semiswede

Spring has been a long time coming this year. It seems that cloudy and cool has prevailed which makes it hard to believe it is the end of May with the temperature stuck in the 50s and 60s (12-18C). But there is one thing that reassures the fact we are headed into summer, and that […]

Melodifestivalen begins this weekend with a six-week long competition that will grip the nation until March 9th when we find out who will represent Sweden in the 2013 Eurovision song contest. Founded in 1956, Eurovision is the top-ranked program in Europe with 125 million viewers tuning in annually to watch musical performances from roughly 40 nations. […]

Shortly after I posted about fläderblomssaft (elderflower cordial) last June, I learned that you can also make a drink out of lilacs, but it was too late. The lilacs were gone. So I have been waiting patiently since last spring for the lilacs to bloom again. 

Although mother’s have been celebrated throughout history in various ways, the modern idea of Mother’s Day is imported from the U.S. where it was first celebrated in 1908. Mother’s day in Sweden was championed by author Cecilia Bååth-Holmberg to be the last Sunday in May when there would be flowers and greenery nearly throughout the […]

It’s the height of the short Swedish strawberry season and the berries are out en masse. When the Lönnslätts Bär strawberry pods are plopped down around my city I know summer is officially here despite the fact it might only be 55°F (13°C) and raining. I love passing by my neighborhood pod where if the wind […]