My New Norwegian Home

It's a bit late in the year for the pumpkin craze, but better late than never. Americans generally love pumpkin. Norwegians are a bit skeptical. It is possible to find Libby's pumpkin puree here, but unless you're wanting to purchase an imported can for 65 kroner at your local Meny you may be out of luck. However, this year, I decided to make my own pumpkin puree and it worked out just fine. In fact, I made 4 or more times as much pumpkin puree for only 50 kroner. I don't like blogs that tell a story when all I want is the darn recipe so I will keep this short and simple. Here's what you do: 1) Grab a pumpkin. 2) Slice it in half. Vertically, not horizontally. 3) Get an ice cream scoop or a large spoon. 4) Gut the pumpkin. 5) Place both halves of the pumpkin skin up in the oven at 220 degrees (Celsius) for 45 minutes. 6) The skin of the pumpkin should be brown and a bubbly. 7) Peel off the skin and throw it away. It's very easy to peel off after bakin...

Halloween is slowly but surely coming to Norway. Each and every year there seems to be a bigger turnout of trick or treaters, the decorations seem to be a little more diverse and more Norwegians seem a tad more eager to follow along. Halloween is perhaps my favorite holiday. That is, until Christmas comes around and then I claim that is my favorite holiday. I've had more fun with it as an adult than a child and I'm super excited to share this experience with my daughter. But first, I like doing things the American way, of course! :-) Being an American living abroad, it's such a great feeling when you live in a country that is "catching on" to a holiday you grew up with. It's a different feeling when it's a holiday that isn't celebrated in Norway such as Independence Day and Thanksgiving. On these days I wake up and I feel excited because I know these are special days, but no one else around me shares the same excitement. Halloween however, I feel v...

Recently I've seen a video being shared by Americans across Facebook with exclamations such as, "We should have this here!" and "How awesome!" It's a video about pant. Now, what is pant? For those of you who don't know, when we go to a store and purchase something in a can or plastic bottle, we also have to pay a small fee for the can and plastic bottle. This is the pant. When we recycle we get the pant back. It's a fantastic incentive to get people to recycle. I may be a little wacky about this, but I never walk past a bottle or can without picking it up. First of all, I don't understand people who litter. What seriously goes through a person's head who thinks, "I don't need this. It's in the way. Oh here's a good spot on the ground to throw my trash." Secondly, if I had money in my pocket would I just throw it on the ground? The answer is no. Even for the 2 years I walked my daughter around the neighborhood in her ...

I could make thrift shopping and flea marketing a hobby. While I'm not big on buying anything unless it has a purpose, I do love looking at things and occasionally finding a few gems. When I first moved to Norway I was convinced these places didn't exist. It turns out my husband was just the wrong person to ask. Many thrift shops go by the name of gjenbrukt and often people advertise for their own personal garage sales as well as school fundraising in the form of a flea market. There are also Fretex stores scattered about for people to purchase used items from. The word antique in Norwegian is antikk, very similar to its English cousin's word antique. One thing I love collecting is foreign coins. I've been collecting them since I was a little girl. So of course this is one thing I try to look out for when I am at a flea market. I was pleasantly surprised the day I went to a flea market for a school fundraiser this year. I brought my daughter with me and she wanted a...

Aside from warmth and sunlight, the other thing I mostly look forward to during the Norwegian summer is the strawberries. Norwegian strawberries are the best. This is simply a fact. No matter what the Danes say or the Swedes for that matter. Norwegian strawberries are the best in the world. Hands down. I've had a major strawberry craving the past couple of days which is what has inspired me to write this post. 9 bowls of strawberries later (no exaggeration) and here I am writing about my love of Norway's sweet strawberries. It's hard to describe a taste, isn't it? The strawberries I grew up eating as a child needed to have a bit of sugar on them as they were a bit sour alone. The strawberries here however are really sweet as they take longer to ripen. The whole inside of the strawberry is red in color. Often they're eaten with vanilla sauce. It's really the best thing since sunlight. Aside from buying norske jordbær (Norwegian strawberries) at the store, I n...

It's that time of year again. I'm counting down until our next America trip. Our tickets are bought, our rental car and hotels have been ordered as we have decided to only take one flight a day. After all we are travelling with a toddler. I'm racking my brain with lists. A list for what to entertain the kid with on the flight. A list for what to pack. A list for what to buy in America. A list for what we shouldn't forget. The rest my husband takes care of. Where to go, what to do and so on. Luckily, I planned on this blog post a year ago so I have already prepared this Trip Planning post in pictures. First, Packing: I like to pack very lightly on our way to the U.S. I also fit our carry on bags inside the suitcases.  Inside that I have gifts for the year to family. Birthdays, Mother's & Father's Day and Christmas.  I don't like to spend unnecessary money on shipping to the U.S. so it makes sense to have the gifts prepared and packaged...

I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not writing as frequently as I used to. I think the reason being I feel more integrated now. Life is just happening and everything is falling into place. I'm settled. Of course that doesn't mean I still don't feel like a bit of an outsider. I don't totally feel like I fit in. I feel like I'm in more of a limbo. I feel like if I were to move back to the United States I'd miss Norway and while I'm here in Norway I miss the United States. My brain is still always churning cultural differences between the two countries. And not a day goes by that I don't complain about how tiny and illogical Norwegian parking spaces are. But more to my point, life has just been happening in my neck of the woods. I have promised myself today I will be lazy and just stop for a bit and write. So I am. :-) Refleks is a tiny, but important part of your mørketid (dark time) clothing choice. As many people have places to go by walking,...