A SINGLE MOMENT

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the attacks in Oslo and on Utøya that took the life of 77 innocent people. I was in Trondheim when this happen, happily spending a few days there as a vacation with my boyfriend. I didn’t really know any of the victims or survivors, so my life went on as normal; barely affected. It might sound heartless, but there are so many horrible things that happen in the world and life usually has to move on. This year however, on this day, I went downtown Oslo with my camera to get a look as to how this day affected people.
It was powerful.
People left roses everywhere. Every time I watched a young child walk up to the growing pile of roses, leaving a small, single rose; I felt like each rose stuck out even more. Each rose was a thought, a memory, a feeling. All these people took a single moment from their busy lives to leave their mark on how this day affected them. Being there alone, I noticed more of these moments than I usually would; and I wanted to share them here with those interested in the power of moments.



















Have a beautiful day…

White chocolate peanutbutter cups

I’m weak for white chocolate. Seriously, I love it. Bad Sarah, bad… I’ve also been entertaining myself alone in Oslo with food. Again, bad Sarah.. baaaad… but sooo good!
Just to mention yet another thing, I have waaay better access to American snacks here in Oslo which is REALLY bad for my wallet; and that’s just for a little bit of whatever I’m wanting. So while trying to save my wallet and realizing I have a lot of peanutbutter in my cabinet; this is was my solution.

12 oz white chocolate
1/2 cup peanutbutter
1tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8tsp salt
You basically mix everything but the chocolate together until you get sort of a peanutbutter dough. Then you melt the chocolate. Put a layer of the chocolate in some cupcake liners, the get a little scoop of the peanutbutter dough; roll it into a ball and flatten it a little. Put that on the chocolate layer and cover with more chocolate. Into the fridge to chill like a boss and you have your very own and MUCH cheaper if you live in Norway, peanut butter cups!

Chicken Hoisin Wraps

The other day me and Paul wanted a nice and easy, light dinner after some previous heavier meals. I found a tempting recipe for hoisin chicken wraps, which fit well since we had some tortillas to eat up before they went bad.
Now I did my own little twist on the recipe because the original called for grilled chicken, and given I have no grill or anything similar I had to be creative.

• 4 flour tortillas
• 4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 4 tsp sesame oil
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
• A handful of lettuce leaves
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped.

I chopped the breasts into about dice sized bites, thought that might make it easier to eat. I put it all in a bowl and mixed in the sesame oil, soy sauce and hoisin sauce and let it sit and soak a little. Then I fried the entire thing in a pan until the chicken was done and then put that, some salad leaves (I used something called crispisalad) and some chopped spring onions. I imagine that you change the number 4 out on most things above depending on how many you’re making it for.

It was super yummy, moist and light. Definitely something we’ll do again! Try it, you won’t be sorry for trying this as an easy summer dinner.

Burger, pizza and a new toy

Life has been busy and exciting lately. On the 4th of July I was excited to check out what Americans in Oslo were doing to celebrate. I read online that they have some kind of celebration in the Vigeland park by the Lincoln Memorial bust. Sadly, we missed it. The only Americans there were the tourists checking out the park. Paul and I “celebrated” though, with a stereotypical American dinner consisting of burgers and fries as well as a root beer as a special treat for me.


I also finally got my paycheck for June. I’d worked for a little over 141 hours, waaaay more than what was in my contract; so this paycheck was pretty nice. Considering all the work I did, the long hours and the everlasting days I decided to treat myself a little for the effort…

I now have a pretty little iPad to use for school and other travelling practicalities. I love it, it’s so cool and very fun! We also found this new GREAT pizza place in Oslo. Fan-freakin’-tastic Italian pizza; the food and the restaurant made us miss Rome like crazy. If you’re in Oslo and want some delicious food, check out Arte Pazza! BEST.

Day two; Good morning!

I’m an old soul, so I tend to wake up earlier than I’d like for the simple reason that I’m awake. Paul however, could sleep all day. So instead of waking him with me I let him sleep in while I got myself a little breakfast and a cup of coffee.

I love this for breakfast. I’m rarely hungry in the morning so this little thing is just the right stuff to get you going without having to fill up. Greek yoghurt, müsli, blueberries and honey – easy peasy.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most when I’ve been here before and that I’m enjoying a lot right now is the people-watching possibilities from my apartment. We live on a high first floor, and the view from our window is this:

Right outside this picture on the left is some traffic lights, so most cars driving past here end up stopping. Little do they know that creepy little me is watching them from my window while eating greek yoghurt and drinking coffee. It’s very funny, people do a lot of weird things when they think they’re alone in their car. I’m pretty sure this will be how I keep myself entertained whenever I get sick from now on.
Have a great day!

Hello City Life

Yesterday I moved to Oslo! We got in late so all I “unpacked” was my bed, the rest we’ve worked on today. I’m still using boxes as dressers because we need to get more storage for clothing, but otherwise I got everything unpacked into my new little home!

To get some fresh air and some food for this week we took a little trip on the subway to an area in Oslo called Grønland (Greenland). Our mission: to find a good foreign store. These stores tend to have the best quality on fruit and vegetables, however the quality of this differs from place to place. Luckily we googled a little and found a GREAT place!

The selection was big and the quality was fantastic. Not to mention there was tons of people there, obviously a popular place. We were even able to get some fresh corn, yum! Can’t wait to find more great places like this. It’s fun.