Friday, January 7, 2011

FIKA. ............(bukan nama sebenar)

Fika (coffee break)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fika_%28coffee_break%29

Fika is both a Swedish verb and noun that roughly means "to drink coffee," usually accompanied by something sweet


"Fika" time =D

"Enjoy "Fika"


Fika is a social institution in Sweden; it means having a break, most often a coffeebreak, with one's colleagues, friends, date, or family. The word has quite ambiguous connotations and can mean anything from taking a break from work or other activities, to going on a date. This practice of taking a break, typically with a cinnamon roll or some biscuits or cookies, or sometimes a smörgås or a fruit on the side, is central to Swedish life, and is regularly enjoyed even by the government.

Although the word may in itself imply "taking a break from work," this is often emphasized using the word fikapaus ("fika pause") or fikarast ("fika break"), with kaffepaus and kafferast, respectively, as near synonyms. Fika may also mean having coffee at a café or konditori (a "patisserie-based coffeehouse").

Traditionally, fika requires sweet, baked goods, especially cinnamon rolls. According to Helene Henderson, author of The Swedish Table, one needs three items minimum to avoid insult to Swedish guests; "to impress, serve a variety of seven freshly baked items--and be ready to talk about the weather."

"Fika" outside during Swedish  spring
Fika is also combined in words such as fikabröd ("fika bread") which is a collective name for all kinds of biscuits, cookies, buns, etc that are traditionally eaten with coffee. Non-sweetened breads are normally not included in this term (even though these may sometimes be consumed with coffee). Fika is also used as a noun, referring to fikabröd and coffee combined.

Fikalicious
The word is an example of the back slang used in the 19th century, in which syllables of a word were reversed, deriving fika from kaffi, an earlier variant of the Swedish word kaffe ("coffee").From fika also comes the word fik (a colloquial term for "café") through a process of back-formation.

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