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!

Growing up

Little Chef, not so little anymore!

15 years old

We went to the cabin for his birthday

The menue he chose was ham, gratinated cheesy potatoes, veggies and gravy

We have to keep it simple at the cabin,

not the most fancy presentation, but the young man was pleased!

For dessert

Birthday cake!Ok, Dinkie is little

but these lads are getting so tall!

These are the legs of Little Chefs friends

They are taller than 190 cm both of them!

Sunday in the sun

This is one sweet smelling rose

I wish I could capture the scent in a photo!

This is one cinnamon smelling piece of crisp bread

What if I could capture the scent of it!
Today Dinkie enjoyed herself in the garden
Feeling the sun on her mustache

She thought the snow was a bit cold

So she brought a blanket to sit on

I was there too

my boots on with woollen soles inside

Feet warm and the sun warming my face

Lovely!

Optimism and cabin life

Because of the long long winter

I found myself moaning and complaining

more than usual about the weather and the cold temperature!

I have decided to stop it.

In two days it is first of March

I have decided that for me, thats when Spring starts!

(even if the snow stays put)

This weekend we went to the Cabin.

Sunday Morning it looked like this:

Lonely hammock
The cabin

The shed

.....

But first:

This was the inside of the kitchen window when we came to the cabin

on friday night after work.

The temperature outside had risen to 0 C (32 F)

And we were so pleased with it!

Inside the cabin it was -4 C (24.8 F)!

We took it as men (and women)

Made a fire

Kept our coats and mittens on

Made some cocoa and kept the spirit

While the temperature slowly rose

A while later

Dinkie threw her coat and curled up in front of the fire

I made a colorful salad
and baked the lasagne I made at home thursday evening.

(The magic is in the planning)


It was a lovely friday night!
Teenagers and parents,
Lovely food and a
a crappy horrorfilm


The snow on the roof outside the door
was threatning to slide down in our heads,
but nothing happened except an occational ice cold
drop of water down our neck
A sign of spring!

Pudding and dogs

Red is an important color at Christmas time!

I seem to have written about almost every thing I've cooked

during the 3 years I've been blogging.

But this is strangely enough

somenthing I haven't mentioned:

Trifle

From the bottom, yello, sponge, fruit coctail, custard, sponge, whipped cream.

Our family's all time favourite

Like an upside down cream cake!

Dinkie is watching the pile of presents shrinking

resting her head on Blåmann, her big blue boyfriend

The day after she tries something she has never done before:
Chewing on the lamb bone!
(she had an easily upset stomach when she was younger
hopefully she has outgrown it, and will not be sick tonight!)

Another popular pudding in our family
The yorkshire pudding
After a few years of practicing

A Norwegian girl has learned how to master

the art of making a fluffy yorkshire pudding!

Little Chef eats his with strawberry jam,

and the rest of us eats it with all the trimmings

of our Christmas dinner!

Autumn sunshine

The life at the cabin is the life on the bright side

Sometimes symbolic

sometimes literally.

A sunny day is never brighter than on a a crisp autumn day

when the air is clear, the sun still warming and the colors fiery.

Dinkie loves a spot of sun

On a cloudy day, she keeps close to the fire,

and seeks the warmth from her good friend the blue monkey

Blåmann

Is it totally inappropriate

that I've got a Christmas carol stuck to my brain today?

Taste of Pasta

Made a bit of pasta

for my nephews yesterday

Dinkie wasn't helping much

Blåmann, the blue monkey was exhausted too!
But the pasta was a sucess
and now their mum has to make them fresh pasta very soon
Isn't it great to pass on inspiration!