My Korean-American union with my Norwegian-American husband has created an extended family that might put the UN to shame. We've got family members from all over Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. With my dark brown hair and his blonder than blonde we are definitely melting the pot. Our move to London has definitely deepened the Norwegian connection as it's a quick flight to Oslo. My husband's family summer home on the coast, 2 hours from Oslo, near Sandefjord, is quite possibly the most relaxing place ever. Steps away from the beach and 20+ hours of sunlight per day require just a few things: towel, good book, snorkel, eyeshades, and Nordic food. Bathing suit optional. For days we just woke up (early - no sleeping in when the sun's rising at 3 am!), drank coffee, ate, sunned, rowed around in a little boat, swam, went for walks in the woods, picked Norwegian berries, attempted to fish, and fell asleep at who knows what time. We felt no sense of time as this was the scene at 10 pm...
The house sits back on rock at the edge of Norwegian woods, just hugging the coast. The actual home is hundreds of years old and was moved to the coast from the north when wartime made lumber scarce. Little wild strawberries were in full bloom and blackberry bushes were full of flowers and bee activity.
We had bowls of Norwegian strawberries with cream for dessert. They are so intensely full of flavor that you almost feel like your getting drunk off strawberries.
Besides smoked salmon I had little experience with Norwegian food until I met my other half. The first Norwegian food I was introduced to was a block of Ski Queen Gjetost that Nate found at Whole Foods. Geitost, sold as in the Gjetost in the US, is a brown cheese (brunost). Goat's milk, cream, and whey are boiled until the sugars in the milk and cream caramelize and water evaporates. What's left is a semi-hard brown goat cheese that's a bit sweet and really creamy.
The cheese is getting easier to find in the US, and if you happen to get your hands on some, make sure you use a cheese slicer. Using a knife is a futile attempt against this cheese and screams amateur.
For breakfast we had geitost on toasted rye, and for lunch geitost on lefse...
Lefse, is a traditional Norwegian flatbread, often made with potato flour. It's usually eaten with geitost, butter with cinnamon sugar, berry jams or tyttebær (Norwegian mountain cranberry) jam, or used to wrap hot dogs - a childhood treat that Nate must always have when back at the homeland.
Honestly, the days in Norway absolutely refreshed me. We came back to London with the tiles ripped out of our shower, a broken toilet, phone line malfunction that has cut off broadband, and heavy rains - but whatever, life is good. More on Norway and Nordic treats in the weeks to come...
Oh wow, 20+ hours of sunlight? That would be quite the experience. We had Norway high on the list for travels this year, but it has been shifted back in the to-travel list for now, but we'll make it there eventually. However, I'm sure the experience we were planning to have was nothing like this. What a wonderful place to have access to and that cheese sounds fantastic! I had never heard of lefse, either. There is such a wonderful world of flatbreads out there!
Posted by: Lori | Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 06:49 PM
Oh, makes me SO wish I could be in two places at once. My cousin is getting married in Porsgrund the same weekend as G&E's Wisconsin bash. I suppose we'll be surrounded by Nordic peoples either way, but your post definitely makes me miss the long Norwegian summer days and the most amazing strawberries ever. You are so right, they are like drugs. See you soon!
Posted by: Lena | Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 08:17 PM
It sounds idyllic! The family summer home is beautiful - no wonder you don't seemed to have batted an eyelash when you returned to London and a big old mess! I would love to reach such a Zen state with a trip to this land.
Your description of it has sparked a craving so I will have to look for Geitost at Whole Foods. Fortunately, lefse is pretty easy to find in MN! 8-)
With these, I can imagine myself sitting at a little wooden table adorned with pansies and looking out over the ocean views!
Posted by: Tangled Noodle | Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 09:17 PM
Ohhhh, am so tempted with this cheese, will try to go to Whole Foods ...
Sounds like fabulous summer home, must be gorgeous in winter too, no?
Posted by: elra | Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 10:25 PM
That all sounds so great. You really do get to travel some great places. I love cheese and am up to try any new kind and this is quite tempting.
Posted by: Maria | Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 11:04 PM
20 hours of sunlight sounds like an amazing experience! That cheese is a new one for me, it sounds incredible. What a gorgeous place!
Posted by: lisa (dandysugar) | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 05:43 AM
Waw,...I would like to travel to Norway & especially Oslo! Thanks for us introducing to Norwegian food! It realy interests me! What a lovely house!
And +20 hours of sunlight? Nice!
Posted by: Sophie | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 09:47 AM
Lori - If you make it to Norway, let me know...we did a wonderful road trip last summer that included mutilple ferry rides across fjords, apple-picking, and hiking at Jotunheimen National Park.
Lena - So looking forward to seeing you and Derek in a few weeks in Wisconsin! Bummer about missing the Norwegian wedding, but Norway will be well represented and G&E's with you, Nate and Partridge!
Tangled Noodle - Rumor has it there are more Norwegians in your neck of the woods than in Norway. I think it might not be too hard to find Geitost!
Elra - I would love to visit Norway in the winter...though it will be 20+ hours of darkness then. But would love to see the amazing Northern Lights.
Maria - I think the best part of the traveling is experiencing all the new foods - and I'm up for almost anything too.
dandysugar - It really is a special place and I think you'll like the cheese, especially since its a bit sweet...
Sophie - Oslo is a fabulous city to visit, right on the water, Viking museums, lovely seafood. It's a perfect weekend get away.
Posted by: gastroanthropologist | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Sounds incredible! I'd like to visit a place with the extreme summer daylight one of these days. This is the second time I've been introduced to Gjetost, so now I'm very curious and want to taste it.
Posted by: lisaiscooking | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 01:46 PM
Sounds like you truly had a wonderful trip, and judging by the pictures I think it would be hard not to. Gjetost is definitely a fun cheese to eat, although you reminded me I have not had any in a while.
The 20+ hours of sun sound like the reverse of what I encountered in London in the winter, I swear we had something like 4-5 hours. Ah the vagaries of living so far north.
Posted by: OysterCulture | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 05:26 PM
A cheese slicer will indeed save your life, sanity and image. :)
Posted by: The Duo Dishes | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 09:54 PM
I like the way those strawberries look. Do they taste differently from what you'd find in California? I remember how strawberries in Japan actually tasted like strawberry Pocky, which blew my mind.
Posted by: Cynthia | Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 12:37 PM
WOO! that sounds cool! I have to get that cheese soon:).
Posted by: ann | Friday, July 10, 2009 at 07:12 PM
It sounds like an amazing and very peaceful place, it must have been a very welcome break from all the noise of London.
The cheese looks really interesting, I'll look out for it though I don't think of got much chance of finding it round here!
Posted by: Sam | Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:03 PM
lisaiscooking - The extreme summer hours are totally wild, our family that lives there year-round commented how even they find the extreme hours novel.
OysterCulture - The reverse with many hours of darkness aren't so welcome. I remember it was getting dark at 3pm in London during the winter!
Duo Dishes - Ditto.
Cynthia - The strawberries are really intense and a bit floral. Super sweet and we ate them at the peak of ripeness. Different from strawberry Pocky - a real fruit that tasted like Pocky? I gotta get to Japan.
Ann - Yes, it's really unlike any other cheese...
Sam - You may need to plan a bike ride to Scandinavia to get some!=)
Posted by: gastroanthropologist | Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:44 PM
Oh wow, so fun to read about this. My husband and I had Finnish friends when we lived and Philadelphia and I loved eating breakfast at their place. It looked very similar to this with the addition of some thinly sliced meat. Yum!
Posted by: alexandra's kitchen | Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 02:58 AM
alexandra's kitchen - The Norwegians did have cured pork and Jarlsberg at the table too!
Posted by: gastroanthropologist | Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Gosh, my blog-reading (or lack thereof) has gotten really out of control lately - still haven't manage to catch up properly since taking a whole week off from the Internet to go walking in Spain - which was actually pretty relaxing but not as relaxing as your time in Norway, by all accounts. Sounds fabulous - and I now want to try geitost. Can't think that I've ever seen it here - but then again, I wouldn't have known what it was even if I had seen it, so I would probably have steered clear! I'll know better next time :)
Posted by: Daily Spud | Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 11:41 PM