Norwegian Rømmegrøt (Sour Cream Porridge)
My bookshelves sag with stories—literature in the form of recipes, memories formed between batter-spattered handwritten lines. I’ve said for a long time that I care so much about Scandinavian food because of the people. My grandparents loved me with medisterkaker…
Cardamom-scented Fastelavnsboller and other recently-published recipes
A few weeks ago I pounded so much cardamom in the mortar and pestle that I must have sneezed about ten times in the half hour that followed, whispers of the spice hovering around me and clinging to my hair. I…
St. Lucia Saffron Buns (Lussekatter)
“Who made these?” she asked, sitting across from me at the dinner table the other night, a golden swirled saffron bun in her hand. “I did.” “They’re good,” she replied, her face in a slight grimace of satisfaction. It’s been nearly…
Great-Grandma Josephine’s Norwegian Waffles (Vaffler)
As I sat next to her yesterday on the aubergine leather sofa, the water of Puget Sound placid outside the window behind her, I studied how the afternoon light fell across her profile and how the shadows formed where age has…
New Potatoes and Chanterelles with Lemon and Dill
As a Seattle-born Norwegian-American, a woman once removed from the country of her father, my way back to my heritage has been through its food. I’ve always loved being Norwegian. Dressing up in a child-sized bunad for Syttende Mai parades…
Syttende Mai: Seattle, 1980s
Old Ballard was about as Scandinavian as you could get. Though far from the Nordic countries, the little neighborhood north of downtown Seattle had drawn immigrants by the thousands over the years. It used to be as easy to find lefse as it was…
Julekake (Norwegian Christmas Bread)
This morning I woke up to the sight of freshly-fallen snow. I snapped a quick photo through the window in the blue-tinted light just to capture the moment for myself. As I excitedly looked from one window to the next,…
Two Red Cabbage Salads for Your Christmas Table
The Christmas tree stands unadorned in my living room where it’s taken residence since the Sunday before last. The strings of lights and masses of translucent, opaque, and metallic red bulbs are ready to be strung and strewn throughout its…
A Cake from Gourmet, May 1956
The ship carrying my dad and his parents from Norway to their new home in the United States docked in New York 57 years ago this month. From that moment on, the family of three would strive to settle into…
My Original Lingonberry Recipes in Our Amazing Norway
As you probably know from reading Outside Oslo, I enjoy taking items frequently found in Norwegian and Scandinavian kitchens and coming up with new and original ways to use them. I had the opportunity recently to write an article about…
