Eatling Local in Bergen, Norway

"Pingvinen", the restaurant Aileen originally chose for her 30th birthday dinner ( by reading about it in a guide)- not knowing that pingvinen is Norwegian for penguin*. We had to come back a different day because they were full up on June 17. But, she chose it because she'd read that they specialize in traditional Norwegian fare. This food may actually qualify more as "traditional" than truly "local" to the Bergen area. But, I promised a post on local eating from our trip and this is probably going to be the best I can muster up.

We all agreed that the best approach at this restaurant was to order five different entrees for the 6 of us (as Karen was sick this particular evening) and share them around. This way, we all got to try each thing.

Dried salted cod ( similar to Bacalhau in Portuguese cuisine)

Fish Souffle

Whale

Tuskfish

We also had a dish with meatballs, but I don't seem to have come home with a photograph of the meatballs. Overall, the food was quite delicious. A few (well, specifically the whale) unusual enough to qualify more as "interesting" than "good" tasting, in my opinion. But, the vegetables served with these items were all nicely cooked and very fresh tasting.

The crew heading back to our hotel after a delicious and very unusual dinner at Pingvinen.

In general, the food we had throughout Norway was much better than I had expected. Fruits and vegetables were usually very fresh. The bread served with breakfast, at every hotel, was full of whole grains and really wonderful. We had very fine picnic lunches of flatbreads with cheeses, sliced meats and fruit. A couple of evenings, one or more of us also had reindeer - either in a stew or sliced and served with mushrooms. So, although VERY expensive, food was a pleasant surprise throughout our trip - in small towns and in the bigger cities.



*For the occasional readers who are not familiar with our family, I'm thinking I might explain why it was such a coincidence that Aileen chose this restaurant without knowing what the name means. She is a biologist and a significant amount of her work has been with research on penguins in Antarctica.

Off to Norway with the Family!

We are off to Norway and then to Paris - leaving tomorrow morning. It's a family trip - Grady and I, our two kids, his sister, and her two kids. Several years ago, G and I took Aileen and Kris to Ireland and were able to visit with some of my Irish end of the family and see Arranmoor Island, home of the Boyle end of our family. Since that time, I've suggested to Grady that we should follow up with a similar family trip to Norway where much of his family originated. So, it's finally happening!

This means my blog and my weekly reports for One Local Summer will most likely be on a hiatus until early July. We return on July 2, but then head to the coast for the 4th of July holiday. I'll keep an eye out for Norwegian food specialties, but I don't know whether I'll want to spend much time in internet cafes. I hope to have things to report on when I return.

A Day at the Races

Dragon boat races - for Rose Festival here in Portland today. Grady has been practicing with the Realty Trust team 3 times a week since March. That's three 7 a.m. times per week, I should add. Oh, boy, doesn't that sound like fun. But, he did it - never missed a practice except for the two that took place while we were out of town back when they first started. So, today was the first day of racing - two heats, one at about 11 a.m. and another at 3:30 p.m. Tomorrow morning they will race again - this time in a group of other boats that had similar times to theirs. If they win the first one, they race again and possibly a 3rd time. That's it - no vast monetary prizes, just the glory and prestige of winning.

Dragonboats are large wooden boats paddled (not rowed, I was informed) by 18 people plus a drummer and a flag-catcher. The ones used for the Rose Festival races here were given to Portland by our sister city in China, Kaohsiung. There are smaller boats without the decoration that are raced year-round.

I walked over from my gym for the morning race. Ian, Liam and Graham joined me to cheer on the Realty Trust Red Dragons in their first heat. Later in the afternoon, I walked over from the east side of the river and watched the afternoon race with their coach.

Ian's picture of the Red Dragons as they were coming in for their first race. Came in 3rd, but at least they beat the Victoria's Secret Team. (How bad would that be to say you were beat by the underwear team?) Grady is in the last seat on the right (OK, that's starboard, right?) side of the boat with the tan hat (which you really can't see.)

First place in a close finish for their afternoon heat. When the flag-grabber gets the flag, that's the official end.

Coach Sue pointing out that they hadn't done very well with the precision paddling in the second race, even though they won.

Grady listening intently, of course, to the coach's comments.

On the way back up after the 1st place finish.

About 85 teams in and out, using the same eight boats, all day long. It takes a system and they have one - very organized - always four teams lining up while another four are loading and another four are racing. Grady's team is heading down the ramp and out onto the dock for their afternoon race.

These gals looked more like my kind of team actually. Cheerleaders for one of the teams - complete with poodle skirts, heart-shaped sunglasses and little white canvas shoes. They had a full selection of choreographed cheers. I wonder what time of day they practice?

Shop til You Drop

I had to tell Mom that she is not supposed to take that literally!

While on an outing to Macy's on Sunday, Mom had a leg give out on her and she fell. The outcome, after an ambulance ride to the hospital, was a broken femur and a broken wrist. Surgery, and lots of heavy metal additions to her bones later, and she's on to a rehab place. She's been having some difficulty with the pain medication, so the recovery has had its ups and downs so far even though the doctors were quite happy with her initial progress.

I'll be off to spend about 10 days there during the sibling relay (...Jim and Catherine hand off to me, I hand off to Mary....) - leaving this coming Saturday. It's been very hard to be so far away, so I will be glad to have some time on site to do whatever I can to help. And also to celebrate her birthday and Mother's day.

I just noticed that my sister, Ann, has got a post on her blog about Mom's set-back, so I'm going to skip any other details. You can check that out at Ann's blog.

Here's one of my favorite photos of Mom - with our daughter Aileen at Katie Rinehart's wedding.


She was shopping for a trip to Paris to spend time with our sister Mary and her family. Obviously the France trip will be on hold for a while while Mom makes new friends in the PT department.

The Easter Buffalo

Well, I've been on a blogging holiday for a while now. No particular excuse - just kind of lost momentum. I'm thinking of it as a bit of a break between the end of the Dark Days Eat Local challenge and the beginning of the farmer's market season. I had a trip to California in the middle of this hiatus, but that really wasn't an excuse either since I had computer access while I was there. I did get to meet one of my favorite local food bloggers while there. More on that later.

So, for Easter dinner yesterday, we had a small crowd of 13 people. With all the leaves in our dining room table (and turning it diagonally in the room), we have room for the 14 we expected. Fortunately for me, our guests brought major portions of the dinner, so I didn't have to spend all day in the kitchen getting ready. On the other hand, Grady and I did have to spend a fair amount of time cleaning up the house beforehand. But, that, after all, is half the reason for having guests, isn't it? To make you clean your house?

The featured item on the dinner menu was buffalo roast. This buffalo was not, technically, local. However, it did travel here on an airplane with the rancher who raised it. Jeff's sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Duke, work two ranches in Colorado. The bison run as a wild herd on the Zapata/Medano Ranch. Not only is the buffalo grass-fed and finished, but it was cooked by someone who really knows what to do with a good cut of meat. Such a treat for all of us.

Accompanying the buffalo, we had
"Aunt Janet's Potatoes" made by Ian
braised kale, and a green salad (both of which I got at the downtown farmer's market on Saturday)
steamed asparagus
Jeff's hot cross buns
rolls that Duke made

And, in case that all wasn't enough, Jeff made a lovely lemon poppyseed cake. And Tig had made lemon sorbet which she served in lemon shells - so lovely and wonderful!

So, all in all, a great evening - fabulous food and terrific conversation. Not to mention, plenty of activity with our two young friends (ages 3 and 5) who had had WAY too much Easter candy. Alas, no photos of the guests or the food because I've not been able to find my camera since we got back from California. :(

Lastly, here is the recipe (or one, anyway, Ian's version) for the potato casserole - a regular feature of Miller/Creswell holiday meals:

Aunt Janet's Potatoes
5 lbs. potatoes
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup jack (I always use more like 1/2 lb.)
1/2 cup cheddar (ditto)
2 large cans diced chiles (I often use about four fresh chiles of
varying spiciness)
1 bunch green onions, chopped finely
Salt and pepper (probably about 1 or 2 Tbsp. of salt and as much
pepper as you can stand)

Peel potatoes, then boil whole potatoes on high for 10 minutes. Turn
off heat and drain the potatoes in cool water for another 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add sour cream, melted butter, Jack and cheddar cheeses
(grated), chiles, green onions, salt and pepper into a large mixing
bowl. When potatoes are cool, grate them in Cuisinart (I usually
grate the cheese this way too, since it's already out). Mix potatoes
in with other ingredients, and then pour everything into a 9" x 13"
baking dish. Bake until bubbly at 350 degrees -- usually about 30-40
minutes.

Rochester Trip Photos, March 09

These next two posts are just going to be a series of family pictures from my recent trip to Rochester to visit Mom. More on food - local and not - coming up.

The McHughs are in the hunt for a family dog. Since I am still in Molly withdrawal, I went along to check out some golden-doodle puppies. VERY VERY CUTE!

This little one really liked the spot Kyle made for him.

Krissy gettting geared up for St. Patrick's day while waiting for dinner at Flaherty's. Not only do they let kids in the bar area, but they give them beer trinkets. I didn't manage to score one myself, but Kyle very kindly gave his to me, so I will be set for the 17th also.

I gave my camera to Krissy while I was sitting out in another waiting area. She captured this very sweet picture of her Mom.

Finally, we got called to a table for dinner. Mom, along with the rest of us, was ready.

To be continued.....

Rochester Trip Photos, part 2

Then, there was the infamous Boggle game. Kyle is busy totaling up his score. Krissy was the official timer, keeping us from cheating. She also added up my scores for me.

The WINNER!!!
Beat by my 7th grade niece. Ugh.
Tara - displaying a surprising lack of humility after beating her aunt.

The not-so-gracious LOSER.

But, hey, we were first and second, after all. And there were other people playing the game as well. (not mentioning any names)

And, no trip to Rochester would be complete without Sunday breakfast after church with the gang. Pretty good looking group. Don played hooky from church that morning. tsk, tsk.

And, lastly, have to have one more shot from the mutual admiration society of Krissy and the camera.

Celebrity Guest Photographer

Family members - you've already seen these. But, I got Aileen's permission to share them for anyone else reading the blog.
For those who don't know her, our daughter, Aileen, is a biologist. She is just about at the end of what I think is at least her 5th trip to the Antarctic peninsula. She does research involving penguins, primarily, but also other sea birds, and various mammals that cohabit with the penguins - like fur seals. On her previous trips, she has lived on one of the islands off the peninsula for roughly 2-4 months or so. This year she is on a different sort of project involving working on a cruise ship (National Geographic), helping with naturalist kinds of duties and then doing census work at the various islands where the ship stops.

She has been sending emails with reports of what they are doing and seeing and, in her last one, she included these three photographs as a sample. They are all on South Georgia Island. The top one is an elephant seal, the next one shows some of the island when she and a friend were on a hike (she's in the red jacket), and the last one is a king penguin with its egg. One of the things we always look forward to the next time we see her after her Antarctic trips is seeing her photographs.

If you're interested in a whole lot more detail, read the text below - her last email. But, otherwise, I just thought it would be fun to show something completely different on my blog, by way of showing something about one of our kids. I actually asked the other one (of our kids) to share some of his photographs on the blog when he was home for Christmas, but he has to format them and it's hard to say how long that will take!



Here is her email report from the last part of her trip:
January 6, 2009

Hello all,

We've just spent the past four days at South Georgia, a sub-Antarctic
island located northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and more or less
due west of Cape Horn. The waters just north of the Southern Ocean
are extremely productive biologically and support lots of birds and
mammals. Since there is little land mass available, millions of these
birds and seals crowd onto South Georgia to nest and to have their
pups.

One of the most famous residents is the king penguin. These are one
of the biggest of the penguin species, and they have lovely shades of
orange and yellow outlining their black and white pattern. They
aren't particularly afraid of people, since they have no land
predators, and they nest out in the open by the tens of thousands. We
spent several long mornings and afternoons at king penguin colonies
where we'd just park on the outskirts and watch the penguins
displaying and wait for birds to rotate their eggs (which they carry
on their feet). Meanwhile, other penguins would come and go right
next to us, occasionally stopping to try to figure out what we new
critters on the beach were.

At the same sites with the king penguins, we also saw tons of
non-breeding elephant seals and fur seals. The elephant seals have
already finished breeding for the season, and the newly weaned pups
are lying like fat sausages on the beach along with some of the
molting sub-adults. Their main activities at this point are sleeping,
burping, and farting; but, occasionally a pair of younger males will
start fighting – biting at each others necks and bumping chests. The
fur seals are right in the midst of breeding, but owing to the mass
density of fur seals at South Georgia, and their propensity to bite
anyone coming into their territories, we only visited those colonies
via zodiac. Still, these were great views of the swarms of seals.
The fur seal population was nearly exterminated during the sealing
days, and fifty years ago there were only a handful around. The
population has apparently made a strong recovery; people who have
visited here over the years say they saw more seals by far this year
than they ever have before.

South Georgia was also a major site of whaling during the first half
of the twentieth century, and we visited several of the old whaling
stations. While we were in the area, we saw few whales, but in those
days they were able to kill hundreds of whales a day without going far
from shore.

We did some legitimate hiking while we were on the island, including
one beautiful day when the ship dropped us at one point and picked us
up later in the day at another. Another big highlight was getting to
see the nests of light-mantled sooty albatross, one of the most
beautiful birds around. And our trip to South Georgia ended with a
close-up sighting of some southern right whales, a species that is
only just beginning to recover from the whaling days.

Aileen

Remembering Grandma Mik at Christmas

My mom's mother, Lillian Mikolasek, aka Grandma Mik, was quite the artist and craftsperson. When we spent summers with her and Grandpa in Menominee (Michigan), she was always working on something. She sewed, painted and otherwise created all manner of useful or decorative pieces. She and a group of women in the hospital guild met regularly at the hospital and made little decorative items that were then put on the patient's food trays at holidays. She has left us a wonderful legacy of her work - particularly painted objects. These include wooden bowls, cutting boards, platters, tablecloths, glassware and even clothing. Mom, in her wisdom, has been distributing them to my six siblings and I over the years. Most of those which I have inherited are Christmas holiday pieces. So, I always enjoy some fond memories of Grandma when I get them out this time of year. This Christmas/New Years plate is beautiful.


This little wood tree, made with two pieces of flat wood, suffered quite a bit at the hands (or rather teeth) of Archimedes. He was the golden retriever we had prior to Molly. After he did his handiwork on the tree, Grady took the pieces down to the basement so that he could work on restoring them. Well, quite a few years have passed and we had both forgotten about the little tree. During the recent enforced time at home due to snow, Grady began clearing out the basement, came across the tree pieces and took the first steps of fixing them. More work is to be done, but I was so happy to see even this much repair and to have it out again.


I think we have about a dozen of these glasses. But, a few of them are worn out. No blame to the dog this time, just paint that has rubbed off. I am in the process of looking for an artist/craftsperson who could restore the worn ones and help us preserve the whole set.


And, here is another wooden plate that she painted. So, here's a toast to Grandma Mik! I wish I had a fraction of her talent and creativity.

I'm Not Ready

I am REALLY not ready to lose any more of my parents' generation from the family. But, we did. Monday evening. Uncle Gerry's cancer got the better of him. Just a week before his and Aunt Phyl's anniversary. And now one more of those people who've been a part of my life for all 58 years is gone.

Gerry married my dad's younger sister, Phyllis, in Lansing, Michigan almost exactly 52 years ago. I don't keep track of the anniversary dates of most of my relatives. But, this one I know - November 17. I remember it because (a) I was the flower girl in their wedding and (b)they got married on my birthday. I think I was seven. I was so thrilled - the beautiful flower girl dress and all that attention. And, at the reception I got a birthday present of a piggy bank, which was passed around so that all the adults at the party could make a contribution to the bank. Oh, wow! pretty big stuff for a seven year old.

Aunt Phyl and Uncle Gerry were a lifesaver for me the summer I got a job in Lansing and lived with my grandparents. Our family was living in Escanaba and I can't really remember why I got this job in Lansing (at Sears) instead of working at home that summer. I'm sure we had a Sears store in Escanaba. In any case, as lovely as Grandpa and Grandma Rinehart were, life at 210 Regent St. with two elderly grandparents was not the most exciting for someone in her late teens. I didn't have any friends in Lansing. Phyl and Gerry were young enough that spending time with them on many occasions provided a great relief and were a high point of my summer. They were so great to me.

It was that summer, on the verge of adulthood, that I first began to interact with my aunt and uncle less as a child and more as another (almost) adult. That was when I learned to appreciate Gerry's low-key sense of humor. And, subsequently, in various big family gatherings, it is a quality of his that has stood out. We are a large extended family of noisy, talkative, opinionated people. (Well, quite a few of us are- and you know that's true, siblings and cousins, so don't get all huffy with me.) Jerry seemed to just enjoy all the carrying on.

Michigan State University has lost one of its biggest fans this week and we've lost a favorite uncle. Phyl, Teri, Lisa, Tim, Eric, Steve, Mary Ellen - you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Gerry with Teri and Kim at our 2007 family reunion in Michigan:

and with Aunt Phyllis and their grandson, Aaron:

More memories and photos of Uncle Gerry on Ann's blog today.

Leave it to the Irish

to find a family connection to anyone we want to call our own. Thank goodness some folks found the heritage of Barack's family in Ireland - the Kearneys from Moneygall in County Offaly. The Corrigan Brothers have even written a song, a modified version performed here by Shay Black.




I haven't written a post about the results of the election because I have really felt too overwhelmed - with the true significance (as opposed to the Irish linkage). And my own words don't feel adequate to the task. But, suffice to say, I am enormously grateful that, for the first time since I started voting in 1968, I am genuinely exited about the person for whom I voted in the presidential election. I believe Barack Obama is the right person for this difficult time. It's wonderful that he is our first African American in the office and it's great that he has an Irish connection. But, most important, he is an intelligent, ethical man with a clear vision of where we need to go and the calm, steady temperament to lead us there.

Halloween on Ladd Avenue

Doing our best to recreate the Miller-Creswell family Halloween parties of a few years ago, we invited Jennifer, Ian, Liam and Graham, and Jeff. Grace got a better offer, if you can imagine that. The basic ingredients of those parties when our kids and theirs were young were bobbing for apples and then making those into caramel apples, costumes, chili for dinner, and anything else we decided to get creative about.

So, we had those basic required elements of "the Halloween party". But, something new that was probably the best part of the whole evening were our trick-or-treat helpers! Liam and Graham are probably the only kids I've known who got great joy out of giving candy away and didn't really seem all that interested in getting some themselves. They positively squealed with delight each time there was a knock on the door. They ran to the door and got so excited when they saw the different kids in costumes. I've never had that much fun giving out the treats myself. Those two were a real kick. So, here are a few pictures from the evening:

Molly - not overly enthused about her "costume

Jennifer bobbing for an apple with tips from Graham

Ian did it the right way - going all the way down to the bottom of the "cauldron"

Liam and Graham were both successful bobbers

the same version of chili I wrote about a couple weeks ago

2 witches and a ghost

close up of the pin on one of the witches

Jennifer in one of the famous bug hats *

even the chicken gets into the party spirit

*Previous appearances of the famous bug hats at our house:

1913-2008

I made a rhubarb cake today with some rhubarb from last week's trip to the farmer's market. As I was working on it, I was thinking how much my mother-in-law would enjoy a piece when I take it over to her. We'd have some french press coffee and a little cake. Grady and I have been keeping dessert-making to a minimum lately as we try to improve our overall eating habits. But, whenever I do make something, we usually take some over to Grady's mom - unless it has nuts, which she hasn't been able to eat for quite a while.
And then I remembered.

We lost Anne last week. Grady and I were blessed to have been with her when she passed away on the morning of May 5. So she was not alone and we were able to be reassured that it was a peaceful transition for her. She had been prepared for this for some time, but we operated under the assumption that she would make it to 100. Instead, the 95th birthday party we had been planning for this summer will become a celebration of her life.

I have been stalling, to some extent, on writing about Anne's passing. In part, I just don't feel I have the gift of language to do her life justice. I also had hoped to find some other pictures to include. Like my sister, Ann, the only digital pictures I have of Anne Miller are from the last couple of years - and mostly at Christmas.





Although her mobility had become very limited due to her long battle with osteoporosis, her mind was still quite clear and active. She was playing cribbage with Grady on his almost daily visits right up to the end. And scrabble was the game of choice when Ardie was in town.

We all miss her, but we are also happy for her that she died the way she had always hoped she would. Anne was a woman of deep faith, dignity, and class - not to mention a master gardener and an avid reader. We have all been fortunate to have her in our lives for such a good long time.

And, now I guess Grady and I have to find someone else to join us for rhubarb cake.