Elisabeth gjør ting hun ikke kan - lage mat

Da er jeg over halvveis i frituren min. Det er tid for oppsummering og refleksjon. Hva har man gjort og hva burde man ha gjort annerledes? Neida, riktig så nøye er jeg ikke. Det slo meg likevel i dag at jeg ikke har gjort noe som helst. Antall grønnsaker og generell matbeholdning i kjøleskapet tyder på at jeg har vært hjemme hos mor og far for å spise middag oftere enn planlagt. Så hva gjør man da? Jo man setter i gang med kokkelering i stor skala. Selvfølgelig skal det innrømmes at jeg er hverken spesielt gla i å lage mat eller god til det. Likevel ble det relativt vellykket:

Verdens merkeligste brød! Ja her får du oppskrift så skal du se at det faktisk stemmer:

50g gjær

2ts honning

6dl vann

200g hirsegryn

200g bokhvetekjerner

100g svisker

600g søtpoteter, dampet og avkjølt på forhånd

5dl vann

200g solsikkekjerner

100g linfrø

100g sesamfrø

50g psyllium husk (loppefrø)

200g bokhvetemel

200g kikertmel

200g maismel

1ts knust fennikelfrø

2ts hav- eller steinsalt

litt nykvernet sort pepper

kokosolje

1. lag surdeigen ved å røre ut gjær og honning i vannet. 

2. Så tilsetter du hirsegryn og bokhvetekjerner. La blandingen stå og gjære et par døgn i romtemperatur.

3. Den andre eller tredje dagen blendes svisker og søtpoteter med vannet og deretter blandes og røres alle ingrediensene sammen. Aller helst skal de eltes 10-15minutter i eltemaskin (funket veldig dårlig for meg da jeg bare har en foodprocessor men ha litt tolmodighet og ta det i bolker så går det helt fint)

4. Ha deigen i to 2-liters former smurt med litt kokosolje. Gi brødene 45 minutter i en ovn på 100 grader C, og sett deretter opp temperaturen til 180 grader C og stek dem i ytterligere 75 minutter. Pensle overflaten av brødene med litt oljeg når du skrur opp temperaturen. 

De ble herlige tro det eller ei! :D 

Oppfinnsom kyllinggryte som kom i ovnen før jeg innså at jeg kanskje burde ha brunet kyllingen litt i panna før jeg satt den inn. Jaja kyllingen var mør som varm ost (???) og grønnsakene så lite "al dente" som mulig. Noen som vil ha??? Mett ble jeg i alle fall.

En STOR porsjon frokostblanding ble det også. NAM! :D Og flaska ved siden av har jeg fortært alene som trøst for at det snør... huff.. ja det snør.. er det noen værkyndige der ute som vet om det er et godt tegn for en varm sommer?? 

The Midnightsun

According to the "almighty" Wikipedia, the 22nd is the first day of Midnight sun in Harstad. Other internet sites claim it to be the 24th of May so I make my own rule, saying that tonight is the first constant day, day in Harstad.

For me, the 23rd of May has been a very lazy and sunny day. I have been enjoying most of it outside in my comfortable armchair.  I did a bit of planting (Hopefully there will be rosemary and sugar peas growing in my kitchen soon) and I even got some knitting done. What a great way of spending the day.

Though, the best part perhaps, has been sitting on the window sills looking at the beautiful view from my window, while listening to wonderful music. I´m very lucky, having two sets of corner windows in my apartment. Here is the gorgeous view from my apartment right now:

Makes it hard to say "good night" Firstly because it makes you want to stay awake and admire and secondly because sometimes you´re not totally sure what time of the day it is.

I remember a story from Svalbard about someone that fell asleep in the afternoon and woke up the next morning, got ready to go to work and headed there just before 8 o´clock, only to realize that in fact the time was 8 in the evening and not morning... ;)

Summer workout / competition

We have started our summer work out / competition again. It basically involves walking around deck 5. Last year the goal was 100 laps and the price for one lucky winner was a bike. Who do you think won the bike?? ME! YAY! :D
This year we can win a pulse watch if we walk 100 laps and a bike if we make it passed 200. Making the two numbers should not be a problem and as a bonus you get lots of fresh air and stronger muscles.

I walked my first 15 laps yesterday and the view was just as beautiful as last year. In fact, this exercise did more for my mental health than the physical throughout the summer of 2011. I will not get into the details of why, but I will simply show you the sights that I´m so lucky to be seeing as I walk round and round and round ;)

Sailing Harstad - Tromsø

I am a fan of couchsurfing and since February 2011 been letting people surf my couch. If you don´t know the idea behind, it simply means letting strangers traveling to your home town stay on your sofa. In return you get to know people from all over the world that you might never have met otherwise. Of course you can sleep on strangers´ couches when you travel but I haven´t dared to do that yet. (might sound a little strange I know)
While on board last time a French man contacted me. He and a friend were on their way to Harstad with his sailboat and they asked me for some advice on where to go out while in town and if I wanted to meet them. I wrote down a few names of bars and said that I could come because I was at work and then thought I would never hear from him again. I was wrong.

A few days after returning home he wrote me again and thanked for my help. He mentioned that he was coming back to Harstad because he needed to sail up to Tromsø to pick up some things before returning to Harstad again. He then invited me to come along. Of course I could not let the opportunity pass so I said YES!

Here are some photos from the journey.

Leaving Harstad

One of the many beautiful sights during the voyage 

Rice and vegetables, easy cooking while on the go

Still, it tasted great

Passing Gibostad

Captain Damien and his smelly cheese 

If it hadn´t been for the frozen fingers, this could have been any sunset in the Mediterranean 

Rystraumen, the strongest tidal current along the Hurtigruten stretch. 

Me in control of the boat. Damien is tilting the camera!! 

Docked in sunny Tromsø

The boat!

According to Damien, I was a sailing talent. It was fun trying to figure out how the wind affected the sails but also challenging at times. Most of the tour we had very little wind and though the weather was wonderfully sunny, it was freezing cold. Even 5-6 layers of clothing (mostly wool) could not keep me warm. Still, my conclusion is that I´d love to sail again. Maybe somewhere warmer though.. :) 

Photo bonanza from Kiwiland

My plan was to tell you all about my adventures in New Zealand but a little bit into the project, I realized I had a hard time finding the common thread that would bind the stories together. I´m not so good with words either and using English, a wonderful language for sure, is something I don´t feel as confident about as I used to when I spoke it everyday. Then I remembered the famous frase "A picture says more than thousand words", and decided to not give you one, but twenty three photos from Kiwiland. I find that they sum up my dream holiday in a great way. 

First impression first: WOW and EXCITING!

A nice and calm start visiting Auckland zoo watching Hippopotamus´ butts! 

Ingrid took me to see the Kiwis as well and boy was I surprised by the way they look. You have to go and see for yourself and then you will understand.. 

Next up I meet Marianne again (yay!!) and her boyfriend took us to see Cricket that despite being quite entertaining left me totally confused

Then Ingerid and I bussed our bodies up north where we hugged enormous Kaori trees. (Obviously they draw a lot of energy from the ground and hugging one is believed to give you a boost of energy)

When heading north, why not just go to the northern most tip that happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth? 

After all the beauty you need to play around in the sand and go sand surfing!!

 Back "home" in Auckland you introduce the famous Norwegian waffles and BROW CHEESE to the locals and they all say "yummy" :D

Brown cheese madness

You squeeze in some shopping and cafe visits, after all, girls will be girls ;) 

On Waiheke island you enjoy another spectacular day with good friends

Vineyards all over the island.. 

Then you think it´s time to share this self portrait that proves what a horrible island tracker you are (shoulder bag on one arm, broken plastic bag containing a huge towel that you never used, big scarf that made you sweat like a pig and way too many clothes for the temperature)  

 On a lovely Sunday afternoon I realized that yes indeed it is the season of discovery

After waving good bye to great friends and Auckland you enjoy some more of the hilly Kiwi landscape

Rotorua makes your jaw drop with amazement over the powers from below ground, in this case a geyser. 

 The Maori language sounds very beautiful but left me struggling for hours just to get the pronunciation right. This village uses the hot pool to cook, bathe and clean clothes. Fascinating! 

The locals in Rotorua were not half as scary as they looked.. :)

Though Rotorua was great, it did feel ok to get away from the constant smell of sulphur to marvel at the crazy stalagmites and stalactites in the Waitomo caves

This photo proves my excellent skills as a photographer. If you concentrate you might be able to see the Glow worms and then you can imagine sitting in a boat that glides through the cave in total darkness and silence while you look up and see thousands of these little shining spots. *goose bump moment*

After yet another day of wonderful impressions you can´t believe what an perfect ending you receive when arriving Lake Taupo. 

While driving you can´t find out whether this particular mountain is called Tongariro, Ruapehu or Ngauruhoe but you do learn that all of the three are active vulcanos and that this is actually "Mordor"

I loved Wellington and that fact that I could meet up with a high school friend after not seeing her for almost 11 years, made the stay even better!

The funniest thing happened on one of the last days in NZ. I went to the library and there among the foreign language section I found a book that promised to teach me Norwegian. Not that weird you might think? I agree, but when I tell you that the cover of the book shows my childhood home in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, (the place probably as far away from New Zealand that you can get on this planet), then you can do nothing but laugh and shake your head!

On the plane home I felt tired from the journey and all the adventures. I did have time to look down on parts of China: 

and get another really funky stamp in my pass port. Probably the best thing though, was realizing that I had only seen bits and pieces of the North Island and that I still have to make time for exploring the South Island.  I will be back! 

I´ve been kissed by a wolf!

In January the Norwegian broadcasting company showed a mini-series of the two brown bears Salt & Pepper who were born and live in Polar zoo in Salangsdalen, not that far away from Harstad. The show also followed the life of the other animals in the zoo.

For a long time I´ve known that Polar zoo socializes the animals from a very early age so that having humans around is a pleasurable thing and not stressful. Salt and Pepper are now grown ups and too big for close encounters and cuddles but I knew that Polar zoo offers you a chance on the other side of the fence with their wolves (Wolf Camp), therefore it was with great expectations and a few butterflies in my stomach that Lise, Trond and I headed North West to cuddle and kiss wolves today.

First of all a small picture of our own domesticated "wolf" that turned 11 years old today

I noticed early in the park that most of the animals were very curious and after hesitating a little, they came closer to look at the three weird people on the other side of the fence. We used baby talk with the elks, exercised Salt while waiting for Pepper to come and great us, pissed off the Musk ox a little (that wouldn´t take much it turned out, just talking to him made him attack the fence with his head) and got hissing sounds from the lynxes. All in all, every single animal at the park were fascinating and 1,5 hours passed quickly.

The pretty pretty lynx!

 Salt is an albino brown bear and she has such a cute red nose and long nails for climbing

 and I felt that we had a special connection right from the beginning.. ;)

The lonely wolverine, who´s getting a girlfriend from a zoo in Stockholm soon.

At 14.00 o´clock we were supposed to meet outside the wolves enclosure. Having just left the furious and attacking Musk ox, I felt a little anxious but after the safety briefing that left us without gloves and hats and Lise and Trond having to change into overalls (who would have thought that Wolves like to pick feathers from holes in down jackets..?), we climbed into the snow with 3 lively wolves running next to us.

 Lets go walking! 

Kiss me honey honey, kiss me!

They are properly french and very wet! haha

It was such a great experience. Having three almost wild wolves run around you in the snow, playing and jumping around. Of course we had to be calm and not make rushed movements. The guides also told us that they are a little like cats, in the way that they ignore you if you give them too much attention. Trond was especially popular but we all received plenty of attention. One guide even got peed on. Apparently that is totally normal and said we should expect it happening to us as well. 

I didn´t get peed on thank goodness but I did have a terrific day and I would recommend the Wolf Camp to anyone passing by Polar Zoo!

:)

MS Nordstjernen - The grand old lady

During my previous shift on MS Nordnorge, another ship in our Hurtigruten fleet made her last round trip along the Norwegian coast. After 56 years in service the grand old lady has gotten too old and there are simply too many hick ups to keep her sailing.

In my eyes she is a beauty. One of the last "true boats" in the fleet and while working there we had lots of visitors telling the crew how much she means to them. Therefor she received a lot of honor all along the coast. MS Nordnorge and MS Nordstjernen dock together in Rørvik - two days after leaving Bergen - and on board we arranged poster work shops for the guests. We wanted to thank the ship for all her hard work and also give back something after she showed us her best side when NRK (the Norwegian national broadcasting company) filmed the 134 hour long trip Bergen - Kirkenes onboard Nordnorge last year.


Even though my Nordstjernen carrier was nothing more than 50 days long, I managed to fall in love with her. She´s so charming. There´s usually something not working, she rolls and shakes in bad weather, you have to get out of bed to go out in the hall way to use the ladies room and she´s very noisy. So what is it that makes her so special?


Maybe it´s the way the crew greeted me. The fun we had. They way most passengers love her "hick ups". The close feeling you have to the sea (after all you´re only a few meters above the ocean itself). The sound of the engine starting. The way the officers dock her by the help of the anker (no side thrusters to help you steer this madame) Or maybe it´s because of the ship´s own ghost called Ernst. I´m not sure. There´s just something about her.

That´s why I knew exactly what to paint on my poster: