The kicksled!

The other day, me and my girlfriend visited some friends of ours who had just come back from a little holiday in Norway (they even brought us some nice goat's cheese and bamsemums.) They are planning on moving to Norway not too far into the future, and while visiting, I had a brief look in a book they had lying around - Living in Norway: A Practical Guide. This seemed like an excellent reference for anyone planning on going to Norway, almost like the Huey, Dewey and Louie's Junior Woodchucks' Manual - it seemed to have an entry for anything you'd want to know, from car registration to dress codes to marriage rules.

One of the entry's I noticed was about the kicksled (spark or sparkstøtting in Norwegian). The kicksled is basically a sled made of a light wooden frame with metal runners (see picture). You ride it standing on the metal runners, holding the handle bars on top of the wooden frame or chair, pushing/kicking with one leg to move forward. On the right surface, you can easily get to speeds of 15-20 km without too much effort. And you can even place your kid, friend or groceries on top of the "chair".

Although it's not very common in larger cities (mostly due to the fact that the surface rarely is suitable), it is very common in more rural areas. Where I come from, almost every family has got one of these sleds. Everybody uses them, from old grandmas to little kids. It's very handy for grandma to go around with in the winter (she can place her shopping bag on the front and support herself on it so she won't fall on slippery winter surfaces), and loads of fun for kids to race downhill in the streets with. And it gets you around a lot faster than walking with not much more effort.

The history of the kicksled is a bit blurry, but it's got a recorded history of some 140 years - it was first mentioned in a Swedish newspaper around 1870. At that time the runners were wooden. The first metal runners, which made the sled a lot more flexible, came in the 1900s. From the 1890s on, the sled has been used for races, which it is very suitable for. In the 1990s kicksled racing was revived in Finland, with races up to 100 km and racers averaging 30 km/h.

A die-hard myth - the paper clip..

Since I recently did a blogpost recently on the cheese slicer, I wanted to write something about another wonderful Norwegian invention, namely the paper clip. According to our childhood learning, this is one of many Norwegian inventions that we can be proud of. But, alas, as I did some quick research, I soon discovered - to my great shock - that the paper clip is not a Norwegian invention, at least not in the sense we long have claimed.

According to the myth, the paper clip was invented by Johan Vaaler at the end of the 19th century, was patented in 1899, and soon spread to the rest of the world. This has been a very strongly held belief in Norway, and as late as 2005 the Norwegian lexicon Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian biographical lexicon) presented Johan Vaaler as the inventor of the paper clip. And in 1989 the business school BI in Sandvika, Oslo erected a monument of the paper clip in honour of mr Vaaler. In fact the myth has not only been believed in Norway, but has held some ground all over the world, most strongly it seems, in the USA.

Actually, the first patented paper clip, was by an American by the name of Samuel B. Fay in 1867. The next one, which is very similar to the most common current one (as seen in the top picture), was by Erlman J. Wright in 1877.

The one invented by Johan Vaaler was significantly less practical than the one we use today, as can be seen in the illustration on the right. It did not have the extra bend that makes the paper clip so easy to use. Because of the lack of that extra bend on the wire, it was harder to actually put on the pieces of paper to be held together and at the same time did not hold them together as strongly as Wright's design. Still, he got his invention patented. For obvious reasons, it never became any commercial success - or any other kind for that matter.

For more on the paper clip and the Norwegian paper clip myth, check out the Norwegian or the English version of Wikipedia.

Renewable fuels

In a new report, the Norwegian Energy Council recommends that Norway build three to five new offshore windmill parks in the next 10-15 years. The EU has stated it's goal that 20% of energy consumption in Europe should be from renewable sources within 2020, which opens a huge market. The Energy Council recommends that Norway capture around 20% of this market.

Personally, I think this a splendid idea. In a long-term perspective, we have no other choice than going over from carbon-based fuels to renewable ones. It is a choice of doing that or perish.

Norway has got both the money and the talent to be able to get ahead in this sector. In December 1969 we were blessed with finding oil in the North Sea. Prudent oil-policies has left us with a sovereign wealth fund worth from 2.000 to 2.800 billion NOK (roughly 200-280 billion british pounds). And due to the budgetary rule, this is a fund that will not be eaten away any time soon. It is a fund that will secure a relatively bright future for Norway in all foreseeable future. Oil has also left us with know-how that can be transferred to off-shore wind-power. We have after all been working off-shore for around 40 years with oil.

Being a nation that can thank our wealth to a large extent to oil, it would also be the ethical thing to do. After having amassed huge amounts of money on a type of energy that is having a detrimental effect on the globe, it would be the most ethically correct thing to use some of that on research and development of types of energy that is more environmentally friendly.

Sweet brothers? Norwegian-Swedish relations...

Commenting on my blogpost on meatballs, Renny jokingly said that he hates when people mix up the Norwegian meatballs with the "Swedish substitute." In that comment lies a little trace of a peculiar neighbourhood-relation with our "Sweet brother." I'm sure it's not unique for Norway and Sweden, but the relationship between us is quite fascinating.

In any Norwegian joke where Swedes are present, they are portrayed as the dumb ones, coming up with one stupidity after another. There is one joke where two Swedes are on holiday with a Norwegian guy who for some reason went missing. In the police office the two Swedes are asked to describe the Norwegian. The two Swedes think long and hard, then one of them says, "yeah I know - he's got two holes in his bum!" The policeman, who thinks that was a somewhat unusual description ask "and how do you know that then?!" "Because everytime we go somewhere, people are saying: There's that Norwegian with the two assholes!"

So, that's generally the Swedish stereotype. The Danes are not portrayed as dumb, but still not quite up to the Norwegian intellectual level. Finns are not either dumb nor smart, but are portrayed as hard drinkers with a insatiable sexual appetite. Icelanders are generally absent from Norwegian jokes.

It's not only in jokes that the Swedes are the dumb ones. One needs only think of the song "Jag är inta sjuk, jag är bare svensk" (I'm not ill, just Swedish). And there is something comic about how sports journalists seek up Swedish sportsmen for interviewing every time the Norwegians place first, just to rub it in that we won and not they.

Historically, it is at first glance a little strange that the Swedes, and not the Danes are the ones we want to make out to be the stupid ones. Norway has been under both Swedish and Danish yoke, but definitely the longest under Danish. And I dare say that the Danish period was the worst for Norway. Some has even dubbed the period of Danish rule "The night of four hundred years." So, from that perspective, the Danes are the ones that really should have been at the receiving end of our jokes.

Still, the period when Norway was in union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 was a period of national awakening in Norway - the period when Norwegian-ness took hold in the people's mind. So - although I do not have empirical evidence for this assumption, I do think that the seed of the current-day relationship with Swedes stem from that era. It might also be that we have a eeny-weeny little bit of inferiority complex to Swedes - the Swedes being twice the size of Norway, it was a regional superpower in the Vasa-era (ca. 1521-1654), and more successful in their industry (IKEA, Volvo, Saab, etc.) than us..

Still, at the end of the day, even though we make all kinds of joke about Swedes, on a deeper level, there is no bad feeling between our two countries. The relationship is harmonious and friendly, greatly helped by cultural and linguistic similarities. But as with all relationships between brothers, there is bound to be some competition, and brotherly love is after all.. well, brotherly love..

The wonderful cheese slicer..

I don't think there is a single Norwegian kitchen where you cannot find a cheese slicer. It's such an integral part of our Norwegian food-culture, that we sometimes cannot understand how people can live without one, let alone live without missing one.

Whenever I have lived outside of Norway, I have had great trouble finding a cheese slicer, which at first came as a great surprise. How is it possible that this great piece of kitchen equipment is so hard to find? It is possible, but you have to search really hard and long. I remember that I did manage to locate one in Germany once. I haven't been able yet to find one in Liverpool, but I have great hope that I might find it at IKEA. The Swedes are also aware of the existence of the wonderful cheese slicer.

The cheese slicer is in fact a Norwegian invention, and of quite recent date. It was invented in 1925 by a carpenter by the name of Thor Bjørklund from Lillehammer. Since then it has become a much-used utensil in every Norwegian kitchen, but surprisingly not achieved much recognition abroad. With all due modesty - it is a great invention.

The virtues of the cheese slicer are many, but the most important ones are that it cuts the slices to perfect thickness, and it's ability to bring out the flavour and aroma of the cheese. You can of course get cheese pre-cut into slices from the shop, but that does not compare at all to the taste and flavour you get when it is freshly sliced. The cheese slicer works best with a slightly hard cheese, like a good and nice gouda. Obviously it doesn't work at all with soft cheeses like camembert or brie.

Mom's meatballs

In Norwegian colloquial language, "mom's meatballs" is a term for everything that is good about home. When you come home to your parents, you'll get everything you're used to from you were a kid, and of course, nobody makes meatballs like your own mom. As you may know, the term "Swedish meatballs" can mean something else as well, but I won't discuss that right now.

Anyway, since I came to Liverpool, I've tried a couple of times to make meatballs myself. And although they maybe didn't come up to mom's standards, I thought the were quite good.

Next to "Fårikål", a dish basically made out of cabbage, mutton and pepper, meatballs is top contender for the title of Norwegian national dish. They have a top position in Sweden as well, and maybe the Swedish ones are more famous abroad than the Norwegian ones.

The meatballs are traditionally served with boiled potatoes, pea-stew, cowberries and brown sauce, but they will go well with a whole host of other side dishes. I have added a recipe for brown sauce below, but try them out with a red sauce and pasta as well. The recipes will serve 4 portions.

Here are the recipes:

Meatballs recipe

600g minced beef
2 eggs
2 tbs of flour
1/2 dl milk
1 finely chopped onion
3 chopped cloves of garlic
1 ts (teaspoon) salt
1 ts pepper
1/2 ts cumin
1/2 ts basil
1 ts oregano
2 ts rosemary

Mix all the ingredients except flour and milk in a large bowl. Add milk and flour alternatively, a little at a time. Roll small golfball-sized balls. Fry in olive oil on medium heat until well done.

Brown sauce recipe

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1/2 l beef stock
1/2 ts soy sauce
salt
pepper

Melt and fry butter in a frying pan (preferrably an iron pan) until well browned. Add the stock, a little at a time, and stir in between. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add soy sauce for colour, and salt and pepper according to taste.

Enjoy!

Norwegian "politeness"

One thing you would notice very quickly about Norwegians is that we are not overly polite or correct. We may forget to say please after every single thing we say, and we don't even say "enjoy" to our fellow diners before we dig into our plates. We do not always hold the door open for the next person, and the use of the polite form of "you" (Sie in German or vous in French), is a definite no-no, even though it does exist.

The thing with Norwegians and manners is not that we do not have any - which you might be forgiven for thinking sometimes - but that they are somewhat different than outside of Norway or Scandinavia.

To me, it seems as we do not care too much about correctness in our ways (like using the correct title or the polite forms) when we interact with people. The Norwegian "politeness" lies more in being friendly with people than in correctness. To me, there is nothing ruder than people being very correct and at the same time very unfriendly, like Germans telling you off in very correct language, or a Frenchman telling you to kiss his ass and at the same time being sure to use the polite vous-form (although I admit there is a certain elegance to that last one).

My girlfriend is learning some Norwegian at the time, and the other day she wanted to ask me in Norwegian to bring her an apple from the kitchen. But she could figure out how to say "please" at the end, so she asked me; "how do you say 'please' in Norwegian?" "You don't!", I said, without really thinking much about what I said, and she broke out in laughter. The way I said it might have sounded as if "please" was the worst you could have said. But it is true - we don't really say please that much. When you ask somebody something in the form of "can you...", that is already polite enough, and the "please" wouldn't be necessary. It would just sound ridiculous. The next day we went over to a couple we know (the girl is Norwegian). Just to check out if it is just me being particularly unmannered or not, we asked her what she would say in that situation. My girlfriend asked her, "wouldn't you say 'please' then?" "No! Do you want me to beg, or what?", she said..

Actually, in that situation, it would be less polite to say "bring me an apple, please" than just "can you bring me an apple?" I think it's got something to do with the phrase being formed as a question that gives you a choice, and not as a command. If someone were telling me to do something in Norwegian, I would be far less tempted to do that than if they had asked me to do it. And with a smile on top of that again, how could I not?