Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone! 2012 arrived quietly here in the woods. For the dogs sake we are thankfully protected from hearing fireworks but it also means we don´t see anything either. So after a short hike out of the woods, we were able to watch the New Year fireworks. For an area without a large population they sure know how to put on a great show! But then again so do we....hehehehe.....

Well home again it was time for bed....

Some of us just can´t handle the late nights as well as others....


New Year´s Eve dinner consisted of a new recipe I decided to try after hearing a bunch of expats talk about pulled pork on facebook. We expats love to talk about food and I´m glad we do. I was in a rut and tired of making the same meals all the time. Listening to what other people miss eating reminds me of things I hadn´t thought about in a long time and where there is a will...there is a google so you can find a recipe and a way :-) 


I used this recipe HERE. This was a good recipe BUT the Captain and I figured that 5-7lb roast was about 3 kilos. With this information in hand the Captain went to the store to get us a roast and came back with two roasts...one which was a little over 2 kilos and one that was about 1.5 kilos. We figured the 2 kilo was big enough and put the other in the freezer. Considering we were using less meat then the recipe required I cut the rub ingredients in half. However, I didn´t cut the BBQ sauce ingredients in half and what we learned was that the vinegar amounts in the BBQ sauce were way too much. The sauce had a very overpowering vinegar taste which I tried to soften by adding more brown sugar (to taste, didn´t measure) and some more ketchup (again just squirted it in without measuring). Despite my best efforts the vinegar was still very strong. So next time I would probably half the vinegar requirements in this sauce. Despite the strong vinegar taste my two youngest were kind enough to eat their sandwich and tell me it was good, although they didn´t want seconds (always a sign something isn´t a hit...especially when my growing 13 year old only wants one little sandwich and otherwise has a very healthy appetite.) Never the less we saved the remaining meat and sauce and Monday will be a leftover day with leftovers from New Year´s Eve and New Year´s. 

The coleslaw recipe which follows this sandwich recipe is really good but again, a tang of vinegar which we already had plenty of in the sandwich, so I would maybe half this in the coleslaw next time also. 

Sarah and her boyfriend Pål were with us for breakfast New Year´s Eve and everyone woke late as usual when it´s the holidays so for our brunch I made a breakfast casserole. I looked up some various recipes for breakfast casseroles but what I found was they are basically eggs and cheese and anything else your heart desires. For ours I used my own homemade pork sausage which I made using ground pork and sage and bacon. I also used the closest thing I´ve found to hash browns in Norway, Pytt I Panne. Put all this in a baking dish along with 12 eggs I mixed together with various spices, I´m not going into detail about the spices because it´s really up to you- what do you like? Garlic? Use garlic powder and a little onion powder? Grill krydder which is like a BBQ spice is quite popular here in Norway and goes really well with eggs. Use your fantasy and choose whatever spices you desire! Some breakfast casserole recipes suggested putting shredded cheese in with the egg mixture. I put mine on top. Again, you can really do whatever you want in this situation...it´s all good :-) Bake for about 40 minutes on the lowest rack in the oven at about 200C (400F) or until golden brown on top. We served just the casserole but some fruit would have been nice or some nice warm rolls or something...

The first day of the New Year we will be having roasted turkey with all the trimmings. I´ll blog about that meal tomorrow! I´ve been thinking a lot about what you´d like to read from me...what types of posts I should do and well, I guess I´ll just continue with what I´m doing. A little food, a little travel, a little pets, a little family, a little nature, a little exercise...a little bit of everything! Variation is the spice of life and we all need a little spice in our life don´t we? 


So until next time my friends...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!