when all the people leave?

Norwegian-style waffles are softer than the Belgian ones. There are about as many different recipes as there are households, I’d think. They’re usually heart-shaped, but I couldn’t resist using my sister’s Mickey Mouse waffle-iron.

These ones came about when I was cleaning up my diet by doing  low-GI for a while after Christmas, but still wanted a treat to serve guests. I’ve used the basic recipe from Norwegian site Det Søte Liv, but tried to adapt a bit to the fact that I was avoiding regular white sugar.

Ingredients:

400 ml oatmeal/rolled oats
300 ml buttermilk
300 ml milk
2 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter
0.5 tbsp crystalline fructose, or other sweetener.
0.5 ts+ baking soda
2 tbsp barley flour

How to:
1. Put the oats in a bowl with the milk and the buttermilk. Leave it for about an hour.
2. Gently whisk the eggs together.
3. Add the eggs, the melted butter and the crystalline fructose to the oats/milk/buttermilk mixture.
4. Add the baking soda and barley flour and mix well.
5. Let the dough stand for 15 minutes before baking.
6. Bake in a waffle iron until golden. (You might consider using a bit of butter or cooking spray on the waffle iron depending on its non-stick capabilities.)
7. Serve with jam, sour cream, butter or cheese.

If you do any sort of genealogy on royal families in Europe today – the odds are fairly high that four names will show up over and over. In their time, and in history, they’ve received the title of “the grandmother of Europe2, “grandfather of Europe”, “Mother-in-law of Europe”… well, you get the gist.

The four names are:

The King of Denmark: Christian IX of Denmark, and his wife Louise
The Queen of the United Kingdom: Victoria, and her husband Albert.

Although Victoria and Christian IX were married to Albert and Louise, respectively, in speech, it usually tends to revert to the monarchs as the most important, so that’s what I’ve used in the section I discuss below.

There were rumors about Christian courting Victoria in their youth, but ultimately she ended up with Albert and he married Louise von Hesse Kassel. (Something which later served him the Danish throne.)

If you’re tallying it up, between them, Christian and Louise and Victoria and Albert had fifteen children. Through their descendants, they would come to conquer Europe’s royal families.  In this post, I’ve chosen to focus on their grandchildren, due to the monikers they received in their time.

Though descendants are on more thrones in Europe today than the reasoning below and the subsequent map will show – there is still a substantial spread.

Despite the lack of result from their own courting, the genes ended up united through Victoria’s son, Edward VII and Christian’s daughter, Alexandra’s offspring. 

With regards to the grandchildren:

Victoria’s daughter, Vicky, married German emperor Friedrich III. Their daughter, Sophie, would marry Christian’s grandson, Constantine of Greece. Vicky and Friedrich’s son, Wilhelm, would make the effort to conquer more than his fair share of Europe with the German army.

Another of Victoria’s daughters, Beatrice, married Heinrich Moritz von Battenberg, and their daughter, Victoria Eugenia, or Ena as she was known, married Alfonso XIII of Spain.

Victoria’s son Arthur married Luise of Prussia – and their daughter Margaret married  Crown Prince Gustav  Adolf of Sweden.

Another of Victoria’s sons, Alfred, married Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, and one of their daughters, Marie,  married Ferdinand I of Romania.

Edward VII and Alexandra’s daughter, Maud of Wales ended up married to her first cousin, Carl of Denmark, son of Frederik VIII. Carl would be chosen as the King of Norway in 1905.

Out of Christian’s children and grandchildren, apart from Alexandra, his daughter, Dagmar married the Russian czarevich, later czar, Alexander III. Her son, Nicholas II and his family (his wife, Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein, was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria through her daughter Alice. ) would come to an untimely end at the hand of the Bolsheviks.

His son Vilhelm was chosen to be the Greek king as George I.

For further display of the spread of children and grandchildren – check out this GoogleMap.

View Grandparents of Europe in a larger map
The first generation is red/blue. The second generation is green, and the third generation is aqua. I’ve tried as best possible to put the marker down in places that had some significance to the persons in question, or the geographic area they “ruled”.

Sometimes, the perfect day is as simple as being out in the sunshine, organizing part of the mess in your parents’ backyard… and not checking the news.

Because, when you do check the news, it’s inevitably bad. You’re reminded that there is a world out there, where things aren’t just sunshine and tulips in bloom.

Today, it was the news that 26 year old Norwegian swimmer, Alexander Dale Oen, had passed away in Flagstaff, Arizona.

I don’t follow swimming to any large degree. It is not a huge sport in Norway, but his success made the sport more visible in the media. But, I love the Olympic games and I had looked forward to following his quest for gold in London this summer.

This kind of news makes me sad for the unfilled possibilities that won’t be. It makes me sad for his family and friends who lost a loved one much too soon.

Sometimes, a field filled with flowers and sunshine is all it takes to make me happy.

April was Easter break, and a lot of books read. Some newly published books, and some books that have been backlisted.

I’ve ordered myself a trip to Paris this summer, and Eloisa James’ Paris in Love
was quite instrumental in making me look forward to that with its little tidbits about living in Paris. It’s more a collection of quirky Facebook posts than a book with lengthy essays, but it was just right for now.

Beard, Amanda – In the water they can’t see you cry
Brooke, Leah – Panthers’ Prey
Boyle, Elizabeth – Brazen angel
Boyle, Elizabeth – Brazen heiress
Boyle, Elizabeth – Brazen temptress
Conder, Michelle – Girl behind the scandalous reputation
Dratch, Rachel – Girl walks into a bar
Enoch, Suzanne – Angel’s devil
Enoch, Suzanne – The black duke’s prize
Green, Abby – The legend of deMarco
Hardy, Kate – The ex who hired her
James, Eloisa – Paris in love : A memoir
Lawrence, Kim – Gianni’s pride
Marton, Sandra – Sheikh without a heart
Neville, Miranda – Confessions from an arranged marriage
Noble, Kate – If I fall
Noble, Kate – The dress of the season
Oaks, Sophie – Pure Bliss
Putney, Mary Jo – Angel Rogue
Putney, Mary Jo – Petals in the storm
Putney, Mary Jo – River of fire
Putney, Mary Jo – Dancing on the wind
Putney, Mary Jo – Thunder and roses
Putney, Mary Jo – Shattered Rainbows
Putney, Mary Jo – No longer a gentleman
Putney, Mary Jo – The bargain
Roberts, Nora – Divine Evil
Roberts, Nora – Carnal innocence
Roberts, Nora – Brazen Virtue
Rose, Emilie – Monte Carlo affairs
Simmons, Gail – Talking with my mouth full
Stephens, Susan – The Argentinian’s solace
Van, Becca – Slick Rock Cowboys
Walker, Kate – The devil and miss Jones
West, Annie – Undone by his touch
Yates, Maisy – Girl on a diamond pedestal

April: 36
2012 so far: 139

Fresh Prince of Bel Air remix:

Sometimes, I think I need this quiet music video to block too many thoughts from coming together at once.

Let’s ignore the fact that I had to look one extra time to see if he really was wearing clothes.

The problem with recommending the new chocolate sauce and mousse-filled dark chocolate bar to everyone… Is that I keep giving myself cravings.

Help?