SUNDAY MUSINGS

I really enjoyed writing my Retro blog post yesterday - well, there wasn't much text, but it was fun choosing the photos to illustrate that nostalgic feeling. Even the supper we ate last night was retro! I made a traditional Norwegian dish called Lamb Fricassee, which I remember my mother making for Sunday dinner when I was a child. Reading about it on the link above I realise that it's not actually Norwegian - it's French! (yup - the name would actually suggest this...) Dating back to the 15th century! It's a sort of stew - what I did was boil the lamb pieces in water until tender, then towards the end they were joined by carrots, parsnips, celery, leeks and cauliflower. I made a white sauce - béchamel - with the stock, then poured this over the stew. This is the main thing about fricassees - the white sauce. It was yummy, and my granddaughters - who stayed the night - absolutely loved it! But then they love most food, claiming that I'm the best cook in the world. Aww, aren't they sweet? They certainly know how to give me compliments!

My husband too enjoys my cooking, and he has been allowed to choose the menu after he came back from France, especially as he is going abroad again on Tuesday and will stay in a hotel for a week, eating only restaurant food. The friend he was with on the golfing trip in France is a terrific cook, and I think it's really nice that the two of them cooked for themselves at home almost every evening.

Today it had finally stopped snowing, and we went for a walk out towards the sea on the peninsula where our new flat will be built. Our flat will not be this close to the sea, but despite the huge construction activity on this previous airport area, you can already visualise how a whole new district is emerging. And on Thursday I'm going to a meeting to decide on the bathroom interiors!

The Oslo Fjord - people were doing cross country skiing on the iced-over bay today

Afterwards we went to visit my Mum in the nursing home. She will be eighty-seven on May 1st. She suffers from Alzheimers, but has never lost her sense of humour and her easy laughter, and this afternoon she was very happy to see her son-in-law, as usual. She touched his arm and announced loudly and clearly: "I think you are so sweet!" It's hard to say if she remembers him, but she's always been fond of men - so perhaps this was a love declaration to men in general!

This morning I skyped with my daughter Julie in Melbourne - oh, I do miss her! But she's landed a fantastic job there, so I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that she'll probably stay longer than expected. 

We have our children on loan, as my Mum always used to say.