getting our feet wet in Oslo

Figuratively and literally, Oslo was were we got our feet wet, braved the storm and hit the ground running (how's that for mixing metaphors er... idioms er... cliches). I don't believe in easing into a trip or allowing myself some time to get over jet lag - to much to see and precious little time to fit it all in.

During our day and a half days in Oslo, we went to the city hall where they present the Nobel Peace Prize. (We didn't get to go in because they were setting up for a special awards ceremony for Aung San Suu Kyi who was awarded the peace prize 21 years ago but has been in prison and unable to accept the prize until now. We were also in Norway at the same time as Lenny Kravitz, which I'll tell you more about later.)

Murals at City Hall depicting Nordic myths.

We took a ferry to a peninsula where many of Oslo's museums are housed including the Kon Tiki and Fram museums which led me to believe that Norwegians are kind of crazy and oddly ambitious. Odd in that they take on some pretty bizarre projects. I'm just saying, a 3 year trip into the artic would probably discourage me from seeking out the South Pole but not this Norweigan dude Nanson. (btw, it's driving me crazy that this computer won't let me do links, maybe I'll have to come back and edit this post later.)

Later that day we went to the ski jump, Norwegians are pretty serious about their skiing.

The next morning we headed out to the Norsk Folkemuseum where we saw this impressive stave church.

More stave churches and lessons I've learned along this trip to come.

Greetings from Denmark

Well, Norway was breathtaking - though a little damp we saw some incredible sights and are now drying out in Copenhagen. I had been to Copenhagen once before but as my visit was only about 4 hours long, I only knew that I wanted to come back. Top on my list of things to do in Copenhagen: eat danishes and visit Tivoli (a Hans Christian Andersen themed amusement park). I am happy to report that neither have failed to delight. More details and photos to follow.

Hej hej!

my bags are packed

Maybe you've heard but I'm going on vacation. I leave today and over the next two weeks, I'll be visiting Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. That's right, I'll be on the move, soaking up of that midnight sun and doing my best to avoid getting soaked in the inevitable rain. From experience I know that there may be more rain than sun, but I'll take it.

I'm going to do my best to post pictures along the way - wait a second, whose blog is this?

I know I'm not much of a posting pictures kinda blogger and of late I haven't been a post much of anything kinda blogger, but I bought myself a fancy ipod touch for the trip and plan to make use of it. It's kind of like a pocket ipad, it has a camera and I can blog from it and chat. I'm hoping it was worth the investment because I'm having a hell of a time getting itunes from my old computer to sync with it - ugh computers, it's all smoke and mirrors to me.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow, 10 hour lay over in London and we're going to do our best to make it count!

a day at the national gallery

I enjoyed a truly lovely 3-day weekend, repleat with tasty food, fantastic weather, great art and a parade too boot.

On Saturday I took my lil sis to Paul for sandwiches and mini pastries, followed by the National Gallery. It was almost like being in Paris only cheaper.

My favorite artist of the day, Alexander Calder.

I could watch his mobile sculptures for hours. At one point, one of the sculptures set off an alarm - I'd like to think that'd make the artist proud. Talk about art taking on a life of it's own. 

And Calder's Red Horse - striking against a clear blue sky, reminded me of a Giant Dala Horse.

Because I like to tie everything back to Nordic folk art.

pescovegetarian mittens

When I moved to DC, I promptly went out in search of a yarn shop. Because, it's good to be prepared and get your priorities straight from the get go. Well, I thankfully found a quirky little LYS which has subsequently grown a bit larger, in Old Town Alexandria. Fibre Space is inviting and inspiring - with lots of natural light and the owner's little dog making the commercial space feel homey.

The first thing I bought was the yarn for these here mittens. They came together really fast and for year, sat in a box under my bed until I decided to gift them to my mother for Christmas.

I included this pattern in my knitters gift guide - mittens edition, and the pattern can me found here. (Psst, it's Finnish, so you know it's gotta be good, right - but the pattern's in English, so no worries.)

Glada Kanelbullens Dag!

If you don't already know, I'm mighty proud of my Swedish heritage and generally enamored of all things Nordic. So, I was pleased as punch to discover that today is Sweden's national Cinnamon Bun Day. (In case you need proof). Of all the glorious things that deserve their own holiday, cinnamon buns have certainly earned their place.

http://blogs.sweden.se/expat/2011/10/04/happy-cinnamon-bun-day/

I'm suddenly having flashbacks of the lovely smells wafting through the Helsinki train station from the bakery in the basement. To be honest, I am far more familiar with Finnish cinnamon buns than the Swedish variety - but here's a recipe for Kanelbullens that looks absolutely scrumptious (note that it calls for cardamon - which is incredibly pricey here in the states but worth every penny). Oh, that I could leave work right now get baking. Alas!  

farmer's market

Ahhhhhh, Saturday. After sleeping half the day away I gave up my comfy bed, realized it was a beautiful day not to be wasted and made my way to the farmer's market. Alaskans are serious about their farmer's markets. The parking lot was full but I managed to see a car about to pull out so I squeezed my little car between 2 ginormous pickups and started shopping.

I had a hard time deciding what to buy but in the end I could not say not to the bag of lingonberries, a jar or Honey, a bottle of rhubarb syrup and a bunch of carrots.

I have been negotiating a use for the lingonberries since I first considered buying them. What to do? I asked the lady that sold them if she had any suggestions and she said that she eats them raw or frozen. I wasn't real excited about eating them raw because I remember being serve fresh puolukoita in Finland and they were too sour and bitter to eat. However, I pause at the idea of perverting my beautiful berries with loads of sugar to make preserves. My third option would be to bake them into something - I'll probably do that.