19 Oct - Ugly Man

From Norway

The week started escaping me before it even begun! Between work, preparing for Jamie’s visit, packing up, and shopping for dinner (including pumpkin pie) ingredients for another cook-in-someone else’s-kitchen evening, it’s been quite busy. This will be a short entry to catch up on the rest of the weekend.

Sunday’s breakfast at the hotel on Smögen was just as good as the Marstrand hotel breakfast. This one provided an assortment of berries, to put over the sour milk (similar to unsweetened yogurt). In addition to blackberries, I believe some of them were Lingon berries and the rest remain unknowns. They were yummy… the first berries I’ve had in over a month.

By 8am I was on the road returning to Kongsberg. My coworker and I had plans to hike Styggemann (stig-e-man: ugly man), a popular trail in the greater Kongsberg area. This is the same coworker whom’s house I cooked at a couple weeks ago. The day was clear, but cold. The terrain was icy, muddy, and even a dusting of snow at times. On hikes over the past few weekends, I was always drooling over warm snacks that other hikers were enjoying… whether it was cooked over an open fire or kept warm by thermos. All I was equipped with was crackers, honey, apple, pear, peanut butter, and cold water.

Today’s hike was different; today I was going to have a hot meal! Before we reached the top, we put our bags down next to a lake and my coworker unpacked her kit. She had brought her stove, soup mix, home-picked and dried mushrooms, cream, lingon berries, and herbs from her garden. I scooped water from the pond… well the pond was iced over, however there was running water not too far away and everything was boiled together while we snacked on the crackers and apple. Once it was ready, it was delicious and I savored every hot sip. This is one lesson learned that can be incorporated into the winter snowshoe trips at the cabin!

The view from ugly man’s bald head was better than expected. The Oslofjorden (including a ferry) could be seen, as well as Gaustatoppen (the peak climbed a few weeks ago), the village of Kongsberg, and the swiss cheese mountain (swiss cheese because the silver mines make so many holes in it). It was clear and beautiful. After some Norwegian milk chocolate (it’s good!), we skipped down the mountain. When I write “skipped,” perhaps a better word would be “stumbled” or “tripped”. It was tough keeping up with my coworker. At some points I was just sitting on my butt and sliding down the icy rock. It was all in good fun. I’m trying to convince her and her boyfriend to come vacation in CA. I think she’d really enjoy all the outdoorsy activities.

That about sums it up! I’m off to start a day a work and continue the “Jamie gets here” countdown. Skol! (sckole: “Cheers” in Norwegian).