Norwegian Fish Soup and Waffles

Well, fortunately, I had an excellent exercise class this morning because I spent the remainder of the day eating, at my cooking club!

This shoe rack is at the gym where I go for my exercise class but it is just an example of what you see many places, schools, homes, etc.  As I said before, people always take their shoes off when they come into your home but kids at school are required to have "inside shoes".  Shoes that are never worn outdoors in the elements, to protect floors and to keep things more clean.  My exercise class and my badminton stadium also require "inside shoes" so we all feel like we are constantly putting on and taking off shoes!  You are certainly more conscious about wearing socks without holes!

After showering and baking some corn bread to bring along, I headed out to the home of a woman from Norway.  She had agreed to teach us how to make a traditional Norwegian meal.

We had about 15 woman in Kari's little kitchen but we learned how to make a wonderful, creamy soup with curry, salmon, cod, vegetables, and shrimp.

Delicious!  Once again, the conversation and perspectives from these woman from all over the world was wonderfully interesting!  Cardamom is a spice that is used very regularly in Scandinavia.  You will often find it in breads, sweet rolls, cookies, etc.  They even have "cinnamon rolls" made with cardamom instead!  My family loves it but I know that it seems a bit strange for many.

Today, we finished our meal with a typical Norwegian waffle, flavored with cardamom.  Apparently, this is a very common finish to a meal in Norway.  We ate the waffles, folded, with our hands with some strawberry jam, sour cream, and/or Norwegian brown cheese (Brunost).  Yummy!

On my walk back home, (fortunately, it was a bit of a long one so I could get over the sluggishness of all of that food!), I couldn't help but take a few pictures.  The sun was shining beautifully (before it got completely dark by 4:10) and I saw a few brick buildings.  You don't see much brick around here.  Buildings are usually covered in a colorful range of stucco.  I don't know if these were a different age or what, I will have to find out.  And, every time I see one of these turrets with the bulbous roof, I want to take a picture...  So pretty.