Monthly Archives: November 2014
A bonus, a surprise! (And my experience with Norwegian healthcare)
Mom and me at the ‘pink fountain’ in Sandefjord during her last visit |
Next week we’ll get a ‘bonus visit’ from my (Jenn’s) mom. We didn’t expect to be seeing her again until we visit the states next year.
But due to a little ‘medical surprise’, she is coming to help out for a few days.
I’m having surgery next week. But while the thought of having a hysterectomy isn’t exciting, there are much worse things I could be facing. And having mom here to help out – and to see our city during the holidays – makes it much more bearable!
In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t so bad. I’ve been very pleased with the Norwegian health care system so far. And on December 3, I will have surgery and will then hopefully be able to put all of this latest ‘adventure’ behind me.
That also explains part of why I haven’t been so active on the blog, or with life in general. I’ve spent lots of time at appointments and having tests run. And my energy level has been pretty low as well. So I look forward to getting back to normal activities and normal life!
Don’t Judge
November. So.Very.Dark
We had heard that November can be the toughest month living in Norway. And as we endure make it through experience our second November here, I have to agree.
~more opportunities for coffee and hot chocolate
~more chances to slow down and just chill a bit
~Christmas isn’t too far off! We are beginning to see signs of the holiday season in our city.And November also means Thanksgiving, and my (Jenn’s) birthday…
And occasionally other fun surprises. (Stay tuned)
A Passion… for Pizza!
Deep-dish pizza – delicious! |
On most any Friday evening you can find us at home, eating pizza and watching a movie. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for Familie Dove.
We often give the boys the choice: pick up Grandis from the grocery store (Grandiosa, Norway’s most popular frozen pizza), get takeout from Balkan (our favorite to-go pizza in Sandefjord), or homemade. And most Fridays, they opt for one made from scratch.
Last night, we tried something new. Instead of our traditional rectangular pizza, we experimented with Chicago-style deep dish pizza. And while the boys still prefer the traditional style, Zack and I loved this new version!
I found the recipe HERE. I followed it for the most part. Ground sausage isn’t something I’ve been able to find in Norway, so I improvised with ground chicken and pizza seasoning (improvise is a word I often use when attempting American recipes here!). And I used pizza cheese for both layers of cheese, instead of the final parmesan layer. This was my first experience doing something like this with a springform pan, and I was very pleased with the results – well, once Zack managed to pry the sides off the pan!
Do you make homemade pizza? What type does your family prefer? What are your favorite toppings?
Our typical homemade pizza |
No matter the season – we think pizza is good any time of year! |
Sometimes we get a little creative – this was a salmon & pesto pizza |
From time to time, we go out for pizza. |
Pizza almost always produces smiles! |
Art with Heart
Where does the time go?
Well, for now at least.
Life has been hectic. Mostly good stuff, but hectic all the same. Between lots of language study, meetings, and daily routine stuff, I simply let my writing slip. But I really do hope to get back to it now. We’ll see how it goes!
Things are going well here. Fall is here. We are getting a lot of rain. But we really shouldn’t complain after the last few months of beautiful weather. It hasn’t been very cold yet. We had one chilly morning with a little snow, but it only lasted an hour or two and was replaced by more rain.
William finished another football season. We were very proud of him for his effort. And apparently his progress impressed the coaches as well. He got one of the three awards given out at the end of each year: Best fremgang (best progress).
William with one of his coaches at their year-end party |