mars 2010

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Easter lily

16. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments


Spring is here again!  I get happy all the way down to my toes looking at this beautiful little flower.
And then there are certain four legged creatures running around on the floor that make me giggle and smile several times a day..take Fredrik for instance:
Here he’s checking out my hand bag. I know he’s just on the look out for something edible but I entertained myself with the idea that he was helping me organizing the bag and cleaning out old receipts.
Then he actually started to drag out bits of paper and a bag of sore throat lozenges. He was actually helping me! Eager to see if he’d continue to help me, I kept on taking pictures..
Until he suddenly found what he was looking for and darted off so quickly I didn’t manage to catch him before he’d dissappeared under the sofa.
Look at that little rascal run! I found the mint later, half eaten, between the sofa cushions. He’d diverted my attention by escaping under the couch, before he climbed on top of it and enjoyed his treat under a throw cushion in peace and quiet. He probably hid the mint there to eat the rest later. To bad for him that I found it and ate it!  No more treats for you today Freddie, you bad bad rat.
Okay, who am I kidding, you’re so darn cute I’ll give you any treat you want the next time you climb up on my lap for cuddles.

Ma petite cuisine

15. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | 2 comments

This is where the magic happens! Approximately 2 x 2 meters, and that’s even a bit exagerrated.  Yeeaaazzsshhh…it IS indeed possible to cook here. It does help that I’m about as tall as an eight year old child/156 cm or 5’1”.

From the midget sized fridge with only one shelf freezer section, to the tiny work top that is alway covered by dishes due to lack of dish washer, to the tiny circular sink that really is no good for washing dishes, my kitchen holds MANY annoying factors. I haven’t even mentioned Mr.Big Brown Spot on the stove and I do not intend to either since I’ve given up cleaning him off a long time ago (he just won’t budge!). But asides from its handicaps, my kitchen has brought lots of joys and exciting discoveries – my first sushi was made here for instance. And it hasn’t stopped me from experimenting and enjoying myself in the kitchen, and that’s the most important part of a kitchen, isn’t it ?
Another shot of the kitchen and it’s decor :
My pantry, as I like to call it, and more dishes! Did you really think I’d put them away for you ?
The “pantry” is actually just an old Ikea book case that we painted and attached to the wall with iron wire since we’re not allowed to drill any holes in the wall, but I think it does the job. Loads of storage space for whenever I go crazy when the supermarket has a sale on whole wheat penne (it happens regularly).
Can you guess what kind of food I like to cook ? Why yes, I do indeed need 4 kinds of vinegars, if you have to know. Chinkiang brown rice wine vinegar, distilled rice vinegar, red and white wine vinegar. Nothing more nothing less. Well, I do need some more balsamic vinegar. And a sherry vinegar would be nice. Nevermind. I love it when I buy condiments like these in big bottles because they’re cheaper and then I actually manage to finish them before the contents go bad. It’s in direct correlation with how many delicious Asian-inspired dinners I’ve made recently.

The Weary Kind

15. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | 2 comments

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I saw Crazy Heart on Friday, the movie Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for  and boy! was it a good movie. I fell in love all over again with this amazing actor, artist and man…and the music! If you think you don’t like country music watch this movie anyway. The sore and beautiful melodies and lyrics struck my heart again and again throughout the movie. And Jeff Bridges voice..I really really like it. I listened to the soundtrack to the movie when I got home and found to my dissapointment that many of the songs from the movie were sung by other artists and not by Jeff himself on the album. I hope he’ll make an album with his version of the songs! I was so happy when I found this youtube-clip with an acustic version of one of the most beautiful songs from the movie, The Weary Kind, sung by Jeff during an interview.

Home made knekkebrød / Crisp bread/..

15. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

..or squirrel heaven! These super healthy and more importantly, super delicious knekkebrød – which translates to “crack bread” ! – are made from a mix of whole wheat or rye flour, bran, sunflower-, sesame – and flax seeds, rolled oats, a bit of honey and lots of water, and are topped with toasted almonds and poppy seeds. They are very filling and are propped full of healthy fatty acids from the seeds and dietary fiber.  Did I mention that they’re delicious ? I’m never buying crisp bread again!

These two little slices of crisp bread had me going the whole day:

ChowChow for dinner..no, not the dog breed.

14. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

ChowChow  was a dish popular in many Norwegian homes during the 1970s and ’80s, according to my boyfriend and the webpage where I found a recipe for it. I’d never tried it until I cooked it Saturday evening but it turned out dang delicious. The recipe carries within it the fragile beauty of Norwegian house wives that had tasted Indian food sometime and tried to re-create it with the ingredients they had at hand – which is a wonderful thing, I think. That’s my theory at least.

( I love it when I can make a nice meal from the things I have in my pantry. Okay, I don’t have a pantry, but I have an entire book case stuffed with food stuffs, it’s close enough to a pantry.)
Here goes the recipe, tweaked to my likings and pantry (but not much, it’s pretty close to the original):

ChowChow

6 servings

Ingredients

  • 600 grams pork (I used pork shoulder that I cut into pieces myself – nice and juicy meat)
  • 200 grams bacon
  • 1 big onion
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 orange bell pepper
  • 1 small can of diced pineapple
  • 1 dl cream
  • 1 ts corn starch/Maizenna
  • 1-2 teaspoons of dehydrated broth, or a stock cube or 3 dl of real beef stock, then omit water
  • 3 dl water
  • 1-2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 2 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 2 green apples (they need to be tangy, not too sweet)
  • 1 chinese garlic knob
  • 2 teaspoons of pickled ginger
  • 6 champignon mushrooms
  • 1-2 teaspoons Sweet chili sauce
  • Brown rice as a side

Instructions

Fry bacon bits till brown but not too crispy in a frying pan. Add to a large pot.  Fry the onion in the bacon grease, add to pot. Do the same thing to the champignons.  Cut pork to small pieces, let brown in frying pan, but not cook through, add to pot. Now; in the pot, add garlic and minced ginger, let fry till fragrant, then add curry powder and let sizzle a bit, before you add water, tomato purée, bell peppers, apples, and pineapple pieces. Let simmer until everything is cooked through, then mix cream with corn starch and add to pot. Let it reach the boiling point and simmer for a few minutes or until the sauce has reached desired concistency. Add salt and sweet chili sauce. It’s supposed to taste savoury sweet, not unlike chicken korma if that tells you anything. Serve with steaming hot rice, I used brown and red rice that I love since it’s chewy and tasty (and healthy).

Oh, and don’t ask me why it’s called ChowChow, I have no idea whatsoever. Any one out there have a clue ?

And I almost forgot, the craziest thing about the dish is the toppings it was served with in the 1970s. Behold:

  • Cashews and other nuts – okay, normal
  • Pickled ginger – it’s in the dish, okay to serve along side
  • Banana slices !!! – What a strange thing to add to a curry! It was delicious though, we tried it and we liked it.
  • Cucumber pieces !! WHY ?! This was too crazy for us, we didn’t dare to try. Tell me if you did and survived it.

Yoghurt…with whipped cream!

14. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

Mmmh, this creamy non-no fat boysenberry yoghurt from Yoplait must be my all time yoghurt favorite. I recently found myself in the possession of a can of whipped cream, and adventorous as I am, I had to try it on my Yoplait and just like that! I’d invented a new fantastic dessert! Or midday snack. Or breakfast. You choose!

Rats like yoghurt too..

They like the fact that they can use the yoghurt cup as a hat afterwards.

Not really, but they sure look funny trying to get to the last drops of yoghurt at the bottom of the cup.

My First Blog Poll!

1. mars 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

<!– BlogPolls –>
<script type=”text/javascript” language=”javascript” src=”http://www.blogpolls.com/poll/62265.js”></script>
<noscript><a href=”http://www.blogpolls.com/poll/62265.html”>Blog Polls</a></noscript><!– /BlogPolls –>

OMG OMG OMG! I’ve made my first blog poll! It was stinking easy, thanks to the good people at blogpolls.com. Consider this as a test drive on many polls to come. On the other hand, I’m perversely interested in dogs. I want one so bad that I day dream about me and my fantasy dog Rocky several times a day. Lately I’ve been convinced that a rottweiler is the dog for me. But then tomorrow I’ll probably read something about how golden retrievers are the nicest dogs in the world and I’ll change my mind immediately. Luckily I have enough willpower to not just go and get one of the hundreds of dogs that stupid people try to give away on Finn.no (=ebay) because they “suddenly” realized they don’t have time for a dog after all. Anyhooo, tell me what kind of dog you like! If you like retrievers like Golden,-Labrador,-Flatcoated, etc., you tick the golden retriever. If you like sledge dogs like Alaskan Malamutes, Siberian huskies, etc. you choose the Alaskan husky. I would’ve listed all dog breeds I know but the stupid poll only allows for ten alternatives. So go ahead, show yourselves, you 12 people that follow my blog (or at least visit it once in a while, I KNOW YOU’RE THERE MY BLOG STATS DON’T LIE!).

Here’s a picture of Wilma: She’s a Giant Schnauzer and the dog of a friend of a friend of mine. I almost took her home when I found her lying in front of my desk at Uni.

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