Today it is Jungfru Marie Bebådelsedag (literally Virgin Mary Messenger Day or better known to us as The Annunciation). For those heathens or lapsed Catholics amongst us, it is the day the archangel Gabriel came to announce to Mary that she was to be the mother of God. See what 13 years of Catholic education will do to a person!

To celebrate this everyone in Sweden eats waffles. This is totally logical, of course :) I wonder why we never thought of it in Australia?

Another name for the day is Vårfrudagen, which means Our Lady's Day. If you say that for a while it will eventually get to sound like våffeldagen, which means waffle day. Hence the waffles. See, Swedish logic at it's gastonomic best. And who am I to argue with tradition?

Swedish Waffles

Recipe for 6-8 waffles
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of milk
1/4 cup of cooled melted butter

Mix half of the milk with the flour and the baking powder to form an even mixture. Stir in the rest of the milk and the butter.

Warm a waffler and melt a little butter in it. Add about 1 soup ladle of the mixture per waffle. Serve with whipped cream and jam.

I am not sure that Swedish waffles are the same as American ones, and according to Google, Belgian waffles are different (much thicker), so a picture might be in order. Swedish waffles are eaten with whipped cream and jam as dessert or dinner. You can also serve them as a first course, but then you put e.g. sour cream, chopped red onions, and caviar on top.

It is also the Crane day, because the cranes are usually coming back to Sweden at this time. I haven't seen any around here yet, but then they may be smart enough to stay in southern Sweden for a little longer. This morning I awoke and looked out of the window to see it steadily snowing - not a comforting sight in the third week of March!