Spotted dick/pizza/cheese/rotten fish/literature

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

TOC:
1.  Spotted dick
2.  Pizza in Norway
3.  Cheese in Norway
4.  Swedish Surströmming
5.  Literature recommendation

I believe Spotted Dick is also a euphemism for syphilis (presumably 
the colour of pudding with "spots" is similar enough to have caused 
people to make the connection.

***

Speaking of British food:  several years ago Norwegian TV showed a 
French programme about Britain.  The only thing I remember from that, 
is the reporter going to some lunch-stall in London to buy lunch.  He 
bought some sandwich with sausage and gravy, then left the stall, 
walked over to the camera and opened the sandwich (showing us the 
bread soaked in brown gravy, with charcoaled sausage on top), 
exclaiming:  "This is what the English eat for lunch", before 
discarding it int he nearest rubbish-bin.  Did I mention that the 
programme was more than just a little bit biased?

***

As for pizza, here in Norway are of one of three kinds:

Homemade.  Not much to say of these - it is a highly individualised 
sport.

Frozen, bought in the shop.  In Norway, frozen pizzas are meant to be 
warmed in a proper oven, not in a microwave oven.  This is a somewhat 
feature.  The most popular frozen pizza in Norway is called Pizza 
Grandiosa, and Americans and Italians would be equally disgusted by 
it, I am sure.  Recent years have seen the advent of pizzas like the 
Findus Bake-Up series and Stabburets Big One Fresh Baked, which raise 
in the oven, and have high-quality topping, giving them a quality 
much closer to home-made or

Restaurant-made.  Pizza-restaurants in Norway come in many forms, and 
many of the small, independent one have somewhat quationable 
standards - both regarding standard of ingredients and standard of 
hygiene.  There are, however, good places too.  The oldest and 
largest chain in Norway is Peppe's Pizza.  The chain was founded in 
Oslo in the late 70s, by an American disgusted with the Norwegian 
frozen pizzas, and determined to show Norwegians how to make pizzas 
the American way.  Another quality-chain is Dolly Dimple, by many 
thought to be even better than Peppe's - they are known for unusual, 
but very good, combinations of toppings.  In Trondheim they even 
drove Pizza Hut out of business.

Another good place for pizza in Trondheim is Egon - not really a 
pizza-restaurant, but they do make them good.  

***

As far as cheese goes, Norway is not among the large cheese-
countries.  Most cheeses made in Norway are domestic copies of 
cheeses from toher countries, thought there are some exceptions.  The 
most notabel exception is gamalost (which will make even Stilton seem 
odourless and tasteless in comparison).  There is of course 
the "brown-cheese" as well, but it is not really a cheese.  it is 
made from whey, which is mixed with either (a) milk from goat; (b) 
50/50 of milk from goat and milk from cow; or (c) milk from cow.  it 
is boiled until the lactosis carmelises, giving the "cheese" a 
distinct sweetness.  The variants with only milk from goat are only 
for those brave of heart, btw.

***

Surströmming:  I don't believe I have mentioned this before, so here 
goes.  A recent TV-programme  detailed the method of manufacture and 
consumption of Swedish surströmming.  Apparently this is what you do:
You take a dead strömming (a freshwater-fish reminiscent of herring) 
and chop off the head.  Discard the head.  PRepare a weak salt-brine 
(i.e. low salt-content), and drop the rest if the fish in it.  Can 
it.  Leave for considerable length of time (we are talking weeks and 
months here).  

When opening the can/vessel with surströmming, remember the following:

1.  NEVER OPEN IT WHILE INDOORS

2.  NEVER OPEN IT NEAR OPEN FLAME

It is advisable, when opening the can, to first fill a bucket with 
water, and to immerse the can in the water while opening it.  Observe 
the bubbles that come to the surface (swamp-gas).  Remove guts and 
bones from the individual fish, and put the rest on a piece of rye-
bread.  Enjoy.

(The above is basically taken from waht the said on the TV-show, 
though I may have added certain "embellishments".)

***

"yael oren" <yael_pou at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Nope. Sorry. Never even heard of "Lexx". It's from "Nine Princes in 
Amber". - A fantastic series of ten books by Roger Zelazny. All the 
company computers are called after things in that series, except for 
our newest 'snitch'

Lexx is a Canadian sci-fi series with a quite bizarre sense of 
humour.  It revolves around the spaceship Lexx, which in reality is a 
giant insect, and its travels through two universes.  It is crewed by 
a wimp, a robothead, an undead in stasis and a woman genetically 
altered to become a pleasure-girl (the robothead has a serious crush 
on her - it recites poetry!).  The series has a most bizarre and dark 
humour.

***

I'll take the opportunity to recommend some literature again:

Linda Medley:  
CASTLE WAITING  Volume I:  The Lucky Road

It will probably be placed as a comic book, but it is an excellent 
story.

Summarised plot summary:
"Under troubling circumstances, a beautiful princess is forced to 
flee her "happily-ever-after" home and seek refuge in an isolated, 
forgotten castle filled wiht familiar faces from Mother Goose, the 
Brothers Grimm and an eccentric band of brand new fairy-tale 
characters."

Also:

"A storyteller with over ten eyars experience in comics and 
Children's book, creator Linda Medley illustrates /CASTLE WAITING/ in 
a classic style reminiscent of Arthur RAckham and William Heath 
RObinson.  If you enjoy the humorous fantasy of /Time Bandits/ 
or /The Princess Bride/, you will love /CASTLE WAITING/."

***

Best regards
Christian Stubø
---------
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http://www.hexcon.no/ . . . . . hexcon at pvv.ntnu.no