Vikings, mostly

• Justin has a rash that has spread from his lower back to all over his front and all over his back. Dr. on Monday.
  
  
• Vet for cat re. pee next week.
  
  
• New car! Tuesday!!
  
  
• Daniel goes to camping tonight.
  
  
• Norwegian meatballs are amazing. Don't ask me how they're different from Swedish meatballs, though.
  
  
• Norwegian meatballs take too damn long to make.
  
  
• Perfect day for Justin => Art Day. This week we studied the Vikings. So Viking art consisted of building a tiny longship and a small sod-covered longhouse, and making Norwegian meatballs, Viking bread (heavenly with butter, rather foul without) and Viking Veggies.
  
  Norwegian Meatballs
  Ingredients
  Meatballs:
  
  • 2 pounds ground beef
    
  • 1 egg
    
  • 1 tablespoon potato flour
    
  • 1/2 cup milk
    
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
    
  • 2 teaspoons salt
    
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
    
  • 1 tablespoon flour
    
  • 1 medium-sized onion, minced
  
  Gravy:
  
  • 1 cup milk
    
  • 2 tablespoons flour
    
  • dash nutmeg
    
  • salt and pepper
  
  Directions
  
  1. Mix all ingredients well and shape into balls.
     
  2. Brown the balls all around in a frying pan. Remove balls from pan and place on a serving platter.
     
  3. For gravy, sprinkle drippings from pan with flour and stir.
     
  4. Gradually add milk and stir until smooth. Season to taste.
  
  
  Honey Glazed Root Vegetables
  This recipe comes from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), and is for four servings.
  Ingredients
  
  • 1 turnip
    
  • 2-3 carrots
    
  • 1 slice of white cabbage (use a quarter of a head of cabbage)(we skipped this, actually)
    
  • 1 leek
    
  • butter
    
  • honey
    
  • salt and pepper
  
  Directions
  
  1. Peel the root vegetables and cut them into pieces. Boil together in slightly salted water about 5 minutes and drain.
     
  2. Sauté the root vegetables in butter until soft. Let the leek and cabbage sauté with them at the end.
     
  3. Add some honey and stir the dish carefully. Season with salt and pepper.
  
  
  Viking Bread
  The Vikings made bread out of barley, oats and rye. Since they ground their own flour by hand, the bread had a gritty texture.
  Ingredients
  
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (can also use part oat, barley, or rye flour)(we used 1.5 cups barley flour)
    
  • 2 cups white flour
    
  • 1 tsp baking soda
    
  • 1 tsp sea salt
    
  • 2 cups warm water
    
  • 1 cup oats
  
  Directions
  
  1. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
     
  2. Add and stir in /34 cup of oats (leave 1/4 cup for later)
     
  3. Slowly add the 2 cups of warm water. Stir well. The mixture will become difficult to stir.
     
  4. Knead the mixture until the mixture becomes stiff.
     
  5. Form into a circle and place on greased cookie sheet.
     
  6. Sprinkle the remaining oats on top.
     
  7. Put the cookie sheet into a cold oven. Then turn the oven to 375 degrees Bake bread for one hour.
     
  8. Cool slightly and enjoy!
  
  
  My god Justin's in his element in the kitchen. "I'm like a mini-Luli, aren't I?" he asked yesterday, as we've told him many times that my mom loved cooking too.
  
  
• Survival Day today at swimming!
  
  
• Am almost done His Dark Materials, and am very interested in how it's going to end. ( spoilers )