Smörgåsbord

Did any of us in the American and Canadian branches of the family grow up being exposed to Swedish cuisine?  I know I didn't and there isn't anything available here in Houston in the way of Swedish restaurants, either, besides a certain global home furnishings chain.  But I've been getting into Swedish cuisine over the past year or so.  A couple of months before I heard from Maria Lundberg for the first time, I went to the Kräftskiva or summer crayfish party at the Houston IKEA and had a great time.  Swedish crayfish are served chilled, seasoned with lemon and dill.  I also went to the Julbord at IKEA last December and then staged a little Julbord of my own for Christmas dinner.  I've also been to the Kräftskiva put on by the Swedish Club of Houston last spring and just this past weekend, the Smörgåsbord they put on once a year.  It was held at a very nice country club just a stone's throw from where I live.  Here are some pictures.

This was the Breads and Cheeses table.

Deviled eggs, plain and with caviar (salmon roe, not Beluga!)

Salad table:  Gravad Lax at the far end, salad fixings in the middle, marinated cucumbers at the near end.

The warming trays on the table with the hot dishes were still closed up so I didn't get any pictures of them.

This was my 'cold plate' (actually, the potatoes were warm): two kinds of herring, in wine sauce and mustard sauce, breads and cheeses, boiled potatoes, deviled eggs and Gravad Lax.  The ladles provided for the herring made it impossible to get any fish without a lot of sauce.  I've become really fond of herring and gravad lax over the last year. 

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This was my salad plate:  Marinated cucumber slices and salad greens (without any dressing)..

And my 'hot' plate: Mr. Jannson's Temptation, Swedish meat balls with lingonberries, ham and more Gravad Lax.  Mr. Jannson's Temptation (no, not our Mr. Jannson) is a casserole of shredded potatoes, onions, cream and, in this case, a hint of anchovy.  It was delicious.

And a Texas dessert:  Blueberry cobbler and Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Besides what I took there were also mashed potatoes, crisp breads, lots of salad fixings, and a brown gravy for the meat balls, which they could have used since they were over-cooked and dried out, unfortunately.  A server circulated throughout the room selling shots of schnapps and there was coffee and tea.  I was absolutely stuffed.

Do you have any Swedish restaurants where you live or do you cook Swedish dishes?  If you live where there is an IKEA, check with their cafe (not the snack bar).  Different IKEA's have different special days, I think.  They don't publicize them much here and you have to buy tickets in advance at the cafe.  In the past, the Houston IKEA has held an Easter Smörgåsbord and this year had a Midsommar Smörgåsbord.  The Kräftskiva has become very popular, apparently.  This year the enlarged the space for it, upped the price, and sold out two weeks in advance and I didn't get tickets in time.

Curtis, Michigan - Early and Mid 1900s

This is where our ancestor, Andrew Gustave Strom, and his wife, Alma Charlotte Carlson settled and started their family of four sons, John Royal, Henning Edward, Harry Allan and Andrew Christopher.  From what I have been able to determine from land records, their home was situated along the shore of South Lake Manistique, about 2 miles southeast of Curtis, Michigan, Portage Township, Mackinac County, in the Upper Peninsula.

Here's a Google Map and Satellite image of Curtis today.

Mahn's Store

Railroad station, 1910.

Feneley School, 1906.   The teacher was Erman Scott, the girl is Lizzie Feneley, Harry and Chris Strom are side by side on the right, the other boy is Earl Norton.

Newberry Road, 1910.

The above four pictures are photocopies of post cards; the information came from Chris Strom.

 

Another town get-together.   These two pictures are from Joyce Williams keepsake album in 1985.

This 1904 Map of Mackinac County does not show Curtis, which had not come into existence by that time.


More pictures of our ancestors and their home in Curtis from the late 1800s to the early 1900s will be posted in another Gallery.

Joyce Williams visited Curtis in 1952 to see her grandmother Alma and Harry and his wife Vivian.  The following pictures are from that visit.

 This cabin on the banks of South Lake Manistique was the family's original home.

Joyce in front of the cabin.

This was the house that Alma lived in after Andrew Gustave died.

Joyce with Wayne and Paul, Alma, Harry and Vivian with their son Butch.

This Genealogy Trails gallery has more pictures of Curtis in the Mid 20th Century plus one from the first decade.

This page from the same site shows a big inn at Curtis that was constructed about the same time A. G. built his big house to replace the cabin.

CardCow.com also has some historic postcards from Curtis and, from time to time, there are others on EBay.

My understanding is that Harry Strom, who lived all his life in Curtis, owned some of the rental cabins.

Strömbacken 2006

Maria Lundberg first visited Strömbacken in 2006 and took these pictures.  This was our ancestor's home on the Brandbo Peninsula in Västmanland that he left behind when he came to America in 1880.

According to the current owner of the building, this was originally a stable and the building behind it a cowshed.  There was also a barn, where hay was stored.  The picture was taken from the front of the house.

This shot from the opposite direction shows the one-time cowshed on the left, the one time stables, and, a little behind them on the right, the house.

Maria neglected to get a picture of the front of the house but here are a couple more views:  this shows the house looking up from the boathouse.

And the side of the house

The boathouse on the banks of the canal; that is Sundbo across the water.

A closeup view of the boathouse deck and Sundbo across the canal.

Another view of the canal looking north from the boathouse.

The purpose of this building is unknown.

An aerial view of Strömbacken.

A map showing the location of Strömbacken on the canal, across from Sundbo.

A larger map of the area around Strömbacken.

A map of Sweden showing the location of Strömbacken.

Here is the site the aerial view and maps come from for those who want to explore in more detail.  You can choose maps or aerial views, zoom in and out, etc.

A record from around 1940 states that the estate was 268 acres of which 85 were farmland and 183 forest.  The main building or house was built in the early 1800s, another building a little after that.  Maria believes that refers to the boathouse.  The 'farm buildings' were built in the 1880s and the barn around 1990.