You simply make it like you would make hen with white sauce.

That’s the entire recipe.

Granted, the hen with white sauce was the recipe before that, so it is not very strange, but it has become an internal family joke now.

I’ve been to the gym twice this week.

After a week, (I started so-so last week) I’m already seeing small results. So, even if the weather is crap – and I can’t be bothered biking to the gym (no car, and no direct buses) I’m keeping up with the exercises. I’m picking out those I can do at home, without too much equipment, or improvising when it comes to the equipment part.

Every little bit helps.

It’s just about the only house in that area of town with an untraditional colour. Most of the other houses are white or grey.

It seems everyone has an opinion on it – the neighbours have complained to the municipality, as they don’t think the colour suits the area.

And the articles online are overflowing with comments on how people should be able to choose the colour of their own house.

I walked past it yesterday. It is definitely a very visible house. But there are many houses in the area that are neglected… and it might be better for the municipality to focus on those first.

I know a lot of people elsewhere are struggling with the heat, but here it is cold, grey and wet most of the time.

On the positive side, it usually doesn’t get that much colder for winter, here.

This puzzles my Dad, because I love to experiment, open gadgets, watch reactions and find out how things work. (Putting the gadgets back together again after opening them is less interesting.)

But, I think that if we had done experiments where I could see the use, I might have been more motivated. Such as homemade vanilla extract.

I’m trying this out because it seems to be a staple in a lot of recipes, yet, it is not available commercially in any food store I’ve been to in Norway. Artificial vanilla essence, yes, vanilla extract, no.

I bought vanilla beans, but then was faced with the alcohol problem. Curiously enough, we do have a lot of flavoured alcohol at home – tax free shopping – but very little without any additives at all. So that had to be acquired before I could start.

White wine vinegar, which is rather difficult to find in a regular Norwegian grocery store, ended up having the perfect bottle for the experiment.

I relied on the previous documented experiments of Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini and Elise of Simply Recipes. Both of whom have very detailed recipes, so I won’t repost that. I used a bit more liquid than they did, as my bottle was around 2 cups (4 dl) in size, and the vanilla beans looked so alone with a half full bottle.

The day after I put the vanilla beans into the alcohol, it had started changing colour. A week after, it was lightly brown.

Three months down the road, and the bottle is half full – I’ve used so much of it in baking and by making butterscotch fondue.