from A to Ö” the first time. It’s little things like this that quickly lose their novelty the longer you are in a country.

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IS YOUR SNUGGIE SAFE? OnePiece: The Scandinavian challenger to the Snuggie

Written on July 22, 2011 by in Che Casino, Malmö, Ranting and Raving, Sweden

Maybe the end of Western civilization as we know it, or definitely the end of Western civilization as we know it? You decide.

I first became aware of OnePiece when I was walking through the streets of Malmö, on my way to meet my friend Steve for coffee at the Rösteriet. (Awesome coffee shop, by the way, in case you’re ever in Malmö.)

Oh, how innocent I was! How naïve, not knowing what would await me there!

As I came close to my destination, I paused. OnePiece! A new store! Interesting name. I wonder what they sell. I saw a gleaming white interior and brightly-dressed mannequins posed cheerfully in the display window. As I got closer, however, I started to question what I was seeing.

Was it… really… no. It can’t be. The mannequins… what?!

What I saw on that fateful day.

It was a store of only one pieces. Giant one piece jumpers, shrouded by the retro-cool veneer of an American Apparel-style marketing and interior decorating scheme. I cannot.

A partial selection of OnePiece's collection, which come in five lines: original, traditional, pattern, flags, and slim.

Listen, my friends. My dear friends over the Atlantic, and also my friends here.

Listen, and ye shall hear… ye shall hear of a tale of a garment so heinous in its conception and yet so obviously well-marketed that it is surely fated to succeed, and there will come a day when the great Atlantic coughs up a new trend: the designer Snuggie. Could any fashion trend be more heinous, more repugnant to the senses?

We suffered through Crocs. We suffered through ponchos. We even suffered through scrunchies and whale tails and platform flip flops. But all of that is surely going to pale in comparison to what appears to be the love child of the Snuggie and Ralphie’s Christmas present from A Christmas Story.

Ralphie dreaded his inevitably hideous Christmas present in A Christmas Story. The woman on the right, however, has clearly lost her inner child's ability to say, "Now, maybe this is ridiculous."

Oh, the shame! Oh, the horror! And it can be yours for only 1400 Swedish crowns, which is, according to today’s exchange rate, is just a teensy bit over $200. What a deal. What a find. Calloo, callay, today is the day, the day I say, the day to buy a OnePiece!!

(Not.)

Anyway, just think if this trend catches on. Look at the impact it might have on the already-tricky task of dating.

Attempt One:

Fail.

Attempt Two:

Fail.

Attempt Three:

Win?

My friend Katie told me that in South Korea, it’s really cool to dress to match your boyfriend/girlfriend. Well, here’s to the future.

My dear readers, you have been warned. OnePiece already has a flagship in Los Angeles, so it has already spread outside the borders of Scandinavia. Remember this day when you first reacted with horror and repugnance to the OnePiece, lest in the future you see it in People Magazine being worn by some young starlet and you think, ahh yes, now I understand its appeal, it looks so good on her.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT fall prey to the OnePiece.

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1 Year in Sweden, 30 Swedish Experiences… and 30 more to work on

Written on July 18, 2011 by in Expat Life, Family, Sweden, Swedish, The Expat Blog

Last Wednesday marked one year in Sweden for me. This time last year, my boyfriend drove through half of Europe in a heat wave to collect me (and all of my belongings) in Vienna… and then the real adventure began!

One year ago: the adventure began, as it always does, with me having too much stuff that then needed to be unpacked.

The transition hasn’t always been easy; one thing I’ve learned is that it’s much easier to move somewhere new when you have a structure to step into, whether it’s work or school or some sort of project you need to get started on. I think that would be true anywhere, though, not just in Sweden and not just as an expat.

Nonetheless, one year later I’m happy, I’m employed, I have friends, and I speak a fair amount of Swedish, although there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Equally importantly, my boyfriend and I are still doing great (he’s the reason I’m here, after all). It feels like a huge accomplishment to have reached the one year mark—I feel as though I cleared many of the hurdles that were standing in my way.

All that said, the year has gone by quickly! A year always sounds like a long time in my head, but when I think of all the things that I’ve done and seen, it feels unbelievably short.

1 Year in Sweden, 30 Swedish Experiences:

  1. Picked mushrooms… and ate them! (And didn’t die, as you can tell.)
  2. Went to a Swedish bachelorette party
  3. Went to a Swedish wedding
  4. Attended two Thanksgivings; cooked my own turkey for the first time as well as food for 26 people
  5. Attended a Lord of the Rings/Hobbit theme party

For the full list, check out my blog post at Sweden.se!

30 Things Still to Do in Sweden, definitely more than one year needed to do them all:

  1. See the true Midnight Sun
  2. Read Selma Lagerlöf’s children’s stories and the Pippi Longstocking books
  3. Become fluent in Swedish… or at least close enough good enough to understand and make jokes
  4. Stay in one of the rooms at the Tree Hotel
  5. Make homemade pickled herring

For the full list, check out my blog post at Sweden.se!

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What’s been going on…

Written on July 12, 2011 by in Expat Life, Family, Food Matters, Summer, Sweden

Busy times!

The Fourth of July

Monday was the Fourth of July. I had a barbecue, and the theme was “hybridity,” at least in my own mind. Homemade barbecue sauce, cardamom-flavored cheesecake, and Carolina banana pudding. And Swedish people! Land of the free, home of the brave!

Notice the red, white, and blue theme... so patriotic.

Horseback Riding

On Thursday I got to go riding with one of my students who lives out in the countryside. It was amazing. Added bonus: I got to ride an Icelandic horse, which are really popular around here. It was amazing just to be on a horse again, out in the forest, taking deep breathes, letting everything just melllllttttt awaaaaay…. ahhhhhh!

So happy in Hörby!

I’m a winner! I’m a winner!

I won a cookbook from Anne’s Food, a Swedish cooking blog in English run by the Sweden.se food blogger, Anne Skoogh. YAY!!!!!!!! I hardly ever win things!! I got a copy of “Gott att Ge Bort” from Linnea’s Skafferi, which translates to “Good to Give Away”—a cookbook of edible gifts! I love it already. There are so many interesting Swedish variations on the common things to give away: jam, cookies, bread, etc. I’m especially excited to make some girly pink snaps, knäckebröd (thick crackers), and a tomato-hot pepper jam. Yum!

The stamps on my package were so pretty! An exciting gift inside and out.

Grow, garden, grow!

My little indoor apartment garden is super awesome, and now I can actually eat things from it!! This makes my little heart grow seven sizes bigger. Sweeeeet.

My homegrown arugula, freshly picked from the window sill!

And most important of all… SIMON’S HOME!!

Hurrah hurrah hurrah hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaay.

On his second day back, we spent the day with his family. Lunch with Sabri, Pernilla, and baby Adam, then an afternoon of watching soccer and playing with the baby. Then we all took a long, long walk to Simon’s parents’ house, where we had an equally delicious dinner and more family time.

Dinner... and then dessert. Simon's mom was the genius behind the strawberry merengue swiss you see here. mmmmmmm!

And last of all… I thought it was appropriate to put Simon’s beloved nephew and the strawberry shaped like a heart together.

Simon is in true love with his nephew.

Happiness, happiness! And then this weekend will be just as busy… My friend Bryant is coming, and we are sure to have some adventures. Woot woot!!

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The Great “Sweden is Socialist” Hoax | The Expat Blog

Written on July 8, 2011 by in Expat Life, Ranting and Raving, Sweden, The Expat Blog

In the US, Sweden is often used as a symbol of all that is right or wrong in this world, depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall on.

“Environmental sustainability paired with universal healthcare and a strong economy!” shout the progressives. “Doomed-to-fail socialism characterized by wanton hedonism, immorality, and midnight sun orgies!” cry the conservatives. “Meatballs! Loud noises!!” screams the confused guy in the corner.

Frankly, it’s a lot of talk, and usually from people who don’t know that much about Sweden and have never been here. But here’s some food for thought for those who want to have an opinion on the big “Sweden is Socialist” claim:

Have you considered the public restrooms situation?

 

To read more, follow this link to The Expat Blog at Sweden.se

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ELDERFLOWER MADNESS! The Best of the Web

Written on July 6, 2011 by in Austria, Drinks, Expat Life, Food Matters, Sweden, Swedish cooking

Elderflower is definitely one of the best things I’ve learned about since coming to Sweden. So fresh tasting! So light and floral! And while I almost always enjoy elderflower in the form of “saft,” a cordial or concentrate that has to be diluted (with water, sparkling water, champagne, etc.), there’s a lot more that you can do with it.

When it comes to enjoying elderflower in the United States, though, there seems to be a fundamental disconnect. Elderflower saft is widely available in grocery stores, but many Swedes pick the elderflower blossoms themselves to make their own saft, jam, and more. Elderflower bushes can grow widely throughout the United States (as well as in South America and Australia), but I’m not about to encourage people to go out picking flowers on their own, just to see what happens.

So until recently, I thought the status quo would remain: I would enjoy gallons of elderflower saft here and continue to take it to the United States one bottle at a time when I come home. Then I saw Lottie and Doof’s most recent blog posts, featuring… ELDERFLOWER!

Apparently Seedling Farms has the flowers available for purchase, although they’re not listed on their website. Which got me to thinking: maybe the United States could get on the elderflower bandwagon if only they knew to ask for it. So, my friends, get over to your local CSN and tell them you want elderflower. Or start growing your own. Or just bundle up the kids and head to Ikea to buy the pre-made saft and go from there. The revolution is on its way.

So in honor of the elderflower, I present to you… the best of the web! Recipes for saft, cakes, cookies, jams, and more.

(c) St-Germain

Cocktails

By far the best known elderflower product in the United States is the St-Germain elderflower liqueur, “the first liqueur in the world created in the artisanal French manner from freshly handpicked elderflower blossoms.” They describe the taste thusly: “Neither passionfruit nor pear, grapefruit nor lemon, the sublime taste of St-Germain hints at each of these and yet none of them exactly. It is a flavor as subtle and delicate as it is captivating. A little like asking a hummingbird to describe the flavor of its favorite nectar. Très curieux indeed, n’est-ce pas?” To which, of course, I can say only oui! baguette! fromage! enchanté!

Brunch Recipe: Elderflower & Lemon Sparkling Sipper | The Kitchn (Cava drink)

Cool Recipe: Liz’s Elderflower Champagne Sparkling Cocktail | The Kitchn (Champagne drink)

“This cocktail tastes like vacation, a refreshing respite from the August heat.”

Behind the Bar: Chelsea Fuss’ Summer Elderflower | Design*Sponge (Gin drink)

St-Germain Cocktail | St-Germain (St. Germain liqueur and champagne or sparkling white wine.)

St-Germain Mojito | St-Germain (St. Germain liqueur and white rum)

St-Germain Kir Blanc | St-Germain (St-Germain liqueur and Sauvignon Blanc)

I love this: “Pour St-Germain and chilled wine into a white wine glass, and stir lightly. Imbibe in the melodic dance between grapes and flowers, and ponder the empty glass in front of you.”

Mocktails

Breakfast Mocktail: Orange and Elderflower Spritzer | The Kitchn

Ikea Groceries: Some Assembly Required | Serious Eats

Spring Drink: Blackberry Elderflower Spritzer with Mint | The Kitchn

Sweets

Elderflower fritters | Lottie and Doof

The confection that started it all… or at least sealed the deal on my having to spread the gospel of elderflower. Crispy, sweet, fried amazingness.

Gourmet Elderflower Waffles with Apple and Meringue | Söta Saker

In Swedish, but I checked out the Google Translate version into English and it’s totally fine. You can do it! These photos have to be seen to be believed. Oh my heavenly waffles.

St. Germain Elderflower Marshmallows | Edible Society

Fluffy elderflower pillows? Yes, please. Author Fiona writes, “Originally an Ancient Egyptian food made with honey, these billowy puffs of smooth elderflower marshmallows are wonderful with any kind of strawberry dessert – perhaps cut into shapes with oiled cookie cutters and floated atop a chilled strawberry soup.” Yum! I can imagine many other pairings these would be good with… or just popping them in my mouth. This recipe can be made with either St-Germain Elderflower liqueur or nonalcoholic elderflower cordial.

Gooseberry Elderflower Curd | Anne’s Food

Gooseberry, you say! This recipe title sounds like it could be an insult from a Monty Python movie, but no. It’s not. It’s a recipe for deliciousness. Anne (the Anne from Anne’s Food) writes, “I love this served over strawberries that have been left to macerate in some elderflower cordial, with meringues and mascarpone-vanilla-yogurt cream.” Drooling. I’m drooling in front of the computer.

Gooseberry and Elderflower Muffins | Eat Drink Live

I’m including this for the muffin fans out there (Laura, I’m looking at you!). Simple, easy, portion-controlled. Martha Stewart would probably be all over this if she lived in Europe.

Elderflower, Bubbly and Fried | Delicious Days

This recipe hails from Bavaria, and if the beautiful web design doesn’t make a strong enough impact on you, maybe this description by the author will: “The Hollerküchln turned out incredibly yummy. Golden brown and crunchy, they are best eaten right out of the pan, generously dusted with cinnamon sugar. Or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Your call.”

Elderflowers Crème Fraiche Tart with British Strawberries | The British Larder

This has got to be for the people who have always been intrigued by the idea of molecular gastronomy and didn’t know where to start. Start here. The day I make this is the day that I give myself a gold star for mastering a recipe even more complicated than macarons. I’m just going to put this on the shelf under the label “aspirational” for now.

Hix’s Elderflower Buttermilk Pudding | Gourmet Traveler

You had me at “like an elderflower panna cotta.” No, but really.

Black Elderflower and Sambuca Turkish Delight | James Wong

Turkish Delight! I had to include this. James Wong calls it “a surprisingly easy, grown-up twist on an old-school kids’ favorite.” For me, an ardent Chronicles of Narnia fan who got Turkish Delight one year for Christmas and NEVER FORGOT IT, NO NEVER, IT WAS AWESOME, I am just extremely excited.

Actual Food

Crispy Duck with Plum and Elderflower Emulsion | No Recipes

Minimalist, delicious-looking, totally unusual. And with duck! Looks amazing.

Elderflower Cured Trout | Honest Cooking

I have made several recipes by Johanna Kindvall, the author of this recipe, and I have yet to see any of her recipes come out anything short of delicious. I’ll probably have to try this before the summer is out.

Elderflower Gravlax with Ingela’s Lemon Sauce | Kok Blog

Johanna Kindvall again. Gravlax is salt-cured salmon, and elderflower is an unusual twist on the traditional seasonings. A do-ahead recipe.

Elderflower Smoked Halloumi, Rhubarb Relish, Lightly Pickled Radish, Rhubarb ‘Glass’. With Radish Sprouts, Pea Shoots and Edible Flowers | Eddie Shepherd

This is officially the most ridiculous recipe on the list, but I had to include it, if only to share with you the awe-inspiring and terrifying sight of the PolyScience Smoking Gun.

Making elderflower cordial! Check out my recipe...

 

Cordial/saft recipes

When eating flowers out of the garden isn’t just for unruly kids anymore. | The Expat Blog

There are literally one million bazillion elderflower cordial recipes, so I’m going to send you to the only one I can vouch for: the one I made. FOOLPROOF. It is sooooo tasty.

Respect Your Elderberries | David Lebovitz

The only saft recipe I’ve seen that calls for elderberries instead of elderflowers. If you missed the season, this just might be your lucky day.

Elderflowers | Lottie and Doof

I’m including this for all the Americans who are poo-pooing me right now and claiming it can’t be done in the US. It can. Lottie and Doof did it. So there. Nananananana.

To buy

Flädersaft (Elderflower cordial) at Ikea

Don’t know an elderflower from a hole in your head? Just buy the cordial at Ikea and then venture forth into a brave new elderflower world.

Leysieffer Holunder Blüten Chocolate Bar

This woman has a chocolate blog, and still she writes, “This is seriously mouthwatering stuff.” The review continues: “The initial sweet hit of the elderflower is soon tempered by the chocolate melting, and as the flavours combine you get a wonderful citrussy/chocolate mouthful with hints of lychee and lemon. This really is quite remarkable chocolate… this has to be one of the tastiest bars of chocolate I have eaten of late. It’s a little sweet for everyday consumption but as a special treat it really is worth tracking down.” WANT.

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There’s assimilation, and then there’s assimilation.

Written on July 5, 2011 by in Expat Life, Holidays and High Times, Sweden

Tthis is the Twitter version of my Greek-via-Germany-Bulgaria-and-Istanbul friend Ersag speaking in a thick Texan accent when drunk or when on the phone with government contractors.

From the official Twitter feed of the Swedish embassy in New York City:

 

 

 

 

 

 

End scene.

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