I finally took my own advice to others and made a New Year’s resolution out of it for myself, and there was nothing arduous—only fun—with my plan: Have regular dates with the spouse. I envisioned weekly outings with my man, and he readily agreed to the frequency. But seven days is nothing, and life stole him away from me time and again as the year opened. What about every other week? Doable, we decided. Supremely doable.
Husband, a romantic by nature, was game to comply with my goal, and he chose the first activities of the year for us because he’s built to be creative and thoughtful. He’s also adventurous, so when I said I wanted to take on both Sweden and Russia for one of our dates, he said yes.
No, no trips out of the country planned for us this year, if that’s what you’re thinking. Instead, last Sunday, we ventured to lunch at the American Swedish Institute’s Fika Café for our taste of Sweden. Husband enjoyed the Swedish meatballs with potato purée, cucumber, lingonberry, mustard, and dill oil. I selected their full house salad with butter lettuce, clothbound cheddar, Marcona almonds, apple cider vinegar, and lemon oil, and added salmon to it. Vibrant flavors exploded from our small plates. I savored every bite and decided I needed lemon oil for my future salads, starting that instant.
We departed Scandinavia for Russia, and the drive took us ten minutes. I had rolled past The Museum of Russian Art—at the corner of 35W and Diamond Lake Road in Minneapolis—too many times over too many years without stopping to view the art. Sunday was finally the day.
The exhibition, A Thousand Nesting Dolls, greeted us. The display included some of the earliest dolls created and those that came after them that spanned the 20th century. Styles, themes, and areas of origin of the dolls varied. No wonder they fascinated collectors at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris and soared in popularity. They captured me too.
We wandered through all the floors to observe both the visiting and permanent collections of art too and ended up in the gift shop where the rings—many of them sterling silver and amber—went straight onto my birthday wish list.
If you need a date idea—and some special time by yourself counts too—scurry to see the nesting dolls before they leave Minneapolis on April 6 and travel to their next spot. And maybe grab a Swedish meatball on the way.
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*Names in this blog have been changed to protect my family, neighbors, and friends in the neighborhood, and in a nod of appreciation to the beloved Swedish author Maj Lindman, I’ve renamed my three blondies Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka.