This year, the Diaz's changed up Christmas and spent it together in Norway!
The first activity planned was a nice Christmas dinner at a restaurant called Bryggeloftet that is known for traditional Norwegian Christmas food. We had the table for three hours, and we enjoyed the time to the fullest: rakfisk and mussels for appetizers, ribbe (pork belly) and pinnekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs that are later cooked), halibut (for Carolyn), and aquahvit to wash it all down. Very good dinner and super filling!
Norwegian Christmas food at Bryggeloftet in Bergen
ROMJUL: December 23-27
I borrowed a cabin through work near a town called Geilo (roughly half way between Bergen and Oslo) for a few days so that we could be guaranteed a white Christmas. We took the train about three hours east of Bergen with Pancho, my skis and luggage full of food, beer and wine to last the four of us for 4 days.
We were welcomed with plenty of snow and a bit of wind, but that didn't stop us from attempting to ski on Christmas Eve. After waiting outside of the hotel for a while with Pancho, Carolyn got a pair of skis to rent and we headed out. But things took a turn when I couldn't get warm and decided I needed to head back to the cabin after only about 20 minutes of skiing. We had given Dad the key to the cabin and he was no where to be found. After about an hour and a half we saw him staggering up to the hotel looking very lost. He had walked over to the store to pick up more beer but got lost on his way back..."All the roads were white!" He had ended up walking along the ski trail instead of the road back to the hotel. We got back in the cabin and lit a fire before making dinner.
Bags all packed! Taking a bus to the train to then take a taxi to the cabin in Geilo.
Pancho is a good train traveller
Euchre night
Christmas Eve dinner
After dinner, Mom and I decided to give skiing another try. Since all of the Norwegians were inside celebrating Christmas, we had the whole trail to ourselves and the conditions were really nice. When we got back we played games and had a really cozy Christmas Eve.
Late night Christmas Eve ski
We got up and Santa had found Carolyn and I in Geilo. Stockings were filled up with candy and we got some nice gifts as well. We went for another ski trip, this time Dad joined us for a bit as well. Pancho was very well behaved and seems to just get so much better with age. On the 26th, Idar came by to hang out with us. We all went for another ski trip in the mild weather (it started to rain!) and then went back to the cabin for dinner, games, and sing-a-long. We packed up the cabin and took the train back to Bergen on the 27th.
We took the last days pretty easy with a trip downtown to the aquarium and a day at home. Thank you Mom, Dad and Carolyn for making the trip to come spend Christmas in Norway. I loved having you all here. Love you guys!
NEW YEAR'S EVE
After dropping off the family at the tram for them to head home, I jumped on the train back to Geilo to the same cabin to celebrate New Year's Eve with Idar, Carey and our friend Eirik (and Pancho of course). Pancho had stayed with Idar and his family while we went back to Bergen so we missed having Pancho with us the last few days we were in Bergen. Carey and Eirik arrived around 2:30AM but we still stayed up til 4:30 talking and playing games.
On New Year's Eve the weather was very mild (mid-30's), the snow was melting, and the wind was intense. So we kept ourselves inside playing with Pancho, playing some guitar and cards. Eirik brought venison for us to have for dinner and he slow cooked it in the oven - it was delicious! And then the party really took off when we all put on our party clothes - Carey requested that the theme be "sequins", so I found a silver top and she picked up two big sequin shirts in the US for the guys to wear. It was really fun. We went outside to see the fireworks around midnight and thought it would be a good idea to ski down....it was a bad idea. But the snow was falling again and despite the wind, people were still lighting fireworks. Pancho did ok, but he was getting stressed and insisted that Idar carry him back to the cabin.
It was by far my favorite New Year's Eve ever! Great company and so much fun!
[There's something wrong with the synchrony of the acoustics] My job aboard Brennholm is to work on the acoustic part of my thesis. So I am practicing some sonar and echo sounder scrutinozing. I am also relating the mackerel movement to the currents, but this will be hard since mackerel are so hard to see at all on any of the acoustic equipment since they lack a swim bladder. It is nice to just have a 7:30 to 10 work day though and I have my supervisor right next to me for help. Everyone on the cruise has gained weight, and despite doing some exercise almost everyday I am no exception. We are feed too well on the boats and you don't move around too much. (I was even convinced to try salted and dried whale meat from the Faroes. I stayed far away from the blubber!!) At least I have been able to run 13.5 km the past couple of days with the calm seas. There aren't many options for exercise on this ship compared to G.O. Sars. [The "gym" in the bow of th
Work is going fine. My boss has given me some lab activities to keep me interested in my work, so I'm testing antibodies. The positive control turned out as expected, but it is such a pretty staining that I have to share the picture. This is an embryo of a starlet sea anemone ( Nematostella sp.) approximately 30 hours old. The green is actin (a protein in cell walls), the blue is nuclei, and the red/pink is clusters of DNA. There are some pretty examples of cell division in this embryo! Also, as of a couple weeks ago I'm officially a published scientist! ....well, the paper has been accepted for publication, so it will likely not be in the journal before next year. The journal is called ICES Journal of Marine Science. Furthermore, this weekend the mountains got a nice thick layer of snow, so I took Pancho up for his first time in a proper bit of snow (not counting the icy leftovers that were on Jutenheimen this summer). He's now 6 months old and weighs bout 34
Many Norwegian traditions are distinctly regional. Even recipes are variable by region to go along with dialects that can be different by town separated by just 50 kilometers. This tradition, that both Marius and I were new to trying, was from a town just about an hour and a half east of Bergen called Voss....smalahove, or half of a sheep's head that is cooked in a broth for several hours. Smalahove comes from two Norwegian words: smale = sheep, and hove = head. It is served before Christmas with potatoes, mashed rutabaga, and red cabbage. Many of my friends were telling me that the cheek is supposed to be the best part, and others were saying that they wouldn't dare eat it. So I can now say that I have done something that many other Norwegians haven't dared try. I actually really enjoyed it! It had a texture like corned beef and had a very nice flavor. Marius went as far as to try the tongue, and thought that eating the eye was a normal thing, so tried that as well...bu
The first activity planned was a nice Christmas dinner at a restaurant called Bryggeloftet that is known for traditional Norwegian Christmas food. We had the table for three hours, and we enjoyed the time to the fullest: rakfisk and mussels for appetizers, ribbe (pork belly) and pinnekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs that are later cooked), halibut (for Carolyn), and aquahvit to wash it all down. Very good dinner and super filling!
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