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Maybe they'd have to hold each other when it rose, all organe and full and close. Maybe that's where our romantic notions about the moon first came from. Two people holding each other to keep their hearts from breaking, because everybody they knew was dying in the cold rocks and dust piles a quarter million miles away...
The Brothers K
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onsdag, juli 14, 2004
As I take a break from categorizing nouns into mass or count, selecting or non-selecting, I shall blog about dinner last night. It is worthy of a blog :)
We were having a celebratory dinner for the departure of one of our researchers, who had come to visit for a couple of days (a week?) and we wanted to see him off well. So, we were going to have dinner at a "posh" and "fashionable" pizza place called Villa Paradiso. My first thought was "Since when is pizza posh?" My boss was planning dinner for a time that was just under two hours away, and I was concerned that I wasn't dressed properly for a posh restaurant, since I was wearing my usual jeans and tennis shoes. I was assured that it would be quite all right to wear that; jeans - because they're American fashion - are always fashionable. (Ugh. Almost makes me want to avoid jeans like the plague :P) My boss attempted to get reservations there, but they were not answering the phone, so we just decided to go there and risk it. We ended up waiting outside for around a forty minutes, as there was a quite substantial line, and we were a group of five. They all dug into the beer at the bar heartily, and so the wait was actually a quite merry time.
I was completely unprepared for the meal that soon ensued. It was really more of an Italian place masquerading as a pizza joint. They had astonishly good appetizers, and the waitresses spoke Italian too. They also moved at a very Italian pace (although, Stephan assures me that Norwegians have to exclaim about how good the food is after each and every bite, so perhaps it was a Norwegian pace). Anyways, we had carpaccio as an appetizer, which is a dish that is prepared using extremely thin slices of EXTREMELY rare marinated beef, topped with thick fresh parmesan gratings, and a green called "rocket" which is apparently the fashionable weed of the year. Now, for those of you who know me reasonably well, you might know that I'm a very picky eater, and as a rule I don't eat beef, much less uncooked beef. But what you may not know is that when abroad, all rules are suspended, because the point of being abroad is to get outside your comfort zone to try new things. So, I tried the carpaccio. And man, was it good! I could go back there and eat that dish every single day, it was that tasty. The beef was so juicy, and the marinade was so tasty, and the combination of rocket and parmesan was the perfect mix of bitter and sharp to balance the sweetness of the meat. Oh, it was heaven. And with a touch of a good red wine, it was hard to beat. I almost wanted to stop eating right then. I also picked up the Norwegian habit of saying, "Mm, this is so good! Wow, this is tasty." after every bite ;)
Then came the pizza, which is also a cultural experience. In the US, we eat pizza in large groups. Everybody shares the same pizza, and takes a slice for their own. It's meant to be a communal or social meal, like the Chinese all share their dishes using the round turning table. (Pizza is also supposed to be cheap, since you're paying less than $20 total for the six people that eat the pizza.) So, pizza in Norway is as popular as say, hamburgers are in the US. But they have made major changes to the eating traditions. Everyone gets their own pizza. It is about 6-8" and unsliced. You do not eat it with you fingers, but you rather cut it with a knife and fork. You don't share, unless it's acceptable in the group to eat off each others' plates. I just have no concept of this. How can eating pizza be a solitary, polite, clean, and posh activity?? The things you learn while abroad....Anyways, the pizza itself was very tasty. I got the quattro formaggio, which had four cheese including gorgonzola. I would have been happier if the gorgonzola had gotten misplaced somewhere along the way, but it was still yummy. The crust was thin and crisp, more like a soda cracker than the pizza crust we're familiar with. I'm curious to find out whether this is a universal description of pizza in Norway or whether I might be able to find American style pizza someplace. I wonder if it even occurs to native Norwegians that their way of eating pizza is bizarre, even wrong - yes, I assert that there is a right way to eat pizza, and it is almost certainly not by yourself, or with knife and fork.
Near the pizza place, in Youngestorget, there was a sign which had a picture of a person leaping in the air, and which proclaimed "swing-it" in addition to some Norwegian gibberish. I'm crossing my fingers that that means what I hope it does :) Holy shit, I just got totally sidetracked and started googling for swing clubs in Norway. Look at this! Dance Explosion 2004 In case you don't understand Norwegian tables, what this says is that FRANKIE MANNING is teaching in Norway - in OLSO - the FIRST WEEKEND OF AUGUST. Yes, and guess who will be IN Oslo the first weekend of August?! Hellz yeah!!!!! If only I can figure out how to reserve my spot...I so hope it's not filled already! *crosses fingers* Also, what are the chances that Frankie Manning speaks Norwegian, or will he be teaching in English? :) And dammit, I knew bringing my taps would have been smart. But now I don't have them, and I guess I'll have to make do with my dance sneakers. Sigh.
Um ok, back on track now. But totally distracted! Ack. Ok yes. Dinner last night cannot compare to what taking lessons with Frankie Manning would be, but nonetheless even dessert was remarkable. I had a chocolate tart with coconut ice cream, and this was an utterly magnificient way to cap of a fantastic meal. The chocolate tart was not so much a tart as chocolate, pure and gooey and fabulously dark fudge which melted in your mouth. The combination of this with coconut was absolutely a stroke of genius.
Also near the pizza place was a pho place!! Woo! I know where I'm going for dinner this Friday :)
So I think I've gotten totally distracted from the original intent of this post, but I guess that's just fine :P I've also managed to make myself quite hungry by writing about all this fabulous food. So, off to dinner or the store it is for me! :)
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