Sweden

On December 31, Cathy, Chris, and I stood under a small overhang to protect us from the rain while we tried three Swedish pastries from Berolina Bakery and Pastry Shop in Glendale. We had a Swedish cardamom roll (delicious strips of pastry rolled into a ball of layers), a saffron cardamom bun (my favorite with the almonds and raisins), and a cardamom custard strip (larger and more bready with custard on top, lots of slivered almonds, and lots of cardamom). With this clearly cardamom theme, I looked up a recipe for Swedish meatballs – yes, they also contain cardamom.

This was not my first trip to Berolina. I went with Gladys and Laurie in September and tried their Swedish cinnamon roll, apple dumpling, mazarine, and princess cake, but we had gone late in the day and they had sold out of several of their Swedish items, thus this second trip in the early morning. For those who can’t make it to the bakery, here are some dessert recipes to try: https://insanelygoodrecipes.com/swedish-desserts/

I was trying for more of a meal when I went to Olson's Scandinavian Delicatessen in Los Angeles. I got a goat cheese and jam sandwich, and one of every kind of candy. (So much for a nutritious meal!) Based on what was available, the Swedish like licorice, chocolate, and hard gelatin candies of multiple fruit flavors (mostly raspberry and mostly shaped like skulls). I particularly enjoyed the cloudberry jam that I brought home.

If I can’t find a specifically Swedish restaurant, I can always pick up Swedish meatballs at IKEA or Swedish pancakes with lingonberries at the Original Pancake House. Or I can do my own cooking with recipes from here: https://true-north-kitchen.com/categories/

It’s not hard to find Swedish books, movies, and television shows. My favorite is the comedy romance Welcome to Sweden. The series starts here: https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/3e3fab7bcc435edfa39dc0a964fcce67/welcome-to-sweden

The library supplied me with the Fredrik Backman book Beartown and the Fredrik Backman movie A Man Called Ove (the new Tom Hanks movie A Man Called Otto is the same story that has been Americanized). In my childhood, the library also supplied me with many Pippi Longstocking books. They still have them in many formats and the animated movie is here: https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/movies/5da50287240a8fcd2cffb2fc

For classic works, see:

· The Swedish Fairy Book https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37193

· Plays by August Strindberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8499

· It may not be a Swedish movie, but Ingrid Bergman is Swedish and luminescent in The Bells of St. Mary’s: https://tubitv.com/movies/546117/the-bells-of-st-marys

· Here is a classic Swedish movie, Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxBY5kmUZR0

· For anyone who wants to dig deeper into Ingmar Bergman’s films, check this helpful YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@breakingdownfilms

For recent works, see:

· The movie Force Majeure, a relationship drama that is painful to watch, but well rated, well reviewed, and I love the twist at the end: https://tubitv.com/movies/505326/force-majeure

· The movie Sami Blood: https://tubitv.com/movies/629038/sami-blood

· A collection of Sami writing: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/collection/october-2022-voices-from-sapmi-sami-writing/

ABBA dominates not only Swedish music, but is high on the list of worldwide sales. Here is a concert from when I was listening to them as a kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEVP9nwUa4

I was surprised when I saw my children watching Mamma Mia!, a movie that is made up entirely of ABBA songs. It is such an odd concept and it took me awhile to get used to it. I like the second movie better than the first. Neither movie is available online, but many libraries have them. Here is a clip from the second movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo0d4xk3BXw

Now, ABBA has a virtual concert in London which they discuss in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkcwU0SWNk

There are many more Swedish musicians. I just picked a few:

· Victor Crone playing acoustic guitar and singing “Wind In My Sails”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcj95Pn5Je8&t=4s

· Hanna Ferm singing “Brave”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zCeWKgTHc

· Junie singing “Vi”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcr-Tw-9fIU

· The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Sabina Zweiacker performing “The Dragonborn Comes”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnXD6FRZtn0

· Griselda Sanderson showing the nyckelharpa and playing Swedish folk music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbMVIYv57I

To experience Sweden in California, you can catch a Swedish Christmas fair in Huntington Beach and two events in Kingsburg, a Santa Lucia Festival of Lights Parade in December and a Swedish festival in May. There are Swedish Midsummer events in West Hollywood, Agoura Hills, San Francisco, Morgan Hill, and San Diego. This year, the San Diego event will be on June 25. Check here for more details about the cultural programs at the House of Sweden in San Diego: https://www.sdhpr.org/Countries/Sweden.html

Places I would like to visit that can be experienced online include:

· The Ice Hotel as shown in this episode of Life Beyond the Lobby: https://ihavenotv.com/ice-hotel-sweden-amazing-hotels-life-beyond-the-lobby

· The northern lights as shown in this virtual reality tour: https://lightsoverlapland.com/abisko-national-park-virtual-reality-tour/

· The royal palace in Stockholm in this virtual tour: http://stockholm360.net/list.php?id=drottningholm

There are even more beautiful and amazing places to visit in Sweden, some listed here: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-sweden/. Yes, I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Sweden and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Jessica Pamp https://unsplash.com/photos/XiHRIiwq2jY