All posts by Dove Familie

memorable eats

[Not] Norwegian food: Pop Tarts

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Our boys love Pop Tarts. And I have to admit, they are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as well.

Growing up, you could almost always find them in our pantry. Okay, not really. What we typically had were generic ‘Toaster Pastries’. You know, the store brand knock-off that came without frosting, and often with at least one major fracture, if not totally crumbled. Yeah yeah, I gripe, but we certainly ate them!

I know the boys enjoy them, but a couple of things keep us from having many on hand. First is the artificial stuff. I am really trying to reduce the amount of artificial stuff we eat. I won’t totally eliminate it, but less is better, right?

But the bigger reason is the price. I’ve only found one store in Norway that carries them. And since they are an import item, they come with the hefty price tag of around $10-11 per 8-count box. So I won’t be picking them up anytime soon. Yeah, there are some things you will pay a high price for to have a taste of home. [Like white cheese jalapeño dip – which I have yet to find anywhere.] But Pop Tarts are not on that list!

We are grateful to friends and family who’ve brought Pop Tarts to the boys when they’ve visited us. The boys always ration them out, saving them for weekends and special days. But I now have a solution that keeps my boys happy, saves me money, and keeps the artificial stuff and preservatives out of their tummies!

I attempted homemade strawberry Pop Tarts yesterday. And while I still need to perfect the process, I am quite pleased with how the first batch turned out. Like the generic wannabes, they lack frosting. But unlike any of the boxed treats, they have nothing fake and I can feel a little better about them!

The boys each had one with their breakfast this morning. No mention of no frosting, only “wow, these taste like Pop Tarts!”

Thanks to the Smitten Kitchen – fantastic recipe that does not call for any ingredients that are unavailable in Norway!! You can find the recipe HERE.

Norway

Norwegian Food (norsk mat): Det sunneste man kan spise

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I recently read an article on NRK.no about the five healthiest foods you can get in Norway. (here – Google Chrome should give you a translation option if you want to read it in English)Fifth place went to milk.

Fourth was blueberries.

In third, oatmeal.

Second place was mackerel in tomato sauce.

And first place? Carrots.

There were other foods on the list, but these were the five that the nutritionists seemed to agree on the most. All seem to be quite popular here. And you can typically find all five in our kitchen, as you can see from this picture taken today. I’ll write a bit about each of these in the coming weeks, including availability, how they are used and what we think of them.

Norway

Norwegian Food: The series

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I’ve recently had people ask for more posts about food here. So over the next weeks I will be introducing you to some of the food. You’ll see that some things are quite different from American food, but others are very much the same.Mat
(noun) Food.

Used in a sentence
Jeg lager mat til middag.
(I’m making dinner.)


Related Words
måltid – meal
tilberede – to prepare (food)
oppskrift – recipe
smak – taste
frokost – breakfast
lunsj – lunch
middag – dinner
kveldsmat – a light evening meal

celebrate

I dag feirer vi to år i Norge!

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Two years ago today, we landed in Oslo. In some ways it is hard to believe it has already been two years. And in some ways it feels much longer.Norway is very much home to us, probably as much home as any place has felt like home. As I’ve mentioned before, the idea of home changes once you make a big move. But we feel settled here. When we travel and talk about being ready to get back home, it is Sandefjord we are speaking of.

We’ve had a really good day. Like last year, this year’s anniversary included langrenn/cross country skiing (minus me – I’ll have to wait until next year to get back on skis!). We also met with a couple of different groups that we are a part of here in Sandefjord. So it was lots of time with friends, and a good bit of time out in the winter weather. That was especially good for me, to be outside and getting a little fresh air.

We continue to be grateful for the opportunity to live and work here. It is not always easy, but that is true regardless of what your address is! So we continue to look for opportunities to learn and opportunities to grow, whether that be in language skills, cultural knowledge, relationships, and the work we are doing. We look forward to what this next year has in store here!
cross-cultural living

TimeHop – January 31, 2013

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Two years ago today, we were sitting in the airport in Vancouver. Sitting with lots of emotions. Excited. Nervous. Scared. Happy. Curious. You name it, we were probably feeling it. We really didn’t know exactly what to expect.

 

What's it like

What’s it like? Posts about living here…

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February 2, 2013 (Oslo) – Is it me, or do we
look a lot different in this picture than now?

We are approaching our two year anniversary of moving to Norway. Wow. Gotta stop and let that one sink in for a second.

Anyway, after almost two years, we continue to get a lot of questions via email or social media about various aspects of living in Europe. I love sharing, and I’ve done quite a few posts in the past about what it’s like.

I plan to continue sharing more of these. And maybe I’ll elaborate on some. If you have a suggestion for this series, feel free to let me know. After two years, there are many things that I don’t even think of as being different or significant anymore, but someone else might be curious about them.

For now, I thought I would revisit them by sharing the links of the previous “What’s It Like” posts here (there are quite a few!):

celebrate

Celebrating our 10 year old

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We had fun celebrating Daniel yesterday. As is customary, he got to pick the meals and cake. We started with his favorite breakfast, pancakes. Then he took blueberry muffins to school to share with his class. When he got home, he opened his gifts and cards (thanks to everyone that sent cards, gifts, messages, videos, etc). Then we had homemade pizza for dinner.And for dessert, Zack and I attempted to fulfill Daniel’s cake request. He loves the movie Eight Below. And he loves – I mean LOVES – dogs, and especially huskies. So we made a cookies and cream cake shaped like an igloo, decorated with Lego huskies. He was thrilled with it, and that is what matters after all!

We’ll conclude the celebration this weekend with an evening of pizza and bowling.

celebrate

Double Digits: Daniel is 10 years old!

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Hard to believe, but the youngest in our family has now entered the double-digit world. Ten years ago today, a baby boy was born that would bring joy, laughter, and lots of excitement into our lives.

We are so incredibly thankful that God has allowed us to be his parents, and thankful for what a sweet, thoughtful, fun-loving, energetic, and passionate young man he is.

Happy Birthday, Daniel – we love you to the moon and back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cross-cultural living

More baby steps

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Photographic evidence of my short outing today

I got out this morning, for the first time since coming home from the hospital last Tuesday. One week in this house will definitely give you cabin fever!

I rode around with Zack while he ran some errands. I even went in a couple of shops with him (when we could park close!). We were only gone for about an hour and a half, and I spent the majority of that time in the car. It felt good to be out.

But I. am. tired.

Now I’m back home, resting up so I can stop by for a quick visit this evening for a dear friend’s birthday. Amazing how much motivation birthday cake can provide, isn’t it?
Day-to-Day

Speaking of the little things: what I’m thankful for post-surgery

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  1. My giant Turvis tumbler that my mom gave me for Christmas – helps a lot when I need to drink lots of water
  2. Aeropostale warmup pants that I bought for $10 (@70nok) back in Virginia – comfy, stretchy pants are a must right now
  3. Good food – Zack has really done a fantastic job of keeping me well-fed and well-hydrated
  4. And not just food. Zack has been fantastic with everything – I haven’t had to lift a finger or worry about the things I normally take care of
  5. No nausea – this is huge. The last time I had surgery, I dealt with bad nausea afterwards. But none at all this time!
  6. Emails, SMS, texts, iMessages, Facebook messages, visits, gifts, and phone calls from family and friends – it means so much!
  7. Two helpful sons – packing their own lunches for school (yeah, that might continue long term!), walking to the bus in the snow each morning so Zack can stay with me, and looking for other ways to help around the house
  8. Good books – lots of good reading material to keep me busy
  9. NetFlix – sometimes you just need to watch old movies and TV shows
  10. Baby steps – Thursday was definitely my worst day this week. But each day I’m seeing small improvements. I’m now able to sit up from a laying down position (that is by far the most difficult task), stand up almost totally straight, walk around for more than 2 minutes at a time, shower, and stay awake all day!