Sunday, January 4, 2009

Mycket Bra Julbord


Smorgasbord is a Swedish meal served buffet style with both hot and cold dishes. In my family, we get it once per year...Christmas eve. It is customary to start with the cold fish dishes first and then move on to the hot dishes. Typical dishes for the Julbord smorgasbord (Christmas buffet) are an assortment of pickled herring, gravlax, koffbullar (Swedish meatballs), julskinka (Christmas ham), Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's temptation - frenched potatoes, cream, onion, anchovies), revbenspjall (oven baked pork ribs), stewed cabbage, assortment of breads, cheeses, pate, spinach, and a ton of other stuff that you can see in the picture. We also light as many candles as we can (which provides quite a rush as we risk burning the house down every Christmas eve). Last, but not least, we each have a glass (or two) of snaps or akvavit (firewater) which helps to coat your throat with a line of fire as to ease the swallowing of all the food. Long story short, you eat like royalty. It is a wonderful undertaking and worth every extra minute on the treadmill.

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