Norwegianne.net

Tag: christmas

  • First Sunday of Advent

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    A candle is burning, a flame warm and bright;
    A candle of Hope in December’s dark night.
    While angels sing blessings from heav’n’s starry sky
    Our hearts we prepare now, for Jesus is nigh.

  • Gingerbread Ice Cream

    DSC_0021Gingerbread became a bit controversial in Norway last Christmas. Mainly because it is called pepperkake (i.e. pepper cake) and a lot of the recipes don’t contain pepper. Hence, it is linguistically wrong.

    We’re a small country. We like to argue about things like this.

    In English, the ginger is very clear in the recipes, and the name. But is it a bread, really? Here it doesn’t matter, because it is an ice cream.

    Silliness aside. I wanted to try to incorporate Christmas flavours into ice cream, and did some googling for recipes. I found this Gingerbread Ice Cream from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. It’s actually the first hit when I search for Gingerbread ice cream recipes.

    The minute I tasted the base, and smelled it as it heated up – I understood why. It definitely spread the scent of gingerbread in my house. (I may also have licked the various utensils before washing them, and they definitely had the taste of gingerbread dough. Not that I ever eat gingerbread dough.)

    My Dad, who usually does not eat gingerbread, came back for seconds on this.

    I have changed the proportions a bit, and gone for light syrup instead of molasses, since I can’t find that here.

    It is a rather time consuming recipe, in terms of waiting for things to infuse, to cool, and having to cool the base overnight, but as this is time you can use for other things… The active parts of the recipe does not take much time.

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  • Dangerous pastimes

    Ikea in December is a dangerous place if you’re trying to be healthy.

    They have a gingerbread and gløgg-stand every five minutes, and even if you just ate… You will be inspired enough to partake in goods from all of them.

  • Picture of the month: December 2012

    Last year’s Gingerbread house, seen from the top. Although the houses were successful from an aesthetic perspective, they were less good to eat a month after they were made, when they were as hard as Hagrid’s rock cakes.

    This year, we’ll use the pre-made versions and decorate them instead.

  • My Christmas tree

    This year’s Christmas tree. I’m going for the fake option, unlike most in Norway, as I don’t really have the space for a real one.

  • Norwegian Christmas carol: En stjerne skinner i natt

    Merry Christmas

    This is Oslo Gospel Choir singing one of the newer traditional Christmas carols.

  • Norwegian Chrismas Carol: Mitt hjerte alltid vanker

    Tine Thing Helseth on trumpet performing Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker.

  • Video: Dinner for one

    Dinner for one is traditional “Little” Christmas Eve, ie. December 23, watching in Norway. It airs around 8 o’clock in the evening. And it is almost always as fun each year to watch them toast and the stumbling of the butler.

    In other parts of Europe, it airs on New Year’s Eve.

  • Norwegian Christmas songs: Vi tenner våre lykter

    Marit Larsen, Kråkesølv and the Norwegian Broadcasting Channel’s version of Vi tenner våre lykter. The song is from the television advent calendar, Jul i Skomakergata, which was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and I would estimate that quite a lot of 20-30 year olds in Norway know this song. The original behind the cut.

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