13 Tuesday Aug 2013
Posted in Cooking, Good Life, Norwegian Cuisine
Husband, Son and my father-in-law went fishing and came back with four wee mackerels. Mother-in-law did the dirty work, and a few minutes later dinner was served.
One mackerel each. Fried in a pan with a heavy dose of butter, a spoon or two of sour cream and a good sprinkle of freshly cut parsley. Served with boiled potatoes fresh from the soil and a light cucumber salad.
The dish should be followed by rhubarb soup for desert, but unfortunately it is already out of season.
08 Thursday Aug 2013
I’ve heard some call it lotion for the soul. It is soothing. It is refreshing. So I can see why.
Today my lotion was scented with the smell of sun-heated fields and a breeze surfing through huge, ancient oak trees. It also contained corn and potato fields, summer flowers and an eight-month-old littlegirl with a smile that put the sun to shame.
All if this is just off my doorstep these days. What is the best lotion for your soul?
11 Tuesday Sep 2012
Posted in Cooking, Food, Norway, Norwegian Cuisine, Uncategorized
Tags
Cream, Dessert, Norwegian Cuisine, Norwegian Food, Norwegian tradition, Recipe, Strawberries, Summer, Whipped cream
I think one of the most common and simplest desserts in Norway during the summer is fresh strawberries with cream and sugar. So delicious, so fresh and so extremely easy! This time served with a dash of whipped cream (with a bit of vanilla added to it). Remember to rinse the strawberries properly, they do grow very close to the ground!
27 Monday Aug 2012
Posted in Cooking, Good Life, Uncategorized
Tags
Food, Jam, Mango, Recipe, Strawberries, Strawberry and Mango Jam, Summer
A bird told me (or I came across it somewhere on the great interwebz) that strawberry and mango compliment one another quite well. It was during my first experiments with jam production this summer that I decided to try them together. It’s so easy, and sooo good, that you really should consider doing the same. 
Rinse the strawberries and add them to a pot. Slice and dice the mango, see how here, and add to the same pot. Put a lid on and low heat to slowly warm the fruit and berries. Slowly bring the pot to a boil and watch how the strawberries and mango become one. The mango is so sweet that there’s no need to add sugar, but if the berries are a little sour, or the mango not quite ripe, add a bit, but make sure to taste! Add a squeeze of lemon for preservative reasons. After the jam has boiled for a wee bit (if it has boiled, it is done, but mine is usually left to itself for some minutes because I’m busy doing something else) then mash it gently with a potato masher. 
The jam is just divine. It’s sweet (with no added sugar) it’s not runny (much like plum jam) and it tastes of summer and long summer nights. Enjoy!
09 Thursday Aug 2012
Tags
Domestic goddess, Elderberries, Elderflowers, Food, Saft, Squash, Summer
For the first time ever I managed this year to take advantage of the many tress with elderberry flowers in the area. So I made (what I think at least in Scotland would be called) squash. A sirupy drink containing quite a lot of sugar, which is made to be rather strong, but is added water to before drinking. We call it saft (we also have ‘jus’, ‘nektar’, and ‘sirup’, which are all similar but not the same).
After trawling through dozens of blogs and cooking sites online, I finally found a recipe I was willing to try. Many called for what seemed to be extensive amounts of sugar, only to be balanced by quite a lot of added citric acid. After reading up, I set out with my own recipe made up after comparing many others.
What I used was:
about 50 bouquets of elderberry flowers
4 lemons (washed well and preferably organic)
1 kg demerara sugar
2 litres water
I picked the flowers while visiting my parents, and thus simply froze them to keep them from wilting completely. That resulted in a ball of brown flowers that were lumped together so much that I did not manage to rinse them. I imagined the cold would have killed of most bugs, and the forthcoming heat would kill the rest, so I simply shrugged and got on with it.
Then I measured up two litres of plain, good, cold water and added to a large pot with one kilo of demerara sugar. I’m not a big fan of white sugar, even though that makes the colour of the ‘saft’ a lot nicer, so that is the reason for the brownish colour of my drinks. I brought the mix to a boil and let it simmer until the sugar had dissolved. Meanwhile I sliced (I lie a bit here, it was actually a friend of mine who sliced the lemons, but I think he would prefer to keep that a secret, so shhh!) the lemons and added them to a big bowl with the ball of intertwines flowers. After the sugar had dissolved I poured the water over into the bowl.
Now, as you can see, this process is easy peasy, and takes no effort at all. I was so impressed with myself, I was keeping this old tradition alive, feeling like a domestic goddess, and it was no hard work at all! But then on to the final part 😉
Take the bowl and cover with plastic, a lid, or something that will keep away yucky things that are attracted to sugar. Then leave somewhere that is not too warm (out of the sunshine!) for about three days. If you manage to stir it once a day, you’ll do a better job than I did!
After those three days, sift it through a muslin cloth (or similar) and either freeze in smaller boxes (glasses, etc) or add to sterilized jars or glasses (I froze boxes of ‘saft’, so much easier).
To one part ‘saft’ add about two parts water.
I found the saft to be a little too sugary. Next year I don’t want to add more lemons as the taste of the lemons can easily overpower the delicate taste of the elderflowers. I was so pleased having made all organic saft this year, but might have to turn to powdered citric acid next time. Unless you have a good idea?
And here is, btw, where I found most of my inspiration.
25 Wednesday Jul 2012
Posted in Good Life
We have returned to where we speak the language fluently and are enjoying lazy days together. Today the sun is shining, we enjoy a temperature of slightly more than 20 degrees, and there’s a light breeze that keeps the hair away from my face. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the company is good and life is at its best.
I hope you are all enjoying the summer and making the best of it.
01 Thursday Mar 2012
I’ve been quiet for a while. My body decided to improve my immune system by downloading and installing an immunity to this year’s flu. Unfortunately, what the body did not consider was the length and difficulty of the installation process and the fact that in order to install this immunity the body needed to suffer a proper virus attack first. Consequently I have been out for more than a week, first with the flu and now with sinusitis.
I like to push myself when feeling weak, but this time my body has spoken clearly: I have not been able to do anything! So it’s been a progess of panicking for the first few days about everything I should have done and now failed to do, to accepting the virus and succumbing to its effect, and then to relax and give my immune system time to work. Now I expect to be back on my feet in a few days’ time.
The best cure now seems to think a bit ahead. I have many things I look forward to, but what especially works wonder against headaches and stuffed noses is the summer holiday. My father is turning 60 and has invited his four kids, and our partners and kids, to celebrate him in ITALY! Our extended family will spend a week together near Venice, at a hotel by the beach in each our flat. Perfect! Husband, Son, and I have decided to go to Italy a week before the rest to travel around a bit. I haven’t been to Italy now for four years, last time was our honeymoon, but this will be my tenth time (or thereabout) in the area.
Our fortnight in the sun will be perfect! One week by the beach and the Adriatic sea, a few days in Gardaland (a large amusement park), and a few days in a lazy, Italian, small town called Benzone. I can’t wait!
(The photo was stolen from maps.google and is from Brenzone)
14 Sunday Aug 2011
I’ve surrendered. Surrendered to autumn, dark skies, short days, everyday life, work, kindergarten – and most importantly large cups of tea, woolen blankets, candles, books and snuggling inside while the rain is hammering on the window. I now sit with a lit candle, a big cup of green tea with honey, and a few small late-summer flowers my parents picked while out walking with Son.
The temperature has given up, or I have lost hope in a sudden return of tropical heat and long summer nights. I am now officially ready for autumn. I caught myself looking at my winter shoes here the other day, thinking long and hard about whether I would pull it off wearing them to work, or if I would then diminish the hope of those of my colleagues who still hope for more summer days. My raincoat is ready and I sometimes long for my scarf and winter jacket.
I realise that it is only a few days since I walked the forests, a warm summer day, where I missed my bikini and longed for a proper swim in the river. I guess that was what I needed to let go of summer and be satisfied with the experiences I’ve had for the summer of 2011. I haven’t had a swim outside though, which I must have before completely letting go. It’s not very tempting, but it must be done…
11 Thursday Aug 2011
Posted in Good Life, Norwegian Cuisine
Tags
It seems the summer will soon be taken over by autumn. It is sad, but true. Fortunately I have had a good summer and am ready to taken on the many joys of autumn. However, Son and I came across a fruit vendor (or close to that at least: a man selling berries off a table near a gas station) who still sold Norwegian strawberries. I’m not much of a nationalist regarding strawberries, but I prefer buying local produce rather than strawberries that have barely had time to ripen before they are shipped across a continent to be placed in my local supermarket. I was surprised to see someone still sell strawberries, as I thought the season was over. The berries weren’t as sweet as they have been earlier in the summer, neither were they as red or juicy, but they definitely served their purpose well: the last local strawberries of the summer of 2011. We bought about a kilo worth of berries. Some we put on sliced of bread and sprinkled with a wee bit of sugar (just as much for the crunch as making them sweeter) the rest we ate straight from the box.
This summer I’ve tried strawberries from both Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and it is impossible to pick a favourite. However, they are all a lot better than the importer berries from Belgium and Portugal (there are the most common imported strawberries in Norway). I think I could live on strawberries alone during the summer, and some days I have been close to eating nothing but strawberries. Now, however, I am happy to wait some ten months before I again taste the delicious berries.
Usually when I start to let go of a season, and start preparing for the next, the weather god put on their sarcastic faces and completely surprise me. Some days ago I talked to someone about the weather, and we both agreed that autumn was just around the corner. Consequently the next days were the sunniest days we’ve had in a long time. There is a bit of a cold breeze though, and the shade is no longer as pleasant as it has been. I’m sitting outside at the moment, showered in the warm rays of the sun, but I’m still a bit cold, despite jeans and a sweater. I’ll pretend it’s still summer for a few more days though.
Strawberries are ‘jordbær’ in Norwegian, which translates directly to ‘earth-berries’ (pronounces something like ‘your bear’) Fun fact of the day 😉
30 Saturday Jul 2011
I haven’t been all that lucky regarding the weather this summer. Well, Denmark loved us (Son and me), but soon as my degree was completed (my uni degree that is) we were in the doghouse. The weather turned the minute I got the results for my thesis, guess Danish weather gods prefer students to graduates. And thinking we left because of the weather, the Danish weather gods were so sincerely pissed of they actually flooded the city of Copenhagen as soon as we’d left. (I’m sorry about that one Danes, next time we’ll make sure the gods know we leave for reasons other than their petty behaviour).
We haven’t always had rain, the weather has been ok, very ok, almost too ok. Not too much rain, but not at all that sunny either. I’ve been outside enough though to get a few freckles. Actually, enough freckles for them now to resemble a bit of a tan. I don’t say this to complain. I really don’t mind. I’ve bought so much tea while away (I’ll get back to those in some later posts) and now I have plenty reason to cuddle up on the sofa with a huge cup of tea and a good book. But if you do have tropical summer days where you can run barefoot in the grass, swim in the ocean and sit outside at night until mosquitos devour you, then please enjoy that a little extra for me. And I’ll have a sip of tea for you 🙂
