Saturday

FETTISDAGEN

Next Tuesday is FETTISDAGEN or Fat Tuesday. 
The day before the beginning of Lent is celebrated in Sweden with what else?
SEMLOR !!!!

Click  HERE for the recipe and get baking this weekend.

for all sorts of Swedish goodies check out all the different recipes 
that can be found on one of my favorite blogs
↓   ↓   ↓   ↓   ↓








**p.s. I cheat, my hubby does all the baking in our house. I do the eating. 
Explains the chubby cheeks and the big smile, yes?**

Wednesday

1920 US Census - Richard Kallman Family - Chicago

1920 The Richard Kallman Family has left the quad city area and is now living in Chicago, where they will remain.


• 3056 Clifton Avenue - the family is renting 
• Richard, head of household, white, age 32, immigrated in 1906, pending naturalization, can read and write, born in Sweden as were both parents, occupation blacksmith, working in a wagonshop.
• Lydia, wife, white, age 29, immigrated in 1892, alien, can read and write, born in Sweden as were both parents, occupation none
• Albin R, son, white, age 7, attending school, born in Iowa, both parents born in Sweden
• Eva L.D.,daughter, white, age 4 4/12, not yet in school. born in Illinois, both parents born in Sweden
• Carl M., son, white, age 3 4/12, born in Illinois, both parents born in Sweden

Noted: 
• The family is living in Lakeview which at this time was a predominantly Swedish immigrant area. Most of the adults on this page are foreign born. Today this is an upscale and expensive part of Chicago.
• Richard's job in a wagonshop will be soon no longer exist with the coming of the model T Ford and cars being made possible for the working man. He will soon translate his blacksmith skills into doing body and fender work on cars.
• 1892 is the incorrect year of immigration for Lydia (1911)
• Carl M is my Dad Melvin, who always went by middle name Melvin
• daughters Ebba and Laverne are not yet born although Ebba was born just 5 days after this census.

On a personal note, my Dad once told me that he could not speak English until he started school






*click on record to enlarge for easier viewing*

Friday

110 years ago - the marriage of Uncle Emil and Aunt Anna in Sweden

One hundred and ten years ago this month.
February 22, 1907 Johan Emil Jakobsson and Anna Abrahamson were united in marriage. 


The marriage was recorded in Anna's home parish of Östra Frölunda but it was noted that the couple were united by the local magistrate in Borås in a civil ceremony. The record also notes that she was not confirmed in the state church of Sweden and for that reason she could not be married in the Östra Frölunda church. The law allowed for civil marriages for couples of different faiths. Only until 1908 could a couple opt for a strictly civil wedding irregardless of their religious beliefs. Her father, Robert Albin must have approved of her marriage. Anna was just 21, all single women  were considered minors in Sweden regardless of their age until 1925 and she could not marry without the approval of her father or guardian. 
Arkivdigital: digital photograph 1907 Lysningsbok för Ö Frölunda  församling





***click on photo or document to enlarge for easier viewing, right click to download**

The "SWEDISH BAKERY" in Chicago is closing

Change is the law of life. 
And those who look only to the past or present 
are certain to miss the future
-John F.Kennedy


Today the Swedish Bakery in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago announced that after 80 some years they are closing. They opened in the late 1920's in the Andersonville neighborhood that at that time was heavily Swedish with many being first and second generation immigrants. The Swedish Bakery is famous for specializing in Swedish coffeecakes, cookies, sweet rolls  and marzipan cakes. They are known for using unique ingredients, common in Sweden and other Northern European countries such as cardamom, saffron, anise, fennel, orange peel and almond paste. The neighborhood however has changed. It is now no longer a Swedish immigrant neighborhood but more and more an upscale and increasingly expensive Chicago neighborhood. If truth be told, you would be hard pressed to find a 100% Swede anywhere in Chicago today. I, for one, am half Swedish. my children 1/4 and my grandchildren 1/8. Cultures, tastes, heck everything has changed.  I guess the market is no longer there. Sad, but then again I do love the abundance of other cultural dishes and goodies I never knew as a child but now are common in the Chicago area.


Goodbye Swedish Bakery. I guess I just have to get my hubby, the baker of the family, to turn more effort toward sweet rolls and almond coffeecakes. Times are changing and so must we. I guess I will be okay as long as Chicago still has by far the best deep dish pizza and of course the Chicago hot-dog. On a poppy seed bun, Vienna Beef dogs that snap when you bite them, tomato, bright green sweet relish, sport peppers, dill pickle, celery salt, onions and yellow mustard. You can skip the sport peppers if you choose (I do) but NEVER NEVER put ketchup on a hot dog in Chicago.

Read about the end of the Swedish Bakery on Clark Street in Chicago HERE.