Those Crazy Swedes!

Regular readers of my ramblings here have probably figured out that I'm part Swedish. For those that didn't know, well, I am. My mother's "right off the boat" as they like to say, having moved here from Sweden over 40 years ago. So I grew up with a lot of Swedish in my life. (Not many bikini teams dropped in though, unfortunately.)

When we were younger, we used to get together with a tight knit group of Swedish friends and have parties and celebrate holidays and things. As we kids got older and moved away, these gatherings became less and less frequent. However, one tradition remained, the annual crayfish party! Every summer all the families and as many of the kids as possible would all get back together in Fairfield, CT at the same home to catch up, drink and eat... lobster. (See, it used to be crayfish, as per Swedish tradition, but there's not enough meat on those suckers, so it was changed to lobsters years back.) This year was no different, and last Saturday the party was held and my gourmet weekend continued. It was a Swedish feast with herring and meatballs and Johnson's Temptation and breads and cheeses, and even more of my mom's special cookies! And of course there were lobsters...



And what kind of party would it be without drinking?



That's me, my sister, Erika, and my brother, Roman.

And more drinking, with even my dad joining in...