When I arrived at
the house of Swenglish person number 5 the kitchen looked a bit chaotic
– but smelled divine – as my host and her partner were in the middle of
preparing for a joint birthday party.
After a quick cup
of green tea I was set on sandwich making duty: salmon and cream cheese on
Polish bread, egg and cress on brown bread, and finally cucumber on white
bread. First I was a bit nervous as some people are very particular about their
sandwiches: the thickness of the butter, the amount of filling and which shape
to cut them in, but luckily my hosts were happy with my triangular creations.
I
find cucumber sandwiches very funny as if that little bit of green would make
the sandwich healthier or spice up the butter. My grandmothers in Sweden used
to put half a grape on their bread rolls, but at least they had cheese to go
with it.
This is the
delicious sandwich, scone and cake table, but I had to wait quite a while before I
could stuff myself with “Death by Chocolate” or “Rocky Road” as I was partly in
charge of the tea-making which was more nerve-wracking than the sandwich
making. A friend once said the following about tea: ”There’s a process in making
it that you can take pride in” which make it sound just as complicated as it
is.
English people
are so fussy about their tea! In Sweden anyone would be happy if you handed
them a black coffee, here people wanted either Breakfast Tea or Earl Grey or
Rooibos or decaffeinated or something herbal or other, and if that wasn’t
enough you have to deal with the strength of the tea and not to forget: the
milk and the sugar:
Just a bit of
milk, please
Make it very
milky, please
Put in the
milk first, please
One and a half
tea-spoon of sugar, please
No sugar,
please
I like mine
quite strong, please
Don’t stew it
too much, please
Leave the bag
in, please
Is there any
more hot water?
In the end
everybody got what they wanted (hopefully!) and gathered in the sunny garden to
laugh and gossip and listen to a speech by the host and a surprise ukulele
performance. I’m glad I tried a scone for lunch because believe it or not – by
the time the guests went home the plates and trays were empty, save the pumpkin
cake which only I really enjoyed as it had the same spice mix as Swedish
gingerbread. A big thank you to my hosts for letting me be part of such a
lovely typical English afternoon!
PÅ SVENSKA
