My mom has not much interest of being in the kitchen. Wrong, she likes being in there, loves good food, loves to take place and lately; loves to bake. She recently retired, last year in October, and now she has all this time on her hands. Don't get me wrong, I do not complain when I get freshly baked bread EVERY single morning, not at all. We have these few weeks eaten more bread than we did during the four years we lived in the US. And I try to run every morning.
Early this morning we flew from Stockholm to visit with my brother and his family in Mattmar, Jämtland, further north in the very long country of Sweden. One hour in the air and we are still only in the middle. Here, baking has reached another level; my sister-in-law is the proud owner of Agdas Cafe (Agdas coffee shop www.agdaskafe.se) ) where she bakes and makes everything from scratch. Everything! There is no end to the creativity and delishiousness. My brother works from home with his office in the same building (an old farmhouse from the 19th century, beautifully renovated) and it is a wonder that he is still walking around, not rolling. We arrived Thursday morning, just in time for gubbfika (old man's coffee break) at 10am, freshly baked bread with ham, cheese, marmelades and a choice of coffee and tea. After a first breakfast at 6am before leaving for the airport, a second one on the one-hour flight (free of charge! FREE!) a third one just hit the spot.
As soon as we were done, we were put to work, willingly so. Amanda was the first one to don the apron, very proudly. She started with baking tekakor (tea cakes) for the lunch time prawn sandwiches, continued with serving the customers, cleaning the tables, putting flowers on the same and just having a great time and most importantly, feeling very good about herself.
Ulf and my brother left for stocking up at the store leaving me and the kids to take care of business. We made biscotti, baked more bread, an amazing cake appeared like magic allthewhile serving a steady stream of customers. Amazing. Again, I would be sooo fat if I had a cafe or any kind of food related business.
When I was little, we spent every summer up here in my grand parents cabin (cabin as a real cabin, we had only cold water on tap, a dass (outdoor toilet), no tv and once a week we got to go to my great-grandmother for a well deserved bath. All clean and sweet smelling we would snack on peppermint candy and gingerbread snaps in either the kitchen, while she was working with one thing or another, or on special occasions in the salon, surrounded by old photos and relics from the past.
Up here I'm surrounded by childhood memories and relatives, most of whom I do not know. My own kids once asked me which is my very favorite place in the world and the answer came out of my mouth even before I had a chance to think about it. I wouldn't want to live here permanently, but I will come back to visit over and over again.
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