The Sandlot: Castle edition

Yesterday was SO MUCH FUN! It started off simply enough with cleaning the dungeon then heading to the train station so I could buy my ticket to Stockholm on Friday where I'll be picking up Elise (SUPER EXCITED FOR THAT!!!). After running a few other errands, Lina took me to Maxi (our local grocery... kind of like a Super Walmart) where we picked up supplies for a birthday surprise for Anzo. Since Maria, Malin, Lina, and I had already made plans to go to Maria and Malin's dad's company picnic to teach them about softball and help them play a game of slowpitch, we decided to get together before hand and make the cake then deliver it on our way out of town.

When we got back to the dungeon, we went ahead and started making the cake. It's much different than the birthday cakes we have in the states. It's a layer cake where the cake itself has a consistency of a mix between angelfood cake and shortcake. In between the layers of cake is a layer of jam, a layer of custard, and whipped cream. By the way, the whipped cream is nothing like Cool Whip or that stuff from the can. No, this is actual creme that is whipped by hand. Believe me, I DID IT! For 18 minutes (yes, we timed it) I whisked creme until it was in whipped creme form. My forearms have never been more tired! No worries, though. I came up with a whipped creme dance... Apparently if you make a fool out of yourself, time flies a little quicker ;). After we had made the custard and whipped the creme, Maria and Malin showed up and were able to help us with the rest. This is what out finished product looked like! This cake was SO GOOD! It was kind of like a mix between strawberry shortcake and what we generally think of as a regular cake. It was DELICIOUS... Seriously, one of the best cakes I've had. I think it was the whipped cream that made it so good, haha! We were able to surprise Anzo with her cake and presents (bubbles and some candy) before we made our way to the picnic.

Once we got to the place where the picnic was to be help, I was kind of stunned. It was in the middle of this gorgeous Swedish country side next to a CASTLE! Ok so the castle wasn't necessarily what we would think of when we hear castle as it did not have the Gothic or Medieval architecture we generally think of and it was a bit small, but it was beautiful nonetheless. After dinner the girls and I set up the "field." We had throw bases and cones to show them where the bases were. Lina then explained the rules and took everyone around to each base/position and showed them what they were to do there. The two teams had enough people for maybe three teams so we just had a standard infield and everyone else played in the outfield. Yours truly got to play first base! Maria pitched and Malin caught as Lina kept score. We forgot paper for the score, so we had to keep score on a roll of athletic tape :). Also, we didn't have enough gloves for everyone playing. As people switched from fielding to hitting, they would toss their glove to another player who was going to be int he field. It was so awesome seeing everyone having such a great time! Everyone was laughing and carrying on. It was just so much fun. It didn't hurt that we had this beautiful setting in which to play.