A Non Fat-Free Day!

The socializing continued today, but this time with friends, not family.  I just love the life we have here.

This morning I went in search of applesauce and had no luck.  I anticipated that “challenge” so I brought some small pre-packaged cups of it with me, but security at Sea-Tac confiscated them, saying they were “liquid.”  I knew I needed them for fat-free baking because applesauce is a great substitute for oil in any recipe, so I was high and dry this morning not knowing what to do.  Then I remembered it’s so easy to make it, so I sliced up an apple, added a bit of water and waited at least an hour for that thing to cook down enough to use it in the Pineapple Upside-down cake I made to take over to Sandra’s house.  The cake was better than ever and definitely worth repeating on a regular basis.  I did offer them some vanilla sauce to pour over the top, just in case, but they thought it was so good, they passed.  Incredible.

While I was in pursuit of the applesauce, Kory was busy working on the to-do list.  He fixed the ladder on Kaleb’s bunk bed, repaired the threshold going into the bathroom, and also re-grouted a spot by the bathroom door (see photo above - and check out my "office" behind him). He also re-hung a few things that got taken down.  All I managed to do (while the cake was baking) was scrub the living room rug with soap and hot water.  We’d set it out on the deck last night so the rain would pre-wet it.  Having it professionally cleaned costs more than buying a new one and I didn’t want to do either, so the rain that came today was just what I needed.  Now I hope it dries before we leave town.  Ha.

We picked up Kaleb from his overnighting with Daniel, on our way over to Sandra and Karl’s house (below) in Langevaag, the town where Kory grew up.  They had us over early in the day because they have a three-year-old that goes to bed early, so it was good for us all.  They just bought a fixer-upper so they were anxious to show us around. 

The guy that owned their house previously bought it for 1,200,000 kroner ($200,000) and in the four years he lived there he never once made a mortgage payment.  The crazy thing was, the bank had loaned him a total of two million kroner ($333,333) to fix it up, and he never did. He just kept the money.  He is from Poland and a bit on the shady side as he was making regular runs to Poland to pick up drugs, alcohol and tobacco to sell them for cash in Norway, so the traffic was non-stop to his place, which is on a dead end street.

All the neighbors complained about his behavior and his vicious German Shepherd dog, but nothing was done.  Even the bank was forbidden to foreclose on him because he had school age children and it would have meant they’d be homeless.  In Norway, no one with kids is allowed to be homeless, so they looked at it as a situation that it was better to be a burden to the neighborhood, than to the community, because the Kommune  (county) would have then been required to provide them with totally free housing, indefinitely, if the bank foreclosed.  Crazy system.  It wasn’t until his wife left with the children and moved back to Poland, that the bank could actually evict him.  Even the police had to have a hearing with a judge in order to kill his dog because it was so mean (the guy kept him in a collar with 1” spikes digging into his neck at all times and had him caged up like a wild animal.)  Poor thing.

Sandra said the neighborhood was so relieved to have them move in and they have a long way to go before anyone considers them a bad neighbor, as the guy had non-stop parties with drinking, smoking pot, loud music and outdoor sex (in the driveway!) all the time – even in front of the neighborhood kids.  The police would show up, but no arrests were made and no permanent changes ever happened, so a few had already put their houses up for sale and moved on.  The houses aren’t side by side on a street like in America, they are all clustered closely together in a big bunch so there’s neighbors all around.  The previous owner built an “illegal” fence, (too high by building codes), and an illegal garage (too close to the property line) and even the county told them to just take their time in “fixing” those things – so everyone is cutting them slack BIG TIME because they are just so happy that a normal family has moved in.

The sad part for Sandra (above with hubby) was that after they looked at the house and made the offer to buy it for 1,500,000 kroner (a real deal at $250,000), the guy still had 3 months to leave the property.  In that time, he trashed the inside of the house by knocking big holes in the walls, bathtub, and cabinets.  He tore the electrical wires from the ceiling and set a booby trap to blow up the house, which thankfully they discovered, before it was too late.  They appealed to the bank to lower the cost of the house by 100,000 kroner ($16,666), but the bank just gave them 40,000  ($6,666) to help with the costs of repairing it, so they have their work cut out for them fixing things.  They were hoping to offer Kaleb a part-time summer job helping them clean stuff up, do some painting and pressure washing, but he doesn’t want to take any time away from his friends, so he wouldn’t do it.  I’m going to try and help her, though, but what a job. It’s a great house in a wonderful location so I am happy for them and their little boy Karl-Alexander. 

That kid loves me.  All afternoon he kept saying, “Hi-ya Nikka!” to me over and over and Sandra said he doesn’t go to anyone else like he goes to me – hugging my neck, kissing me and wanting to be with me every minute.  I’m sure it’s because I prayed for that little boy long before he was even conceived – I prayed THAT he’d be conceived (they had to go to Latvia for in-vitro many, many times), and I prayed when his twin brother, in utero, died -  that he’d hold fast.  Then I prayed when Sandra’s water broke three months early, that he’d make it, and he did and he’s cute as a button.  So I think, honestly, his spirit is somehow connected to me as I don’t think I’ve prayed for any kid more, except for Kaleb. 

We had a great visit and I’m thankful they now live closer to us.  Kory was thankful he actually got to eat some grilled torsk (cod) and all the other food was fat-free so he felt like a king.  They were so kind to accommodate us.  Karl said last night he was looking on the internet as to “what vegans eat” because he thought it was just salad, but he was surprised to see they eat all kinds of things.  I thought that was funny.

On our way home we stopped by Tina and Are’s house to pick up some dried fish they got for us to take home for our neighbor who loves that stuff (so does Kory but he can’t eat it).  We thought it would be a two minute side-trip and it ended up being a three hour visit.  They were in the middle of making mørsbrød lefse which is a regional food from up north.  Are’s mother is from northern Norway, and this special type of lefse is only made there.  He gets a hankering for it every now and then so today was our lucky day, as we got to stay and eat some! 

What makes this lefse special is not just the recipe for the lefse itself, but what’s put inside.  Normal lefse is coated with butter, sugar and cinnamon, then rolled up like a tortilla and eaten.  But his type of lefse is cooked stiff then set back on the grill right before eating it.  The most unique part is the special sauce that’s made for the inside - full of all kinds of fat:  whole milk, cream, brown cheese, sugar and syrup.  It’s cooked a long time until it thickens, then spread out over the lefse while it’s on the grill the second time.  A dollop of sour cream is put in the middle with a few drops of syrup and then it’s folded so it looks more like a diaper or envelope, than a tortilla.  And rather than eating it with both hands like traditional lefse, it’s opened up a bit and torn to pieces, dipping each chunk into the sour cream/syrup center.  And let me just say it was DEE-LISH!  Man, oh man was it good!  I even had to let Kory have a small bite because it was such an unusual taste, almost carmel-like but not quite.  There’s nothing else like it, that’s for sure.  What a treat.  I’m so glad we stopped by!

So we had a nice long visit with Tina and Are and had some good laughs over their time with us in America earlier this month – mostly about how much I yell at Kory when he’s driving too fast, or too slow, or misses a turn and also about how much weight they all lost eating my fat-free cooking.   I just love the pace of life here, where the focus is on socializing and just hanging with friends and family and the to-do list seems so unimportant on days like today.  It’s good to be back.