Celebrating midsummer

A midsummer table with a view. The round circle in the foreground is knäckebröd.

Midsommar is without a doubt my favorite Swedish holiday. Yesterday was midsommarafton or midsummer eve, the day before midsommar. It’s a national holiday here in Sweden – many consider it to be bigger than Christmas. We celebrated in Swedish style at Nici and Roger’s place on the water in Ekerö, leaving home at 12 and returning at 12.3o this morning.

Vasterbotten cheese, herring and creme frache and onions for the potatoes.

We began the day with the traditional meal of sill or herring, knäckebröd or hard bread, Västerbotten cheese, potatoes with dill, cream and chives, and a radish salad. To go with this, we had beer and shots of vodka – instead of the Swedish snaps, we had a Polish Buffalo grass vodka called Żubrówka that was actually quite good. As the day was gorgeous we ate outside and each of us had to sing a drinking song from our homeland before doing a shot. (Sweden, Germany, Australia and the US were represented.)

Swedish potatoes, cheese and sill or pickled herring.

After eating Roger’s homemade and wonderful strawberry meringue cake, we started playing Kubb (a Swedish lawn game) but never finished it, instead preferring to sit on the dock and watch the boats and water skiers go by. Robert had a swim, but the rest of us did not want to brave the cold water. Kathleen joined us then and we made her do a drinking song as well, of course.

Then everyone pitched in to put together a BBQ for dinner, dancing to such Sweedish pop and schlager hits as Sommartider as we worked. We had grilled eggplant, feta, tomatoes, sausages of all sorts, chicken and steaks, as well as salad. We drank red wine that Robert and I had gotten in Stellenbosch, South Africa a few years ago. And then things started getting fuzzy from there as more drinks were brought out to sample, including some German stuff that could best be described as painful to drink. I remember that for some reason, we all had to balance our nose on a snaps bottle with arms outspread and one leg up. At the time, it seemed like a very funny idea. Thinking about it now, I realize the game was obviously the result of alcohol madness. Ah, midsommar!

Nici, Robert and Roger kicking back after the meal. I think Roger's shirt nicely coordinates with the tablecloth!

Tagged as: a typical Swedish midsummer meal, celebrating midsommar, traditional midsommar foods in Sweden