Abnormal shopping

Travelling abroad a Norwegian is always likely to bring home his or her alcohol quota. The rules in Norway are strict and one is only allowed to bring a few bottles of alcohol when returning home, the amount depending on the alcohol content of the drink. I am not one of those people.

When travelling this time I was actually looking for certain alcoholic beverages: Irish cider and one certain type of champagne (not really champagne, but what we still call champagne, ignoring how we annoy the French from the Champagne area). The first because its price in Norway suggests it to be illegal, the second because of my innate need to fill the quota. I could not find either neither in Sweden nor in Denmark. Consequently, no alcohol followed me home.

With a two-year-old never leaving my side I managed to do very little proper shopping, I’m talking clothes, accessories, shoes, etc. I was limited to shops where they had trolleys for Son. He is used to that from back home and enjoys shopping with me, as long as he can talk to everyone passing us.

As I’ve mentioned before I pay quite a lot of attention to what we eat. And, living in Norway, that is not always a walk in the park. But, in Denmark, biological groceries are not considered swear words, nor forced out of the market by large brands who buy off shops to squeeze out the smaller brands. The range of products was thus out of this world, compared to that at home. Prices were better too. So I ended up buying a lot things I assume not every man in the street would bring home after travelling the neighbour countries.

I know, but I’ve never claimed to be normal…

Vanilla, just pure vanilla, no vanillin, no additives, just ground vanilla.

Tzatziki spice mix, because I too am allowed to be lazy. Little salt, no additives, not certified biological, but makes my life easier and my salads better.

And one of the best chocolates ever. It is becoming increasingly rare in Norway and has now become quite difficult to find.

Bento Boxes

Tags

Bento Box, Ebay, Food, Lunch, Shopping, Storage

I have reduced my intake of carbs by eating less bread, pasta and rice, but throughout my entire life I have packed lunches consisting of a piece or two of bread with a decent spread. In order to change this habit I needed more than just motivation. My inspiration came in shape of a comment or article somewhere on bento boxes. Bento boxes are a japanese type of lunch boxes, and of course, it has also been made into quite an art form. I searched the web and finally found these on ebay.

I love the separated rooms in these. I use one box for salad, the other for pieces of fruit (it is true that fruit tastes much better when chopped or diced). The thermo bag it comes in keeps it cold or warm for quite some time, and they boxes are truly air tight; apples I sliced didn’t even show a hint of brown after 3 hours in the box! After only a few weeks with this lunch box I can not imagine a life without it, and thankfully it has changed my lunches forever.

And a warning: the box below looks better, and I do like the bag better, but the lid broke after I had used it only twice (a bit because of my stupidity, but it was not a very intelligent design!) So steer away! DO NOT BUY!

The boxes can be bought here. And just to make it clear, I have no economical interest in anyone buying these boxes, I just recommend them.

 

Writing

Tags

Favourites, Pen, Shopping

Being a student I am, of course, of those who need to write quite a lot. And in those cases where it is easier to use a pen than a computer, it’s important to have a good pen!

When I was in one of my first years of primary school, pupils who didn’t hold the pencil properly were given a small rubber thing to use on their pencils to develop an ergonomically correct grip. I held my pencil correctly, but desperately wanted one of these things, and so I changes my grip. My teacher saw this as what it was, and wouldn’t give me one, and result is, I changed the way I held the pen, and kept the incorrect grip for the following 15 years. Writing exams and such turned out to be a painful ordeal and while working at an office supply store, I decided to change back. I found the perfect pen to help me do this, and actually managed after a very short time. I was ecstatic. I fell in love with the pen, but soon after it went off the market in Norway, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. While driving through Germany as part of our honeymoon in 2008 I found the pen again in Germany. I stocked up, but a few pens and even more refills, but now I was getting low on refills, and I only had one pen left. I searched the internet, trying every trick in the book, and found it in some webstores. But I refuse to pay 200NKr, 20 pounds, or 35$ for a pen, which is what the price came to with shipping and all. So I contacted Schneider directly, poured my heart out in an e-mail, and was astonished when I received an answer; and then even more astonished over what it said. They would send me three pens and refill cartridges free of charge. I love this pen even more now!