Köttbullar Med Mormor

"Meatballs with Grandma"

I woke up today to a torrential downpour. “What could we possibly on a day like today” I thought, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that today we were going to drive out to Alicia’s family’s farm to make traditional Swedish meatballs with her grandmother, (mormor in Swedish, Mor being mother, so mormor means mother’s-mother).

When an American like me thinks of Swedish things, we typically think of IKEA, Vikings, Swedish Chef, Swedish fish, and most importantly, Swedish meatballs. Swedish meatballs are a true tradition to the Swedes, and the most traditional way of making them is with your grandmother. I am very lucky to be able to partake in this extremely Swedish meal. Alicia’s cousins and I rolled up the meat into little balls and their grandmother fried them up. We had carrots, both raw and cooked, boiled potatoes, tomatoes, a delicious brown sauce (Alicia’s favorite) and home-made saft, (juice). It was the perfect meal to eat on this rainy day. We sat inside the cozy Swedish farm house together and talked, ate meatballs, looked at family photos, and played Chinese checkers. Eventually more of Alicia’s family joined in, and I got to meet them. We all had Fika, ( it is the Swedish version of tea time, but with coffee and sweets) and by this time I was so full that my stomach was about to explode!

We didn’t stay and tour the farm today because it is so rainy and disgusting outside, but we will be sure to explore some other day. When we got back home in Visby, Alicia and I went upstairs and put on our swimsuits. I’ve said it once and I will say it one million times; we will not let this rainy weather ruin our day! With swimsuits on and child-minds installed, we marched outside and danced in the rain. We ran around the house, once… and by then we were already soaking wet. We ran down the street to a school and played on the playground, making sure to play on every piece of playground equipment they had. I felt like a little kid again, it was really fun. When we finally decided that we had had enough, we came back inside and went downstairs to Alicia’s sauna. It was the perfect way to relax! What a wonderful way to spend a rainy day.