Happy Mother's Day Anaana

Snapps! Skål!

Last night was the heavily anticipated schnapps night. Cailan and I made maple syrup schnapps and brought spinach-artichoke dip to add to our North American theme. Everything else was going to be extremely Swedish, so we wanted to bring our own thing. The Maple Snapps was a hit, the spinach dip I think not so much.
There were lots of flavours, lemon and vanilla, blackberry, rhubarb and aniseed, cobra and ginseng, ginger and lime, cinnamon, pomegranate - that's all I can really remember. There were a few more...
So, with our shots of snapps, we also indulged in Swedish snacks. The foods that all the people brought were based around fish, caviare and dairy. I must admit though it was all super good! I am thoroughly amazed at what I ate last night, considering how unadventurous I am when it comes to food. I figured that I might as well take part none the less, I didnt want to offend anyone by being picky, plus I would have otherwise starved and not eating whilst consuming large amounts of snapps didn't seem too smart.

Soo... this was my plate! Clockwise from the red stuff on the side - home made Basque salsa, delicious. At the bottom is a slice of pickled herring and onion on dried flat-bread. The most typical Swedish snack, and it wasn't gross. I was super nervous as I bit into it that I might up-chuck on the plate (I am not a fan of fish) but it was surprisingly sweet and did not have the fish texture that I despise! I was pleasantly impressed by it. Don't go jumping to any conclusions though, I will not be purchasing pickled herring in the stores anytime soon, but should I be in another social gathering and that is there, I would not hesitate to give it another go.
The next one, I am not sure was exactly it was. I would describe it as an onion quiche, but I'm certain it wasn't. I asked the girl who made it what was in it... all she told me was onions and cumin. Sooo I have no clue what it was, but it was good. Above that, in the centre was a spanish omelet. It was wicked thick and had chucks of potatoes in it. Next to that was my favourite of the night! An interesting pastry - the centre was filled with this creamy cheese and sour cream concoction which was very sweet, topped with a layer of red onions and a big blob of caviare. I don't know how common this kind of snack was, but if I see anything that resembles it in any bakeries, I will be ordering it. Mmm.  The little circular thing at the top was also good, it was some sort of a little pastry shell filled with a cream of some sorts, topped with a piece of salmon and a green onion. It was sweet, like possibly a dessert?
All in all it was a night of good food, and strong drinks. I has assumed that we would casually sip the snapps and take in the flavours, comment about the different tastes etc. like we did at the wine tasting, but I was more than wrong. You just down the drink, glass after flavour after glass. Some were strong, like the lemon and vanilla one. Hola! I'd say that my favourites were the blackberry and this other one, but I cannot recall what the flavouring was...  the worst was the beetroot and the cobra/ginseng.
Yes, cobra. One of the girls there is Vietnamese and her dad brought back this medicinal alcohol which has a little cobra in it. I can't think what magical powers cobras posses, but I can believe that drinking it might scorch any bacterium in your throat. Or  cure any other ailments that you might have because it tastes like mould, and possibly act like a liquid penicillin? I really have no idea, but it tasted like dirt. Yech.
Along with drinking these snapps, everyone sang as well. There are hundreds of little Swedish drinking songs, that people know all the words to. They generally appeared to be traditional songs. I tried reading some of the words to increase my Swedish capabilities, when I would ask what some words were, they had no translations or any idea what some words were because they were 'old Swedish' and no longer used. The songs were fun, but there is a rule that one cannot have an empty glass if there is going to be a song sung. Regardless if you just had one, its like a national offence to sing a Snaps Vise and not have a snaps in your glass. After the little jingle, everyone says SKÅL and has their drink.
Last night was great and I stepped up my Swedish by learning the songs and trying to follow everyone's conversations. I managed to follow the gist of some conversations. Swedish is still a wicked hard language and I will be lucky to have a full conversation with people by the time I leave. I am at the point now that I can ask basic questions, but when they answer me, it is just waaay over my head... I need to learn to understand. I can order a drink or food, then they say something else and I just lose my grasp of the language. Drat.