Snow Dogs

Honey and Kermit had a great time romping around in the snow today. Too bad their fur soaks up snow like a sponge--they spent the majority of the day drip drying in the kitchen. By the time they were finally dry, it was about time for them to go outside again. Luckily they do enjoy raiding the kitchen cupboards, so the day wasn't a complete waste for them!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everybody! (Although it looks more like Christmas today!) We got more than a foot of snow overnight, and it is just gorgeous! I love snow, especially on a day like today, when it's not very cold so you can actually get out and enjoy it. Poor Kevin isn't pleased, though--he was supposed to leave for a 2 week trip to Asia (China, Singapore and the Philippines) this morning, but the weather has postponed his plans. His visa (along with his passport) were supposed to be mailed to him by yesterday but they didn't arrive. He called and was told that they would definitely be delivered by 8:30 this morning, so he could still catch the 8:55 bus down to Gardemoen airport in Oslo. Except that it snowed and snowed and snowed all night, and his visa and passport never arrived. I'm pretending to be sympathetic, but really, I'm delighted! It's Halloween and we live in a big, old house which makes lots of creepy, creaky noises, and we are sort of isolated, at the edge of the forest. So I'm very happy that his trip has been delayed and I can sleep soundly tonight. Speaking of Halloween, I wonder if any trick or treaters will make it to our house tonight, through all that snow. I bought a big bag of chocolate bars for the occasion...oh well, if nobody shows up, don't worry, I would never, ever let good chocolate go to waste!

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

I know, October is just about over, but I wanted to remind everyone that October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog month in the U.S. (and Canada too, I think). Animal shelters across the country are promoting their wonderful dogs and a lot of them are offering reduced price adoptions, so if you have been considering adopting a dog, there's no time like the present! There's a link from my blog to www.petfinder.com which is such a great way to look for your next pet. You just click on the species you're searching for, and then the gender, breed and age of the animal you would like, type in your zip code, and Petfinder will give you a list of animals meeting your criteria in shelters and rescues near you.
The dogs in the photo above are mine--Kermit the Dog is the collie, and Honey is the golden retriever/collie/beagle mix. We adopted both of them from animal shelters and we adore them. We must adore them, we brought them all the way to Norway with us! That was beyond a fiasco...but I'll save that story for another post.
Here is the link for the Norwegian version of the humane society: www.dyrebeskyttelsen.no As my ability to read or comprehend Norwegian is still abysmal, I'm not sure what the most pressing animal welfare issues are in Norway, but it does seem like homeless cats and dogs are almost nonexistent here, compared to the U.S. I don't know why that is the case, but I would guess that perhaps Norwegians are more vigilant than Americans about having their pets spayed and neutered. If so, way to go Norway!

How I Earned My Viking Horns

I'm not generally a finicky eater--I have gobbled down sushi, calimari, hummus and tzatziki, edamame and miso, guacamole and chili rellenos--really, other than not eating red meat and poultry, the only food I despise are bananas. Disgusting, mushy, stinky things! So I came to Norway with an open mind, eager to try new foods. The first new food I tried was cloudberry sauce over ice cream. Cloudberries look like yellow raspberries and they're really sour, but really good mixed with sugar and served with ice cream. Some of our friends here love to drink black current juice--it comes in a can as concentrate, and can be mixed with either cold or hot water, depending on the weather outside. I think it's better cold, but it's okay either way. I've even been brave enough to eat wild mushrooms (mushroom hunting is huge here in Norway--kind of risky business, as there are several varieties of poisonous mushrooms in the forest!) The wild mushrooms were so good, served on toast with goat cheese. I've devoured several slices of eplekake (apple cake) and oh so many waffles.
I think some of our friends here in Norway saw the gusto with which I polished off all of these new foods, and they decided it was time to raise the bar. So they got out the rakfisk. Oh my! Rakfisk is trout which has been fermented in brine and sugar for 2 or 3 months. Rakfisk has been eaten in Norway since at least the 1300's, and it is considered a wonderful delicacy here, a treat eaten especially at Christmas time. Families carefully protect their ancient, secret rakfisk recipes, and there is even an annual rakfisk festival and competition. My friends assured me that if I took a bite (and swallowed), I would earn my honorary "Viking horns". Ah, peer pressure! I think they could sense I was waffling, so they quickly opened the package. The odor that assailed me was horrific--how can I describe it? Oh, I know, in college I had several friends who were medical students. During the semester that they were in anatomy lab, cutting up cadavers, the smell of formaldehyde permeated their clothes and hair, and no amount of showering seemed to completely erase the odor. That's what rakfisk smells like! Yummy!!! But I couldn't think of a polite way to tell my hosts that the delicacy that they were enthusiastically preparing smelled a little too much like cadavers for my taste, so like an idiot, I just sat there smiling. After months of hanging out in brine, rakfisk no longer retains the physical properties of fish--it's mushy and can be spread like butter. It is generally spread onto a piece of lefsa, slathered in sour cream and onions, and then rolled up like a stinking, festering burrito. I think the large quantities of Aquavit (a 45% alcohol caraway flavored liquor) generally consumed with rakfisk probably make it more palatable. Sadly, I only had a cup of tea, so no numbed tastebuds for me! But I'm proud to say, I did it! I took one teeny, tiny nibble and somehow managed to swallow it, and then I drank my whole cup of tea to get the taste out of my mouth. I still shudder when I think of it...and I'm still waiting for my damn Viking horns!

Hellbillies!

We just returned from seeing the "Hellbillies" in concert! We had no idea what to expect (all we knew of the group was their name) but we had a great time. Their music was hard to define, a little bit rock, a little country, a little folk, with a bit of Celtic influence. All the songs were in Norwegian, and everyone in the audience seemed to know every word. At one point, the lead singer asked for the audience to sing along, but we weren't loud enough for his taste, so he heckled us all a little, saying that we sounded like we were from Skreia! I guess that's a big insult around here, as everyone booed! The concert was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the music, but one thing surprised me. There was no assigned seating. Hmm, so it's important for everyone to sit in their assigned seat at a quiet little movie theater, or kino, but at a big concert with copious amounts of alcohol being consumed, no worries, hang out where ever you like! There were no problems, everyone behaved themselves nicely. I hope at some point the kino owner decides that the audience can seat themselves too--I'm really a third row from the front on the aisle kind of girl!

Dinner and a Movie

Last night , Kevin and I decided to go to a movie. I was so excited--I think the last movie I saw in a theater was "Lady in the Water", which left a lot to be desired! Luckily, movies take a long time to get to Norway, so movies that were in American theaters in August when we left are just arriving here. I had wanted to see "Little Miss Sunshine" for awhile and it just opened here last night, so we decided to squander all the money we made from the sale of the New York house on dinner and a movie. (Sadly, I'm only kidding a little--that sandwich and waffle pictured above cost about $30!)
We tried to go to a Chinese restaurant, but we don't eat red meat or poultry and it didn't look like there were any vegetable or seafood options at the restaurant. This was the third Chinese restaurant we've tried and none of them seemed to have veggie lo mein or really any dishes that we recognized. So we went to a little cafeteria close to the theater where I happily grabbed a piece of cake (if given the choice between good nutrition and sugar, I will choose sugar every single time!) and Kevin got a waffle and sandwich. The strange thing about sandwiches in Norway is that they are all open-faced. It's too bad, Norwegian bread is the best bread I've ever tasted, but wow, are they ever stingy about doling it out! And when a sandwich is piled high with veggies and shrimp, but without a top slice of bread to hold everything in, eating it becomes a fork and knife affair.
After dinner, we bought our movie tickets. The lady at the counter pointed to the seat numbers on the tickets and then to a map of the theater--huh? Apparently in Norway (or at least in our little corner of Norway) movie theater seating is assigned. We found our seats in the second to the last row in the theater. Then a couple more people shuffled in and sat down...directly in front of us. In the end, there were 9 of us in the whole theater, all clustered together in the back 3 rows. I was not pleased, but even though the theater was practically empty, I was just not rebel enough to reseat myself. Oh well, the movie was great, so funny, and I had a big bucket of popcorn, so I can't complain too much.
I was really excited about getting popcorn--it seems like there is always a plethora of pork rinds available at carnivals and movie theaters here, but popcorn is a little more scarce. I've never seen so many bacon products in one city before--even the health conscious field house sells hot dogs wrapped in bacon! I wonder which Norwegian treat packs more calories--a bacon wrapped hot dog or a slice of French fry pizza?

More Halloween party photos

Ok, so I'm not very good at arranging my photos artfully yet, hmm, I will have to work on that a little! Anyway, here are a few more Halloween party photos. That's me on the left, I was a flapper. I'm not sure if that was the best choice of costume this year, did they ever have flappers in Norway? Also, next year, wearing a costume with sleeves is advisable--it's really cold here! And that's Kevin in the middle. Thankfully, all the Norwegians guessed that he was either Liberace or Elton John, and I never chose to tell them otherwise! The last photo is of one of the tables of food--there were several more scattered throughout the house. My stomach hurts just thinking about how much we all consumed that night! It was a really fun evening, I met so many great people, and I'm very grateful that everyone humored me and celebrated my favorite holiday with me!

Halloween

Aaahhh, Halloween, how I love it! Unlimited candy, caramel apples, costumes, jack o'lanterns...what a fantastic holiday. I'm so thrilled that even though Halloween is not generally celebrated here in Norway, especially not by adults, guests at our first annual Norwegian Halloween party were such good sports. They came in costume, they played all my goofy games (such as wrapping each other up with toilet paper like mummies) and they made quite a dent in the ridiculous mountain of food. If I had known everyone would be so excited about playing silly games, I would have planned for more. I spent hours agonizing over the menu and the activities (I was so nervous as it was a party for Kevin's coworkers, many of whom I'd never met before.) My friend Amanda had some great suggestions for games--one involved pouring brandy over raisins, lighting the brandy on fire, and then everyone grabbing flaming raisins and popping them in their mouths. For many obvious reasons, I didn't inflict that particular torturous activity upon our guests! In retrospect, maybe I should have--I think they all would have eagerly jumped right in and braved third degree burns. Viking blood courses through their veins!

Closure

The sale of our house in New York was finalized today. Of course I'm relieved--we certainly didn't want to pay the mortgage any more, but it makes the move to Norway seem that much more final. We don't have any idea yet of how long we'll be in Norway, and even if we repatriate to the U.S. in the next couple of years, it will most likely not be back to the dismal job market/floundering economy of central New York, but still.... I love that house and it is hard to say good bye!
We bought the 1880 Victorian in 2002 and then spent the next 3 1/2 years renovating it. The house had been a Catholic rectory for its first 110 years, and then a private family home for the next 10. It was in rather sorry shape when we first laid eyes on it, but I immediately fell in love. (Poor Kevin wasn't as convinced, I think he had a more realistic grasp on how expensive and time consuming home repair can be!) I learned how to swing a sledge hammer and the art of painting hundreds of little gingerbread mouldings, and Kevin perfected his plumbing, drywalling, carpentry and tiling skills. By the time the house was finally picture perfect, Kevin had received the promotion that would require us to relocate to Norway. The house went on the market, sold mercifully quickly and easily, and last week we signed and shipped all the papers and the keys so that the new buyers could close today.
Oh well, the new buyers seem lovely and I believe that they will cherish and care for the house as we did. And we are now living in another big, old house in need of some TLC, at the edge of the forest in Norway. More about that later...