Berries!

One of my favorite past times during my first weeks in Norway has been berry picking. Not only did I get the opportunity to go out and explore a new patch of woods, but I was able to come back with a tasty treat after words! Berry picking seems to be a popular activity among most Norwegians. People are all over the forest with their berry buckets and Norwegian kids run around with berry juice dripping from their face and fingers. And, I soon found out how Norwegians can be so efficient with their berry picking... long gone are the days of bending over and picking one single berry at a time when you use berry pickers! These revolutionary devices save hours of time and back pain! I'm thinking I might start a new business once I get back to the States...

I got in on prime berry season for raspberries, blueberries, lignonberries, and red currants. Below are pictures of some of the berries (and products!)

Lingonberries

Red Currants

My supervisors, Torbjørn and Lisa, have tons of red currant bushes in their yard and invited me over to pick some -- so I ended up with a few pail-fulls of currants! So I found myself making all sorts of new and exciting red currant products -- red currant cake (pictured below), red currant muffins, and red currant jam -- which I will probably be eating for the rest of the year!