A Norwegian Christmas and American Candy Sushi!

It has been a lazy couple of days around here at Nylendene. So I thought I'd share a couple things from Christmas.

In the states we're used to listening to Christmas carols around Thanksgiving, putting up the Christmas tree just after Black Friday and attending Christmas-y events and parties all the way up to Christmas Day. Here, Christmas celebrations don't really get started until just before Christmas Day. It seems Christmas Eve is the big kick off to a week of family and community gatherings celebrating Christmas until New Years. The rush and hubbub of the season I'm used to is slowed to a comfortable and friendly pace. Family members eat large meals together and/or gather for coffee and cake/cookies in the late afternoon. It's a nice change to the running around I've always done. It is late afternoon now and I am still in my pajamas!

We have typically been to at least one family gathering a day since Christmas Eve. Svein Arild keeps apologizing for this but I enjoy it! Today we were to go to his parent's house but Agnete, his mother, has caught the bug that has been going around. I'm glad she is getting some rest!

We awoke this morning to a chilling rain that has lasted all day forcing us to forego any outdoor activities. The lovely foot and a half of snow we had has diminished to an icy few inches. It's a good thing we shoveled yesterday or we'd have thrown our backs out with the weight of the wet snow today. Today has been clean-the-kitchen/laundry/organize-cabinets day for me and Svein Arild is insisting that I take a break. So, I'll share with you some pictures from a couple Christmas celebrations followed by some treats I made for the family.

CHRISTMAS EVE AND DAY

We spent Christmas Eve in Nordfjordeid with Svein Arild's sister, Kari and her family. It was such a wonderful night spent singing Christmas carols while walking around the Christmas tree, opening gifts and eating the traditional meal of sheep and sausages.

Clementines are always available for guests.

Beautiful ornament on Kari and Jørgen's tree - Christmas Eve.

Walking around the Christmas tree singing carols.

Alv, Agnete and Miriam open gifts.

My mom sent some quackers (noise makers that look like duck bills) for his family. Svein Arild and I made some traditional American stockings and added the quackers as little trinkets!

Quack, quack!

Agnete got a pink one!

Christmas day we were treated to a beautiful large spread of meats, cheeses, eggs, jams, breads and other goodies! Norwegian breakfasts are really amazing and I wish we did more like them in the states!

A bountiful spread!

CANDY SUSHI!

So, one of my favorite treats to make in the states is candy sushi and I thought it would be a nice surprise to make some for his family. The only problem being Norway doesn't have, well, pretty much any of the ingredients! I brought them from home (save for the marshmallows which Svein Arild bought here). I think it's safe to say that this is the first and last time I'll be making them here. Not because they weren't liked but because of the difficulties in getting the ingredients. 

Here is what is needed:

Parchment paper (NOT wax paper or plastic wrap)

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 package large marshmallows (or 4 cups mini marshmallows)

3 Tbsp. Butter

Fruit Roll-Ups

Gummy Worms

Swedish Fish (candy)

Orange or red Non-pareils

Melt the butter in a large pan and add the marshmallows. Once the marshmallows have melted into one large lump, add the rice cereal and stir. This will work out your biceps for sure!

Spread the Rice Krispie Treat mixture onto some parchment paper while the mixture is still warm. Place another large sheet of parchment paper on top and roll out the Rice Krispies until it's about 1/4 inch thick.

Rice Krispie Treats rolled to 1/4 inch thick.

Lay out two gummy worms on the rice mixture and use a pizza cutter to cut the right amount to wrap around the worms. You'll find what works best for you.

Un-wrap a Fruit Roll-Up and set the candy aside. Use the plastic from it to roll the rice mixture around the worms tightly. You'll want to smoosh it quite hard and the plastic won't stick to it but is stronger than regular plastic wrap.

My workspace for candy sushi.

Take the Fruit Roll-Up and, using the plastic again, wrap the candy around the rice and worm roll tightly as seen in the picture below.

A candy sushi roll prior to being cut into pieces.

I then trim the edges and then cut each roll into four individual pieces of sushi. I save the trimmed bits of Fruit Roll-Up to use to wrap around the nigiri sushi using the Swedish Fish (pictured below). Nigiri sushi is a bit of fish on a pile of rice that sometimes has a piece of sea weed wrapped around it.

"Nigiri sushi" using a Swedish Fish.

 It is really hard to find green Fruit Roll-Ups. They were popular around the time Shrek was out in theatres but I had to order this pack of candy from Amazon.com. Really any Fruit Roll-Ups will work I just like to use the green/blue when I can. You can always pass the other colors off as soybean paper.

A close-up of the candy sushi.

 Some sushi is also served with a quail egg on top. My housemate's mother (who showed me candy sushi to begin with!) used banana flavored Laffy Taffy shaped into little eggs. Svein Arild and I found some bags of Norwegian candy that had these fried egg candies in them so I put some icing on the sushi to hold the eggs on top. You may see a couple pieces with solid colored worms...those were sour worms. The other sour worms are in the rolls with the eggs.

The platter of sushi!

 And, finally, after many times of making candy sushi and using multiple different products for the "roe" (fish eggs - a common sushi garnish) I have settled on orange non-pareils which are easily found in the supermarket baking aisle. I think they work very well for the roe despite rolling around on the plate. I tend to sprinkle them all over and then press them in to the tops of the sushi letting the rest roll loose on the plate.

Orange non-pareils add to the illusion as "roe."

So that's candy sushi in a nutshell. Please feel free to ask for clarifications! I didn't purposely take pictures of the process for a blog post so they're kind of incomplete.

JULETREFEST!

And here is a picture of the Christmas Tree Party we attended yesterday down the road from the house. The community gathered to watch the local Children's choir sing, hear the story of Christmas, sing carols around the huge Christmas tree, have coffee and treats and the kids received little goodie bags from Santa Claus!

The party was held in the building where our wedding reception will be so it was nice to see all its different uses and that it does, indeed, have enough room for a large crowd!

The tree almost reached the ceiling!

WEDDING CAKE....STILL!!!

Finally, I just thought I'd share just how much cake we still have left!! We have put some in the freezer for next year but we still have soooo much cake! Please, come over for coffee and cake to help us eat it before it goes bad!! We have taken the cake to a couple different family functions and it doesn't seem to get any smaller despite people actually eating it!

It's really yummy! You know you want some!

So, that's it for this rambling post. Svein Arild has just returned from Stryn and it's time for me to make dinner from the groceries he just picked up. I hope you enjoyed this random post and, again, if you want any tips or tricks for the candy sushi just leave a comment below or send me a personal email! It makes a very colorful treat for parties!

{P.S. Svein Arild got the mail and there were some surprises! A beautiful card from my Aunt Karen, a Christmas letter from Arve and Gudrun and a Christmas card from my grandma with a CD of family pictures! Thanks to you all for the kind words and thoughtful letters!!}