Green Thumbs

I will not waste one second of your time trying to convince you that I have green thumbs but with that said I will be the first to admit that when gardening season begins and I can start to visit garden centers around the area I am a very very happy girl :-) It´s almost as exciting as visiting food stores....almost!


First thing I had to do was de-weed. The big dogs have had access to the garden areas and peed on just about everything but weeds apparently aren´t as sensitive to the acidic pee as other plants because they seem to flourish after a winter of dog watering ;-) Never the less, with great help from my darling son, we managed to clear a patch of garden and replant with some of the goodies we bought at the garden center. Still loads to do in the garden but that is one of the great things about the season ahead is seeing how a garden takes shape. And no, the big doggies will not have access to the garden areas now, but it´s that little monkey of ours we need to watch...she seems to think she has access anywhere! 


Below you can see how some of the garden areas look as of today.....

I took out the rose bushes I have had in my garage over the winter...will be interesting to see if anything sprouts on these. I have never tried to keep plants in the garage through the winter...

We´re on our way to the hospital now and hopefully Julia will get some answers as to what can be done for her back. She´s been through more then any 16 year old should go through...so hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of all of these problems!


Have a lovely day my friends....until next time! 

17th of May And A King Of A Sandwich

Hipp Hipp Hurra today is Norway´s Birthday! In 1905 Norway gained independence from Swedish rule and every 17th of May they celebrate their birthday- 107 years and counting! Most of the celebration happens with the children´s parades where young children walk in procession through a village or town waving flags and wearing lovely national costumes. As your children get older, like mine, they don´t really want to walk in this parade and so it becomes less of a tradition as the children get older, until of course they enter the Russ Celebration, like Sarah is in this year and the Russ march in the parade as well. In an hour we´ll be heading to watch Sarah and the other Russ in her class. This will be the last day of the Russ celebration ending their 12 years of education. Should be quite a parade with that in mind! I´ll bring my camera! 


We´ll be making hamburgers and hot dogs today, a little blend of Norwegian and American. The hamburgers being the American contribution and the hot dogs the Norwegian. Hot dogs are the number one celebration food here in Norway so the day just wouldn´t be complete without hot dogs on the menu. However, for lunch I decided to make some focaccia bread. I have made it before using a different recipe but as I was looking through a magazine I found another recipe and decided to try it. It´s SUPER easy and I´ll be willing to bet everyone has the ingredients in their homes.

1 liter of warm water

50 grams of fresh yeast (or dry)

Blend these two ingredients together.

In a bowl blend 1 tbsp (SS) salt and 1kg flour

Add the yeast and water and mix until you get a workable dough- add more flour if necessary. Let this rest under plastic for 30 minutes. Find a baking dish in the meantime and spray with a good baking spray so the bread won´t stick. After 30 minutes take the dough and pour it into the baking dish...put a little oil on your hands and pat the dough down into the baking dish. Using your finger tips poke holes all through the dough- deep ones- and then drizzle over some more olive oil. I had some fresh rosemary but you can also use dry..sprinkle a few blades of rosemary over and some sea salt and I also used a little fresh chives. 

Bake at 225C (about 400F) for about 30 minutes...don´t worry if the oil looks like a lot on top. As the bread cooks the oil becomes absorbed into the dough...so what you end up with is this..

As I was cutting this to make a sandwich I faced a problem...the bread was quite thick and with all the goodies on my sandwich I wasn´t sure that I´d get my big mouth around this to take a bite...so what to do? After I cut a piece, I cut it in half. Then I took each half and cut it in half again, taking the middle part out and wondering what I should do with the extra bread? I decided to dry it out in my oven at a low temperature and make bread crumbs for salads and such ;-) Then I took the two halves left over and made a King of a sandwich which is only fitting when Norway is celebrating it´s birthday....don´t you think?

This is so simple and so good. You can use Focaccia bread not just for sandwiches but with a hearty soup, this would make a lovely garlic bread...you could spread garlic butter on these and stick them in the oven until they become the perfect garlic bread to serve with your favorite pasta dish! You could also use this bread to make bruschetta...that would be lovely! 

Have a wonderful day folks and if you´re in Norway, I wish you a wonderful celebration! Hipp Hipp Hurra for Norway!

Until next time my friends....

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake....a simple masterpiece....don´t ya think? Are you gaining weight while looking at this photo? Admittedly I probably gained weight when I ate it...but couldn´t help myself...it was good...real good. 


When I was growing up though strawberry shortcake was always served with pound cake which would be similar to a Norwegian sukkerbunn. However, when I googled strawberry shortcake recipes biscuits or scones kept popping up in the majority of them and one recipe, the one I used for these biscuits here said the proper cake for strawberry shortcake is a cream biscuit. You can check out the recipe HERE. To be honest, these were good in flavor but I wasn´t too impressed with the rise in these biscuits compared to other recipes I have tried before. This might be my fault, might be the recipe´s? I´m not sure...but I would probably use a different recipe next time but with that said- this one works nicely if you have no other recipe to fall back on. 

I have to say also I was a bit unsure about using a biscuit with this. To me a biscuit is a breakfast bread...something I use with eggs and bacon...or butter and honey....or butter and strawberry jam...I have NEVER thought of putting cream on it and berries and making a cake...but you know what? It works brilliantly! The cream is sweet, I use heavy cream, vanilla sugar,  (this recipe calls for regular sugar but using powdered sugar with the vanilla bean will give you more of the type of vanilla sugar we use here in Norway.) and regular sugar. Then the strawberries are also sweetened slightly...so with all this sweetness going on the biscuit which isn´t really sweet is exactly what you need to balance this desert out and not feel queasy with all the sweetness. It´s quite simply perfect....

Wouldn´t you agree???


Thankfully a friend of mine sent a text message after I was done making this and asked me to go for a walk with her...so my "sinful" little desert here wasn´t as bad as if I had just enjoyed it and then done nothing. So thanks to my friend- you know who you are- for buzzing me. Oh by the way...remember we talked about vanilla extract on our walk? I found a recipe for you...try this one HERE. For those of you who weren´t on the walk and have no idea what I´m talking about- we were talking about vanilla extract. My friend asked me where you could buy it here in Norway and I said I didn´t know if you could get real vanilla extract here...I knew you could get vanilla essence which isn´t the same. So when I got in I had to google making homemade vanilla extract. Surprisingly the few recipes I looked at all had pretty much the same recipe which included vodka! Who would have known! No wonder I like vanilla extract so much!!! hahahaha! 


I had another friend from blog world who commented yesterday and asked me about the pilgrim paths which is what I think that marker I found yesterday was from. So for those interested here are two links where you can read about the pilgrim paths that run through Norway and the significance of them. I could sit here and write it all out for you but why would I do that when these two websites explain it all better then I ever could!! You can check out the first one HERE and the second one is HERE. Now you guys are going think I´m nuts...but that´s ok, I´ll take that...but when I was reading these links I was thinking, wouldn´t that be a neat summer vacation to just pack a back pack and set off on these pilgrim paths and wander up to Trondheim and then take the train back down to our house? You could go as fast or as slow as you wanted, overnight in a tent or guest farm or something on your way up- treat yourself to a night or two in a hotel in Trondheim and then take the train home. I think it sounds like fun!!! Probably would be so sore though after walking thousands of kilometers but....yeah....I´d do it! Would you?


Until next time my friends....

Bad Meal Gone Good And A Hike To Boligvika

One of the worst thoughts about trying to be "good" when it comes to eating right is giving up things I love. I refuse to give up anything if I don´t have too. So I thought I´d start seeing if I could make a bad meal turn good...tonight we start with chicken nuggets and french fries. One of my kid´s favourite meals and mine too until someone started posting photos on facebook of what McDonalds uses for their chicken nugget meat..ugh...looked like strawberry soft ice cream. Gross. I searched the internet for healthy chicken nuggets and landed on this recipe HERE. Problem in Norway though is that Italian bread crumbs don´t exist and neither do Panko bread crumbs. So what to do? I decided to use the bread crumbs that do exist in Norway along with crushing up several of these thin, whole grain, wafer breads in my kitchen machine...

I then added about 2-3 tbsp of coconut flakes and my own Italian spices..that would say, pizza spices and onion and garlic powder. Otherwise I followed the recipe as best I could. I was going to get a spray bottle today to put olive oil in and spray these like the recipe calls for but didn´t find a spray bottle anywhere I was today so I ended up just drizzling olive oil over these. 

For our french fries I decided to try making sweet potato french fries and found an interesting recipe HERE. Sweet potatoes are suppose to be healthier for you then regular potatoes...or at least that is what I read somewhere...you could pretty much read something new every day about what is good for you and not good for you. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about this because I think I tried sweet potatoes as a kid once at my Grandpa´s house and they didn´t sit too well with me. Very sweet and I didn´t really care for that. So I was nervous but with garlic and cheese on these how could I not like them? I looked up Asiago cheese and found it is very similar to Parmesan, so that is what I used. 

These get cold really quickly when you take them out of the oven so serve them right away!

My verdict and the kid´s verdict of sweet potato fries? YUM! Thumbs up! These were really good, although they were not crispy like regular fries, however we baked these. I think maybe if you deep fried them they might crisp up but then there goes your healthy meal....but I didn´t mind limp fries...the taste was so WOW that I didn´t pay attention to the limpy fries...hahahaha...


Ringsaker community has put out this year´s top ten tops which are ten hikes in our community where you can find a punch clip at the each of these tops and clip a card the community gives out to those who are interested. If you visit each of the ten tops and get ten clips in your card (each clip is different) then you can be entered in a drawing for great prizes. The point is to encourage people to get out and discover the area we are living in and get moving! It´s a really great idea and I love it because you find places you would never even think about usually. Last year I didn´t do all ten tops but I did like 6....so this year my goal is to do all 10. The first five open now and then next five, which are higher tops, open in June. The first five tops are all easy to middle hard while the last five are middle hard. I really wanted to go on my first hike today since I had off from work and Julia was home also so I picked a hike which said it was available to wheel chair users...I figured it couldn´t be that difficult and so easier for Julia to walk then some of the more difficult tops. 


I also figured little miss fluffy butt here could make the hike also...

Yeah.....you.....

Needless to say I didn´t have to ask twice....little miss fluffy butt jumped down from the sofa and was the first one out the door!! Miss Jenny also came with us and with the two little girls and Julia, I headed to Moelv which is about 30 minutes from here. Just a tad north of Moelv is where the hike was. Although we had a little bit of difficulty finding where exactly to park. We saw some signs that let us know we were close to various hiking paths...so it was just to start walking and see where you end up...

We met several nice people on this walk and everyone we met we showed our map and asked if we were heading in the right direction. Thanks to a lovely old couple who wondered where my accent was from....what? Me? Accent??? Huh??? They at least said I didn´t sound like an American but that was the problem they couldn´t place where my accent came from...hahahaha...mooohahahahaha....Anyhoot, thanks to this lovely older couple, Julia and I got lost. Let´s put it this way. Where we met them....the path split. Had we just continued straight...we would have gotten to the post within a minute or two. However, they pointed us in the other direction and told us it was over here...

When really it was over here....

It didn´t really matter though...these two spots were right across from each other and we had such a lovely time wandering through the woods...they were very open and you saw the Mjøsa lake the whole time pretty much and there were even a couple private homes deep in the heart of these woods...talk about living in a lovely spot with the woods around you and the lake right in front of your home! 

Found this in the woods too, it was leaning against a tree. Not sure what exactly it is, but it´s cool....and I´m sharing it with you....if anyone living here in Norway knows what this is let me know ok?

Thanks for stopping by folks...hope you enjoyed the walk and were inspired by the bad meal gone good....


Until next time my friends....

Home

Home is where the heart is and right now my heart is here....

in my cozy little log home in the woods.....

in the middle of this beautiful lake...

Where is home for you?

Until next time my friends......

The Greatest Party Of Your Life...(And A Recipe..Because It´s Me)

So my oldest baby is celebrating Russ with her class now. As I explained in an earlier post this is a tradition for every last year high school class in Norway. Sarah is a red russ...

For the entire russ celebration time, which lasts about 3 weeks and is finished on the National day in Norway on the 17th of May, they have to wear their overalls and russ clothing. They are not allowed to wash anything...this is apparently part of the tradition. Friends sign each other´s overalls and memories for a lifetime are made in these three weeks which include major weekend long parties which take place all around Norway. Sarah has been to Tryvann and this past weekend Lillehammer. Next weekend she is suppose to go back to Tryvann but she´s decided to spend the weekend with her boyfriend...she´s tired...which is understandable considering the last weeks events. Below are some photos which Sarah took at the Lillehammer weekend party....

This is Van-Land....the russ van is also a tradition. Groups of 5-8 people get together and buy a van which they decorate with their group´s name, photos, and anything else they care to have on the vans. Big stereos are a must as loud music, alcohol, and party party is the name of the game. After the russ celebration each group sells their van to the next year´s russ and the tradition continues.


If you´re Daddy is Kjell Inge Røkke or Donald Trump (for you Americans reading this) then you can afford one of the busses which are bought for the russ celebrations. Even bigger groups get together and buy busses which they then hire someone to drive for them and these busses are party clubs on wheels. Decorated inside like any hot nightclub and with amazing sound systems, DJ´s, and lighting systems...seriously nightclubs on wheels. I heard a russ talking about how his group spent 1 MILLION Norwegian Kroner on their russ celebration with the bus, clothing, parties, and everything else...and they are truly amazing...

This is the Garden. Each bus has it´s own name...like any good nightclub...

Here is this rolling "nightclub" (CNY, Chinese New Year)by day....

and by night...

According to Sarah the dragon spits smoke throughout the evening. I asked Sarah with all these buses in a circle, how do they play their music without blasting the others...she said they have play times they have to follow...each bus gets a certain amount of time to play their music and then the next bus...and so on and so on...

Here is a video teaser for the party in Tryvann...for a brief moment while watching this I was wishing I was 18 again....and then the video ended and I was happy I wasn´t 18 and could sleep in my bed and not get beer tossed in my hair..

Now for we adults who don´t spend our weekends in front of million kroner buses, with out of this world sound systems, dancing and tossing beer in each other´s hair...a recipe...which I really just made up today when I was making a vegetable stew and needed a good bread to go with it.

I used 4dl warm water and about 30 grams fresh yeast. Let the yeast dissolve in the water.

In a mixing bowl add about 1 kilo of regular flour. 1 healthy teaspoon of sea salt, chop up some rosemary, oregano, basil, and garlic finely and toss this in...you can use as much or as little as you want. I had about 1tbsp of all these spices combined. 

Finally 4tbsp olive oil. Add the water and yeast mixture. Combine and continue adding flour until you get a workable dough. Let this rise about 30 minutes, then roll out and cut into triangles and roll up. Let rise again for about 30 minutes and brush with egg and water mixture. Bake at 200C (400F) for about 20 minutes or until golden in color. Then voila...you get tasty herbal rolls to serve with a wonderful soup of your choice...

Thanks for stopping by...as always it´s been my pleasure sharing a little bit of my world with you....have a lovely Sunday evening....

Until next time my friends....