A Grand Day Out

Ben here! I'm writing a guest post for A Grand Day Out today, so I hope you enjoy it.

On this week's episode of ENTV, Chris gave us a brief run-down of Peter's Yard, a Swedish coffee house near the Meadows.
It's a personal favourite of mine, so I thought I'd write-up the Pea Soup Evening I attended on Friday night and share a few tid-bits of how it went for those of you who couldn't come.

Pea soup and pancakes is a bit of a Swedish tradition, although traditionally it's usually served on Thursdays, but I would say what was served was a bit of a modern twist on this old favourite.

Tables were laid out on both sides of the cafe, making for an interesting split-room dynamic that I've not experienced before. This became particularly apparent when it came to singing. Yes, there was singing. I'm not used to getting "punsch" as I think it was called (I'm more used to schnaps) but once many of us got the hang of the unfamiliar melodies and some of the aforementioned booze, the room was alive with melody.

I should perhaps clarify that the mixture of people was relatively even, although I believe the Swedes were marginally in the majority, so lots of Swedish was heard throughout the evening. At least one of the serving staff was Swedish too, which certainly made ordering drinks a pleasant and authentic experience.

 
Songs done with for the moment, out came the soup and tasty soup at that.
Lighter than the porridge-like cosistency many of us are used to and served with knäckebröd (Swedish crisp bread) and Norwegian cheese, this was a real winner.


It was at this juncture that the evening's entertainment arrived in the form of The Cast - Mairi Campbell and David Francis. Their music was particularly pleasant and I know I personally walked away with a signed copy of their album!


At this point the evening got a little fuzzier. I believe there were more songs and drinks and some very tasty pancakes, served in the traditional way (more like crepes than British pancakes).

The whole event, as I understand at least, was organised by the Scottish-Swedish Society, who have several film screenings in coming months and Lucia events in December, if what I was told last night was accurate. For anyone wishing to join them, there is a small fee, but it's free for undergraduates, so perhaps that might be of interest to some.

-Ben Fox