Venice in blue and yellow.

This is the final part of my triology about Venice. You will get 9 travel tips and a recipe for the cocktail born in the city and named after a painter, bellini.

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1. Sestiere Castello

In a city infamous for its tourists, Castello makes a welcome respite. Sestiere Castello is the largest and most varied district of Venice. It also has many interesting sights, such as Arsenale, once the biggest shipyard in Medieval Europe, the city’s biggest park, Giardini Pubblici, and one of the biggest squares, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo. There are few green patches in Venice and every possible space is utilized for soccer, be it the little square in front of a church or the tiny fenced area around the equestrian statue at the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo square.

2. The vaporetto

The fact that the indispensable means of transportation is the vaporetto, the bus boat, is something that is bound to amuse both the kid and the most jaded adult. While the gondola and motoscafi (boat taxi) cost a fortune, the vaporetto is a cheaper choice at 7 Euro. Vaporetto no. 1 is the tourist route along the Canal Grande, while no. 4.1 or 4.2 is far less crowded and take you around the whole of Venice with a little detour to the neighbouring islands of Murano and Giudecca.

Jump off at the stop «Redentore» at Giudecca, which is the site of the church Il Redentore (The redeemer) raised in the 16^th. century in gratitude for the ending of the last plague.

3. Along the sea

If you want to escape the alleyways, there is the spacious Giardini Pubblici park or you can wander along the fondamente, the promenade along the ocean. The most known harbour promenade is the Riva degli Schiavoni, with a beautiful view of the Venetian skyline around Piazza San Marco, but a quieter option is the Fondamente Nove in Castello-Cannaregio. Instead of hotels and tourists, it is filled with everyday life details, passing the city hospital and its row of ambulance boats parked outside and the city’s second oldest rowing club «Canottieri querini». Rowing is big in Venice. The word regatta is of Venetian origin and today rowing clubs offer lessons in «voga alla veneta», rowing the Venetian way, standing with one oar.

Canal in Giardini Pubblici, the biggest park in Venice.

Canal and footbridge in Cannaregio.

One of many varieties of tomatoes at the Rialto market.

A meeting that only could take place in Venice.

Towards the canal.

4. Lost in the alleys

The Norwegian writer Kjell Ola Dahl tells in his book «Venice» about his first encounter with Venice: «I did not find any place where young people gathered, such as the Spanish steps in Rome or the Centre Pompidou in Paris. I only got lost.»

In a city with labyrinth alleys it is easy to get lost, even for the most avid map-lover. Let the small streets guide you and immerse yourself in its surprising ways. Around the next corner awaits a row of cafes along a hidden back canal, an amazing renaissance church, a little square where the locals are celebrating the end of semester.

5. Espresso and cornetto

One of the dreams I had before going to Venice was having coffee the Italian way. Sipping to an espresso at the counter while chitchatting with the barista. Feel Italian for a few minutes. I found my café in the Castello district, but the occasion was rather coincidental. I entered the combined cocktail and coffee shop in the Calle de l’ospedale street enticed by the sign «Spritz take-away». I asked the bartender if buying spritz to go was a tourist thing, upon which she could tell it was not. From that point we had our morning espresso and cornetto at the little coffee shop. We got the coffee first and paid dopo, later.

The Italian coffee ritual is a short affair, a mere kick to your brain while you are on your way to work or after a meal. Hence you drink it standing at the counter.

6. Cicchetti and bacari

If you want to eat cheap and local food in Venice, head to the bacari for cicchetti. Cicchetti is Venetian tapas served at small bars. Try the classics; sarde in saor (sardines with onions), baccalà mantecato (creamy dried cod mousse served on grilled polenta) or marinated squid. Have you noticed all examples are from the sea? Venice is truly a seafood city.

7. At the osterie

Lonely Planet calls them pub restaurants. The osterie are informal bistros serving hearty food. The traditional pasta dish is called bigoli in salsa and is whole-wheat pasta with onion and anchovies. Another typical dish is squid ink risotto (risotto al nero di seppia) or sauted squid with polenta (seppie in nero con polenta). Squid ink is so common in Venice you can buy it in the local store. If you think the squid is a sordid experience resembling rubber, think again. I have never tasted such tender meat as the squid I had at Osteria di Alberto.

Gondols at Piazza San Marco.

Canal Grande at the Rialto mercato.

Another old and beautiful church.

Dinnertime and time for bellini.

Bellini.

8. Rialto mercato

The main market in Venice, the Rialto mercato has been situated on the same site for the last 500 years. It sits just along the Canal Grande in the ancient Rialto district and mainly consists of a fruit and vegetable selection and a fish market (pescaria). Be there when it opens at 7 AM, just in time to watch the merchants preparing their day, avoiding the worst crowds. The Italians do like their fish fresh. In the cookbook ”My grandmother’s kitchen” Mariangela di Fiore recounts how her nonna, grandmother, returned the fish to the fishmonger because it was not catch of the day!

9. Bellini

Hemingway did not only sit in Havana, he was also a regular at Harry’s bar in Venice. The most iconic cocktail of Venice, the bellini, was invented at Harry’s bar in the 1930s by its owner, Cipriani. Named after the venetian painter Giovanni Bellini, Cipriani also left behind him the legacy of the carpaccio dish, named after another venetian painter. The bellini is a blend of flat peach puré and the sparkling wine of the Veneto region, prosecco.

Today many bars and bacaris will use juice (succo di pesca) or premade puré (passata), but a traditional bellini is a seasonal cocktail available in the season of flat peaches, from June to September. A good bartender would replace peaches with oranges in the winter and strawberries in early summer. Here I make bellini the traditional way. Do remember to use overripe flat peaches. Also the prosecco, the puré and the glass should be cold.

Makes one glass:
1 overripe flat peach
1 tsp sugar
prosecco

Peel the peach and remove the stone. Strain through a sieve while you press the pulp with a spoon. Add the sugar and stir. The ratio is 1 part puré to 3 parts prosecco. Pour prosecco into the glass. Stir and serve.

Hungry for more Venice?

Venice – the fruit marked and macedonia de frutta
Venice – the fish market and spagetthi vongole
Venice city break (The Telegraph)
10 best budget restaurants in Venice (The Guardian)
Venice – a magical city to devour (Saveur)
Street food in Venice (from the blog Life Love Food)

The post 9 travel tips to Venice appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Rolløya island, my home place.

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In a country with few people, Ibestad is one of the most sparsely populated municipalities in the North of Norway. A total of 1,400 people inhabit the two island communities, situated outside the town of Harstad, 1500 kilometres north of Oslo.

The landscape is characterized by snow-clad mountains even in summer, wooden houses, birch and pine woods and red boathouses set towards the blue sea. In summer the sun never sets. It is a landscape made for the painter and tourist.

It is also a landscape for the elderly. Ibestad ranks first as the municipality in Norway with the highest number of inhabitants older than 80 years.

When I grew up there was not much to do. You could choose from playing football, do orienteering or play in a marching band, or get a boyfriend old enough to own an old car with wunderbaum in the front window, driving the winding, narrow roads back and forth.

I played girl soccer, read my school books and played tennis against the barn.

Occasionally the monotony was broken by the monthly ”countryside movies”, showing black and white Tarzan pictures from the 1930s although this was the 1980s. Some movies were actually from the 1980s. Indiana Jones and Flashdance rocked my little island world.

Then as now, the biggest asset of my home place is nature. A landscape of mountain tops towering 1000 meters, cloudberry mires and quiet birch forests with lingonberries and blueberries, the occasional roaming moose and a multitude of freshwater lakes with mountain trout.

Ferry from Harstad to Sørrollnes, Ibestad.

The village of Breivoll far below.

View from Sula.

Mountain flower.

Mountains and mountains.

Drangen, the tallest mountain at Rolløya.

Some lucky ones even have berries in their garden, except they are not garden berries. They are cloudberries, and their ”garden” is moorland. Otherwise the cloudberries is a 5-minute walk from your house.

I always go to the cloudberry mires when I am up North in late summer, but his year the cloudberries were few and mostly unripe. My mother says she has not seen bumblebees this year, and the cloudberries need their hard work to get pollinated.

From my mother‘s garden I can see the mountain Drangen rises 1022 meters above sea level. Although I have grown up in a place with as many mountain tops as a pipe organ, I have never ventured there myself. I guess the time was ripe.

I ascended the lowest range of the Drangen mountain, Sula, 848 meters above sea level. On my way up I first pass the pine woods, then the birch woods, and lastly I reach the moorland with its low mountain flowers.

Up there I was alone, except some hardworking bumblebees and grazing sheep living on the edge. We all had the same view. Sharing the same mountain.

I inhale the panoramic views, have some dried cod and chocolate milk, while looking down at the miniature-sized houses so far below.

I run down towards my parked car, down there at the sea. I want to go home, home to oat pancakes that my little son has made me. I enter the door just in time for him to go to sleep and he wholeheartedly shows me what he has made.

Food is always a big part of mye stay up North. In the absence of mature cloudberries I make a bowl of comforting porridge. Rice porridge topped with sour cream porridge, served with cinnamon, sugar and a little butter. Sour cream porridge used to be the most festive of all Norwegian porridges, eaten at weddings, after giving birth or at haymaking. Today the only reason you need is spending a rainy day on the cloudberry mire, or having conquered your first little big mountain.

Cloudberries in the rain.

The mire.

Sour cream porridge with rice porridge underneath.

How to get there

Flight to Evenes/Narvik airport, then ferry from Stangnes in Harstad to Sørrollnes

Where to stay

Modern boathouses at Engenes, Andørja

What to do

Ascend Sula, the trek starts at Skog or Breivoll
Fabelparken, perhaps the most beautiful playground in Norway
Silsand beach in Fugleberg
Tour de Andørja
Go fishing at Andørja adventures

The post Travel guide to Ibestad appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Spaghetti alle vongole with tomatoes, parsley and garlic.

From mainland Mestre an almost 4 kilometre long bridge takes you to Venice and the bus station at Piazzale Roma. Ponte della Libertà (Bridge of freedom) is like a highway on water and strongly reminds me of another city built on water, New Orleans. New Orleans and Venice seem like an unlikely couple, but they are both old and worn cities embracing a unique kitchen with a strong emphasis on seafood.

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Seafood city

The stereotypical thought equating Italian food with pizza and pasta does not fare well in Venice. Venice takes you out of your comfort zone, bringing a range of new dishes and species to the table. Venetian food is all about polenta, rice, ciccheti and seafood. The shallow and brackish water from the Venetian lagoon yields a bounty that can be seen in dishes like spaghetti alle vongole, but the affinity also includes dried cod from Norway.

Norway exports all its dried cod, most of it to Italy, where it is called stoccafisso. The classical way of preparing dried cod in Venice is the baccalà mantecato, boiled dried fish mixed with olive oil into a creamy mousse served on grilled polenta or as a crostini, smeared on toasty bread. Baccalà mantecato is a typical ciccheti, the Italian counterpart to tapas, served in informal and small bars called bacaro/bacari. Ciccheti is eaten while standing whenever you are a little hungry or just want to socialize after work.

City of boats

A striking feature of Venice compared to other cities is the lack of cars and the diversity of boats. Jammed waterbuses (vaporetto), fast-moving ambulances, slow-moving gondolas, blue police boats with sirens, taxi boats (motoscafi) in slick mahogany, long transportation boats and gondola ferries (traghetto).

The gondola used to be the main means of transportation but is today a tourist trap. Then there is the boat that only visits Venice and turns it into a dollhouse. Venice is a busy port for cruise ships in the Mediterranean but the traffic has been criticized by UNESCO claiming it is detrimental to the shallow and vulnerable lagoon.

The 55 kilometre long venetian lagoon is rich in wildlife and sea life. For generations fishers have taken the journey from the lagoon in the night to the Rialto market with their fish and seafood. The Rialto market lies in the oldest part of Venice, Rialto, next to the Rialto bridge. I went there two mornings to see life at the market before the crowds descended upon the stalls.

Venice is a city of boats. The motoscafis (water taxis) are the limousines of the lagoon.

Canal in Canareggio.

Green and worn.

Fisher and his boat outside his home.

The fishmonger at the Rialto market.

Butterflied sardines. Sardines (sarde) play a crucial role in sarde in saor (sardines with onions).

Hard work. Crooked back.

Mackerel (sgombro).

Removing the fish scales.

The Rialto merkato opens at 7 A.M.

Fish from the market is distributed by boat in the nearby canal.

Seafood.

Spider crab (granseola).

Seagull at the Rialto market.

– Squid ink pasta with parmesan, per favore

The osteria is another place where you can sample local food in Venice. They vary greatly but many offer a counter with ciccheti in addition to lunch and dinner. The typical pasta dish of Venice is bigoli in salsa; pasta made of buckwheat or whole-wheat served with onions and anchovies. Squid ink is so common in Venice you can buy it in the grocery store. Squid ink is used in dishes such as risotto (risotto al nero di seppia) or sautéed squid with polenta (seppie in nero con polenta). I tried the latter at Osteria da Alberto, and I have never tasted such tender squid before.

However, although I am in the city of polenta, I have to try the spaghetteria with freshly made pasta in the window. I choose the yellow pasta for my dish, while my son Loukas goes for pasta blackened by squid ink. I kindly ask the waiter if my son could have his squid ink pasta without seafood but with parmesan, a clear violation of the Italian pasta laws stating you should never use parmesan on seafood. Gusto di bambino, I explain, an argument that works in a country where the waiter comes running with water melon or chocolate to please your kid.

Do remember something in your glass together with your vongole or cicchetti. The region of Veneto is home to valpolicella, amarone and prosecco. Next time I will have a last look at Venice and its legendary drink, bellini.

Spaghetti alle vongole.

Spaghetti alle vongole rosso

Spaghetti alle vongole is a popular pasta dish in Venice, but also common in the rest of Italy. Clams, white wine, garlic and parsley is all it takes, though it sometimes comes with tomatoes. It is an easy dish to make, yet elegant with a wonderful taste of the sea. If you cannot find the small vongole-clams, do use other clams such as blue mussels. Remember to soak the clams for some hours to allow them to let loose the sand.

I kg vongole-clams (or mussels)
olive oil
3 cloves garlic
a handful of flat leaf parsley
a glass of white wine
about 10 small tomatoes
a nob of butter
salt and pepper

1. Allow the clams to soak in cold water for 2–3 hours to let them get rid of sand. Remove damaged clams.
2. Boil the spaghetti according to instructions. While the spaghetti is boiling, prepare the rest:
3. Finely chop the garlic, the parsley stalks and the parsley leaves. (Keep the stalks and leaves seperate). Divide the small tomatoes into two.
4. Add a generous lug of olive oil to the pan. Fry the garlic, parsely stalks and tomatoes for 5 minutes on average heat.
5. Increase the temperature and add the wine and clams. Shake the pan and cook with the lid on for 3–4 minutes until the clams have opened.
6. Remove clams that have not opened. Add butter and season with salt and pepper.
7. Add the drained spaghetti to the pan, mix well and scatter the parsley leaves. Serve with bread to soak up the juice.

Hungry for more Venice?

Venice – the fruit market and frutta di macedonia
Venice – 9 travel tips and recipe for bellini

The post Venice and the fish market appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Fragola, gondola.

Venice sounds like a dream. A city with no cars, only boats. Where the buildings are founded on wooden piles. A city with 400 bridges crossing the canals. Venice is the world’s most romantic city. Even Italians come here on honeymoon.

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– Are you surprised? You are in an ancient city

But the start of our stay is bumpy. From Piazzale Roma we take the vaporetti, the busboat, towards our rented apartment. It does not go all the way and we have to walk the last three stops. The distance is not the problem in Venice, it is the bridges which all consist of steps. With three suitcases and a stroller we arrive at the apartment with aching backs and arms.

Laura from the italian-speaking part of Switzerland shows us the apartment. There are less than 60,000 inhabitants in Venice, most of them live in small apartments. The smell of mold overwhelms me in the hall. There is hardly tap water in the kitchen. The apartment is old and cramped. The place lacks the comfort I am used to, but what did I expect in a city founded on water 400 A.D.?

Houses along the canal in Cannaregio.

Towards the sea in Castello.

The sea and the city

The cramped apartment unveils another side when I open the window. Down below, the riello, a small canal winds its way with boats passing by. Venice is built on the lagoon, a floating city and marvel of engineering, founded by millions of poles. In neighbouring Croatia, several deforested islands testify to the building of Venice. After a while these wooden poles stuck in the mud, petrify.

Venice is situated within one of the biggests wetlands in Europe. The 550 km² lagoon, Laguna Veneta, is home to no more than 118 islands. One of them Lido, is an 18 kilometre long sandbar and home to the Venice film festival. Another island is Murano, known for its glassmaking, and then there is the little island of Cimitero, devoted to the dead. Further away lies Chioggia, where people still live off fishing.

Cimitero in the distance.

First taste of coffee

Little Venice was once a maritime power, gaining an empire at its height that included northern Italian cities like Verona and Bergamo, the islands of Cyprus and Crete, to Beirut and Alexandria in the Middle East. The status as maritime power controlling trade routes blessed Venice with exotic commodities. Hence the first Europeans to drink coffee and establish a coffee-house in 1645, were Venetians.

Muscle strength

Most cities have old buildings. What is remarkable about Venice is how the whole city, with its boundaries and waterways, is preserved. This is due to the water. The water in Venice is both a blessing and a course. The historical authenticity is strengthened by the lack of cars in the streets. In the streets and narrow alleys, trucks and garbage trucks, are replaced by manual labour, men with small hand carts, cleverly designed to climb the steps of the bridges. Venice is the city of pedestrians and muscle strength.

Quiet time in the sestiere

Venice consists of five sestiere, districts. We live east in the sestiere of Castello. This is where you find the biggest park in Venice and the highest number of bridges. More importantly, the further east you get in Castello, the character turns more residential where residents outnumber tourists.

Before arriving, we have heard bad rumours about Venice. Bad food, expensive and extremely crowded. And yes, the areas around Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge are crammed and expensive. Taking the gondola is expensive. But if you follow the path of the locals, having a cicheti at a bacari, or eating lunch at the osteria, Venice is not a particularly expensive city. If you really want to experience a different Venice, winter is the time to go there – or wander the streets in the morning. Allow yourself to go for a walk on such a morning to the biggest market in Venice, the Rialto mercato.

Arranging the bananas at the Rialto mercato.

Squashflowers and asparagus.

Insalate misto, mixed salad.

The fruit and vegetables arrive by boats.

Cavolfiore, cauliflower in different colours.

Artichoke hearts in water bath.

The Rialto mercato opens 7. A.M.

Pomodori, tomatoes in all shapes and sizes.

A sight for sore eyes.

Pesche e pere, peaches and pears.

Frutta e verdure at the Rialto Market

Next to the city’s oldest bridge, the towering Rialto bridge, lies the market. Arrive when it opens at seven o’clock to escape the crowds and get a look behind the scene. The fruit and vegetables arriving in small boats along the Grande Canal, the merchants who carefully sort their fruit, layer them in towers and finish by spraying them with water. The lady with the cigarette in her mouth, arranging the bananas or the man putting the artichoke hearts in a water bath.

At one of the stalls, the scent is unmistakable of forest strawberries, fragoline di bosco. At another stall I find Italian grapes, uva, and white peach, pesca bianca. They play perfectly together in an Italian fruit salat, macedonia di frutta. At the other end of the market lies the fish market. Venice is a small city, but its fish market tells the story of how important seafood is to the Venetians. The fish market and the venetians’ penchant for seafood is the topic of my next blog story.

Macedonia di frutta

Macedonia di frutta is the name of fruit salad in Italy, often made with sugar and a splash of lemon, or even limoncello. The sugar syrup makes the fruit shiny and luscious.

a handful forest strawberries
a punnet strawberries
grapes
3 white peaches
juice of 1/4 lemon
2–3 tbsp sugar

Wash and chop the fruit. Stir the sugar and lemon juice and dress the salad right before serving. (I wait until right before, because the lemon juice will almost cause the strawberries to boil, like ceviche).

More traveling?

Venice – the fish market and spagetthi vongole
Venice – 9 travel tips and recipe for bellini
New Orleans and jambalaya
Moldova and cherry pie
North of Norway and rhubarb pudding
Travel tips to London and Paris

The post Venice and the fruit market appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Everyday fish soup.

At the little island in the North of Norway where I grew up we mostly had fish for dinner. My father was captain on a fishing boat, so we had a huge supply of fish at home. We ate boiled fish, fried fish, cured fish, smoked fish and semi-dried fish. So much that I was fed up with fish.

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Our food was Norwegian and other cuisines were foreign to us. I first tried pizza and spaghetti in the beginnings of the 80s when I made my first feeble attempts at recreating what I learned at primary school. I made “Bolognese” by frying onions and minced meat in tomato paste, a thick and rather unpleasant sauce that to me was heaven. It was a taste of Italy and of my liberation.

I travelled home to my mum in the North this February. I did not see the Northern lights, but I saw the sun. February is the month when the sun returns after leaving the Northern hemisphere in winter darkness. The first days of my stay there was a mild snow blizzard, leaving a gentle layer of snow crystals on the windows.

When the snow blizzard ended, I found what I was looking for in the old wooden shed. A kicksled. I kicked my way on quiet roads, just me, the sea and the sky, passing houses, many now empty. And suddenly a moose and its calf crossed the road in front of me. Because of the deep snow the moose trekked down to the sea. The other day another moose with two calves ran elegantly pass our house and into the woods.

Outside the kitchen window the birds were chirping and devouring bird seeds. Flocks of redchested bullfinchs and green tits. An old blackbird now and then. Inside I was cooking, like I always did when I was at home. I made my “Nordic usuals”, bacalao, fish soup, reindeer stew but also lasagna and panna cotta. I made the food I know will be appreciated. The food where the stomach is not settled until one, two and three refills are done.

Even today olive oil or garlic have never really entered my mother’s kitchen. I try to tell her that she must fry her food in rapeseed oil and slather the finished meal with olive oil. But it is like speaking a foreign dialect. It takes time to learn. My mother though, is not adamant when it comes to trying new food, at least not the food I cook to her. The minute however, I use garlic, even slow roasting the bulb until caramelized and sweet, she notices the smell. -What is that smell? Is it garlic? My mother and my other family members could smell garlic from any distant room in our house.

My mother would make large batches of homemade fishcakes and fishballs. They were usually made with minced haddock mixed with milk, salt and a grating of nutmeg, but one was fried (fishcakes) and the other boiled (fishballs). Of all the fish we ate my favourites were fish gratin with macaroni and fishballs in white sauce, a sauce I later learned was named béchamel. Sometimes my mother would make soup with vegetables and fishballs. It has been years since I ate my mother’s soup, but I still cling to the habit of using fishballs in soup. It has become my every day fish soup.

I always make the soup with staple food and remains from the fridge. Carrots, celery sticks, potatoes, a splash of cream or sour cream – and dirt cheap peas from the freezer. The only thing that needs to be bought is the fishballs (or fish), leek and fresh herbs. It takes a mere 15 minutes to prepare and fry the vegetables before boiling the soup for another 15 minutes. Just make sure you use floury potatoes to keep the cooking time short.

I know fishballs may sound odd, but they also exists in France where they call it quenelle. Do not hesitate replacing fishballs with fish, but if doing so increase the amount of fish stock to 700 ml. Also note that the shrimps I use are northern preboiled shrimps. A simple and quick fish soup with cheap ingredients. Serve with crusty bread and a few shrimps for a comfy delight.

And mum, there is no garlic in this soup.

Everyday fish soup (makes 3–4)

2 big carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 leek
rapeseed oil
500 ml fish stock
2 floury potatoes
1 package fishballs (500 g) or 400 g fish
4 generous tbsp sour cream (or heavy cream)
100 g frozen peas
dill and chives
about 20 northern shrimps (optional)

1. Wash and peel the vegetables. Cut the carrots and celery into small squares and slice the white part of the leek.
2. Add the oil to a big pan. Fry the carrots and celery gently for 10 minutes, then add the leek and continue frying for 5 minutes.
3. Add the fishballs (and stock) and the fish stock. Bring to boil.
4. Cut the potatoes in large squares and add to the pan. Boil for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, peel the shrimps.
6. When only 5 minutes remain, add the sour cream and peas.
7. When the potatoes are done, take off the heat and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the shrimps, chopped dill and chives. Let the soup rest for 5 minutes to let the cream sink a bit, colouring the soup.

More dishes from the North of Norway?

Arctic mille-feuille
Black pudding with syrup
Nordic BLT-sandwich

The post Fish soup + North of Norway appeared first on Nordic Diner.

London Eye as seen from the South Bank.

To many tourists London is Piccadilly Circus, West End, Hyde Park and Big Ben, places all north of the Thames. To me London is first and foremost the south side of the river with the South Bank.

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South Bank – the city’s forgotten underside

South Bank is the name of the area on the south bank of River Thames opposite Westminster. Even though South Bank belongs to Central London it remained for long an industrialized area with few attractions. This was “the city’s forgotten underside” but this greatly changed around the millennium when three giant attractions opened on the south side: First London Eye in 1999, then Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge the year after. Today the South Bank is a tourist magnet but is still a somewhat quiet area with one of the finest river walks in London, resembling the Brooklyn Heights Promenade so often portrayed in films from New York. South Bank is also rich in culture and history – and of course good food.

Waterloo

When I am in London I mostly stay in Waterloo, a place best known for having the biggest train station in London. But Waterloo is more than a station. It is situated next to River Thames, the South Bank Centre and the London Eye, and is just a short bridgewalk from Covent Garden.

Waterloo belongs to the borough of Lambeth, one of the poorer boroughs in London, although you will not notice much poverty here in Lambeth North. A short walk from the train station lies The Cut, a street rich in food and theatre. At the end of the street one of the oldest theatres in London, Old Vic, has graced the theatre scene since its opening in 1818. The American actor Kevin Spacey is artistic director and renowned actors from Ian McKellen, Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave have entered the stage. Last time I was in London Kirsten Scott Thomas starred in Electra and before that “Samantha” from Sex and the City played the leading actor. It may sound surprising. To me Samantha personifies New York, but Kim Cattral was born in Merseyside, Liverpool.

Waterloo Sun

Further down The Cut a much younger and experimental theater called Young Vic lies with a popular theatre-restaurant, The Cut Bar. London and Las Vegas were voted best cocktail cities by the food magazine Saveur and here they serve cocktails named after areas in London. What about a Hoxton Honey with raspberries, raspberry liqueur and vodka or a Borough Market with strawberries, basil, vodka and pepper? Or should we stick to Waterloo’s own Waterloo Sun with vanilla vodka, apple schnapps, apple juice and cinnamon?

However the star of the show is the Anchor and Hope, one of the finest gastropubs in London, always crowded and noisy, serving modern British food at a reasonable price. If you think British food is fish and chips, challenge your taste buds at Anchor and Hope. For a typical British meal, try the Sunday Roast – a sort of small-scale Christmas dinner. Other nice options for eating nearby is Wahaca and Byron Burger. If you go further down the street, The Cut continues into Union Street going all the way to Borough Market, the oldest market in London. But there is another way to Borough. Along the river.

River Thames

Thames is more than a river in London. The 346 kilometre (215 miles) long river is the longest river in England and runs from Gloucestershire through towns like Oxford and Windsor before it meets the North Sea. The Thames received sewage and animal carcasses culminating in The Great Stink of 1858 where members of the House of Commons had to leave their seats because of the stench. In the 19th. century the river was so polluted that eels, the basis of the London East End staple, jellied eels, had to be imported from the Netherlands.

Cockney classic, jellied eels

If fish and chips is the archetypical British dish, jellied eels is the most typical London dish. I have to admit I have a troubled relationship with eels. They are fish snakes to me, but they are common in countries such Denmark, Japan and England. Jellied eels have sustained the London population through troubled times like WW2, and sales has even soared the last years. Jellied eels is made by boiling pieces of eel with vinegar and spices, turning into a jellylike texture once cold. Today jellied eels is found at Tesco.

Waterloo Bridge

According to Time Out Waterloo Bridge has one of the best views of London. It sure gives a view of landmarks both up and down the river. But do look downwards. Interesting sights can be found under the bridge, such as the South Bank Centre Book Market, not to mention the cultural giant almost hugging the bridge, South Bank Centre.

What looks like a massive complex of concrete hides a leading arts centre. In 1951 while rationing was still a fact, The Festival of Britain was arranged to celebrate the recovery of the nation in the wake of WW2 with the The Royal Festival Hall built for the opening. A variety of restaurants is also part of the complex, such as British Canteen or Mexican at Wahaca Southbank. The latter is a recycled restaurants consisting of eight containers with river views.

London Eye

No matter where you look it is hard to avoid seeing the London Eye. The trip with the ferris wheel takes 30 minutes with an elevation of 135 meters above ground. London Eye was the highest viewpoint in London until the skyscraper The Shard opened in 2013, with an observatory deck 245 meters above ground. Next to the Eye lies Jubilee Gardens where there is a nice playground for children.

Last trend on the plate

Allow me to derail from the topic for one moment. Every time I am in London new restaurants are popping up, competing for the best cocktail, the best burger, the most trendy food concept. In Time Out I found out how the street I just visited to eat at a family-friendly Indian restaurant, now saw the opening of the Peruvian restaurant Lima Floral. Oh well. Peruvian food is currently the hottest food in London and a pisco bar is soon to open in Oslo too. Another newcomer on the London food scene is Tincan, a pop-up restaurant serving only tinned fish.

A walk on the south side

From Waterloo Bridge it is 1,6 kilometres (0,6 miles) to Borough Market along the river. While you on the north side of the river has to walk with traffic next to you, there are only sights here. One of them has a birch forest and a tall chimney. Tate Modern opened its doors in 2000 in the former Bankside Power Station. This is the world’s most visited art gallery, and with the exception of some exhibits entrance is free. I think few galleries have been so significant in bringing art to the masses as Tate Modern. Moreover one of London’s worst kept secret is the stunning view across the river to St. Paul’s Cathedral from the café and restaurant on the 6th floor.

St. Paul’ Cathedral

Few churches can match the entrance. Few churches have been such a symbol of hope. Few churches have been that lucky. Alongside Tate Modern the Millennium Bridge crosses River Thames towards St. Paul’s Cathedral. The cathedral, which was built around 1700, became a beacon of hope during WW2. It is called The Second Great Fire of London, the blitz during two Christmas days in 1940. The Great Fire of London was a terrible fire in 1666 that destroyed St. Paul’s predecessor. The second great fire was induced by war. Nazi-Germany dropped more than 100 000 bombs on London on 29th and 30th of December resulting in a devastating firestorm. To make matters worse the bombing was timed to coincide with a low tide on the River Thames.

Winston Churchill commanded St. Paul’s Cathedral to be rescued at all cost. Bombs were raining on the cathedral and one of them started to melt the lead in the dome before it rolled onward to the Stone Gallery and was extinguished. On one of the most iconic British photos from WW2 the dome of St. Paul’s is surrounded by smoke and ruins. In 1965 Churchill was buried in the cathedral he once fought for.

London Bridge

St. Paul’s Cathedral lies in the City, the oldest part of London settled by the Romans 50 AD in what they called Londinium. The Romans also built a bridge across the River Thames near present London Bridge. Later on the south bank, outside the jurisdiction of the city of London, turned into a red light district with brothels, prisons and theatres. It is no coincidence the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe is situated here. This was the first theater district of London.

The Clink Prison

After Shakespeare’s Globe the footpath leaves the river heading towards the Anchor Bankside, an old pub dating back to the 17th and 18th century. This is a classic pub with fish and chips and mash and pie. The street continues under a railway construction giving the impression of the dark alleys of Medieval London. And in a dark time, this was a dark place. A pillory stood on the bankside where the Anchor Bankside is now and one of the most notorious prisons, Clink Prison, was located here. The prison is today a museum with a collection of torture devices each speaking the stories about the destiny of the prisoners. If torture did not kill you, illness would. Earlier River Thames was much wider than now and the prison was thus flooded with sewage.

London Bridge was also a place of death. In the 12th century the head of William Wallace, Braveheart, was put on a spike at London Bridge, and the dead bodies of pirates and prisoners were displayed in iron cages in prominent places such as London Bridge. The tradition of displaying dead bodies in iron cages called gibbets were not abolished in Britain until 1832.

The next espresso

Right next to Clink Prison Museum lies an upscale burger chain, a few metres away Starbucks. Do the coffee tourists know the history they are walking through on their way to the next espresso? London is an unrelenting mix of beauty and ugly, historical and shining new, poverty and filthy rich, greasy and gourmet. I am also a coffee tourist with one aim in mind, getting to Borough Market and Monmouth Coffee. On my way I pass by The Golden Hind, a replica of Sir Francis Drakes’ ship and Southwark Cathedral, the oldest gothic building in London.

Borough Market

If you picture a quant and quiet market you will be disappointed. Borough Market is chaotic and noisy, thanks to its location under the railway construction. It is also London’s oldest market spanning a 1000 year history. Among the stalls try different types of fudge, sour Bramley apples or scotch eggs with the funkiest sweet potato fries I have ever tasted. Several nice restaurants is also part of the market experience, such as Roast for British meat, Tapas Brindisa for tapas or Wright Brothers Oyester and Porter House for seafood. Or go for the coffee right across the street at Monmouth Coffee. While I drink my flat white at Monmouth, I read how fewer Londoners can afford to live in the capital. 1 out of 4 consider moving out, becoming a post-Londoner, due to the cost of living.

Apple orchard, a cocktail inspired by London and the apple season.

Apple orchard (makes 4)

This is my homage to London, the world’s cocktail capital. Inspired by the Waterloo Sun cocktail at The Cut Bar and because we are in the midst of the wonderful apple season, I have made my own version. This is an aromatic apple cocktail flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon, a cocktail with a London kick. If you make it without alcohol, use 50 cl syrup and 70 cl apple juice.

1/4 vanilla pod
200 ml water
1/4 cinnamon stick
2 lime
2 tbsp sugar
good apple juice (e.g. cloudy apple)
rum
ice cubes

1. For the syrup: Split the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Place seeds and pod in a pan with the water, sugar and cinnamon stick. (Keep the rest of the vanilla pod in a jam jar with some sugar). Bring to boil and remove from the heat. Leave to cool and flavours to infuse. Add the juice of two limes.

2. For one cocktail you need 30 cl rum, 50 cl syrup and 50 cl apple juice. Serve with lots of ice cubes and a slice of apple.

Hungry for more London?

Eating London
Travel tips to London and Paris, which one is the best food city?

More travel tips to the South Bank?

Visit London
Time Out
South Bank

Music: Nightcall with London Grammar

The post A walk on the South Bank appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Cherry pie from Moldova.

The online travel magazine Traveler’s Digest has ranked the 10 least visited countries in the world. With only 11 000 visitors a year Moldova is on the list. I visited the country in 2010. Here is my tale.

Gå til norsk versjon

The visit however was not my idea. I was dragged along by my better half who had a work assignment there. But I do not regret going although some of the hours there were among my worst.

Tourist attractions?

According to Traveler’s Digest there are no tourist attractions in Moldova. Moldova certainly does not have famous attractions the way we flock to New York to see the Statue of Liberty or go to Paris to gaze at the Eiffel Tower. Moldova does not have places and attractions you have longed for in your dreams and always wanted to see. But to me the fact that it is so little known turns the whole country into a tourist attraction. Everything in Moldova becomes something I yearn to see like a blind person who has regained his view.

Great expectations

For a tourist Moldova is like a black nothing. We were going to the capital, and because I was geography nerd at Primary School I know quite a few capitals of the world. But say the word Chisinau and I am clueless. It is the first time I have travelled to a city without knowing anything about it.

So I wanted to seek information in travel literature, but found little. In Lonely Planet’s travel guides Moldova was lumped together with Romania, and with only one small chapter. The little I discovered about the country was unnerving. Human trafficking. The poorest country in Europe. According to the official travel advice from the Norwegian government (landsider.no) and British Embassy (gov.uk) Moldova is relative safe but with low standard of health care and you were advised to ”Take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before you travel”. I will come back to this later.

We travelled to Moldova from Latvia in the Baltic with a small Fokker 50 plane. The way you are greeted at the airport reveals something about the country you have arrived in. Would it be like the airport in Minsk, Belarus, where we were interrogated by personnel in military uniforms and personally locked into the airport (the airport was closed)? In contrast Moldova has ditched some of its former communism. This is exactly what had happened the year before when the communist government were ousted in elections. (Moldova was the first former Soviet republic to elect a communist party in 2001). We were greeted with smiles and civic personnel. Still the police were waiting as we embarked the plane.

This was at the time of the Swine flu pandemic and on the plane we had to fill out a form asking if you were coughing or having a runny nose. I suffered from both and pictured myself being deported the minute I set foot on Moldovan soil.

Chisinau without colours

We were driven to the hotel situated at what is called the Gates of Chisinau, two buildings looking like enormous lego bricks. The real journey could start. The capital Chisinau is a city of 800 000 inhabitants. An outsider has a look devoid of certain emotions, one only sees the houses’ shapes and colours without noticing they are also someone’s home. I could only see grey and worn apartments in a grey and dismal landscape. The weather only made it worse. It was February and one of the coldest winters in Europe this year with the temperature for a long period between 10 and 20 minus (14 to -4 Fahrenheit). There were no leaves to colour the landscape green. Only dull apartments blocks and traffic.

Wine and communism

Moldova lies sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. It has no coastline and has a population of only 4 million. It has been part of Romania and has strong cultural and linguistic ties with its neighbouring country. About 2/3 of all Moldovans speak a Romanian dialect, but most people also speak Russian due to the fact it was part of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991.

Moldova is a fertile country and one of the world’s top exporters of wine. According to Lonely Planet there is no other place on earth where you can sample the same quality of wine at such low price. The country has close economic ties to Russia, but recently Moldova has signed a trade deal with the EU as a first step towards a possible EU membership. The courtship however led to Russian boycott of Moldovan wine and fruit as a punishment for looking to the West.

Those who live outside

Our hotel was a small building surrounded by big apartment buildings. From the hotel window I saw a street dog lying in the nearby bus shed. He was one of several street dogs and cats we encountered. Outside a church lived a dog with a puppy. In a central park lived two dogs under a shed of paper boxes. The first evening in Moldova I stood there in the window thinking about their life out there in the harsh cold. At last I went out to buy pet food to keep in my rucksack. How were they treated? I saw an ongoing campaign telling people not to beat their pet, but I also witnessed kind-hearted souls who fed the animals and gave them shelter.

Another group who live outside are the guest workers. 25 percent of the Moldovan population work abroad. Many of these are parents, leaving their kids back home where many of them end up at an orphanage. We met two of the guest workers in a village an hour drive from Chisinau. A couple that had worked in Norway and hoped to do it again. She was one of the foreign strawberry pickers in my country.

Sasha and his wife greeted us with tea, cookies and pancakes filled with cottage cheese. It was freezing cold, but only their living room was heated. The villagers had to fetch water from wells and their roads were dark as most roads in the Moldovan countryside. Sasha told us how we in Norway live, but here in Moldova they try to keep our life. You survive in the countryside by growing, keeping livestock and sending at least one (adult) child to work abroad. Sasha and his wife were educated people, still they could not find work and a future here.

The Moldovan writer Vladimir Lorchenkov who has written the book “The good life is elsewhere” where he describes the quest to get out of the country, tells in an interview that Moldovans do whatever it takes to survive, even selling your body or selling your organs.

To Gagauzia

There are two autonomous regions in Moldova, Transnistria and Gagauzia. Transnistria is a breakaway state with its own army, president, flag and a secret service still called the KGB. Here communism is alive as if the Berlin wall was still standing.

Gagauzia lies is Southern Moldova. The Gagauz is a Turkish Christian minority who fled the Russian-Turkish war in the 18^th century. Their capital is Comrat, 92 kilometres south of Chisinau. Comrat has not much to offer besides the university (which was the purpose of our trip), a statue of Lenin and a museum. Thanks to few visitors we received a very private tour at the Ethnographic Museum with the address Lenin Street 162. The guides had a lot of history to tell, the only problem was the heat, or lack of. Although it was winter the museum was unheated and in the end our feet and hands were so numb we had to start to waddle to endure.

Sights in the city

One of the first days in Chisinau we went on the obligatory sightseeing tour. The main attraction – and source of great pride – was the statue of Ștefan cel Mare (Stephen the great). He managed to expand the Moldovan territory in a serious of battles in the 15^th century. A national hero, the main street in Chisinau bears his name. Far more interesting was the Victory Memorial and Eternal Flame to commemorate soldiers who died during WW2. During WW2 Moldova was occupied by Romania, at that time allied to Nazi-Germany, and the Jews suffered severely. According to an article in Der Spiegel the “Romanian holocaust” was a taboo in the Soviet era and largely swept under the carpet.

Our guide compared the city’s hills to the Seven hills of Rome, which I found hard to comprehend. It was difficult to see the beauty of the city. The beauty was in the people we came across.

Dinner with Steven Seagal

The highlight during the sightseeing was a visit to the restaurant Roata Vremii (Time wheel). The restaurant was an eclectic mix of folk museum, restaurant and stuffed animal exhibition. Some of the rooms pictured traditional farm life and how the harvest was pickled while other rooms were filled with stuffed animals with plastic squint eyes. And in the midst of it all, a picture of Steven Seagal proudly shown to us.

The food was excellent though, and during dinner I was asked about my marital status whereupon I answered I was unmarried. I rapidly added that it was totally normal to be 35 + and still single in Norway. When my wife returned from the rest room I nudged her and told her we were both unmarried. And this is how I managed to push us and our marriage inside the closet.

Kindness in grey landscape

In the dull winter landscape there was always kindness. We were taken great care of and people were curious about how we perceived Moldova. Human trafficking, poverty, orphans and stray animals were politely replaced with wine, fertile land and warmth.

The last days in Moldova took a different turn. My wife got sick and when we called our travel insurance agent it turned out they had made a mistake – they had no recommended doctor in Moldova but advised us to get a car for the neighbouring country, Ukraine. This was not possible. We had to face our worst fear and call the local ambulance. We spent the last days in a hospital in Chisinau where I had to retrieve the little I remembered of German: Vielen Schmerzen, vielen Schmerzen, Medizin, Medizin?

During our hospital stay friends came by with lots of food and one of the old ladies staying at the same room borrowed me her pillow. I slept sitting beside my wife’s bed with my head on her bead. Where I belonged. The marital status I had inflicted on myself – how we were only friends – could have turned ugly. Putting myself in the closet also excluded me as her relative.

View from the hospital taken with my mobile phone. How I wish we were not there.

The food in Moldova

We had a lot of good food in Moldova. I particularly remember the creamy milk and all the varieties of pickled food ranging from watermelons to pumpkins. The food has a lot in common with the food of Romania. In both countries mamaliga is the national dish. Mamaliga is similar to Italian polenta and is eaten as a side order with a salty cheese called branza.

What I remember the most is the cherry pie, placinte su visine, we had for dessert. In contrast to other pies, the Moldovan or Romanian pie (placinte) is made without a tart tin, it has a thin crust, is often pan or deep-fried and is dusted with powdered sugar. The savoury version is filled with cheese (branza), kale (varza) or potatoes (cartofi).

I have searched the Internet for a recipe akin to what I ate in Moldova, and it seems the pie dough is strudel dough. Because I want a dough just as easy to succeed with in a gluten-free version, I make a more traditional dough, except there is no water, just eggs. Although this recipe is not the most authentic recipe for placinte, it is truly inspired by the pie I ate there, a memory from Moldova.

Cherry pie from Moldova

Cherry pie / Placinte su visine (makes 6)

I use half and half sweet cherries and tart cherries, but do use what you want. Just adjust the amount of sugar a bit. It is definitely an advantage having a cherry pitter. A food stylist in Jamie Magazine once said that pies are always beautiful, not matter what you do. And I could not agree more. Pies are always irresistible. Also, the cherry filling is wonderful with wine and cheese.

Pie dough:
125 g flour (or gluten-free flour)
1 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
60 g cold butter in cubes
1 organic egg

Cherry filling:
200 g sour cherries
200 g sweet cherries
60 g sugar
zest of ½ organic lemon
1 tsp maizena + 1 tbsp water
icing sugar

1. Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Crumble the butter into the flour. Whisk the egg and add it to the flour – but leave a spoon of egg for the finish. Mix quickly into a dough with your hands. Wrap in cling film and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Wash the berries, remove the twigs and pit them. Place in a pan with the sugar and lemon zest. Boil on medium heat for 20 minutes, until thickened and the berries have partly collapsed. Mix the maizena with the water and add gradually while stirring. Allow to cool.

3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Place each piece between two parchment papers, and roll out the pastry with a rolling pin until thin. Let rest once more in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 175C/350F/Gas 4. Remove the top parchment paper and place about 3 spoons with cherry filling in the middle. Place the other pastry on top while you carefully tear off the parchment paper. Crimp the edges to seal. Use a fluted pastry wheel (or knife) to cut off excess pastry and make a nice circle. Repeat with the last pair of pastry.

Note: If you have a lot of leftover pastry, make mini galettes (free-form tarts). Just roll out the pastry, place the filling in the centre and fold the border over the filling – the centre should be open, not closed by pastry.

5. Glaze with the egg and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden. Serve with icing sugar, and if you like, a doll-up of sour cream.

More travel stories? More recipes from places?

Jambalaya and greetings from New Orleans
Greek salad, Athens and Greek holiday memories
Frozen yogurt ice cream + North of Norway
Tips to London and Paris and a recipe for muesli

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Gå til norsk versjon

If you are up North then
there is more than a ferry to loose
You are not the only one she leaves
and you will not be the last
If you are up North then
If you are up North then

Vacation. Nothing makes me more stressed out than going on vacation. The time when all pieces should fall into place and only the good times should roll.

Vacation up North. To the land where you need a ferry to travel. Where there is no difference between night and summer day. Where the dinner meant for 4 suddenly is for 8. Where there is always time, and a visitor is offered plenty of coffee and cakes.

To the North of Norway. Where autumn is orange not because of the leaves, but because of the cloudberries in the mires. Where the beaches are so sandy you could forget this is Norway, not Mexico or the Maldives, if you look beyond the red boathouses, the mountains and the cold water.

Where nature is magnificent but the weather is moody. Where mountains and beaches are wrapped in fog and storm. Where there is gratitude for the smallest glimpse of summer and 15 degree Celsius (60 Fahrenheit) is bikinisummer, worthy of sunbathing and smiles.

You never know what kind of weather awaits you when you are traveling to the North of Norway. My last summer vacation up North, the average temperature dropped to 8 degree Celsius (46 Fahrenheit). In July. The summer before was stormy, we mostly stayed indoors, my son was sick and we had a massive family quarrel.

No sun in December, this is the law in this part of the country
Night devours the day and she is always hungry
The stars have gone, they are selling themselves in stores
The sky has no borealis, and you cannot see the Polaris

If you are up North then
Just let the darkness roll
Because one night the curtain will open up
and there will be a divine Light
If you are up North then
If you are up North then

This year’s vacation started with me traveling north with chickenpox (in its last phase, doctor said it was ok to travel). The 20th of July is a magical date on the island where I come from. At that time the first cloudberries ripen, but in return the midnight sun is starting to fade away.

I came to the island of my childhood just in time to see the first cloudberries mature. It was so hot most days I could pick cloudberries on the mires in my running shoes. Simultaneously the local strawberries were also ripe and my mother had green rhubarb in the freezer for me.

We made beautiful and traditional food I associate with my childhood and the island I left when I was sixteen. Rice porridge topped with sour cream porridge. Tart rhubarb pudding with cream. Waffles with cloudberries. Reindeer stew. Pan-fried coalfish with potatoes. Always potatoes accompanying dinner. And black pudding.

The two general stores on the island are not like other stores. They always keep in stock shaved reindeer meet and frozen blood. It was the first time I bought one. A bucket with blood, labeled ”for consumption”. My mother taught me how to make my childhood favourite, black pudding with raisins, and suddenly I was there. A kid in my mother’s kitchen, munching black pudding.

We sunbathed at Silsand most days. Silsand is one of the sandy beaches on the island, lying where the road almost ends. From here there is view all the way to the town of Harstad and its wooden houses. Just a stones’ trow away lies ”End of the rock (”Bergenden”), the place to stay if you want to gaze at the midnight sun casting its spell on the distant Senja mountains, turning them blue, pink, orange and in the end, deep red.

To Silsand we brought along homemade frozen yogurt ice cream with mountains of raspberries, a dessert I made several times up there. It was up North my little two year old son had his first real berry meal consisting of nordic strawberries. And it was here he learned to throw stones in the ocean, not the sea.

Back in Oslo again. The chickenpox has been replaced with insect bites. My camera is filled with almost 500 pictures. My son is rid of his fear of bathing in the sea, and he has gotten to know for real his family living up North. He has almost turned into a Northener. He has learned to say ”Oh my God” and has driven an all-terrain vehicle.

You do not reach land before the wind has turned
What you give is just not returned
But you are not alone, there are many of us out there
Our boats crossing paths in darkness on an open fjord

If you are up North then
The winter darkness is behind you
Spring has pushed you through
You are soon on the other side
If you are up North then
If you are up North then.  

Rhubarb pudding with cream

This is the Norwegian counterpart to the more known Danish berry pudding. Cooked berries and fruit thickened with potato starch is an old tradition in Scandinavia, and something I remember from my childhood.

about 500 g / 18 oz peeled rhubarb
about 100 gr / 4 oz sugar
100 ml water
2 tbsp potato starch (or maizena)
heavy cream to serve

1. Cut the stalks into pieces. Place in a pan with the sugar. Let the rhubarb rest for at least an hour – the sugar will produce rhubarb juice.
2. Add the water and bring to boil on low heat for 10 minutes. Adjust the taste with more sugar if you find it too sour.
3. Stir the potato starch in a little water and pour into the pan while stirring with a whisk. It is important you pour it gradually until the pudding has the consistency of thin porridge. (The pudding will thicken more as it becomes cold).
4. Pour in a serving bowl, sprinkle with a little sugar and allow to cool. Serve with heavy cream.

Frozen yogurt with berries (makes 4–5)

In the summer I would rather spend my time outside than in the kitchen. So this is frozen yogurt ice cream the easiest way, made without ice cream machine. This is unpretentious food for the beach, for the hammock, for the balcony, for summer.

400 ml thick Greek yogurt (preferably full-fat)
125 g / 4 oz raspberries or strawberries
3–6 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

With a fork smash 100 g of the berries together with the sugar. Add the yogurt and stir a little. I like to keep it rippled. Place in the fridge at least an hour. After an hour it is more like cold cream, not ice cream. If you want ice cream scoops, freeze for 2–3 hours while you stir once in a while, particularly the edges. (Do not freeze more as it turns into granita rather than ice cream). Top with the rest of the berries divided into two and three.

Travel more?

Athens, Greek salad and holiday memories
Jambalaya and greetings from New Orleans
Tips to London and Paris, which one is the best food city?

A taste of North Norway?

Almond meringue tart with butter cream (suksessterte)
Nordic BLT with scrambled eggs
Scandinavian waffles with cardamom
Creamy rice porridge with orange sauce
Rhubarb tart 1938
Black pudding with syrup

The lyrics in this post is “E du nord” by Kari Bremnes, my translation from Norwegian to English.

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Gå til norsk versjon

London has the Thames, Paris has the Seine. Paris has pastries. London has rollicking pubs. Really, the winner depends on who you are and what you like. Huffington post

Let us start with the stars. The Michelin stars. London has 61. Paris 85. In comparison the Nordic countries has 5 (Oslo), 6 (Helsinki), 9 (Stockholm) and 13 (Copenhagen). Although London comes short in the race along via Michelin, it has come a long way and is renowned for its innovative and diverse food scene. London is the underdog and joke that has become a culinary star. French cuisine, on the other hand, has been in the sun since the 17th century and “the gastronomic meal of the French” was even recognized by UNESCO in 2010 as part of our world heritage. However, the same strict attitude that has contributed to greatness, has also conserved French kitchen like preserved jam – or should I say confiture.

Paris is very good at French cuisine, but after that it’s limited. Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat Restaurant Surveys

The famed American writer Alice B. Toklas who fell in love with France describes how a simple dish such as a potato salad had to be adorned in a certain way, with chicory and chicory only. French cuisine has been criticised of being a museum culture on the verge of being religion. But some try to renew. Since the 1990s French chefs have abandoned their Michelin kitchens to open casual food establishments, so-called neo-bistros, and in 2000 Le Fooding was founded as an alternative to the Michelin guide. One of the founders has stated that the goal is to encourage cooks to cook “with the whole of their selves and souls, not technicians of the table.”

Gregory Marchand, the French chef behind the bistro Frenchie, went to London and New York to release his creativity. In London he worked at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen, an experience he said liberated him from French cooking and taught him the value of teamship in the kitchen in stark contrast to the more hierarchical French restaurant kitchen.

The British Empire was created as a by-product of generations of desperate Englishmen roaming the world in search of a decent meal. Bill Marsano

Cheap gourmet food is not hard to find in London, a development spearheaded by the gastropubs, but there are also many decent chain restaurants to be found serving quite authentic food. Some of my personal favourites are Wahaca with their Mexican market eating and focus on sustainable ingredients. Another is Thai food at Busaba Eathai, Masala Zone for Indian street food, British at Canteen, Italian at Jamies’ Italian and Hummus Bros for a taste of the Levant.

Time to eat

Many Brits eat at the wheel or with one eye on their PC, which is sacrilege for the French, who regard meals as a ‘full-time’ activity. In France meals are one of the best bits of the day. Thibaut de Saint Pol, French sociologist

In London breakfast is a substantial meal whereas breakfast in Paris is so little you yearn for lunch, which in France happens to be the most important meal of the day. There is a saying: Parisians only think of two things, lunch and dinner. One of the biggest differences between London and Paris is the rhythm of eating. In London or New York you can eat dinner most of the day. In Paris you eat a three-course lunch at noon while restaurants do not open for dinner until 8.00. Also, it is imperative to book a table in advance. This is because dinner service is shorter and you show respect for the restaurant.

What is truly unique about the French meal, and what I love, lies in the attitude towards eating. A meal in France is a collective act of sharing: You sit down to eat together, not in front of your computer or alone at a coffee bar. Each day a majority of the French sit down to eat three collective meals, and they consequently spend longer time eating. It is this way of life that has earned the French meal UNESCO-status.

The details of the meal

Parisians have always loved meat. Eivind Hellstrøm, former Norwegian Michelin chef

Paris has the highest population density in Europe, four times higher than London, a fact also discernible at restaurants. At the bistro Le Pantrusche in Pigalle, the waiter had to push the table to have me seated. The menu is often written on a chalkboard, a fact that reflects the seasonality of the French cuisine. In Paris the customer is not king as in London and most other Western cities. Hence, you respect the chef and by doing so order the dishes without asking for any changes.

If you order the Parisian bistro’s most classic dish, steak frites, salad is often served as a side dish with the fries – or as it is done at Le Relais de l’Entrecôte, one of several Paris restaurants that specialize in steak frites, the salad is served as an appetizer. The keyword to French food culture is balance – a French meal may include dessert and lots of butter but also a fair share of greens.

Fast food

In France snacking is less common than in countries like Norway or England. While there is a Pret A Manger or similar outlet on almost every street corner in London, they are far and fewer in Paris. Still, McDonald’s has made its way into Paris. While there are 190 McDonald’s in London, Paris has 66. However “MacDo” has adapted to French culture and is designed more like a café where both the baguette and the macaron is part of the menu.

If there is a type of fast food Paris could call its own, it is pancakes. Pancakes come in two varieties, crêpes and galettes. The former is made with wheat flour, typically served with nutella. The latter is a pancake from Brittany made with buckwheat and often eaten as a savoury pancake.

Cocktails and coffee

Paris is known for its cafés, not the coffee served in them. Food and Wine Magazine

Paris has always been the city of wine and champagne. This is the city of the sommelier, not the bartender. A glass of champagne, kir or even pastis is more common. Not surprisingly the French are more focused towards flavour than the amount of alcohol in a cocktail. What may come as a bigger surprise is the dismal coffee in Paris. Foreigners mostly run the few coffee bars that exist in Paris. To be fair, foreigners, particularly from Australia and New Zealand, also play a substantial role in the coffee scene of London.

In London the cocktail scene is as diverse as the restaurant scene. There is a wide array of cocktails bars and cool restaurants also have wonderful drink menus. Why not try one of the drinks invented in London, the Bramble? Or go for England’s mojito, Pimm’s Cup? Though England is a nation of tea drinkers, coffee has made its way into the heart of Londoners, with coffee shops and roasteries booming. Have a look at the London Coffee guide showcasing 150 independent coffee venues in London.

The sweet life

For me, British puddings are some of the most informal, yet luxurious desserts in the world. Jamie Oliver

Living the sweet life in Paris is not hard. Paris is almost synonymous with the pâtisserie, and the Parisian cake above all is the macaron. Equally the array of delicious French desserts are astounding, ranging from delicate soufflés to fruity tarte tartins. Though macarons are everywhere I was surprised to see brownies and cookies in many pâtisseries.

While London may not have as many pâtisseries as Paris, it has afternoon tea. If you want to try something typically British, indulge yourself with a Chelsea bun or hot cross bun – or eccles at St. John, a buttery cake similar to pain au chocolat but where the chocolate is substituted with raisins. Do not miss out on the British desserts (puddings). I recommend the Bakewell tart, or if it is summer, strawberry desserts like Eton Mess and strawberries and cream. The latter is served with that special British cream, double cream consisting of 48 % fat.

Markets

The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay, I heard the laughter of her heart in every street café. Oscar Hammerstein II

The produce at the numerous food markets in Paris is highly seasonal, and although Paris is a landlocked city the array of fresh sea food is impressive. London has its fair share of markets too ranging from general food markets like Borough Market to specialized markets like Columbia Road Flower Market. Perhaps the biggest difference between London and Paris lies not in the number of markets, but in the attitude towards the market. In Paris shopping fresh produce at the market is an integral part of French cooking, not something you do on special occasions.

Going from fresh and seasonal to the other extreme. In London I ate at a little old greasy spoon café in Bethnal Green. I knew this would be quite far from fine dining, but I thought it would be decent enough and made from scratch. So we ordered cannelloni and pork chops with mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were pale as snow and more disturbing, without flavour. Afterwards I visited the neighbouring supermarket. The name, Iceland, should have warned me. Judging from the posters outside this seemed to be heaven for lovers of processed frozen food. And there they were, the mashed potatoes from the caff. Fresh from the freezer.

What then is the verdict? I love London. I could fall in love with Paris. But apparently I am looking in the wrong direction. According to Food and Wine Tokyo is the new Paris.

The signature dessert at the bistro Le Pantruche is soufflé au Grand Marnier et caramel au beurre sale (Grand marnier soufflé with salted caramel sauce).

Flowers along the Regent’s Canal.

London sky.

8 tips to London:

Hummus Bros
It is incredible how fast food can be so tasty and healthy. Delicious food from the Levant.

Wahaca
Great tacos, drinks and the yummiest sweet potato wedges ever.

Albion
Modern British café in a quiet street in Shoreditch. Try the large breakfast plate including black pudding, the omelette or one of the delicious cakes.

The Anchor and Hope
One of the best gastropubs in London, always crowded and noisy. The pub lies in a nice little street, The Cut, where you also find the Old Vic theatre and Wahaca.

Afternoon tea
A distinct English tradition that is a must when your are in London.

Borough Market
The city’s most famous market, right next to London Bridge. Gives a nice insight into British produce. Also, one of the best coffee shops in London, Monmouth, is just across the street.

Riverwalk along the South Bank
One of the loveliest parts of the Thames is along the South Bank from Waterloo Bridge to Tate Modern and London Bridge.

Regent‘s Canal
Walk away from the hustle and bustle. The canal offers a romantic walk alongside old boats with flowers on the roof.

8 tips to Paris:

Le Comptoir Belge
Best ever Belgian waffles in a not-so-tourist area at the foot of the Montmartre hill.

Le Pantrusche
Gourmet bistro in Pigalle serving cheap Michelin food (it has a Bib Gourmand status = best value). Do reserve a table ahead. Voted one of the 50 best dishes in Paris by Time Out.

Chez Janou
A Bistrot Provencal, hence it serves food from Provence. Very atmospheric bistro in Marais situated in a quiet and green little square that reminds you of being in a village, not a city.

Rue de Rosiers in Marais
This is the heart of Old Jewish Paris. Old and narrow streets, the city’s best falafel at L’as du Falafel or meze at Chez Marianne.

Place des Vosges
Beautiful park surrounded by gorgeous architecture. Buy macarons at a nearby pâttiserie and have a picnic here.

Marché Bastille
One of the biggest markets in Paris, stretching all the way from Place de la Bastille and along Boulevard Richard Lenoir. Vendors also sell crêpes and galettes.

Canal St-Martin
This canal, 4,5 kilometer long, is both romantic and urban. It is known from the film Amélie and also figured in a song by Edith Piaf, Les mômes de la cloche.

Playgrounds in the Tour Eiffel park
Paris is very good at playgrounds. Everywhere there is a little patch of green, there is a playground too. One of the best lies in the long park that belongs to the Eiffel Tower. Here you find playgrounds, crêperies and an adorable vintage merry-go-round.

More travel stories? Or more London?

Eating London
London – a walk on the South Bank
Jambalaya and greetings from New Orleans
Athens, Greek salad and Greek holiday memories

The post Travel tips to London and Paris appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Jambalaya, one of Louisiana’s iconic dishes

There are two things you ought to know if you are going to New Orleans. How to pronounce the name and knowing the difference between Cajun and Creole.

Gå til norsk versjon

We are leaving Memphis and heading south on Interstate 55. We are driving straight through Mississippi, only stopping to eat and fill gasoline. After some hours the dull highway landscape changes. From out of nowhere small huts on tiny islands unfold in what seems to be wetland. In front of us a giant lake appears. The Interstate does not abide, but continues straight ahead. Suddenly the road grows tall feet. We are crossing the lake on the numerous pilings that make up one of the longest bridges in the world. Lake Pontchartrain, a road sign declares. We are soon there. NOLA. New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans and Paris

I have prepared myself for the journey. Read about the history, Hurricane Katrina and the kitchen of New Orleans. I know this where you find a culinary pride and a unique cuisine the same way you will encounter in other food cities like Paris, Mexico City or Bangkok.

Saveur Magazine characterizes New Orleans as the country’s best food city. But there is more. At home there are two books in my bookshelf about the world’s culinary capitals. Side by side there is one about Paris and one about New Orleans. Little New Orleans with its barely 500,000 inhabitants until 2005 and big Paris with its 10 million people. They have both contributed to the world’s culinary heritage. How can such a little city make such a big contribution?

La Nouvelle Orleans

New Orleans has been called the most European and most Caribbean of all the American cities. But it is also a southern city with a history of sugar and slaves. New Orleans or La Nouvelle Orleans was founded by the French in 1712. Already in 1762 it was ceded to the Spanish. It was and is a city of stark contrast. It was in New Orleans the first opera in America was raised. From the onset New Orleans was based on slavery as the French made sure ships filled with African slaves arrived. Here the country’s largest slave marked took place. Tremé just north of French Quarter is the oldest Afro-American neighbourhood in the USA, home to jazz and Louis Armstrong.

Germans, Irish and Italians arrived in big numbers in the 18th and 19th century. French Quarter was nicknamed Little Palermo due to the influx of Sicilians. One of their grocery stores, Central Grocery founded in 1909, is still run by the same family. Some of the most recent immigrants to arrive in New Orleans were refugees fleeing the Vietnam War. In Louisiana they encountered something familiar; rice paddies and former French colonial rule. New Orleans also has a close kinship with the Caribbean, especially Haiti. Haiti or Saint-Domingue was once a French slave colony. In the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution slaves, former slaves and slave owners fled the island and headed for New Orleans. The Caribbean influence is reflected in music, architecture, second lines, voodoo and one of the most cherished dishes, rice and beans.

Sleepless in New Orleans

We check in at the Hotel Richelieu in the French Quarter, or Vieux Carré. I open the door to the balcony, and stare at a long communal balcony in wrought iron. This is one of those moments where you find yourself at the place you only before have known through pictures and dreams. It looks like it is raining because the glass on the balcony door is soaking wet, but it is only vapour due to high humidity. From the balcony I get a good look at the old and worn buildings of the French Quarter dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Just like in Oslo, this is a city with just a few tall buildings. New Orleans is so filled with food culture and history. How can I savour all of this? I want to cry. I am only here for two days.

French Quarter in New Orleans

French Quarter at night

Creole cottage, one of the many types of architecture in New Orleans

New Orleans has the largest collection of antebellum archicture in the USA, ie. houses dating to the period before the Civil War. Ante means pre and Bellum means war in Latin

Beignets at Café du monde. The café opened its doors in the 1860s. And has ever since been the place for café au lait and beignets. The latter is always served in pairs of three

Snoball, a kind of granita (shaved ice) with flavoured syrup. A tradition brought to New Orleans by the Sicilians

New Orleans is a tropical and humid city that reminds you of the Caribbean

The Storm we always feared

When you arrive in the French Quarter, little reminds you of what happened August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the city. Most of New Orleans is situated 2 feet below sea level, and 80 % of the city was flooded. In areas such as the Lower Ninth Ward water levels reached as high as 13 feet (4,5 meters). Hurricane Katrina, or the Storm, was a man-made disaster. The levee system broke down due to lack of maintenance. What then unfolded is hard to comprehend. People lost their homes. They drowned in their attics. For six weeks the city was evacuated. Anarchy and looting was the order of the day. People did not know what they came back to. And many never returned. The population decreased from 480,000 to 360,000. Those who ventured back home met the stench of their refrigerators with rotten food. The streets were filled with cemeteries of duck-taped refrigerators.

Oysters and cocktails

Today there is a different smell in New Orleans. The smell of oysters. I have a reservation at Acme Oyster House. I have never tried oysters before, but this is the place to try it. The love for oysters is another thing people from New Orleans share with the French. Here it is savoured raw on top of a saltine with horseradish and hot sauce, charbroiled or deep-fried in the poboy sandwich.

As a first-timer in New Orleans I have to fall into some of the tourist traps, like rushing to Bourbon Street and try the overtly sweet Hurricane with rum and grenadine. New Orleanians however prefer other drinks in a city known for its cocktails and liberal alcohol laws permitting drinking in public with to go cups. Until recently you could also buy a drink at so-called drive-through daiquiri joints. Two of the cocktails of New Orleans are Brandy Milk Punch and Cajun Bloody Mary. The Brandy Milk Punch is like a dessert cocktail, made with brandy, cream, syrup and nutmeg. It that’s too overwhelming try the Cajun Bloody Mary: Vodka, tomato juice, mustard, garlic, lime juice and Tabasco all adorned with okra.

Crawfish and rice

They say people in Louisiana eat everything that doesn’t eat them first. Don’t be too surprised if alligator, turtle or frog appear on your menu. However, New Orleans is first and foremost a seafood town, and a town that loves its rice and beans on Mondays. New Orleans is surrounded by and established on water: the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mississippi. No wonder seafood is such an integral part of life. All the wetland is beneficial if you like crawfish and rice. Louisiana is one of the largest producers of rice and the largest producer of crawfish in the USA. In the 1970s and 80s farmers started to use rice fields as ponds for the crawfish making, making these mudbugs more available. But the successful story of crawfish farming is threatened by the salty sea. In the past 75 years the coastline of Louisiana has eroded the size of Delaware.

Not a city in which to be careless

New Orleans is not a safe city. Along with Mississippi and New Mexico Louisiana is among the poorest states in the USA, and New Orleans is one of the most dangerous cities in the country in terms of murder rate. To quote Lonely Planet: ”New Orleans has a high violent-crime rate; it’s not a city in which to be careless.” The boundaries between safe and unsafe, do not necessarily follow boundaries of neighbourhoods, but streets. This is a city where you literally have to be street smart.

Dazed and confused

Staying here makes me dazed and confused. What looks like the sea is the Mississippi. Bourbon Street reminds me of the worst of Amsterdam. The restaurants in the French Quarter look French with their uniformed waiters, white tablecloths and dressed up guests. The receptionist at my hotel talks like she is a New Yorker, but she has never ventured outside Louisiana. The weather and flora is so tropical you could easily close your eyes and pretend you are in the Caribbean. In the bars they serve one the of quintessential English cocktails, the Pimm’s Cup, but the English never settled in this part of America. And one of the things I associate the most with the USA, the ubiquitous international chain stores, are not present.

The greatest confusion of them all, of course, is the difference between Cajun and Creole. Both can trace their origins back to France, but in two different ways. They vary in time and geography. One is the food of a city, the other is country food.

Creole cuisine

Creole is the cuisine that has evolved in the city of New Orleans, reflecting the people who have settled there over a period of 300 years. The Creole cuisine has a lot in common with the French cuisine, but borrows elements from other cultures too. It could be cayenne from the Caribbean, okra and rice and beans from Africa, tomatoes/canned tomatoes and pasta from Italy and paprika from Spain.

Looking at it politically you might say the cuisine of New Orleans is a result of inequality. New Orleans was a divided city with a slave-owning aristocracy where the slaves, both Native Americans and Africans, worked in the fields and in the kitchens. Some known Creole dishes are Trout Amandine, Oyster Rockefeller and Bananas Foster.

Cajun cuisine

The Cajun cuisine on the other hand was born in rural Southwestern Louisiana. This is where French Catholics fled after the British conquered Acadia (Acadie) in Canada in the 1750s. The people from Acadia were called Acadians, in which the word Cajun derives. Cajun food is the food of refugees, one pot wonders made with what was available in the swamp, be it alligator, squirrel or crawfish. No slaves were forced to work in the kitchen. Rice and pork are of utmost importance, and everything is utilized, from pig’s feet to its blood in sausages (boudin rouge). Starting in the 1980s, Cajun cuisine has acquired international fame due to chef Paul Proudhomme, and the two kitchens cannot be separated like water and oil.

Most of the French refugees who were later known as Cajuns have never been to France, and they lived a quite isolated life until the 20th century. Today they speak a French dialect called Cajun French, and the heart of Cajun country is Lafayette. Donald Link, prominent New Orleans chef and a native of Southwestern Louisiana, describes his Cajun roots this way: ”It is a land where any given gas station sells tasso, andouille, hogshead cheese and smoked pig stomach.”

Jambalaya with the holy trinity

Jambalaya – a common thread

The most characteristic dishes of Louisiana, gumbo and jambalaya, belong to both kitchens. Jambalaya resembles the Spanish paella and was originally a frugal Cajun dish made with what was at hand. Like paella jambalaya is food made in large skillets enough to feed a crowd, and served at festive occasions such as Mardi Gras. If it is brown, i.e. without tomatoes but with andouille, game or chicken, it is Cajun. If it is red, i.e. made with tomatoes, it is Creole.

What forms the basis of jambalaya and a whole range of dishes in the Creole and Cajun cuisine, is the holy trinity. Consisting of chopped onion, celery and bell pepper (paprika) this is the Louisiana counterpart to the French mirepoix, the Spanish sofrito and the Italian sofritto. The flavour is further enhanced with garlic (often called the Pope), thyme and bay leaves.

According to Tom Fitzmorris, New Orleans’ most renowned food critic, Creole is the oldest comprehensive regional cuisine in America, recognized as a thing apart in the late 1800s, when the earliest Creole cookbooks appeared. “It had a French face, a Spanish soul and African hands. Soon it would get an Italian heart and a Cajun smile.”

I left New Orleans the same way as I came. Over Lake Pontchartrain. Eastbound. From the Interstate I get a glimpse of the empty shells in Lower Ninth Ward that were homes until Katrina. The beauty of New Orleans is sad and brutal at the same time. Still, I can’t wait to get back, and now I know how to pronounce the name. It ain’t Noo Or-LEENS, honey, it’s N’Awlins.

Note: I visited New Orleans in the autumn 2010.

Red Jambalaya served with crusty bread

Jambalaya (makes 3-4)

Cooking oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 celery sticks, diced
1 big bell pepper, diced
3 big tomatoes, diced
1-2 sausages (preferably andouille, but chorizo will also do)
4-5 chicken thighs
200 g shrimps
600 ml water
250 g long-grain rice (but I have to admit I like to use short-grain risotto rice)
2 bay leaves
3 scallions/spring onions, sliced
leaf parsley
lemon
2 tbs cajun seasoning

1. Heat oil in a wide frying pan. Sauté the sausages and chicken until nicely coloured, about 5-10 minutes.
2. Now it is time for the holy trinity: Add the onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper and Cajun seasoning and fry for 10-15 minutes until the onion is softened.
3. Add the rice and fry for another i 1-2 minutes.
4. Add water, bay leaves and diced tomatoes. Cook until the rice is done.
5. Right before serving, add the shrimps and scallions. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Garnish with parsley.

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The post Greetings from New Orleans appeared first on Nordic Diner.