Long overlooked, misunderstood, and misrepresented in the North American media, Norway is quietly leading the way into the 21st century and beyond.
As myth has it the great Norse god Odin slapped a huge handful of clay upside Northern Europe's head and so was born the great nation of Norway.
Approximately the size of New Mexico and with a population of 4.6 million, today's featured country counts itself as one of the most socially and economically advanced on the planet. Vast reserves of fish, oil, and other natural resources combined with an industrious and largely Christian/secular workforce
create a dynamic and politically stable atmosphere but this has not always been the case.
create a dynamic and politically stable atmosphere but this has not always been the case.We owe the word "Quisling" to the Norwegians and to one man in particular. It means a traitor (and collaborator) and Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonnson Quisling was exactly that. Seeing an opportunity to seize power he welcomed the nazi invasion with open arms, broadcast a coup d'etat during the news and within days became little more than a figurehead. He was executed after the war but his name lives on in at least 11 languages.
Other than him there are a handful of famous norskmen: Grieg, Ibsen, Munch, the explorers Amundsen and Heyerdahl, a couple of scientists and political figures.......not many really, sort of pathetic considering 
there've been people up there for 12,000 years!! Okay, so the 8th to 11th centuries were sort of a golden age when the Vikings ruled the roost. After that there was the plague (loss of 50% of the population...that's gotta hurt! ), political and religious upheaval leading to isolation from the rest of Europe and a couple of lost wars....your basic recipe for under-achievement. A period of cultural nationalism in the 19th century followed by independence in the 20th has now set the stage for Norway to flourish in the years
to come.
there've been people up there for 12,000 years!! Okay, so the 8th to 11th centuries were sort of a golden age when the Vikings ruled the roost. After that there was the plague (loss of 50% of the population...that's gotta hurt! ), political and religious upheaval leading to isolation from the rest of Europe and a couple of lost wars....your basic recipe for under-achievement. A period of cultural nationalism in the 19th century followed by independence in the 20th has now set the stage for Norway to flourish in the years
to come.Visit Norway, meet the friendly people and sample some of the fine food including Lutefisk, which is dried cod steeped in lye, or a steaming cone of whipped herring which can be purchased from street vendors almost anywhere! Three Norwegians have happened across the Blob in the past couple of days (according to my tracking software) and so this shameless travelogue is the result...I'll be expecting a note of thanks from the consulate any day now.
BTW if travelogue is a lecture describing travel what's analogue?
3 comments:
Cutting edge stuff Slapman...Let's add Per Brevig (Toscannini's principal trombonist) and Aril Remmereit (one of Europe's up and coming star conductors) to that list of sort of famous Norwegians.
Absent from your fine article was any reference to the bitter cold and total darkness that Norwegians enjoy for 6 months every calender year.
Norwegian Quiz:
1-Last Norwegian to be taken in the NHL draft
2-Current conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic
3-Norwegian Cross Country skier with most Olympic Gold Medals
Arm-wrestling costs woman her license
OSTRE TOTEN, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A 79-year-old Norwegian woman says she was denied a driver's license when she couldn't identify the Swedish prime minister or beat her doctor at arm wrestling.
The woman, who later called the doctor "a very unusual man," got her license renewed after appealing to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and seeing another doctor, the newspaper Oppland Arbeiderblad reported.
Thanks for the quiz answers Dixxx and well done! Norway is far more ineteresting than I'd at 1st thought. Here's an authentic recipe for Lutefisk with added editorial notes.
Lutefisk from scratch
feeds 10 people
time needed: about 2 weeks
Ingredients:
1 kg dried fish
100 g caustic soda
30 liters of water
Saw the fish in suitably sized pieces or leave it whole. Put in water. Leave in water in a cool place (like NYC's trendy Soho district) for 5-6 days if cut in pieces, 8 days if the fish is whole. (10 or more days if you can't be bothered)Change the water every day.
For the luting use a plastic or stainless steel or enamelled tub, the enamel must be unchipped. Wooden vessels, china or stoneware may also be used.
Place the fish in the tub with the skin side up. Dissolve caustic soda in the water, pour over the fish until covered complete by lut water. Leave the fish in a cold place for 3-4 days. (preferably Lethbridge)
When the fish is completely luted, it will be well swollen and you should be able to put a finger through it.(said the vicar to the choirboy) Rinse the fish and leave in cold water 4-6 days. Change water every day.
If the fish stays in water for too long after the luting, it may be soft and difficult to boil. Test boil a piece, if you are uncertain,(or immature and shy.)
Do not make lutefisk in the warm season. (ed.note July 15th to 27th)
1 kg dry fish makes about 5 kg lutefisk.
(Cappelens Kokebok, Ed.: Aase Stromstad, Oslo 1968)
"Expecting Lutefisk" http://bob.nbr.no
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