One of my classic take-to gifts in December is home-made sugar-coated almonds. I also make them for ourselves,of course, as well as to spoil whoever visits us during the holidays. The recipe is easy, the secret lies in stirring. And we usually do it together, so that my husband can take over when my arm starts hurting. 😉
We´re off to Oslo in just 2 hours and while waiting in the lounge for the time to pass with coffee and biscuits (we´ve already had a walk and it´s freezing cold out there!), I thought I´d let you know what we´ve been up to these days. We had so many plans, we´d do things right this time (meaning going dog sledging and maybe cross country skiing), but then we remembered we had Sam with us, that the temperatures were really low and that this was a holiday, after all. And what I love about holidays is that I can do what I feel like and not what´s expected of me, not even by my own self. Rest, eat when I´m hungry, sleep when I´m tired, take a walk, go shopping for local produce, have a glass of wine, cuddle with Sam, read a book.
We´re in Røros with Sam for a Christmas getaway and it´s a winter wonderland! The weather is perfect-wind-still and lots of snow, though a bit cold for our taste (-27 C yesterday and only -16 today). 😉 Eating lots of good food and drinking local beer or mulled wine, exploring the area on foot (had to buy wool underwear today!) and shopping for small gifts. Yesterday we were lucky enough to even attend a Christmas concert in church. Today we have rain deer on the menu!;-) 
December for me is cosy evenings with friends and family, baking, planning a getaway, listening to Christmas carols, going to Christmas parties and Christmas brunches. One of the must-haves in all this fairy tale is mulled wine. Drinking it from a pretty cup while blogging or reading a magazine is pure bliss. There are probably as many ways of making it as there are families.
What about a camera strap from EAM? The designer is no one other than my husband, his products are hand-crafted in Norway and made to last. For an exclusive Scandinavian look for the modern gentleman, go for simplicity and support a local business! You can find this and other amazing articles on: Essentialarticles
I was in Bergen on a short business trip and I thought I´d write a couple of posts about this town I love so much. An old Hanseatic harbor situated on the West coast of Norway, Bergen has got charm galore. The city center is contained by 7 mountains and preserves a small town atmosphere with wooden houses, narrow streets and lane ways, a meat market and a fish market, coffee shops and stores. It expands before your eyes as houses seem to be clinging to the mountain back. Nature is majestic and so is the architecture. And the people are so much more polite than the average Norwegian, you wouldn´t believe it!
Bergen was my adoptive home under a 3 months´trial in 2012 and I fell in love with it at once. Unfortunately, the weather is pretty bad due to the town´s geographical position- it´s raining cats and dogs and not only once in a while, either. And since I wasn´t in luck yesterday, I had to do my best with my camera and frozen feet and defeated the rain and my need to stay indoors by the fireplace.
It´s official! The Christmas market season has begun and I simply adore it! The weather is crisp, no snow yet, but you can almost feel it in the air, so it must be right around the corner! The streets are lit with decorations and people come alive with anticipation. It´s the season to be jolly, lots of gatherings every week, be it Christmas parties, dinners or seasonal beer tasting. We´re hosting a brunch next week and are otherwise jumping from one party to another in the meantime.
Yesterday I went to Bærums Verk with a couple of friends to check out the atmosphere. We had gløgg (a sort of mulled wine, except there´s no wine, just a very sweet concoction of spices and syrup, so that children can drink it, too) while walking around, the place was teeming with people, children were sitting in a sledge pulled by a giant Bernese Mountain dog, adults were standing in waffle queues and everywhere you could smell sugar coated almonds. We had lunch at Pannekakehuset, a Dutch concept that´s very popular (since it´s the only atmospheric place there), pea soup with spare ribs and beer. They have amazing pancakes, but I had already had that for breakfast, so my stomach wasn´t ready for that much dough. 😉
The bus ride back to town takes an hour, but we talked and laughed like high school kids, so it just flew by. It was nice to soak in some nature and get into the Christmas spirit, now I´m ready for a slow Sunday until 6 o´clock, when we´re going to our neighbor´s beer tasting party. 😉
We´re talking about a weekend away from home now that Christmas is around the corner, besides we´re used to changing the scenery once a month and the weather has been appalling in November. I just miss the snow and the sun so much! I want a couple of days where I eat when I´m hungry, take Sammy for long walks in the woods, go for a massage or a facial at the hotel spa and maybe learn how to ski, while I´m at it. 😉
Norway is amazing in the winter, but everything is so pricy that you end up spending 1000 Euros during a weekend. Nevertheless I feel we need some boost before Christmas and our family gathering in Vienna is not before mid January, so I can´t wait that long.
So while waiting for a couple of friends to give us the green light for either Norefjell or Geilo, I´m hoping I can stay as stylish as this gal from mytheresa! 😉 Take a look!
My man has finally launched his web store and I´m so proud of him, I can´t even begin to tell you! He´s been working as an accesoires designer for 3 years now and it´s a tough market in Norway. Artisan work is just starting to be appreciated here and the high cost of labor implies high prices, too. He mainly works with leather and everything he makes in hand sewn. Take a look and support a local business!
During the last days I´ve been thinking elections, revolution, patriotism and how my life would have been if Romania was a country one could go back to. As in living there. Not that I necessarily would do that, but I wish it were a viable option. I was barely able to sleep and I felt light and full of color. I felt a sense of belonging in all this story, a feeling I often miss both as a foreigner here and in my line of work. You see we, interpreters, are neutral, we don´t belong in any camps.
Stories and Anecdotes by Sharron Little Burnett
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