And then there was pumpkin pie...

After returning home this afternoon from a very productive and pleasant Saturday morning I picked the box out of my plastic bag and placed it on the counter. Shockingly eager to get on with my next task.

I had been very eager to have pumpkin pie all season. It's like a burning passion with me, probably from the fact that during Thanksgiving with my family I was the pumpkin pie cook. It made me feel great making something so tasty that I got to share with my family. Fast forward to now and I haven't had a pumpkin pie in three years because Japan has a severe lack of normal sized ovens, like I've mentioned before.

This is the first holiday season that I had access to a kitchen in which to call my own (after a fashion) and can bake freely. So I went looking for my regular things to make pie, and found (not really to my dismay) that canned pumpkin is either non-existent, extremely hard to find, or it's camouflaged in an effort to put me off making it into a pie. I wandered into my local (shnazzy) grocery store to find a pumpkin that they were willing to cut off chunks for me. It was quite a pumpkin and after consulting my recipe on how to make this pumpkin I found out that I need a half (specifically). Thus I came home with a half of a pumpkin. I figured that since it was nearly a foot and a half in diameter that it would make enough puree to make pie.

This being my first go at making it out of the pumpkin and the lack of  cutely labeled "pie pumpkin" or "sugar pumpkin" I went with what I could find. All eager I dug out the innards and made a huge mess separating the pulp from the seeds. Dancing to classic rock on Radio Norge while making a mess made me so terribly happy, I have to tell you. So into the oven my pumpkin half went ( meat side down on foil ) and I waited the hour and a half while drinking tea and editing my story in anticipation for Nanowrimo.

I also prepped the seeds for baking, boiling it in super salty water for 10-15 mins. Then rolling it with a bit of olive oil. Onto a foiled pan they went. Ready to throw in.

Hour and a half later popped it out and after waiting less time than I should have, I started digging with a spoon. After digging most of it out and putting it into a bowl I started to get the idea that I had more than enough. My mixing bowl was overflowing. I didn't even dig straight to the edges as some parts were still hard. (I learned later that I could just peel off the skin or cut it off. I would have had even more! I'll be sure to do that next time)

After putting the seeds in the oven and baking them, I realized that I couldn't find a food processor (my borrowed kitchen) After another half hour of digging I decided to wait till my friend's got home. Sure enough they did and gave me a cool little glass shaped food processor, so bits at a time I pureed the pumpkin.

My first crust with ready made puff pastry was a disaster after I tried to prebake it. I successfully made the largest croissant ever. Try 2, put pastry bits together and mush much more.

Spices, after figuring out which spice was what in Norwegian I realized that the cloves were whole. So after borrowing the weight-lift mortar and pestle  I ground it down. It worked so well I can't imagine not having one of these in the future. Also crushing things with a big stone stick is awesome. It certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I feel like an alchemist when I do it... of course not...

Anyway viking milk (evaporated milk), spices, eggs, sugars, and pumpkin later, I had a lovely base and threw it into the newly mashed puff pastry crust. I hoped that it wouldn't poof up like it did previously.

Another hour and fifteen minutes later it came out, and my handmade (because I couldn't find a mixer) whipped cream later, I got to share pumpkin pie to the family I'm staying with. It was a hit! Not to mention that I'm extremely psyched about making it from scratch (crust notwithstanding)

Now what to do with the extra puree? Well that's why I got that box of freezer bags! Measuring up a cup at a time, I found that I had enough for four pies. My puree is now happy and freezing up to be made later into muffins, bread, and soup.

The whole things was tons of fun and worked out great. I can't believe I didn't start doing this before. What about mini-pumpkin pies? That would be amazing! Oh the possibilities!

Until then though... Nanowrimo! Four days till the start! GO GO!

My pie recipe:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/

The instructions for the seeds:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/toasted_pumpkin_seeds/

Both of them worked out amazingly.

Picture of the post:

Street art near Oslo S. Colorful and lovely.

Oslo Ice Bar

Oslo Ice Bar

http://www.icebaroslo.no/

   So on the evening of my 30th birthday I went to the ice bar in Oslo. Apparently I have to do something interesting and unique for that birthday or else I'm just not cool. (no honestly, someone told me that). So reservations made for 9pm, I walked into the gift store part of the store. The entrance fee is 160nok. 

  A little bit further in they have walls of capes with gloves attached, there is also a set of very hearty looking boots. Capes on and I suddenly look like an Eskimo. Well a very poncho-y Eskimo. The double set of airtight door later we walk into the room that is -5 degrees. We have a reservation, they always start on the hour and last for 45 mins. After the 45 mins, they kick you out. 

Theme for this year is "The Nautilus"

    Maelstrom- Bunches of something, tasting cinnamony and like Christmas. The more you drink, the more the lip of the cup conforms to you and eventually you have a curved lip impression in the cup. Yes the cups are ice. Holding onto them takes two hands just to make sure it doesn't drop.

   It's cold but between the cape and gloves it's not unpleasant at all. After ordering a maelstrom the bartender takes one of the square glasses and hands it to me.

The square there is the menu, it's made out of plastic.

All the chairs are also made out of ice, although there are seats on top of it to keep you from sliding off of it, or leaving too much of an impression. The tentacles also come out of the walls.

The tables too had bits of bubbles on top, and other imperfections to keep your glass from sliding around as it does on any smooth surfaced ice. We were told that the ice was brought from a river in northern Norway.

               All of the carvings are inside the walls, or inside pillars. It looks like they cut a section off and carved inside then put it back. It is extremely impressive. I was a fan of the jellyfish.

         One overbearing question in my mind was why only 45 minutes? So I made sure to ask the bartender before I left.
         You can only stay around for 45 minutes because:

1. The drink mixes freeze.
2. The bartender freezes.
3. While you are inside alcohol doesn't effect you very quickly. Once you step outside and resume normal warmth, it strikes. The bartender told me that it happens quite often that people walk outside and five minutes later are very smashed. All the alcohol hits at once. So in order to keep the patrons safe, they make sure that you don't give yourself alcohol poisoning by accident.

     It was quite interesting. Since they change the theme every year, it wouldn't be unpleasant to just check it out once a year. Not sure I'd go more often than that, it was certainly pretty interesting though.

    Lots of pics here, next up 1Q84 review. 

Mastreif, Book Festival, Oslo Culture day!

Mastreif

       So this past weekend was Mastreif (The Oslo Farmer's Market). So the producers that usually go to all the farmers markets all around the country are for one weekend in one place. Amazing amounts of good food, great produce and interesting things. Tons of cheese and sausages though. So it started on Friday afternoon which is when my friend and I showed up. I wanted to beat the rush....

         

        Yes.. this is before the crowd...

    Notice how easy it is to get into the stalls.. as we were here longer the more crowded it became.. be ready for bits of people's arms and such in pictures.

     So lots of handmade goods, olive oil, herbs, fruit, veggies, sausages, artisan cheeses, artisan juices. I picked up mountain picked raspberries and blueberries. Which I enjoy every morning for breakfast now.

  Salmon was huge also, these were small gourmet creations, 3 tastes for 20 kroner. Which was a decent price. I wasn't really thinking and ate before coming to the farmer's market.. silly me.

        They were having a meat grading contest as we walked by, they were staring at various cuts of meats and grading them. It was pretty interesting.

       This lady is a honey producer who is at my farmer's market usually, I picked up some unfiltered honey from raspberry flowers. I found the lavender flowers a bit too sweet for me, but still amazing. She was very adamant about the differences, and they were extremely differing in flavor. I'm very happy with my new, not extremely sweet, with a bit of fruity , honey!

     Hand made amazing chocolates too!
     Yes, I passed them up, I decided that the fruit was a better investment for my money. I'm still very happy with my choice, but I'm also happy I have a picture.

  

  Book Fair!

     We went looking for coffee after Mastreif, and stumbled on a book fair. Not just on this street, but it was all over the area in tents everywhere. Cheaper books, free bags, author's signings. I have a novel I want to read very badly, but it's in Norwegian. I'll get there soon. Here are some pictures from the book fair. Interestingly, not just of stacks of books (of which there were tons!)

     The people running this tent were very kind in letting me take pictures and the typewriter was very neat! I was extremely happy to have run across it!

Oslo Culture Day

      It was also brought to my attention that this day was (also, in addition to everything else that day) Oslo Culture Day. Which meant that all the museums, parliament, the palace, ect were open and had events going on all day and night. My friends met up that night for dinner and headed to the Munch-museet (The Munch Museum)  

     Famous for the painting The Scream

(this image is from the Munch Museum, and copyright to the artist, obviously)

      Interestingly this painting is also one of the most expensive publicly held paintings, thus making it extremely popular to try and steal. So, security at the museum was tight, but not oppressive. Also, we didn't even get to see any of the paintings because as soon as we whisked into the museum, enjoyed the live jazz playing in the cafe, we headed downstairs. We were off to make masks. 

     Masks using our own faces for a base! How do you do this? I'll tell you... (someone else has to make your mask on your face, thus requiring two people)

•        Vaseline your face (all of it, including eyebrows and hairline)- I recommend someone helping you with this, also you can't have enough, put it on thick.
•        Take a strip of saran wrap and lay it across your eyes, protecting them. The strip can go all the way to both temples and into your hairline.
•        Take (max ~1in.) strips of plastercast, dip into water and place on face (make the mask)
•        Be sure to swirl your fingers around to smoothe the plaster around so you dont have so much linen grid showing. 
•        Make sure that the nose ridge is strong enough (or else it will crack when removed. 
•        Wait until it is dry, and slowly remove. You have a mask
•        Add more plaster cast to smooth out edges, fill parts in. Take tissue paper and watered down glue and apply to top and edges to smooth the whole thing out. Paint, or whatnot as liked. 

       It was terribly messy! Also tons of fun. 

       We were not the only adults doing this, but we weren't all adults either and everyone was having a good time trying to make scream masks. 

       After a nightcap of hot chocolates and cortados(expresso with milk, in my case; double expressos) we headed back to the bay to watch the fireworks show. I did take pictures of it, but they never turn out quite as I expect. I should look into taking pictures of fireworks, they are quite hard. All in all a very full, fun, and lovely day. I highly recommend being around for these events next year around September 14th, 2013! See you there :)

Here is your surprise picture, enjoy!

       

Coffee and other needs in a new place

       I'm going to see if I can get this more off the ground here. Well I've moved. I had been in Japan, Utsunomiya, for a little more than three years. Found lots of amazing cafes, restaurants, little shops, fantastic places to sit, and fabulous places to relax in. I will certainly be back, there is more to be seen there and many of my close friends are there.
       More on that later, for now I'm going to talk some about the necessary bits of moving to a new place. No, not the duldrum "job, language, cat food, train stations" bits. We all know that those are there. I'm talking about the fundamental things that I need to function as a more happy little human in a new area regardless of the place. I have also found that I can do this with more ease than lots of people, something having to do with a wanderlust in the blood, but enough about that.
       Ok, needs for Lyn life. I'm actually a pretty simple person after a fashion. Coffee, exercise, accomplish something, internet.
      1. Internet- Well I'm lucky to have great friends who have marvelous internet in their house. I of course can't stay here all the time, so I pack up my little netbook and shuffle onto the train for a ride into Oslo proper. There are actually several places that I've found that have internet available, libraries of course have wireless internet available if you get a guest pass from them. Also various shops or cafes might have it. They have signs stating as such. I found one cafe that has wireless internet and nice chairs, so it is very adequate for my needs.
     2. Exercise- With the abundance of parks and natural areas with walking paths, exercise here is easy to do. Pretty much everyone does. Men, women, and children in exercise clothes and with gear accompanying get on trains and off, bike to work, ski after cars in the street, ride skooters around town agilely avoiding pedestrians, joggers are everywhere. People in exercise clothes are never given a second glance by other travelers because at one point or another everyone is one. Shops tote various grades of clothes for the occasion from sweatpants to casual professional grade gear. It's extremely impressive.
          I've looked into lots of different things to do, I bike in the apartment on a stationary bike, walk for hours too, and ran less than I liked. I looked into Krav Maga. I might try that once I'm a bit more settled. I found a bellydancing studio that was holding Zumba classes during the summer months. I figured I'd try the zumba, and get to know the teacher. Zumba being upbeat music, latin in origin usually and lots of dancing style choreography. Also, since my teacher is a bellydancing teacher I'm pretty sure we are doing things that other more standard zumba classes don't. It is pretty challenging and I find that when the older ladies in the class are schooling me I get pretty embarrassed. I am learning fast though and am doing much better with the various routines than when I started.
            I saw a man going into the class after mine with this girlfriend and I smiled and wished him luck and all the best. He was sure to have fun at least. It certainly makes one chuckle trying to keep up.

Oslo Magendans Studio (in Norwegian)
         3. Accomplish something- Other than meeting people and making connections as to where things are or how to get from one place to another, or slowly hearing different words and understanding them. I like more concrete accomplishments, things I can say "I did" Well I'm doing zumba right now and I'm surviving and thriving at it. It is very out of my normal set of things. It's not rock climbing, jogging, swimming, or my normal things. Some times it's a bit frustrating, but I find that continuing to try and pushing myself to learn the various parts gives me a sense of accomplishment at the end.
          4. Coffee- Saved the most important for last. Coffee.. You'd think that this was standard, but similar to the canned, instant varieties that you find in Japan, good coffee isn't a right. It's a privilege. Also noting that canned coffee you drink like a shot, hoping it never hits your tongue. Yes, it really is that unpleasant. Ok, so coffee in Oslo. Not bad, but not dark.
          Right before I left Japan the Starbucks in the mall (and already I hear some people going Starbucks nooooo!!! But bear with me) started carrying a blonde roast of coffee as standard. Now, generally when I make coffee at home I can drink it black just fine, but Starbuck's coffee is usually a very dark roast so I require milk. That's still alright. I tried the blonde roast, strangely not having done the research on it, thinking that it would be lighter in flavor just a bit.
          I was so very wrong.
          It was nigh undrinkable for me. I've been inundated by dark roasts my whole life and now this. It's almost vinegary in flavor and after a few sips actually starts hurting my stomach.
          How is this relevant you ask?   Well if you ask for coffee (straight coffee) from a shop and they go to a carafe to pour it out, 9 times out of 10, it's going to be this blonde roast. The coffee will not only have been sitting in that pot for a while, but it will be that lovely vinegar flavor that I love so much. I accidentally got a cup at a cafe not realizing and couldn't even power through it. I drank half of it, and had to push it away.
         Not to say there isn't good coffee around, generally in that instance any cafe will have an espresso machine and it will have that lovely dark roast coffee. Obviously because you can't make espresso out of blonde roast. So when in doubt order a double americano (2 espresso shots with hot water). That will get you pretty close to a cup of coffee if you are desperate.
       A couple of places are standardly good and I'll continue looking for more, but for right now, my go-tos are: Wayne's Coffee.
          Wayne's is a pretty standard (we have coffee, and chairs) kind of shop. They are pretty much everywhere, within walking distance from any train station. They are also laced with free wifi, added bonus. This makes them a favored spot for me. I particularly like the Wayne's down the street from National Theatre Station. I've sat and written on my story for a long time. It's a very nice place. Cup of coffee 27nok($4.50), refill 7nok($1.17) and yes that's pretty cheap.
           In stations or in malls you'll run across BIT (bee-t), a very nice coffee/cafe thing. They have good coffee, pastries, very good sandwiches, fresh-made breads that you can choose how wholegrain you want it (light, medium, full grain). They also have a full on salad bar that you can order anything from. It's a very good choice in the morning or in the afternoon on a commute.

       I found other interesting things I hope to get around to looking at as I go. I'll tell you about them as I do. I guess one of my points here is that it is pretty good at giving you what you want for a city. It's actually extremely good at it. There's a little bit of looking around required of course, but very worth it. I really think this place has a bit of something for everyone.  Cheers.