Body Cookies

So I told you last week that we had met some really nice people in Kalmar when we visited a church. One of those nice people, an older lady named Kaarin, invited us to join her and her husband for a traditional Swedish meal. Well, little did we know that she was offering so very much more than just a meal. Yesterday (Saturday) she picked us up at Capella in the early afternoon. It turns out, she had an entire afternoon and evening of sightseeing on the island planned for us! And then, after that, she would feed us (there were 11 of us) a meal that takes 5 hours to prepare! This kind of generosity is awesome, but it so uncommon that it almost feels alarming when you encounter it.



So she took us (me, Barb and our friend Sara) and another young girl named Egla, an exchange student from Lithuania, to the biggest town on the island, Borgholm. I stepped out of the car when we got to Borgholm with a simple, very clear mission: find ice cream. It’s been about 2 weeks since I last had a taste of my favorite milky snack – far too long. So we found a shop, gave the lady a handful of funny money, she handed us 2 ice cream cones and we were happy as can be. Now I was relaxed and content. What’s next? We walked around the city (pop. 2000) for awhile and then we went to the Swedish royal family’s summer castle for a tour, where we met the rest of our group. We took a tour of the grounds just before a massive thunderstorm came pounding down on us. Barb and I ventured out into the storm, hoping to get a glimpse of the royal gardens. Instead we got a glimpse of a lightning bolt that flashed directly above us, in sync with an angry clap of thunder! Barb screamed a sound only the fear of death could produce. We looked at each other with frightened faces and then ran for our lives back to the museum entrance. And let me just say that Barb ran like a track star. I was behind her and I couldn’t catch her. Some strange mix of adrenaline and “gotta protect my baby!” I guess.

After our visit to the museum we went to Kaarin and Jan’s (her Viking-esque husband) summer home on the island. It was a cozy little cottage lit only by gas lamps. It was there that we were introduced to Kroppakakkor . Literal translation: Body Cakes. Yummy. We kind of wished we could have gotten this flattering translation after we ate. Even still, we approached the meal with some anticipation and I must say it wasn’t all that bad. Kind of a Swedish version of “Veranika” or Perogies. A big ball of potato that had a meat and spice mixture hidden inside. It was one of those meals that the natives seem to love talking about…at great length. It was served with a delicious lingonberry sauce and butter. I must say, Swedish lingonberries are absolutely delicious. After dinner, our hosts brought us back to Capellagarden, where we gave them a tour of the school. They were thrilled. We also were thrilled. We met several fantastic, generous Swedes who we will probably now consider friends and see again. It was so nice to be in someone’s home, too, and to experience such great hospitality. I’m sure we’ll mark this as one of our favorite memories in Sweden.