The winner gets a pig.

It is tradition in Norway to eat rice porridge to lunch on Christmas eve. It is always served with smoked meats, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, butter and cold refreshing raspberry cordial to wash it down. But perhaps the most important thing is that there must be a blanched almond hidden inside the porridge. You guessed it; the winner of the almond gets the pig. Not a real pig of course, a marzipan pig! The pig can be handmade, but many buy them ready from the supermarket. On Friday it was my Aunt Åse who was the winner of the pig, lucky for us, everyone got a slice of the beast.

Enkel Eple Smuldrer

Apple crumble is one of my all time favourite desserts. It is so simple yet moorish. Top it off with some good quality vanilla ice cream or custard and you have a winner. 

Ingredients

Apple Mix

7 large green apples
1/2 cup caster sugar
1tsp cinnamon (ground)

Crumble Mix

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 tbsp cinnamon (ground)
2 tsp nutmeg (ground)

1 tsp cloves (ground)
2/3 cup butter (melted)

Method

Apple Mix
1. Peel and core apples, then cut into rough 1-2cm cubes. Place apples in large saucepan and cover with water. Simmer covered with lid on high until apples are tender but not too soft (5 once water is simmering). Drain apples well and place in large bowl
2.Combine caster sugar and cinnamon (ensures even spread), then toss through the apples. 

Crumble Mix
1. Combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, coconut, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a large bowl until evenly mixed through.
2. Melt butter and add vanilla essence to butter, stir through.
3. Add butter mix to dry ingredients and mix well using a fork. Ensure all ingredients are moist and mixture has a crumbly texture. 

Baking
Place apple mix evenly in medium casserole dish. Spread crumble mix over top of apple. 

Bake at 180 degrees C for 30-40minutes, or until crumble topping is slightly browned.
Serve with vanilla icecream, cream, or custard.

Sweet Christmas Lights

A tree in the centre of Stavanger is filled with these heart shaped lights to Christmas. At night they look super sweet, especially now that the whole town is white and from a far you just see glowing red hearts among a sea of white.

Swan in Snow

Say WHAT? I thought swans swam in rivers. Clearly not in Norway. Here they play in the snow.

Sandkake

This is a recipe for an old Norwegian Christmas cookie known as sandkake. They are small almond pastry tartlets that can be filled with your choice of filling or eaten as they are. Cream and jam is our family favourite! My Aunt makes them every year with my grandmothers old moulds. They can be stored in a air tight container and pulled as a speedy treat when visitors drop in.

Happy Christmas from Norway

© Espen Rørtveit

Norwegian Car Boats

Norway had a problem when cars were invented. In Norway are there many fjords. Cars can not drive on water. It was therefore necessary to invent some new technology to transport cars across fjords. So was the  car boat invented. It can carry trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, pedestrians and it is super efficient. It has a huge troll mouth on both sides which open up, so you drive in on one side and out on the other. As each car drives on a cute little man with a grandpa golf hat goes around and sells tickets. Then all the passengers can go up to the lounge area and buy themselves the best cheese sausage with bacon ever. My advice is load on the dried onion and ketchup for a super taste sensation, then enjoy the view. Hip hurra for the car boat!

Black and White

I walked past the cutest dog when I was out doing some Christmas shopping today. He or she was so fluffy that the snow was getting caught deep in the fluff, when the snow melted the little thing would have looked like a soppy mop. It was nice to see a dog living in the right climate, arctic dogs should not live in Australia.

4pm in Stavanger

My Favourtie Christmas Traditions

1. A Homemade Advent Calendar
In Australia, an advent calendar is a cardboard box bought from the shops, with a piece of plasticy bad quality chocolate for each day in December. In Norway advent calenders have a lot more heart. Often they are home made, and each day is a small present.

2. Dancing around the christmas tree!
Holding hands with all your friends and family and dancing around the Christmas tree in your finest clothes is such a cosy tradition and is so much fun. Why don't we do this in Australia!

3. Gingerbread House
It is such a satisfying feeling to make dough, bake walls, a roof and a chimney, then stick them together and decorate. Adding small details, like tiles on the roof, pavers made from liquorice and little gingerbread men inside are my favourite. It is tradition in Norway to smash it on New Years Eve.

4. Baking
Christmas is the perfect excuse to go mad in the kitchen. In Norway it's tradition to bake 7 different cakes at Christmas. Insane! My favourite things to bake at Christmas are fruit mince pies, kransekake dripped in chilli chocolate, pavlova, gingerbread and krumkake.

5. Gløgg
This is the Norwegain tradition of making a sweet, spiced cordial with nuts and rasins in it. It is heated, and can be mixed with red wine to make it even tastier. You must eat gingerbread when you drink gløgg.

6. Picnic on Port beach
When in Perth we take a trip to the beach on christmas day. Picnic basket is in hand and filled with champagne, strawberries, cheese and crackers. Life doesn't get much better.

7. Norwegain Rice Porridge
It is a common tradition in Norway to have rice porridge for lunch on Christmas eve. What makes it SO special however is that an almond is hidden in the porridge. The family member who finds the almond wins a marzipan pig. The leftovers are made into rice cream and served with red currant syrup, which is almost better than rice porridge itself.

Julestemning

Christmas is getting close, and here at Folkehøgskole we are definitely getting into the Christmas sprit. We have been watching an old Norwegian children's Christmas tv series every night called Amalie's Jul. It is very sweet and I have learnt some new Norwegian phrases such as "son er det med den saken" which means "thats the way it is". There is now a huge Christmas tree in the living area which we have covered in paper chains and woven hearts. We have been drinking glog and eating gingerbread. I took a trip to IKEA and make my first homemade advent calender, so we have had our fair share of Christmas candy. Jippi for Christmas!

Sexy Apple

This apple was just so beautiful, that when I saw it in the supermarket I had to buy it. It was love at first sight. No apple has ever made me feel this way before. 

Tuesday: perler beads, polar bears, oh and russian pancakes.

Måndag morgen: Utsikt fra skolen.

My Sunday: apple juice, poinsettias, caramel and a walk in the snow.

A Guide to Norwegian Chocolate

Norway is cold and wet. Therefore the grass is green. Green grass is sweeter, juicier, and more nutritional. Nutritional food means healthy cows. Healthy cows make for the best quality milk.

Better milk= Better chocolate.

Here is a run down on the best Norwegian chocolates. Along with the cheese, cream and icecream, chocolate is one of the foods Norway can really be proud of. If you ever come to Norway, or if you are already in Norway, or if you have a friend living in Norway, or if you have a friend on holiday in Norway or if you have a friend of a friend of a friend with a great uncle visiting Norway on a bussiness trip THEN maybe you will be lucky enough to try them for yourselves and tell me which is your favourite.

I was also lucky enough to find a  Norwegian model at the supermarket to model all these chocolates. Her name is Ingrid. Isn't she cute!

You thought Daim was Swedish? Well think again.

Bamse Mums

Kvik Lunch

The Norwegain version of a KitKat. Creamier chocolate, flakier wafer and I love the retro green and red packages. In fact I think it's my personal favourite. Ingrid thinks it is boring, probably because it is the number one treat Norwegian parents bribe their children with, when they are out cross country skiing. Many Norwegains are sick of it.

Melkskjololade

The basic everyday milk chocolate block. A step above cadbury dairy milk.  When in doubt bring the melkskjololade out.

Stratos

Troika

This is my Mum's favourite. She brings packets of them home every time she travels to Norway. It is made up of three layers. First is a soft raspberry jelly, then truffle then marzipan.

Bamsemums

Teddybear shaped marshmallows covered in milk chocolate.

Kvikk Lunsj

Daim

Hard toffee covered in milk chocolate. Perhaps you have seen it for sale at IKEA. You thought it came from Sweden, well actually it is Norwegian. My Mum makes the most delicious Daim ice cream cake.

Troika

Stratos

The Norwegian version of a areo. Except this chocolate has a dancing cow as it's mascot. How can you resist a dancing cow?

So there we have it. Maybe I will have to give a run down of the yoghurt and cheese too. Dairy in Norway is soo good!

Testing the Ice

Saying Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving. Last year for no reason at all, me and my friends decided to celebrate Thanksgiving. I threw a party and provided the turkey. Everyone else brought a plate, and boy we had enough food to turn the ten of us into zorbs. We had salads, yams with marshmallows, roast veggies, pumpkin pie and apple pie. Before we ate we went around the table and said thanks. It ended up being very special, so I have decided to make it a yearly tradition.

This year my class convinced the school kitchen to have a special Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. Can't wait to show Norwegains how good yam with marshmellos is!

So what am I thankful for this year?

All my new Norsk friends, and all my not so new Aussie friends. I am so lucky to have you all.

My almost empty box of chai tea from T2. A cup of chai makes the perfect accompaniment to a book on a dark, cold Norwegian winters night.

My library card. It lets me read books, and I don't have to pay a cent.

The never ending blocks of Norwegian brown cheese. So long as there is knekkebrød left.

Heated bathroom tiles, probably the best invention ever.

Autumn in Søgne