Around the World: Literature should be FUN!

Pippi Longstocking!!!!

 

So, I'm no expert in education or literature, not even close, not even a little.  But I like to read and I was a preschool teacher for many years and I know if you want your kids to love to read then they need FUN BOOKS!!  And if the fun books can also teach them about another place and time then all the better!  So when we were thinking about Sweden and what kind of fun things we could do, I remembered the fun I had as a child reading Pippi Longstocking books!  Did you ever read them?  They were written by Astrid Lindgren in the mid 60s and set in a small village in Sweden.  The main character of Pippi is a wacky girl, stronger then humanly possible, and able to get into shenanigans like no one else.  She and the two neighbor kids, Tommy and Annika, the monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and the horse who lives on the porch (!) have wonderful, naughty adventures.  My daughter and I have started reading it and she is asking so many questions and is so curious about Pippi!  I love it!  This is really our first adventure in chapter books, so I'm not sure if we'll get far ,but so far she is enjoying her taste of Sweden with one of Sweden's most lovable characters.  We ordered the books from Amazon, they are still in print.  Here is a link .  If you are as old as I am, 41 (gasp! I feel old), you might remember the tv movies with Pippi from the 70s. 

 They had them on Amazon too, so we ordered one.  Now, ok, this is not the finest filmmaking in the world, and the english is dubbed (obviously at times) but my 3 year old son made it through most of it and was really enjoying it and I was having my flashback to simpler times.  The movies are a great way to see what the homes and villages of Sweden looked like in the late 60s.  I can vividly remember sitting on our brown plaid couch (the 70s, remember) and watching these movies on Saturday morning on our 20" tv.  Ahhh memories :) 

Speaking of memories, here is my daughter when she was 7 months old already showing her love of Pippi Longstocking!

On the Menu: Swedish Food

Swedish Food: More than Meatballs!

I  LOVE  IKEA!!!!

Yeah, Swedish meatballs are awesome. The soft, fluffy meatballs in the creamy gravy...I'm drooling remembering the ones I had at IKEA yesterday.  But there is a lot of other food in Sweden.  They eat a lot of fish, salmon and herring and whitefish, smoked or pickled.  If you read this blog regularly, you know I'm not a fan of fish, so we're not having pickled herring.  They eat a lot of potatoes and beets.  Nope, we're not having those either.  They eat a lot of venison.  Well, Bambi is safe from me because we are having Svenska Tunnpankakor!!  What?!?  Oh, in America that would be Swedish Pancakes! YUM :)  These are very similar to crepes, really thin and folded or rolled.  Since I happened to be at IKEA yesterday, I picked up some Lingonberry preserves and served our pankakor with Lingonberry butter.  They were delicious.  Here is the recipe.  BTW, I found this recipe on a website called VerySwedish.com so it should be pretty authentic.

Swedish Pancakes (Svenska Tunnpankakor)

For the recipe you will need:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 1/3 cups milk
• 3/4 t salt
• 3 eggs
• butter

1.  Add eggs, salt and 1 1/3 cups milk to bowl.  Whisk well.
2.  Add flour and blend until well combined.
3.  Add rest of milk.  The batter is really runny!
4.  Heat frying pan to medium heat and melt some butter in pan.  Add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter to pan and tilt pan to spread batter evenly.
5.  Cook until top is almost dry and then turn over and cook 30 - 45 seconds on other side.  Transfer to plate and keep warm.
6.  Repeat.  repeat.  repeat.

These were really good and surprisingly filling!  We mixed our lingonberry preserves with some butter and put a dollop on top of each folded crepe.  Then we sprinkled on some powdered sugar.  Then we ate then like a pack of starved wolves because they were so warm and delicious!!  When I say we, I'm not counting the kids, I really thought I was gonna hit a home run with these.  I mean who in there right minds wouldn't eat these??  Well, apparently my children are those people.  Oh well, more for us :)  I may never get to Sweden in real life, but tonight my tastebuds were there...and they were very happy!!!!!

Our delicious pancakes with lingonberry butter, fresh fruit and a sausage!!  The picture doesn't do it justice.  A food stylist I'm not.

Week 19: Sweden

Sweden- Land of the Midnight Sun

Ok, so we're all finished with Thanksgiving and ready to hit our next destination.  Grab your sweaters and warm mittens because we're off to Sweden!  Now, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that all I know about Sweden I learned at IKEA.  I'm pretty sure I could pick it out on the map (maybe) but I know I like their meatballs :)  So here we go, let's learn something about Sweden!!

 

 

First, let's find it on a map.  It's located in Northern Europe on what is called the Scandinavian Peninsula.  The capital, Stockholm, is in the southern part of the country, which is also the most populated part of the country.  Stockholm's latitude and longitude are 59.33°N/18.07°E - did you find it?  Was it where you thought it was?  Sweden is the third largest country in Europe (after France and Spain) but still only about the size of California, and has less than 10 million people living in it.  It is officially known as "The Kingdom of Sweden" and King Carl XVI has been ruling since 1973.  King Carl XVI and his Queen Silvia don't have any real authority though, like Great Britain, the country is governed by the laws of the Democratic Parliament.  They rule a country of well educated, peaceful people with some of the highest quality of life statistics. 

Must be the good food that makes them so happy :)  This week we'll be making some of that good, simple food.  Besides the good food, another thing Sweden has a lot of is Moose.  There are supposed to be between 300,000 and 400,000 moose (mooses?) living in Sweden.  For a country the size of California, and considering the size of a moose, that's A LOT!  So expect a cute moose project. Some famous people have come out of Sweden, too.  There's Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite (1866) and the namesake of the Nobel Awards.  So we'll be blowing up some stuff!!! Just kidding, that would be fun but I don't know where I'd get any dynamite (and there's the safety factor).  So we're going back to my old childhood friend, Pippi Longstocking, a fictional character written by Astrid Lindgren.   And lastly, because Sweden is known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun" we will do a little science project with light and dark - maybe learn shadow puppets?!  It should be a fun week - we've already started our research with a little after-school trip to IKEA, Sweden's most famous store! Can't beat a plate of swedish meatballs for $3.99!!