November 7, 2011
Bergen, Day 7: Prawn Sandwich Party
This is the final post about the trip I took to Norway about NINE MONTHS AGO. Yeah, it's about time. Thanks for sticking with me.
Kåre and I started off the day with gas.
- Gasin'.
...For the car! At this nifty gas pump, aka a normal Norwegian gas pump. But it's far sleeker than those I've seen in the US—this specimen, for example. Or maybe this design is used in the US, just nowhere I've been. WHAT IS THE LIFE OF A GAS PUMP DESIGNER?
And so I wonder. And have no answers.
- "Påsmurt" means '"sandwiches." ...Heehee. Påsmurt.
For lunch, we stopped by Godt Brød, a local bakery chain. They specialize in bread and thus offer sandwiches, but they don't have a menu of sandwiches optimized for deliciousness—it's all DIY.
- Oh no, the choices...shiiiiiii—
In my case, DIY = sandwich failure. Sure, I could make a decent grilled cheese sandwich or tuna salad sandwich, but when faced with a selection of fillings that I'm supposed to combine in a cohesive manner, the "cohesive" part kind of shrivels up and collapses into a poof of dust.
- Sandwiches of stuff.
So we ended up with these sandwiches. What's in 'em? Sliced meats, lettuce, cucumbers, red peppers, sprouts, cheese, and spreads. The individually ingredients were tasty, but altogether they didn't mesh that well. They probably would've been better as salads sans bread.
- Giant bowl-o-prawns.
- Prawns on bread. Good times.
Thankfully, dinner made up for everything. Kåre and I visited his cousin Joar (pronounced yoo-are) and Joar's wife Jahara at their home in Os for a night of open face prawn sandwiches (or a prawn buffet; Norway's got a whole lotta prawns). To recreate it at home, get a huge bowl of prawns—they had cooked 'em from a bag of frozen ones—and lay it out with a loaf of sliced bread, butter, and mayonnaise. Slather a slice of bread with butter, peel prawns and layer them on the bread, add some mayo, squeeze on some lemon juice, and eat! Then repeat one to ten times. It's a fun, easy, and damn tasty way to feed a group of people, unless you're allergic to shellfish (sorry, Nick).
- Coffee and dessert.
We finished off with coffee and dessert. Or everyone else finished off with coffee and dessert, while I just ate dessert (there was ice cream on my plate before I...ate it).
Joar and Jahara are two of the sweetest, coolest people you could ever meet. I'd say, "You should meet 'em!" except you probably won't with the geographical obstacle and all. ...But you should meet 'em.
- Norwegian grocery store yaaay!
On the way home we took one last look around a grocery store in case I wanted to buy anything, "anything" really only meaning "giant chocolate bars." The other purpose was to take photos of products I could use in a post about Norwegian grocery stores on Serious Eats, a post that up until three minutes before writing this paragraph I thought I had written. But then I realized, haha!, nope, it never went up because I forgot to finish it. And I was so very pumped to give you the link to this post that doesn't exist. (I did write this guide to Norwegian (and some Swedish) candy; do I get some points for that? I hope so because that post took ages. Also, I had to eat all the candy multiple times, which you'd think is fun, but after a while it really isn't. Yeah cry me a river whatever I'llstopnow.)
- Full moon.
My last night in Norway ended with a full moon. And then...back home.
But "back home" was on February 19. What's happened since then? Kåre visited New York twice, in May and August, and we met up in Sweden in June. I'll be visiting Bergen from December 22 to January 3. So. Things are going quite swell. :)
Related
Bergen, Day 1: Snack, Nap, Burger
Bergen, Day 2: Puppy, Pizza, and Waffles
Bergen, Day 3: Hot Dogs, Lung Malfunction, and Potetkjelleren
Bergen, Day 4: Buns, Lamb Ribs, and Meeting the Parents
Bergen, Day 5: Roast Pork Ribs at the Sandvik Summer House
Bergen, Day 6: Norwegian Food Explosion at Bryggen Tracteursted
Posted by roboppy at 1:41 AM
Comments (14)
Reminds me of the food in "the girl with the dragon tattoo" series, even thought that takes place in Sweden.
Posted by: EvvilB at November 8, 2011 8:56 AM [#]
HAHAHA Påsmurt
Posted by: Lola at November 15, 2011 4:56 PM [#]
Lola: It's a fun word. :D Kåre has since corrected me to say that påsmurt doesn't directly mean "sandwich", but bread with stuff on it. So butter or jam on bread would also be påsmurt.
Kimberly: Ah yes, one of my coworkers told me about it! But since I'm going to Norway for Christmas, methinks I'll hold out for that.. :D
I was supposed to go to Norway when I was 17 and in high school but I didn't because I was young and stoopid and I hadn't yet learned that a free trip to Norway was far greater than spending the summer chasing some pimply boy who wouldn't know my name in less than 10 years into the future anyway. We live and learn?
hey, can you see the northern lights from norway (aurora borealis)? that would be neat.
another great thing to add to prawn salad sammiches, which i learned in italy, is sliced green olives, believe it or not. very yummy with prawns/shrimp, mayo, and finely chopped onion. :)
glad you're still around!
Posted by: chris at December 6, 2011 4:35 AM [#]
(I like the olives stuffed with pimiento, but it's your choice. :))
Posted by: chris at December 6, 2011 4:37 AM [#]
Chris: You can see them from Norway, but it's better in the northern part and I'll be in the south, where I understand it's not impossible to see em, just...highly unlikely? I hope to travel to the north some day!
As for olives and prawns, I didn't know about that! I'd totes try it.
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: This is the 
Ahh it's a new post :) Always makes my day!
Also, those are some futuristic gas pumps. I've never seen one like that over here. Maybe someone else has?
Hopefully when Kare visits he brings more giant chocolate bars, as those sound pretty awesome! (I think it's superduper awesome that you guys are together! I know I am an internet stranger and all, but it's cute :)!)
Thanks for this new post, I love reading them!
Posted by: Katie at November 7, 2011 7:30 AM [#]