As I write this, it is on the 14th of December.
I don’t want to in any way create any anxiety, but it’s not that far away until Christmas.
That means visiting overcrowded shopping malls, buying loads of Christmas presents (sometimes more than can be justified), visiting relatives, cooking more food than we can eat (at least here in Sweden), and listen to our children singing Christmas carols in school.
No, I’m not a relative to Grinchen, and of course, I loved to hear my children sing. But it could become a bit stressful when you were expected to attend two different concerts in two separate schools at almost the same time.
A different Christmas
But perhaps this Christmas will be a bit different. Covid19 is wreaking havoc around the world, Sweden is no exception, and we all have to keep social distancing.
I do my best, and I try to keep shopping and other contacts with people to a minimum.
That has led to me starting to look like a troll because I have not visited my hairdresser in a very long time.
But when I drive past the parking lot outside the shopping mall where I live, it is as overcrowded as it usually is at this time of year.
Good luck with that social distancing.
So, does Christmas only means a lot of stress and misery?
Of course not.
Christmas can be wonderful if we just learn how to prioritize.
I have become better with that, and nowadays, Christmas is quite comfortable.
First of all, we keep Christmas presents to a minimum. We only give to our children. But even they begin to lose interest in Christmas presents, the older they get.
And I don’t cook that much food anymore. The traditional Swedish Christmas buffet is, at best, only slightly oversized. But most of the time, there are absurd amounts of food.
Which inevitably leads to food waste.
I hate food waste, something some of you probably know by now.
Therefore, We will restrict the number of dishes to what we really want, and not to what tradition says.
I thought I should share some of my favorites.
Swedish Christmas meatballs
Meatballs are a must, and I’m not alone with that opinion. Most Swedes probably believe that meatballs are an ancient tradition on the Christmas buffet, that must descend at least to the times when Sigurd Ring beat Harald Hildetand at the Battle of Bråvalla sometime in the 7th century.
We may have been eating meatballs since then. But not around Christmas.
It was not until the early 1970s that we started to add them to the Christmas buffet.
But I don’t care. There will be no Christmas without meatballs. Period.
Christmas meatballs are like ordinary meatballs, except for the spicing.
Here you can find my recipe for the perfect (at least in my opinion) Christmas meatballs.
Glögg, Swedish mulled wine
Drinking mulled wine at Christmas is an older tradition. It became a popular Christmas drink in the 18th century. We have, however, been drinking mulled wine much longer than that. It was probably the roman legions who introduced it to northern Europe.
I suppose they needed something to console themselves with, surrounded by murderous barbarians and terrible weather.
The Romans never invaded Sweden, but the mulled wine did.
Glögg can be made on both red and white wine, but the red variant is the most popular here in Sweden.
It’s easy to make glögg. Just follow my recipe, and enjoy the aromas and taste of a drink dating back to ancient times.
Swedish wort bread
Swedish wort bread is a bit special. It tastes a lot.
I only eat it at Christmas, and there’s a reason for that. It complements all the other food on the buffet in an excellent way.
We are talking about pickled herrings, ham, mustard, smoked salmon, and much more that are loaded with salty, sweet, and acidic flavors.
You need a solid foundation for that kind of food, and wort bread is the answer.
It is a bit tedious to make, but if you want to try something different this Christmas, I highly recommend it.
So, there you have some Swedish specialties to try this Christmas.
Nothing too exotic like stockfish, herring salad, boiled pigs feet, smoked pigs head, and much more.
Think of this as a warm-up for next Christmas.
