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