lørdag 31. desember 2011

Norwexican tamales for New Year

From my friend Christo
I got a huge box in the mail
with all I needed to make tamales
just in time for New Year!

 Corn husk, chile and masa

I used some pork
and it was simmering for three hours on low heat
 The chile soaking in some water

 Chile, sweet pepper, celery, and stock in the foodprocessor
 Shredding the pork
Letting it simmer for 45 minutes together with the pork
 Making the masa: corn flour, lard, baking powder, and stock
Soaking the husk
 Then wrapping the tamales, I loved that part of the job!

 Stacking them in the steamer

Waiting with excitement while the little packages
got ready for the New Years feast!

I had never seen a tamale in real life or tasted one
I was wondering, would it be right?
The meat in the chile tasted good
even the masa tasted ok before cooking
so I thought I would like it!
Bur what about my family?

I loved it, and even better,
they loved it!
Even my picky eater of a son and his girlfriend!
My husband and my daughter wanted it again very soon!

I told them what you said Christo, 
that eating tamales on New Years Eve means good
fortune ans happiness for the New Year!
Thank you for letting me  in om this food experience, I promise you
this will not be the last tamales made in this home!

To you and all my friends out there:
Happy New Year!!

tirsdag 20. desember 2011

12 days of Christmas

Inspired by the season
my husband wants to tell the real story
about his Christmas:


mandag 12. desember 2011

Merry baking

It's the time for baking.
According to the Norwegian tradition
it should be 7 different types of cakes and cookies
in a proper Norwegian Christmas home
There won't be seven types in our home
but there will these:
Nutty cookies, with hazel nuts and almonds
And coconut macaroons
And even dinner suddenly seems Christmasy
and it wasn't even deliberate
Beans and tomatoes, Ho Ho, Ho!!

søndag 4. desember 2011

Julebord and coconut cake

Last night we had our annual Julebord (Christmas party) at work
This year we chose to do it far out in the woods
Viking style!
The place was rustic, wooden and rough
the floor was of hard soil
and there was massive logs og the fire.
Even if it was kind of outside-ish, it was warm .
The tables was of thick wood, the chairs was of thick stumps of wood
with skins of reindeer to sit on.
The menue was grilled lamb and salmon




Outside there was kerosene lamps and torches to show us the way.
There was stars and moon above, and it was magical!

This afternoon back from the wilderness
I made a coconut cake
soft and cruncy coconut meringue on top.
Lovely




onsdag 30. november 2011

The calendar project II, and some Christmas baking

I've started on the Christmas baking
Tonight it was "Krumkaker"

Advent calendar is ready for tomorrow.
Every year this particular night, the last of November
since my children were born
I sit watching something on telly
(tonight it was The Polar Express)
and wrapping little presents for the calendar.
Now it's ready!

søndag 27. november 2011

Half way to a thousand and some chicken nuggets

Advent
Today it's the first Sunday of Advent
The color of Advent is purple

Home made chicken nuggets are as easy as they are tasty
(and slightly messy when you make them)
Pieces of chicken breasts, first in flour, then in egg
and finally in crushed Pringles

Frying in my skillet
No fancy order,
just served with oven chips and broccoli

Some sweet and sour chili sauce to dip the good pieces in! Yum!

And do you know what?
This is post number 500!
I don't mess about!

tirsdag 22. november 2011

Crackling and ashes

When I was going to post something about this piece of pork meat with it's crackling
I thought
have I written about this before?
I've been doing this blog since 2007, so I probably had.
I searched my blog
(feel free to do the same)
and found one post:
Almost exactly 3 years back in time
(give or take one day)
This is a common Christmas dinner in Norway
only not in our house,
it's kind of frowned to eat this in November
Many people take their Christmas food tradition very seriously!

We enjoyed in November anyway, as we did 3 years ago
according to my blog.
It's a bit nippy outside
so we keep a fire going when we are home.
Every now and then, the fireplace needs to be emptied
It is full of ashes!
Dinkie is waiting impatiently because she just loves the warming fire!

The ashes must be cold, the bucket shouldn't be flammable
(like mine is)
and you should never leave it on the steps outside your front door for later.
A few houses has burnt down over the years because of that!
Embers can keep warm inside of ashes for a long time!
My house is still standing, I emptied the bucket far from my house straight away!

fredag 18. november 2011

Pears and inspiration

One of my friends treated his pears
in an intriguing way
Here in blog land, we're allowed to be inspired
by each others efforts.
So my pears got undressed
and started soaking!
A good warm soak, in red wine, lovely spices and citrus peel
Then cooling off and staying ther over night
The day after, the pears came out to rest
and the wine got reduced until thick syrup
Tanned and well rested
On a bed of cream made of an egg and sugar whipped fluffy
and mixed with whipped cream.
With the oh so heavenly syrup, the taste so concentrated tha you wouldn't believe it!
Trying to make it look pretty
Worth waiting for!
Thanks Christo Le Chien, for the inspiration!

tirsdag 15. november 2011

The calendar project

My daughter Pink Princesse goes to school
far up north if Norway.
In a couple of days, the sun will disapper for quite a while
She is wondering how she will cope with it!
Where we live, further south, the days are short in the winter
but the sun never disappear completely so it will be her first time!

To cheer her up
I'm preparing a Christmas calendar
for the days in December until she comes home for her Christmas holiday!
One little present for each day.
A little break after the wrapping
Burger and chips, Little Chefs favourite!
He wants a calendar too!

I'll send them off, one package at a time
You can't beat getting mail!
That'll put a smile on her face
and make her feel special
my sweet girl!

søndag 13. november 2011

Almondy nutties and Apple cake

Ok I admit it straight away
I didn't make the almond dough
It came shaped like a sausage from the supermarket.
But I did roll it in to little balls,
and I did peel the almonds
They looked a bit to goody goody
so I messed them up with some dark chocolate
(which I melted myself)
The apple cake on the other hand
was made from scratch,
It came, said hello
and disappeared within a short time
like cakes do in our house!

Served with whipped cream