Ah, midsummer. The harsh ways of the world won’t find you here, especially on the Nordic water. That’s where I was last year – travelin’ solo in the Swedish archipelago – and I thought I was turning 56 on my mid-summer birthday. My family later corrected me – I was a mere 55. But for a few magic hours, I was timeless in a sea-spray of tiny islands and wild swans with a wicker basket of shrimp and berries and a wicked coffee buzz from spending the morning on a fika-crawl around Stockholm.
What it Fika? (also known as “finka”)
Fika is designed to keep you happy with warmth and beauty and human comraderie. It is the Scandinavian tradition of sitting down with friends or colleagues for strong coffee and sweet pastries, morning and afternoon, and it creates highlights. Midsummer Day, the summer solstice holiday that falls in late June, is celebrated with family, friends, and bonfires for internal and external warmth.
In this gorgeous landscape of blues, greens, greys, and vivid reds, fika pastries carry out the palette. Red currant, boysenberry, meringue, and chocolate harmonize in pastry cases around Stockholm. Most famously, the lime green princess cake, crowned by a single pink rose, has classic artistic quality. My wanderings led me to a palace of pastries: Haga Bageri
…and these are the beauties:
If I ever have another lost year and disappear in time again, you’ll know where to find me: among the swans and pastries of Scandinavia. Here are a few great books with recipes to bring the timeless delight of fika home to you:
The Scandinavian Cookbook by Trine Hahnemann (and all of her other books)
Fika: The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break,…Anna Brones
ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge: Comforting cakes and bakes from Scandinavia with love
The Nordic Cookbook by Magnus Nilsson
Fire and Ice: Classic Nordic Cooking Darra Goldstein
The New Nordic: Recipes from a Scandinavian…
Simon Bajada
…and while we’re on the subject:
The Wild Swans at Coole by W. B. Yeats
And here’s NYT on the story just this July 2017.
June 26, 2017
How do you ever sleep with all that strong coffee in the afternoon? Or do the pastries cast a belated soporific spell just as you’re\getting into bed…?
June 26, 2017
Sleep is out of fashion under the midnight sun. What a place!
June 26, 2017
Pictures as usual are great. Maybe my favorite part of the site. Someone knows what they’re doing. I also like Fika. Should be tried more often in the States.
June 26, 2017
Thanks, Bob. Learning a little more every day. Shooting video with no crew & no camera is the part that gets me – just people and iphones these days
July 2, 2017
What a pleasure to read. Wonderful appreciation of a very different way of life. What is wrong with Americans that they can’t find a way to live in this kind of harmony? Agree that the photos are very good.
Look forward to next installment and glad you aren’t running out of countries.
July 2, 2017
Don Wedge = gentleman + scholar.
July 8, 2017
FF: How can you not love a country that has a specific tradition for “sitting down with friends or colleagues for strong coffee and sweet pastries?” Great pix too!
July 8, 2017
LV: Beautiful article and such enjoyable photos! Susie, when I grow up, I want to be you!!
July 8, 2017
haha! too many beautiful posts of mountain views from you to be true!