Flowers in the garden

Tags

Family, Flowers, Gardening, Husband, Love

My husband rarely buys me flowers. Now, I’m not about to complain about my husband not being romantic enough. Au contraire, I’d rather like to point out the love he puts into the work he does in and around the house. You see, he doesn’t often buy me flowers, but he has been spending a few hours working in the garden during the past year. And instead of a bouquet of red roses, that I would have to cut, vase and throw out after a week’s time, I am now greeted by these beauties every time I enter the house.

There are plenty of them. About one metre tall (3ft) and they really do stand out from the surroundings. The leaves on the nearby trees are changing their colours and the days are getting cold. There are few really strong and bright colours left. But these flowers decided to bloom surprisingly late this year and stand strong through wind and rain.

I hope they stick around a little longer. Every day they are reminders of everything Husband does for me, our son, our home, and for himself. The small things in life are what builds our foundations, and lucky for me, those small things are being represented by beautiful flowers in the garden. I prefer these beauties to flowers in a vase any day!

Mashed swede

Tags

Autumn, Food, Kålrotstape, Mashed rutabaga, Mashed Swede, Norway, Norwegian Cuisine, Recipe, Rutabaga, Swede

Please join me further down the path of Norwegian delicacies. Today we have a very simple dinner planned: sausages and mashed swede (or rutabaga if you like).

The big, round root is first sliced, then peeled (using a small knife, don’t bother with no potato peeler) and diced. Put in a pot, add water to just about cover the root, put a lid on and leave on medium heat to simmer for a while. To check if it’s done pierce a piece with a sharp knife, if the knife won’t hold the piece of swede then consider it done. Drain, add a pinch or two of sugar, add a wee bit of milk or cream and a spoonful of cream cheese (if you like). Mash it all up using either a masher or a hand blender. A swede can without problems be mashed using a hand blender (potatoes should not). I often add a carrot or two to the mash. The carrots are then sliced and boiled with the swede.

I served this with lamb sausages (which you really should try if you’re in the area!)

Swedes are people too and should not be confused with the root-vegetable which is the subject of this post. No Swedes were hurt making this dish.

Good morning

Tags

Løv, Palais des Thés, Tea, Thé de Songes, White tea

Indeed it is! I’m sitting here now with a big cup of white Thé de Songes from Le Palais des Thés. You see, yesterday I came across a new shop in a wee shopping centre close to home. A tea shop! Might be my new favourite shop with teas from Le Palais des Thés and Løv, as well as a nice selection of chocolates, spices and coffee. I’m in løv!

Do you have a favourite tea? I love tea and I’m always looking for new favourites, please share your favourites with me

 

Autumn

Tags

Autumn, Blackberries, Nature, Norway, Rowanberries

I’m quiet, I know, I’m not dead I’m still here, I’ve just been very busy living.

Autumn is here and now it’s here to stay. I really don’t mind. I bought this cute, little umbrella this summer and I now get to use it every day. I enjoy huge cups of tea at night (and at work) and I have a son who at least every weekend gives me plenty of reasons to go outside and enjoy the season.

Son has a few favourite activities that I must admit I don’t participate in as much as I should. For some reason it seems more of a hassle dressing myself properly before going outside than it is to dress him properly. The big puddles are thus reserved for my wee man. 

Another favourite activity is to pick rowan berries, throw them high up in the air and see them dance around us as they fall down. Before the berries stop rolling about, Son tries to smash them flat by stepping on them. In this activity I participate joyfully but I do restrain myself a wee bit and let him get most of the berries. 

And for those of you with culinary interests, the black gems hidden in the bushes at this time of year are the blackberries. In Norwegian they’re called ‘bjørnebær’ which translates to ‘bear-berries’. Many of Son’s teddy-bears have suffered many a stomach ache after stuffing their faces with these sweet things

Norwegian cuisine – lapskaus

Tags

Food, Lapskaus, Norwegian Cuisine, Recipe, Stew

I can’t think of a stew more common in Norway than stew is. The are of course a multitude of varieties, and no two recipes are the same. The ingredients are still often the same, and very “Norwegian” if you like, in that they are easy to get hold of and produced or grown locally. Wikipedia claims the name has its roots in German and English and was introduced in the 18th century. The dish itself, however, I do believe has been around a little longer.

We had my in-laws visiting and the ingredients I then used for five adults and a wee man (two-year-old) was as follows:

• 500-1000 grams of meet (pork or beef is preferred – but anything goes)
• 8 potatoes
• 1 medium sized swede (or rutabaga if you like, I find it hysterical that a vegetable has the same name as our neighbours in the east)
• 1 celery root
• 5 carrots
• 1 leek
• salt and black pepper

Dice everything (or, well, slice the leek and carrots) into approximately equal-sized pieces. Layer in a big pot starting with the meet, continue with swede, potatoes, celery root, carrots and finish off with leek. Add water up to about a third of the contents in the pot. My rule of thumb here is that when I can see the water in between the veggies, it’s enough.

Heat it up then leave to simmer for as long as you’d like. This is a dish we often make before going on a Sunday hike. We leave the house for several hours and come back for a ready made dinner. Perfect! 

Peanut butter truffles

Tags

Chocolate, Food, Homemade chocolate, Reese's Panut Butter Cups

I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Problem is, they’re hard to find in this part of the country. And when I do stumble upon someone importing them, they cost about an arm and a leg. Yes, it’s worth it, but still…

Over at Pinterest I came across this post and I just had to try. Husband and I were playing about with a chocolate recipe earlier this week and had a few hundred grams of chocolate left. Just enough in which to dip these small peanut butter truffles. 

I will definitely make these again. Though next time I will add a wee bit more salt, swap some of the icing sugar with regular sugar or fructose and also make a bigger batch. They were that good! And, by making them myself I control everything going into these pieces of deliciousness, which means there are no dubious ingredients and they can also be made with so little added sugar and fat that they consist of little more than peanuts and chocolate.

And, after watching a little too much of South Park during my teenage years, I can’t help but have Chef’s “Chocolate Salty Balls” on repeat in my head when thinking about these…

Men are so easy to please

Tags

Drink, Lemon balm, Lime, Water

I was cooking something using half a lime for dinner here the other day. I was stuck with the other half, and didn’t know what to do with it. But then, while filling the water bottle to be placed in the fridge for extra cooling before eating, I had an idea. I sliced the lime added it to the water along with a few lemon balm leaves. So simple, easy, and so good (as long as you remember to stir the water a wee bit before serving)

Plums, plums, plums, plums

Tags

Autumn, Food, Fruit, Plums, Season

This Saturday I bough about at least a kilo (two pounds) of plums. By Sunday night they were all gone. I bought twice as many as I normally would, as I planned to have a go at making jam, but I had to change those plans.

Look at these beauties. I love the colours, the texture, the taste, and how you can bite off one piece of the plum and it is so ripe that you can simply shake out the stone. 

Autumn is here and I love it! (I just ignore the fact that the temperature this weekend was above out average summer temperature) It’s raining outside. I’ve come home soaking wet a few times already (despite dressing well). Evenings are filled with huge cups of tea, plums, burning candles and cuddling on the sofa. Life is good!

Chocolate factory

Tags

Chocolate, Cooking, Date

For our tenth anniversary my husband took me on the perfect date: a chocolates and confectionary course. We learned a lot about chocolate; its history, blends, and also how to make different truffles and ganaches and how to treat melted chocolate. We agreed that we would have to experiment a bit at home after this, but just haven’t got around to it, until now. 

A romantic night in, after Son was fast asleep, we set to it, and chose a recipe from a book we got at the course. Starting off with pistachio nuts, raisins, dried apricots and dried pineapple, it all looked easy-peasy. Chopping everything and melting the chocolate was a walk in the park!

But then the recipe told us to add a pound of icing sugar. This resulted in blisters in Husband’s palms, and the chocolate that was to be made with love, now also had sweat and tears going in to the making (not in the chocolate, but into the making of the chocolate). 

Squeezing it into a form afterwards, leaving it to cool overnight and dicing the massive blocks of chocolate was done without harming any individuals. 

However, with the amount of sugar going into these cubes, I can not guarantee that no harm was done to any teeth.

Election night

Tags

Election, Norway, Politics

It’s election night in Norway. Local election covering the municipalities and counties. Norway consists of 19 counties, where each county again has a number of municipalities. There are national and local elections every fourth year, both are held separately which means there are two years between each election. We have a multi-party system, which means there are a bunch (say about ten) different parties. These, unless one party really stands out and get a massive amount of votes, must collaborate to form the government, or the local councils. The parties earn seats depending on how large a percentage of the votes they get. A candidate from the party with the most votes is usually placed as prime minister, mayor, or similar positions (depending on the election) – but only if the largest party is able to (form a coalition with other parties in order to) hold the majority of seats.

The rose is the symbol for one of the parties. It does not necessarily mean it was the party I voted for. This rose, however, was given to me by a representative from that party and is the only election-related photo I have.

 

I have been struggling a lot this year deciding which party to vote for. In fact, I didn’t even make up my mind until I was on my way to vote. I always take an election seriously. A few parties I have eliminated long before I even start thinking about the election, but that still leaves a fair amount of parties to chose from.

This year I narrowed it down to four parties. I started looking at one part, studying the party’s pamphlets and flyers. I looked at their main concerns and goals – nodded, smiled, and I was content with what they were saying. Turned the page and I was happy. I was thrilled and hoped I would be able to make up my mind weeks before the actual election. But I was wrong. I turned the page again. I read a few lines and my heart sank. I sighed, I cursed, and try to find logic in their arguments. I read on, shook my head, sighed again, and felt hope leave my heart. I face-palmed the colourful leaflets. I turned to another party and a new doze of propaganda. History repeated itself: face-palms, sighs, curses, rolling eyes, and desperation. With every one of the four parties, the four parties I was left with after carefully eliminating every one of the others, history repeated itself. I turned to technology, the local newspaper has set up online tests to see which party you should vote for. My highest score was 37%. I could agree with “my” party in 37% of all cases. My other three parties scored somewhere between 32 and 35.

Of course I can’t not vote (yes, double negative, meaning I do have to vote) I at least I have to give my vote to anyone but the parties I early in the process eliminated. A few coin-flips and a few good discussions and a short walk to the ballot boxes later I was able to chose a party. Now, I have given them all I can, my one vote. The only one I got, and I hope they won’t let me down too much. If they do, I guess I have to consider a career in politics myself… (which I just couldn’t do – I find my choices logical, as will everyone else. Which would give me no competition against the other parties and make Norwegian politics logical and perfect, but also plain and boring – it would just be too unfair to everyone else, so I’ll refrain. You’re welcome!)