The feast continues

Tags

Christmas, christmas brunch, Christmas morning, Føste juledag, Food, The first day of Christmas, Yule

After a proper materialistic feast yesterday, we continue with a culinary feast today! Son  had the time of his life yesterday receiving more gifts than any two-year-old should have. I see a future of consumerism! European economy failing and falling? Apparently not in this house. I’m not telling you this to brag, I’m embarrassed, but still I’ve played a big a part as everyone else. The evening was a great success though, it seems everyone had a good time. The two-year-old smiled as much as the 82-year-old.

Today is the first day of christmas. We start with a humongous brunch which has been the same for as long as I can remember. My mother is a wizard in the kitchen and refuses to accept any helping hands while cleaning up after christmas eve dinner and making ready for the first day of christmas brunch. I’ll have a few recipes for you at a later stage.

Usually the brunch is the only big meal on the first day of christmas, but in order to gather all us kids (my three brothers and me) my parents have invited all of us, with our families, for a big turkey dinner this evening.

The day will be spent with the family. Husband and Son are sitting on the floor, busy putting together a large pirate-ship, while I’m enjoying the calm before the storm. Enjoy the holidays and have a great time! We sure do!

God Jul!

Tags

Christmas, Christmas eve, Norwegian Traditions, Season greetings, Yule

Today is the day we celebrate Christmas in Norway. The sun ‘turned’ a few days ago so we’re a little late in celebrating the coming of longer days and more sunshine, but today we celebrate family, joy, and enjoy the time we spend with out loved ones. There’s also a touch (!) of materialism included in the celebration of Yule and some of us also attend church to get a drop of religion added into the mix.

One of the trees standing near the wee lake in the city centre is decorated with heart-shaped lights every year. This year snow covered the ground and made the place looking even more magical.

Yule eve (juleaften=yule evening) doesn’t really get serious until late in the afternoon. How you spend the day depends on the amount of responsibility you’ve been given or have taken on. For those of us not cooking, cleaning and running errands, that means sitting in front of the tv for hours watching the same shows that are sent every year at this time. I try my best to help out but find myself being ushered away only to end up doing nothing.

The evening starts with a massive dinner of ‘Pinnekjøtt’ (=stick meat. ‘pinne’ is basically a wooden stick). I’ll get back to the etymology of the word in a later post (posting about pinnekjøtt before yule is to me a no no as I only eat it once a year). The family is gathered, we’ll be 12 around the table this year: kid, spouse, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. After dinner we have ‘riskrem’ for dessert, which is similar to appelsinris. In the big bowl of ‘riskrem’ there is an almond. The finder of the almond gets a prize (usually a pig-shaped, chocolate-covered marzipan – no logic there).

Some decorate the tree with Norwegian flag - a tradition that started after world war II.

After uncles have spent hours devouring food (an uncle is always blamed for the duration of the meal) we move to the living-room, the tree, and the presents beneath it. When we were younger we used to dance around the tree, but when most kids became teenagers the reluctancy grew, and the dancing became a thing of the past. Son will be the only person under 20 this year, which means there are many adults who’ll do their best to please him, so spontaneous dancing might occur. After all the presents have been unwrapped we eat a bit more. And the hours pass as we talk and laugh, eat and drink.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day and evening, no matter how you spend it. But no matter what your religion or ethical outlook on life – take care of those around you and appreciate their presence. God jul!

The Day Before the Big Day and Risboller

Tags

Christmas, Food, Norwegian Cuisine, Norwegian Food, Norwegian Traditions, Recipe, Traditions, Yule

It’s the day before the big day for everyone except my wee brother: today is his birthday. He’s turns 23 today and is not very happy having his birthday the day before Christmas eve. He complained when he was younger that the reason it wasn’t cool having his birthday the day before Christmas was that his hands hurt so much after spending two entire days unwrapping presents. Anyway, a wonderful brother to you wee brother! May you crush all your opponents playing Fifa.

The day has been spent hurrying to get everything ready in order to spend the evening with the family. Today is called ‘little Christmas eve’ in Norway. In our family the tradition is to decorate the tree, with the tv on in the background. On tv is the annual christmas show on the state-owned national channel (à la BBC) playing christmas tunes  and discussing ways to cook the perfect ‘ribbe’. The pinnacle of the evening is the wee film ‘Dinner for one’ which is always shown at around nine in the evening.

A few cookies were served during the day, making sure the kids were high on sugar as well as high on life in general. Son did not go to bed voluntarily tonight!

One of the cookies served today were ‘risboller’ (ris=rice, boller=sweet rolls). These are in no way related to sweet rolls though. Think chocolate covered, puffed rice. Again a type of traditional and seasonal cookie, as good as it is simple.

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

Whisk this until it’s fluffy. Melt the other ingredients:

• 100 grams chocolate
• 85 grams of coconut fat
• 3 tablespoons of coffee

And add with the sugar and egg. Then add as much puffed rice as you please, but make sure you are able to cover everything with the chocolaty goo. Place about a tablespoon full of mix in muffin cups and store somewhere cold. Enjoy 🙂

Yule-calendars and chocolate figures

Tags

Calendar gifts, Christmas, Christmas calendars, Gifts, Husband, Love, Norwegian Traditions, Yule

The countdown for christmas is very big in Norway. The ‘yule-calendar’ which counts down the 24 days of December until Christmas Eve is the most prized possession of many a child (also among the older ‘children’). I made one each for Son and Husband a few years ago and have spent some time finding presents for them every year after. This year though I have been lazy. Husband took over much of the calendar business for Son’s calendar, and Husband himself has spent most of the advent-time on a rig some nautical miles west from here, which meant he wouldn’t be home to open his calendar.

The last day of November I counted quite a few comments from mothers (strangely it seems it’s the mothers who are in charge of the calendar-business) who were done, almost done, or panicking completely, over the 24 small gifts. I was among those who, instead of thinking about the calendar, jumped on a plane to London and pretended to have forgotten completely what date it was (I had helped out quite a lot with Son’s calendar though, I didn’t leave it all for Husband). While I was (last-minute) packing I was on the phone with Husband (he and Son had gone away for a few days so that I could finish working on a wee project of mine). He asked me to have a look in his wardrobe. In his wardrobe I found a white, wooden plank with the numbers from 1-24 painted on them and 24 small, metal hooks.

I was very surprised, to say the least, that he would give me this, but, mean as I am, thought maybe he meant this for Son, but to give it to me so that I had something bigger to give Son as a calendar for next year. Husband and Son returned home a few days before me. I came home very late a few days later and upon entering our bedroom that night, I found the calendar hanging on the wall. The wooden plank now had 24 gifts hanging from the hooks. Needless to say, I was moved to tears! And honestly it’s not at all because of the gifts, it’s solely the fact that he has spent so much time planning this calendar, keeping it secret, and surprising me with it without giving me any hints at all about it beforehand.

As the days have passed now it has become obvious that he has really spent a lot of time on the gifts and remembered everything I have looked at and wished for for the past months. Coming home from Liverpool he brought home a bottle of Magners Pear (Magners is my only weak spot when it comes to alcohol – or when it comes to any drink except tea) which is impossible to get hold of in Norway. And I also found this eco-cup (eco my ass, but it is cute and it’s a travel-mug perfect for tea, as it’s porcelain rather than metal or plastic). The gifts are very well planned! And, he has wrapped them in mathching gift-wrap-paper that was designed by the my brother and the company he used to work for; so the calendar was as aesthetically pleasing as well.

I had planned to write a post about chocolate figures that Son and I made here the other day, in a mould made to create 24 chocolate-figures to be used in a yule-calendar. The tradition with yule-calendars and the gifts that go in them, which used to be chocolate figures, was supposed to be the main subject of this post. But I just had to brag a bit. What else can I do with a husband like that? After being through a bit of a rough patch for a while, Husband and I are finally back where we should be, and more in love than ever. We are both going that extra mile in all situations to make the other smile, laugh, or be happy, and life is just wonderful! Pink clouds with silver linings! Obviously, my husband has for the past weeks done a much better job than me!

Kakemenn – Christmas cookies

Tags

Christmas cookies, Food, Kakemenn, Norwegian tradition, Recipe, Yule

Kakemenn is always a favourite among the kids. It’s sweet, very mild in taste and, like the pepperkaker, they are shaped in various recognisable figures. They are very easy to make and the ingredients are items you most likely already have in your cupboards. Kakemenn is to me important come christmas, and I never go a year without making them.

The recipe is very straightforward and easy. Just mix all ingredients together (but do feel free to reduce the recipe – we used about half this year):

• 1 kg of white wheat flour
• 0,5 kg of sugar
• 4 teaspoons of horn salt (“Horn salt (also hartshorn) is used in traditional Norwegian baked goods as a leavening agent. Modern horn salt is ammonium bicarbonate.In the USA it can be purchased at the pharmacy” says this site)
• 85 grams of butter
• 4 dl of milk

As with the pepperkake-dough, the kakemenn-dough must also be cold before it’s easy to work with. The dough doesn’t need to be as thin as the pepperkake dough, I would set the thickness of it to double that of the pepperkaker, see this post. The kakemenn are baked at 200 degrees until they get a wee bit of a tan. They should still be white-ish, so about the colour of a Scandinavian in April would do.

Pictures for the blog are according to Son better if they also show a playmobil pirate, the standard of my photos has thus been raised. You're welcome!

Never stand too close to the oven when opening the oven-door, and never get the horn salt too close to your nose. You have been warned! (sneezing and swearing could occur!)

Pepperkaker – Ginger Bread

Tags

Christmas cookies, Cookies, Food, Ginger bread, Norwegian Traditions, Pepperkaker, Recipe, Yule

This blog is no longer active. Recipe for ‘pepperkaker’ to be found here 

The First Sunday of Advent

Tags

Advent, Norwegian Traditions, Sundays before Christmas, Yule

Nothing yule-related enters this house until the first of December, with one exception: if the first Sunday of Advent takes place in November. (I wrote a bit about Advent last year, see here) That was the case this year, and I had big plans for this Sunday. Unfortunately, a series of unexpected circumstances, the plans were changed (I’m no longer that big a fan of plans anyhow). Poor Son has been ill all weekend and Husband dearest has been off to Liverpool looking at 22 men trying to score.

House chores were not top priority, chores that really do have to precede decorating, so decorating was put off for a while as well. Except (yes, I know, I’ll soon have more exceptions than a book on German grammar), the four purple (violet?) candles. I was fortunate this year to have Son help me decorate, and, after debating a bit, I have convinced him that the cinnamon sticks are not sables and should not be used for sword-fighting. Pirates are extremely cool these days.

We had a wonderful wee session on Sunday afternoon. Son was allowed to light the candle and almost burnt his finger. We sang a few songs and ate clementines. Due to the inability to get any shopping done over  the weekend the gløgg and cookies will have to wait for the second Sunday of Advent.

Procrastination claimed another victim

Tags

Gifts, Procrastination, Yule

Ahrf, I have an intense sugar craving. All cakes and cookies have been thrown out and I simply have to go without. Writing a post will probably give me something else to think about, so here goes.

I have a few so-called pink blogs in my RSS feed. The blogs of perfect housewives who can decorate both interior and children in white or pastel colours and keep it that way. Women who never seem to do anything halfway, especially not when it comes to house and family and all things lovey-dovey and heartwarming. This is not meant as a critique, I do enjoy reading these blog, or at least looking at the beautiful photos posted. Every now and then I found myself trying to copy these blogs. There is a desperate little housewife in me (maybe there’s one in everyone) and sometimes I just have an urge to do something I would call extraordinary. Sometimes it will be to show someone my appreciation by making them something I have spent some time or, or to just use it as an outlet for my mild creative drive. If both can be combined, that’s of course perfect.

For yule now I wanted to match these pink women. In my head I had an image of a perfect yule tree with matching, perfect gifts underneath, all traditional looking and all that. Gifts for friends and family that were well thought through and as beautiful on the outside as on the inside, that would give the received that much talked about yule-feeling if they still hadn’t got it on the evening of yule. Unfortunately, my good intentions are combined with an ability to always procrastinate. I managed to finish all the gifts, but not all at the same time, and usually only a few minutes before someone came to take them somewhere else. So I never got that perfect picture. Our tree wasn’t even decorated before we came home after celebrating yule. So I guess I failed.

But I do have one picture of some of the gifts. So at least the gifts looked like I wanted them to when given to our friends and family members.

Post-yule babbling

Tags

Rambling, Yule

My head has gone into nap-mode. I have been thinking about blogging for a few days, but just haven’t got around to do it till now. I have a million other excuses as well for not doing it, but truth be told, I shouldn’t have taken time to do it earlier. My days have been filled with family and friends from the first minutes of the day until the very last. I am exhausted, in a good way, and I have enjoyed every minute of every day. We’ve only been home for two days, and have been alone for only one. New visitors came yesterday, and more will come tomorrow, and some will stay until next year. It’s great. But, it doesn’t give me much time to do nothing, like blogging.

Today we have been out and about getting things for ourselves that we didn’t get for yule. How selfish isn’t that? Well, we did get money from a few kind people and company, and thus had some money to spend. (yes, all money must be spent! Well, not all, but some is ok, right?) My poor head has had to overcome some serious thinking over the past days, and Husband has been looking for a new mp3 player, that would also show films. I have thus (yes, I like that word) thoroughly searched the web for reviews and tests of the affordable gadgets out there, and have now decided to buy this one:And now, please, someone, ask me why we didn’t just buy an iPod!

 

Well, what else do I have to share from the past week or so? Hm, a lot, I will probably get back to you on some of the things, but right now what I can think of is great time with friends and family, gooooood food (MotherInLaw sure can cook!), illness (yes, Son started kindergarten this autumn, so not even yule was holy to those evil viruses and germs – I’m not even going to list everything that went wrong for my immune system the past days, you’d probably end up feeling sorry for me), the weight gain was minimal (I might have finally found the right path…), Son has loved every minuted he has been awake, and Husband can’t complain much either. Very satisfying celebration in other words.

 

The 24th day of December *Christmas Eve*

Tags

Christmas Count Down, Music, Yule

God Jul! 😀 We have reached the final day of my countdown. Today we celebrate Jul and tomorrow it’s all over. No, it’s not, not really, The days after We are spending the day with family, chillin out, maxin, relaxin and all that all day long, and long into the wee hours of the night. Son is thrilled about everything walking around the house calling for Santa (‘isse! ‘isse!). He’s been so patient looking at all the gifts around the house. Every time he wants to open one, we remind him that we have to wait until the main day of yule, and he nods his head in agreement and says: “Gift. Yule. Yes.” (Pakke. Jul. Ja.)

It’s ironic that on a day of bliss, material extravaganza and so much food, the most important song to me is Do they know it’s christmas by Band Aid. This song should give me nothing but a bad conscience about the materialistic way of life we have, but I need it to get that special cosy yule feeling. Hypocritical of me? Yes, very! I guess I block out the meaning of the words when I sing along.

I don’t mean to spoil the day for you. But enjoy what you have, appreciate those around you. To honour those who don’t have it all, truly cherish what you have. Don’t take it for granted. So to get the best out of today, love, and love with all your heart and remember just how fortunate you are.

Band aid – Do they know it’s christmas  

Band aid 20 – do they know it’s christmas