the beautiful diabetic

The Great Butter Debacle of 2011

2011-11-26T17:42:00.004+01:00

I was in London this week when I received word from a friend that I had better buy butter while there because Norway was out.
Come again?
Yes, Norway, the COUNTRY is out of butter. How this happens, I am a bit unsure, but the dairy industry has been quick to blame the low-carb dieters and lower than average production levels.
Well, I did buy butter in London and brought it home to Norway, but really, the whole out of butter thing bothered me. I won't say it's a conspiracy set in motion by the margarine lobby, but I'll be damned if I'm going to eat that nasty butter LIKE spread. The sign at the grocery store on the bare butter shelves says there will be no butter until at least the 1st week of 2012, so clearly I needed to take action. So, why not make my own? Moving out to the country has given me a crafty streak, so I decided to tackle it with the help of my 2.5 year old. We googled 'How to make butter' and got about 5000 hits, so don't worry, there are plenty of methods. Basically, if you are going to make butter, you need heavy whipping cream. That's it.
So, we got out the stand mixer and our cream and measured out 2 cups:

Then poured it into the bowl of the mixer and using the whisk attachment, let whip:
Every once in awhile, have a peek in and look:
It will whip up beautifully into fluffy whipcream in a couple of minutes:
Your kitchen helper may want to lick the spatula:

Keep whipping and whipping and suddenly it will totally separate and look disgusting, like yellow blobs floating in water! Guess what, you have curds and whey:

Pour it into a strainer and the buttermilk will drain out leaving the butter behind:
Then use your hands to ball it up and squeeze out the excess buttermilk and put it back in the mixer and see if you can beat out any more water. Drain it one more time and form it into a ball and then it's time for an ice bath. Apparantly, if you bathe it, it will make it last longer. So I bathed it in freezing cold water:

and then once the water ran clear, took it out, patted it dry and formed it into a ball. I then kneaded sea salt into it:
And voila, I made BUTTER!! It is delicious:
No worries here about any dang butter shortage! Try it! It's so easy!

Homemade almond milk

2011-04-30T12:42:00.004+02:00

On our most recent trip back to America, I was surprised to see the presence of Almond milk in the grocery stores in the dairy section right next to cow's milk. When I last lived in the states in 2003, you had to go to the health food store to get it. I was also impressed at how cheap almond milk is! I spent the 5 weeks we were there drinking almond milk whenever possible. It's lower in carbs than regular milk, same amount of fat, HALF the calories, cholesterol free, loaded in antioxidants, has nearly as much calcium and an impressive array of vitamins. Really, what's not to love? Well, the price of it in Norway, that's what's not to love. Coming back to Norway, I went in search of almond milk. We have soy, rice and oat milks readily available in normal grocery stores here, but no almond milk. I finally found some at the health food store, but it was a tiny box and it was about $10!! Crazy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. How hard can making homemade almond milk be?? Not hard at all is the answer! I can get raw almonds in bulk for about $11 a KILO here (that's about 2.2 pounds) and I only need a cup to make about a liter of milk, so it's a significant savings over the health food store almond milk. I tend to make small batches, as it only lasts about 5 days in the fridge and I really only use it in my smoothies, so I don't need a whole lot.

Start by soaking a cup or two of almonds in water over night. They will nearly double in size after the soaking:

Drain them and rinse them and put them in your blender or food processor and cover them with 4 or 5 cups of cold water:
Process them on high until the mixture is white and frothy:
Next, strain the mixture into a container. You can use a fine mesh sieve, but I use a bag specially made for nut milks:
That's it! How simple is that? Put it in an airtight container and use it how you would milk! It's delicious, and more importantly, it's so good for you! Now go make some almond milk:

Green beans roasted with garlic and basil in coconut oil

2011-04-26T20:52:00.003+02:00

The days are getting longer and warmer and it's that time of year where we are starting to get a lot more fresh produce. Yesterday at one of my neighborhood fruit and vegetable markets there were some green beans I just couldn't pass up, and when Christopher lit the grill tonight, I decided to roast them over the hot coals!
I prepped the beans by tossing them in coconut oil, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, a handful of fresh chopped basil and a pinch of crushed red pepper:
Next, I put them in my roasting basket and put them on the grill:
There was a lot of smoke when coconut oil met hot coals, but the smell was delicious. I just stirred them every 30 seconds or so, and because the coals were so hot, the beans were done in about 4 minutes. The finished result was delicious:
A great way to get one of your 5 servings of fruit and veggies!

Homemade almond/cashew butter

2011-04-25T19:59:00.005+02:00

I'll admit it, I'm a almond butter girl on a peanut butter budget, so when I read something about making my own nut butters at home, I did a backflip in my head. I can get raw nuts here in Oslo fairly inexpensively, whereas a tiny jar of almond butter sets me back about $8. If it's possible to make my own for half the price, it's a no-brainer for me. A quick Google search confirmed that I was not the first person to have this idea, so who better to let guide me than a gal called Heather with a blog called 'Heather Eats Almond Butter'? So, if you're tired of paying too much money for nut butters that are older than 10 minutes, look no further. You're going to need whatever nuts you want to use. I used cashews and almonds. I didn't measure, just used enough to cover a baking sheet:

I popped them into the over to roast them. Roasting brings out a really lovely flavor and depth to the nuts, and the aforementioned Heather said the roasted nuts tend to butter up quicker than the raw. I almost burned them, so remember to keep an eye on them:
Put your roasted nuts into your food processor:
Put the lid on and turn the processor on high. You'll get alot of noise and a nut powder first, but keep the machine going, turning it off every now and then to scrape down the sides. Depending on your food processor, this can take anywhere from 9-12 minutes.

Soon you will be rewarded with a gorgeous creamy nut butter:
The sky is the limit as for flavors. You can keep it plain, as alone it has such a glorious depth to it, or you can add maple, chocolate, cinnamon or whatever!

The nutritional benefits of fresh nut butters are too numerous to list here, but this is one thing that is a staple for me in a paleo/primal way of eating. It's also low on the glycemic index, so my blood glucose never spikes when I eat it.

What are you waiting for?? Go and make some homemade almond/cashew butter!

OH Joy! Low Carb Almond Joy bars!

2011-01-18T20:50:00.001+01:00

It happened like this: I was walking by my friends office today and mid stride, I suddenly HAD to have one of the 'fun sized' Bounty bars I knew she kept on her desk. For my American friends, Bounty are what the rest of the world calls Almond Joy, sans the almond. It's just coconut and chocolate. Of course the ones she has on her desk are the sugar laden ones and decidedly high in carbs. I ate one anyway. But as the guilt sank in, I resolved to try and make some low carb treats I could keep handy so I wouldn't succumb quite so easily next time. I got back to my office and googled 'low carb almond joy recipe' and you wouldn't believe the number of hits I got! I'm clearly not the first to have had this idea. I then saw that the author of one of my favorite blogs was among the hits returned. Healthy Indulgences, hands down one of my guilty pleasures. It's written by a food GENIUS named Lauren. Seriously check out her blog. She is one of those rare people who comes up with original recipes that make your jaw hit the ground. I bet she could win MasterChef if she tried. Or at least place in the top 4. I digress. I've tried several of her recipes before and have yet to be disappointed, so hers was the one I decided to try.
If you are new to this whole low carb, healthy (yes healthy) way of eating, don't be frightened by some of the strange ingredients we tend to use like erythritol, coconut oil, xylitol and xanthan gum. Seriously, just go buy them. You will thank me for it later.

I started by mixing unsweetened shredded coconut, coconut oil, coconut milk and melted erythritol in a bowl. With my hands I put them on a cookie sheet and shaped them into fun sized candy bars.

Next I pressed a couple of almonds into the top to give it that almond joy feel. Then I put them on the balcony to freeze. Ha! Yes, you read that right. On the balcony to freeze. If you aren't as fortunate as I am to have a huge walk in freezer, simply use your small indoor one, it'll do.

After about 5 minutes, or 10, or 15 or however long it takes you to get the baby to bed, get them off of the balcony (or freezer) and get ready for the dipping phase! Where coconut meets it's lucious lover, dark chocolate ganache. (Don't worry, I'll put the recipe below)
After you've coated them all, and licked the extra chocolate off of your fingers about 19 times, but them back on the balcony to harden again. When you bring them back inside, you'll have something a bit like this:
Please excuse the tacky fingerprints in the ganache, but I've never been known for my finishing touches.
These are so good! Really hit the spot! And the ganache is made from 85% dark chocolate, and for fun I also threw in a few squares of Green and Black's espresso dark chocolate. This is a decadant treat and all your processed sugar eating friends are gonna wanna eat them ALL because they are just THAT good!
Recipe from Lauren at Healthy Indulgences

Makes ABOUT 20 bars

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fine unsweetened shredded coconut
5-6 tablespoons coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup erythritol or 1/4 cup xylitol
Raw almonds
2 batches dark chocolate ganache
Pinch of unrefined sea salt
1 packet of Stevia

Preparation:
Melt erythritol over medium heat in a saucepan until liquefied. Combine coconut oil, coconut milk, unsweetened coconut, salt, and stevia. Pour in hot erythritol and mix together thoroughly until coconut oil is melted. Put the coconut mixture on parchment paper and do your best to shape into fun sized candy bars. Top with almonds, pressing the nuts down gently into the filling. Freeze until filling is firm and cold.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1-3.5 oz 85% cacao content chocolate bar
5 tablespoons heavy cream
1/3 cup erythritol or 1/4 cup xylitol, powdered
1 packet of Stevia

Pop it into the microwave and cook on high for about 30 seconds. Take it out and stir to melt chocolate. Keep microwaving for a few seconds and stirring until all chocolate is melted and the ganache gets thick and creamy. You may need to add extra cream to keep it thinned out.

Keep in mind, if you use the ganache, it won't 'harden', so you really need to keep them in the fridge or freezer.

Amazing low(ish) carb and gluten free Peanut Butter cookies!

2009-04-22T11:19:00.005+02:00

Pardon me while I dust away the cobwebs around here, it seems as though I just abandoned the blog sometime in February. For that, I apologize. This whole gestating experience has been fairly all consuming! My doctor has put me on a sick leave for the remaining of my pregnancy until my maternity leave starts, so I find myself with time on my hands. I don't do particularly well with time on my hands, but this morning I found myself itching to be the beautiful diabetic and endeavored to create something blog worthy in the kitchen!

Before I got pregnant, I had been actively pursuing a very low carb lifestyle in an effort to control my diabetes. It was really working well, and my blood sugar numbers were quite impressive. Sadly, the words 'pregnancy' and 'low carb' do not get along. My low carb lifestyle, along with my wine drinking, were the first two things my doctor made me give up. I didn't grieve for long, as I now had an excuse to eat BREAD again, so all was good.

Fast forward 7 months and I stumbled upon one of the jewels of the low carb world wasting away in my pantry:

Yep, Organic coconut flour. Word on the low carb street is that this stuff is magical. It has ZERO carbs, which is NIRVANA for any self respecting low carber. It also tastes great and is gluten free. There were several recipes I had wanted to try using it, but as my raging hormones dictate what I make these days, Peanut Butter cookies had been weighing heavily on my heart for about a week.
So, this morning, I decided to try to make peanut butter cookies with coconut flour. There are alot of recipes online for coconut flour, just google it. Here is the one I based my cookies on:

Peanut Butter Cookies

For these cookies, use natural peanut butter, without hydrogenated oil or added sugar. The oil in natural peanut butter usually separates and rises to the top of the jar if allowed to sit for any extended period of time. Mix this oil into the peanut butter. Do not pour it out. If you do pour it out, replace it with an equal amount of melted coconut oil. Maintaining the original fat content of the peanut butter produces the best results with this recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup sifted coconut flour
1 cup natural peanut butter
½ cup peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1½ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt

Method

Mix together peanut butter, peanuts, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Stir in peanuts and coconut flour. Batter will be runny. Drop by the spoonful 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 190 Degree C (375F) for 14 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. (bakers note: HA! 3 dozen? If you like tiny cookies, yes. I got 15 good size cookies out of this recipe)

Yes, that does say 1/2 cup of coconut flour! Coconut flour is very dense and you don't need a lot of it. I started with the organic peanut butter:

And followed with the eggs, salt, vanilla and sugar:

See the white stuff? You know, the granular stuff that looks like evil white sugar?? It's not! It's another one of my low carb superstars:

That, my friends, is a little something called Erythritol. It's an amazing product. Has a GI of ZERO, so it has no effect on bloodsugar, so it's great for diabetics, and it is also a sugar alcohol, but has NO adverse affects on the bowels, so it's also great for people who can't normally handle sugar alcohols or Splenda and the like. It is usually derived from melons and it does tend to have a slight 'cooling' or minty taste. I enjoy it, you may not, but try it and see, as anyime you can eliminate processed sugar from your diet, it's a good idea. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, so I did half and half. I find the Erythritol does best when blended with another sweetner, and being pregnant, I don't like to consume mass quantities of Splenda.

Finally, I added my miniscule half cup of coconut flour. You will be amazed at how it thickens when you add it. I stirred everything together really well to ensure even distribution of the flour throughout the rest of the batter and then dropped it in large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. I also have a sick obsession with macadamia nuts lately, so I chopped up a bunch and added them to the top of the cookies:

Popped them in the over and sat back to see what would happen. I am a fan of crispy cookies in general, with all of the egg in these cookies, I had my doubts about what their degree of crispiness would be. I waited the reccommended 13-15 minutes and then added 2 more minutes and took them out of the oven to let them cool:

My verdict? They are actually really GOOD! They are a cakey cookie, but the flavor is excellent.

Managing diabetes and other food intolerances is a journey. You have to be willing to try new things and adapt your expectations and tastes and try strange ingredients that you never would have considered had it not been for an unfortunate diagnosis. Hang in there. Don't let diabetes or food intolerances steal your joy in food, instead, find ways around it.

These peanut butter cookies with a tall glass of cold milk could just be the perfect start to your new journey:

Enjoy!

Tacos! The Breakfast of Champions.

2009-02-22T17:22:00.003+01:00

I think I have been pretty lucky thus far in the pregnancy as far a crazy cravings go. I don't crave anything weird, like pickles and icecream, I just crave things I have no hope of possibly getting here in Norway. Some of the cravings are so intense that I actually SHAKE a little when thinking about them! In no particular order, I have craved:

Chik-fila combo number 1 with extra pickles
Arby's roast beef sandwich
Tater tots from Sonic with a diet cherry limeade
Whataburger with cheese and jalepenos
Thin and crispy pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut
ANYTHING tex mex

Luckily, or unluckily, I cannot get any of that in Norway, so I have an apple or an orange instead and as a result, have only gained about 14 pounds in 22 weeks of pregnancy! Which fits into the whole 'slow and steady' approach to weight gain!

Now, I can't get the restaurant quality tex mex I crave here, but I can make some pretty good homemade concoctions here thanks to my spice collection from Texas, and lately it seems like I cannot get enough of breakfast tacos. I love breakfast tacos, and coming from Houston you have a wide range of possibilities to procure them from Whataburger to the local mexican food stand. Breakfast tacos are easy and tasty and don't require any special culinary skills beyond being able to scramble eggs and microwave tortillas, so they are a great quick breakfast!

I always have bacon in mine. Good crispy bacon:

I also had some leftover chorizo in the freezer from the time I tried to make my own from scratch. It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't GREAT either, but it would work great in tacos, so I cooked it and then added it to the scrambled eggs:

Then to assemble your tacos, heat up a tortilla, add some cheese, put the eggs and sausage mixture in, top it with a strip of bacon, some cilantro and spicy green salsa:

Roll them up and enjoy!! They are so tasty and somehow they always manage to hit that proverbial spot:

I could eat these all the time and never get sick of them!

Good eatin'.

And then there were three

2009-02-16T19:34:00.004+01:00

Well, once again I find myself apologizing for being such a bad blog updater. I have so much admiration for people who update their blogs on a daily, or at least REGULAR, basis. Sadly, I am more of a sporadic blogger, despite my intentions otherwise.

But, this time, I think I have what is at least a somewhat legitimate excuse! Around early November things took a stunning change of direction here in our household, all thanks to a magic little stick:
Yes, that's right! I'm PREGNANT! For most of October and November, we were just in shock and I was really not well. I wasn't throwing up, but I really suffered from sheer exhaustion. To the point that I honestly do not remember parts of November and December. It was weird.

Then on January 22, we went to the doctor and came face to face with the fruit of our loins:

That my friends, is my 95% certain little GIRL!! I cannot describe the emotion when that grainy image appears on the screen above you. To see perfectly formed fingers and toes. To see her putting her fingers in her mouth like the picture above. To see an amazingly long leg like this:
I mean, it's just overwhelming!!! I'm pregnant with a she-child and I am still just in SHOCK!
But it's fun, and it's challenging and it's an entire new journey that we are going on.

My diabetic needs have changed and I have begun using insulin which has revolutionized my life! I can't wait to tell you about that another time, but insulin has really given me back my quality of life that I had been missing for a few years now. In a nutshell, insulin ROCKS.

So, that is what is going on here in Norway. It's cold, it's snowy and I am just gestating away and in about 18 weeks, we will have a little mini-us joining our little clan for a whole set of new adventures!

It's quite amazing really.

Leftover turkey = a dang good GUMBO!

2008-12-27T17:28:00.004+01:00

Being from Texas I have grown up eating really good Tex Mex, which I talk ALOT about on this blog. However, being from the Gulf coast region of Texas, I have also had my share of really good seafood. Some of my favorite memories are the summers spent at our beach house at Caplan beach on the Boliver peninsula. There was a place called Milt's seafood and my mom used to buy huge buckets of raw oysters. My sisters and I would PLOW through those buckets to find the elusive pearls. We had plenty of shrimp boils, soft shell crabs and barbequed crabs.

Yet we also have a teeny tiny cajun influence. My mother is the only sibling out of 4 NOT born in New Orleans. My grandfather went to Tulane and my grandmother to Sophie Newcomb. Sometime in the 40's they moved to Texas, Port Arthur to be exact, and that is where my mom made her debut into the world. I certainly can't claim to be a cajun, but there are strong cajun influences in Port Arthur. One of my mom's friends, also from Port Arthur, owned a very popular restaurant in Houston called the Rajin' Cajun, so we always had our fill of some pretty amazing cajun food. Countless boiled crawfish, poboys, etouffes and of course, gumbo.

For some reason, gumbo has always seemed really intimidating to me. I waited tables while in college at a high-end cajun restaurant called Denis' in Houston. Denis' gumbo recipe was a tightly guarded secret and he wouldn't tolerate roaming eyes in the kitchen. He just used to mumble something about a good roux being the secret and lifeblood of a good gumbo and then would cuss and yell at you to get out of there. I was satisfied to just eat it and enjoy it. I didn't need to know how to make it, and quite frankly felt sorry for the cooks who got there at the crack of dawn to make it.

Well, a decade down the road, curiosity and cravings got the better of me. We had a lot of left over turkey and I had deboned it and boiled the carcass and had a great stock to use for SOMETHING. Lately, I have really been craving gumbo. I started snooping around the internet, not quite committed to making it, just wanting to assess what exactly goes into this mythical roux making process. IF I was going to attempt to make it, I needed to be prepared. Honestly, I am not sure what all the fuss is about. It seems the hardest thing about making the roux is the constant stirring and something called 'cajun napalm'. I was more concerned about the stirring than the napalm, which in hindsight was a very naive thing.

So, I recruited my Christopher to be a stand in stirrer if my stirring arm were to give out unexpectedly. He got a stern lecture on the importance of jumping in IMMEDIETELY if I called out for him, and with that precaution in place, we got started on the roux.

The bones of a roux is basically a cup of flour and a cup of oil. Using a heavy bottomed pot, preferably cast iron according to the cajuns, dump both ingredients in and start stirring over medium high heat.

Keep stirring. It was amusing for about the first 15 minutes. Keep stirring. The goal is for the roux to turn from light to dark. So, again, keep stirring:

This is about the shade of brown-ness where my stirring arm gave out. Luckily, Christopher had been trained well, and jumped in and kept stirring:
This is also the stage where the cajun napalm warning came in handy. This stuff POPS and SPLATTERS and when it lands on your skin it burns like hell. It kept popping me. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that by the end of the roux making process I had at least one blister on my face and several on my arms! You need to be TOUGH to make gumbo. No sissy's allowed. And after about 33 and a half minutes we had gotten ourselves to this shade of roux:

I'm not sure if it should have been darker or not, but after my time investment and 3rd degree napalm burns, I wasn't taking any chances of ruining it. So to this glorious roux, I proceeded to add what is known as the 'Holy trinity'. Which is onions, celery and green bell pepper. I added some carrots as well, which I am sure would have caused any good cajun to have heart palpitations, but hey, I'm not a cajun, I'm a Texan and we are rebels by nature. You just add them directly to the roux and keep stirring for another 3 or 4 or 5 minutes, or really as long as you dare.

I felt like I was playing a game of chicken with the roux and at any moment the volitile brew would turn on me, so I started slowly adding my turkey broth before the roux could go rouge on me. I also added the turkey, some smoked sausage and okra. I then let it simmer for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I made some cornbread and cooked some rice. And then, the moment of truth, time to taste it. To say I was stunned would have been an understatment. I couldn't believe what I was tasting! It tasted like GUMBO!! Not only that, it tasted like GOOD gumbo!! I made gumbo!! I am still a bit in shock over it and am glad I have these photos that document it to prove that it really did happen:

It was truly a culinary triumph for me and one that I feel very proud of! So, if there is a lesson to be learned here, it's to just go ahead and TRY to make that recipe that you have been scared of for a long time! You just might surprise yourself and make something so delicious you will wonder why you didn't try it sooner! Gumbo. Demystified.

Feels good.

SICK of Christmas food. Must. Have. Tex Mex.

2008-12-25T15:33:00.004+01:00

Well, it's that time of year again. Christmas food galore. Here in Norway, it seems as though we start eating Christmas food about 2 weeks before Christmas. And Norwegian Christmas food is like no other I have had before. Rarely is there a vegetable in sight, and the higher the fat content, the better. Needless to say, I am DONE. I can't eat another piece of ribbe, jule polse, kjøttkaker or anything else I can hardly pronounce.

That being said, today I had such a strong craving for Tex Mex that it about knocked me over. I haven't had it in quite sometime, which is unlike me, so I started going through my mental Tex Mex menu. Growing up in Houston, I had the pleasure of having a number of mom and pop Tex Mex operations pretty much on every corner. I remember so many times out to eat with my family ordering the 'Speedy Gonzales' plate. If you are from Texas, you will know that the Speedy Gonzales is single cheese enchilada, a beef taco in a HARD shell and rice and beans. That's it. A perfect plate for a kid and I think my sisters and I must have consumed thousands of these through the years.

What I would have done for a Speedy Gonzales today. But, I didn't have what it would take to reproduce it, so I settled on creating a plate of super nachos! I love nachos because they are EASY. All you have to do is throw everything on some chips and broil it for a couple of minutes. It is nearly impossible to mess up. I say nearly cause if I said it was impossible, inevitably, someone out there would find a way to screw up nachos. So, this way, we cover all our bases.

I had some pintos that I had made a few months ago in the freezer, so I took them out and reheated them and I had some ground beef in the fridge that REALLY needed to be used, so I cooked that and added Penzey's Ancho chili powder and cumin.

After both of these were cooked, I arranged a baking sheet with nacho chips:

And topped the chips with the beans and the meat:

To this I added chopped pickled jalepenos:

And topped it all with grated cheddar. I use white cheddar cause that is what we have in Norway, but I have actually really grown to love it. It's not sharp at all and has a good mellow flavor. Then just slap it in a hot oven. I usually turn the temperature up to just below broiling, which for me, means about 230 celcius.

Meanwhile, I whipped up a batch of Ninfa's famous green salsa. Lisa over at the Homesick Texan has a great post on this recipe, so if you have all of the ingredients, by all means use her blog as a guide! I cheated, and started with a jar of La Costena Salsa Verde and to that, added a ripe avocado and used my stick blender to make it smooth. I then stirred in some sour cream. It really does taste JUST like Ninfa's green salsa and just makes everything taste better:

Take the nachos out of the oven when the edges turn brown and the cheese is bubbly:

Top the nachos with whatever cold things you want. I used tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro and chopped white onion and put a generous helping of the green salsa on the bottom of the plate to put the nachos on top of:

Of course I had to have a diet coke over ice:

And I was in HEAVEN. It was like a Christmas miracle. Those flavors were just amazing after all of the rich and heavy food I have been consuming over the last few weeks. It's times like these that I am so thankful for my Texas roots and even more thankful for my ability to recreate some of my favorite flavors in food:

Who wants turkey now???

Merry Christmas from Norway, y'all!

You know you grew up in the 70's if...

2008-12-12T16:37:00.002+01:00

You wore a rainbow shirt that was half-sleeves, and the rainbow went up one sleeve, across your chest, and down the other.

You made baby chocolate cakes in your Easy Bake Oven and washed them down with snow cones from your Snoopy Snow Cone Machine.

You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked.

You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a basket.

You even owned roller skates with metal wheels.

You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (Admit it!)

You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island.

You had rubber boots for rainy/snowy days -remember Moon boots (you then advanced to Duck Shoes in the 80's)

You had either a "bowl cut" or "pixie," not to mention the Dorothy Hamill" because your Mom was sick of braiding your hair. How traumatic when people thought you were a boy.

Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.

You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.

You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.

You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple shredded outfits.

You spent hours out back on your metal swing set with the trapeze.

You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color.

You even had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle).

You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture; and you despised Nellie Olson!

You wanted your first kiss to be at the roller rink.

Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" and you kept it "pretty" with the comb you kept in your back pocket.

You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie.

You carried a Muppets lunch box to school.

You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend.

Every now and then "It's a Hard Knock Life" from the movie,"Annie" will pop into your brain and you can't stopsinging it the whole day.

YOU had Star Wars action figures, too.

It was a big event in your household each year when the "Wizard of Oz" would come on TV. Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping bags!

You even asked your Magic-8 ball the question: "Who will I marry. Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or Rick Springfield?"

You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame soundtrack albums.

You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick God's eyes, or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom.

You made Shrinky-Dinks!

You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker.

You couldn't wait to get the free animal poster that came when you ordered books from the Weekly Reader book club.

You learned everything you needed to know about girl issues from Judy Blume books (Are you there God, It's me,Margaret.)

You thought Olivia Newton John's song "Physical" was about aerobics.

You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or shoelaces with heart or rainbow designs.

You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.

You had a Big Wheel with a brake on the side, and a Sit-n-Spin.

You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat!!

Pumpkin Cheesecake! Need I say more?

2008-10-28T20:30:00.004+01:00

When I embarked on this low carb lifestyle I was a bit concerned about how I would do without things like cakes, cookies, bread, pasta and rice. Those have always been staples in my diet and not having them had never crossed my mind.
Do I miss those things? Of course. But, to be honest, I don't crave them on a regular basis. I love everything that I eat and I love how this diet makes me feel, so the tradeoff is more than worth it for me.

I had a new A1c test done about 2 weeks ago and it had gone down from 7.2 to 5.9!!! So, obviously, my diabetic blood is responding to my onslaught.

So, are you craving a good, low carb dessert that won't wreak havoc on your bloodsugar? Pumpkin cheesecake is your friend. I have always loved pumpkin pie and whatever genius thought of combining cheesecake and pumpkin pie deserves some sort of award.

I got my recipe off of recipezaar and modified it to make it low carb. Most cheesecakes sport a graham cracker crust and this one was no exception. To make it low carb, I used almonds and unsweetened coconut:

I pulsed them in my food processor until they were very fine. Then combined the two 'flours' with about 1/4 cup of butter and a bit of splenda and pressed it into the bottom of a springform pan:

Pop it into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes and then take it out and let it cool.

Now for the cheesecake. So simple guys! Start with your creamcheese:

That's over a pound of cheese! Yum! Combine the Philidelphia with 1 cup of Splenda and vanilla extract and beat it until it's smooth.

To this mix add 1 cup of gorgeous orange pumpkin:

Add 3 eggs, a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice:

Mix it until it is smooth, occaisionally spatula-ing the sides of the mixer so it's all well blended, and pour it into the springform pan:

Pop it in the same 350 degree oven your crust was in and bake it for about 50-65 minutes, or until a knife inserts cleanly.

That's it! It really is so easy and it is absolutly delicious! I had a slice and topped it with homemade whipped cream with cinnamon:

What's NOT to love????

You know it's getting cold in Norway when...

2008-10-19T12:30:00.003+02:00

the little dogs have to put on their jackets to go for walks.

Usually, I am against dogs wearing clothes. I think it's disrespectful to Chihuahuas to dress them in tutus, paint their nails and dye their hair. My sister forwarded me a blog once called 'Seriously, get this sweater off of me ', and I laughed so hard. It's true. If you are easily offended by Chihuahua's using the 'F' word, don't click on the link, but if not, READ IT, cause it is funny.

I have to admit, that my little dogs have taken me by surprise. I am a retriever kind of gal. Grew up with one Lab after another. So when we decided to get dogs that would be good apartment dogs, we took a chance on the chihuahuas. I was hesitant and frankly expected them to be shaky, snappy, yappy dogs. I couldn't have been more wrong. These kids are hilarious and just all around great dogs!

Part of the reason why I think they are so great is that we actually treat them like DOGS, and not accessories. However, due to climate fluctuations, there are times when the dogs need some clothes on. Especially Flash. He's our little white dog. A shorthaired 5.5 pound chihuahua. He actually has to wear LAYERS. I feel sorry for Flash when we get him dressed, he actually LOOKS embarassed. He just does not like to wear clothes. Elly on the other hand LOVES it. The funny thing is, Elly is a long hair chihuahua and really doesn't need any clothes until winter when the snows come, but when she sees Flash getting clothes on, she will throw a FIT if she doesn't get to wear a sweater. Seriously. It is bizarre. She will run around in circles grunting and whining until you put a sweater on her. No amount of telling her to be quiet or trying to reason with her that she doesn't NEED a sweater will shut her up! So, whatever, right? Here's your damn sweater.

So, you know it's gettting cold in Norway when the dogs are wearing clothes:

In which we remember

2008-10-09T19:02:00.003+02:00

Today would have been my father's 63rd birthday.

I suppose it will get easier not making that phone call or sending that card that I had become so accustomed to.

I just wonder when.

I know I have posted this image before, but man, it really just captures my father's spirit so clearly. To me, it is joy personified:

Happy Birthday, Dad.

The great potato harvest brings us to the end

2008-10-02T19:17:00.003+02:00

Well, it is FALL in Norway. The huge curtain of ivy along the wall of our apartment building is turning from green to yellow to blazing red. Christopher took a shot of it:

It's getting cold, not quite freezing, but close. Cold enough for me to whip out various NorthFace and cashmere clothing items.

My little balcony garden proved to be quite the little producer! I got carrots, beans, tomatoes, salad greens and herbs. Not bad for a first attempt! However, things were winding down, but there was still one thing left to harvest.

The great potato bag.

I've had my eye on it for quite sometime, and given my tendency to pull or dig things up prematurely, that dang bag has been driving me INSANE with curiosity! Christopher did catch me digging around it in one time in August, and I did find a tiny little potato, and then I swore to leave it alone (and I did).

Well, I thought since it was clearly fall it was high time to bust that bag open! I had visions of a bag full of tubers, pounds of potatoes I could share with friends, buttery mashed potatoes or little new potatoes sauteed in butter and dill.

So, Christopher and I started digging.

and digging.

and digging.

ummmm, where were all of the potatoes??

I admit, my success as a first time gardener has made me a bit cocky, I was fully expecting this bag to be FULL of taters.

But, after digging through almost half of the bag and not finding anything, I was getting a little alarmed.

Then, I found one!!!

Finding this little gem reinvigorated us and we resumed the ravishing of the potato bag with a renewed interest...

But in the end, there were only a handful of potatoes to be had:

I was still excited though! I mean, I MADE potatoes!!! We had a lot of tiny ones, and a few good size ones as well.

So, this concludes our great big gardening journey of 2008!

How lovely is the silence of growing things...

Accidental Souffle

2008-09-26T19:25:00.003+02:00

I am loving living la vida low carb, y'all!

Seriously.

I am learning that my body feels amazing the fewer carbs I eat. That sucks for all the things I love like cakes, cookies, pasta, toast (not bread, toast), BEER...I could go on and on.

However, I really am not craving any of those things at all. I mean, how could I when I am drinking heavy cream in my coffee, scrambling my eggs in butter and eating slices of aged gruyere without any guilt?

My blood sugar is like that of a NORMAL person for these last 2 weeks, and I really can't wait to go to the doctor again and get a new A1c test.

So, a lot of you know that I am not a good recipe follower. I'm just not. This is especially true with baking. And baking is not something you wanna be half assed about. It's chemistry and amounts are important! But alas, I always get carried away and tend to throw things together. I am blessed in that MOST of the time, the things I bake turn out well, however there are times when I am met with surprise.

Like the other night.

I was attempting to make a low carb cheesecake. I perused the recipe on my mac and then went to the kitchen and proceeded to wing it.

I mixed together cream cheese,ricotta, eggs, vanilla, cream, some splenda and lemon juice. Poured it into ramekins and placed them into the oven.

I went to check on it and instead of a compact dense cheesecake, I saw this:

Look at how they raised up!!!! I had accidentally made souffle!!!! One of the most notorious things to make!!!

I have to admit, I was feeling quite smug about them. They were just so light and airy!

If any of you reading are accomplished bakers, you probably know what happened as soon as I took them out of the oven. Yes. Total collapse.

So, I won't sully this blog with an after photo.
Instead, let's focus for a moment on the one glorious moment when I, Kathryn, had made a gorgeous souffle:

Almost perfect.

From berries to mushrooms

2008-09-17T20:28:00.003+02:00

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you are aware of my obsession with PICKING things. One of my fondest childhood memories I have of my father is picking dewberries in Texas. Big, black and juicy berries that we turned into cobblers later on. As a result, I am extremely nostalgic when it come to berry picking as an adult. Especially since my father died.

Well, if you like to pick things, Norway is the place for you! I was in AWE when I first moved here.

I remember so clearly the day I discovered my gift. Or as I like to call it, my 'berry eye'.

We were driving down the highway in Norway my first summer here and I suddenly saw tiny bits of red flashing by. Instinctively I knew it was something that could probably be picked. I yelled at Christopher to STOP!!! Why?? he wanted to know. I think I saw some berries, I said!!!!!

There was an awkward silence.

He didn't share my enthusiasm. Apparantly in Norway, they DO NOT stop their cars and pick berries alongside the highway. Well, we do in Texas, and my future husband graciously stopped so I could go and inspect what it was I saw.

I popped out of the car and trotted back to where I spotted the red bits flashing by, and my instinct was correct! There before me were wild raspberries!!!! Now, maybe wild raspberries aren't a big deal to you, but up until that moment, I had never seen them before. I guess I thought they were just born in my local Kroger produce section.

I picked with abandon, and at that moment, I was hooked.

Since that day, my berry eye has grown in strength.

One time up in Lillehammer, I spotted the elusive and somewhat mythological 'cloud' berry from the road. I swore I saw tiny dots of yellow in the field. I don't think anyone in the car really believed that I did, but again, they stopped to humor me. Sure enough, we stumbled into a field of golden cloud berries!

They all respect my gift now.

My berry eye has now started evolving into a mushroom eye. I'm not so good at it yet. My friend Vibeke took to me to the forest a few weeks ago to train me in the ways of mushroom picking. We were after chanterelle mushrooms. She showed me what they looked like and gave very strict instructions NOT to touch anything I didn't recognize! Assured that her friend from Texas understood the rules, we began our mushroom hunt.

I wish I could explain how excited I get about even just the THOUGHT of picking things. The hunting and finding. I literally had butterflies in my stomach as I was walking through the forest scanning the ground for my quarry. I was starting to get discouraged because I wasn't finding any EDIBLE mushrooms. However, the ones that will shut down your kidneys in 28 seconds were EVERYWHERE!

Then suddenly, I stumbled upon these gorgeous, kidney friendly mushrooms:

I had a surge of excitement course through me! They were everywhere!!!! So, I contented myself with hours of happy mushroom picking! This was my take for the day:

That is about 4 POUNDS of Chanterelles! The brown kind.

This past Saturday, we got the dogs and went to the forest again and this time we found some of the beautiful yellow chanterelles:

They look like flowers! But this one, this one set a record:

It is as big as my hand!!!!!

So, those were my picking adventures this week.

It's amazing that something so simple can bring me such JOY.

Beans, beans the magical fruit

2008-09-08T21:01:00.004+02:00

Let's start here, shall we:

Ah, cake. Good old fashioned chocolate cake. Kind of.

In following the South Beach diet, I have been trying to find some suitable desserts to curb my occaisional sweet tooth while keeping my renegade blood sugar under control. You may be thinking that chocolate cake is NOT on the South Beach diet, nor is chocolate cake a choice diabetic treat.

Both keen observations.

So, what was a desperate, dieting diabetic to do?? I wanted to make a cake that was sugar free, butter free, OH and FLOUR free as well. So what is the secret ingredient? As you may have deduced from the title of the entry:

YES, beans!
NO!!! You are not hallucinating!
Stay with me til the end! Let me explain!

For years I have heard about 'black bean brownies' on Weight Watchers, but I turned my nose up at them. I had no desire to try them, mainly because it sounded disgusting. But once I started focusing on my blood sugar and overall health a few weeks ago, I stumbled on a recipe for black bean brownies again.

I admit I was feeling a little adventurous and probably a bit woozy and punchy from lack of carbohydrates, because suddenly the idea of brownies made from beans sounded like a good idea.

I plotted my course and bought my ingredients. I was determined to conceal my baking from the husband cause I didn't want him to know what was going into his dessert. It was quite the clandestine production, and I think I was most excited about 'tricking' Christopher into eating cake made out of beans.

I kind of followed the recipe, but added some things (like instant coffee) and tweaked amounts of things (like adding more baking powder for a more cakey result, and tripling the amount of vanilla).

I started by draining and rinsing a can of black beans:

I rinsed them good and long, put them in a mixing bowl and to that added 3 eggs:

To that, I added 4 tablespoons of good baking cocoa, 2 tablespoons of oil, a pinch of salt, 3/4 of a cup of Splenda, 2 heaping teaspoons of baking powder, 2 to 4 teaspoons of instant coffee and a tablespoon of vanilla extract:

I used my stick blender to process it until it was smooth and looked like actual cake batter and poured it into a greased round pan:

Then I smoothed it with the spatula:

I popped it into the convection oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes and took this out:

Here is where I get a little excited. It smelled like cake. It looked like cake. It WAS cake. To be honest, I was a bit dumbfounded. I am not sure what I expected, but it wasn't for it to be this realistic! With high hopes, I cut it into squares. It had a very spongy and light texture. Bravely, I took a small bite, and folks, the heavens opened up above me.

When I tell you that I have never been so surprised with the result of something I made in the kitchen before...I mean it.

I was totally SHOCKED. It wasn't just GOOD, it was delicious. It tasted like chocolate cake! Granted, not the worlds best chocolate cake, but for a sugar, dairy and flour free cake, it could kick some serious ass in a 'healthy' cake competition.

I took a square to my husband and could hardly contain my giddiness, which in turn made him very suspicious. I couldn't stop giggling. He tasted it and said 'It's good, why are you laughing?' To which I replied, with smug glee, 'Guess what's in it!!!" Of course he couldn't and when I practically shouted 'BEANS!!!!!', he couldn't believe it either!

So, I am on a bean cake crusade! I took a ziploc bag full of bean cake squares to work and made my co-workers eat them.

They are so trusting of me.

Each time a person ate them, I repeated my annoying routine from the night before: 'Guess what's in them????, BEANS!!!!!'. By the afternoon, I had my spiel down. After a bite was taken, I would say: 'Ok, these are sugar free. Dairy free. No butter. and, oh, no flour.' That really got people's attention. They would usually say 'What are they made of??' and that was when I got the whole 'BEANS!!!!' thing in again!

Seriously friends, TRY THESE!!

Because there is no sugar, my blood sugar reacts well.
Because there is no flour, my blood sugar reacts even better!

They are high in fiber and protein and low in carbohydrates.

They are magic.

I promise.

When Chicken and Dumplings is the ONLY solution

2008-09-02T16:44:00.003+02:00

Well, once again we got screwed out of a decent August here in Oslo. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful I don't have to suffer through Houston summers, but after months of darkness and cold, I do look forward to the WARM Oslo summers. It's been known to reach a balmy 85 here, but the last few years have really been c-r-a-p on the weather front.

Anyway, me and the hubby came down with something on Sunday. Not sure what it is exactly, but it seems that 'everybody' has it according to several people I have talked to. So that makes me feel a bit better cause I hate to suffer alone.

Everytime I get sick, I always get crazy cravings. Usually it's macaroni and cheese or some sort of baked good, but today it was good old chicken and dumplings. Also, it seems to be mandatory that I don't have what I need on hand to make said craving so I have to go to the grocery store. So I sat on the couch for about 55 minutes trying to talk myself into running down 4 flights of stairs and walking to the store. Did I really want chicken and dumplings that bad??

Turned out that, yes, I did want chicken and dumplings that bad.

I finally got to the store, and please believe me when I tell you that I was not looking my best. I looked like I just rolled out of bed for the first time in 2 days and put my husbands clothes on to come to the store, which isn't far from the truth.

I have an uncanny ability to sense when I am being watched, (which led to unfortunate paranoia after seeing Silence of the Lambs and that crazy serial killer with the night vision glasses, but I digress) and I felt watched.

I turned around and there was this somewhat dissheveled middle aged man staring at me. To quote Juno, he wasn't the brightest bulb in the tanning bed, but still, it was kind of creepy. I moved to go around him and he said:
"Du er en vakkert kvinne' with so much passion in his voice that I almost laughed right there.

Translated it means 'You are a beautiful woman' and if I had made ANY effort towards my personal hygiene and appearance over the last 48 hours, I may have possibly believed it, but again, I am sick and I was not looking well. Hollow eyed and ratty are two descriptions that come to mind immediatly.

I thanked him and quickly moved on, but he kept following me and asking if I needed help finding anything as this was his usual grocery store and he knew were most things were.

I wonder if I hallucinate some of these situations.

Anyway, while I was pondering the randomness of life sometimes, I saw this:

It is so exciting to find new things in Oslo! Bisquick!! Of course the box only has about 3 cups total in it. Products here are like the premature babies of their American counterparts. They started carrying Bisquick about a month ago, and we all know that Bisquick makes some rocking dumplings. As the sick often do, I wandered aimlessly around the store for about 45 minutes, and in that time I got my Bisquick, a chicken, celery and carrots and 2 sodas.

Finally got home, threw the chicken in a pot with celery, onion and garlic:

After it boiled for awhile, I took the chicken out and threw in the carrots and deboned the chicken and threw it back in. Next I mixed up some Bisquick and dropped it in by the spoonful:

Then covered it and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Finally, I ladeled it out into a big bowl:

It really is the ultimate in comfort food. And since I am being 'responsible diabetic' these days, I was worried about how the carbs in the Bisquick would affect my bloodsugar, yet two hours later, I was at 130!

Score for the Bisquick!!!

Faux-sagna and Bean Bread!

2008-08-31T11:03:00.003+02:00

Well, I am toodling along the South Beach Diet and I am really loving it.

I've got week one under my belt, and true to my nature, I did cheat a few times, but overall, I rocked it pretty hard. One of my favorite meals this week had to be the faux-sagna. Yep, lasagna sans noodles. And what pray tell was the noodle substitute? Why, broiled eggplant strips of course!

I sliced the eggplant thin, put it on some parchment paper and put a little parmesean on it:
I broiled it for about 10 minutes. It didn't get a crispy, lasagna plate like consistency like the recipe said it would, but what-ev.

While that was a-broiling, I whipped up a tasty marinara with lean ground beef and lots of veggies:

Then I just put it all together like you would any 'real' lasagna. Sauce, faux-noodles, ricotta egg mixture, mozzarella, repeat:
Another thing that has been a life saver is a little gem I discovered called 'Ligurian Farinata'. As the name implies, it is from the Liguria region of Italy and it is a common street food. It's a flat bread made out of chickpea flour! I have experimented with chickpea flour in the past when I have made previous efforts to control my blood sugar. It works great in casserole type dishes, like my diabetic enchiladas. I have never thought to make a flat bread out of it until I found this recipe on Recipezaar.

It was so simple and I must admit to being really impressed by the end results:
It was light and crisp around the edges and really satisfied my bread craving!

Between the Ligurian bean bread and the faux-sagna, dinner was a hit:
Even the skeptical hubby gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up!

But the best part about the South Beach Diet so far?

My blood sugar is the lowest it's been in recent memory. Well within the recommended ranges from the American Diabetes Association.

I am psyched!

The leaf has been turned

2008-08-26T20:40:00.002+02:00

Admittedly, I have been a bit of diabetic daredevil in the past. Yet fresh off of my cancer scare, I have a new passion for my health.

The threat of potential blindness or amputation 20 years down the line wasn't enough to get me going.

But the threat of cancer? Yea, that works.

So, after doing a lot of research and talking to a doctor, I am kicking it South Beach style.

In a way, I wish the South Beach diet wasn't so trendy, cause then it would feel more legitimate and less like a 'fad'. So, I just want you all to know that the diet was originally created by a certain Dr. Agaston in Miami (hence the catchy name) for his cardiac and diabetic patients. It worked wonders for his patients, improved cardiac function, cholesterol levels, dramatically lowered blood glucose levels.

Oh yea, and people lost a lot of weight. The media caught on, and the South Beach craze began.

It is hard for me not to focus on the weight loss aspect of the diet, I constantly remind myself that I am doing this for my HEALTH.

So, let the body rehab begin.

I started my first day on South Beach with a bang. For dinner I grilled marinated pork tenderloin, made homemade refried beans and a fresh salsa with my very own tomatoes, spinach and avocado:
I discovered pinto beans a few weeks ago here in Norway and boy was that an exciting day! I made a big pot of pintos and then mashed them into some gorgeous refrieds:

The salsa was really tasty as well. Something about growing your own tomatoes that makes it taste so good:
But, the best part about dinner last night had to be the dessert! Ricotta cheese is very popular on the South Beach diet and this was simply cocoa, ricotta, cream cheese, vanilla, eggs, evaporated milk and splenda mixed together and baked in a water bath. 45 minutes later I had this gorgeous number:

It tasted like a chocolate cheesecake to me. I was a happy girl.

Getting healthy is tasting good:

One day at a time.

Majesty, pure majesty

2008-08-25T20:15:00.006+02:00

So, my friend Tonya came to visit from Germany this past weekend and after several conversations that went like this:

"what do you want to do?"
"I don't know, what do you want to do?"
"um, I am open to anything, what do you want to do?"
"really, we can do anything. What do you want to do?"

Clearly, we needed assistance making our decision.

So, we went to the train station to peruse the various trips from Oslo leaving Friday morning and returning Saturday evening. Miraculously, we somehow made a decision about what we wanted to do and decided to take a train from Oslo to a place called Flåm.

The west coast of Norway is known for spectacular scenery and this is a place I like to take 'out-of-towners' because, frankly, Flåm is a bit of a show off. When it comes to jaw dropping vistas, Flåm delivers in a really big way. The name "Flåm" means "little place between steep mountains," and it sits at the foot of the longest fjord in the world, Sognefjord. If you are blessed with good weather, I guarantee you will be amazed by what you see. Here is the view from our hotel room:

That is an amazing vista to wake up to and I cannot tell you how excited I was when we woke up and saw that it was going to be a GORGEOUS day. So, after another round of 'What do you want to do?', we decided on a fjord safari! ! The safari started at noon and promised a unique experience on the fjord. But the BEST and most exciting part was the cool outfits they made us put on! You would have thought we were going on an artic expedition:

Check us out!!

Once on the boat and in our 'all weather gear', we saw amazing things.

Waterfalls:
Seals:
The smallest stave church in Norway, built in 1147:

And views like this around every bend:

Just majestic. It's stuff like this that makes me feel very small.

Simple. Pure. Beautiful.

It was a perfect day.

A kind, nice cancer

2008-08-20T07:38:00.004+02:00

It was just a mole.

It had been there for as long as I could remember, nestled in the hollow of my lower back, minding its own business.

But then, it started to change. About 3 years ago. It started growing. It had always been pink, still was.

It started to give me trouble and I thought it was because of it's location. Right in a place where it interfered with fashion. Waistlines of pants and smack in the middle of belt highway. Sometimes it would bleed.

I never worried.

At the doctor, as an afterthought, I had him look at it. It didn't look like cancer, but if I was worried, he would refer me to a dermatologist.

I declined.

Months went by.

One day, A coworker had a look and said 'That doesn't look good, I would have it checked'.

For some reason, his words scared me. I saw my doctor. I got a referral. I waited for them to schedule an appointment.

Months went by.

The letter came and I had an appointment on June 30 at 2pm.

I went to the doctor, he looked at it and said, 'This is NOT cancer, I am 99.9 percent sure! BUT, I will take it to confirm that my instinct is correct and to give you peace of mind'.

Within 10 minutes a full square inch was missing from my lower back and I left with 4 stitches holding the square together.

A month went by.

A letter came last week.

My husband read the letter to me over the phone and in a nutshell it said 'The recent biopsy of the mole showed that it was cancer. Basal Cell Carcinoma'.

In that moment, my heart started pounding and fear began to inch in. Then my husband read the next line:

'This is a kind, nice cancer and we consider you cured'.

A kind, nice cancer.

In those moments all I could think about was the EVIL, VICIOUS cancer that chewed my dear father up and spit him out and left him to die a horrible death less than 2 years ago. The UGLY, MEAN cancer that ravaged my friend Kat's dad and killed him last week. The RUTHLESS cancer that took my grandmother when my mom was only 5 years old. The cancer that so many of my friends have fought against for their very LIVES and have won.

Yet, I had the KIND, NICE cancer.
If ever there were an oxymoron, this was it.

It was sobering and it was terrifying to hear the word 'cancer'.
I googled 'Basal Cell Carcinoma', to verify that it was indeed a kind cancer and to ease my fears of imminent death. I found the Wikipedia page and began to read. It is the most common form of skin cancer and is usually due to a high cumulative exposure to UV light via sunlight.
I am not a tanner. Never have been.

But when I read this: 'As with squamous cell carcinoma, the incidence of basal cell carcinoma rises sharply with immunosuppression', recognition rang loud and clear.

Immunosuppression.
Diabetes.

Can I say for sure that diabetes gave me cancer??
NO. NO. NO.

But.

I do know that the mole began to change shortly after my diagnosis of diabetes 3 years ago.
I do know that since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I spend more time sick than I do well. I am NOT a sick person. Never have been.

Until Diabetes.

There is strong research that links high blood sugar (mismanaged or unmanaged diabetes) to development of cancer. Like this one that followed 1.29 MILLION South Koreans. The results? Sobering.

Researchers analyzed data on 1.29 million South Korean men and women ages 30 to 95 who received health insurance from a group that covers government employees, teachers and their families. Participants were followed for up to 10 years starting in 1992.
About 5 percent of the participants had diabetes. A total of 26,473 participants died of cancer during the follow-up.
Participants with diabetes were roughly 30 percent more likely than those without to develop and die from cancer. The highest risks were for cancer of the pancreas, the organ that produces blood sugar-regulating insulin. Diabetes involves inadequate production or use of insulin.

Again, was my cancer caused by diabetes?

I don't know.

But I do know that it has scared me enough to finally take drastic steps to get it under control. To take RESPONSIBILITY for my disease. To finally acknowledge that it is as serious as my Long QT Syndrome, if not more so.

It comes down to this:

So many people cannot control whether or not they do get cancer, but if there is even a REMOTE chance that I can PREVENT it...

Shouldn't I???

My first harvest!!

2008-08-11T20:51:00.005+02:00

These are truly exciting days! It has been awhile since I have given you a garden update, and boy, what a difference a month makes! We have had a less than stellar summer here, which translates to alot of rain, pretty chilly and only about 12 days of full sun and heat. So, I have been concerned that things in the garden wouldn't have time to ripen before fall swept in with a vengence.

Well, my little garden is a garden of TROOPERS! I went out tonight to inspect things and I was thrilled to finally see that a few tomatoes were turning into COLOR:
Now, it seems pretty clear to me that these are yellow tomatoes. I planted both yellow and red, but in my excitement, I forgot to label everything. Christopher thinks they may turn red, but I am fairly certain that the red tomatoes don't go from green to yellow to red. They just turn red. Aren't they PRETTY??? I can't wait to pick them!

Next to the tomatoes I have the tomatillos and I did such a happy dance when I saw this:
Look at that little tomatillo husk!!! The husk appears first and then the tomatillo grows inside of it!! It's looking like I may get TWO tomatillos! We'll see.

Then, winding it's way up the balcony we have these babies:
They are called Cranberry beans! They better be good, cause they killed all the peas and they have a lot to make up for.

The jalepenos are flourishing:
Look at that BAD boy!! Only problem is he turned out not to be so bad after all! It WASN'T HOT! What is up with that?? Parts of it were, but the majority of it tasted like a green bell pepper. Hmmmm. It's a mystery.

If you remember, I have a bag that I am growing potatoes in and a large pot containing carrots. Both of these projects drive me crazy cause I can't SEE what is going on under the soil. Because of this, I tend to dig things up that aren't ready to be dug up. Tonight that happened in the potato bag. I just decided to dig down a little and see if there was anything there. And look at what I found:
Isn't that precious?? It is about the size of a marble. It's the only one I could find, so I hope he had lots of brothers and sisters down there. I guess we'll see in September.

My impatience and curiosity has also led to the premature pulling of at least 3 carrots well before their due date. But tonight, I was moving all the carrot 'hair' around to see if the soil needed water and I suddenly saw the TOPS of a bunch of carrots poking up above the soil!!!

I had such a surge of excitement course through me!! The last time I had pulled a carrot, it was about 2 inches long and, consequently, I had received a stern talking to from Christopher about how I needed to not pull anymore carrots until they were good and ready! Well, I had NOT pulled any carrots since then, but tonight I could see their tops peeking out and they were about as round as a nickel.

I think we all know what happened next.

I pulled.
And pulled.
And pulled.
And pulled.
And pulled.

5 times. I was suddenly holding the most beautiful baby carrots you have ever seen:

Then, I took them inside and gave them their first, and last, bath:
Check out the one on the far left! I clearly planted 3 seeds to close together as the one big carrot is growing 2 little ones! The carrots I planted were a 'grab bag' of orange, purple, white and yellow, tonights harvest yielded 3 white, 1 yellow and 1 orange! I haven't seen any purples and alot of the tops I can see in the pot are orange. So we will see!

Then we ATE them! They were so SWEET and good! I'm not a lover of carrots, but I so enjoyed these! I think just the knowledge that they were something I actually GREW, from a tiny SEED, made them taste delicious!

Can you believe we have made it this far????

Wow.

I miss Courtney

2008-08-10T12:27:00.005+02:00

August 10, 1999.

That was the day my amazing little sister Courtney died.

She was 24.

She was compassionate and funny.

It's been 9 years today and I cannot believe how time flies. I remember so clearly the day it happened. It is one of the most vivid memories I have. That is probably because the shock was so great and so profound.

Each year it comes and each year it goes, and it just doesn't seem to get easier. It doesn't take my breath away like it used to, but I still get that knot in my throat and that dull ache in my heart.

So, today, I just want to remember her. I am grateful for all of the memories I have of her, but oh how I wish there would be opportunities for new ones.

Here are just a few pictures...

Easter egg hunt, rocking some awesome outfits:

Courtney was an identical twin:

Here are the twins all grown up:

Courtney, you are missed. So much.

...And, we're back.

2008-07-25T21:51:00.003+02:00

Hello friends!

Please forgive the long absence, but we were on vacation in a little piece of paradise called the Maldives. I am a visual person, and this place was visually amazing.

Here is the beach where our private little villa was located:

And another shot right in front of the restaurant:

The color of the Indian Ocean was truly THAT color! No photoshopping whatsoever!!!

So, we had 14 days of waking up to sunrises like this:

One of the highlights of my trip was when we were snorkeling on the fabulous house reef and came across this bad boy:

I cannot tell you how amazing it was to be that close to a giant sea turtle! It was beautiful! So graceful and it just kept looking at us like 'Whazzup??'. He seemed VERY laid back. We swam with him for awhile and he just ate sea sponges. Amazing.

So, please forgive me for not updating of late! I have been in paradise:

Somehow enchiladas make saying goodbye a little bit easier

2008-06-30T20:08:00.009+02:00

As most of you know, moving to Norway has been challenging at times. All in all, I love this place, but sometimes I really LONG for home and for my family and my friends. One bonus of working for a HUGE international company is that I am always guaranteed to be surrounded by people who look, think and sound different than me. Yet, there are also times when you meet people who are alot like you and it makes you feel not so alone in this really big world.

Cassie was one of those people. She is also a Texan, the life of a party, and just an all around really cool girl.

Cassie makes me smile.

Well, as is also common in HUGE international companies, people move around alot and suddenly Cassie is heading off from Norway to Australia.

Cassie shares my love for cooking and she makes a mean macaroni and cheese and can bake a wicked banana bread. Cassie also has a REAL mexican grandma who can COOK. So you can imagine how nervous I was the first time I ever made tex mex for her. One of the first things I made was enchiladas, and she LIKED them!!! The gravy was different from what she was used to, but she ate it and gave it a thumbs up!!

And now, we fast forward 2 years later and it's our last supper together. What should we have, we wondered. We settled on enchiladas. It just seemed right. Two Texas gals in a kitchen in Norway, far from home as one prepares to move even farther. Yes, enchiladas would do nicely.

Of course there are no corn tortillas in Norway, we're kicking it old school:

About 2 cups of Masa and 1 cup of warm water mixed together:

Cassie uses her dainty hands to make walnut sized masa balls:

Put the ball in the press between some parchment paper:

Press the HECK out of it:

Peel it off the paper and slap it onto a cast iron skillet:

Repeat til they are all done and you have a pretty stack:

Next we make the sauce. I didn't take pictures of the entire process, just the ingredients, Penzey's Ancho Chili powder, cumin, salt and mexican oregano:

It's really simple to make tasty enchilada sauce. I use 2 Tablespoons of flour, (here's a hot diabetic tip, use GRAM flour, which is ground chickpeas, and your sauce is carb FREE!!) and some olive oil and make a basic roux. To that, add the spices above, mix it all together, and add chicken broth while stirring constantly. (Don't you hate when directions tell you to stir constantly? I NEVER do)If you find the sauce a bit pungent, add a squirt or two of tomato paste!

For the filling of these enchiladas, I cooked some lean ground beef and grated some white cheddar and chopped some white onion. We then started the assembly process. I LOVE the Sonoran style of enchiladas, they don't roll, they FOLD, which in my opinion, makes things so much easier and keeps me from cussing. I also DO NOT fry my tortillas in oil first, cuts out more fat and calories so we can save it for more important things like the CHEESE!! So put some sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish and put the the corn tortilla down and then flip it over so both sides are covered in sauce. Put in a spoonfull of meat and some cheddar:

Fold it over and repeat til the pan is full:

like so:

Top with the extra cheddar and ground beef and pop in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until it's all melty and bubbly:

When they are done, top with chopped onion and you are good to go:

Friends, there is truly nothing better in this world than good Tex-Mex. One bite can cure my homesickness. I will NEVER tire of anything that looks like this:

Earlier in the day I made a pot of chicken alphabet soup. Another hot tip for you, one cup of alphabet pasta will give you quite a big pot of slime, trust me.

Anyway, Cassie was playing with some pasta and really summed up the evening quite nicely:

Good food. Good friends. Good memories.

We have FRUIT, people!!!!!

2008-06-29T12:14:00.004+02:00

So, this morning I went out to peruse the garden and see if anything needed plucking or staking and imagine my total and utter SHOCK when I saw these little beauties!!!!

Here's a close up:

I have PEAS!! I thought they were the kind that you shell, but they look alot like snowpeas to me! I can't believe things are actually bearing FRUIT! I find this whole thing fascinating!!!

Then I started inspecting the tomato plants and spied this:

I have 3 tomatoes that I saw and 1 bell pepper!! I just can't believe it!! I am really excited!

In sad news, something seems to be ravaging the jalepeno plants and I don't know what it is:

The carrots are growing beautifully and it takes EVERYTHING in me not to pull one out and see what it looks like! I wonder if I have baby carrots in that pot?? I REALLY want to yank one out. Christopher talked me out of it, but I may just have to.

I am a curious gal.

Ok. So that is the balcony garden update!!!

FRUIT!! I have actual, alive, organic vegetables growing from SEEDS that I planted and loved and grew!!!

Wow.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Chicken Tenders, Hushpuppies and BlueCheese Dressing

2008-06-27T20:23:00.005+02:00

So, I have been working out and trying to drop a few pounds cause we are going to the Maldives next Saturday for a fabulous beach vacation. I have been somewhat successful and have dropped about 12 pounds or so!

Great news for my brittle self confidence that will be bikini clad for 15 days!

The not so great news is that I am a bit of self sabatoger! Everytime I make some headway, I end up eating something that is firmly in the category of 'non diet friendly foods'.

I had a wonderful visit with my mom and dad who came from Texas to Norway for a week and maybe I was a little depressed that they left yesterday. Yea, that's it. (It is always nice to find something to blame destructive habits on.)

So, today, in a clear effort to easily gain back some of my hard earned weight loss, my cravings drove me blindly towards chicken tenders, hush puppies and homemade blue cheese dressing!

WTF!!?!!

Recipezaar is my enabler!

I started with Paula Deen's recipe for fried chicken. I made it somewhat ok by using skinless, boneless chicken breast. The thing I loved about this recipe is that it called for a cup of Louisiana Hot Sauce in the egg mixture! Now, I LOVE me some Louisiana Hot Sauce!!! It didn't make the tenders hot, but gave them really good flavor and they were really juicy:

Oh my goodness they were good!

Now, I have NO IDEA why I would suddenly crave hushpuppies!! But crave them I did, so I made hush puppies Justin Wilson style.

I have no idea who this Justin Wilson is, but his hush puppies had good ratings, so I whipped them up. Maybe I was having flashbacks from the Catfish King in Nacogdoches, Texas. I remember eating and LOVING fried catfish and hushpuppies, but I haven't thought about them in YEARS. Decades really, but they turned out nicely:

And then, because the chicken was made with Louisiana hot sauce giving them that 'buffalo wing vibe', I thought that celery dipped in blue cheese dressing would be really good. Problem number one is that there is no blue cheese dressing in Norway.

No problem. I'll just make that as well. Enter in a good basic blue cheese dressing recipe, and voila:

Problem number 2 is that I forgot to buy celery, so I sliced some tomatoes and just put it on them!

So, all in all, it was a delicious, but fat inducing, evening. Here is a picture of my plate of sin:

Not a green vegetable in sight.

Sad. Just sad.

Oh well. In a week I will be on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean and I have a feeling that what I ate today will be the last thing on my mind.

Where the Wild Things Are

2008-06-06T20:22:00.003+02:00

Well, the wild things are apparently on my balcony!!!

Many of you have been on this whole 'I'm gonna grow a garden from seed' journey with me from the beginning! All I can say, is that I am simply STUNNED at how well everything is doing.

I think I may have some sort of magical powers. Or a REALLY green thumb. Or maybe I'm like the horse whisperer, but with plants.

I make these wild claims ONLY because, as I have been on this journey, I have had so many people tell me, 'I have tried so many times to grow from seed and nothing ever makes it!' Or, 'Don't get your hopes up, it's really difficult!'

EVERY single seed I planted germinated! And EVERY single one grew up! I have plants coming out my ears! I have given so many away (not counting the ones I accidentally stepped on and killed). So, I don't know what to think.

It comes down to this: either I have been incredibly lucky, or I am just gifted.

I prefer to think it's a gift. A rare one.

So, here are the kids!!!!

The peas and the beans:

Once these popped out of their little pea and bean cases, there was no stopping them! I am NOT kidding when I say that they grow about 3 to 4 inches over night!

And this is really FREAKY, their little pea arms just grab onto ANYTHING and wrap right around:

When the little arms are wispy, we just kind of train them towards the balcony grating and within a few hours, they have wound themselves around it. AMAZING!

Next, is our box of tomatoes:

I am pretty sure I chose the WRONG kind of tomato to grow on a balcony. Apparently 'Outdoor Girl' puts out some pretty large fruit and is a LARGE plant. So, I am going to have to start 'pinching it off', which is another way of saying that I will forbid it grow any larger than I want it to.

Now one of the things that I have worried about is that, who cares if the plants grow if they don't flower?? So, I have been anxiously looking out for flowers and just TONIGHT, I saw these!!!!

I may have to pollinate them, but I am pretty sure we have lots of bees on the balcony, so we will see if they can't get their pollen spread on their own.

Then we have the carrots:

Next we have what my friend Lola calls the 'Tater Bag'. I read about how some people grow potatoes in plastic bags and I thought I would give it a try. So, I started with some new potatoes from the store and left them out for about 2 weeks until the eyes began sprouting. Once they did, I took a bag that soil comes in, because it is thick and black, and rolled down the sides, put a layer of soil in it, put the potatoes in, eyes UP and covered them and waited.

And waited.

Nothing.

In theory, once you cover the potatoes, they will push their leaves through the soil. When the leaves appear, you roll the sides of the bag up a little and cover it with soil again. The leaves will turn into roots and grow more potatoes and more green leaves will poke through the soil in another few weeks. Every time sprouty leaves come up, roll up the bag, cover with soil and repeat. When the bag is full, let the sprouts grow, flower and die, and come september, slice the bag open and gorgeous new potatoes will come tumbling out!!!

Well, wouldn't you know it...a few days ago, I suddenly had my first green tater sprouts appear!

I'll put more soil on top on Sunday!

This pot has bell peppers and one yellow tomato plant in it. Clearly it is overcrowded. Also in this pot is plucking lettuce and basil as companion plants. I am going to have to thin this pot out, but how do you choose who to let DIE?? It is very difficult. They are all growing like mad and I have flowers coming on the bellpeppers!

Here are the gorgeous jalepenos:

And finally, the 'what in the hell am I doing in NORWAY' tomatillo plants!! They are thriving!!!

So friends, that is my garden! It is going very well and I can't wait to see what comes out of it!!!

Healthy Fettucini Alfredo for Kindel!

2008-06-03T19:54:00.006+02:00

So, I got an email from my darling little sister Kindel last night. I consider Kindel to be a fledgling chef. When I was in Texas for my whirlwind trip last month, I taught her how to make Shrimp Diablo. A super easy, super tasty marinara based dish.

Well, Kindel took off like a FLASH and has made it ALOT over the last few weeks and in her email last night, she wanted, and I quote:

"what’s another good sauce that I can make? Something with shrimp because I have a lot of shrimp. And one that tastes creamy and fattening but isn’t. LOL!"

Now, one thing that absolutely SUCKS about living in Norway is that I can't just go buy ingredients and spend the evening with my little sister teaching her how to make a fabulous, low fat pasta sauce. That makes me sad! Can you tell I really miss Kindel??

But, what I CAN do, is make the dish here in Oslo and then blog about it and send the link to Kindel, so that she has a step by step recipe to follow with the bonus of pictures!!

So, let's just call this the first in the Kindel cooking series, shall we?

Ok. Yes. Low Fat, but DELICIOUS, totally CREAMY fettucini alfredo! I know! It sounds crazy! But it is absolutely possible to make a really creamy, rich sauce that is low in both fat and calories!

I know a lot of people are scared of FAT! But you NEED some fat and I really try to avoid a lot of fat free stuff, plus it isn't available in Norway! If you use LOW fat ingredients, you reduce the caloric and fat content by over HALF! That is alot! So don't go fat free, go low fat!

Here are the ingredients for the alfredo sauce:

So, 1 percent milk, reduced fat margarine, a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of flour, parmesean cheese and low fat cream cheese! That's it!

Start by melting 1 Tablespoon of low fat margarine in a pot:

Chop up your garlic and add it too the butter when it's melted and saute it for about 30 seconds:

Next, you're going to add the flour:

When the flour, butter and garlic mix together it is going to form a crumbly, pasty mixture called a roux:

Now, you are going to add the milk. You will probably need about 2 cups. So, start by adding about half of your milk:

Take a whisk and just start stirring until you get the lumps out. The flour will make it thicken, so when it starts to get thick, just add more milk. You are going to have it on Medium High heat here. So, just stir, stir, stir, stir until you have a good creamy consistency:

Time to add the cream cheese. You want 2 to 3 tablespoons, or about half the container. Slap it into the pot:

And stir until it is melted in. It should be really creamy now:

Time to add the parmesean cheese. And NO, you CANNOT use the stuff in a can!!! Use FRESH! Here in Norway, we can't buy it already grated, so I grate my own:

The good thing about parmesean is that it is a very FULL flavored cheese and you don't need ALOT to taste it! But parmesean is also one of those cheeses that is not as high in fat as others! Just buy a bag of parmesean, regular or low fat and throw in about 2 or three tablespoons:

Again, stir it in and just taste it. If you want to add more cheese, add it. Now add some salt and pepper to taste. Lots of pepper:

So, set the sauce to the side. Time to prepare the meat! Kindel wanted shrimp, but I didn't have any, so I used chicken! BUT, where I used chicken, just substitute shrimp! I think chicken with blackening spices is great, so that is what I did:

Christopher slapped it on the grill, but you can cook it in a skillet or in a George Foreman. Be it chicken or shrimp, cook it til it's done:

Here is the seasoning blend I use. It's Tony Chachere's! I don't know how popular Tony is in your neck of the woods, but in Texas and Louisiana, Tony is KING! He goes on everything, and my mom always makes sure that I have a good supply on hand here in Norway:

Plus, look how CUTE Tony is! I have never really looked at him before tonight, but in the close up, he is just so SWEET! You would never guess that he would set your mouth on FIRE:

Now, I like my alfredo with veggies! You certainly don't have to have them, but don't underestimate the importance of a well rounded meal! If you decide to have veggies mixed in, you MUST buy some Ziploc steamer bags! SOOOOO simple! Chop some veggies, I used asparagus, zuchinni and snowpeas, seal the sucker and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes! That's it!!! And they are PERFECT:

Now at some point in all of this, put some water on to boil for your pasta! I use whole wheat pasta. It's just better for the blood sugar and this IS the beautiful diabetic after all:

That's it! Your chicken or shrimp is DONE! Your healthy alfredo sauce is DONE! Your perfectly steamed veggies are DONE! Your pasta is DONE! Time to throw it all together! Just get a bowl, put in the pasta and follow with all of your other ingredients:

So, I wish I could have eaten this with Kindel, but my company was good with Christopher and the dogs! We ate on the balcony in this gorgeous weather:

That's it! Totally simple and DELICIOUS alfredo sauce! I promise it is not fattening and you will LOVE the way it tastes!

I know I did:

Kids today! They grow up so fast!

2008-05-25T17:02:00.004+02:00

Well, I thought it was high time for an update on my little gardening project! When was it that we began? A few months ago at least. You'll recall we started with nothing but SEEDS and a humble beginning in a laundry room in Norway.

I have become quite attached to my little seedlings. I mean, I planted them! I germinated them! I watered them! I talked to them! I lovingly tended to them through all of their awkward phases. Convincing the pepper plants that just because they were smaller than the tomatoes didn't mean that they weren't equally important!

I am emotionally invested. I am a proud plant parent!

And I think I might have killed all of my charges today.

Let me explain.

Today was a big day in Oslo. We knew it was time. The plants were simply too big for their teenager pots! They were getting big and leafy, and pardon the pun, were growing like weeds! Check out my tomato kids:

Can you believe how much they have grown!!?? So, I had a nice wooden planter prepared for the tomatoes. I put plastic on the bottom so all the soil wouldn't fall out of the slats, and punched holes all through it for drainage. For extra drainage, I put a layer of nice chunks of quartz and granite which seems to just lay around here in Norway. I also had some gorgeous, nutrient rich organic soil:

So, I filled the planter, and transplanted the tomatoes. I buried them about half way since the extra leaves will form more roots and make a stronger plant. Patted the soil securely around them and went to the gardening center to get more soil and an organic fertilizer and some stakes to tie up the tomatoes with. When we got home, I was met with this sad situation:

Are they dead?? Did I kill them?? I immediately came inside and consulted my good friend Google. Google had a lot of opinions, the most common being that the plants were in transplant shock. Do you think this is true? That maybe they will perk back up?
I will be so sad if I have killed the plants after all we have been through together these last few months!

The bell peppers and jalepenos don't look much better:

However, the tomatillos are looking ok:

I also have some peas and beans growing behind the door:

And a little potato project going on as well. I read about growing potatoes in a bag. So, I got some potatoes, let them sit in the sun for a couple of weeks til they were covered in tons of creepy little eyes, then I took a plastic bag, rolled the edges down, put down a layer of soil, popped the multi-eyed monsters into the dirt like so:

Then I covered them with soil. What is SUPPOSED to happen is that in about a week, the potatoes will shoot some leaves up through the soil. At that point, I roll the the sides of the bag up a bit, and cover it with soil again. The leaves will turn into roots and have more potato babies and will keep pushing up. So, basically, you just keep rolling up the bag and covering in soil until the bag is full. You let the last leaves come up, bloom and die and come September, you will have a bag full of new potatoes!!! I will certainly keep you updated on the potato project!

So, that is the gardening update!!!! I hope someone can tell me that I did NOT kill my little plants! That would be sad!!!

Lets all cross our fingers that the little kids will perk back up and continue on to their destiny of feeding us in a few months!

My little week of BIG adventure!

2008-05-19T18:53:00.003+02:00

Hello friends!

So, last Thursday evening I was on the phone with my darling sister and we were talking about Mother's day and how sad it was that I couldn't be in Texas to spend the day with my mom.

Now, I need to preface this story with the fact that I had partaken of a few glasses of wine BEFORE said conversation with my sister.

Well, somewhere in that conversation, we decided it would be a FABULOUS idea if I, Kathryn, were to fly from NORWAY to TEXAS to surprise our mother for Mother's day. It seemed like a really great idea and I admit, we got pretty fired up! There was a flurry of credit cards and phone calls, and suddenly, I was booked to fly to TEXAS. On Saturday, which was about 24 hours away!!!

It was CRAZY. After I got over the initial shock that I had actually BOOKED tickets to fly to Houston, my sister and I started laying the groundwork for Operation Surprise.

Long story short, it was a long flight, my sister picked me up from the airport, we went to Outback Steakhouse where my sister had arranged to meet my mom and stepdad Chuck, for dinner. I was ALL nerves! I couldn't believe that we had actually pulled this off. So we are sitting in the bar and my back is to the door. They arrive, and Kindel gets up to say hello and suddenly I stand up and turn around and say 'Mind if I join you for dinner???'

It was a moment of sheer beauty my friends!! The look on my mother's face was priceless. The utter SHOCK. The confusion. The tears. The JOY!!!!

I still can't believe we pulled it off!!! We had a GREAT time. As the few days passed, I realized how much I NEEDED to be there. To be with my sister and my mom. It was so good for me! We had a whirlwind week of eating, shopping, hanging out and just fun and 5 days later, I turned around and came back to Norway!

So that was my little week of BIG adventure!!

One thing I love about going back to the states is the FOOD! So many choices and so much GOOD stuff! I ate my share of Tex Mex! Last night here in Oslo, I started craving Spinach Artichoke dip. I didn't make it to Houston's Restaurant to have some this trip, so I decided to whip some up as a kind of closure to my whirlwind trip.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

As usual, all ingredients are approximate, if you need exacts, just pop on over to Recipezaar, where the worlds recipes are!

About 4 cups of fresh spinach
Can of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
About 1 cup finely grated white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1-3 garlic clove, minced, to taste (or more)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup low fat cream cheese
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
A few tablespoons of skim milk

So, take your artichokes and chop them up in small chunks:

Then grab your spinach. You can use frozen, but I just love fresh:

Chop it finely and throw it in a dry pan and saute it:

I told my husband last night that I really felt that spinach was a dishonest vegetable. Without fail, I am ALWAYS amazed at how it shrinks! Seriously! Like 5 cups of spinach cooks down to about 3 tablespoons! Ok, maybe not that much, but it is ridiculous! So, after your 3 cups of spinach has reduced itself, add it to the artichokes:

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, the sourcream, the milk, salt and garlic and about 3/4 of the cheeses and mix it up until it is well combined:

When that is smooth, add your spinach and artichokes to the mixture and stir well:

Put it all in an ovenproof casserole dish and top it with the remaining cheese and pop it into a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes:

Now, usually this dip is served with tortilla chips, but I am trying to shrink myself in time for our beach vacation, so I decided on pita chips. Well, this being Norway, we don't have pita chips, but we do have pita bread. So, I took 3 pieces of whole wheat pita and split it and quartered it:

Put them on a baking sheet and spray them with Olive Oil Pam and sprinkle them with sea salt:

Bake those at about 400 for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crisp, flipping them half way through.

So simple and so delish:

Want a bite??

New Kids on the Block

2008-04-28T20:29:00.005+02:00

Wouldn't it be AWESOME if this was an entry about these guys:

Anyone else remember 'Hangin' Tough'?? Look at them!! Those 5 guys were responsible for breaking the hearts of thousands of girls (and I am sure some boys) worldwide!! That group of hotties right there sold more than 80 MILLION records world wide.

Shocking isn't it?

WOW.

Alas, the new kids to which I refer are none other than these beauties:

Basil-

Jalepeno-

Tomatillo-

Last time I posted a gardening update all I had was tomatoes and bell peppers, or at least that is what I thought it was, as I had neglected to label them! About a week later, something else started coming up. I could tell by the developing leaves that I had tomatoes and bell peppers and the next thing to come up was either the jalepenos or the tomatillos. Another week passed and I still had nothing in 5 of the spaces. So, I decided to take drastic measures. I dug up the seeds to see what they were.

Tomatillos.

Of course! What are tomatillos even doing in Norway in the first place?? So, I took the remaining tomatillo seeds that I had, and I planted them. Maybe the dark laundry room wasn't ideal for the little south of the border green tomatoes?
They now all live in a south facing window sill and get lots of sunlight. They drink a lot of water and just this week 2 tiny tomatillo plants emerged from the soil!!

I am cautiously optimistic.

So, here is the whole gang as of 8pm Norway time:

I have about 25 tomato plants, about 15 bell pepper plants, 10 jalepeno plants and 2 tomatillo plants, with about 4 others i can see trying to break through. I have to transplant the tomatoes and bell peppers soon to 'big boy' pots for them to live in and grow until they are transferred yet again to their outdoor pots sometime in late May.

Also in my menagerie, there are 3 pots of basil, and outside I have 4 pots of baby leaf spinach, 3 pots of ruccola and 2 pots of chives. The chives are not growing, but the spinach and ruccola are starting to sprout.

Next week I am planting peas, beans, carrots and lettuce!!!

I am a planting FOOL!!!!

This always happens with me.

It's what they call 'getting carried away'.

But I can't help it. I LOVE the fact that I am nurturing something and growing things! The fact that I may get to EAT something from these very laundry room plants, hasn't even sunk in yet! When that day happens, I will be bouncing off the walls, high as a kite, footloose and fancy free!! And any other cliche sayings you can think of!!!

So, that is the update on my very first Norwegian garden!!

Grow little ones, grow!!!!!!

What's up, Chicken butt?

2008-04-21T19:37:00.005+02:00

FINALLY!!! Spring has sprung in Norway!!!

Moving to and living in Norway has been, overall, an amazing experience, but adjusting to the seasons has been HELL. I come from a little place called Texas. In Texas we have, what I consider to be normal, 24 hour cycles. 12 hours of night and 12 hours of day, with the hours varying by a FEW depending on the month. I remember growing up, the rule was 'Be home by dark', and we LOVED summer cause that meant, at its peak, we could stretch out the daylight til at least 8pm! Oh, the shenanigans we got into in that extra hour of daylight!!

Well, fast forward about 15 years. I met a lovely Norwegian, got engaged to said Norwegian, and eventually married said Norwegian. And somewhere in the whirlwind, I ended up living in Norway. I moved here in January. Came straight from our honeymoon in Cabo. Straight from SUNNY Cabo. And it was DARK. Unnaturally dark. It was very confusing. The sun would set at around, oh say, 3:00, IN THE AFTERNOON! Then it would weakly make its debut the next morning around 9.30 or 10:00.

Summer was an altogether different beast. It just didn't get dark. I found it absolutely fascinating. To go into a bar at 10:00pm and come out at 2:00am and it was sunny!?! There is a period where it gets like this navy blue color between about 12.30 and 1.30 am, but never completely dark!

So, as you can imagine, this wreaked havoc on my little Texan biorhythms. But winter was the worst. After months of winter and dark, you CRAVE sunshine. I went to the doctor last week for my blood work results and I was actually vitamin D DEFICIENT!!!! And he actually said to me, "Well, soon the sun will come back and that should even out!" WHAT!!!!!!???

Well, it was like a small miracle last Friday, suddenly the clouds were gone! The sky was blue, the birds were singing, the sun was shining!!

Zippety Do Da!

Time to grill! A few years ago, I saw something called 'Beer Butt Chicken'. At first I thought it was a Jeff Foxworthy bit, but it was actually a legitimate way to cook a whole chicken. Out of a mixture of curiosity and skepticism, I decided to try it and it quickly became my favorite way to make chicken! It is delicious!

Here is what you need:

First, a basic rub. I use dark brown sugar, sea salt, paprika, cajun seasonings, rosemary and a bit of oregano and dry mustard:

You can be creative with your rub! Just tailor it to your tastes! Next, take a whole chicken, slap some olive oil on it and rub your rub generously all over the bird:

Take a half liter beer can and drink or pour out half of it. Put about 2 tablespoons of the rub inside the can:

Now here comes the fun part, even though it does seem slightly violating to the innocent chicken. Take the chicken and proceed to impale it on the beer can:

The two legs and the can act like a tripod to hold it up. Place the bird and the beer in an ovenproof dish. This will catch all of the drippings and beer can sputterings and prevent a royal mess on your grill. Set the chicken on the grill:

Shut the cover and let it cook for about an hour or until a meat thermometer says it is done (between 75 and 80 celcius). About 45 minutes into it, put whatever else you are serving with the meal on the grill:

When the bird is finished, it will have crisp skin and the inside will be so juicy! I have also had the legs just FALL off towards the end of grilling. That is how tender it can become!

It's a bit tricky to remove it from the grill, much less taking it off of the beer can, so I tend to just cut the meat straight from the bird propped on the can:

Beer Butt Chicken. Truly a sign that the sun has returned to the land of the North.

The Perfect Party Cake That Almost Was...

2008-04-18T17:50:00.006+02:00

Well, apparantly there is something on this great big world wide web called 'The Daring Bakers'. They have monthly challenges and they BAKE some amazing stuff. I stumbled upon it quite innocently. I was reading Jen's blog, as as per usual, she had made something AMAZING. It was this Perfect Party Cake. Of course, as per usual, her creation was GORGEOUS and PERFECT. It was my father in laws birthday and I thought to myself, 'huh, I can make that cake for him'.

Famous last words.

Now, I consider myself a pretty good cook. I can throw things together with the best of them, but I am the first to admit I am a pretty half assed baker. Cooking is creativity, but baking, baking is CHEMISTRY. And cakes?? Pretty, perfect party cakes?? Well, those are pure CALCULUS. At least for me. I am messy and don't have the patience for perfection. Plus, you have to get those pesky measurements right and pans lined with parchment paper and so on and so forth.

I could have stuck with my tried and true chocolate cake that I am quite famous for, but Jen's cake was so amazing and pretty, that I found myself inspired.

So, join me as I make HALF of a perfect party cake! I am just putting the pictures that I liked up, they may or may not be helpful, so if you want stuff like the recipe and useful step by steps, you are going to have to refer back to Jen's blog!

One thing I loved about this cake was the lemon! I love lemon and I love lemon zest:

In this recipe, you had to mix the sugar with the zest, I used fructose:

So, I followed the directions perfectly, and I think my cake pans were a WEE bit wider than they should have been, but when I took them out of the oven, they were FLAT as pancakes! My hopes for a 4 layer cake were quickly dashed, but luckily, I have been blessed with a quick thinking mind and I decided right then and there to cut them in half and make 4 layers of HALF of a Perfect Party Cake:

Jen says that maybe the egg whites caused the cakes to collapse, and speaking of egg whites, on to the frosting. This frosting was some weird merangue number. I have never made a buttercream frosting that had egg whites in it, but I gave it go.

nice peaks:

I had to add an entire box of icing sugar to get a good spreadable consistency:

And lots more fresh lemon juice:

Then came the task of putting it all together. Here is where I got a bit nervous. The cake consists of 4 layers of raspberry jam, lemon butter cream frosting and lemon cake. So, I got to stacking my 4 halves.

First, homemade raspberry jam:

The recipe called for SEEDLESS raspberry jam.

Ummm, really?? NO.

I just used good old wholesome regular jam. Cake, frosting, jam. Cake, frosting, jam. Cake, frosting, jam. Cake, frosting:

Then I covered it with the rest of the frosting:

Topped the sucker with fresh raspberries:

And enjoyed every bite:

Well Hello there, little ones!!!

2008-04-13T21:44:00.004+02:00

So, one week into the science fair project going on in my laundry room, here are the initial results:

I have SPROUTS!!!!

Now, in all my planting excitement, I forgot to label the suckers, and we have a few issues going on. The main one being that only HALF of the seeds have chosen to come forth into this world.

Here is little greenhouse number 1:

As you can see, whatever it is I planted in the front is popping up quite nicely!! Whatever is in the back is being a bit shy. I got NOTHIN'!!

But greenhouse number 1 has got quite the lead on greenhouse number 2:

Now, that is just sad. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was at LEAST that they TRY!!!! C'MON guys!!!!

I can't imagine what I was thinking in NOT labeling what was what when I planted the seeds a week ago! If any of them survive, it will be interesting to see who was made of stronger stuff! Will it be the red tomatoes? The yellow ones? The bell peppers? The jalepenos? or the out of place in Norway Tomatillos?? What is your guess??

So, now not only do we have a little science fair project happening, we also have a mystery on our hands.

Grow, little ones, GROW!!!!

How lovely is the silence of growing things.

2008-04-06T19:38:00.005+02:00

I'm not sure where it all began, but somewhere along the line I really fell in love with the whole idea of growing THINGS.

I remember once in the early 90's, my cousin DJ and I and our friend Joel, decided it would be a good idea to completely till up the HUGE backyard of my uncle and aunts house and re-seed the grass as well as plant a HUGE garden. And by huge I mean something like 20 feet by 20 feet. On the appointed day, we worked so hard from the CRACK of dawn. It was truly back breaking work. We all trooped up to Home Depot at some point and walked into the HUGE space where they had rows and rows of every imaginable vegetable. We picked tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, squash and I am sure some other stuff, not to mention basil, cilantro, dill and other herbs. We took it all home, transferred them out of their little pots and plopped them into the ground, fertilized it, watered it and collapsed into bed.

The memories are a bit fuzzy now, but a few hours later I woke up to a roaring sound and what appeared to be strobe lights in my bedroom. I was very confused and disoriented, and while I was trying to figure out how someone had set up a RAVE in my bedroom without me knowing while I slept, the door FLEW open and I saw DJ and he was SCREAMING (although it looked like he was mouthing the words) 'WHAT'S GOING ON??'. I had slept with the windows open and suddenly the door that DJ had just flung open, SLAMMED with such force in his face. It was suddenly VERY clear what was going on.

Tornado.

I flew out of the bed and the suction of the door was so strong, it took everything in me to open it. DJ was still hysterical in the hallway and at this point my aunt and uncle were also in the hallway and then there was another crash. We didn't stick around to investigate, we all hustled downstairs and proceeded to get stuck trying to go 4 at a time down the stair well to the basement. If we weren't so terrified, it would have been hilarious.

As quickly as it had begun, it was quiet again. We sat huddled in the basement for the next 4 hours as night became day, and when we were certain no more tornadoes were coming to suck us up, we ventured outside. We were walking down the street and it looked like a bomb had gone off. Huge pine trees laying across the road, smashed cars and broken windows. We were lucky. Suddenly DJ and I remembered our precious garden!!

In all of the DRAMA, we had forgotten it, but we quickly hightailed it back to our house and ran into the back yard.

It was a miracle my friends.

It was as if God Himself, had placed His very own hand over our little patch of vulnerable vegetables. Apart from a few stray limbs and branches, our hard work was still in tact.

I cannot tell you how relieved we were.

However our gratitude was quickly forgotten about a month into this whole gardening process. Noone had told us we had to weed the sucker. Water it. Prune little vegetable limbs. Check for blight and bugs and other plant illnesses. Sheesh. It was like having a KID, but like 25 of them. So, it was like having a daycare center! Each little plant had to be looked after.

Somehow we persevered. Alot of things died in the tornado garden of 1998, but against all odds we had a healthy little crop of tomatoes and peppers.

And what can only be credited to 'tornado magic', we had a MUTANT basil plant that had actually turned into a basil TREE. It was GIGANTIC. I promise you have NEVER seen anything like it! We had Basil coming out of our ears!!

Yes. Good times.

So, since then, I have never undertook anything quite so grand. There was alot to live up to. How could I ever top the tornado garden???

Space is at a premium here in Norway. I have never had any space to plant a garden. But, we bought a new apartment with a balcony this past year and I decided that THIS would be the year that I planted my very first married persons garden!

I don't think I need to tell you that there is no Home Depot here in Norway. We do have a few respectable gardening centers and we decided TODAY was the day that we would go and pick out our little garden babies.

Now, there are not rows and rows of little seeded vegetable plants at my local gardening center, but they DO have FURRY chickens:

They ARE furry!!!

So, here in Norway, we start our gardens from seeds. Actual little seeds, which I must admit, has me totally intimidated. I can handle transferring a juevenile plant from it's little container and putting it into the ground to flourish into adulthood, however, this is a completely different animal!

Here, I am suddenly responsible for the actual GERMINATION process! It's like a retro highschool biology project, but instead of fruit flies it's tiny little seeds.

So, we went to the aforementioned gardening center and we stood with all of the other Norwegians, who, by the way, KNEW they had to get the seeds planted, at the latest, THIS weekend. We didn't know that. We just got lucky. I felt like a gardening fraud. But we managed to pick the following seeds for our little garden:

If you can't read the tiny print and if you dont read Norwegian, we bought yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, jalepenos, tomatillos (which I was SHOCKED to even SEE in Norway!), basil, spinach and chives!

So, I had to buy some mini greenhouses and you have to fill them almost to the top and put your seeds in:

Look how TINY they are!!

Then you have to cover them with a light top layer of soil and water them:

Then you put their little lids on and put them in a dark, warm place for 7 to 10 days and wait for the science magic to begin! We put them in the laundry room:

So, I have to be a bit honest here. It feels kind of like a 3rd grade science fair project, except there are no 3rd graders in this house.

But, I admit it, I am REALLY excited! I mean, if I can actually GROW something, from a SEED, I will be so PROUD!!!!!

So, dear friends, we are in this together.

Do you think the laundry room science fair project stands a chance?? And if so, will the tomatoes taste like fabric softener?

So many things to look forward to!

Artichoke Revelation

2008-03-25T16:40:00.009+01:00

Seriously, the Romans are very proud of their artichokes, and we just happened to be there during the peak of artichoke season! Artichokes were everywhere, and the Romans have figured out every possible way of preparing them!

I will go ahead and admit that I have limited artichoke knowledge. I grew up in Texas eating them steamed, dipped in a garlic, mayonaise, lemon juice and melted butter concoction. You know the drill, peel off a leaf, dip it and scrape it with your teeth. Get down to the heart and spend at least 20 minutes removing all the artichoke 'fur', and then dip that into the now cold butter mixture and eat it as well.

This has been my tried and true artichoke method and, up until Rome, it has worked for me.

So, the owners of the apartment we rented in Rome are Pietro and Marina. They go out of their way to ensure that their guests experience the BEST of what Rome has to offer, so me being me, I asked about typical Roman food. One thing leads to another, and Marina makes a phone call to Pietro and next thing we know, we have a real live Roman cooking night set up!! I tell them I want to TASTE Rome, so naturally, artichokes are on the menu.

Pietro arrives with his rolling shopping bag full of goodies and proceeds to unload some gorgeous stuffed artichokes:

Pietro had made these before he got to the apartment, so I didn't get to participate in the creation, but I got to drool over them while he told me how he stuffed them, but unfortunatly, I don't remember what he told me, except for parmesean, walnuts and some other delicious things:

I mentioned in passing that I would love to learn how to make the fried artichokes I had been seeing around Rome, so Pietro marched us out of the apartment to the fruit and vegetable market across the street where we found these:

I just love the way artichokes look, but apparantly, that is NOT how they come! Pietro said something in Italian (of course) to the adorable little man who worked there and he disappeared into the back and came back with this:

Isn't he so cute?? I think he didn't know what to say when I started snapping away with my camera, but he was so sweet and nodded enthusiastically when I kept saying 'Grazie, Grazie'.

Another thing I learned, embarassing I know, is that artichokes do NOT grow from trees. They grow up from the ground on large stalks! I didn't REALLY think they grew on trees, but honestly, I didn't know cause I have never given it much thought.

So, here was our chosen specimen:

As mentioned earlier, I have never done anything more than minor trimming and steaming of an artichoke. Pietro, however, took artichoke preparation to a whole different level. His hands were moving so fast, he cleaned that artichoke like noone's business. From what I could tell from the blur of hands and knife before me, he chopped off all the stems and stalk:

Next, he pulled off the majority of the outer leaves:

Then he chopped off its top, like so:

Next, he peeled the stem:

Finally he quartered it, and with a flick of his wrist, removed all the pesky artichoke fur from the heart:

So, that's it! Now we all can EFFORTLESSLY clean artichokes!
Then it was back to the kitchen, where we made a simple batter for the artichokes. Tipo OO flour, olive oil and water:

Simple.
Heat up some oil in a wok or large pan, and dip the artichoke quarters in the batter:

Then put them in the oil and fry them until they are nice and golden, like so:

Needless to say, we gobbled these up! Perfect dipped in a garlickly aioli or just eaten plain with a squeeze of lemon and sea salt!

I had so many artichokes, prepared so many different ways that night, it was a REVELATION.

Sitting there in Rome with my husband and sister and new friends, Pietro and Marina, drinking good Sicilian red wine and eating good Roman food, in that moment, life was perfect and I could not have been more content!

Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome")

2008-03-24T11:24:00.005+01:00

Well, we just returned from a week in the Eternal City, and after having been there, I can now fully understand the name. A few years ago we took a road trip through Europe and our itinerary included some bits of Northern Italy, specifically, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena and Turin.

My mistake was thinking that Rome would be like these places, just bigger.

Italy is a truly fascinating place, but Rome...Rome is in a league of its own.

My first impression was while looking out the airplane window upon approach. The Mediterranean sea was sparkling and everything was so GREEN, a nice change from the dark and snowy Oslo morning I had left a few hours earlier. My sister flew over from Texas and we all met at the airport and thus began our Roman Holiday!

So, we have all heard of the Colosseum. The Roman Forum. The Palantine Hill. The Vatican. The Dome of St. Peter. The Pantheon.

Let me assure you, hearing about them and seeing them in person are two completely different things.

It started with the apartment we had rented for the week. A hot tip for you: it is cheaper to rent an apartment than it is to stay in a hotel! Rome is NOT cheap! We got ours on vrbo.com!

So, we arrive at the apartment which is supposed to be 'near' the Colosseum. When they say 'near', who knows what that really means, in our case, we walked out onto our huge terrace and this is what 'near' meant:

Can you believe that view??

Our jaws hit the floor! The Colosseum was about 1000 meters away!

THE Colosseum!

In the distance, St. Peters Basilica. It was overwhelming. Directly in front of us, maybe 250 meters aways, a place called the Basilica of San Clemente. A church from the 1600's which sits on top of another church from the 4th century, which sits on top of a Mithraic temple from the first century. All of these layers have been excavated and you can work your way down through the centuries. Amazing. To the immediate left, the oldest monastery in Rome:

We sat down outside and drank our Sicilian red wine and absorbed the history surrounding us.

There is so much I could say on Rome, but I really just don't know where to begin. I have about 400 pictures, but there is no way to put them all here. Even if I could, they would be difficult to describe because so much of my experience of Rome was FEELING. Being overwhelmed. Being in AWE. All of this EXPOSED and VISIBLE history makes the mind and senses of this visually stimulated girl go CRAZY. Seeing stuff like this:

and this:

How is this stuff still standing?? Imagine it white and gleaming. A thriving society, so advanced and technically minded. Who could have even imagined that the Roman Empire could EVER NOT be the glorious center of the world?? I see things like this and I am perplexed. With these kind of structures and with that kind of society, how in the WORLD did the Dark Ages ever occur? It is mind boggling.

But this was what amazed me the most:

Those are just RUINS lying around!! Everywhere! Like tree branches or trash in any other city! Why don't they pick them up?? It just seems wrong to let chunks of thousand year old pillars lay about, doesn't it???

Simply unbelievable.

Ravished by Ravioli!

2008-03-09T16:02:00.021+01:00

Homemade pasta continues its reign in my kitchen with no signs of relinquishing its new found power. I would like to be clear that the power pasta has in my home is really an illusion, as I am the ONLY queen of my kitchen, but I am content to let it rule along side me, at least for a time.
So, I was talking to my brilliant geologist friend Cassie, and after having seen the previous post on pasta, she asked if I knew how to make ravioli. Well, one thing led to another and suddenly we had a date for Saturday night to have a ravioli making evening.

Ravioli is one of those things that seems alot more intimidating than it actually is. You should know by now that I am not a fancy pants chef with a fancy pants kitchen and fancy pants accessories. I loathe watching 'chefs' who cook things that make the average person feel like they could NEVER recreate what they are making.

Food brings me joy. Finding inventive ways of preparing and creating foods makes me GIDDY.

So, that being said, you don't need a ravioli ATTACHMENT to make gorgeous ravioli. You don't need a ravioli FORM to make those tasty filled pillows of goodness.

All you need is a 2 dollar pair of crafting scissors from Hobby Lobby.

YES! CRAFTING SCISSORS. You heard it here first on the beautiful diabetic.

Let me show you just how easy making awesome looking ravioli can be! I promise you will be amazed.

So, Cassie and I decided on making two types of ravioli. One stuffed with your basic cheese mixture and the other stuffed with homemade spicy Italian sausage and mozzarella. To make the cheese stuffing, simply mix together ricotta cheese, fresh grated parmesean, fresh basil, oregano, sea salt and cracked pepper.

I try to keep things on the healthy side here on my blog, so for the Italian sausage, take a lean pork chop, trim the fat, throw it in a food processor and pulse it until it is totally mutilated.

I am all for anything that makes creating good food easier, I am not going to hand mix my Italian sausage seasonings, especially when Penzey's spices has already done it for me:

If you go to their website, you will be amazed and will end up ordering stuff. Great quality, great prices, great combinations! Check it out!

So, put the pork in a bowl, add some crushed red pepper and a tablespoon or so of the Penzey's spice mix. Use your hands to mix it up and fry it up with a little bit of olive oil, and set it to the side to cool, when it is cool add some shredded mozzarella and any leftover ricotta.

Once you have your chosen fillings ready to go, make your pasta dough. Divide it into 4 balls and roll them out into long sheets.
Take one of your pasta sheets and lay it flat on the counter top. I like to start with the cheese filling, so any of the left overs we can put into the meat mixture to give it a little moistness. So, take about a heaping teaspoon of the cheese filling and drop it on the pasta sheet, I can't really explain it well, so here is a visual:

You get the idea? Kind of make them caddy cornered to each other. Remember that you are going to need enough room between each one to cut it into ravioli!

When you have your cheese all spooned out, take another sheet of the pasta and gently lay it over the other:

Ok, so now, gently press the dough around your lumps of cheese. You want to the two sheets of dough to touch in as many places as possible. This will make your cutting easier! So, it should now look like this:

Ok. Time to grab the aforementioned crafting scissors!!! This is the fun part, if you can make a scrapbook, you can make ravioli! If you are unsure what kind of scissors I am talking about, it's these kind:

Any scissor that makes those crazy patterns will do. I have found that when you start cutting the dough, the shaped FLAT edges of the crafting scissors will actually SEAL the ravioli as you cut AND will give you cool edges!! So, pick up an end of the dough and start cutting out your ravioli!

No need to be perfect, just get one cut out and then trim the edges:

And suddenly, you have perfect ravioli:

Amazing, huh??

CRAFTING SCISSORS!!!!

Just continue cutting and shaping and then repeat the whole process with your sausage and mozzarella mixture!

For the sauces, Cassie and I decided on a basic marinara sauce for the cheese ravioli and a low fat (aka totally fake and not authentic) alfredo sauce for the sausage ravioli, which is basically a dressed up bechemel sauce.

Now, bring a pot of water to a boil. I should mention that you need to give your craft scissor ravioli a once over and look for any oozers. An oozer is a ravioli who has an unsealed edge. If you don't squeeze these back together, your filling will OOZE out into the boiling water. Once the oozer check is complete, gently put your raviolis in the water:

They will not take long to cook. Basically, when they float to the top, let them cook for about 1 minute longer and then remove them with a slotted spoon.

For the cheese ravioli, top it with some marinara:

For the sausage ravioli, a little of the faux alfredo:

So, now for the all important taste test. The cheese ravioli was awesome! The combination of the marinara and the ricotta was really perfect:

Next we tried the spicy Italian sausage and mozzarella. I really was enjoying it, but then Cassie announced that it reminded her of sausage and biscuits:

Not exactly the review I was looking for, but I had to agree a little with her. There was a distinct similarity to what I was eating now and what I had eaten at Cracker Barrel on several occasions in the past.

So I think we all learned a valuable lesson here: Don't use a flour based sauce and try to sneak it over on people as a proper alfredo sauce! Just splurge and use butter and cream.

Alas, our ravioli journey has come to its end, with overall GREAT results!

And to think you thought your crafting scissors were only good for paper!!

Flour + eggs = PASTA

2008-03-04T19:51:00.011+01:00

Last week I was watching Jamie Oliver and his new show, 'Jamie at home'. I think it's in its second season in the UK, but it is new for us here in Norway. It's my favorite Jamie Oliver show thus far. He has this cottage out in the country where he has a HUGE garden and a hippy gardener called Brian.

Every week he picks something from the garden or farm to make stuff with: eggs, root vegetables, fowl, lamb, greens, ect. Well, last week, Jamie was making things with eggs. Not just any eggs, but free range organic eggs. But before he got to the cooking, he gave us all a lesson in why eating eggs from caged chickens is really inherently evil. To illustrate his point, he took a chicken, whom he had heroically adopted to come live in freedom at his little farm and join the free range chicken flock, out of its cage, and the chicken just stood there, not moving a muscle.

IT DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO RUN! And the comb on top of its little chicken head was really anemic looking when it should have been vibrant red!

The lesson was for us to always buy free range chicken eggs.

But do what you want.

So, with his eggs, he was going to make pasta. I love homemade pasta. Last Christmas Christopher gifted me with a stainless steel pasta maker. I was in pasta heaven for months and we used it often. When we moved last summer, it got put away and I had really kind of forgotten about it.

Until Mr. Oliver and his free range eggs.

So, lets make pasta!

I just followed Jamie's basic pasta recipe:

100 grams of flour per person
1 egg per 100 grams of flour. I used Tipo '00' flour. It is an Italian pasta flour. Look for it in your grocers baking section.

I have made pasta 2 times in the last few days, one batch of plain and one batch of spinach, so the photos are mixed together a bit!

Put the ingredients into your food processor and pulse it until it resembles crumbs. Pour it out on a floured surface and knead the heck out of it.

Once your dough is smooth, break it into 4 different pieces and get ready to roll it through your pasta machine. I find it a bit difficult to give you good directions, so I will just copy and paste the instructions from Jamie Olivers website:

"Dust your work surface with some Tipo ‘00’ flour, take a lump of pasta dough the size of a large orange and press it out flat with your fingertips. Set the pasta machine at its widest setting - and roll the lump of pasta dough through it. Lightly dust the pasta with flour if it sticks at all. Click the machine down a setting and roll the pasta dough through again. Fold the pasta in half, click the pasta machine back up to the widest setting and roll the dough through again. Repeat this process five or six times. It might seem like you're getting nowhere, but in fact you're working the dough, and once you've folded it and fed it through the rollers a few times, you'll feel the difference. It'll be smooth as silk and this means you're making wicked pasta!

Now it's time to roll the dough out properly, working it through all the settings on the machine, from the widest down to around the narrowest. Lightly dust both sides of the pasta with a little flour every time you run it through. When you've got down to the narrowest setting, to give yourself a tidy sheet of pasta, fold the pasta in half lengthways, then in half again, then in half again once more you've got a square-ish piece of dough. Turn it 90 degrees and feed it through the machine at the widest setting. As you roll it down through the settings for the last time, you should end up with a lovely rectangular silky sheet of dough with straight sides - just like a real pro!"

See how easy Jamie makes it sound? When you have a long sheet, flour it a bit, fold it in half, then in half again, so it looks like this:

I used to roll the sheets through the cutting mechanism of the machine, but Jamie's method is much easier. Just CUT it!!

After you cut the pasta, pick it up and use your fingers to separate the strands:

Here are your two different kinds of pasta after they have been cut and tossed:
Plain egg noodles:

Spinach egg noodles:

For the plain egg noodles, I made a gorgeous pasta carbonara on Friday night:

And tonight, I made an equally gorgeous bolognese sauce for the spinach pasta:

There is no telling when my current pasta obsession will end. It is one of those things that I think is really amazing, to start out with flour and eggs and end up with perfect noodles! Noodles that I made! From scratch!

It is magical!

The Bagel Woman Cometh...

2008-03-01T19:39:00.006+01:00

As is typical of me, the craving demon hit me at some point last weekend, Saturday evening to be specific. I couldn't tell you what triggered it, but suddenly, I HAD to have bagels. It might have been residual craving left over from the Reuben episode a few weeks earlier. I don't know. It doesn't matter.

All you need to know is that I had to make bagels. So, let's make bagels shall we?

So, I hopped on over to Recipezaar, you know, where the worlds recipes are, to look for a bagel recipe.

There were alot on there, so I found a basic one and, since I don't ever follow recipes, I proceeded to make it my own. I wanted to make them whole grain, with a high fiber content, the ultimate goal being to make them as Weight Watchers friendly as possible! Those of you who follow 'the plan' will know what I am talking about- Anyhoo, these are delish and are only 2 points!

Basic Bagel Recipe:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 packages yeast
1 pinch of sugar (to activate the yeast)
1 pinch of salt
3 1/2 cups flour- I used 1 cup of spelt flour, 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. I also added flax seeds and about half a cup of oatbran.
2 quarts water , to boil
1 egg white

My bemused husband could only shake his head when I pulled out the Kenmore Pro mixer at 8pm, but I think you know by now, it had to be done.

First, put the water and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and let the sugar dissolve. Add the yeast and let it stand til it gets frothy, like so:

Combine the flours and salt, dump it into the mixer and mix on low speed using the dough hook for about 10 minutes or so. Put it in a greased bowl, cover it and let it rise til it is doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 350!

Once the dough doubles, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface, and divide it into 12 equal balls, like so:

At this point, fill a pot up with water and put it on the stove to BOIL. Meanwhile, go back to your bagel balls, take each ball and punch a whole through its middle, so they look like this:

Cover them and let them rise a bit more. I was making everything bagels, so I got together what I wanted on the top. I used chopped fresh basil, sea salt, cracked pepper, rosemary, sesame seeds and some crushed red pepper:

Now for the fun part, dunking the bagels in scalding water! I think this is what makes them chewy, but I am no bagel expert.

At this point, the water should be boiling. Turn it off. Take the bagels 4 at a time (depending on how big your stock pot is) and drop them in the water. About 45 seconds on each side. Put them onto a baking sheet:

Now take the egg white and brush the tops of the bagels and dunk them in your toppings:

Slap them in the oven til they are golden brown, about 20 to 35 minutes, I can't say for sure cause I don't know how hot your oven runs. IF you want, you can flip them half way through.
Suddenly, you have BAGELS! Amazing, no??

I devoured 2 right then and there and they were DELISH.
I went to bed happy.

The next morning, a rare thing happened here in Norway, the sun came out!!! After months of darkness, I could feel my soul stirring in reaction to the rays of the sun. I knew the weather could change quickly, so with military precision, I orchestrated our first outdoor breakfast of the year. I was handing things to Christopher and shouting 'Go! Go! Go!'. Just kidding. I wasn't shouting that, but I really wanted to catch the sun while it was a-shinin'.

So, we set the table and the bagels performed so well! Here is what Christopher had for his sunny breakfast:

And here was mine:

So, we ate our bagels, soaking up the late winter sun, wrapped in scarves and coats, drank our hot coffee and enjoyed every minute of it!!

Now go make bagels!!!!

The Most Pitiful Thing. EVER.

2008-02-28T19:30:00.003+01:00

So, as chihuahuas often do, our little Elly went for a teeth cleaning at the vet on Tuesday. I took her to the vet and it was pouring down rain. We walked in and two HUGE dogs were in a shouting match and my little Elly was shaking like a leaf. What had started as an unusual and rare morning walk, had ended up at the vet, and I could sense her suspicion. She probably thought I just brought her with me to buy some more dried pig ears. I think she remembered she had just been here a few days earlier. So, the technician came to take her away and THOSE EYES! She was looking at me like: 'Whoa! What is going on here?? Who is this? Really? Are you letting her take me away? Hold up sister! Are you leaving me here???? NOOOOOOOOOOOO' Ok, so that is a dramatic re-enactment, and she probably had no clue what was happening. But it was pitiful and I felt HORRIBLE. So guilty. I walked back to train in a daze, hoping that the Norwegians hadn't accidentally written 'euthanize' instead of 'teeth cleaning' on her forms.

They knocked her out good and when we picked her up she was a shell of her usual self.

Like a limp noodle. A rag doll. She was flopping all over the place. Tongue hanging out, body like jello. I was so scared to see her, but when she heard my voice, the only sign of life was the faint wag of her tail. We put her on the ground when we got home and had to take off our coats. She was stumbling around like a drunk on a 3 day binge. She kept falling over. I felt so sorry for her, so naturally, I had to take pictures, cause at the same time, I couldn't stop laughing.

Sweetest dog ever.

Sometimes all you need is a little sheltering and some love:

Say it with me:
Awwwwwwwww.

Tag, you're it!

2008-02-24T15:27:00.009+01:00

I've been tagged by Jen at 'Use Real Butter' and can I just say what a THRILL it gave me? I LOVE her blog and have mentioned it several times on this one,usually for sending me into fits of cravings after having seen something she has made. She is amazing and is worthy of your reading! So, needless to say, being tagged by her felt a little like getting asked to sit with the popular kids at lunch.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So, FIVE things about me:

1. As a child, I was OBSESSED with The Chronicles of Narnia. I wanted DESPERATLY to get transported into Narnia to do Aslan's work thereby fulfilling my destiny. I do not know how many times I read 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', it never got old. My greatgrandmother, Mama, had an old wardrobe in her closet and I used to go in there and stand in front of the old piece of furniture with butterflies in my stomach, knowing that THIS time, I would go through it and end up in a snowy, wintery Narnia, just like Lucy had. Of course I was always bitterly disappointed, but that didn't stop me from having the FAITH that it just might happen...someday. When I moved to Norway, we were out for a walk in the woods one day and I suddenly looked up, and my heart skipped a beat. Whenever I had imagined what my first view of Narnia would be, was right before me, and it gave me goosebumps:

Alas, Aslan did not come bounding out of the forest, but it made me feel good inside to have a bit of my childhood desire fulfilled in a very unexpected way!

2. When I was 2 or so, I thought it would be a good idea to drink some 'Liquid Gold' furniture polish. Who knows why. Panic ensued. I was rushed to the hospital and saved. Death by furniture polish, what a pitiful way to go. I am probably the reason why they invented child safety tops shortly thereafter:

3. My husband and I are in Rick Steve's Scandanavia 2007 travel book! Long story short, he came to Oslo to do research, we showed him around town, he took a picture of us holding a pack of hotdogs and a six pack of beer and the rest is history! It's in the Oslo section. Good times:

4. Very little grosses me out. I don't know why. Give me blood, vomit, poo, whatever, I can handle it. Makes me think I have way undershot my potential and I should have been a surgeon.

5. I have a highly developed sense of smell. I can tell you the different smells and tastes in wines and identify the various notes in perfumes with astounding accuracy. It is kind of weird. And I also associate smell with taste. For example, I will say 'Oh, this tastes like honeysuckle smells'. There is a scientific name for it, but I can't remember what it is. Oh, and I smell diabetic people

There you go. Those are some fascinating things about yours truly!

So now, who to tag?

1. I tag Amylia Mainly because I think she is a pretty amazing person. She writes beautifully and always makes me think. Plus, she got to go to an Oprah taping last week, and I think that is REALLY something. PLUS, she is an identical twin, and since losing my little sister Courtney, who was also an identical twin, I have an ifinity for those single egg pairs.

2. The Homesick Texan:
This girl is amazing! Whenever I am feeling down in the dumps and missing Texas, I go over to her blog and feel my soul being FILLED. Everything she makes is MAGIC.

3. Shell at 'Fiber among the roses'. I don't know her yet, but people who can knit and make ACTUAL things you can WEAR, I find VERY impressive!

4.
5.

Sad, I know, but I don't know anyone else to tag! So, I am breaking the rules.
Sorry!!!

Thank you Jen for tagging me!

Oh, Reuben, how your memory haunts me...

2008-02-20T19:49:00.006+01:00

As many of you know by now, I am a woman driven by cravings. The general rule seems to be, if I can't find it here in Norway, I crave it even more.

I'm not sure why, but I have never been one to get excited about sandwiches. You would never catch me saying 'A sandwich just isn't a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip'. Now, I won't turn up my nose to a good pimento cheese or a BLT. My dad made the best homemade pimento cheese and the BLT's weren't too shabby, but other than that, sandwiches don't really float my boat.

Except for one.

I don't know where my love affair with Reuben began, it didn't seem significant at the time, but it has endured the test of time. I think it is the combination of the of the saurkraut, the rye bread, the corned beef, the russian dressing, all of it grilled til it's all melty and delicious.

To me, it is food porn. And it all culminated last summer in New York City. I had one singular goal. It was to go to the legendary Carnegie Deli and order a Reuben and possibly be yelled at by the grumpy old waitresses.

It was classic. We went in, sat down, and our waitress, who had to have been at least 75, came over, slammed our silverware down and said, in a voice like gravel, 'Whaddya havin'??'. I knew instinctively that I shouldn't ask for ANYTHING on the side and that substitutions would NOT be tolerated. Even though she couldn't have been an inch over 4 foot 11, you could tell the tourists were terrified of her. She was the queen.

She took our order, shuffled to the counter and hollered our order to the cooks, and moments later, my perfect, gorgeous reuben was before me. I was living the New York dream and it was PERFECT.

Well, I hadn't thought of Reuben since, until Sunday. I went over to 'Use Real Butter', that is Jenny's blog. She is a kitchen goddess and her blog is like CRACK to me. Inevitably, I always see something on her blog that sends me into a complete craving spiral. Well, of course she had made a perfect, gorgeous Reuben! Just seeing it again made my mouth water. And that was that.

I HAD TO HAVE A REUBEN!

One teeny, tiny problem: I LIVE IN NORWAY!! I had a feeling this wouldn't end well, but I was determined to try. I needed rye bread, saurkraut, swiss cheese, corned beef and thousand island dressing. I had ZERO of those things and had very low hopes of finding them here in Scandanavia. So my turning Oslo upside down yielded the following: Spelt sourdough bread, low fat Jarlsberg cheese, Pastrami and norwegian saurkraut. I went ahead and made homemade thousand island dressing. I was determined to TRY and recreate what I had in NYC.
So lets get started shall we?

My scandanavian ingredients:

A close up of the pastrami and cheese, really cause I liked the way it looked:

Putting it together:

Grilling up nicely:

Out of the cast iron skillet and on to the cutting board:

And onto my plate:

I wish I could say that it totally satisfied my craving, but it didn't. I just kept thinking about the mean old waitress and my perfect Reuben in New York City.

Then I felt sorry for my little pitiful norwegian reuben. It couldn't help it that we were in Norway! So, I pushed NY Reuben out of my mind, and enjoyed the Nor-reuben thoroughly!

But how the memory haunts me...

The times they are a-changin'

2008-02-17T12:46:00.004+01:00

I know it's been awhile since I have posted and I am sorry, but I have been a little conflicted. I love blogging and I love writing about things that happen in my life, but I always feel guilty writing about random things on a blog called 'the beautiful diabetic'. I feel like I should be writing things about diabetes. And, to be honest, I feel like diabetes is such a small part of who I am, that I feel CONFINED. Heart disease is a much more pressing matter for me. I could rename the blog 'Long Qt girl', but again, it's only a small part.

The sad part is, i LOVE the name. The Beautiful Diabetic. Here is what I wrote on my very first blog entry:

"I didn't decide on the name out of vanity and strong conviction of my beauty. I decided on the name because I am tired of disease marking people as 'flawed' or 'weak' or 'sad' or 'dying'. I decided on the name after living with disease throughout the last decade. After watching an UGLY disease kill my little sister, who truly was beautiful. After realizing that I have spent too many years at war with this thing called my body. Calling it names that are ugly and spiteful. No more. I am diabetic and I am beautiful. Therefore I am the beautiful diabetic. I expect those words to love each other. To be what my mother always called 'Fast Friends'. To wrap around each other in a warm embrace, like two things that were always meant to be, but were always somehow kept apart. A homecoming of sorts. Where diabetic will say to beautiful- 'At last!' And beautiful will say to diabetic- 'It's so good to see you!' And two words who have been kept apart, will fall together naturally, and suddenly the beautiful diabetic will have taken flight."

Isn't that poetic and nice? To me it was. It just RESONATED within me.
So, I don't know what to do. Can I keep on being JUST the beautiful diabetic, when I feel like there is so much more? Is it just me? Is the name not that big of a deal?
Maybe I can just call it 'the beautiful' and leave it at that.

So, here is one of those beautiful moments of my life that I have been thinking about lately.

One of the highlights in my life thus far happened in the summer of 2002. I was in Japan with my mom, aunt and cousin. We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji. We got to Fuji-san (as the locals call it), and it just so happened that we were there in the middle of the few weeks that it is open for climbers. Well, for some reason, Megan and I thought it would be a good idea to climb it. Why not, right??

In hindsight, there were MANY reasons NOT to. However, those eluded me at the time. I was engulfed by the challenge of it all. I was standing at the base of Mt. Fuji! THE Mt. Fuji!!! I was flooded with emotions. My little sister had recently died. I had had my first heart surgery and I was angry at my body. I was angry at many things, and it felt as though I had something to PROVE. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do ANYTHING despite the betrayal of my body and my bad heart. So, the combination of Mt. Fuji and a girl with a dead sister and a flawed heart seemed like a match made in heaven.

My mother protested. I could not be swayed. So,she and my aunt returned to Tokyo with hugs and tears and the promise that we would meet them tomorrow.

So, here is the scene. Climbing this sucker was not planned. Apparantly, if you intend to climb a mountain, it's best to prepare and do a little research and planning. There is a list of things you need, we had a total of ZERO of those things. To help you understand my idiocy, here is a visual of mountain climbing Kathryn:
White linen shirt under a pair of blue jean overalls topped with a stylish black cashmere sweater. I had on thin socks and a pair of running shoes. OH, and for some reason I had a red bandana. Oh yea, sounds like I was really prepared. We bought rain slickers, gloves and walking sticks in the supply shop and started our climb.

It was actually pretty easy. At first.

We met people from all over on the mountain. The higher we got, the vistas became increasingly beautiful. 5 hours into it, I was cold, I was exhausted, I was in pain, but I was determined. I would pick a place in the distance and tell myself that I just had to make it to that point and then I could quit. I would get to a point and I would suddenly look beyond it and see other mountains below it, and I would be flooded with emotion. I kept thinking about my sister and how she would NEVER have the chance to do this, to see this...and I wept.

I wept as I climbed. I wept as I thought of Courtney and a life without her. I wept as I yelled at God for taking her and I wept as I thanked Him for the grace and mercy He gave to survive it. It was a mess of emotions. It was intense, but I continued.

It was really stupid to be there in the first place, but as night fell, we were halfway to the summit. They say you should climb halfway, sleep for a few hours in a mountain hut, get up at 2am and continue to the summit to be there in time for sunrise. The Japanese call it 'Buddah's Halo'.

In this hut we met 3 older Japenese men. They met every year to climb Fuji-san. By the end of the night, they had adopted us. My Japanese grandfather was called Shimnee. I think he could tell instantly that I would need help. Megan went on at a olympic pace with the other two old men, and Shimnee stayed behind with me, the obvious weak link.

As we climbed in the darkness, we shared stories. I told him about my sister and he was silent and understanding when I cried. He told me about his life and his wife and children. We were moving slow. It was hard to breath at that altitude.

But I was determined.

I was having to stop alot. I was freezing and Megan had mercifully given me her coat that she just happened to have. I kept sitting on big boulders along the trail and Shimnee would admonish me and say 'No Katrin-san, you must rest standing style. No sit.' It was a race.

I NEEDED to be there at sun rise.

It was so quiet on the mountain. I could hear a clanking noise and I turned to look and there was a snake of lights wrapping down the mountain. The noise was the swaying of lanterns. There were hundreds of people making their way to the top. It was a stunning image, pitch black on the side of Mt. Fuji with hundreds of flickering pin pricks of light. All of these people going to the top. I seriously doubted I could finish. I hurt EVERYWHERE.

And then I heard my name being called. It was Megan and she was smiling and waving. She had made it to the top. The sun was getting ready to appear and Shimnee put his hand on my back and said 'We finish now', and with that, I took a deep breath, and with everything in me, I climbed that mountain. Megan and the other 2 old men were cheering me on, Shimnee was right by me silently willing me to continue. I was so close and I was STILL crying and then, I WAS THERE!

I was on the top of Mt. Fuji! I did it! I was totally overwhelmed. I was hugging Megan and Shimnee and the other men and everyone was doing a little half bow thing and then it happened. A collective 'OOOhhhh' spread across the summit.

It was like a crack in the steel grey sky. Like fire and light had just cut through the darkness. Then the sun rose in all its glory and it took my breath away and I wept again. But this time, I felt new. I felt cleansed. I felt STRONG. It was in that moment that Megan called me again and said 'Smile!! You did it!'

I did it.

One agonizing step at a time, I climbed a mountain and a part of me was reborn:

White Pizza. mmmm, mmmm good.

2008-01-20T15:24:00.000+01:00

Pizza, in my opinion, is probably close to being a PERFECT food. I really love it, and a pizza done well can elicit moans. As a diabetic, I need to be careful with pizza, as it is one of those things that can get my blood sugar levels out of whack quickly. And as one who tries to adhere to the principles of Weight Watchers, pizza is one of those things that does not make it into my menu rotation often.

However, neither of those things can stop the craving.

The key for me is the crust. I am a thin crust kind of girl. I NEVER understood those people who didn't eat the end of their pizza crusts. I am always the girl asking those people, 'um, you're not going to eat those? Can I have them??' Deep down, it just seems WRONG to waste them. So, Friday night we decided to make pizza. Of the white variety. So simple and so tasty. Here is what you need:

Ready made whole wheat pizza dough. (usually found in the biscuit section)
Ricotta cheese- fat free, low fat or regular
Fresh Mozzarella
Shredded mozzarella- reduced fat
Fresh Basil, torn into pieces
Thinly sliced red onion
Crushed red chili
Olive oil
fresh basil and parmesean cheese for garnish.

Take your pizza dough and roll it out until it is VERY thin. You will need to flour the counter to keep it from sticking.

Put the rolled out dough on a baking sheet with baking paper, or even better, on a pizza stone.

Spread the ricotta evenly on the dough, kind of like cream cheese. drizzle a good quality olive oil on top. Add sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella on top. You don't need the whole bag. Tear up the fresh mozzarella and distribute it evenly. Follow with the basil, red onion and crushed chili:

Here's a close up:

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Slap in a HOT oven, around 225 celcius, on the bottom shelf. Let it bake for about 15 minutes. Just keep checking on it cause cooking times vary from oven to oven. Take it out when it is golden and bubbly:

Slice it and garnish it with fresh parmesean and basil:

Take a couple of slices and enjoy. This is one good pizza. Whether it's the lack of tomatoes and meat, I'm not sure, but it is brilliant in its simplicity:

Embrochette. Not as fancy pants as the name sounds!

2008-01-13T12:59:00.000+01:00

So, as we often do, we went to Sweden yesterday to shop for cheap meat. That always sounds funny to me. Being from Texas, which is HUGE, the thought of going to an entirely different COUNTRY to grocery shop doesn't even begin to register. Because of that, even though I have been countless times now, I ALWAYS get excited about going to SWEDEN for groceries.

Things are cheaper in Sweden and the Norwegian kroner has about 15 percent on it's Swedish counterpart, so not only do we get cheap meat, we get an additional 15 percent off thanks to the favorable exchange rate.
Sweden is cheaper because they are part of the European Union and Norway is not. So, as an example, where a kilo of lean ground beef runs about $30 in the kingdom of Norway, in Sweden the same thing runs about $10. You do the math.

Anyway, yesterday was the day for Sweden. We set out from downtown Oslo where it was cold and raining and by the time we got outside the city, it was full on SNOWING hard. The roads were horrible. We were sliding around and I was terrified. My husband took it all in stride assuring me time and again that he had full control, but miss Houston, Texas was not convinced. White knuckled, I tried to think happy thoughts that would take my mind off of the snowy nightmare unfolding on the highway in front of us. So, naturally, I thought of food.

So, while Christopher dealt with REALITY and bravely navigated the icy roads, I was daydreaming of being at Pappasito's in Houston. You could call Pappasito's highend Tex Mex, not really authentic, but certainly good. I love their beef fajitas and I LOVE, love their shrimp embrochette.

Embrochette. It sounds very french and fancy, but if you deconstruct it, it seems very simple. Shrimp. Cheese. Jalepenos. Bacon. That's it. I was thinking that I could make that, when my cooking fantasy was interrupted by our imminent arrival at the grocery store in Sweden.

We had friends come over last night, so I decided I would get all 'I have dreams of owning my own Tex Mex restaurant' on them, and I tackled the embrochette head on. It was suprisingly easy and the results coaxed 'oohs' and 'ahhhs' out of our guests. Here is what you need:

8 Large shrimp or scallops
8 to 16 small, thin squares of white cheddar
1 fresh jalepeno, deseeded and deribbed and cut into 16 thin strips
8 strips of THIN bacon.

I used scallops because that is what I had on hand, and I really LOVE scallops:

And here are the ingredients you need:

Grab a scallop and butterfly it like so:

Take 2 strips of jalepeno and cross them and put a piece or 2 of cheese over it:

Continue with all the scallops and wrap them each in a piece of bacon. Treat the bacon as you would a ribbon on a gift. Same concept and you don't have to use toothpicks this way:

Put them all in a pan on medium high heat and cook them on each side until the bacon is crispy and the cheese is melty:

Meanwhile I took a head of baby cabbage and sliced it into thin ribbons and tossed it with a light coating of Greek dressing. I also whipped up some pico de gallo and guacamole and fried some strips of corn tortilla for garnish. The end result was gorgeous:

My guests were impressed and it is easy to understand why. It truly is one of the most PERFECT flavor combinations. The heat from the deseeded jalepenos is mild. The smokiness of the bacon perfectly flavors the scallop and the cheese gets all melty and crusty in the pan. Every bite seems perfectly balanced in your mouth.

Simply divine.

There aint nothin' like Texas barbeque!

2008-01-07T20:57:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year, y'all!

Thanks for all your emails inquiring to my whereabouts! I have been stateside for 2 weeks, got back to Norway and was struck down by a vicious flu bug. I am hardly myself, but getting strength back daily!!!! I have been DYING to update the blog for days now!

So, over the holidays, I was charged with the task of showing Texas to my husbands parents who came to Houston from Norway for a week of FUN!! Seeing as I am obsessed with food, I had quite the culinary list compiled. Actually, there were only 3 things that I knew they MUST have while in Texas:

1. Texas Barbeque
2. Authentic Tex-Mex
3. Whataburger

We'll get to numbers 2 and 3 later. Let me set the scene for you. We are driving on Highway 59 from Nacogdoches (the oldest town in Texas and birthplace of yours truly)and my sister and I are looking for a barbeque joint. There is no such thing as a barbeque 'restaurant', it needs to be a barbeque JOINT. Suddenly, we spied a trailer on the right side of the road and a sign that said 'Dee's Barbeque' and 'come right on in!!!'. I knew instantly that we had to go there.

It was one of those great East Texas days. Clear and chilly (mid 40's). Everything felt crisp. We stepped out of the car and the heady aroma of smoking meat was in the air. It was amazing. Excitedly, we all moved towards the double-wide. I was giddy as I just knew instinctivly that this was one of those joints that would be memorable and a real experience for my inlaws. I was not disappointed.

We walked in and were greeted by long tables covered in red and white checkered table cloths and a smiling gentleman who welcomed us with 'Hey Y'all! Welcome!' That turned out to be Ronnie of Dee's barbeque. He got quite excited when I told him I had people in there from Norway who had never had real barbeque before and he insisted that we sign his guestbook, saying 'I've never had anyone from Europe in here before!'. It was awesome!

Now, I'm a simple gal, and one of my most favorite things is a chopped beef sandwich, so of course we ordered those. Ronnie uses brisket for his chopped beef sandwich, and a good one is a thing of beauty. Soft white bread, slices of white onion, sour dill pickles, brisket and barbeque sauce. Such an amazing combination and Ronnie did not disappoint:

A true sign of a good piece of smoked brisket is the pink ring around the edges. The tell tale sign of proper smoking. This sandwich was PERFECT!

We also ordered a plate of mixed meat, which turned out to be brisket, sausage and ribs:

We had just eaten breakfast about 2 hours earlier, so we didn't order beans and potato salad, just the meat and big 'ol Dr. Peppers.

You don't get much more Texas than that!

So, if your ever driving down 59 and passing through Corrigan, Texas, be sure to stop at Dee's Barbeque, it's the kind of place you can smell in your hair hours after leaving:

Breakfast: The MOST important meal.

2007-12-16T18:07:00.000+01:00

So, to make up for the coma inducing marshmallows I posted last week, I thought I would post about my new favorite breakfast: Pumpkin Oatmeal.

I first heard about pumpking oatmeal on the Weight Watchers Core board. It always sounded really interesting, but sadly, involved a can of pumpkin, which I cannot get here in Norway. That is one of the most challenging things about being away from Texas. No Kroger. No Piggly Wiggly. No Whole Foods. No canned pumpkin. I have seen canned pumpkin on occaision, but I just can't bring myself to pay over 6 dollars for a can of it. I don't care if it is Libby's. This past Thanksgiving, one of my culinary triumphs was a homemade pumpkin pie from scratch. In looking for a recipe, I learned that the kind of pumpkin you choose is very important. There are pie pumpkins, and these are NOT the ones you carve up at halloween. So, as usual, I bundled up and went on a search. Here, pumpkin is called 'gresskar' and it has a beige outerskin and it's brilliant orange on the inside. I quickly found it, and luckily they cut it for you and sell it by the kilo, so you don't have to buy a whole pumpkin. They had some at my local Turkish store on the corner, big chunks wrapped in saranwrap, vivid orange:

Good enough, I thought, and I bought it. Thus began my love affair with pumpkin oatmeal. If you like pumpkin pie, you will LOVE this breakfast, if you don't, well, you won't.

Here is what you need:
2 to 4 cups of cooked plain oatmeal
2 cups of fresh mashed pumpkin OR 1 can
1 egg
can of fat free evaporated milk
nutmeg, cinnamon, splenda
handful of raisins
handful of walnuts

So take your fresh pumpkin, (if you have a can, just skip all of this part), cut it into chunks, boil it until it is soft, take the skin off and mash it in a bowl:

To this pretty orange mash, mix in your egg, the milk, the spices and the splenda. You are just making pumpkin pie filling, but instead of pouring it into a pie crust, you will pour it into oatmeal.

Once you have your piefilling made, add it to the cooked oatmeal, stirring well to combine. Throw in your raisins and walnuts and voila:

Seriously, this is soooo good! I usually make a big batch and just heat up a little every morning for breakfast. Oatmeal is a great choice for anyone with bloodsugar issues as it is fairly low on the Glycemic Index. I usually have an egg with it as well to get a good balance of carbs and protein and it always holds me until lunch.

Try it.

It truly is a bowl full of LOVE:

The evolution of a marshmallow.

2007-12-13T22:31:00.000+01:00

This is what happens to marshmallows in my house. I tried to think of a good fate for them. I wanted people to oooh and ahhhh, so naturally, that ruled out rice krispies treats.

This was the best I could come up with: Melted raspberry dark chocolate and crushed almonds:

I think if you look close enough you can see the vanilla bean:

They were packed into cookie tins to await their 'tin mates', who will be born sometime this weekend.

Ah, the life of a marshmallow.

Not too shabby.

Marshmallow Madness

2007-12-10T21:25:00.000+01:00

I was on a website that I frequent the other day and one of the gals on my regular thread mentioned that she had made marshmallows. She just wrote it like it was no big deal! I have to be honest, at that point, I wasn't processing what I was reading anymore. I was stuck 4 or 5 sentences back on the fact that she had MADE marshmallows! With her very own hands!

Marshmallows are one of those things that NEVER would have occured to me to make. I don't know why. I just always thought they came out of a machine. Ignorant, perhaps, but that was my thinking.

Well, my curiosity was peaked. I knew then and there that I HAD to make marshmallows. Really, just to say to someone: 'Oh, I made a batch of MARSHMALLOWS the other day!'

Before we go further, I just want to post a warning here. Marshmallows are part of that group of foods I like to refer to as 'diabetic disasters'. Here at the beautiful diabetic, I try to post recipes that are good for diabetics, that are well balanced and will even out your bloodsugar over some hours. This is NOT one of those recipes!
Where there are marshmallows, there's trouble.

So, without further ado, marshmallows:
Martha Stewart's Marshmallows (of course SHE would have a marshmallow recipe)

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let it stand 30 minutes:

Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup of water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.

Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat.

(Ok, it got tricky here. I don't have CANDY thermometers lying around. I have a normal thermometer and a doggy thermometer. So, I interpreted the directions to read 'Bring it to a hard boil and remove it from the heat' Seemed to work just fine):

With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high:

beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15minutes. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.
This is the MOST exciting part about making marshmallows so far! Look at how GORGEOUS that is:

Generously dust an 8 x 12-inch glass baking pan with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar; let stand overnight, uncovered, to dry out.

Ok. So I did all of that. I kept uncovering them to look at them. I wish you could see them in person. They are SNOW white and have vanilla bean specks in them. I couldn't wait to get home from work today so we could take them out of the pan and turn them into proper marshmallows. Now, suprisingly, Martha really dropped the ball here on the instructions. How does one, A) get the marshmallow slab OUT of the pan and B) once said marshmallows are out, how does one cut them up?

Christopher and I debated about these things and eventually found out that A)Just work a knife around the edges of the pan and lift it out and, B) the best way to cut them was using a pair of household scissors. So, I cut the slab into long strips and then the strips into cubes, and Christopher rolled them in powedered sugar as they dropped to the counter. Covered in powdered sugar we took a moment to absorb the absolute GLORY of the moment. We had MADE marshmallows:

And to make things even MORE perfect, a few years ago, I had bought an antique marshmallow tin:

You have to smile when you read their slogan.

'The Original FOOD'

Indeed.

AMAZING day at the store in Norway!

2007-12-09T12:33:00.000+01:00

I hit the trifecta!!!! I am not sure what kind of craziness is going on here in Norway, but I cannot believe the things I found today at my favorite Turkish store on the corner:

LOISIANA HOT SAUCE????
I was positively GIDDY.

The low sodium soy sauce I have been asking for AT LEAST 2 years to no avail.

And the Salsa Ranchero is a new one for me as well.

Really, just a beautiful day.

It was a Migas kind of morning.

2007-12-02T16:28:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I wake up on a Saturday or a Sunday and realize that all of the leftovers in the fridge would make up the most perfect migas. Today was one of those days.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Migas, they are perhaps one of the most perfect things you can have for a weekend brunch. I am talking about the Tex-Mex kind of Migas. Not the Spanish kind or the Portuguese kind OR the Mexican kind.

The TEXAS kind.

The beauty of Migas is that you can literally use ANYTHING you want to make them. So, my migas may not be like any you have had before, but they are dang good and all of our Norwegian friends are ALWAYS impressed when they have the occaision to eat them. They are, in essence, breakfast tacos made up of leftovers. That's all. Nothing fancy.

so, yesterday, I made an attempt at making 'pulled pork'. I was inspired by Jenny over at the Use Real Butter blog and on Friday night I made a rub and proceeded to give my hunk of pork a rub massage. Put it in a ziploc and let it marinate overnight. The next day, I put it in the oven on low heat for about 7 hours. It turned out great, but I think you can get the same result by boiling the heck out of it in some tasty broth for a couple of hours. Just sayin'.

So my migas today consisted, essentially, of:
pulled pork, eggs, onions, cilantro, tomatoes and some other stuff. You can make migas with chicken, beans, anything!
Most migas also have corn chips or corn tortillas, but I didn't have either of those things.

So, introducing my migas!!!

Here is the leftover pulled pork:

I grabbed a handful and threw it into a skillet to heat it up and get it a bit crispy on the edges:

Then I chopped up an onion, some garlic, cilantro and proceeded to cook it in a little bit of olive oil with some cumin, chili powder, sea salt and crushed chili:

Saute it until it is good and soft, translucent if you will, and then add a can of crushed tomatoes, or use fresh if you have them on hand:

Stir it all together, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes and move on to the eggs. Break some eggs into a bowl and whisk them with salt, pepper and a splash of milk. Next, pour them into the skillet with the pork and scramble them:

Then, add your tomato mixture to the eggs:

Stir it all together and serve immedietly:

I like mine in flour tortillas. I add a little reduced fat cheese and sourcream, chopped onion, cilantro and the ever present, Louisiana Hot Sauce:

And I am in absolute heaven:

To me, this truly is a PERFECT meal. And lest we forget, pretty dang healthy as well. Low fat and a good balance of protein and carbohydrates to keep that blood sugar level!

Ahhhhh....migas.

Roasted Russel Sprouts!

2007-12-01T17:54:00.000+01:00

No, the title is not a typo! One of the things I love about Norwegians is that they speak EXCELLENT english. With the exception of cartoons, nothing is dubbed on television. So, American shows are in English with Norwegian subtitles. The largest newspaper here also has an online English version and another paper sells a Saturday edition with a New York Times insert.

Norwegians are also a bit like parrots I think, when it comes to language. They have a remarkable ability to adapt and mimic the accent of whatever kind of English speaking person they happen to live with. My husband speaks American english and has a slight Texas accent. My friend Stine, she is living with an Australian guy, and she sounds Australian. Another friend has a British boyfriend, and yes, she sounds British. It's quite remarkable.

Even though their English is remarkable, there are the occaisional faux pas.
Many Norwegians will ask if you want to have a beer, but it sounds like 'bear'.
They often pronounce v's like w's: 'I have wiking blood in my weins'
My mother in law and my friend Kristina both say 'I am going to the cabbage this weekend' when they MEANT to say, 'I am going to the CABIN this weekend'.
Instead of asking 'Are you at work?' they will say 'Are you ON work'.
Cute little things like that!

Which leads me to the title of this post.

One of my favorite norwegians called me one day and she and her boyfriend were having a debate. He SWORE that they were called 'Russel Sprouts', she SWORE they were called 'Brussels Sprouts', so, as is natural, they called their American friend to settle the debate. I laughed so hard! And joyfully informed my friend that she was correct and her boyfriend was wrong. But ever since then, I have called Brussels Sprouts, Russel sprouts, cause it just makes me SMILE.

I roasted some the other evening. If you have never roasted them before, they are delish. So creamy and good. Take some Russel Sprouts and trim off the ends and the outer leaves, toss them in a bit of olive oil, garlic powder and sea salt:

Preheat your oven to about 425 and pop them in for 30 to 40 minutes, shaking the dish every now and then to cook them evenly. They will be a bit crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside:

Best dang Russle Sprouts ever!

Happy Birthday Elly!!!

2007-11-30T17:54:00.000+01:00

Our little girl turns 3 today!!!

She has brought so much joy to our lives! Truly an amazing little dog! All 8 pounds of her!

So sweet:

Chili Verde in Chilly Norway.

2007-11-27T20:14:00.000+01:00

Well, it's dark and cold here in Norway, so what is native Texan to do? Yep, more chili. Sometimes tomatoes are just a bit too much, so I decided to make a GREEN chili. Now what usually happens to me is that I will CRAVE the things that I have NO HOPE of finding here in Norway.

For example, about 1 year ago I went through a phase where I was addicted to Carnitas and I needed tomatillos to make said Carnitas.

HA! Good luck with that one. Let me tell ya, there aint no Fiesta supermarket here in Oslo!!

So, I finally convinced the owner of the Turkish market, where I buy all of my fruits and vegetables, to order a case of tomatillos from Spania! I told him that they would sell well and if they didn't, I would buy the case.

I NEVER should have offered to buy the case. The case came, but buyers didn't. That little special import cost me about 294 kroner per KILO, which translates roughly to ABOUT 30 dollars for 2.4 pounds! Let's not discuss how much I had to pay, but lets just say I made some expensive green salsa and it froze beautifully! Thus began my love affair with green salsa and all things made with it.

I am CONSTANTLY begging the owner to order some La Costena brand canned and bottled goods. Great product that ranges from chipoltes in adobe sauce to salsas verde and ranchero. THREE years, I have been begging, and thus far have gotten can after can of nacho jalepenos.

Well, I was in there doing my shopping about a month ago and I turned the corner, or rather, shimmied sideways through the tight aisle, and my world went into slow motion. There before me was an entire 2 shelves FULL of La Costena products! Yes, by some miracle of GOD, the little Turkish store on the corner started carrying the La Costena brand!!

I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or not, it was like an oasis in a desert. Would the jar of tomatillo salsa be there if I reached out for it?? In that moment, I truly felt like crying! I was filled with such joy over a jar of salsa verde!!! I snapped up 4 bottles then and there and did one of those run/walk things all the way home, eager to make my salsa safe, lest someone try to steal it off me.

So, anyway. Chili Verde. Here is what you need to make it:
1 jar of salsa verde
2 cups of broth (I used homemade turkey)
cilantro
jalepeno (however spicy you want it)
1 onion
some garlic, cumin and salt
chicken or pork (I used turkey cause I have TONS left over)
1 can of white beans
1 can of white corn
Basically this stuff:

Throw it all into a stock pot and bring it to a boil! The longer it cooks, the better it tastes, but it can be done in 30 minutes if you need it to be!

Look at all those pretty green things! See the bottle of salsa verde? AKA Tomatillo Nectar??

And to make it HEARTY and to raise the fiber level, which helps regulate blood sugar levels, I added a half cup of quick Barley:

That will also thicken it up a bit and help it stick to your bones!!

That's it! You're done! Ladle it into bowls, garnish with guacamole, cheese, sourcream and cilantro, and you are good to go:

That's good stuff kids.

One year ago today.

2007-11-26T10:14:00.000+01:00

My father died.

and I can't tell you how much I miss him.

I would love to be able to talk to him.

To hear his voice.

I would love to be able to walk with him.

To hold his hand.

I miss my father.
Horribly.

Gobble, Gobble.

2007-11-25T15:38:00.000+01:00

Well, I wasn't going to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. It's not a holiday here in Norway, (of course), and it just seemed a bit pointless. I was ok with that, until Thanksgiving day actually, and then, as is typical of me, I got ants in my pants to celebrate Thanksgiving. It suddenly seemed horribly wrong not to. So, I sent my hubby on a search for a turkey and started planning my menu. I decided to go easy, so nothing too elaborate. I have TONS of pictures of many different dishes and stuff I made, but I just decided to post my two favorite things from this year.
First, I made a REAL pumpkin pie. And by real, I mean REAL:

Isn't that orange color unbelievable?? So, I boiled said pumpkin and mashed it up like so:

And ond hour later, I had this little beauty:

I couldn't believe how orange it was! It was so delicious as well!
The pumpkin pie was actually somewhat healthy as well. Cut out all white sugar, used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of Splenda. Delish.

My next favorite was to die for. I could have had JUST these and been perfectly content:

I let those suckers rise THREE times! Made them with spelt flour. They were so good. Piping hot from the oven, with some organic butter...oh my:

So, that is that. My two favorite things from Thanksgiving this year. Now we have about 2 kilos of turkey meat and I made about 2 gallons of broth out of the poor little turkey carcass.

It was a quiet evening, only 4 of us, but it was important to me. When you are so far from home, you sometimes get a feeling of losing touch with who you are, you forget the little magical things that define you in relation to your homeland.

All I know is that thousands of miles away, that turkey, the dressing, the greenbean casserole, the gravy and the dinner rolls, those pumpkin and pecan pies, made me feel, at least for one night, that my kitchen, could be any kitchen in America. And for that, I am thankful.

I bet YOU never got one of these in the mail before!!

2007-11-22T20:16:00.000+01:00

Today is show and tell on the beautiful diabetic. And I promise you it is WEIRD.

So, my darling viking called me and said 'Honey, you got a sussy in the mail!'.

(For those of you who aren't familiar with a 'sussy', it's a little surprise, something given for no particular reason or event, just a little gift to say 'I am thinking of you'. I've not heard the term outside of Texas, and only twice outside my own family. I digress.)

And anytime one comes in the mail, it is especially exciting! So, I was totally curious and told him 'open it! open it!!!' He said 'OK' and then I just heard silence...and then I heard 'ummmm'.

Of course I am full of child like anticipation on the other end of the phone line and said 'WHAT IS IT? WHO'S IT FROM??' And he said......

'It's your old defibrallator!'

REALLY? Seriously?? I couldn't believe it! Who sends a used defib in the mail??? For those of you who don't know, I have Long QT Syndrome and I had an operation in May to replace my old defibrallator, it kept turning off, which TOTALLY defeats the purpose, so it was retired and got sent to America for testing and diagnostics. I suppose some kind hearted individual must have decided I would like it for a keep sake. So, if you have never seen one before, here it what it looks like:

From the side, it's as wide as a Zippo lighter:

And, it can fit in the palm of my hand:

The more I thought about it, the more I just can't believe that this is my actual device that lived inside me for 5 years! I mean, why would you send something like that in the mail??? Is it even legal? Used medical equipment? Can I sell it on Ebay? These are NOT cheap!!
It came with a note in Norwegian that bascially said: 'Dear Kathryn, we thought you might want a souvenier! Your friends at St. Jude'.

Again, REALLY??

In conclusion, I think it MUST be an advertising piece or something, like a paper weight. So, that's my show and tell.

Cool, huh?

shrimp

2007-11-22T17:57:00.001+01:00

At the fishmarket in Bergen, Norway:

Little, bitty chicken pot pies, y'all!

2007-11-20T20:16:00.000+01:00

Well, I have been quite the little cooker this week. Ever since I discovered that dang tastespotting website, I have become a woman obsessed!

I think it's good though, as it's allowing me to reconnect with my long dormant creative side. Cooking is one thing, but cooking and taking pictures of what you created...now THAT is art.

So, today, I saw a picture of pot pie and I was taken back in time about 2 decades. I remember those frozen Swanson pot pies. Crust on the bottom and on the top. Oh, I LOVED those things! And like last nights chili, I just HAD to have chicken pot pie, or I might DIE. I knew without a doubt that I would NOT be finding any frozen pot pies here in Norway, so if my life depended on pot pie, I was going to have to create it myself. I also was in a pinch as far as the dough was concerned. This pot pie craving was unplanned, so no pie crust had been prepared. I had a faint recollection of seeing Sara Lee croissant dough nestled between the fishcakes and pickled herring at the grocery store (I know, don't ask), so I hopped off the subway headed to the store. And sure enough, there it was. A can of Sara Lee croissants! You have to laugh at the randomness of that. So, I had my crust. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. I actually boiled a chicken carcass just yesterday, so I had a really rich chicken broth just begging to be used. Chopped up some shitaki mushrooms, carrots, celery, shallots and a potato and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil and a few spritzes of butter flavored cooking spray. Added a couple tablespoons of spelt flour and then added the chicken broth and a cup of milk and some chicken. It got really thick and bubbly. I Seasoned it with salt, pepper and tarragon.
Meanwhile, I got a muffin tin and lined 6 muffin holes (what are those called???) with the croissant dough. Filled them up with the aforementioned mixture and topped them with the extra bits of dough. Threw them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so and was greeted by these little beauties:
This is what it looked like in the bowl:

Another craving satisfied!!!

For all of you watching your waistlines or bloodsugar, this is actually a pretty healthy recipe! The croissant dough has 6 grams of fat per triangle, and the rest of the filling is decidedly low fat! Good protein and full of veggies!

I think I put Swanson to shame!

I do believe I am content.

Sometimes a girl just has to have her Chili.

2007-11-19T20:16:00.000+01:00

And today was one of those days. It was cold. It was DARK.

And I am talking about the kind of dark you don't get in Texas. This is the kind of dark where the sun is officially SETTING at 2.30 in the afternoon and it's totally black by the time you walk to the subway at 4.17pm.

This time of year I tend to be more homesick than usual. When I am homesick, I self soothe by cooking. Today I had one of those ridiculous cravings for chili. The kind of craving that says 'if I don't have chili, I might DIE'.

I am totally into the photo blogging thing lately. We got a new Canon 300D and have fun playing with it. I was inspired by my new favorite website: http://www.tastespotting.com/. If you are a foodie, you MUST see that site. Complete and utter food PORN. Anyway, I got ants in my pants to start taking pictures of my food, or for my husband to start taking pictures of the food as I was making it. I feel like it is fulfilling a creative need I have. So anyway...Introducing the Chili:
First, you gotta have the right spices. I use chili powder, crushed chilis, cumin, sea salt, celery salt, cayenne pepper and oregano-

Then I chopped up some onion, green bell pepper, 2 small tomatoes, 2 chilis (I couldn't find jalepenos...I know...so sad) and got some tomato paste and some kidney beans ready. Now, many Texans will tell you that no decent, self respecting Texan would EVER add beans to chili, but I like them, so I do:

Here is the stuff in the pot:

Adding the tomato paste mixed with two cups of beef bouillon:

Stirring it all, and I don't have a picture of this, but I bought a really STRONG bottle of stout and added it as well. A good strong beer can add such an amazing level of depth to chili. And this one did not disappoint!

There are countless ways to eat Chili. I prefer a chunkier chili, and my favorite way to eat it is spooning it into homemade flour tortillas! So, as the chili simmers for about an hour, I made some tortillas. It sounds harder than it is actually! Here is the recipe I have been using for a few years now:

2 cups of Spelt flour (you can use regular, I just prefer spelt over wheat)

1.5 teaspoons of baking powder

salt

2 to3 teaspoons of olive oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup of warm water.

Mix all the dry ingredients, add the olive oil and stir with a fork and slowly add the water. Stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Put some flour on your hands and pick up the ball and kneed it for a few minutes until it is nice and soft. Throw it back in the bowl and cover it with a towel and let it rest for up to 20 minutes.

Use this time to go and stir the chili or something. Then put your cast iron skillet on the stovetop to start heating up.

When your 20 minutes are up, divide the dough into 8 balls. Then grab that old rolling pin that you never thought you would EVER use and start rolling:

I'm lucky cause I have oak counter tops, so it feels very bakery like. My tortillas are rarely perfect circles, and unless you have perfection issues, it is no problem at all. When it's flat, throw it on the skillet:
When it starts to get little bubbles, flip it.

Keep them warm, stacked on top of each other in a kitchen towel:

Ready to eat? Spoon the chili into a bowel. Garnish with whatever garnishes you like. I use cheddar, a little sour cream, green onion, red onion and Louisiana Hot Sauce (I should say Texas Pete, but honestly, Lousiana is just better).

I always get a sense of accomplishment after I have created something that reminds me of home. I get a goofy grin as the familiar smells fill my apartment in this little corner of Norway, and suddenly I don't feel so far from home.

Not to mention carnitas and enchiladas!

2007-11-17T15:12:00.001+01:00

I am always trying to find ways to 'healthify' Tex Mex. Trying to cut down on the fat and, when possible, create lower GI versions.

I LOVE carnitas! The authentic version is laden with fat, my version...hardly any. Basically, take your favorite cut of pork, put it in a pot, add onions, cilantro, tomatillos, garlic and chicken broth, and BOIL the crap out of it for about 2 to 3 hours! Let it cool and skim the fat off the top. Then I heat it back up and take it out, remove any bones and shred it with two forks. Put it in a casserole dish, drizzle it with a bit of olive oil and then bake it for an hour or so until the top gets crispy!

Looks like this when it's done:

Serve it in corn tortillas with chopped onion, cilantro and a lime wedge. I could LITERALLY live on this! So good.

I also LOVE enchiladas. You can make them pretty healthy as long as you use lean ground beef and only a LITTLE cheese. I love me some cheese enchiladas, but alas, I will NOT use Fat Free cheese, plus I cannot get it in Norway anyway. So I stick with beef. This is my 94 percent lean with cumin, chili powder and sea salt:

Cook it:

Then I make a homemade enchilada sauce, but that is another post. Dip corn tortillas in it, add my beef, some chopped onion and a TINY bit of cheddar on top:

So, that was my Tex Mex adventure this week!!! So much fun and so good! I combined it with some Mexican rice I made using brown rice and some pinto beans I made with a ham hock earlier in the week.

Hard to believe that you could have tex mex that is gentle on the blood sugar and easy on the waist line.

It can be done my friends. By God, it can be done.

Tex-Mex in Norway? Yes, at my house.

2007-11-17T15:12:00.000+01:00

I am from Texas. I live in Norway. There is no such thing as GOOD Tex Mex here. So sad. So, I have been forced to learn how to prepare it! I won't complain. My Norwegian friends LOVE it and swear we should open a restaurant, or at the least do a cooking show! Neither of which is going to happen this week, so until then, I will just show you what I made last night for our Tex Mex fiesta.

I LOVE fresh pico di gallo! And it is so simple to make. This is all you need:

Tomatos, limes, cilantro, jalenpeno, onion and garlic. Chop it all up, squeeze some limes into it, add some salt...you're done!

Then of course guacamole:

Just peel them, mash them, add some of the pico you just made, and suddenly you have appetizers:

So easy, so good.
A little bit of Texas in Norway.

My, my...How time flies!

2007-11-14T13:28:00.000+01:00

Really? Has it been since January? I have no excuses. This year has been kind of empty for me. My dad dying took a lot out of me. A lot. I wouldn’t say it stole my joy, but it took a significant portion of what I had been allotted. I miss him. Everyday. I have this picture and it just makes me SMILE:

That, my friends, is what JOY looks like. How awesome is that photo? My dad looks so happy with that fish! I have it posted on my wall here at work, and it just makes me smile!

Life IS good. It is so important to remember that, especially when circumstances try and convince us otherwise.

Special Jewelry

2007-01-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

There is a very special niche out there for the special jewelry to which I refer. I have always been fascinated by it since I got my first ICD (Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator) to accommodate my OTHER pet disease, Long QT Syndrome.

The jewelry of which I speak is none other than medical ID jewelry. I received a brochure from an ID jewelry company about a month after my surgery. I flipped through the catalog and immediately threw it away. NO WAY, I thought. I already had a big scar on my chest and I certainly wasn’t going to add insult to injury.

Fast forward to 2007 and I was on Google today, as I often am, and I ran across a website with these quotes from many a satisfied customer:

"I just received the (Medical ID) bracelet... it is beautiful!"

"I was so excited to finally find a nice website that had beautiful diabetic bracelets"

"This medical id bracelet is just so beautiful and fits great...thank you so much for something "different".

"After 25 years of not wearing any medical id, I finally found something I will wear.”

HUH?????????????

Hmmm…CLEARLY this called for further investigation. I have yet to run across a ‘beautiful’ or ‘different’ medical ID bracelet. One that doesn’t make me feel 60 or one that doesn’t shout, ‘Hey look at me, I have a disease!’ There is just no subtle way to wear jewelry that marks you as a diabetic or a heart patient.

And I have certainly never seen any jewelry that would move me to write a letter of thanks to the company. So, upon further investigation, it was as I thought. Pretty beads, charms and clasps set in sterling silver delicately surrounding A BIG UGLY medical ID tag.

Although it is a valiant effort on the companies part, I just don’t like them. I don’t want to wear them even though I know I should.

BUT, in the spirit of ‘when hell freezes over’, if I did wear one, I have narrowed my picks to the following:

This one would be for the days I was feeling sporty:

And this gorgeous number, inspired by a Tiffany & Co. Design, would be my 'everyday' choice:

So, in the end, I am afraid my opinion of medical ID jewelry has not changed.

Perhaps Jacob the Jeweler will come out with some fabulous diabetic bling, but until then, I will take my chances.

Update: Upon awaking here in Norway, I had an email from Sara of the Nefariouspoo blog and she gave me this link and to a great diabetic bracelet.
http://insearchofbalance.wordpress.com/about/
Now that is one I would wear! It is very pretty in an eclectic kind of way.

Thick Waisted

2007-01-12T13:29:00.000+01:00

Sadly, I took my measurements and my waist was 37 inches, officially making me ‘thick waisted’. I know that women with a waist circumference of more than 35 inches have a dramatically increased chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. I don’t know why I have never measured my waist before. I think I am still clinging to the days of high school when it was 24 inches.

Of course a lot of things were different in high school and I wouldn’t go back if you PAID me, although the music WAS good (80’s you know). Remember this guy?? Who could forget the flock?

So, I started Weight Watchers to shrink my waist. Oh, and also to get healthy. But I’m not going to lie; a strong motivator is to be a skinny little hottie once again.

kinda like her...only different.

But that’s NOT my focus. (Although I am sure Gisele is now probably yours!)

Not that I have ever been skinny, skinny. Although there is a picture of me from a dance recital when I was 12 looking like I had twigs for legs. I was a late bloomer!! But AFTER I bloomed, I was a muscular gal. My uncle once called me ‘stout’. I still get annoyed by that memory. Use that word to describe beer, not a woman!!

I’ve never really worked out or dieted, and I have gained weight steadily and proportionately since I was 18. I did lose about 20 pounds before my wedding, and some of those pics are on the blog a few entries down. Then I moved to Norway and gained it all back. Suddenly I was a diabetic and now I discover that I am thick waisted.

2 inches too thick.

Suddenly there is a reason for my mysterious Diabetes. 37 reasons. I’m officially on the ‘high risk’ list. I’m a code RED.

So, I am doing something about it! I’m shrinking my waist and most likely, the rest of my body will shrink with me. And I do promise, faithful reader, not to end up looking like this:

Move along now little one, move along...

2006-12-29T20:22:00.000+01:00

Yes, it has been a difficult 6 months to say the least. Thank you all so much for your kind words during this ordeal with my dad. It's been a month since he died and I still can't quite get used to the fact that I cannot pick up the phone and call him whenever I want. Here him say 'Heeeey Baby!!'
But I do know that I have to 'move along'. Slowly, but surely.

One of my New Years resolutions is to post more regularly. We'll see how that goes, but hey, it's a goal...I also want to lose 25 pounds. A girl can dream can't she? Maybe I'll be really crazy and post before and after pictures and every thing! Let's not hold our breath!

But for now...I am thankful for the simple things like this sunset on December 23rd in Oslo, Norway. It took my breath away and I got teary eyed. It reminds me that with all of the brutality in life...beauty remains...

Peace and happiness to you all this New Year...

Saying Goodbye

2006-11-27T20:03:00.000+01:00

My dad, September 2006

The words are hard to come by.

If you have lost a parent, you will understand. There is a feeling of hopelessness that enters your heart as soon as they die. It's almost like a panic. You cannot remember a time of not having them, so a life without them is unfathomable.

Yet it happens. I suddenly feel very vulnerable. Very insecure. I get those sobs that sneak up your throat and just come out before you can stop them. It's like a moan or a wail. It hurts.

It happens.

And it happened to me early Sunday morning, somewhere around 2am. The picture in this post was taken by my little sister about 2 months ago. He was 2 months into the fight and still hopeful.

We all were.

I will miss my dad and my heart aches with the knowledge that he is gone because I just don't know how I can possibly say goodbye.

Life Changes so Suddenly.

2006-10-18T20:47:00.000+02:00

This is me, my sister Kindel and my dad.

Kindel and my dad.

This is me and my father dancing on my wedding day.

About 3 months ago he was diagnosed with Stage IV esophogeal cancer. His name is John. He needs a miracle.

Please pray for him. Pray for healing. Pray for strength. Pray for mercy.

Thank you. So much.