Nordic Christmas Bazaars in the Washington, DC Area

As I have a hankering for Nordic food all the time (Cinnamon and pearl sugar buns, anyone? Liver pate and smelly cheese, no?).

I wanted to make sure that I visited all the Nordic (There are five Nordic countries which include the three Scandinavian countries, just so you know) Christmas bazaars between last year and this year. Last year, I managed to go to the Finnish Christmas fair.

This year, the Danish and Icelandic bazaars were on the same day, November 9. So I went to those.

For those interested, the Finnish bazaar is on November 23 this year. The Swedish and Norwegian ones are on December 7.

The Icelandic Christmas fair was out in Fairfax, Virginia. It is the only one of the Nordic Christmas fairs held out in Virginia. It was extremely busy which surprised me because I had no idea there were so many Iceland-o-philes in the area. Maybe everyone else realized that you have to go early if you want to get the good stuff.

Then, I raced off to Rockville to the Danish Christmas bazaar. Wowza, were there a lot of people. Who’s left in Denmark?

I immediately got in line. It was the bakery line. Luckily someone came out to tell us that there was a separate line for the food… yes! Oh, but it was still a line. Just not as long as the bakery one.

The Danish Christmas bazaar only takes cash or personal check. Um. Oh. Kay. So I bought what I could get for the cash I had managed to find.

I was delighted by the “apple cake” which is a legit thing but is so easy to make. It’s a trifle basically and you can make it anytime. This one was homemade with good sized chunks of cooked apple in the apple sauce.

As I was trying to buy cheese and liver pate, I heard some folks discussing if they should buy the “strong” cheese. I dissuaded them. Maybe it was wrong but I am fairly sure that they would have hated it. The cheese was a Danbo which is like havarti in texture. But the strong one has high uric acid making the umami part taste a bit like toe cheese. I didn’t explain it that well. But they thanked me. I wish there had been samples. But, these Christmas fairs are for a targeted audience who know what they want. It’s hard if you have no idea. Danish smelly cheese is a unique thing and I can’t really explain it except that it’s stronger than any other cheese out there. Forget the stinky bishops and French blue cheeses. But I digress. I got my chunk. And I will have it all to myself.

Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, there is still lots of stuff for you at these Nordic bazaars/fairs.