How to get fat in Sweden

What??  With all the biking, daily farmer's market, etc. how could that possible happen....to ANYONE that lives here?  Before I provide you with a few simple steps on how to "bulk up" here in Scandinavia, I want to take you back to April when we first moved here.  After a couple of short weeks in Sweden, I thought (mistakenly) that it would be so easy to stay in shape!  After one week, my jeans were already a little bit loose.   Granted, I initially spent 8 to 10 hours a day unpacking, I rarely left the house, and we ate rice and beans, pasta or sandwiches for dinner every night.  Combine that with more walking and biking, less eating at restaurants and a sparkly new gym membership- I began to understand why most people here are in pretty good shape (and assumed- perhaps incorrectly- that I could easily be like "most people")

My friend....for now

All that being said, I now realize that staying in shape was not quite as easy as I initially thought...or hoped.  Here are a few simple steps that could help a person get "fluffy" in Sweden (if one were so inclined).   Step 1-  Make Friends.  Yes, the Swedes know how to entertain (and I'm not referring to fermented fish or meatballs!).   Since settling in, we have been invited to the homes of friends for fabulous dinners, drinks, or fika (or coffee break).   Sometimes afternoon fika would flow into dinner and drinks!

You might find these at fika!

Sometimes a week of sensible eating and regular workouts could be unravelled by a weekend evening with friends, eating yummy food and enjoying a few glasses of wine.  On a side note,  I must say that our Danish friends are also wonderful hosts (therefore equally responsible for my not-so-loose jeans!)

Step 2- Learn your way around the grocery store.   With some help of Google translate and a couple of Swedish friends, I am now able to navigate (reasonably well) through a couple of the main grocery stores.  I've also made friends with my small oven....for the most part....and don't burn things as frequently as I did the first month here.   Now I am able to make some familiar foods from home and we are not dependent on the aforementioned sandwiches, pasta, and rice and beans (although those meals are still in the rotation!).  I do try to cook reasonably healthy things, but we are no longer enjoying the "prison diet".

Pretty good stuff...but not every day!

Step 3- Invite out-of-country guests to stay with you.  Okay, I'm not sure that I should refer to my parents as "guests", but when I have people in the house (family or otherwise), I feel obligated to ensure they are well fed.  I also invited friends over on several occasions so that my parents could meet them.  It goes without saying that if I'm having guests over that I MUST feed them.  A few culinary highlights included taco night, enchiladas, banana bread and apple crisp.  I made meatballs as well...but not from scratch!

Homemade apple crisp- try it with ice cream and vanilla sauce!

Also, it's only natural that the parents wanted to try out some of the local establishments for fika, lunch, or dinner.   I went out for coffee more in two weeks time than I had in five months.  And, as you might imagine, it wasn't just coffee....I sampled some really yummy kannelbullar (cinnamon rolls), carrot cake and a pie made out of local berries (I have a feeling that those items do not qualify as the Breakfast of Champions!).  Before the parents visit,  I had rarely gone out to eat and I didn't know which local places are the best (there's no Panera or Jason's Deli).  So it was a little trial and error.   However, we did find a pizza place in town called V.E.S.P.A. that is quite good.  My family and close friends could tell you that I might DIE without pizza.   Needless to say, even all of the extra walking around town couldn't possibly offset the smorgasbord which was the last few weeks!

Now, please understand that I am exaggerating (a little) about bulking up....I'm sure you will recognize me the next time you see me and I haven't had to buy bigger jeans just yet, but it's certainly not as easy as I thought it would be to stay fit in Sweden.  However, I'm so grateful that we have friends to hang out with, that I can navigate through the grocery store and I'm certainly thrilled that we had our first visitors.   I wouldn't trade any of those things for smaller jeans!  I guess I will just have to work a bit harder during the week.

A little more of this....

And a little (I said a LITTLE) less of this!