snow, buns and travel

It's getting cold outside. Winter is now here, finally. Earlier this week I ventured out in a skirt with no tights and a t-shirt and sweater, it was quite warm. Now the cold is coming back and according to the news, it's gonna be a doozy. Rrrgg.....

Last fall I gave away my two warmest coats because I thought we were going to move to Dubai. Occasionally, as now, I sort of regret doing that. But I still have my puffy full length parka that I call The Duvet. So not sexy, but I could sleep outside in it and be fine.

In other news, color me confused. I think I have mentioned my addiction to boller. Oh yummy, yummy yeasty goodness sweet buns. They come in two forms, with and without raisins. I prefer without. The ones with raisins always make me feel like there is a bug in my bun, y'know? All brown and lurking.....

So this morning, giving in to the craving (I have gone a week now without a boller, and it's been DAMNED hard, let me tell you) I went to get me a bun, and they only had the ones with raisins. Fine, fine, but when I asked if they had any without raisins, they said they were 'out of them' until tomorrow. Out of the ones without raisins? Until tomorrow? And yet they still make the ones with?

Um, can't they just make up a batch of the dough, but not put raisins in and poof they have boller without raisins? Does this seem strange to anyone else? How can they be out, when it is simpler to make the damn buns without the raisins anyhow? Of course, to suggest that to the baker, you get a look that says, "But these come with raisins. I don't have any without." I felt like I was talking to that guy in Spinal Tap who insisted his amp "Goes to 11".

Plus, I always notice that the ones without raisins sell much faster, yet they always make more with. What the hell is up with that?

Dammit, this annoys me. I make space in my day to indulge (after a week) my craving and I am thwarted by a dunder headed baker who can't just leave the raisins out?

And it still snows.....

I have had some folks ask me about upcoming travel. I mean, it HAS been a month or more since I've been anywhere, last trip was to Tallin at New Year's.

Obviously, January was a travel free month, bummer.

But, coming up, I've got three trips planned. These are all places I have been before, but two of them I have never been to with Rich, so that will be new.

We'll go to Paris for a late Valentine's day trip. I've never been to Paris with someone I could actually, um, make out with, so that will hopefully make it even more interesting than my other trips. Not, of course, that I did not enjoy those, just that now I have someone to mack on.

Rich will have to go to the US for some family stuff in March, so I will take a long weekend in London while he's gone. I've been needing some things from Boots and definitely need a pub visit, or three.

Then not long after that, we will go to Istanbul. I really think Rich will like it, alot, and I feel like I have unfinished business there and that there is so much more to see.

We also looked at Barcelona for a trip, as neither of us has been to Spain, but Oh. My. God. the hotels were so expensive.....so that might have to wait a little, like, after Easter when prices drop a bit. It's expensive to travel around Easter, a big holiday in Europe. Everyone leaves.

differences

I bet in the US there's lots of traffic as everyone runs around like mad things trying to do their last minute shopping. Traffic and commerce and stress.....

Here? Quiet. Quiet as anything. Everything closed by about 6 yesterday. NOTHING is open, and won't be until the 26th or the 27th, and the streets are empty. This morning I didn't hear a car go by on what is normally a very busy road for over an hour. We went for a walk this afternoon, and nobody was about, except for people going for walks and people going to church. The church was hopping; I think we went by right about time for the service. Like many Americans, most Norwegians only go to church at Christmas and Easter. Many people were visiting the graves of lost loved ones, carrying candles and small lanterns and pine boughs to place on the graves. A lot of women wore their bunads (traditional Norewegian dresses). They are so lovely, and I would love to have one, but they are decorated according to their regional differences, and I can't decide on what region I would get, as they are all so lovely. They are also crashingly expensive, they can cost upwards of $10,000. Which means the probability of my getting one is not high....

Some sort of wierd warm front came though last night and it was 10 degrees celcius here this morning. It cooled off as the day progressed, but this weather is just very strange. I didn't wear a coat on our walk, just a heavy sweater. Some of the fields are green and fresh looking, and there were buds on some of the bushes. I read the Austin paper online and they were saying it might freeze or snow there...it's like winter got turned upside down.

I have mixed up my boller dough and am waiting for it to rise. It was a lot stickier than I thought it would be, when I was kneading it....I didn't knead for long because it all just stuck to me. I'm just not a baker, I prefer to cook. Well, we'll see what happens.

We got an extra minute of daylight today. I think I really felt it....not.

Scratch

I've laid myself a little challenge this Christmas.

I am going to cook everyday, that is the 23rd, 24th, 25th AND 26th, all from scratch. I have a menu sketchily planned out and our fridge is fuller than it's ever been. (And please note it is a HUGE fridge by any standard. It's a corner fridge, and you can walk into it, it's so big. That also means it damned expensive to fill!)

Last night I made carrot coriander soup . It was damned good, I like the recipe alot. The orange juice kicked the soup into high gear and made it that extra bit flavorful. I used creme fraiche instead of just cream as a garnish. YUM! With it I made grilled cheese (gouda) sandwiches. Rich had wanted chicken noodle soup, but that broke the rules of my self imposed cook from scratch contest.

Tonight is ham basted with honey served with, as they call them here, gratinated potatoes, and asparagus. For dessert Rich's favorite strawberry shortcake. OK, so I use Bisquick for the cake, but it's his favorite and I cannot mess with a favorite.

I am also going to make boller from scratch. I've never backed with yeast before, so please, if you hear of a strange baking accident in Southern Norway, where a building is blown out from a yeast raising incident, raise your glass and toast to me, ok? I'll be trying to dig out from the dough.

Tomorrow night will be turkey and the trimmin's. I got a 1.75 kilo turkey breast. Cost a bomb, but hopefully it will turn out ok.

Tuesday? Not sure....probably something of a Mexican nature.

Right now? Drinking coffee made with a coffee press. It's just as easy to make coffee this way as it is to use Nescafe, and it's even easier than using a drip coffee maker, but it's WAY better.....Nummy num num.

Yer My Obsession

A little while back Bookhart did a post about her obsessions. As I am sorely lacking in things to talk about and need a little structure for today's post, that seemed a good idea to follow. So, forthwith, my obsessions.

"Comfortably Numb" Scissor Sisters. That song is all over the UK and damn, me likey.

SexyBack, Justin Timberlake. He used to be my closet obsession, but I'm out of the closet now. What a great ass shaking song. And so hot. But am I the only one who just doesn't GET the video? (Actually, apparently I am not.) There's too much going on and too many people and I have NO idea what's happening. I'm thinking it's a spy something? I'm confused.

Project Runway. Can't get enough. (Note, I linked to the PR fan site as the Bravo site sucks big fat donkey dick...I hear alot of folks call it Blahvo.)

Norwegian Boller. (Quit yer sniggering.) Boller are these little buns (QUIT IT!) that you eat for breakfast or a snack. Yeast rolls, slightly sweet, with a hint of cardamom. I especially like them when they are jus a tad underbaked. Floppy, bready and oh so yummy with coffee.

My iPod. The more I use it the more I can't be without it.

On the iPod, I love Penn's podcast. That is one opinionated, but funny guy. He's charming, smart and very Libertarian, which I agree with in many ways. He's also very "keep yer religion off me, please" which I find VERY comforting in this strangely fundamentalist age we are in. I'm so TIRED of religion pitting against religion, and all of them trying to convert everyone, so Penn saying "Hey, me atheist so don't eventry it" is oh so nice. However, I will admit that I can't listen to Monkey Tuesday. Monkeys freak me out and a whole hour dedicated to them is a bit much for me. To me, all monkeys are Bad Monkeys.

Losing ten lbs in two months. Dudes, I'll tell you what, I've got the motivation now and its SO gonna happen. I've totally got abs of steel already. I'm totally stealth buff. You know what stealth buff is, don't you? It's when you are in seriously good shape, with ripped abs, and one of those dimpled butts, and those muscly arms like Madonna but you have this layer of flab over it so other people don't feel bad that you are so buff. See? Stealth buff. I've been stealth most of my life. I finnd it's easier to go stealth than to show the ripped physique to everyone. I find it slows conversation because they just can't concentrate on what they are saying. Madonna? she's not stealth. She's just buff.

Dior Capture D-30 face cream. Cuz I don't really have a problem with wrinkles (yet) but I do have some sun damage and this crap is supposed to be the magic bullet. "Out Out damn'd spot. Out I say!"

Mac Powerpoint eyeliners. I now have 7 of them. They come in lovely colors. They rock. When I left London via Heathrow they were making all the women deposit any lipsticks, eyeliners, etc, in a bin for destruction before security, because of the concerns about women's makeup blowing up airplanes. I'm all "fuck that! These things cost me 13 bucks a pop! so I sort of snuggled them through in the bottom of my purse. I mean they are wooden pencils for Crissakes, how will they find them in security and think they are other than, well, a pencil? So I took the chance, and did not turn them in and they went thru fine. Sorry, a girl's gotta have her eyeliner.
(By the way, when I left Norway? Apparently my underwire bra was a security risk as well because, dudes, I literally got FELT UP by the chick with the beepy wand. I mean, she felt every bit of my breastular area. I told her that if they outlaw underwire bras at airports they will have a woman's riot on their hands. It's bad enough they are taking our makeup away, but possible floppy breast syndrome is NOT acceptable. AND there was NO WAY in hell I would take my bra off for extra searching, if it was coming to that. Luckily, the beepy wand gal had a sense of humor and just laughed and said that no, she did not think they would make underwires illegal, for then she would be in trouble too. I really only have two rules when it comes to going through airport security: I will not bend over for ANYONE and I will not allow skin on skin contact.)

Summer. I am obsessed with the passing of summer.