Midsummers Eve

Dear family and friends,
today you are all celebrating Midsummers Eve in Sweden.

And Michael - you might be celebrating it in London, too? I know you went to IKEA the other day, perhaps for stocking up on pickled herring for Midsummer?:-) (Remember when we celebrated Midsummer in Crete..? :-)

Well, wherever you are dear friends and family, today is a day when you all will eat pickled herring (except for the vegetarians of course), with potatoes, sourcream, chives and most likely drinking a lot of "snaps" with it. Perhaps there'll be some dancing around the midsummer pole as well. Many of you will go with your friends to the countryside for a traditional and romantic - and as usual cold - celebration. Stockholm is a very empty city at Midsummers Eve, as everyone seems to migrate to the countryside or the archipelago.

Here in Phnom Penh, there's no such thing as midsummer in sight. It's more like "the first quarter of the rainy season" or something. So no celebration for me tonight, but probably a nice evening anyway. As usual, I'll probably go out to dinner with my friend Dre, and then go home to Skruttis the beloved cat, watch an episode or two of "Grey's Anatomy" on DVD before going to bed, hoping for a long sleep tomorrow morning. Although that won't happen as Skruttis always wakes me up for her breakfast at 06.30 AM... And tomorrow evening, there'll be a somewhat belated Midsummer celebration with my friends Dre and Johan. We're going to the supermarket to try to find something similar to what you guys are eating today. Strawberries, sourcream and potatoes should be no problem to find here, and the rumour claims that there's even pickled herring in some stores. Well, I guess I just have to wait until tomorrow to find out what kind of Cambodian version of Midsummer meal it'll be for me this year...:-)

I am thinking about you all today, and I wish you all a happy Midsummer!