Arme riddere, or "poor knights"

Usually we eat a piece of bread and some cheese or homemade jam in the evenings (dinner is quite early here), but last night I wanted something different. I search though my mind to see if I could think of something which didn't mean I had to buy anything, I don't like to do grocery shopping on Sundays. Then I remembered a long forgotten snack from my childhood, arme riddere (poor knights) is my direct translation, but this dish might have a completely different name in English. If you know the dish I would love to learn its name.
Arme riddere musy have been created by a housewife with alot of old, dry bread she needed "to get rid of". I am always fascinated by left over recipes, we really throw away too much good food in the world, and now when we know that a food crisis is coming, we should all take care with what we eat, and how to get the most out of little. Arme riddere is a good addition to any creative leftover-list.

Arme riddere

for 3 persons I used:

6 pieces of old bread

2 eggs

3 tablespoons of sugar

cinnamon

2dl skimmed mil

Mix egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon. Dip the bread in the mixture, make sure that the pieces of bread are soaked through.

Fry in butter or olive oil untill it get a perfect suntanned colour.

Perfect to eat with homemade strawberry jam.

To be a food blogger..........

I wish I was a better food blogger, but too often I forget my camera when I am in the kitchen. Like yesterday, the 17th of May, Norway's birthday. All morning we were busy with parades and celebrations, but in the afternoon I had invited friends and family for a traditional dinner, sodd (a soup with meat and meat balls) and a local flatbread called Skjenning, followed by coffee, vafler and trollkrem. I had planned it all, how I would take the photos and how to present the meal, and I started with pgotos of the flower arrangement from The Blue Garden and a table setting........then suddenly I became too busy with food preparations and the guests started to arrive, and four hours later there were no food left, and no photos had been taken.........Well, that's my food blogging in a nut shell.

Bread baking comfort days.

After a period of perfect spring weather and long days out in the garden, here in The Blue Garden or over at our cabin near the sea, the temperatures have dropped drastically, and fresh snow can be seen at the mountains not far from us. Rain, which have been long waited for, is falling heavily, but why does it have to se so icy cold! A big part of my mind is busy planning what to do nect in the garden these days, and I have been out every single day, untill today. Now even the viking in me say that enough is enough, and I am giving gardening a break. A long needed housecleaning is being done, and in between I warm my mind and fingers with bread baking. Is there any better way to warm your hands than kneeding soft, lukewarm dough........knowing than in a couple of hours you can gather around the table with fresh bread.

Butter, water, yeast, salt, flour and love is all you need.

Out in nature, preparing food.

With spring here and summer fast arriving, we are spending alot of time out at our cabin. Two hours south west of Trondheim, near the sea. A cosy, though primitive place where we have to walk to get water from the well, and cook over gass because there are no electricity (not that I mind gass, but home in The Blue Café I'm always using electricity). The kitchen is small, and has no oven for baking, but I love to cook there. And I love it mostly when I am able to prepare most of the meals outdoors.

Saturday was no exception. We planned a barbecue, and a barbecue for us almost always starts with me making a potato salad. Chives from the cabin garden, a few undressed potatos, olive oil and salt, and you have the most tasteful salad. And of course I must not forget the sprinkling of fresh air and sea salted winds.

I try to take all activities outdoor when we spend our week-end at the cabin. Very restaurants around the world can be compared with the view from our terracce, no chef in the world has better background music than the hundreds of singing birds in our surrounding trees. And after long days outdoors, what is better than nights with games and comfort.

Fresh from the garden. Rhuburb cake.

We have spent another refreshing and relaxing week-end at our cabin. Mixed weather, from perfect warm sun till cold rain, but we don't mind, rain or shine, our cabin is our sanctuary. We headed home after lunch today because Marta was invited to a birthday party. This made me feel I got the best out of two worlds; a long, sunny morning at the cabin with garden work, some reading in the sun and preparing a healthy vegetarian lunch which we ate out on the terrace, my afternoon nap in the car and when we arrived home I still had so many hours of the day left for doing whatever I want. And the first thing I always "want" after time away is a walk in my garden. At this time of the year there are bursts of growth and colours every day, and I love walking around with my Nikon.

When Marta left for the birthday party and Ingrid left to hang out with a friend, there were just me and my husband at home. We are not used to the lonely hours and days yet, so they feel like special treats. And with all the time suddenly available I wanted to make us something special for dinner. Nothing chic, nothing gourmet, just some comfort food for the two of us. I made small pizzas and continued with "rundstykker" or pastries, and after we had eaten I still felt some bursting kitchen enery :-) My garden walk earlier had taken me past the rhuburb, so all at once I knew that we wanted a rhuburb cake for after dinner coffee.

I make the rhuburb cake very simple; 125g butter and 125g sugar mixed together, two eggs added, then one teaspoon baking powder, two tablespoons with milk and 150g white flour. Bake at 175Celcius for 40 minutes. Eat with icecream while still warm

This makes a small cake. We ate part of it, keep a part for tomorrows coffee and have fozen the last piece.

Gone Fishing

During the summer months we spend alot of time at our cabin, two hours from Trondheim, near the coast. Last week-end we opened the cabin for the season, and with May 1st as a red calendar day and an opportunity for us all to take Friday off, we had a long week-end there.

Cabin life is quite another way of living, far from our busy and hectic everyday life. Here we can sit for hours enjoying the singing of birds, the colours of flowers, we can work in the forest and the flower beds, we can hike the mountains..........and we love fishing.
Saturday night was fishing night. Not the best luck, but my husband got three coalfishes which we fried for breakfast Sunday morning. My husband is a fish frying master. I know his recipe, but somehow not his secret (I wounder if it is the amount of pepper he is using), so my fish is never as good as when he fries them.........Well, may be the secret is the pleasure of eating homemade food without having to do the cooking myself :-)