It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I know, I know It's February. It's dreary. It's gray. It's not the beautiful and magical Swedish summer, or Swedish spring, or Swedish fall. It's not Christmas.

But it is BOKREA! My favorite week of the year where books across Sweden go on sale and special printings of books are made just for BOKREA!

(Bokrea = Book sale for the non-Swedish speakers, not quite as entertaining linguistically as Slut Rea)

This is where I blow all the money that I am saving on not buying strange Swedish fashion trends.

I made the mistake of taking a look online on Tuesday to find out more about when exactly Bokrea begins. I ended up on the Bokus website.

I thought to myself "I will just take a peak to see if they have any English books on sale". And they did. Oh they did. They had 300 English books on sale, for really good sale prices of 19 - 35 SEK each.

After making it through 3 pages of English novels, I was 200 SEK poorer, but 6 books richer.

I stopped clicking then, because I did also want to hit the brick-and-morter bookstores and stock up there.

So yesterday I made the rounds. And they were good. Not as great as some past years, but not bad either.

I bought a few Swedish books, a Lindquist book I've heard good things about, and the Swedish baking bible Sju Sorters Kakor.

And no, my poor sweet Swede, I'm not done yet! There are still a few bookstores I haven't hit yet. And well, there are still a few pages on Bokus I haven't checked out either.

ETA: My poor Swedish spelling - Thanks K for pointing out Bokrea is one word in Swedish

Swedish Fashion Women's Edition: The Pleat Is ON!

As I preface practially every fashion post with – I am really the wrong person to write about fashion. I really don't care much for it at all. And this Spring season my love for fashion continues to wane, because the higher echelons of the fashion world have decided to punish the pleabs and inflict us with terrible terrible spring looks.

Walking down the streets in my neighborhood it is apparent, this spring, the pleat is back.

 (photo from Gina Tricot)

(Photo from Kapahl)

Now if you are like me, you didn't really miss the pleat. The pleat makes 99% of us look fat and does really strange things to the crotch. There has been no point in the last 15 years since I bought my last pair of pleated pants that I went 'Golly gee, I wish Pleated pants would comeback, how I miss them.

Although some of the tops this season look cute, and are hopefully designed to hide the dreaded pleats, it looks like I will not be filling my wardrobe with anything other than cheap (thanks low dollar) finds from the US this spring.

I think I will call my look 'sustainable fashion' or 'fashion recycling' as I dig out my rundown jeans and cords.

I am sadly struck by the thought that now 'Mom pants' with pleats and terrible waistlines have been replaced and are now my terrible old jeans and cords

Maybe summer will be better?

Melodifestivalen Part III: If it were all up to me

OK, I have had enough. Although I haven't actually watched an episode of Melodifestival yet, I have watched more of the entries than ever before. This weekend the stomach flu has come to our house and to be honest, I have no desire to even be snarky about this weeks entries. I need a little pick me up.

So I've decided to be super-narcissistic (because isn't that what blogging is all about anyway?) and come up with my dream Melodifestivalen, in which my favorite Swedish artists compete for a place on the Eurovision stage. I know this won't happen, because none of these artists would sign up for the contest, and that is part of why I love them, but this is all in my head anyways.

The truth is Sweden has some pretty awesome music, and here are some of my personal faves:

I can't Change - Sophie Zelmani – This is one of my all-time favorite videos and it helped me discover Zelmani.

 Timbuktu – I know, earlier I really dissed Swedish rap. In Swedes defense I will say I think Swedish rap is far superior to Icelandic rap (would you believe I have been to an Icelandic rap concert? Yes, it was that funny). Timbuktu is the exception. His lyrics are smart, funny, and he's got 2 American parents as well.

Ok, so both of the above are a bit dated so this one is a new and not quite famous Swedish band

The Bernadottes

These guys seem to be some kind of Indie-pop group (is this still a music genre?) – they get points from me because they manage to sing about Safran Foer in a truly amusing way!

I think any of the above might not rock Eurovision, but they sure make my world a happier place.

Enjoy!

Familjeliv.se - land of Swedish drama

When I was pregnant I discovered this fabulous website, familjeliv.se, thanks to a great tip from The Swede.

Unlike the US where moms (and very rarely dads) flock to websites that stick to their ideology – crunchy moms hang out on mothering.com, mainstream moms go to thebump.com, Swedish moms, and a few brave dads, all seem to congregate on familjeliv.se. And my goodness does much great drama ensue.

Thanks to the wonderful world of technology, you don't need to understand Swedish to enjoy this site, you can use google.

There are a few common categories on familjliv.se of posters. And one of the things I appreciate most about the loyal participants is that they are willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. So many posts scream 'Troll seeking attention' to me, but they get tons of serious answers. So, if you have any really odd, out there, question – you can try to get feedback on familjeliv.

1) The passive-aggressive I'm not judging you judge

These participants want to criticize someone, but just can't seem to do so outright. Instead they usually post a poll and a question that goes like:

I am a little unsure about my strange new American neighbor. Maybe this is how they do things in the US, but she keeps dropping her child on its head off her balcony on the second floor. I know in the US they do strange things like feed their newborns coca-cola from a bottle and McDonald’s Big Macs in puree, but this practice looks particularly dangerous. Do you think this is weird or is it just me?

2) The confrontational:

They love to take the bull by the horns, and don't hop around the subject like PAJJ. They start subjects with names like: 

Old Mom – why do you insist on having babies? Or equally, Young Mom – Why do you insist on having babies? This usually inspires at least 234 responses.

3) The 5 full time housewives of Sweden:

Housewives in Sweden are notoriously rare. The Swedish system isn't built for it and very few women choose to self-identify as housewives. The five women who do, though, can all be found full time on familjeliv.se. This is where they can constantly remind all of the other Moms about how terrible it is that they let anyone ever watch their children. There posts look like:

Why did you even bother having children if you knew you would have to go to the bathroom? I would never, ever, never leave my children alone for even five seconds. I wear a catheter and a bag, since I would never ever allow my children to be with anyone other than me, ever.

Looks like fun doesn't it? I admit, I am often too embarrassed by my poor Swedish writing skills to post. And I'm not a huge fan of participating in drama. But I do enjoy watching it now and then.familjeliv.se

Further proof that Swedish is Awesome!

Ok, so I was really just looking for an excuse to write about one of my favorite new time sucks - Damn You Autocorrect - I actually found it through the New York Times a few weeks ago and made the mistake of reading it on the train. Bad idea. I kept bursting out laughing.

Melodifestival Part II: The horror continues

I will admit, whatever enthusiasm I had for this competition waned a long time ago – so it didn't really matter if we had cable last night or not – I wasn't going to sit through an entire episode of Melodifestival. Not even if I was surfing the web and playing The Game of Life on my Iphone at the same time.

So, I tried my YouTube tactic, but I was too slow. The winning entries had been taken down. It seems there is some sort of rule as to how much the competing songs can be shown before the final vote or something. Because if you see these songs too many times, you will realize what crap they really are. That means the winning entries are a mystery to me. Oh the drama and excitement.

The losers, however, are fair game. And to be honest, I actually kind of liked one of them – and was almost sad they lost.

Babsan – Ge mig en spanjor – Babsan is a Swedish transvestite (think Dame Edna) singing about wanting a sophisticated Spaniard. And there is that weird Swedish music mogul hanging out in the background at a bar, who then dances with Babsan. There are also lots of Spanish stereotypes. It's great. I'm sure this entry would have won Great Britain's vote, and quite possibly even Spain.

This one – Like Suicide – is truly dreadful. The poor singer looks so uncomfortable I feel bad mocking him. I think he looks like he could use a hug. And the song – I mean what girl doesn't dream about being compared to suicide at some point in her life.  What do they mean by 'She's like suicide all night' ?

Also, enunciating lessons before a song contest are great - but sometimes sounding natural helps, too.

Then there was this one – this entry seems to target the middle- aged viewer. She must have stolen quite a few votes from Babsan.  I know my Swedish in-laws always bemoan how Babsan and After Dark make such a mockery of Melodifestivalen. I wonder if that generation will ever notice that Melodifestivalen has become a mockery of itself?  

Swedish food: The bagel drama continues

I admit – I am a total bagel snob. I grew up in the NYC suburbs (aka New Jersey) and bagels were a local delicacy. Oh how I miss curling up on a Sunday morning with the New York Times (I'm a Magazine, Book Review, Style kind of girl) and a plain bagel with a smear (that's a light swipe of cream cheese for you non-New York area natives).

When I moved out of the NYC area, I gave up bagels first. Because, lets face it, an Upstate New York bagel just doesn't cut it, and a California bagel? Why bother.

But man – I miss bagels. And so, yes, now and then, here in Sweden I try a bagel or two. I've even made my own. And they weren't half bad (mostly because it was my own blood, sweat and tears).

The Swedish idea of a bagel is generally a roll with a hole poked in the middle. Not bad if you like rolls, terrible if you like rolls, but crave a bagel.

Then I discovered the Espresso House bagels. Not half bad. They have a good solid consistency, they just lack the nice solid crustyness of a great NYC bagel. So occasionally I grab one with cream cheese for lunch. Yes, I lament that the smear is more than a smear but not quite a full serving of Cream Cheese. And that they insist on making them all whole-wheat and add a salad. But I can deal, because this ain't New York.

But then today happened – and I had a great laugh – because it was a fabulous addition to my ongoing bagel dramas.

I order a bagel at Espresso House.

“I have to warm it up for you, it will just take a minute”

(Previously at EH they have asked me if I wanted my bagel warmed and I always have declined. I cannot for the life of me imagine why you would want to warm a bagel already filled with CC and trimmings. I toast my bagels when they are getting a bit stale – but otherwise, nah- an always sans fillings)

“No thanks, I'll take it as is”

“But you cannot, it must be warmed, this bagel is only half done”

“I had the exact same thing last week and they said it was fine”

“Well, it should be warmed up.”

“OK, I guess I will try this bagel 'Swedish style'” (and I meant this, too – I do understand that things in Sweden are different, and not American – and despite my bitching on this blog – I do appreciate that the world is not the same all over)

“Oh no, this is how they do it in New York City”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, this is how they serve bagels in NYC.”

“I see, have you ever been to NYC?”

“I have relatives in NYC”

“Good for you, but you see, I grew up there. And I have never had what you are describing to me.”

“Well, this is how they do it.”

I feel the bagel and it is cold. I comment on that. “I see, so are you willing to give in and let me heat it for you now?”

“Um, no – thanks.”

Then I came home and told the story to the 4 guests from Manhattan staying in my house. We all had a good laugh. No one had ever had a reheated warmed up cream cheese filled bagel.

The hunt for a good bagel is at least an amusing past time.