RECIPE: Graskarkryddersirup! (Pumpkin Spice Syrup)

Wow. It has been a long time since I have updated this blog! So much has happened and, I'm sorry to say, this entry won't have too much news. I will ease back into blogging by first posting this recipe as I'm sure there are other Americans in Norway who miss Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

Fall is my favorite time of year and part of the reason for that is the delicious hot beverages made with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. The tastes of fall are so homey, welcoming and cozy. As an avid coffee drinker I would visit Starbucks on a much more regular basis in the autumn and order my "quad venti skinny two and a half pump pumpkin spice latte." The barista at my local Starbucks knew my order when I would go in so she would start it when she saw me come in the door before I could even have a chance to order it. I would order the "two and half pump" because Starbucks puts FIVE pumps of syrup in their venti lattes which, I think, is too much sugary syrup. You lose the pumpkin flavor let alone the coffee flavor with that much sugar! Ordering half the amount of syrup allows the spices and pumpkin flavor to warm and release into the coffee. At least that is my theory...and I'm sticking to it!

Can you tell how enthusiastic I am about this syrup!?

So, a year ago I knew I was going to be moving to Norway where there are very few Starbucks - none of them anywhere near where I live - and they don't offer the Pumpkin Spice Latte anyway.

The only three Starbucks in all of Norway are in Oslo! It's a 7 hour drive from my home! That's just too far for a coffee...

Oslo: Also the capital of Norwegian Starbucks. (P.S. Gardermoen is the "Oslo" airport despite being further away on the map.)

WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO!?

So I searched Pinterest for a recipe to make my own syrup. I didn't bother trying the recipe when I found it because, honestly, I was too worried that if I weren't able to find the ingredients in Norway I didn't want to be disappointed.

The main ingredient - canned pumpkin - I knew was going to be an issue. I had looked for canned pumpkin on a previous visit and found that I could order it online but I really try to shop locally first. Fortunately I was substitute teaching at the high school in Eid and after school I went to Coop Mega for groceries. They had pumpkins! COOKING pumpkins! So we bought one, of course!

There are differences in pumpkins. There is the kind that you carve into a jack-o-lantern and then there are the more flavorful baking/cooking/sugar pumpkins (depending on where you live and what is available).

If you don't have canned pumpkin puree here is how you make your own:
(Note: I had no instructions on how to do this I just made it up and it worked)

*Cut the stem off the pumpkin.
*Cut the pumpkin in half.
*Use a large metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy pulp. (Save the seeds if you want to roast them for a delicious snack later!)
*Line a baking pan/casserole dish with aluminum foil.
*Rub margarine on the exposed "meat" of the pumpkin. (real butter can burn)
*Place pumpkins "meat" side down on the foil.
*Roast at 220C until the "meat" is soft and can be mashed like potatoes.
*Let the pumpkins cool a bit before handling them. THEY WILL BE HOT!
*Scoop out the pumpkin meat into your food processor (or mash them manually)
*Store in an air-tight container in your fridge.

I was roasting a chicken the day I made the pumpkin puree so I threw the halved pumpkin in the oven with the chicken as it cooked.

Now to the syrup! (PLEASE READ THE WHOLE RECIPE BEFORE COOKING)

INGREDIENTS:
(Note: I doubled the pumpkin puree because I like the flavor but the recipe below states the original amount I found. Double it if you will.)

The pumpkin in the picture will be made into a pie later I just wanted to show the type I used to make the puree in the glass bowl.

PÅ NYNORSK
3 1/2 dl vatn
3 1/2 dl sukker
4-6 stk kanelstenger
2 1/2 ml nellikmalt
2 1/2 ml ingefærmalt
5 ml muskatnøttmalt
45 ml graskarspuré

IN ENGLISH
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4-6 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbsp pumpkin puree

*Over medium-high heat dissolve the sugar in the water careful not to bring it to a boil. Stir it frequently to avoid burning.

*Whisk the pumpkin puree into the sugar/water mixture.

*Add all the spices and the cinnamon sticks.

*Simmer on medium heat for 10+ minutes stirring very frequently.

*Remove from heat and let it cool.

*Strain the syrup through a fine metal strainer or cheese cloth into a large glass measuring cup. (Using a measuring cup will help you pour it into your final container)

*Pour into a resealable container (I used a pop bottle which I washed thoroughly with soap and warm water)

A cozy autumn still life...

**TO USE IN COFFEE**
I don't have an espresso maker so I made an "au lait" by pouring equal parts lett melk (2% milk) and regular black coffee into a mug (microwaved it because I don't have a steamer) and added about 2 tsp of syrup. DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I drew a little label for my syrup and covered it with packing tape before attaching it to the bottle.

Use your own taste and judgement to figure out what works for you.

I hope this recipe helps my fellow pumpkin spice latte fanatics get their cozy fall warm beverage fix in their own homes no matter what continent you live in!

If you try the recipe please let me know in the comments below!

RECIPE - Botwina Soup

And now for something completely different!

This has nothing to do with Norway but does have to do with my own heritage. Last summer we took our "European Pilgrimage" through Sweden, Poland, Germany and Denmark. We stopped in Poland for a few days staying at an amazing manor house in Nawino that we found in airbnb.com - a site where you rent a room in someone's home while on vacation. It takes a lot of trust but we certainly lucked out and the rate we were charged was almost too reasonable! The owner of the house also threw in his "personal chef" for a minimal fee per day.

Well, his "personal chef" turned out to be his elderly Polish mother but she certainly lived up to the title of chef! She made this soup for us on the first night we were there and we ate way more than we should have! Because we loved it so much she made it for us again the next night.

When I asked her son about the soup he said that it was made from very young beet roots - no more than three weeks old as well as the leaves of the plant and some other ingredients. I had always meant to look up a recipe for it but just kept putting it off.

This weekend I became very ill with acute bronchitis, a viral infection in my stomach and a skin infection in the hives (caused by stress) on my face. Whew! For someone with no health insurance that really wiped me out! On Sunday I had a strange craving for botwina soup. I hadn't had it for over a year and yet suddenly I really wanted it. I hadn't been able to keep food in me for 24 hours so I stopped at the store and bought the ingredients I needed. It came to less than $10!

It was all my stomach could "stomach" for the past couple days! I don't know what it is that makes my belly okay with it but I like to think my Polish ancestors had something to do with my craving. You never know! ;)

So, here we go! BOTWINA SOUP ALL AROUND!

(Disclaimer: I had never made this before nor had I cooked with beets so I made a lot of this up! Fortunately it turned out so yummy! Please excuse the quality of the pictures. I had to use only my cell phone.)

Some of the ingredients for Botwina soup!

 I want to give the original recipe I used as a base credit so here is that link.

I used it only as a suggestion because there weren't any measurements (which is how I like to cook!) and I made some tweaks based on what I remembered from Nawino. If you can find young beet roots, awesome. If not, just get the mature roots from the grocery. It's what I did and it worked great.

Ingredients I used: (~ means approximately...I tend to not measure stuff)
2 of the smallest beets I could find (Save the leaves!!)
~3 cloves of garlic
2 large red potatoes
~1 handful fresh parsley
~2 Tbsp white vinegar
~1/2 tsp thyme
~1/2 tsp dill
1 egg
2 boxes of Chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel and finely dice two small beets.

Don't throw away the leaves!!

Your fingers WILL turn red but it washes off easily. HINT: Wear an apron!

2. Let's chiffonade! Chiffonade is a fancy way of saying "cut the leaves into fine strips." I learned how to do this by watching cooking shows on tv. First, stack a few leaves on top of each other then roll them into a tube.

Am I successfully hiding my poorly manicured nails?

 Using a sharp knife, cut the tube of leaves into quarter of an inch strips. Just cut them until you start reaching the stalky part of the leaves - you don't want the stems.

Chiffonade? Oui oui!

3. In a soup pot, saute the beets and the leaves (the ones you just cut into strips) in some olive oil.

I know, horrible picture...

 4. Peel and cut your potatoes into like-sized pieces. Add to the pot and stir.

Your potatoes WILL become pink and look like chunks of beet.

5. Pour in both containers of chicken stock. Bring to a boil only long enough to cook the potatoes.
6. Add thyme and dill, salt and pepper.
7. Smash 1-3 cloves of garlic (don't dice, just release the oils). Add them to the pot.
8. Now for the egg. This isn't in the recipe that I linked to but I remember it was in the botwina soup we had in Poland. I have NEVER done this before so I was just making it up as I go and it worked! I scrambled the egg in a bowl and as I poured it into the hot soup I stirred the soup kinda fast and the egg cooked like egg drop soup. (Another one I need to try now!)

Doesn't that look appetizing? I promise it's delicious!

 9. DON'T OVERCOOK THE SOUP! According to almost all the recipes I found it will lose color if you overcook it. So do the egg just before you remove it from the heat.
10. Ladle soup in to a bowl and sprinkle with some fresh parsley.
11. ENJOY!!

DELICIOUS!

So, there you go! Get cooking! I know this recipe is out of left field but I had a few people on facebook ask for the recipe so I thought I'd put it here with the pics I took (especially for the chiffonade part...and I hope I'm spelling that correctly....)

Feel free to let me know if you try the soup! It's AMAZING!

April Adventures and our American Wedding Reception!

I have been trying to write this blog for a couple days and have written, deleted, written, deleted so many times that I scrapped everything and am starting over fresh. So much has happened and I struggled with what to share with you. I have been exhausted these past few days and just haven't been able to pull myself out of bed other than to go to work.

Then I was on the phone with my mom tonight and it occurred to me that I am depressed. I had to say goodbye to my husband on Tuesday and we don't know what is to come next. This goodbye was super hard this time and I'm trying to pull myself out of this funk. Looking back on the fun times of the last few weeks might just help...

SO

In favor of brevity (and privacy for certain people) here are just a couple snapshots of what has happened recently.

Yep, that's an aircast. I had been feeling pain in my ankle for a couple weeks and, as a dog walker, limping all day gets very tiresome and painful. I went to a podiatrist and it turns out I had partially torn my Achilles tendon. Yay! This photo was taken over a month ago...I'm so ready to be out of this thing! But I see the doctor again tomorrow to see if I can lose the boot. Fingers crossed!

Then I was matron-of-honor in my sister's wedding in Branson, Missouri! I had to wear my aircast down the aisle but both she and her husband are in the medical field so they were very understanding! This picture shows off the quackers I bedazzled for the wedding party because we rode a Ride the Duck vehicle from the church to the reception site. It was a blast! Congrats sister and brother-in-law!!

April 13th Svein Arild and I headed down to the National Mall so I could experience the Cherry Blossom Festival one last time before I move. The trees were in peak bloom and we couldn't have asked for better weather! As such, here are a few photos of our day.

Amazing blossoms.

The Jefferson Memorial framed in cherry blossoms.

The trees drape quite dramatically over the railings into the Potomac basin.

We also paid a visit to the Museum of Natural History

The Don Pedro Aquamarine...breathtaking!

National Museum of Art - Sculpture Garden

Me and my lady.

I had to say goodbye to my favorite statue at the National Museum of Art. She is "The Reading Girl" by Pietro Magni and can be found in the East Building of the museum. Every time I go downtown (District of Columbia) I stop in, if just for a moment, to say hello to my girl. I took tons of pictures of my favorite details but I won't bore you with them here. I do, however, encourage you to pay her a visit if you get the chance. She always instills a feeling of calm, comfort and quiet meditation for me. I will miss my lady!

AND NOW TO THE NORWEGIAN REFERENCES!

So, yes, this blog is about the process of moving to Norway and my adaptation to the culture etc. Well, what better way to start than with a stateside wedding reception themed on our favorite Norwegian reality show!? 

"Alt for Norge" is a Norwegian reality show where Norwegian-Americans travel to Norway and compete in cultural competitions in order to meet their living relatives in Norway. So we decided to introduce my American family to Norwegian traditions using a casual potluck picnic in the park with some Norwegian foods, quizzes, tasting contests etc. We had a great turn out and everyone *loved* the Norwegian treats we had!

I wanted the party to look like a vintage 1950's picnic/patriotic party since both the USA and Norway use red, white and blue for the flag colors. My mom visited in February so we could find decorations and I'm proud to say that this party was furnished by thrift stores and dollar stores! Pretty much everything was handmade and the big surprise was that the tablecloths were actually vintage twin bed sheets we found at the thrift store. Everything came together so well!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Invitation

The rosemåling painting was done by Svein Arild's grandmother on a small chest for him when he was three. The logo for the tv show incorporates a similar design so I used our nickname and made this for our invitations.

The covered patio

The food tables before they filled up with potluck dishes!

Cake Table!

 We had two cakes! A traditional "American" cake and a traditional Norwegian kransekake! I surprised Svein Arild with finding a recipe and borrowing kransekake molds from someone in the Sons of Norway! He was shocked! I'll make another post about the process of making a kransekake later. It's a delicious cake and a lot easier to make than you'd think!

Guest Book Table

 An old travel case for gift cards, a guest book, photobooks of our relationship and literature about Norway from the embassy! We also had a little crate with slips of paper in it. We asked our guests to write an anecdote, quote or advice on the slips of paper and we will make a paper chain out of them when I get to Norway. Once a week, or so, we will tear one off and read what is written!

I made over 20 "medallions" to decorate the room and I LOVE them!

 There were two stone fireplaces in the building so on both mantles I had printed out pictures of Svein Arild's family (and included their names!) so they could be present at the party as well as be "introduced" to my family and friends here!

Is that a photobooth on the right? Um, yep!!

Svein Arild's parents on their wedding day and a fun tintype of Svein Arild and I from a couple years ago!

More pictures of his family!

Gombe, lefse and rømmegraut!

Sursild, gjetost, tytebærsyltetøy (pretty sure I spelled that wrong)

Norwegian or Not?

One of the games that is played on Alt for Norge is one where the contestants are presented with pairs of images and they have to guess which one is Norwegian. We did the same thing. They are velcroed to the board so our guests could remove them to see if there was a red dot (wrong) or a green dot (correct) as well as some history about the items. Svein Arild did a great job laminating the images!

And, of, course, I had to make my boot look nice :)

Well, that's enough sharing. So much more happened but that's enough for tonight. I may post later about recipes or other specifics but I need to get to bed. My doctor's appointment is near Baltimore tomorrow so I need to get my beauty sleep and hope that this boot is a goner tomorrow!! Fingers crossed!!!!

Hadet bra!

Dinner at the Norwegian Ambassador's Residence! (a.k.a. I have the best "cousin" ever!!)

Yes, you read that correctly. Little ol' regular civilian had dinner at the Norwegian Ambassdor's house last week! And it was amazing!

First, let me explain why "cousin" is in quotation marks. Kristen is my mother's first cousin's wife's sister. Read that a couple times and see if you get it. However, Kristen and her husband, Josh have become dear friends of mine and they live just down the road from me. Being so far from any sort of immediate family it is such a comfort and joy knowing they are there. So, I call them both my cousins even if it's a bit "removed." They are family and I love them!

Because I didn't have a typical Bridal Shower with tons of gifts and silly games (who wants to ship all those gifts to Norway!?) Kristen treated me to tickets to this dinner. The dinner was part of the Nordic Cool Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington DC. The festival includes cultural contributions from all the Nordic countries/territories/islands from theatre to art to music to food. Unfortunately it will be coming to a close soon but I am so honored (and thankful!) to have been able to participate in such an incredible way!

Per usual, lets start at the beginning...

I got a mysterious message from Kristen over a month ago asking if I was free on February 25th. I responded with "Yes, what's up?" But I didn't receive a response so I figured it was another one of Kristen and Josh's delicious BBQ's and Josh was breaking out the grill early since the weather has been so strangely mild.

A couple weeks later I went to dinner with them. Just pizza and beers at the local pizza joint (but I did my hair and makeup because, as a dog walker, I don't get to "gussie up" very often!). At the start of dinner Kristen announced what the deal was with February 25th...
 Dinner at the Norwegian Embassy with the Ambassador!!! 
The gesture moved me to tears! I couldn't believe they did that! Josh said he wasn't able to attend due to work obligations (it was to be on a Monday night, after all) but Kristen said she was going to take me.

So, the weekend before the dinner I was aflutter with excitement figuring out what I was going to wear, what the timing of the day would be, would I get to meet the ambassador?! I couldn't contain my excitement!!

I was so excited that I got ready uber-fast and made it to Kristen's house a half an hour early! She could tell I was rarin' to go! We hopped in her car and headed down to Washington DC. We got a little lost because of the way roads change to one-way traffic during rush hour but we made it! Kristen dropped me off at the entrance to the Kennedy Center and went to park the car...and almost ended up in Virginia! But, fortunately, the shuttles were waiting for other people to arrive so she made it back and parked the car in the knick of time!

Decoration on the marble at the entrance to the Kennedy Center.

The shuttles took us the strangest way through some back-alley/forest/questionably paved route to get to the embassy. Everyone aboard was a little confused but, hey, they got us there!

You will notice (if you read the post about Paper Day) that I am wearing, essentially, the same outfit in the subsequent pictures...well, I am. It looks nice, it's comfortable and it's warm. I do own more than one dress but I didn't want to be too fancy or too casual and that one seemed to fit the bill!

Outside the Ambassador's residence next to the Embassy!

Kristen and I excited for dinner!

Officially on Norwegian land!

Hanging my coat in the coatroom. (after picking up literature for our American reception in April!)

We walked up from the foyer and were greeted by the ambassador and his wife at the top of the stairs! Waiters were serving beer and wine but we kept getting passed by. So we headed to the serving table. After getting our glasses of wine we headed to the dining room which was pretty full at this point. Wandering towards the end of the room we were just looking for two places together. Waved on by embassy employees, we arrived at a table with four seats available. Yay!

An embassy employee said, "You may sit in these seats but reserve these two over here for the ambassador and his wife."

Kristen and I looked at each other - both silently expressing with our faces, "Jackpot!"

Kristen is happy to be there!

She, graciously, asked if I wanted to sit next to the ambassador but I refused because I know, from experience, that eye contact is important and being next to somebody - even at a round table - can pose issues and I wanted to be able to see him.

The event was titled, "A Taste of Norway" so, of course, they were required to speak about the food that was to be served. Though not much information was conveyed, it was a good speech. They had brought in a chef from Norway who had brought over such delicacies as cloudberries and cheeses. That's all well and good but we had been told that the Embassy Chef would be preparing the meals so to have him not present the menu and the reasons/descriptions seemed strange. The Embassy Chef is very young in his career but to be the chef at an embassy you must be pretty good. I just wish he had received more recognition for the work he does on a daily basis.

The menu for the evening.

The chef brought over ingredients from Norway for the evening.

Waiting for the "au jus" for the lobster dish - not knowing Kristen was taking a picture.

We stood in line for, what seemed like, forever in order to get food. By no fault of the embassy itself I think the wait-staff didn't understand what was going on. But we finally made it back to our table and I was lacking both lamb dishes mentioned in the menu. I'm kinda sad about that but, then again, I ate a LOT of pinnekjøte at Christmas so that makes up for it.

So many samples to try!

Breads, cheeses and crackers.

The *amazing* dessert! Cloudberries and all!

The ambassador's wife never sat down to eat because she was crazy busy keeping everything moving but the ambassador, himself, sat with us pretty much the whole time! I kinda felt bad for the rest of the guests because we really had a lot of one-on-one time with him! Kristen told him I was moving to Norway and when he asked where, I told him Stryn. He looked surprised and said that Stryn's residence are a very proud people, hold tight to their traditions and then said, "Ooohh, that means you have to learn nynorsk! Wow..." Yay! I'm not the only one who finds it difficult to learn! Nynorsk is the dialect spoken in that part of the country and is different from all the lesson books/audio lessons available which are in bokmål. But that's another blog post...

We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him and the other guests at our table. I think we really lucked out, not only with sitting with the ambassador but because our fellow guests were down-to-earth and genuinely interested in Norway. From conversations overheard some other tables were just interested in rubbing elbows - a lot of name-dropping was happening. Our table discussed culture, travel, and family histories. Never a dull moment or uncomfortable lag in chatter.

After dessert we were told it was time to go. Boo! But I wanted to make sure to get my picture taken with the ambassador and his wife (who is a reverend at the National Cathedral!). When we approached them his wife said, "Oh! You're moving to Stryn!" I was tickled pink she remembered! They graciously obliged to take the picture and here it is! And, yes, I'm wearing my 17 Mai ribbons! They thought that was pretty cool.

Cecilie Strommen, me, Ambassador Wegger Strommen.

Before leaving the residency we made sure to sign the guest book and then we had a good chat with a lady at the front door. She was impressed with the little norsk I presented (I was nervous!) and wished me luck. We were only there at the residency for a couple hours but it was amazing! They had so many Munch paintings and other Norwegian artists represented! We weren't allowed to take pictures of the works for insurance purposes which is totally understandable.

We loaded back into the shuttles and returned to the Kennedy Center with smiles on our faces! Upon our return we were greeted with the "Northern Lights" projected on the front of the building!

The projections moved and floated just like the real thing!

There were a few wooden moose scattered about outside too!

A picture of me taking a picture of a sign...I'm such a tourist!

The art exhibits inside were still open for another twenty minutes so we went in to check them out!

I'm sorry it's so hard to read!

A boat made out of shirts. A really *big* boat.

The inside of half of the boat.

I want that lamp!

Kristen posing with her new...couch?

Yes!! I'm a member of the Cool Club! ;)

Needless to say, this was an incredible night and I will always remember it! I never would have imagined getting to experience something like this and Kristen made it possible.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Kristen, for everything you did! It really meant so much and to be able to experience it with a wonderful woman made it all the more incredible. Getting to spend the evening with you in such a way before I move was so touching and I'm glad we were able to create these memories together! I'm going to miss you! (And Josh, of course!!!)

Well, dear reader, thank you for sticking with me through this rather long post. There was just no way for me to condense everything that happened. Every moment meant the world to me and I wanted to document it as best as I could.

With that, I leave you with an adorable picture of Kristen and Josh's new puppy, Toby. Ahh! So cute!

Such a cutie!