Palt Koma

Ohhhh the food... After many years of vegetar- ianism, pescatar- ianism and whatever you call someone who eats chicken and turkey but shivers at the thought of hoofed animals, I have made leaps and bounds towards omnivorism. In the last months I have eaten more meat than I can ever recall eating. It started in Ballard, as all bad habits do, thanks to Piet and Shannon I had bacon wrapped figs stuffed with goat cheese (I thought I had died and gone to bad Jew heaven). The meat fest continued in Arkansas where I had Chili Mac which Angela and Nuche, a combo of Kraft mac and cheese and sauteed ground beef that made me want to run for vegetarian cover. The meat fest really got started in Sweden though. On day one Sara and Niklas humored me with a coconut curry vegetable and Quorn stir fry (Quorn is a fabulous meat alternative made with mushrooms and heavenly other tasty tid bits). From then on it was all about the kött (MEAT). I have eaten smoked eel (head and all), salami, medwurst (sliced cured meat), moose chunks and Roe deer steak!


Today I discovered what the Swede's call "Palt Koma" (the sleepy stupor that comes after eating fattening foods). It started with Fika, a Swedish/Hobbit tradition of mid morning or mid afternoon visit over coffee and pastries. Niklas' parents, Conny & Yvonne Svensson, hosted us for our first Fika. The spread included a basket of cookies and coffee cake, apple pie, vanilla custard, ice cream and steaming coffee. Mind you, we had already eaten lunch, dinner was just around the corner and there were just four of us and one little lass who almost ate her weight in ice cream. Everything was so good, we simply stuffed ourselves. Thank goodness Conny invited us mushroom hunting so we couldn't do anymore damage.

For dinner Niklas made us a devilish combo of bacon, potatoes, cream and mushrooms all baked to a golden bubbly brown. But before that he warmed us up with our collected chanterelles sauteed in butter over toast. I really do think I died and went to heaven sometime during tonight's dinner. But that wasn't all. As a tummy settling interlude, Canuche and Niklas played a few rounds of Nintendo Wii Sports Tennis (would you believe that I played some too?) Then we resumed our Swedish food fest with Crawfish and Schnapps.













Oh did I mention that Conny is the hunter who brought us most of the wild meat we've eaten? He showed us the pelts that he has tanned, badger, fox, martin, rabbit and Roe Deer. Get a load of me petting the pelts;

That is the wild Swedish meat installment to date. Canuche is now plotting all of the pig and beef filled meals he is going to fix for us once we get home. My vegetarianism my be a distant memory...