Norwegian Meatballs

T-shirt - Game of Thrones design 'Send a Raven' by Jonito on Qwertee

Skirt - charity shop

Clogs - Torpatoffeln from Ebay

I have been meaning to post the recipes for these things for quite some time now, so here they are! I cook these meatballs and the sauce at least once a fortnight - they are absolutely delicious and my family love them!
The meatballs are easy to make and with the mixture you get 2 trayfulls so you can freeze them and use them for a quick supper, but if you want to buy meatballs from the supermarket it will save you some time. If you do choose to do this I would recommend going for the smaller Swedish meatballs (I know this kind is available in Tesco and Sainsbury's in the UK, and IKEA do great freezer packs of them too). The sauce is absolutely delicious too, and with quite a mild but distinct flavour, and perfect and filling now it will start to get colder. Again, there are some good packet mixes out there (I love the IKEA ones and have a stash of them in the cupboard!). I would recommend getting hold of some lingonberry sauce/jam to go with it, as it tastes a real treat.

Please note that none of the following recipes are my own, they are from the fantastic book Scandilicious by Signe Johansen.

My dad, the chief taster!

A quicck salad

MEATBALLS
Cook one peeled and finely chopped onion until soft. When the onion turns translucent, add 1 tbsp ground allspice, 1 level tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 level tsp ground ginger. Leave to cool.
Pour 225g whole milk mixed with 1 tbsp yoghurt with 3 slices (c.110g) stale white bread. Leave for a few minutes until it's absorbed before adding it to the rest of the mixture. 
Mix together 500g veal mince  and 500g lamb mince (you can really use whatever mince you want, or whatever is in your price range - I can only afford it for special occasions!) with the cooked onion, 1 egg yolk and some salt and pepper. Add the milk and bread mixture and mix it all together. Form into little meatballs with your hands and you're ready to go.
The meatballs can be grilled for 10-15 minutes, or you can pop them in the oven for a similar amount of time (180°C is usually fine).


SAUCE/GRAVY
NOTE: I don't live in a big city and I have no way of getting hold of the ekte geitost mentioned in this recipe. If you're having trouble too, Signe recommends Marmite instead, mixed with a little Crème fraîche and brown sugar.

Bring 1 litre beef/veal stock to the boil and reduce by about half. Add 100ml brandy (if brandy/whiskey is out of your way, you don't have to use any) and simmer until you can't smell any more alcohol. Add  300ml Crème fraîche, 100g grated ekte geitost (Norwegian brown goat's cheese) OR a teaspoon Marmite, a teaspoon or brown sugar and a teaspoon Crème fraîche; and 2tbsp grated dark chocolate/cacao. Season to taste and simmer for a little longer. 
You can mix the meatballs in to the sauce/gravy or serve them seperately.

Bon appetit!




NEXT TIME: Cardamom and almond cake, and Arme riddere cinnamon toast.

Jess xx

Gimme Pizzaaaa!

My sister and I made an ultimate pizza, with a sourdough, spelt and rye base, pesto, passata, vegetables and cheese. The best part is that everything (apart from the cheese, base, and mushrooms) came from our allotment - even the pesto and passata were homemade! There were courgettes, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, onion, garlic, spring onion, beans and sweetcorn. It turned out absolutely great. I will definitely be making this pizza again.

 Jess xx

Canal Boating

A long-awaited post which I have been meaning to make since mid-July... way back then, at the beginning of the first real heatwave in years, I went canal-boating with my family. I thought I'd share with you some of the beautiful snaps we took while we were there.

Jess xx

The Girl Without the Dragon Tattoo (just the hair of Lisbeth Salander)

Top: Zara sale

Jeans: Charity shop, £3.50

Hoodie and jacket: my younger sister's

Rucksack: Fjällraven känken

Time for a change! I chopped a great deal my hair, shaved the sides, and shortened my fringe. I am aware how great a change this is, but I felt I needed this - for now, anyway. I'm not going to go into reasons for my exactly I chose to do so. But I do want to make a comment on the way many people have been viewing this change.

Many friends and family members have looked a little dismayed that I am not (at present) dressing in my '30s and '40s get-up. It is great that they are expressing an interest in what I wear and how I behave, but it really opened my eyes to how people EXPECTED me to dress. I am indeed aware that 1940s attire suits my body shape, and makes me stand out. I am aware this new look makes me stand out. I don't get admiring stares when I go down the street. I get side-glances and strange looks. And this is okay.

What is not okay, however, is the level that I realise people are pressured into dressing a certain way. I have no qualms about being stared at or ignored. I don't feel that dressing as a '50s housewife one day and Lisbeth Salander the next is a scary choice to make. But many people do and this is a sad thing. People will choose not to express themselves fully because of the way other people will look at them. What is so demeaning about a tattoo, or a hoodie, or piercings, or fake tan? It is a look, a way to express oneself. Somebody's appearance has nothing to do with their IQ. Don't be so quick to judge.

Anyway: have a couple more pictures:

Jess xx

Sandringham

Beware! This post is going to have a great deal of photographs in it... 

Last week I went on the second part of my summer holiday. I was pretty excited about both weeks, because I haven't properly been on holiday for about 2 years, having worked over the summer last year. We went up to Sandringham, and stayed in a small village called Great Bircham.

The place where we stayed was a really fancy house called The Granary, which, being a Royal Collection place, was decorated with Royal Collection stuff, from photographs and paintings to royal memorabilia (there was a cabinet of china cups from the coronation and Charles and Diana's wedding!) and this beautiful oak writing desk from 1912 with George V's emblem underneath. I think I was a little bit in love.

We did all sorts during the holiday, including a visit to Sandringham estate itself. I hadn't been up to Sandringham since I was about 8 or 9, so this trip brought back a lot of memories.

I decided to jazz it up a bit with some black lipstick and an old dress I dug out. 

 You couldn't take pictures inside Sandringham itself, but you were welcome to do so in the little museum. I loved some of their art:

Later on in the week we went to the seaside and to a place called Walsingham. We got there by taking a miniature steam train (!) which was very exciting indeed. Apparently the place is very strongly catholic and there was going to be a huge pilgrimage three or four days after we visited. The buildings were beautiful, and I even found a little tearoom that had some seriously cool teapots in the window.

The seaside was equally beautiful, and right next to the car park we found my future home, a tiny 1-up 1-down:

We stayed by a windmill, where we would buy our bread loaves and rolls from every day. We also bought a delicious little pot of sheep's milk yoghurt, which they also make themselves.

At the end of the holidays we headed back home and it was back to work. This week I've been helping out at a children's holiday club on my days off and have had great fun dressing up as Elastigirl from the Incredibles!

Jess xx