Fettisdagen

Today is Fettisdagen (or Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday). We had semla at our department coffee break today. That's a semla (or fettisdagbulle) in the picture. It's a rather plain bun with whipped cream and almond paste or marzipan in the middle, and sugar on top. Some people put it in a dish of warm milk. Traditionally, semla was eaten only on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. However, Sweden hasn't been Catholic for a really long time so now they eat semla every Tuesday between today and Easter. Like anything else that has been commercialized, you can buy semla starting over a month before Fettisdagen. The Swedes eat a lot of these today. They are pretty good but, in my opinion, one a week is more than enough.