I have never had Swedish food nor can I imagine any Swedish food, could you tell me what a typical meal would be like? Thanks Danielle

Its always fun to hear of new restaurants. Now all I can hear the Sweedish chef from the Muppet Show in my mind. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Swedish Pancakes sound great for Breakfast!!! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Charles

Todd & Danielle -- The Swedish food at Al Johnson's is quite authentic.  My first impression of Swedish cuisine came from my grandmother, who came from Vastergotland, in the south of Sweden.  Her cooking was also pretty typical.  Her meals usually included a cold plate (meats and cheeses, accompanied by salt herring), light salads, potato pancakes, Limpa bread with lingonberry jam (lingonberries are tart and taste a bit like currants but they make great preserves), and an entree, usually fish or ham.

I think you'd like Swedish cuisine.  There are some great cookbooks that feature Scandinavian dishes and also some great recipes on the Web.

Sam -- My kids used to get a kick out of the "Swedish Chef" on the Muppet Show!  Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Tom -- The Carlsville winery produces some pretty decent wines.  Have you seen the new Peninsula Players theatre campus in Fish Creek?  I was very impressed by the surroundings and the huge theater building.  I also wrote a post about the Players last night.

In Egg Harbor, the Birch Creek Music Academy is building a huge addition, with music practice studios and new dormitories.  I stopped by there on my way home.

Charles, I just had to order the Swedish pancakes!  I didn't need the whipped cream and all the calories, but I don't get there every day, so I figured what the heck..

You and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Eric - That all sounds delicious. I have tried a few of the foods you named and I didn't know they were Swedish. I love salt herring. 

Todd & Danielle -- I read on Wikipedia that Swedish cooking has been influenced by French cuisine somewhat.  I don't know if that's accurate, but I do like Swedish food.  It tends to be light and not overly caloric or high in fat content.  When I was in Sweden, I was impressed by the healthy lifestyle there.  People eat moderately and you don't see as much problem with obesity there as you do in the States.

Eric,

I surfed your posts and I am speechless. I could not even leave a comment. It is like you live in a wonderful world. Music, theatre... The photo is beautiful.

Yes, I know that I am one dimensional, that's just the way I am. My wife is a music fan (she plays a little, so she entertains me every evening). My grandson (14 y.o) has talent and great hands (tackles among other things Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (he is not Glazier, of course, and did not go beyond 3 minutes of Part 1 yet), but for him it is not serious. At this age he wants to be an athlete, so that all girls are his. I can't blame him for that.

My wife watches musical events, and takes the family to the concerts. I am not good at that, so I only go when London Symphony Orchestra is here on there biannual summer vacation. It is a waste on me, as I walk out and can't remember what they were palying. You can safely take me to 3-4 performances before I might notice that this is something I have already heard. That's not funny, ah... it is.

Anyway, was surprised to see Swedish restaurant, and was even more surprised to see on the sign that it is open from 6 AM. I guess there is a Swedish community there, though I have never heard of this, but I haven't traveled the country yet and know very little about other places.

Salt herring sounds nostalgic, this is how we had it in Russia, and I never got used to German style sweet herring. Lingonberries reminded me of living above the Arctic Circle. Not much was growing there, but lingonberries did, and I used to pick them for winter, though it was a hell of a job hunting small berries in a mosquito cloud.

Do not know what Swedish pancakes are. My wife is making Russian pancakes, they are very-very thin, when grandkids come, they ask for pancakes. Eat them with sour cream, or the kids prefer with sweet condensed milk...

Thanks for taking me out of work, work, work. I really enjoyed staying here.

Good luck

Sorry, I did not notice that I was not logged in, and I did not leave a name. This was my comment.

This is Jon Zolsky from sunny (mostly) Daytona Beach

Jon, it was a delight to see and read your comments!

I do take occasional time away from real estate to play a music gig.  It is a pleasant diversion (and a source of additional income!) and it refreshes my outlook on things.  Tomorrow, I'm driving two hours to play in a back-up orchestra behind Marie Osmond!

I remember the Arctic Circle.  I was in Lulea and Pitea, Sweden with the Israel Radio Orchestra on tour, back in the 1970s.  It was November and I recall the sun rose at around 10 am and set at 2 pm! 

I think you'd like Al Johnson's.  And Swedish pancakes are very thin, like Russian pancakes are.  My gradfather was from Kiev and I remember eating the very thin Russian pancakes as a child. 

Oh, you are part from Sweden and part from Ukraine. Not a very common mixture. 

From you post I figured that you are professional musician, and a professional Realtor. Also not a common combination.

And, yes, in November you go to work it is dark, you come from work, it is dark. Where we lived, we still had a daylight, never a complete Polar night, but it was officially 25 minutes, and it was not really a daylight, as the skies were overcast all the time and there was no sun in winter for that reason, but it was like at dusk, you could still read, but it was all grey. If you would believe the calendars, they were telling us that sun first time comes out on the 1st of January, my wife's and my birthday, but for 13 years living there there was only once that the skies were clear, and though they lied, we did not see the sun, but saw a pink line on top of the ridges of the Polar Urals.

But, boy or boy, what gorgeous Arctic days we had in June, and July. Never experienced anything like that. You go out in the middle of the night, and it is dead, no buses, no people in the streets, the stores are closed, but the sun is there, and it is so surreal. Like in Hitchcock's movie where everything is as usual, but people are gone. The sun actually was leaning to the horizon, but would bounce from it back. The mushroom season and the berry season, unfortunately were a bit later, when the night was already taking the reigns.

Our place was depressing. No trees, small and ugly bushes, it was not a welcome place for anything. It was a coal mining town with 13 major deep coal mines connected by a 79-km long road, which was the lifeline. There were small towns on the perimeter of this road. Buses were the only transportation. In normal weather they would turn of the Circle road into the town, but when blizzards were bringing bunkers of snow, they could not go to the town, so they would let people out, and then you try to beat the odds and get home. Did not work all the time, people died time from time. I had a couple brushes with death, so had my wife

Each of the mines started as a forced labor camp run by GULAG in Stalin era. By our time the camps were gone, it was economically not feasible.  The mines got deeper, equipment advanced, and they could not just use jack hammers and shovels any more. Imagine if this would be economically feasible, I am sure GULAG would still be there. Tell me about the democracy and the true elections there...

Very windy, and with low temperatures it was tough, and you were longing for quiet weather, but there were only a few days a year without the wind, and immediately you began choking, as all that coal dust was setting down on you, and you could not avoid it, you were breathing it, its greasy layers were setting on the window sills... and you wanted the winds to come back, and they were coming back with the vengeance.

There was a song, that living there you become an Arctic daltonian (color-blind person), because the only colors you know are white on the ground and black underground, and that there no other colors, and that you are longing for the green color, which is never there (not true, it was coming, usually right after July 10, but it could only stay 2 to 3 weeks and turned brown, and then in the middle of August you could see the first snow, and first days of October it was all white again.

So, I am still warming up here in Florida.

I want to thank you for giving me two beautiful evenings/nights away of work. When I first stopped here yesterday, I did not have the slightest idea, that it would change the pace for me, and make me soften up. I enjoyed writing it, though I feel sorry for tiring you.

Jon, what a wonderful description of life in the Arctic Circle!  You have quite a story to tell.  Have you blogged about your experience prior to arriving in the United States?

Thanks again for commenting and for the kind words!

I might have mentioned it a few times on different occdasins, but not as a blog. It is difficult to imagine that it could be interesting for people in the US, it is so surreal.

I, actually, wrote once a blog about participating in a canldlelight vigil at the wall of the headquarters of KGB in Moscow, and how we were dispersed by Special Police force using a lot of that force, but that was it.

If I am ever in Door County I wll definitely go here for pancakes! I love the sod roof..thanks for a peak at your world.

Jon -- I think members would be fascinated to hear your stories!

Bonnie -- Thank you for visiting!  You'd like Door County.