Surströmming at Larssons'...!

And so it was...Nils-Erik and I opened this year's Red Wolf brand fermented herring at Larssons' home in Näsby Park, and Majvor took us through the steps to a great surströmming experience: How to build your own...Hard-cracker bread, boiled potatoes, chopped onion, butter, a slice of Västerbotten cheese, lay those slices of herring across the top like Stockholm sunbathers on rocks by the sea, another cracker on top, sanndwich-like...then enjoy!...Honestly?...It was really good! And I'm not just being my usual culturally polite!...Truly tasty!...Not at all the traumatic sensory melt-down and flee-for-your-life yuck-fest some have described, not at all (I realize this a highly personal thing...)...As good as marinated herring (sill), a lot saltier, doesn't taste anything like the scent given off..Speaking of which: the mythical smell, which I had braced myself for, especially as the opener penetrated the can, was not nearly as strong as I had expected...I have eaten much more odiforous cheeses in central France that instantly cured all respiratory ailments...And that fruit in Thailand whose smell could take the paint off walls, yet had a faintly sour-banana taste, in fact...So, shake your heads amusedly but I really like surstömming...My life is now divided into Before and After, I can never pretend to not know what I have come to experience personally and for all time to our children's children and to our collective human destinies united in one accord as we embrace the dawning of endless tomorrows of sun-lit hope reaching the heartlands of our enlightened spirits boldly joining hands and voices exalting, willy-nilly, one brother- and sisterhood of joyful serendipitous release of celestial energy towards an ever-expanding future and yes, I think we'll do this again!...Thanks, Majvor and Nils-Erik!...Always great to see these friends...

So now you know!...