01_01_2011 Norway New Years Eve

After a very eventful night (see previous post), I received an MMS from Norway.

This photo show the party taking place in Oslo with the star being a magnum of Penfolds I delivered earlier in the year.

04_07_10 – Frukost, Tryvann Vinterpark, Holmenkollen, Canard-a-la-Des

Today we had an awesome “Swedish” (not Norwegian) breakfast with Vanessa and Frederick.  There was nice bread, kalles kaviar – a Swedish fish roe spread, boiled eggs, sour milk, a nice sharp cheese, a ‘dotty’ ham/salami, tomatoes and cucumber, fried sausage, apelsin (orange juice) and coffee.  Tack så mycket Fidde och Vanessa!

Frederick drove us up to Holmenkollen in his VW to see one of the world’s biggest ski jumps.  Last time I was here it was in winter and it had just decommissioned, so we go to see the new one.  Kiri had a Snickers icecream and bought an original Lapland Christmas bauble.

Tryvann is a small ski resort just up the road from Holmenkollen, which makes it accessible to people living in the city and is open til late so people can have a ski after work.  It was different to see it in summer.  We had some good views of Oslo on the way home.

On the way to Des’s place we caught the long (scenic) tram to the city centre and saw the excellent new Opera House – a real feature.  However the gloss was taken off the positive note we were on, when we walked past the central station and the drug addicts.

Des prepared the duck for lunch.  He created a celeriac and potato side dish and served the duck with an apple and cabbage braise.  Another awesome feast.

We then watched Germany flog Argentina in the world cup…

03_07_10 – Frognerparken, Brugatta, BLÅ

Wiley – Des’s new dog – enjoyed going to the park today, there was a special dogs-off-leash zone where he could run wild.  He’s a strong boy.  It , the park, is a pretty big tourist attraction due to its famous sculptures.  You can read more about it here.

Me, Dave and Andreas went shopping down at Brugatta in a Chinese supermarket,

and we also went to the Vinmonopolet (see earlier post).  Des had planned a chinese steamboat shabu-shabu party for the night.  After a huge ($$$) bill at the supermarket – since when did a piece of beef cost $120? – there was only one thing left for us to do : watch Germany thrash Argentina. The steamboat was awesome: crab balls, fish balls, prawn and coriander dumplings, entrecote, mushrooms, udon, vegetables, etc, etc…

After dinner we went to the local club called BLÅ to see the German crew who own Klang Elektronik, play a party called sunkissed.  After that we went to Dave’s bar which was absolutely packed.

02_07_10 – Hello Oslo

Woke up this morning to blinding rays of sunlight coming in our bedroom window.  The large number of sunlight hours up here is really starting to have some effect on usual sleeping habits.

Brazil vs Netherlands was the game of the day and we arranged a bbq in the park with Dave, Des, Britta, Kiri, Andreas and Line.  Des and I got the beer (Hansa SommerØl) and Dave organised the grill.

I was the only one going for Netherlands, everyone else took Brazil.  Tiesto tweeted earlier in the day that the score was going to be 2-1 to Holland.  He was right.

The park was packed with people.  It was also packed with gypsies.

After the game, Des, Kiri and I went to a seafood restaurant called Babord Cafe.  Des used to work there and we had a customised tasting version of the full menu.  Some highlights were the french oysters, swedish caviar and the king crab.  We also had a taste of some Spanish wine, a German riesling, Chablis and Sancerre to go with.

After dinner, the owner came out and told us he had just been given a tip from one of Norway’s most prolific wine bloggers for his dinner service the previous night.  The tip was a 1955 Barolo that was in great condition.  The lucky new owner shared a glass with us, what a wine!