The Second Cup -- Part 3

Snowy greens

 Today my walk was graced with snow, but you could still spot a few signs here and there of the passing seasons. When I got to the workshop, I worked for about 1 hour on the sanding machine, then spent the rest of the time sanding by hand, before venturing out into the snow again.

This is the sanding machine I was using today. There are two sanding options, the wheel on the right, and the belt on the left. I decided to use the belt and platform to finish shaping the outside of my cup.

I love this orange table!

Almost finished on the outside, you can see I was a little reckless and cut too deeply into the one side. This also happens to be when I broke the sand paper on the belt, so we had to fix that, too.

Now I need to use the huge belt sander from last week to finish off the bottom, rounding out the sides as you can see they're uneven. I forgot to take a picture when it was done...oops!

You can see a bit more of the outside, I've finished it off. Now it's on to hand sanding the inside, which takes longer than the rest of the cup. Didn't someone once say "patience is a virtue"?

Flesk og Duppe -- Salted Side Pork with Gravy

Tonight we had a craving for some traditional Norwegian food. Now, usually that means white food: boiled potatoes, white sauce, and some sort of fish or meat. It even tastes white, meaning bland. But sometimes the Norwegians get somethings right in the kitchen, and Flesk og Duppe is one of those meals.

If you like bacon, you'll like tonight's dinner; salted side pork with gravy, served with boiled potatoes and oven roasted carrots.

 First you'll have to get a hold of some salt pork. Your butcher should be able to help you out, otherwise if absolutely necessary you can use thick-sliced bacon. The only difference between salt pork and bacon is that bacon is also smoked in addition to being salted. If your meat does not come already sliced, throw it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before trying to cut it, it will be much easier to cut.

Next you have to bring a big pot of water to a boil for your potatoes. Throw them in and cook until they are tender, usually around 30 minutes.

The carrots are next. Take a big sheet of tin foil, and fold it in half so it's doubled up. Then place your carrots on the tin foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and they're ready to go in the oven at 200 C or about 390 F. Bake them for about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your carrot chunks. I used baby carrots because I'm lazy!

You will also want to make a Bechamel sauce (white sauce) at this point. Take 2 tablespoons butter and melt it in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons flour and stir until it's all clumpy. Add 1 cup warmish milk (not cold, but not hot; room temp is fine), and stir to a boil. Keep stirring frequently as it simmers for 5-10 minutes, or until it's good and thick. I like to make my sauce over medium temperature, to prevent it from burning to the bottom of my thin pot, but it takes a lot longer.

Fry up your salt pork in a hot pan, just as you would bacon. It's done when it's golden on both sides. The next step may be hard for some of you, but it's a crucial step. Pour the fat from the pan into the white sauce, and stir. If you didn't get very much fat, throw 2 tablespoons butter into the frying pan, scraping up the tasty burnt-on bits, and pour that into the sauce as well. Add a dash of pepper. Taste the sauce, it should be a touch salty when it's done.

BLT's with a Twist

Everyone gets a craving for bacon sometimes, and that time is now! So here's my BLT with a twist!

Mmmmmm, bacon

It's a really simple twist, but it's also really good. Simply make your BLT inside a pita! Cut your pita in half so you can open it up like a sandwich, but don't cut the pita all the way through. You want some pita left intact in the bottom to keep your sandwich from falling apart.

Fill your pita with a lot of lettuce, some tomato, and some bacon. We used this much bacon for two pitas, but I recommend you use more. The more the better, actually! Then simply enjoy your dinner, reveling in the bacon-y goodness.

Yummers!

Beef with Vegetables

For dinner I decided to use my new pan I received from a store after having a horrible experience there, then complaining. We were craving beef, so we decided on some stir-fry with lots of vegetables. I'll show you all the steps, with all the pictures, so you can make it at home, just as you like it!

Orange "eco-friendly" OBH-Nordica ceramic pan

 I had to find some really good, fresh vegetables, something which can be difficult to find in the small town I live in. So naturally I ended up at the most expensive store in town, but it was worth it! I decided on green and orange peppers, red onion, tomato, and a leek, along with a small cut of tender steak (mørbradbiff).

The supplies, alongside a 5" utility knife

First, chop, chop, chop, until everything looks like this:

Throw the green and orange peppers, and onion into the pan over medium-high heat.

Gimme meat!

Then, slice up your beef into small strips, so it looks like this:

When the onions begin to go limp (after about 2-3 minutes, if your pan is hot enough), make room in the center for your meat. Don't stir quite yet, let the meat lose most of it's pink.

The meat is not-quite pink anymore, so now I stirred it all up. Next step is to throw the leek and tomato into the pan.

Even if you don't like tomatoes, don't be afraid to try them in this dish! Just choose a small tomato and chop it finely; it will disappear and become part of the sauce, which adds excellent flavor.

When the tomatoes are hard to find, and the vegetables are cooked to your liking, take out some soy sauce. Pour as much or as little as you like. Start out with a little though...you can always add more, but never take away! Then throw a teaspoon of sugar into the pan and stir like you're mad.

If you like them, put some water chestnuts in for some great crunch. Wait until after you've added the soy sauce, though, because you're not going to cook them, just heat them up.

If you like, you can go to your local Asian foods store and find some Thai chicken-flavored powder. The package I have looks like this:

The chicken flavored powder is not necessary, but it does add some flavor. Use about 1.5-2 tablespoons.

Are you hungry yet? Enjoy!

Fun with Food

Just a quick post today, as I had a busy day yesterday hanging out with friends...One of the best ways to spend a day!
First I was with my friend to get her hair dyed from black to red, it turned out really good! Then we went back to her place, and made dinner.

She decided cupcakes (or muffins, as they're called here) were on the menu, but only if they were green. So here I am pouring green cupcake batter into the muffin forms.

The oven in her apartment has no temperature measurements on the knob, so it was hard to get the right temperature, but they turned out delicious after doubling the baking time. Alt går om man bare prøver! Everything goes as long as you try!

The main dish was authentic Thai fried rice, and man was it delicious. Garlic, spring onions, tomato, and red onion, along with some sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, and some chicken flavoring powder and sugar, all cooked up in the wok. Served steaming hot with some extra fish sauce on the side, it beats fried rice at ANY restaurant!

Alt i alt det var en veldig koselig dag! All in all, it was a very cozy day!

The Second Cup - Part 2

My walk to "work"

This is the place I go to work on my cup. It's called Snekker'n, which means The Carpenter.

Today I carved a little more by hand, but the cup became too deep to use hand tools further. So I used this Kulebor, or Ball Drill, to finish hollowing out the middle and expanding the sides. It's a neat little machine, but sawdust flies everywhere!

Here I am, using the Ball Drill and covered in sawdust. Black is maybe not the best color to wear while working with wood, if you care about that kind of thing. Make sure to keep your fingers out of the way!

Here the cup is finished being hollowed out, and is ready for some shaping.

I had to have help on the heavy machinery. I don't know what it's called, but I call it the Finger-Chopper-Off-er. Here, the outside of the cup is being roughly formed, cutting away the excess wood along the guide lines I had drawn on earlier. The next step is sanding, using the huge belt sander pictured below. This is a rough sanding, also to give shape and flatten the bottom of the cup.

The Huge Belt Sander

Here is the cup after I used the belt sander, as well as another circular sanding machine to give rough shape to the outside of the cup. This is as far as I came today, but I was only there for 2 1/2 hours, so that's pretty good, considering. Next Monday I will  be using yet another sanding machine to give final shape to the outside of the cup, then it's on to sand paper and hand sanding both the inside and outside.

Here Comes the Sun!

Finally the sun has arrived, if only for a short while! We went out on our bikes to see if there was anything interesting out, and sure enough it was a rewarding trip!

What beautiful light!

The sun through the trees

Some macro shots of dew on leaves, I love the way the blue sky is reflected in the droplets. It seems so peaceful, and reminds me of those beautiful summer days.

Severdighet -- A sight worth seeing

This symbol means that there is something of interest in the near vicinity. Usually traditional buildings, tourist sites, natural beauty, etc. This one I found near the Stavkirke, or Stave church. The Stavkirke was built around 1250, long before Christianity came to Norway. There are dragon heads all around steeples of the Stavkirke, and when Christianity came to Norway, they simply added crosses to the building to make it a Christian church.

Here you can see both the dragon's head and the crosses; taken last winter.

Close-up of a dragon head

The graveyard around the Stavkirke, with the hills in the background, is not an angle most tourists get pictures of when they visit the Stavkirke. I think most people want to get as close as possible, and forget to take a step back to take in the whole picture--I know I have done that!

Going for a Stroll

This is a road often taken, judging by all the potholes! But the beauty for me lies in the bare trees on the right, with the still-green trees on the left. The red leaves bordering the road just make it perfect, tempting you to go for a stroll (if it's not raining, of course). This was again a cloudy day, it had stopped raining just long enough for me to get this shot. This week there is supposed to be some sun, though! Let's hope for that!

UPDATE! There is some sun!

This is the most sun we've seen in almost 2 weeks! You can even see a hint of blue sky at the upper left corner, and just north of us are clear skies, so we may get even more sun today!

Our little family

This is Dax, our tiny parrotlet, alongside Chef, our giant goldfish. When I bring Dax up to the tank, Chef always comes over and checks her out, nudging up against the glass while Dax tries to bite Chef's nose.

Chef was the size of my thumb when we got him about 2 years ago. He enjoys hunting flies that land on the water, circling them Jaws-style, then rushing up from below for attack.

Chef vs Pencil

Close-up of Dax

Dax is slowly learning to whistle a few tunes, and has said "hi" twice now, so hopefully it won't be long before she's chattering away. She loves to sit on your hand and cuddle, but beware of the sneak-cuddle (she acts like she wants a cuddle, then tries to nibble you instead).

Dax playing with a Coca-Cola bottle cap

A Gray Day

The weather was horrible today, it rained almost all day, was foggy and cold. So, lacking the beautiful sun, I decided to create my own contrasting colors with a new color-select setting on my camera. I choose a color within my shot, and the rest of the colors within the shot are gray. In these two first pictures I chose the dark red leaves from our apple tree, which is now bare. The contrast against the green of the grass is pretty, but I think the images are more interesting with the red against the gray.

In this last shot I chose the yellow tree in our yard, I'm not sure what type of tree it is though. It was hard to capture the yellow very well, but you get an idea. The whole tree is colored the same as the bottom of the tree is in the picture. I was disappointed that the pine tree beside it did not turn out as gray as I had hoped, but at least I got out and took some pictures on this icky day!

A full-color shot for comparison.