Swedish News

“Bathing Micky” awarded in Cannes. Art lost from Moderna Museet. Sweden builds unmanned war plane. Chocolate gets the rat. Madeleine cancels everything. Smörgåstårta is for summer.  

  • Art lost from Moderna Museet
    It doesn’t look good for Stockholm’s Moderna Museet. The National Swedish Audit Bureau is criticizing the museum for lacking in routine. By doing a random sample, the Audit Bureau discovered that a lithograph called “Jade with butterfly” by Andy Warhol was missing. The museum has also lent three pieces of art by other artists without documenting it. The newspaper Expressen also revealed that the Brillo-boxes that Moderna claimed were made by Warhol, was in fact made in 1980, three years after Warhol’s passing. The Brillo-boxes have been removed from the permanent exhibition, but instead the Audit Bureau now has to go and look for the lost lithograph. “We’re trying to locate it,” says Lars Turesson, Director of Administration at Moderna Museet.

  • “Bathing Micky” awarded in Cannes
    Swedish short documentary “Bathing Micky” was awarded the special prize of the jury at the award ceremony on the closing night in Cannes. With only 30,000 Swedish kronor, director/producer/screenwriter Frida Kempff has created 14 minutes of celebrated film. The short documentary, filmed by Camilla Skagerström, stars 100-year-old Ebba “Micky” Heyman elaborating on life, relations and existentialism while bathing in the open sea. Micky has been a member of the local bathing club for almost half a decade. Every day, every season she swims with her friends at her beloved bathing club. From her story we gain a perspective on ourselves and on how our existence is but the fruit of coincidence. “Bathing Micky” was selected among 6,000 films. This is the first time since 1953 a Swedish short film receives an award in the main competition. “This is a huge success for us, and for Swedish film as well. We’re very happy,” says Frida Kempff.

  • Sweden builds unmanned war plane
    A tactical unmanned aircraft system worth about SEK 500 million ($64 million) is being constructed by Saab for an order placed by the Swedish Defense Supply Agency (FMV), according to Lennart Sindahl, business area head at Saab Aeronautics. Scheduled for delivery during the fourth quarter of next year, the robot airplane will handle missions including reconnaissance as well as have attack capabilities, although specifics of the aircraft and the system that commends them have not been revealed. The press was informed that the unmanned robot aircraft is a model called Shadow 200 from the AAI Corporation. The order includes the aircraft themselves, ground stations, intelligence units and peripheral equipment.

  • Chocolate gets the rat
    Thought rats were attracted to cheese? Wrong! Rats salivate to the tune of chocolate and peanut butter. “We often use a bacon cheese spread and pate of smoked herring, but we never use hard cheese,” says Sven Jeppson, Director of Anticimex in Stockholm. Rats in Stockholm is a growing problem, and Jeppson reveals Anticimex, an exterminating company, is busy at work in the Swedish capitol every day. The way to catch a rat is to use a bait that smells good, and hard cheese simply isn’t smelly enough for a rat. Using sticky baits are preferable, as it means the rat cannot just snatch the goody and run away with it. Jeppson says rats even like wine! The rat is a master at finding its way to your pantry, restaurants, bakeries, and shops are especially vulnerable when it comes to the army of rats. “And if there’s enough to eat, rats can get pretty big – up to half a kilo (over 1 lbs),” Jeppson concludes.

  • Madeleine cancels everything
    When in the US, Princess Madeleine cancelled her appearance at Seattle’s Sweden Week (only to have big sister Crown Princess Victoria cover for her). Now back in Sweden, it appears she is canceling all of her duties up to Victoria’s June 19 wedding. Says Royal Court spokesperson Nina Eldh: “After all that has happened (the Princess broke off her engagement with Jonas Bergström in late April after rumors of infidelity), the Princess has decided to refrain from all her public appearances. She needs time for herself, she needs peace and quiet.” Princess Madeleine was set to hand out the literary prize in memory of Astrid Lindgren on June 1, but that has been cancelled. As has her appearance at Skansen on Sweden’s national day, June 6. The one appearance she cannot very well cancel, is her sister’s wedding.

  • Smörgåstårta is for summer
    It’s summertime and what could be better than a little smörgåstårta? The perfect party and picnic food, the yummy, fresh smörgåstårta (sandwich cake) is pretty impressive visually, too. And once you get the hang of it, you can improvise and be creative with it. Here’s a fairly easy recipe to try, prepare a day ahead of time for best results. Ingredients: 2 pkgs cream cheese, softened (3 cups), 1 ½ cups mayonnaise, 1 ½ cups sour cream, 2 cups cooked baby shrimp (a.k.a bay shrimp or fancy shrimp) plus 1 cup shrimp for garnish, 2 bunches fresh dill, finely chopped, ¼ cup sweet red or green pepper, finely chopped, 2 avocadoes, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped, ½ pound smoked salmon, 1 Tbsp roughly chopped capers, 16 slices sandwich-style French or white bread (it needs to be fairly firm, with some texture to it), cucumber slices, lemon slices, halved cherry tomatoes, endive, chopped dill, capers, and caviar paste (available at IKEA among other places) for additional garnish. To make your basic smörgåstårta spread: Whip together the softened cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream until light and creamy. For the baby shrimp spread: Mix together 1 cup of the cream cheese mixture, 2 cups cooked baby shrimp, 1 Tbsp. chopped dill, and chopped sweet pepper. For the avocado spread: Peel and lightly mash two avocadoes into a chunky spread. Combine with 1/2 cup cream cheese mixture, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1/4 cup red onion, and 1 Tbsp. chopped dill. For the smoked salmon spread: Remove smoked salmon from skin (if present) and dice into small pieces. Fold into 1 cup cream cheese mixture; mix in 1 Tbsp. roughly chopped capers. To construct the smörgåstårta: Slice the crusts off of the bread. Arrange four slices in a square pattern on a serving plate; thinly butter this bottom layer. Cover completely with the shrimp spread. Thinly butter the bottoms of four more bread slices, then place on top of the shrimp layer. Thinly butter the tops of the slices. Cover completely with the chunky avocado spread. Thinly butter the bottoms of four more bread slices, then place on top of the avocado spread. Thinly butter the tops of the slices. Cover completely with the smoked salmon spread. Thinly butter the bottoms of the final four slices and place on top of the smoked salmon layer. Refrigerate remaining cream cheese spread. If possible, cover the smörgåstårta with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. If not possible, refrigerate for at least three hours to allow the flavors to blend (it will still taste fabulous!). One hour before serving, frost the top and sides of the smörgåstårta with the remaining cream cheese spread. Then, use your creativity to decorate with 1 cup cooked baby shrimp (pile it high for effect!), cucumber slices, lemon slices, halved cherry tomatoes, endive, chopped dill, capers, and caviar paste. Yield: serves 30 smörgåstårta slices as part of a smorgasbord table, picnic or party.