Day 4 - Time with our Swedish Family

Today was very much a chill day with Eva and her family, but we did go to a super market and OH MY GOD it was massive.

In the morning we all got up a little later, it was midsummer day after all and had a very relaxed morning. Mum and I went for a walk around the block with Eva, Viktoria and Sydney to start the morning off. It was amazing to see how many houses were in her little village, with some still being under construction. What gets me is all the small yards are very similar with the same configuration and plants used as fences. They all look so cute. There was one house that had a bigger yard, front and back, with a beautiful outdoor setting out the back and the side, it is definitely somewhere I would see myself living. Most of the houses are white and mum commented “they would get lost in the snow”, Eva agreed, especially when it is heavy snow.

After a really late breakfast, Eva, mum me and Viktoria went off to the supermarket. This was incredible, as it kept on going and going. When we got in there, of course there was the fresh produce first. There was just so much of it and an abundance of variety! There was an insane amount of potatoes. For those of you that know me, potatoes over here are one of my favourite things. They are so waxy, so soft and have an altogether different texture than the ones in Australia. They are delicious. I just couldn’t believe how much there was, and the little (or not so little) scoop you needed to get them!

​Then there was the mushrooms.. oh the mushrooms.. another favourite of mine! There were so many, with, again, an abundance of variety. What got me was the amount of Shitake mushrooms! They are hard to come by back home but here, there are so many. When I was looking at all the mushrooms I remember thinking what wonderful dishes could be made with them, I could almost taste them in my mouth, especially the Shitake mushrooms (maybe because I had just had them a few days before in Hong Kong). I wondered what it would be like to live here and have this available to you all the time to create some amazing dishes and experiment with them in many ways. Maybe one day?

​As we wondered around the super market, there was just so much variety of EVERYTHING! It is so much more than back home. Take the liver páte for example, there are SO many different options for liver páte and they use it like a daily spread! Mum and I really like it, so delicious. When I was in the juice section, I saw blueberry juice. This was pretty cool! I had it on the plane, and it is just really sweet but again, not something you could get at home. They also had cloudberry juice, lingonberry juice, all kinds of juices. Now I am not a big fan of juice but I still thought it was pretty cool. They do say, abundance elicits joy, and this could have been true in this case, as does a lot of small circles, such as berries on juice cartons! So you could say, in this moment, I was feeling a bit of joy. I also read somewhere recently that the opposite of a trigger for trauma is something called a glimmer. As I was looking at all these juices, especially the tomato juice, I felt a glimmer. It took me back to the first time I was in Estonia with Danae and every morning, we would have tomato juice. I am really looking forward to getting to Estonia and having that delicious tomato juice that will be a little glimmer start to my day. I feel like, now that I am aware of this concept, you may be reading more and more about my little glimmers. When we were leaving the supermarket we saw these sauce bottles…I will leave it up to you to imagine what they look like…

​The day seemed to get away from us, because before we knew it, it was time for Fredrik’s family to come over for a BBQ. Before they arrived, mum had made Beef Koftas (we couldn’t get lamb mince, as we discovered this is something that only comes out at Easter and Christmas time). Eva requested it and she learned how to make it for when we are not here, along with the sides that go into the wraps. They were pretty delicious! When Fredrik’s family arrived, they brought even more food, including my favourite… potatoes. I am clearly a simple girl to please, just need a bag of Swedish/Estonian potatoes, and an Estonian Honey Cake, and I’m yours haha, more on that later!

​We were playing outside with Vincent, in the water, which he seems to really like. He has learned how to use the tap on the sprayer. Thankfully Fredrik turned it down to the low setting so he can’t really wet people unless he is close. But watching his curious mind was a joy to see. He kept looking at the end of the hose wondering where the water was coming out of it, but never did he spray himself in the face.

Fredrik cooked an incredible amount of food on his BBQ! We had corn, Koftas, sausages, haloumi and pepper chilly things (1/10 are apparently chilly, and I was not rolling the dice on that one). I thought I took a photo, but I didn’t. He did well to cook these things all on his BBQ and have it all ready at the same time. Not to mention he cooked the Koftas perfectly. Eva and Fredrik tried the Koftas in the traditional sense and seemed to really enjoy it, especially the Tzatziki, which mum made from scratch, amazing. The garlic was super fresh though so really strong!!

​Fredrik’s sister made the most amazingly beautiful cake for desert. It is a traditional Swedish cake, had with Fika (coffee break), but usually without the berries and cream. During desert, everyone served themselves their piece of cake and oh my gosh it was so gooey and delicious. I was grateful she had made this for us to enjoy because it was almost like a somewhat runny fudge cake with cream and berries, the taste was delicious! Eva was telling us, when they lived close to Fredrik's sister, one day they wanted something sweet so they called her and offered her 30 Swedish Krona to make them this cake and bring it over. Fredrik's parents were a little upset, in a fun way, because she used their ingredients and they didn't get any money or even a slice!

​After dinner there was a little more playing with Vincent. It was great seeing how he plays with his grandparents, especially his grandpa. He is a lot like dad and how he plays with Lekso. On the ground, playing with the cars, the trucks and the toys. I was a beautiful afternoon, just being part of the family and seeing how our Swedish family get together and have a BBQ, with some differences, but also some similarities. I am grateful for having had that experience.
 
Until tomorrow
Marissa xx