Sunday, April 10, 2005
It's not cold enough here
I have to admit that like most Californians, I complain a lot about the weather. It's too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, too windy or cloudy. Too sunny even. We want it to be 75F all the time. Plus and minus 2 degrees.
Well today, I was working at home with the TV on showing a Scandinavian cooking show, http://www.scandcook.com/. Now normally when it comes to food, I want to do mostly the eating and not much of the cooking, but this program does more than just teach us how to make Swedish meatballs or reindeer sausage; it's also a bit of a travelogue, taking us to different parts of Norway. It's somewhat quaint, but kind of interesting to see the chef wearing a heavy sweater and scarf doing a barbeque in a log cabin or at a lakeside with snowcapped mountains as backdrop. Except that after a while all the cabins and lakes and mountains start looking the same.
Today they were making this fermented fish called rakfisk (no, it's not Norwegian dog food). The process is quite simple: Pack lots of salmon or trout in a tub between thick layers of salt, weigh it all down with a big heavy rock and let it sit. When it stinks, you know it's ready. The one important trick is that you have to keep it cold, I guess so that it doesn't become too gross too fast, from -20 up to +4 degrees. They didn't say C or F (the dogs probably don't care), but it has to be very cold, so you need a lot of ice. The chef just casually walked out of the cabin, reached up and started pulling down giant icicles hanging from the roof, much like farmers harvesting large ripe fruits from trees.
I was so stunned and impressed at the same time, but I couldn't stop laughing. I so wanted to move to Norway just that very minute. Imagine getting ice free like that, and you don't even have to drive to the Safeway supermarket. I hope the feeling passes quickly. I don't think they understand 75 plus and minus 2 degrees over there.
Here in the US, Old Man Winter doesn't want to give up quite yet. A blizzard scene in Denver today.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 10:02 PM
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Hello Oslo,
What an honor to be visited by a renowned foodie. I just saw your blog on rakfisk and I like your explanation much better than mine.
I do like the host of the Scandcook program, Andreas Viestad. He has a low-key way to his show and even his cooking, but once in a while, he has me laughing out loud with his deceptively simple description of Norwegian life and food.
I don't know where I can find rakfisk in the US, but I would love to give it a try, with Kvek, of course. Glad you came by.
Woofwoof
What an honor to be visited by a renowned foodie. I just saw your blog on rakfisk and I like your explanation much better than mine.
I do like the host of the Scandcook program, Andreas Viestad. He has a low-key way to his show and even his cooking, but once in a while, he has me laughing out loud with his deceptively simple description of Norwegian life and food.
I don't know where I can find rakfisk in the US, but I would love to give it a try, with Kvek, of course. Glad you came by.
Woofwoof
woofwoof,
Buddy, you ain't seen nothin' like when you have put your beer into a mug, that you put outside, that is -50F. It is beer like you've never had. I'm almost sorry that it's now over 0 here in Alaska.
-John
Buddy, you ain't seen nothin' like when you have put your beer into a mug, that you put outside, that is -50F. It is beer like you've never had. I'm almost sorry that it's now over 0 here in Alaska.
-John
Thank you John and David. I hate it enough when I have to defrost my windshield. I can't begin to imagine what -50F is like. I suppose that's when you breathe icicles.
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