Joanna Shmoanna

August 26, 2009: You know you had a successful vacation when...

Poetry was written about it!

—

Though the wonders of Heaven are legion,
Only two of them, mountain and sea—
One by height, one by depth—suit a region
To a fancy unboundedly free;
And in only the Landscape Norwegian
Did God suffer BOTH marvels to be.
Where the Bible says, “Who is like thee, Lord?”
I would add: “—Who created the fjord.”

—Ben P.

July 23, 2009: Because everyone likes to blog about what she had for lunch

I have been generally underwhelmed by the variety and freshness of the produce in Stockholm. No Bartlett pears, only Bosc?!—Ok, ok, you know you’re a yuppie when… Anyhow, I’m not going to defend my love for and bizare preferences on produce.  My basic understanding of produce in Stockholm is that Sweden is not a particularly good climate for growing vegetables and therefore Swedish cuisine doesn’t use a lot of vegetables, therefore Swedes don’t use a lot of vegetables. I hear that you can get better produce in the suburbs where the imigrant populations are larger, but I’ve never done that.  If you want something badly enough and it’s in season, they will have it in the basement of Hötorget, but you might end up paying an arm and a leg. That I’ve done a few times.  Here are some other observations about Stockholm’s produce.

The good news:

1. The berries are amazing— strawberries are reveared and currants are very popular.
2. Rhubarb is available all summer long.
3. The chantarelles are everywhere this time of year, and they are very, very tasty.
4. Kolrabi is common (I haven’t figured out quite what to do with this vegetable yet, suggestions?)

The bad news:

1. I don’t know why, but sometimes it’s absurdly hard to find scallions among the piles of chives, leaks and onions.
2. Sweet potatoes are 5x the price of white potatoes.
3. Although they can be grown in the Swedish climate, winter squashes are rare.   Pumpkins are around.  I’ve seen butternut squash a few times. I don’t think I’ve seen acorn or spaghetti squash, ever.
4. Dark leafy greens (kale, collard greens, bok choi, etc) are extremely rare.
5. Fresh corn on the cob in Sweden— if you don’t have anything nice to say…

Swedish naming
According to the Swedish naming convention most vegetables are either an onion or cabbage.  Some examples:

Onions
white onion— garlic
grass onion- chives
spring onion- spring onion/scallion
purjo (?) onion- leek

Cabbages
flower cabbage- cauliflower
green cabbage- broccoli
rabi (?) cabbage- kholrabi

cabbage root— turnip

rose cabbage- brussel sprouts

June 22, 2009: Corsica is wonderful

• Sara: How is it over there?
• me: It's paradise
• Sara: Protein paradise
• me: Well yes, though i think the lipid people here might take issue with that
• Sara: Fat fantasy?