OMG November 26, 2008

Dude.  So I’m in a friend’s room tonight with some people, and one guy is talking about his friend who accidentally ate dog on his pizza while in Thailand.  When the “eww-ing” died down, I said, “Hey, my uncle just told me that when he was here in Norway, he ate horse!” Instead of more “ews” as I expected, everyone just acted like that was the most normal thing in the world.  And then, get this: they said the sausage we eat here is made from horse!  Yeah, the smoky-flavored, almost black sausage they serve us every Friday night with our weekly rice porridge, the sausage that I LOVE with the rice porridge I LOVE…is horse.  Like I said, OMG.*

It made me feel really weird inside, all prickly between the shoulder blades.

Anyway, I’m over it.  But hey, if you’re super interested in Norway, I found this really cool blog called “My Little Norway” by an Australian woman who moved here with her Norwegian husband.  They live in the far north, above the Arctic circle…so she is WAY more hardcore than I am.  In the past week I’ve eaten deer and reindeer for the first time…and found out that I’ve been eating horse every Friday for the past three months.  So I don’t know where it goes from there…maybe in the North they’re eating polar bears…or Santa’s elves!  I’m really missing Thanksgiving right now…turkey.  Just good old turkey, man.

*Just a note for my Norwegian readers…in case you didn’t know, eating horse is pretty much taboo in the States.  It’s right up there with dog.

Confessions of a Californian Foodie November 21, 2008

So you all know that I’m a bit of a foodie, right?  I think my Norwegian friends actually find it quite strange and amusing.  Whatever, it runs in the family!  Anyway, considering my love of food, it’s only natural that when anticipating my trip home to California for my sister’s wedding, I was not only excited about spending time with family and friends and basking in the weather that makes Southern California paradise, I was pretty much just as pumped about all the good food I would eat while I was there.  And, as my friend Jackson advised, I did not waste a single meal.  Or a single opportunity to go to Starbucks.  On the way home from the airport my mom and I stopped at the neighborhood Starbs, or Buckies, whatever you like to call it, and I spent 20 minutes discovering all their new merchandise, drinks, sandwiches, and pastries.  I was enthralled.  And to hear English spoken on top of all of it…sigh.  What a homecoming.

Well, I had this bright idea to take a picture of every single meal I ate while I was in Cali, but that got a little boring and also, I forgot too many times.  I was on vacation, you guys.  I was busy with things a little more interesting than my dear little Eeper.  But I did take a lot, so here are some of them, along with their descriptions.  Californians, you are lucky dogs.  Norwegians and others…I’m sorry.  Try not to salivate on your keyboard. (Pictures after the jump).

Even Steven October 15, 2008

To be fair, I WILL miss many things about Norway when I leave here.  Case in point: brown cheese. 

Maybe one day I will blog about the rest of the list.  Right now my eyeballs are burning and I think that means I need to veg out with a snack and half an episode of Gilmore Girls before hitting the sack.

Lunch Date September 27, 2008

Can I tell you something?  I am really good at making lunch.

But Joy, you ask, I thought you can’t cook?

Well, no.  No I can’t.  Actually, the other day I failed to hard boil eggs.  My lack of cooking experience, minimal common sense, and general clumsiness/spastic moments add up to my hopelessness in the kitchen.  But.  One thing saves my self-esteem in the area of domestic goddess qualifications.  And that is my lunch-making abilities.

Withdrawal September 22, 2008

I had a dream about Golden Spoon last night.  Seriously not funny.

Domestic Goddess of the Oregon Trail September 20, 2008

Yeah…this is another shallow-content blog.  Lately inspiration and timing haven’t been able to get their ish together.  In the meantime, may I direct you to a site I just discovered?  It’s called The Pioneer Woman, and it’s about this girl who was raised in the suburbs, spent her college years in L.A., and then met and married a cowboy and now lives on a working cattle ranch with their four kids.  

Spise August 27, 2008

Spise means “eat” in Norsk (Norwegian).  And they like to do that.  In fact, they have four meals a day.  Breakfast, which is usually cereal or bread with something on it.  Then lunch, which is light and again probably bread with spread or some cheese, or maybe the same toppings but on Wasa crackers (stolen from their neighbor, Sweden).  

The Other Side June 12, 2008

I grew up on junk food.  My friends still fondly remember the times my dad would come home with a paper sack from 7-11, bulging with candy and Slim Jims and Hostess Fruit Pies. 

Cravings May 21, 2008

Things I randomly craved in the first 3 hours of my work day:

Caprese (pictured above)

A confection made with chocolate and orange

Melted cheese (preferably on pizza or toasted bread)

Soft pretzel, like Auntie Anne’s or similar

Mushroom and swiss burger

Steamed milk, as in a Starbucks latte or vanilla steamer

Orange chicken

I SWEAR I’m not pregnant.  Probably just deprived.    And what’s with all the cheese?

That reminds me: I saw these make your own sushi wraps in a magazine…they look good, and if I had a sweet job at an upscale magazine where I dressed up every day, I would probably bring these in for lunch.

I’m Over You May 7, 2008

My friend Ashley and I have a wonderful little tradition of hanging out at her place in the middle of the week, eating takeout on the floor in front of the TV, and watching The Bachelor.  This week, while deciding via texting what we wanted to eat, she mentioned she didn’t really want Subway.  Ashley’s one of my best friends, and she knows that Subway is usually my default choice.  However, I told her I’m just not into it anymore.  When I was in Australia I think I had it like twice, and when I got back the jalapeno chips had changed their recipe and it all lost its charm like a road trip at the second gas station.  Here’s the story of how the disenchantment began, which I wrote about a year ago for a little webzine that posts food rants (they didn’t take it):