Thursday, April 29, 2010

Back from England


Doors for learning.
This one in Rochester.


Doors for meeting people.
This one in Erith.



Doors both for learning and for meeting people.
This one in a small village in Kent.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Kate got a scarf from her Norwegian greatgrandmother






Off to London for a week



It was only tonight it became clear that Ryanair will fly to
London tomorrow morning.

After getting that message, I hurriedly packed my eight
kilos and hope I did not forget anything important.
PASSPORT
BOARDING CARD
MONEY
MY RESEARCH FILE
One can always buy clothes there, if it becomes important.

The volcano on Iceland hopefully will keep quiet enough
for us to get back and forth safely, and on time.

I am not bringing my laptop, so I will not see your emails
for the coming week.

See you!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Saturday, April 3, 2010

This holiday's calorie sin: The almond cake


I bought almond flour (grounded almonds) and decided
to make a cake without using any regular flour.
200 g of almond flour was mixed with 200 g of sugar.
4 eggwhites were whipped stiff and carefully mixed with
almond-sugar mix.

This batter was carefully placed in a round mould, and
then spent 40 minutes in the middle of the oven at 175
degrees Celsius.

Well out, I let it cool a little before decorating with
200 g of melted chocolate, adding a chocolate heart in
the middle and some hazelnuts around.



Thursday, April 1, 2010

An electricity shock

The electricity bill for January and February has
been a real electrical shock.

I pay Fortum for what they call "electricity rent"
(nettleie) and Gudbrandsdal Energi for the actual
amount of electricity I use.

I have just analyzed this last bill.

January 2009 :
1891 kWh for the price of 49,85 oere/kWh
January 2010:
2530 kWh for the price of 53,92 oere/kWh

February 2009:
1774 kWh for the price of 44,39 oere/kWh
February 2010:
2190 kWh for the price of 82,84 oere/kWh(!!)

The bill last year was 1730 kr for the two months.
This year it was 3178 kr!!

If I may use one of the not-so-harsh swearwords in
Norwegian: Fytte rakker'n!

I have termometers in all rooms to keep the
temperature around 20 C in the winter.

According to my logic, the increased use of electricity
must be the result of a winter that was colder and longer
than last year, and living in a house that is old and
probably "leaking" more heat than many modern houses.


My grandmother's "lappeteppe"


Till I was six we lived in Moss.
Now and then we visited my grandmother in Oslo.
I remember dark evenings leaving her apartment,
and then covered with this knitted patchwork
in the backseat of the VW.
I remember the itching from the wool, but also the
smell of grandmother's house.
When had she (or perhaps my aunt Ruth?) knitted
it? I have no idea. But I imagine it can be seventy
years or older.



Now I need some woolen yarn to repair some of the
holes.
I have a friend who loves to knit. Perhaps she has
suitable colors for this project?