Traditional Swedish baking

Hello dear friends!

In December in Sweden we have a tradition to make "lussebullar". It is sweet buns spiced with saffron and stuffed with a few raisins. I like them a lot. Usually we eat them at the same time as we eat gingerbread cookies and drink "glögg" which is warm spiced wine.  Aren't we just crazy?

A "lussebulle" that looks like me.

 Bathing in buns.

After a meal of "lussebullar" you can go out and shop for Christmas presents.

Bye bye!

Windowshopping in Eslöv, Sweden

In the small Swedish town of Eslöv you could find this marvellous store window. I am always thrilled to see pictures like these. So if you have any of your own, please e-mail them to me. My address is: janne@lipfish.com.

See you soon.

Baby in a box

Hello.

Today we had an outlet here at LipFish headquarters. Plenty of locals turned up to go crazy in our old collections. This is one of our visitors who was placed in one of the clothing bins by his mom when she had her hands full. Looks kind of cozy, don't you think? I almost felt like crawling in there too to take a nap.

Cheerio!

Herman thinks about safety

Hello.

In Sweden, we are very aware and concerned about safety. Especially when it comes to the children. Which is nice. Noone likes to get hurt you know.

So I got very glad to see that Herman from Sweden is caring for his safety, even though he is just four years old. That's the spirit!

Many thanks to Herman and his mom Tove for sharing the moment. If you want to see more, they have a blog of their own called Blog the baby at blogthebaby.wordpress.com.

Many safe hugs
/Janne

Midsummer in Sweden

Hello!

Last Friday, June 24, was Midsummers Eve in Sweden. It is a really old tradition where people get together with their friends and relatives. Usually, everyone leaves the cities and go out in the countryside and celebrate the longest day of the year. Well, the day when there is sunshine the longest. In some parts of Sweden it is sunshine the whole day and the whole night. It is called midnightsun and is a large tourist attraction.

Common things to do on Midsummers Eve are:

• Raise a Midsummer Pole. You put leaves and flowers on a long pole and erect it somewhere. Then you dance around it. The music is mostly old childrens songs and folk music. 
• Eat traditional food. In Sweden that is most often "sill" (pickled herring) and potatoes. With that, there is the "snaps". And of course you sing some "snapsvisor". 
• Barbecue and party as usual. 

I myself had a really good time by the Midsummer Pole. There is this song called "små grodorna" which means "the small frogs". Perfect for me. I danced it over and over and over until my head spun.

After that, I did a really good job of turning some good meat to coal on the barbecue.

Bye bye!

Janne visits the Formex Fair in Stockholm

Hello everybody.

Today I visited the Formex Fair in the south of part of Stockholm Sweden. Actually, it is not far from the LipFish office. We even took the bus there. That's how close it is.

Well, the Formex Fair is one of Stockholms largest design fairs. You can find everything from children's clothing to kitchenware there. I always like to go there and look at all the pretty things. And to make new friends.

I also visited the booth where LipFish was displayed. It was really good-looking.

Here is a new jacket and beret that is coming soon. It is made of a special material that looks like denim, but it's actually very smooth and soft and cosy to wear.

What's this? Several small copies of me and my friend Doris as stroller toys. It'll be great to make small babies happy this autumn.

That's all for today. Take care!

Janne presents Swedish traditions: 13 December Lucia

Hello.

Today I would like to tell you all about a special Swedish tradition. It is called Lucia and is celebrated on the 13 of December each year. Originally this was a day to remember a saint called Lucia who lived in Sicily in Italy a very, very long time ago. Some people did bad things to her so the catholic pope decided to make her a saint.

Today in Sweden, we don't think about that too much. For us it is more a day to dress up small children in white gowns and make them carry electric candles and sing traditional Lucia and christmas songs. Afterwards we all eat "lussebullar" which is buns with saffron, gingerbread cookies and drink something warm.

Here you can see me in a traditional stjärngosse outfit. A stjärngosse means star boy in english. In a traditional Lucia parade you will also find gnomes and gingerbread men. It is all very strange and confused, but we really don't care since it is all a lot of fun and something to do while we wait for Santa Claus to bring us the presents at christmas.

Below you can see a very traditional Lucia parade with young women dressed in white carrying candles. They usually go to various places like retirement homes, hospitals and such and sing. Very nice.

Doris' new shirt and bed set

Hello again.

Today, I am a little bit jealous. My friend Doris got nice presents, but there were none for me.

Zeynep, 7 years, from Norrköping in Sweden has made a super nice shirt for Doris.

She even got a matching bed set. Look how happy she is.

It would be really, really nice if I could get something too. Please, pretty please?

(If you have made something like this, you are most welcome to send me a photo. Wouldn't that be fun?)