November 25
Today was mostly spent unpacking, doing laundry, a little bit of grocery shopping, and some cleaning.
November 26
Jessica is officially coming to Oslo!?! It didn't work out for this weekend, but she booked her flight and is coming next weekend, right after my Genetics final! Can't wait!!! :D I started of the day by going for a run and then at night, I also went to the Julemarked (Christmas Market) with Frieda, Franzi, and Eva. It was downtown and was very pretty, seeing everything all lit up with Christmas decorations and the little booths surrounding an ice skating rink. We looked around at all of the booths and I even got some Christmas presents for people. :). It was pretty cold, so we all got gløgg (spiced wine with nuts and raisins (ours was non-alcoholic)) and drank it around the fire to stay warm. Downtown Oslo is absolutely beautiful when it is all lit up at night for Christmas and I am glad we decided to check out the Julemarked.
November 27
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! :D I decided a few weeks ago to invite our Sogn Friend group over and prepare them Thanksgiving dinner, but because I am a bit behind from the Dublin trip and not ready, it got pushed to tomorrow. Today was just planning recipes and making shopping lists, so that I will be good to go tomorrow! My friends here know all about my cooking skills, so they were warned and well aware of what they were getting into! But I did promise them peanut-butter sandwiches as a backup plan :).
November 28
The moment of truth.... My chance to redeem myself for all of my cooking mis-adventures so far in the semester.... THANKSGIVING DINNER. Dun-Dun-Dunnnn. (Screams and explosions off in the background) But really, making a whole Thanksgiving dinner for the first time would be hard, even if I was back home and had easy access to everything that I needed, let alone in a foreign country where many people don't even know what this holiday is!
My day started out with three trips to different grocery stores (this is when I really miss my car!) in order to get all of the ingredients I needed. Then I cranked up my Christmas Pandora and got to work! It took about 6 hours to make everything, but apart from Frieda's help with the salad, I made everything myself!!! :D Marlene, Frieda, Lotte, Eva, Franzi, and Zita all came over around 6:30, just as everything was finishing cooking. There was no way I was making a whole turkey, and Frieda is vegetarian, so for Thanksgiving Dinner I made Vegetarian Lasagna, Garlic-Cheesy Bread, Glazed Carrots, Green Bean Casserole*, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Fries, Frieda's Salad, and then Pumpkin Pie and Whipped Cream for dessert! Phew! I was really proud about how everything turned out, apart from the Green-Bean Casserole and the stuffing was also questionable. The pictures on the cans from Grønland were misleading... so instead of green beans, I ended up with peas, and I couldn't read the Norwegian soup labels, so I'm still not even sure what soup I ended up with. I also couldn't find french fried onions, so the result was a really thick pea soup that looked like something you would see in an awful school cafeteria for lunch. The stuffing, which i'm not a huge fan of in the first place, had a bit too many ingredients for my liking in the recipe I chose, so my version consisted of torn up bread, celery, onion, aaaaand a Ramen chicken soup seasoning packet. yup.... That should go right into a broke college student Thanksgiving cookbook..... Hahaha. Other than those two things, everything else turned out EXTREMELY well and I was really proud of myself! :) I made everyone go around the table and say what they are thankful for and then we dug in! I for one, was thankful for this amazing Study Abroad adventure opportunity and all of these great new friends that were willing to risk their lives to taste my cooking! ;)
Fabian, Yan, Soshia, and his friend eventually joined us for pie and we spent the rest of the night relaxing, drinking, and having fun. I was exhausted and had to explain that now is the time where everyone usually goes into a food coma and takes a nap, but I don't think they understood. lol. I was really proud of how everything turned out and I hope everyone enjoyed it! Happy Thanksgiving!!! <3 (Belated)
November 29
Sooooo many leftovers.... just wish I had a microwave!
November 30
Can food comas last this long?
Today was mostly spent unpacking, doing laundry, a little bit of grocery shopping, and some cleaning.
November 26
Jessica is officially coming to Oslo!?! It didn't work out for this weekend, but she booked her flight and is coming next weekend, right after my Genetics final! Can't wait!!! :D I started of the day by going for a run and then at night, I also went to the Julemarked (Christmas Market) with Frieda, Franzi, and Eva. It was downtown and was very pretty, seeing everything all lit up with Christmas decorations and the little booths surrounding an ice skating rink. We looked around at all of the booths and I even got some Christmas presents for people. :). It was pretty cold, so we all got gløgg (spiced wine with nuts and raisins (ours was non-alcoholic)) and drank it around the fire to stay warm. Downtown Oslo is absolutely beautiful when it is all lit up at night for Christmas and I am glad we decided to check out the Julemarked.
November 27
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! :D I decided a few weeks ago to invite our Sogn Friend group over and prepare them Thanksgiving dinner, but because I am a bit behind from the Dublin trip and not ready, it got pushed to tomorrow. Today was just planning recipes and making shopping lists, so that I will be good to go tomorrow! My friends here know all about my cooking skills, so they were warned and well aware of what they were getting into! But I did promise them peanut-butter sandwiches as a backup plan :).
November 28
The moment of truth.... My chance to redeem myself for all of my cooking mis-adventures so far in the semester.... THANKSGIVING DINNER. Dun-Dun-Dunnnn. (Screams and explosions off in the background) But really, making a whole Thanksgiving dinner for the first time would be hard, even if I was back home and had easy access to everything that I needed, let alone in a foreign country where many people don't even know what this holiday is!
My day started out with three trips to different grocery stores (this is when I really miss my car!) in order to get all of the ingredients I needed. Then I cranked up my Christmas Pandora and got to work! It took about 6 hours to make everything, but apart from Frieda's help with the salad, I made everything myself!!! :D Marlene, Frieda, Lotte, Eva, Franzi, and Zita all came over around 6:30, just as everything was finishing cooking. There was no way I was making a whole turkey, and Frieda is vegetarian, so for Thanksgiving Dinner I made Vegetarian Lasagna, Garlic-Cheesy Bread, Glazed Carrots, Green Bean Casserole*, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Fries, Frieda's Salad, and then Pumpkin Pie and Whipped Cream for dessert! Phew! I was really proud about how everything turned out, apart from the Green-Bean Casserole and the stuffing was also questionable. The pictures on the cans from Grønland were misleading... so instead of green beans, I ended up with peas, and I couldn't read the Norwegian soup labels, so I'm still not even sure what soup I ended up with. I also couldn't find french fried onions, so the result was a really thick pea soup that looked like something you would see in an awful school cafeteria for lunch. The stuffing, which i'm not a huge fan of in the first place, had a bit too many ingredients for my liking in the recipe I chose, so my version consisted of torn up bread, celery, onion, aaaaand a Ramen chicken soup seasoning packet. yup.... That should go right into a broke college student Thanksgiving cookbook..... Hahaha. Other than those two things, everything else turned out EXTREMELY well and I was really proud of myself! :) I made everyone go around the table and say what they are thankful for and then we dug in! I for one, was thankful for this amazing Study Abroad adventure opportunity and all of these great new friends that were willing to risk their lives to taste my cooking! ;)
Fabian, Yan, Soshia, and his friend eventually joined us for pie and we spent the rest of the night relaxing, drinking, and having fun. I was exhausted and had to explain that now is the time where everyone usually goes into a food coma and takes a nap, but I don't think they understood. lol. I was really proud of how everything turned out and I hope everyone enjoyed it! Happy Thanksgiving!!! <3 (Belated)
November 29
Sooooo many leftovers.... just wish I had a microwave!
November 30
Can food comas last this long?