The first session of Drott’s newest program, “Lazy Days of Summer,” brought together a dozen members who bonded over flour and eggs, butter, vanilla, and sugar to create a delicious Swedish Meringue Cake, sometimes called “Pinnochio Cake.”  Chairman Karin Weeden doled out tasks: beating the meringue, making whipped cream (no store-bought cans for us!), slicing strawberries, and spreading the batter on a cookie sheet, all the while narrating the process for participants. After the cake was removed from the oven, we watched as it was divided in two – creating the two layers – and then filling the center with strawberries and whipped cream and decorating the top with even more strawberries. What a perfect summer dessert! 

     The best part followed – fika! We enjoyed the cake with coffee and lingonberry juice. The previous day, Karin had also baked a meringue cake using pineapple as the fruit filling. This gave us all a chance to see how we could experiment with various fruit fillings. 

     After fika, member Christina Lazdins taught a Swedish language lesson.  Her experience with teaching both adults and children at the Swedish School for over a decade was evident as she cajoled us into diving in to tackle words and phrases with which most of us were unfamiliar. Role-playing provided lots of laughs as we practiced these useful scenarios on one another. We left with copies of the recipe and with handouts that covered what we’d learned in “class.”  It was such an enjoyable afternoon!

    Stay tuned to see what the next “Lazy Days of Summer” program will be!