Posts Tagged Norway
Making Norway’s best beer
Posted by admin in Food and drink, Shopping on March 13, 2010
Fancy a beer? Then remember this name, Nøgne Ø, next time you go down to your local Vinmonopolet! The brewery (the name means ‘barren isle’, and comes from a poem by Henrik Ibsen!) snapped the first four places in the Norwegian Beer Club Association’s (Norøl’s) listing of Norway’s best beers in 2009. The winner in the ‘Norwegian beer of the year’ category was Nøgne Ø Special Holiday Ale. Nøgne Ø had new fewer than 8 beers in the top 10 in this category. The ‘Norwegian brewery of the year’ award went to (no points for guessing!) Nøgne Ø, followed by Haandbryggeriet, Aass and Berentsen Brygghus.
Best imported beers, by the way, were the Danish Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel which came first, followed by American Flying Dog Snake Dog and Stone Brewing Special Holiday Ale.
I haven’t tried any of these yet, so I can’t tell you more, but I thought that was an impressive pedigree. I promise to investigate on your behalf! Cheers! (or rather Skål!)
More info on Nøgne Ø, in English, at www.nogne-o.com
More on beer in Norway at the Beer Academy in Oslo www.ol-akademiet.no (Norwegian only)
Norway: Powered by Nature
Posted by admin in Nature and the great outdoors, Photos and videos on March 10, 2010
A great video showcasing Norway’s stunning scenery, courtesy of Visit Norway (www.visitnorway.com)
A history of Norway in 10 key dates
Posted by admin in History and architecture on March 10, 2010
- 800–1066 The Vikings invade Europe on their famous longships.
- 1030 Olaf Haraldsson is killed at the battle of Stiklestad. He was the driving force behind Norway’s conversion to Christianity, and was later canonized, and known as St Olav.
- 1349 The Black Plague kills half of Norway’s inhabitants.
- 1450 Norway becomes a subject of the Danish Crown. It will remain under its authority for almost 400 years.
- 1814 Secession from Denmark. The peace treaty of Kiel gives Norway to Sweden. The Norwegian constitution is written.
- 1825 First wave of Norwegian immigrations to the USA. The big exodus starts.
- 1905 The union with Sweden is dissolved and Norway becomes independent.
- 1960s Oil is found in the North Sea, a discovery that will change the fortunes of the country significantly.
- 1972 Norway votes against EU membership (it will do so again in 1994).
- 1994 The winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer.
Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson, 2003)
Posted by admin in Art, culture and literature on March 9, 2010
67-year-old Trond has moved from the city to a rustic cabin by the Swedish border, in an isolated part of eastern Norway. After the death of his wife and sister, he has no great ambitions for the rest of his life, which he plans to live out as quietly as possible in his new country retreat. But an impromptu meeting with his neighbour, Lars, forces him to reflect on events that took place some 50 years earlier, in the summer of 1948. A summer that was to have a profound impact on the rest of his life, although Trond knew nothing of it at the time. A beautiful, soberly written yet deeply felt novel about youth, love, loss and life itself, Nordic in tone and setting, but universal in the themes in encompasses.
The winner of various prestigious literary awards, including the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award, Out Stealing Horses was also named in Time magazine as one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007. The book has sold 230,000 copies worldwide and spent 70 weeks on the Norwegian bestseller list. The English edition was translated by Anne Born.
Praise for Out Stealing Horses:
“A gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life.” Thomas McGuane, The New York Times Book Review
“From the first terse sentences of this mesmerizing Norwegian novel about youth, memory, and, yes, horse stealing, you know you’re in the hands of a master storyteller.” Newsweek
“Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force.” The New Yorker
“Petterson tells a Bergman-esque tale of a solitary man coming to grips with his past…” Entertainment Weekly
“That’s the effect of Per Petterson’s award-winning novel: It hits you in the heart at close range.” Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered
“A masterpiece of tough romance . . . ” The New York Sun
Win a two-night stay at the Thon Hotel Halden
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 5, 2010
It’s been six months! Yes, already… Six months of blogging about Østfold, and trying to tell the world about this wonderful, all-too-often forgotten corner of Norway. To celebrate, Elusive Moose has teamed up with the Thon Hotel Halden to run a competition, and offer one lucky winner a two-night stay for two here in Østfold. The Thon Hotel, which opened in June 2009, enjoys an excellent location right by the harbour in the pretty town of Halden, from which you can easily explore the rest of the county. So now there is really no excuse not to come and visit Østfold. Take the quiz below. There are 10 easy questions about Østfold, the answers to which can all be found on www.elusivemoose.eu (use the ‘search’ function or the tag cloud if you need a little help). Send your answers by 1 May 2010 to marie@elusivemoose.eu, and we’ll draw a lucky winner among all the correct entries. Good luck to all of you!
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HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ØSTFOLD?
1. Norway’s most famous chef, Eyvind Hellstrøm, comes from Østfold. But where from exactly?
2. The Ytre Hvaler NP, Europe’s first marine National Park, opened in Hvaler in September last year. Which member of the Norwegian royal family attended the event, and officially declared the park open?
3. Which Østfold town is famous for its thriving community of vintage American car buffs?
4. What’s the airport code for Moss Rygge Airport, Østfold International Airport?
5. Who founded the city of Sarpsborg in 1016?
6. Norway’s first holistic spa can be found in Rømskog in Indre-Østfold. What is it called?
7. When was the oldest building in Gamlebyen, Fredrikstad’s Old Town, built?
8. What’s unique about Linnekleppen fire watchtower in Indre-Østfold?
9. Østfold’s highest waterfall can be found in the Halden municipality. What is it called?
10. The Fredrikstad Bridge is an impressive sight, high up over the River Glomma. But how long is it exactly?
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* Please note that the prize is subject to availability, and does not include breakfast. Travel to and from Halden is the responsibility of the prize-winner. For more information on the Thon Hotel Halden see http://www.thonhotels.no/halden
Norway: Europe’s winter wonderland
Posted by admin in Nature and the great outdoors, Photos and videos on March 3, 2010
Did you know? A few facts about snow
Posted by admin in Nature and the great outdoors on March 3, 2010
Seen a fair amount of snow this winter? We certainly have here in Norway. Yes, more than usual. This winter has been the coldest for the past 20 years, and many places, including Østfold, have seen record amounts of snow (well over 100cm in several places) for the past two decades. Here are a few snow facts for you:
- Snow flakes are ice crystals joined together. Each snowflake is made up of between 2 and 200 separate crystals. As snow falls, snowflakes connect to make bigger snowflakes. Snow flakes are always hexagonal (6 sides), but they are rarely perfectly symmetrical. No two snowflakes ever have the same shape. The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7m per second.
- It can get too cold for it to snow! Because snow is basically frozen water, if there is not enough moisture in the air, it won’t snow. This is usually the case when temperatures drop below -30C.
- Many people think of snow as being white, but it is actually transparent. Snow appears white because almost all of the visible light striking its surface is reflected back, without any preference for a single colour within the colour spectrum. Depending on where you find the snow, it can actually appear red, blue, green, pink, yellow, grey or even black.
- Layers of snow accumulated on the ground act like a layer of insulation. In winter, snow keeps plants insulated from sub-zero freezing temperatures.
- The fear of snow is called chionophobia.
- Oslo this year also experienced its worst snowfall since 1987. A record 180 municipal employees have been working round the clock to clear the city streets clogged with snow and snowed-down cars. There was so much of it that dumping grounds were quickly overfilled, and snow had to be dumped into the harbour.
- Not surprisingly maybe, the English words ’ski’ and ’slalom’ both come from Norwegian, where they mean… well yes, ski and slalom (slalåm) 