Photos, Pea Soup, etc.

Peter and I just went out for a traditional Swedish Thursday lunch of yellow pea soup and pancakes. The lunch was buffet style: You start with a big bowl into which you ladle the gruel-like pea soup, then you add big chunks of scary looking sausage, potatoes, and strong grainy mustard. It's better than it sounds. The pancakes were really good (but that should come as no surprise to those of you who know I am the queen of pancakes). They are very thin and are served with clotted cream and jam.

I've been going into Halmstad most weekdays with Peter. He drops me off at the University (where I am now) and I use the computers in the library to work on my online MBA. The other day I went to the cafeteria for lunch. Looking around I saw little variation from an American college cafeteria: Picked over salad bar, sandwiches, hamburgers, etc. Then I saw a wok station and thought that looked promising. I looked at the dish being featured and something told me it wasn't beef. I asked the chef what kind of meat it was and he said "Reindeer - here, try it." Just as I was musturing up the courage to take a bite he enthusiastically mentioned it was hunting season. Great. Visions of freshly kablammed Bambi were not what I needed. I noticed though that his cooking station was set up with all kinds of spices and I just had a feeling it would be good. So neurotic carnivore that I am, I felt guilty about trying it but did so and liked it. And I must say I quite enjoyed my lunch of stir fried reindeer. I'm still going to pass on the reindeer soup and reindeer pizza though.

I should finally be able to post pictures later tonight. I'm looking forward to sharing them.