Childhood Tastes

This week, there is an international food market in town. I was sent by the mum-in-law to aquire salami and cheese, and I happened to stumble on this: Mohnkuchen, or which is a kind of pastry that is filled with poppyseeds. Swedes always look suspicious when you mention it, but it´s part of my childhood - my Austrian aunt used to make it, and since no one in the family was particularly keen, I ended up eating pretty much the whole thing myself. A loaf, usually. You can buy it in Stockholm, in the big indoor markets, but not here in Luleå. So I had to have one, even though I am, officially, on a sugar fast.

I have noticed, in the last few weeks, how food is beginning to taste better for me, and at first I thought it was my cooking that had improved. Then it occured to me that it might be the sugar fast and some kind of re-activation of my taste glands. I wonder if my reaction to the Mohnkuchen is related as well, because sadly, it didn´t taste very well. I found it sickly sweet, in fact. Perhaps it was this particular recipe. I loved the smell, but now kind of wish I hadn´t eaten it.

I console myself with the conviction that it probably isn´t very good for me anyway. Instead, I hope for another of my childhood dishes that they served in one stall: Russian pasties, filled with cabbage and mushrooms. I hope to persuade the husband to go and have some Friday or Saturday (which is the last day of the market). Maybe I will be less disappointed with those.