Norwegian Camp, Day 3

(Note that, once I have defined a Norwegian word, I am not defining it again with subsequent uses. Need help jogging your memory? See this and this.)

Another day of fantastic food at Camp Trollfjorden! Here's the menu from today's frukost: eggerøre ["scrambled eggs"], pølser ["sausages"], muffin ["muffins"], brød og smør med bringebær syltetøy, kjeks og ost (both Jarlsberg og brunost/gjetost), sardin og sursild, yoghurt, frukt, kaffe, melk, saft, and te ["tea"].

And here's the menu from today's middag: smørbrød [literally "butterbread," but it refers to open-faced sandwiches, which Norwegians take pains to make not only tasty but also visually appealling (see this)--ours today were on dark bread and included toppings such as ham, cucumber, summersausage, hard-boiled egg, tomato, and sardine], salat, grønnsak suppe ["vegetable soup"], flatbrød, frukt, cottage cheese med grønn løk ["cottage cheese with green onion"--unusual and savory], lemonade, melk, vann ["water"], and gresskar kake ["pumpkin cake"] for dessert.

And Signe's name was drawn for KP duty! And Hilde's name was drawn to help clean up the spisestue after dinner (shake table cloths, vacuum)! So far Sonja is the only one from our family not to be put to work after a meal. I think the drawing is rigged.

And here's the menu from this evening's kveldsmat: torsk med hvit saus ["cod with white gravy"], kokte poteter ["boiled potatoes"], gulrøtter ["carrots"], salat, boller, leftover kjøtkaker og brun saus, lefse, and for dessert an item they called "sweet lefse" that looked like a thick whole-wheat lefse with a diamond pattern pressed into it, spread with almond-flavored butter, rolled up, and sliced into wide chunks. They said that it's a kind of lefse that must be moistened in water before serving. Hm, I've never heard of that . . .

The leftover smørbrød was served for lunch this afternoon; and just before bed, they served us rømmegrøt, a sour cream porridge that is topped with cinnamon and sugar and eaten hot. Delicious!

Oh yeah, we did other things today besides eat. We learned some more Norwegian words and phrases. Signe og Sonja carved yams, and Hilde had another cooking class. We finished our Norsk håndverk and displayed our items in the butikk area for everyone else to see. [Because I finished my clock yesterday, I spent my two karveskurd sessions today using a spare block of basswood to practice new chip carving techniques that I read about as I paged through a book on the subject.] We posed outdoors for a group photo before the lowering of the Norwegian flag.

Birdhouse painted by Kaia.

Birdhouse painted by Sonja.

Wool headbands knitted by Signe (middle) and Hilde (bottom of photo).

Clock (center bottom of photo) chip-carved by me!

Trollfjorden campers 2009!

There were two others attending from our lodge, so we posed with them for a "lodge photo." They're both knitters, too, so they've been sharing advice and techniques with Hilde og Signe all weekend.

The kvelden program included a slide show of photos from a fashion show that was held last autumn at Minot's annual Norsk Høstfest. It was a Norwegian bunad and Scandinavian folk costume fashion show, and some of the ladies here at camp brought along their own bunads and wore them this evening. A woman played her fiddle afterward, and the children danced. Many of the adults played cards while they ate their rømmegrøt before going to bed. It was another full day of Norwegian heritage!

Campers posing in their bunads and folk costumes. Some were hand-made; others were passed down to them from mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, etc.

P.S. Aargh! Kaia spent last night with Hilde, too! It seems that another girl at camp--a particularly annoying girl--decided to move into Kaia's room last night, which annoyed Kaia and her roommate so much that they each moved out. Hilde laid a blanket on the top bunk above her and put Kaia there for the night. So, will Hilde be able to sleep uninterrupted tonight?!