Smoked Mackerel SMUDI, anyone?

Smoothies are here! I am not sure if Norwegians have always had smoothies, but it sure seems like it is a new fad here. There are smoothie kiosks at the train station, smoothie fruit juice drinks at stores. I have seen food magazines, advertisement magazines, and parent magazines with smoothie recipes. The smoothie has indeed arrived in Norway!

At one of my jobs, I make smoothies almost weekly. When the idea of smoothies was first presented to me at this job, my colleagues made it sound like it was some sort of new thing. I have been making smoothies for over ten years. They are not difficult to make so I am not really sure why my colleagues would rather not make them alone... but would prefer that I and one other colleague make them.

In fact... I am not really that good. Far too experimental and health-focused. 10 years ago my smoothies tasted good. Now they just taste like nutritional supplements. :)

Vegar has recently started making smoothies for us. His first three tries were MUCH tastier than mine have been lately. I encouraged his new talent and urged him to continue advancing in this delicate artform.

I came home the other night from work. The first thing from his mouth... "I made the worst smoothie ever today! I couldn't even drink it all!"

"You didn't throw it out," said I; waste not, want not is my golden rule! Yes, he HAD thrown it out! "Well, what was in it! Maybe I would have liked it! I can eat anything, you know!"

He began to count out the items... "2 apples, 2 kiwis, 6 grapes..." and then comes the doozie... "half a smoked mackerel."

"WHAT?!?! Smoked FISH in a SMOOTHIE?!"

So, maybe Norwegians haven't exactly understood the pleasantly scrumptious meaning of a smoothie entirely. Maybe by changing the name to "Smudi" they have somehow changed the meaning into "anything that can be eaten, blended up and served as dessert."

I knew that Norwegians were crazy about fish... BUT...

Next time I am at the smoothie stand at Oslo S, I will be sure to say "hold the sugar... and the Mackerel!

Find one difference between the two pictures below...




No, it is not the dimentions of the photo...
Let me give you a hint, it's a machine that washes clothes.
A washingmachine! Yes. Kelly and I recently got our new Miele washingmachine.
A much better alternative to the laundry room used by everyone down in the basement.

It's heavy... 102 kg (225 pounds) heavy. Which is why i am very very happy it was delivered, and put into place by a someone else. To get it into it's place, the bathroom door had to get off it's hinges, and the machine itself had to be lifted over the sink. I am NOT looking forward to getting it out of there! I guess I'll have to ask some of my friends to come and help get it out.

But, it has it's benefits. It takes good care of our clothes, it's very very quiet - so quiet in fact that when we did our first batch of laundry I got up from the desk, and went to the bathroom to check if it was still running. Which it was.
So, for all those of you who will come to visit, you may now bring your laundry. It will be taken well care of at the K&V residence.

My English Dialect

Hmm. I had a feeling that I had lost my accent. I should be Midwestern or Dixie.

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English 20% Dixie 5% Upper Midwestern 5% Yankee 0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Global warming... Is it caused by us humans, or is it simply out of our control? Could the source be solar rays as has been suggested?
I have long believed it was human CO2 emissions which was the main factor, but search as I might I found little conclusive evidence supporting this. Other than Al Gore's movie of course. And naturally loads and loads of newspaper articles and TV programs. But on the other hand, certain US senators - and certain websites asked Questions to which I had no answer. As I am not a climate researcher, I felt a little uncertain about what to believe.


So when I found this very thorough article by NewScientist I could finally feel relieved. Now I can say with certainty what is causing the warming of our globe. And it is neither cosmic rays nor sun spots.
We are looking at a man-made problem.

Antioxidants

I just found a great website with lists of how much antioxidants foods in Norway have (here) and foods in America (this list is 34 pages long! quite extensive!)