I will do almost anything to get the Kiwi to go to Ikea! And this weekend had the added bonus of being Mothers Day.
I enjoyed the research for this weekend. I have a couple of Swedish friends and they told me a lot about Swedish Culture. I also found that there was a far more that was Swedish in Liverpool than I had expected.
Breakfast
We went to Malmo in Liverpool which is a brilliant little Swedish cafe which had lots of smoked cheese and fish. The service was s…l….o…w and the sandwiches were quite tiny but OMG they were worth waiting for. As there was a Liverpool match on the next day the cafe was also full of Scandinavian men which gave it a very authentic vibe!
The kids had waffles and I had this amazing smoked salmon open sandwich. Despite the wait, I would go back – often!
We visited
My friend had told me about a Swedish Church in central Liverpool. Sadly it was shut when we went to visit but it does do a weekly Swedish coffee morning and a ‘knit and natter’ which looked really cute and definitely a way of immersing yourself into Scandinavian culture. I hadn’t realised there was a Swedish community in Liverpool and so it has been really interesting to find out about that. Liverpool is so very multi cultural that I suspect it has every culture in the world lurking just below the surface when we look.
We made
A Viking Treasure Hunt! It was a lovely day and my Swedish friend had told me that they love the outdoors in Sweden, even having open air schools. I burnt round the edges of the map and rubbed it with a tea bag and the Kiwi drew our house and the local park and then we planted treasure all over the park. For some reason Penny knew about Vikings (we do live in an old Viking settlement) so I told her
some of the stories about Thor and Loki and Odin. Penny is literally the perfect age for Treasure hunts and Freddie loves being outside, so it was a lovely afternoon.
We watched
Both kids are obsessed with Mamma Mia and ABBA (the Kiwi a little less so) and so we watched the movie and danced to the songs.
Freddie absolutely adores Dancing Queen! Much joy.
We baked
A rhubarb cake. A little googling told me that this was something the Swedes enjoy and we had some rhubarb from a friends allotment. I stewed it up and then added cake mix on top and baked it for 30 minutes. It was lush!
I also bought a jar of pickled herrings for the sake of authenticity. I ate one – I wish I hadn’t. I suspect they will still be in the cupboard in five years…
The Adventure…
Hej Ikea! I really wanted some candles and a photo frame if I’m honest but the meatballs are pretty awesome too. The Kiwi threw the Penny into soft play for 45 minutes and looked after Freddie while I had an hour all to myself.
I absolutely insisted that we had to eat meatballs for lunch as we were in Sweden, Penny rebelled however and had fish and chips instead. Freddie ate only peas. Some meals are less successful than others – but everyone loved the drinks machines.
We also ate Daim Bars which Penny declared to be disgusting after she had finished it.
After I had bought my fill of toilet brushes, scissors and candles we had an ice-cream for 50p and went to granny’s house to say happy mothers day!
Next time
My friend from Sweden told me about Kubb – a garden game that sounds fantastic to try. I had a look but I think my children are a bit too little at the moment but it’s definitely one for the future.
And we loved Sweden so much we are going to visit her neighbour Denmark soon!
