Packing List!

A.) Big Suitcase (Rolled / Check)
1.) ‘Basic Clothes’
A.) Pants
1.) 3 pairs of Jeans
2.) 2 pairs of Jean Shorts
B.) Shirts
1.) 1 simple t-shirt
2.) 3 cute t-shirts
3.) 1 simple long sleeve shirt
4.) 3 cute long sleeve shirts
5.) 1 sweatshirt
6.) 2 tank-tops
C.) Dresses and Skirts
1.) Black Dress
2.) Red Dress
3.) Cute Skirt
D.) Swimwear
1.) Black One Piece
2.) Black Bikini
3.) Cover Up
E.) Outerwear
1.) Warm Jacket
2.) Gortex Jacket
3.) Cute Black Jacket
2.) ‘Underwear’
A.) Underwear (6 pairs)
B.) Socks
1.) 6 pairs normal socks
2.) 1-2 pair nice walking socks
3.) 1 pair wool socks
C.) Bras
1.) 2 sports bras
2.) 3 normal bras
D.) Sleepwear
1.) 2 Long Shirts
2.) 2 Pairs Cute Pajamas
3.) ‘Shoes’
A.) Tennis Shoes
B.) Hiking Boots
C.) Walking/Beach Sandals
4.) Toiletry Kit
A.) Teeth
1.) Toothbrush
2.) Toothpaste
3.) Floss
B.) Shower
1.) Shampoo
2.) Soap
3.) Razor
4.) Shaving Cream
C.) Make-Up
1.) Foundation
2.) Blush
3.) Eyeliner
4.) Mascara
5.) Eyeshadow
D.) Jewelry
1.) 2 pairs pearl earrings
2.) 1 pair dangle earrings
3.) Silver Necklace
F.) Other
1.) Sunscreen
2.) Bug Repellant
3.) Eye Mask
4.) Gloves

B.) Briefcase (On Big Suitcase / Seat In Front of Me or Overhead Compartment)
1.) Folder
A.) Itinerary
B.) Phone Numbers and Addresses
C.) Copies of Passport and Other Important Documents
D.) Plane and Train Tickets
2.) Purse
A.) Passport
B.) Drivers License
C.) Debit Card
D.) Health Insurance Card
E.) iPod
F.) Headphones
G.) iPod Charger
H.) Cell Phone
I.) International Student Card
J.) Sunglasses
3.) Camera Bag
A.) Digital Camera
B.) Memory Card(s)
C.) Extra Batteries!
4.) ‘Books’
A.) Norwegian Dictionary
B.) Finnish Dictionary
C.) Novel
5.) ‘Presents’
A.) Lene and Carlos Presents
B.) Liisa and Family Presents
6.) ‘Other”
A.) Chewing Gum
B.) Chocolate
C.) 3 Mechanical Pencils
D.) 2 Ballpoint Pens
E.) 1 Pack Index Cards

C.) Backpack (On Back / Overhead Compartment or Check)
1.) Grooming/Sanitation/First Aid
A.) Hair Brush
B.) Deodorant
C.) Tampons
D.) Band-Aids
E.) Sleeping Pills
F.) Allergy Pills
G.) Cold Pills
H.) Pain Pills
I.) Hair Scrunchies
2.) Handy Travel Things
A.) Safety Pins
B.) Ziploc Bags
D.) Water Bottle
E.) Day Backpack
F.) Sunhat
3.) Things That Didn’t Fit In The Big Suitcase

New Haircut!

Before (Top) and After (Bottom)

Miranda and Sara's Oops Dip

This was an attempt at making this: http://www.spain-recipes.com/artichoke-rice-cakes-manchego.html that went awry, but ended up with a very tasty result. Looking back, the main thing we forgot was something about corn meal... As in, we made the filling, tried to fry it, and wondered why it fell apart. Very tasty, though. :D

Miranda and Sara's Oops Dip

Ingredients

* Can of Artichoke hearts
* 2 oz butter
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
* 1.5 cups rice (12 oz)
* 2 cups hot chicken stock
* 2 oz grated fresh Parmesan cheese
* 5 oz Manchego cheese, very finely diced
* olive oil, for frying
* fresh flat leaf parsley, to garnish

Preparation

Melt the butter in a pan and gently fry the chopped artichoke heart, onion and garlic for 5 minutes until softened. Stir in the rice and cook for about 1 minute.

Keeping the heat fairly high, gradually add the stock, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked - this should take about 20 minutes. Season well, then stir in the Parmesan cheese. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Leave to cool, then cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the palm of one hand, flatten slightly, and place a few pieces of diced cheese in the centre. Shape the rice around the cheese to make a small ball.

Attempt to shallow fry the rice balls in hot olive oil for 4-5 minutes until they are crisp and golden brown. Yeah right. Make sure you fail. If done (im)properly, the rice balls will fall apart. Salvage them with the cooking spatula and set in a bowl. Spend the next hour or so trying to get most of the oil out. It will leak out slowly into the bowl and you can pour it away. At your own peril, try merely pan frying them, or just adding olive oil and baking longer.

Attempt to bake the rice balls. Make sure you fail. If done (im)properly, the rice balls will fall apart. Give up and put them in a bowl. Stir them up together. Everything should be cooked from the first step and some of it should even be sort of brownish after all the baking and frying. Garnish with fresh, flat leaf parsley, or whatever you have in the spice cabinet.

Pretend this was how it was supposed to be. Delicious on crackers.

Miranda's Seafood Soup

This owes a lot to a few Spanish "Sopa de Mariscos" recipes, but I think I've changed it enough to make it sort of my own... :D I bought frozen cod (asked for fresh at Schnuck's but they didn't have it), and canned crab and clams. I'm sure it would be better with fresh, so go for it if you want. I did use fresh shrimp, though.

Miranda's Seafood Soup
(The one with tomato base and LOTS of Crab)

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
Butter
Garlic

Small Onion
5 Medium Tomatoes

1 pound (500 ounces) cod
App. 1 pound (500-600 ounces) crab (leg, special, whatever... just so that it's smallish peices. Mine always looks really stringy)
1 - 2 cans of clams.

Optional: Small can of tomato paste


1. Fry up a little soup base with the chopped up onion and the good parts of the tomato (no seeds! peel is okay.) Fry this for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid is gone. Then put it in a bowl and set aside.
2. Open the cans of clams and drain, but keep the clam juice seperately. Fry the clams in a lot of butter, like 1 or 2 tablespoons.
3. After just a few minutes throw in the crab. If the crab was in a lot of juice then drain that out with the clam juice.
4. After another minute or so add the juices back in. Add the shrimp too. Peel them first if you bought them with peels. Add a little bit of water if they clams didn't come with much juice.
5. Fry up the cod and add it to the soup.
6. Add water to taste... at least a cup but more if you want.
7. Add the soup base, and stir in. If you want a stronger tomato taste, add a small can of tomato paste.
8. Cook for a really long time on low. It only get's better and fishier. :D

Lack of Decent Blog Posts...

Yeah, I know I've failed at life as fair as blog posting is concerned. All I can say is that I've been largely consumed by school, and by Norwegian studying. :D But here is something I'm quite proud of... My first translation of a Norwegian song. It's not my favourite song ever, but there aren't that many to pick from anyway. :D And this one had the lyrics to translate from.



It was sunset
There was laughter, there was song
There was the freedom of summer
There was the sea, there was magic
There was you, and there was me
There were memories that will never die
There was eternity
And a sun that painted the heavens red
There was beer
Intoxicating words
It was summer, there was sun.
There were hearts on fire
Still water
All on this earth
And there was love...
Yes there was love
Memories which will never die
A sun that painted the sky red - Idyll!
Summer was at an end
This was the last evening
We laid on our backs
I felt strong and confident
But still a little cold
We lay and looked at the stars
And listened to the terns' songs
We knew both where it would end,
And that we would never forget how it was
There was beer
Intoxicating words
It was summer, there was sun
There were hearts on fire
Still water
All on this earth
And perhaps some day we will see each other again
We'll stop and talk and you will be with me again
So we'll see what happens with time
While we think back upon memories and laugh
There was beer
Intoxicating words
It was summer, there was sun
There were hearts on fire
Still water
Still water
All on this earth
And there was love,
Yes there was love,
Memories that will never die,
The sun painted the sky red - Idyll!
Barefoot in the warm sea
The sun painted the sky red
Memories will never die - Idyll!

Snow Day! :D

Hehehehe

Jeg snakker ikke Bjørnsk!

I'm reading Norwegian better all the time, to the point where I understand most of the threads on diskusjon.no and rarely look up anything. I'm also getting more and more comfortable with writing. I've had some good conversations on messenger about politics, music, global warming, and whatever the hell else I want, all in Norwegian! :D

So it's great. Except that I completely fail at listening. I've gathered a little group of very nice Norwegian contacts on messenger to help me with speaking and listening, but when I tried it with Snorre, I completely froze... I was too nervous to speak much, and my listening left a LOT to be desired. A bit annoying.

So I got to thinking about what I could do for practice that wouldn't waste other people's time. Radio? Yeah, I've got a bunch of Norwegian podcasts, but radio is one of the most difficult things to listen to of all, really. It's SO fast, and there aren't the slightest visual or context clues.

Movies. :D First, Uno. It killed me. Then I found some Norwegian subtitles and put them on... it was easy as pie that way! I went through the whole movie at natural speed and understood 80% of it... 95% of the important stuff. So not terrible, but still relying on reading. I was a bit worried though, as Oslo dialect is supposed to be the easiest.

Next, Kill Buljo. I wasn't going to as Evan said it was Trøndersk and harder, but I'm going to Trondheim next summer so I figured I'd better start. I left it on without the subtitles and watched the first dialogue... before they come in and shoot everyone at the wedding|thing. So far, so good. I understood a few words per sentence, and they were the important ones. I sort of followed what was going on. Then I replayed it with subtitles and... I didn't understand it any better. I went through the movie without them. I understood enough... even a few of the jokes. Luckily a lot of it was visual humour and words weren't that necessary. Didn't love the movie, but thrilled at how much I learned. And this is the wicked hard Trøndersk everyone talks about? Seemed easier to me that Uno's Oslo Dialekt!

Then I downloaded Villmark and watched the first bit. Fjord! Pretty! But wait... scary music... Didn't quite think I could handle it alone in my dark sad sterile office. That's just sad. So I'm waiting for that one.

Then I decided to go easy on myself. I got Brother Bear and Finding Nemo in Norwegian. Granted, I've seen both movies. I've seen Brother Bear twice, and Finding Nemo enough times to know most of the words. But who cares. Without subtitles, I find myself getting almost all of it. About as much as I got with subtitles in Uno. Dunno if it's familiarity with the subject matter, difficulty level (they are Children's movies... :D), some sort of really universal dialect used, or what... But I feel as though I've made progress.

Så... som Koda sier, "Jeg er på vei nå"!