When Nicoline had her greenhouse built, it was meant to be for crayfish parties. So, rather than a ‘greenhouse’ it would be called a ‘kräfthus’. It was built a while ago, but, so far, has only been used for broth parties. Which made tonight very special indeed. Because, tonight, we had the culmination of what started last weekend with the trip to the lake. Yes, tonight was our first proper crayfish party (kräftskiva).
Okay, I know we spent a very enjoyable evening last year with Nicoline and her bowl of crayfish but I saw that as a training session. A chance for us to practice in the safe society of our teacher of all things culturally Swedish. It was a golden opportunity for us to be initiated in the right and wrong way to do it.
So, tonight was the big night. And what an amazing night it was. It was beyond enjoyable, with company to match.
The kräfthus looked like a fantasy come to life. A long table set for the eight of us (Nicoline, Ann-Helen, Lena, Mårten, KSP, Jonas, Mirinda and me) with the necessary accoutrements: bibs, tea towel sized napkins, special crayfish piercing red handled knives, beer glasses with crayfish painted on them, song sheets with old Moonface on the front, schnapps, everything you could ever wish for.
Though I think that KSP may have preferred a song sheet with some songs on it. “A problem with the printers,” Suggested Mårten fully knowing it was Lena. Not that it mattered. Everyone knew all the songs anyway.
Speaking of Mårten. He makes a pretty mean lemon schnapps. A bit like lemoncello with more bite. Quite a lot of it went inside me, given every time a song was sung, no matter when, a shot was downed.
In fact, at one point, Eric popped his head in and started singing a song. At the end of it, Nicoline put a shot glass in his hand, and we all downed another one. He also took a photo of everyone at the table which, sadly, I don’t have.
I did take this one but Nicoline was off, somewhere and, of course, I’m not in it. But it does give an idea of how wonderful it all looked.
Unfortunately, you can’t see KSP’s intimate earrings though, to be fair, they were pretty small and would be hard to make out anyway.
As you can see, I was at the head of the table. This was at Nicoline’s insistence and, obviously, so I could get the photo above.
It was one of my favourite nights, ever! We had such a good time. Thank you all. Apart from the language, I felt almost Swedish.
Oh, and I think my second attempt at a Västerbotten pie was a bit better than the first.
So happy you enjoyed it. So did I. Yes it was a night to remember! So amazed and grateful to Jonas to let you in to the crayfish fishing and then, in particular to share the result with all of us. And yes, your Västerbotten pan definitely added to the pleasures!
This was one of the most deeply charming evenings I have had in Sweden – even in my life. And to think we knew (and better liked) every single person there after only one year in Trosa.
And for those wondering about the intimate earrings. Let’s just say you cannot go too far in guessing the intimacy level of what these were….