Any given Sunday

I mentioned in my last post that Norwegians are outdoor people. Canadians are too but Norwegians seem to make it more of a part of their everyday life. Like "The Sunday Walk". On any given Sunday you are sure to meet your neighbour and at least half of your neighbourhood somewhere outside on a "trip". And if the weather is exceptionally nice, then the streets and countryside will be crawling with happy Norwegians soaking in the rays and breathing in the fresh air. As they say, "Ut på tur, aldri sur.", which means, more or less, that you can't be grumpy while in the great outdoors.

And since we had fantastic weather last Sunday, we decided to make it an afternoon in southern Norway's beautiful nature. We went on a "grilltur". My girls LOVE to go on a grilltur. This means that we pack our backpacks with hotdogs, oranges, drinks and chocolate. And of course some lighter fluid, matches and a sharp knife. And we go for a long hike, find a pleasant place to stop and make a little bonfire. The kids run around exploring while we sharpen some sticks to roast our hotdogs over the fire. And we love taking "pinnebrød" (stick bread) with us. Pinnebrød is more or less a pizza dough. I make it before we leave and put it in an ice cream container. The dough is pretty much risen by the time we get to our destination. We pull off a piece and wrap it around the hotdog instead of having a bun. Ok, so it gets a little well done on the outside and slightly doughy on the inside but isn't that the true essence of cooking in the outdoors anyway?? And it's good by itself too. Just wrap it around a stick and hold it over the fire. And food always tastes better outside. Even a sandwich. Seriously. Take your lunch, go for a walk and when you find a nice spot, lean back against a tree and enjoy your meal.

Here's the recipe I use for Pinnebrød:

4.5 dl (2 cups) flour
25 gr (2.5 tsp) dry yeast
2 tbs olive oil
1.5 dl (2/3 cup) warm water
a dash of salt
a dash of oregano

Knead it all together into a nice smooth dough, put it in a greased ice cream container and chuck it into your backpack. Seriously, hotdogs taste waaaay better with this way.

Here we are at the look out taking a rest before we continue:

 

The view:

The fire:

The food:

And a little update about the upstairs hallway reno.....we're 95% done!! The rest of the wallpaper went on last week, Saturday was devoted to the flooring and we put all the trims back up and painted the nail holes today. We're still missing a few trims, a new light fixture and some finishing touches but HOPING to be done that on Saturday. So stay tuned!! It's perty. :D