An American Dinner

Kaleb came wandering in around nine o’clock this morning. He had a big grin on his face and immediately asked when he could have another sleepover with someone. He was up until one this morning watching movies with Tobias. I found out later, the movie that tickled his funny bone the most was one of the Police Academy movies – something I would never let him watch at home. I guess I can’t protect him forever. He had a fun time though and except for Tobias complaining that he was picking his nose all night, Tobias enjoyed his company (but only if he went and washed his hands frequently.) I don’t know what it is with him and his nose, but it’s definately a social problem.

We went to Filadelfia Church this morning and Kory gave a report to one of the pastors there about how well things went yesterday at the car wash. The pastor said he could do it anytime he wants, so I’m sure he will when the weather cooperates. Kory is already planning improvements for the next time.

The time is slipping by too fast now and we have just over three months left here in Aalesund. We are working on our “list” of people we want to have over before we go, so tonight we invited over Kory’s two bosses and their families for dinner. We only had a few hours this afternoon after church to get things ready so we all pitched in to clean the house and prepare the meal. I guess that’s one reason why I like having company over so much, because then the house actually does get clean. It’s amazing how long we can go with no one vacuuming the floors until we know someone is coming over. And why that is, I just don’t know, as a clean house feels so good. I guess we all are a bit lazy when it comes right down to it.

I have a few good menus worked up that seem to agree with most Norwegian palates, so I made my “Menu #1” for dinner tonight (Hot Artichoke Heart dip and chips for an appetizer, “Warm salad”, Chicken Marbella, Gingered carrots, potatoes and blueberry cobbler for dessert). I think our guests were a little worried about eating American food, but decided they liked it well enough to have seconds – so that was good. I make sure to tell everyone that they don’t have to eat anything if they don’t like it, as I hate that pressure when I go somewhere for dinner and I get served something I just can’t bring myself to eat. Taste buds are as cultural as the language.

When we have company for dinner in America I’m used to using two ovens, so coordinating temperatures and cooking times isn’t usually a problem, but here, it’s another story. The ovens are very small and some of the pans I brought won’t even fit inside the oven. But the one cool thing about European ovens that I haven’t seen before in America is the removable racks. Every oven I’ve seen in America just has two or three wire racks that the cooking pans sit on – but here the ovens come with solid racks that people use to cook the food directly in, whether it’s a cake or a roast and potatoes. The cake “rack” can go on the bottom of the oven while the rack with the roast and potatoes cooks directly above it. It really reduces the amount of baking pans you need, as each oven comes with two or three deep baking pan racks as well as the wire racks. It’s cool to load up the oven and have several layers baking at the same time, but they all need a similar temperature or it won’t work too well and everything cooking needs to be fairly flat. I think it’s a very clever way of making the most of that small space, but sometimes (like tonight) I get frustrated the oven is so small that I can’t even get two round pans in the oven side-by-side, so I have to cook in shifts. Oh well, everything turned out fine.

The photo today is of klippfisk – the main thing on the menu where we ate dinner last night. This particular type of fish is made just in Norway as far as I know –it’s a cod that is heavily salted, then dried until it becomes a lethal weapon. Honestly, it would be possible to pound nails with one of these fish fillets. Before becoming edible again, the fish must be soaked for two or three days in water to remove all the salt. In Kory’s day, the fish were laid out on rocks to dry in the sun, and he remembers all the scurrying that went on to cover them up if the rains came. This was and is a huge industry in Norway – this dried cod called klippfisk. It’s some nasty tasting stuff if you ask me, but people in Portugal and Spain love it and use it to make Baccalao (klippfisk cooked in olive oil with tomatoes, red peppers, onions and potatoes.) Norwegians love the stuff too and Kory so wants me to learn how to make Baccalao but I just can’t get that "in touch" with my inner Norwegian to bring myself to do it. American food works just fine for me.