swedish christmas bazaar

So, I have a not-so-secret desire to move to Sweden and as I was recently talking to my friend, Senja, about my love for all things Sweden, she mentioned that Seattle has a Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar at the Swedish Club downtown. It was last weekend and I dragged my friend, Lindsay, along with me (because she's from Swedish descent and always up for a good time). We started chatting with some women in traditional Swedish garb and they invited us to join the Swedish Choir, which I actually think sounds really fun. They only sing in Swedish and it would be so fun to sing music that's traditional to my ancestry (even though I'm technically Danish with a Swedish spelling).

The bazaar was fun and packed with people! I was so tempted to buy a bunch of these pretty vintage handwoven textiles. I went with the intent to buy a red dala horse but forgot cash and chickened out at the price of a really beautiful one I saw. They had tons of food (they do a weekly pancake breakfast for the members and they looked delightful) but I bought some pea soup with hardtack and cheese + a slice of cardamom coffee bread from the table of about 8 Swedish-speaking grandmas. I was a little put off by the crock pot of the soup but it was actually really delicious! I would love to have a recipe for it.

The view from the Swedish Club is beautiful! It was a very rainy, Seattle day and just lovely! Lindsay and I were purely giddy over this smiley woman playing the accordion. Did you know that learning to play the accordion is on my bucket list? Well, now you know.