the traveling pear: food in Norway

Note that the title of this post is not Norwegian food, but rather food in Norway. Here's the distinction.

Fish and potatoes sum up Norwegian food. And apparently also ox cheek...

We celebrated Matt's 29th birthday at a restaurant called Olympen. I chose this particular place because of their extensive beer list - well over 150 kinds of beers from small breweries.

As an appetizer, we both had smoked wild halibut with capelin roe, dill, pickled kohlrabi, kale and mushroom vinaigrette. It had good flavor. I liked it more than Matt because I don't mind the texture of uncooked fish...

For the main course, I ordered salted haddock with poached egg and shrimp, cooked Røros potato and mussel sauce. I enjoyed it because, again, I don't mind the texture of fish...

We opted for the set menu which only offered two dishes for the main course. So, the birthday boy had braised ox cheek with spinach, roasted artichoke, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Matt always finishes his meal very quickly, but I think he set a record with this dish. By the time I had just a few bites of my fish, he finished his half of the ox cheek.

We always share our entrees just to be able to try more on the menu, so thinking this ox cheek was very tasty because Matt scarfed it down, I went to try it. You should have seen the grin on his face as he intently watched me take my first bite.

He ate the damn thing so quickly just to get it down! It was not good. Sure the flavor was ok, but the texture! Oh, the texture! It was exactly what you think a cheek would feel like. Mushy and slimy and gross. I shudder just thinking about it.

After I finished it - yes, I finished my portion - Matt said, "You know how athletes can really dig deep to finish a race or win a game?" Ok, where was he going with this? "I feel like you really dig deep to finish a meal."

He was also referring to another incident that happened to involve Norwegian food, where I forced myself to eat a giant piece of venison. Perhaps it's meat that I have a problem with and not necessarily Scandinavian cuisine.

So while I haven't had the best experiences with Norwegian food, shopping for and cooking food in Norway has been quite enjoyable.

Because I love food, this was my biggest concern before moving. Would I be able to find all the ingredients that I'm use to cooking with? Do they cook with cilantro!? I have a slight obsession with the herb.

Yes! Cilantro, or koriander as it's labeled here, is everywhere! And finding other ingredients isn't a problem either.

The problem isn't whether or not I can find the ingredient, but in which store will I find it in. We have three grocery stores within two blocks of our apartment. Walk a few blocks further and there are two more.

The grocery stores here are close to the size of convenient stores in Texas. The big ones are comparable in size to Buc-ees. The problem here is that you can't find everything you need in one spot. I often have to go to at least 3 to get everything I need. Plus you have health food stores and the 'ethnic' shops where you find the really good stuff!

I don't really see this as a problem. I love grocery stores. Probably because I really love food.

Side story: Back home one Saturday, when we didn't have any plans, I wanted to go check out a new HEB that opened near our house. Matt looked at me with concern and said, "Charity, it's a grocery store. Not a museum."

When we first moved into our permanent apartment, we rented a car and drove to Sweden to stock our pantry and fridge. For a big haul, crossing the border is the norm.

Took a trip to Ikea on the way!

Other than that, you don't see people filling up the back of their SUVs with bags and bags of groceries. (You don't see SUVs at all.) You see people walking home with just what they need for a day or two. It's so easy to drop in on your way home. I go every few days to get what we need for me to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The biggest change we've made is eating in for almost every meal because it's so expensive to eat out. Our wallets and waistlines thank us.

I love seeing these kinds of products: