Tag Archives: food

celebrate, Norway

Gratulerer med dagen: how we celebrated 17.mai

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Last year I shared a little about the seventeenth of May (syttende mai), Norway’s constitution day. (You can read about May 17 HERE and the rest of the weekend HERE).This year is the 200 year anniversary of Norway’s constitution*. This was our second year to celebrate syttende mai in Norway.

Syttende mai is a fun day, and especially when the weather is as great as it was this past Saturday! We enjoyed a nice walk to the boys schools to start the day. Their classes then proceeded into the city to join all the other area schools for a program and parade.

After some music and speeches, the ‘barnetog’ began. The barnetog is the children’s parade. Much of syttende mai is focused on children, remembering that they are the future. Zack and I enjoyed watching the parade with three families from our neighborhood. Lots of language practice!

After the parade, we had lunch in the city. A big theme of the day is food, especially pølser (hot dogs) and is (ice cream).

We took a short break at home, so everyone could rest a little. Next up, we were back to the city for the ‘borgertog’. Borgertoget is the citizens parade. It includes teams, clubs, corps (marching bands) singing groups, etc. William participated with his football team. Zack, Daniel and I met up with several friends to watch the borgertog.

After the second parade, and an obligatory ice cream, we drove to Larvik/Faris Bad for a cookout and evening with friends: really good food, lots more Norwegian practice, and plenty of time to relax, Plus, the boys got to drive a boat and relax (yeah, right!) in the hot tub!

It was a really fun day, and we all slept great afterwards! Thanks to so many wonderful friends for including us and making us feel at home on your country’s special day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*A quick bit of history, if you’re interested in it: Norway boasts the second oldest constitution in the world that is still in use. The constitution was signed on May 17, 1814 in Eidsvoll, just north of Oslo. It was the first major step the nation took towards becoming a democracy. (Norway and Sweden ultimately dissolved their union on June 7, 1905, as the first Norwegian king took the throne on November 18th of that year.)

What's it like

What’s it Like: Eating Out

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Eating out was a frequent part of everyday life when we lived in the states. It was typically inexpensive, and was the most common way to meet up with friends.But not so much in Norway. Going out to eat was a pretty big part of our culture in the states, but not really a norm here. While we do have restaurants, you don’t normally find yourself having to wait for a table due to large crowds. Most of the time if we want to meet up with friends, we do so in one of our homes, or maybe at a park or out for a walk.

We do go out occasionally. I kind of like that it isn’t so common: that makes it more of a treat! Here are some shots from various restaurants we’ve visited since moving here.

Enjoying fish & chips in Sweden
Excited over Swedish pancakes
A special dinner out with friends
at a traditional Norwegian restaurant
One more perk of a visit from grandparents:
a trip to Oslo and a meal at TGI Fridays
Our anniversary last year:
Chinese food!
Our favorite burger place: Star Grill

 

A national favorite (and a family favorite!):
the kebab tallerken
The boys enjoying kebab
A rare trip to McDonalds (not our fave
friends

Happy One Year Friend-iversary!

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One year ago today, we sat down to Norwegian waffles with a couple I (Jenn) had met just a few days earlier. They invited us into their home to share a bit of their culture with us that day. Little did we know, they would quickly become some of our best friends here. Kai & Synnøve are always quick to share important cultural events, introduce us to traditional food, help us with language questions, and make sure we are doing well in our new setting. Synnøve has also been the one who’s taught me all about Norwegian baking!We are so thankful for the way God blessed us with such great friends!

So, happy “anniversary” Kai & Synnøve! We are grateful for your friendship and look forward to many more adventures together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

friends

Gode venner: Good friends

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en norsk velsignelse

We are thankful for good friends here in Norway.

This past Sunday, one of our friends invited us over for dinner. We loved the ‘blessing cube’ she had (see photo at right), which includes one of our favorite Norwegian blessings (a song you sing as a way to thank God for the food before eating).

We also enjoyed some great desserts. Her oldest daughter made traditional Norwegian waffles – always a favorite – and her youngest daughter did an incredible job of baking pavlova.

waffles og pavlova
What's it like

What’s it Like: Grocery Shopping

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Grocery shopping here is not all that different here. Not greatly, different, anyway. Here’s a rundown on similarities and differences…
What’s the same as what we were used to in the states?
  • The food is pretty much the same. We can get most anything at grocery stores here. Imports will cost you. For instance, a small box of PopTarts is around $6-7 USD.
  • Several big chains hold the majority of the market. Our choices include Kiwi, Rimi, Rema 1000, ICA and Meny. We can also drive a little further to Coop, EuroSpar or Joker. (There are other chains in the country as well.)
  • Lots of choices when you’re shopping for coffee, cheese, meat or fish.

 

What’s different from our former ‘normal’?
  • At many stores, you need a coin to get a grocery cart. You get it back when you return the cart. Baskets are no charge.
  • Bring your own bags. Or pay for plastic bags, usually around 1 krone (@17 cents USD).
  • Almost everything is a local (local meaning from Norway) product. Produce is probably the biggest exception (you can only grow so many things in this climate).
  • Most juice comes in a paper carton, not a plastic or glass bottle.
  • Same for veggies: many are packed in boxes instead of cans.
  • In most cases, stores are small. Typically, there are only a few choices for each item. For example. the picture below shows Daniel on the vegetable aisle. Actually, only the right side is canned vegetables, and what you’re seeing is pretty much the entire aisle. And the last part is the Mexican food section.
  • Few grocery stores are open on Sunday. Like most stores and shops. Most cities have one or two small shops that you can visit on a Sunday. But be ready for narrow aisles, VERY limited selection, and standing in line a while.

 

Daniel loves the stores that have kid-sized carts!

 

Kiwi is one of the grocery store chains in our city. It tends to
have the lowest prices, but not as much variety.
cross-cultural living, What's it like

What happens when you squeeze a fish?

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FISH OIL.Part of our morning routine right now includes a dose of Tran. English speakers would probably know it better as cod liver oil. It is especially important to ensure we get an adequate amount of Vitamin D, when we aren’t able to get enough from the sun. Tran is a great source of Vitamin D and Omega-3.

The ‘norm’ is to take tran in any month whose name has an R in it (Norwegian and English month names are similar enough that it’s the same months in either language).

So every morning, we start our day with a dose of fish oil. Lemon flavored fish oil. And don’t our faces say it all?

(photo taken Oct 2013, when we first started taking tran)

(In actuality, it is not terrible. But I also don’t find myself wanting any extra after I’ve had my dose!)

What's it like

What’s it Like: From Scratch

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I’ve always enjoyed cooking. It’s almost like therapy for me. I like trying new things and getting creative.
In the US, many things are quick and easy. There is almost always some mix, packet, or machine to cut down on preparation time. Not as much here. While you can find some short-cut items, they are less common and seem to be typically saved for hiking or hytte tur (time spent at a cabin).
Aside from that, it is more affordable – and much healthier – to make things yourself. If you will recall, one of my first friends in Sandefjord gave me a critical lesson in Norwegian baking (see that post HERE). It was a great way to spend time together, and to learn the recipe that is used as the base for many Norwegian baked goods.
My newest from-scratch item is bread. We were buying loaves of bread at the store. We bought the cheapest bread, a store-brand Kneipp. But it lacked flavor and the texture was not great. Norwegian grocery stores have other loaves that are really good, but fairly expensive. So I decided to strike out and find a good, healthy, and easy bread recipe.
I came across a recipe on Pinterest for peasant bread. It is a no-knead recipe that you can bake in a bowl, a loaf pan, muffin tin, or as freeform rolls. I switch around with the types of flour (usually a blend), and sometimes add some seeds or herbs.
And now that I’ve started, I doubt my family will want to go back!
Other homemade items I make include lots of soups (this is typically based on whatever is in the cabinet), pizza dough, flour tortillas, waffles, and pastries.
What are your favorite ‘from scratch’ items?
cross-cultural living, Norway

Norsk Baking Lessons

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The breads and pastries in Norway are great. I (Jenn) thought it would be cool to learn to make them, even though I’m not much of a baker myself.Thankfully, I have an outstanding teacher! One of my new friends in our city offered to have me over for the day last Wednesday, and she taught me the basics. There is one dough that can be used for a variety of different items. Her excellent lessons left me feeling confident about my future Norwegian baking attempts.

So we started with the dough. From there, you can make boller, skolebrod, kanelsnurrer, klippekrans, and more. S taught me three of the more common items.

A couple of things to help you along…

  1. A boller is a simple roll. Many traditional Norwegian boller includes raisins.
  2. As I am learning more and more, cardamom is a staple of any baking recipe here!
  3. Even if you think you baked a lot, don’t expect these items to last long. Seems like they were gone as soon as Z, W, & D spotted them!

First up: skolebrød. From what I’ve read, it gets its name from the fact that it used to be packed in lunches for dessert, or sold at bake sales.
A delicious boller, filled with vanilla cream, baked, and then topped with a confectioner’s sugar and coconut glaze.
Wow.

Kanelsnurrer, or skillingsboller… or for our American friends, cinnamon rolls!
We made a LOT of these. This was a pic I snapped quickly as we were taking them up from the trays.

Finally, we made klippekrans, or kringle. The word klippe is Norwegian for cut, and comes from the fact that you use scissors to cut it before baking. Our variation included a thin layer of vanilla cream, and chocolate.

So if you notice us looking a bit ‘thicker’ around the waist in the coming months, you’ll know why 🙂