Food, Flowers, Frolicing And Fudge

This weekend the City Festival took place in Linköping and so we walked into town and passed by several events. The walk into town was not long and it was mostly through beautiful green space and a large park with some historic buildings. I have really enjoyed this small but varied city and have found so much beauty here.

Our main destination was the Farmer's market which is held in one of the big squares near the cathedral and palace. It takes place every Saturday for 6 weeks in the late summer and autumn. We sampled lots of food, bought some striped beetroot, vanilla buns from the sour dough bakery we had visited a couple of weeks ago, and also a special dessert to enjoy later on this evening. We had lunch at the Farmer's Market - a Wild Boar pita sandwich from a pop-up stall! They were extremely popular and we got the last two! We got our own back on the wild boars who had eaten all the chanterelles we'd been hunted in vain a few days ago!

After lunch we wandered through the rest of the city towards the International Food Market, also held as part of the festival. On the way we passed a large group of people dancing their way through the city which was fun to watch. Elisabet tells me this is Swedish 'Bugg' - a type of Swing dancing, similar to modern Jive, or maybe Ceroc in the UK?

We didn't stay too long at the International Food Market as the area was super crowded and we were glad we had already eaten. There were two English stalls - one serving Fish and Chips and one serving English Fudge. Both stalls had extremely long lines, but the fudge stall provided a colourful picture!

We finally ran out of steam and headed back home on the bus. Alice had not come with us so it was great to get home to her. After walkies we had a healthy salmon dinner - thankfully, because we heated our special Swedish dessert bought at the Farmer's Market. For those interested in my Swedish food series, check out my extra photo. This is called 'Ostkaka' - cheesecake - but not like the cheesecake we know in the US or the UK. This is a dessert made of curds. I think it's very similar to the Yorkshire curd tart, but without the pastry. It's eaten warm with cream and a jam - we used lingonberry. And very delicious it was, indeed. The family farm where this came from won an award for their Ostkaka in 2016 - a family by the name of Carlsson - my Swedish Grandmother's name - so we really HAD to buy it, don't you think?

Read Alice's blip here.