Our boxes were supposed to arrive today in Oslo, but we didn’t hear a thing. Not good. I was hoping to have Kaleb’s school supplies before school actually started, but it doesn’t look like the boxes will make it by Wednesday unless there is another miracle in the works. I guess I should expect one, eh?
Turid and Hege walked over this morning so we got to take them to “our” beach and have a picnic lunch. In all the year’s they have lived here, they had never been down to that beach so it was fun to expand their horizons and share the beauty with them. It was a gorgeous day to be by the water. (In the photo, Kaleb is pretending to be headless and Kory is pretending to be fishing.) Yesterday it rained all day – heavy rain – so today the air was crisp and clean and the sky seemed extra blue. On the way back we picked lots of blueberries so when we got to our place, we had fresh blueberries with Vanilla Sauce poured over the top.
There is nothing in our world that you can compare with Vanilla Sauce. It’s something the whole of Norway is crazy about and as Turid says, “The blueberries are just an excuse to have Vanilla Sauce.” Actually, anything is an excuse to have Vanilla Sauce – they put it on everything! The most popular food items are jello, fresh, frozen or canned fruit, chocolate pudding or ice cream. In every house in the whole of Norway, you will find Piano brand “Vaniljesaus.” Even at the neighborhood grocery store they have our equivalent of a salad bar, but with different chunks of fruit and the “dressing” is Vanilla Sauce. I’ve yet to see a vegetable salad bar anywhere.
I can understand the craze, that stuff is good! It tastes like the custard inside a donut, only with more vanilla flavor, and it’s real runny. It’s made from whole milk, cream, sugar and powdered vanilla (of course). We’ve had it many, many times over the years as it’s a common after dinner treat (not really dessert however, because dessert is usually a fancy cake of some kind, served later with coffee.) Tine (pronounced “Tina”), a Norwegian company, makes Vanilla Sauce and on the front of the carton it says “original recipe since 1971.” Turid thinks that’s about when the craze started. She said as a kid there was a rum flavored sauce that was used on many things, but once the vanilla flavor hit the stores, it became a national sensation – for 37 years now. (Should have bought stock in that company, I guess.)
I was thinking about the whole vanilla situation the other day and I’m wondering if the reason they have vanilla in a powered form is because our liquid vanilla at home is alcohol based. Norwegians tax alcohol so much, they must have been in a quandary as to what to do about vanilla extract. If they taxed it the way they tax one can of beer (which sells for $13 by the way), no one could afford their precious Vanilla Sauce and there would surely be a revolt similar to The Boston Tea Party. Making their vanilla into a powder solves the whole problem and keeps all the alcoholics from drinking up their national supply of vanilla. Who knows. It’s fun to try and second guess the politics of Norway.
Kaleb and I sat and tried to read a children’s book in Norwegian today. We’re going to have a contest as to who can learn the language the quickest. (I think my Norske school starts next week.) Everyone entering the country between the ages of 16 and 55 is obligated to take 250 hours of language lessons – for free. (America could learn a thing or two from Norway about that one.) I guess I’ll have to thank the alcohol drinkers of this country for that, as I’m sure some of the exorbanite taxes they pay filter down to pay for my free Norwegian lessons. Tusen Takk. (Thousand thanks.)
Turid and Hege walked over this morning so we got to take them to “our” beach and have a picnic lunch. In all the year’s they have lived here, they had never been down to that beach so it was fun to expand their horizons and share the beauty with them. It was a gorgeous day to be by the water. (In the photo, Kaleb is pretending to be headless and Kory is pretending to be fishing.) Yesterday it rained all day – heavy rain – so today the air was crisp and clean and the sky seemed extra blue. On the way back we picked lots of blueberries so when we got to our place, we had fresh blueberries with Vanilla Sauce poured over the top.
There is nothing in our world that you can compare with Vanilla Sauce. It’s something the whole of Norway is crazy about and as Turid says, “The blueberries are just an excuse to have Vanilla Sauce.” Actually, anything is an excuse to have Vanilla Sauce – they put it on everything! The most popular food items are jello, fresh, frozen or canned fruit, chocolate pudding or ice cream. In every house in the whole of Norway, you will find Piano brand “Vaniljesaus.” Even at the neighborhood grocery store they have our equivalent of a salad bar, but with different chunks of fruit and the “dressing” is Vanilla Sauce. I’ve yet to see a vegetable salad bar anywhere.
I can understand the craze, that stuff is good! It tastes like the custard inside a donut, only with more vanilla flavor, and it’s real runny. It’s made from whole milk, cream, sugar and powdered vanilla (of course). We’ve had it many, many times over the years as it’s a common after dinner treat (not really dessert however, because dessert is usually a fancy cake of some kind, served later with coffee.) Tine (pronounced “Tina”), a Norwegian company, makes Vanilla Sauce and on the front of the carton it says “original recipe since 1971.” Turid thinks that’s about when the craze started. She said as a kid there was a rum flavored sauce that was used on many things, but once the vanilla flavor hit the stores, it became a national sensation – for 37 years now. (Should have bought stock in that company, I guess.)
I was thinking about the whole vanilla situation the other day and I’m wondering if the reason they have vanilla in a powered form is because our liquid vanilla at home is alcohol based. Norwegians tax alcohol so much, they must have been in a quandary as to what to do about vanilla extract. If they taxed it the way they tax one can of beer (which sells for $13 by the way), no one could afford their precious Vanilla Sauce and there would surely be a revolt similar to The Boston Tea Party. Making their vanilla into a powder solves the whole problem and keeps all the alcoholics from drinking up their national supply of vanilla. Who knows. It’s fun to try and second guess the politics of Norway.
Kaleb and I sat and tried to read a children’s book in Norwegian today. We’re going to have a contest as to who can learn the language the quickest. (I think my Norske school starts next week.) Everyone entering the country between the ages of 16 and 55 is obligated to take 250 hours of language lessons – for free. (America could learn a thing or two from Norway about that one.) I guess I’ll have to thank the alcohol drinkers of this country for that, as I’m sure some of the exorbanite taxes they pay filter down to pay for my free Norwegian lessons. Tusen Takk. (Thousand thanks.)
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