Category Archives: Family & Life

Go creative with lego

July 9, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Nothing more is needed than a few pieces from Lego to entertain the children (and the Scandinavian dad) for ages.
Little A spent this am building a pizza van, ready to serve the local community with freshly baked pizza. Yummy!



Little A is wearing jumpsuit from Claire DK and hooded sweater from Nova Star. Lego from Lego. :)

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Svenska Flaggans Dag

June 6, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

It is Swedish National Day today, Hipp Hipp Hurra!
Since 6th of June 1983 the Swedish people has been celebrating a official National Day. On that very same day a Swedish National Costume was introduced by HRH Queen Silvia of Sweden. Although the costume was in existence since the 1900s, it was not accepted as a National Costume until this day.

If you feel like celebrating you should try out a recipe on a “Smörgåstårta”. It is a kind of sandwich with so much filling that it more resembles a cake than a sandwich and it’s the perfect dish to serve on a day of celebration like this!
We recommend trying out a recipe on this delicious sandwich cake by NotQuiteNigella.com Fantastic party food -made for sharing!

A big congratulations to all our Swedish friends!

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Norwegian Constitution Day

May 17, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

The Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature.

All over Norway, children’s parades with an abundance of flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands around the local community.
The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people gather to see the parade that includes marching bands and some 100 schools that walks through the City Centre, passing the royal palace where the royal family greet the people from the balcony.

The Norwegian people would dress up in their National costumes making the parades quite a spectacular sight.
Have a look at the Norwegian national costumes, “bunader” here www.norskhusflid.no

Food is also a important part of the celebration with smoked salmon, cured meat and freshly baked bread. We would also serve an almond and egg cake called kransekake and a cream cake decorated as the Norwegian flag called 17maikake.

In London Norwegians gather in Southwark Park to see the children’s parade, followed by musical entertainment, speeches and games for the children.

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Happy Valborg

April 30, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

As it’s Valborgsaften (Walpurgis Night) bonfires are being lid all over Sweden and Finland tonight. According to old Scandinavian traditions also the night when witches meet on the mountain and hold revels with their gods…” Happy Valborg – Happy Spring!

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Scandinavian Easter traditions

April 16, 2011 by Scandinavian mum



Today many Scandinavians regards Easter as an extended weekend during which they have a chance to meet spring head on with lots of tulips, birch twigs and delicious food and sweets. Historically the Easter week, starting with Palm Sunday, was a time of great religious significance with an air of solemnity about it. Weddings and christenings were not considered appropriate, all places of entertainment including cinemas remained closed. It was considered highly unsuitable to pay anybody a visit.
With the modern society of today a lot of this has changed but as the Easter traditions are deeply rooted in the Scandinavian people some of it have survived even to this day.
Nurseries and schools are all closed this week and many people would be off work. Shops are closed from already early afternoon on Wednesday and doesn’t reopen before Tuesday the following week. So it’s important to stock up on food and beverage for the big family celebration. Still very important is that you would be gathered only with your closest during Easter, with many families travelling to their mountain cabin to enjoy the last snow. It’s all about spending time with your family, having sledging and ski competitions, indulging in chocolate and marzipan shaped as chicks, reading gossip magazines from last year, solving crosswords and playing boardgames like Yatzy. Eating lots of eggs throughout the week and also having a grand lamb dinner on Easter Saturday.

Eggs became such an important part of Easter beacuse of fasting, during which no eggs were allowed, it was a special treat to indulge in eggs without any restrictions.

Eggs were not only consumed, they were also painted to fight off bad spirits, a custom that has lived on to this day.
The custom of eating lamb comes from the Bible story of the Passover first celebrated by the Israelites in Egypt, which gave birth to the tradition of eating paschal lamb in the Mediterranean countries from where the custom has been adopted by the Scandinavian people.

The belief in witchcraft is the basis of another Easter tradition, crackers are let off on Easter night and great bonfires are lit. Firecrackers and fires were considered to be a proven method to keep witches at bay. There are still bonfires today.

So most important to remember as a tourist or newcommer in Scandinavia; Do all your shopping before noon on Wednesday the day before Maunday Thursday. Do not expect to see many people around. There is no tradition for egg hunts or the Easter bunny. Parents buy the Easter Eggs for their children and fill it up with grapes/raisins for their toddlers and sweets for older children. Freia melkesjokolade, Kvikk Lunch and Påskemarsipan is Norwegian must have Easter sweets.

Little Scandinavian wishes you a
God Påske!

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Happy Mother’s Day!

April 3, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

The modern Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. In Norway Mother’s Day is the second Sunday in February, in Denmark it’s on the second Sunday of May and in Sweden it’s the last Sunday of May.

Wish all you mothers a very happy Mothers Day and hope you are spoilt to bits with creative cards, woodland flowers and lots of hugs and kisses.

"I love you mummy" from Little A 6yo

"My super hero mum shines brighter than the sun" by Little B 9yo


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Give your child the camera

March 21, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

It can be quite interesting to see the result after giving the camera to your child. We have actually handed down our outdated cameras to the girls and they love taking pictures. Mostly of their toys, their room and of each other.
But now and then they end up taking pictures that I truly love and treasure. It’s something about the angle it’s taken from that makes it unusual. They also don’t mind taking pictures of objects less perfect and at the same time with a great focus.
It’s fearless photography with a real life approach.

Little B captured this picture as we were on our way for a weekend trip. She also photographed a Donald Duck magazine lying open on her lap and a snap shot of a sleeping little sister next to her in the back seat of the car. But I really love the picture of us in the car. It’s us together as a family, on our way to a fun outing and it’s something about the contrast, colours and composition combined. It’s simply a marvellous shot that I could not have done any better myself.

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For Japan with Love – Day of Silence

March 16, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Bloggers will be having a day of Silence to show respect for the victims of the ongoing disasters in Japan,
this Friday the 18th of March. We urge all readers to get involved, every little helps. For Japan with Love.


For more information about For Japan with Love, visit www.utterlyengaged.com

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Fastelavn, the Sunday before lent

March 6, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Fastelavn in Scandinavia will be celebrated, depending on the country, either today or on Tuesday.
We celebrate with three important traditions; carnival, rich food and with decorating our homes with fastelavnsris, shown in the picture to the left.
During the period of carnival all nurseries and schools in Scandinavia celebrate in one way or the other. The youngest children have a day of carnival, dressing up and inviting their parents for morning coffee and the rich and delicious sweet buns with cream that we call “fastelavnsboller” or “semlor”.
Scandinavian fastelavn traditions also have their roots from before Christian times. Following old tradition the children rise at daybreak, arm themselves with Fastelavnsris, decorated birch branches, and go about the house trying to switch all the “lazy” people they can catch lying in bed. This curious custom of switching with branches doubtless originated in an ancient pagan rite of bringing into the village the fruitfulness of spring. It also symbolises the change from winter and hopes for a fruitful spring.
Nowaday families, nurseries and schools make their own “fastelavnsris”, decorating branches with bright coloured feathers or sparkling tinsel and paper streamers of red, orange, yellow and green. We also add flowers or other colourful and decorative items. And luckily lazy people do not have to fear a Sunday lie in any longer as the “fastelavnsris” is only a decorative item in a vase on the the table these days.

Photo: www.terella.no

Fastelavnsboller
Fastelavnsboller is simply sweet buns filled with cream, served with a thin layer of icing sugar on top. Some also add jam together with the whipped cream. Tastes wonderful together with a cup of coffee for brunch or around tea time.


Ingredients:
The sweet buns
150 gr butter
5 dl milk or water
50 gr fresh yeast
1 dl sugar
12-13 dl strong white flour
½ teaspoon cardamome
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon bakingpowder

The whipped cream
3 dl double cream
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar

Method:
1. Melt the butter, add water/milk, warm until 38C.
2. Add salt and just a little sugar to the yeast to let the yeast melt.
3. Add water/butter and stir well. Add the rest of the sugar and almost all of the flour. Knead until you get a smooth dough, add more flour if necessary.
4. Let the dough rest and rise to double size. (time may vary depending on room temperature etc. Be patient!)
5. Knead again and cut the dough into 25 small pieces that you make into rolls. Put the rolls on a baking trey, cover with cling film and let them rise again for 20-30 minutes.
6. Bake at 230C for 10-15 minutes. Leave too cool.
7. Cut the sweet buns and fill it with whipped cream, jam or marzipan after taste. Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy!

Happy Fastelavn!

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When Little A entered our life

March 5, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Our youngest Little Scandinavian, Little A is turning 6 years today! The picture is one of the very first pictures of Little B and Little A together, in one of the first days after we came home from the hospital. And as you can see she quit quickly was a natural part of our family and life. See a yearly picture of Little A from 0-5 here. Happy 6th Birthday, Little A!

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