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23 October 2011
 One of the highlights of my trip to Portugal was a visit to Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, considered the mecca of portuguese egg tarts. Normally you can get custard tarts in any Portuguese snack bar by asking for “pastéis de nata”, but the best ones are to be found at this bakery, served warm out of the oven, and specially called pastéis de Belém. An excellent description of this Portuguese institution/legend can be found on Leite’s Culinaria. 
14 September 2011
Only in Norway could caustic soda be advertised as something to cook your fish with (“luting” being the verb for making “lutefisk”–a dish commonly served at Christmas, no less).  good for cleaning, removing paint... and cod An apt description by a Norwegian-American named Dave Fox:
26 August 2011
the nobel peace center is currently showing an exhibit called transit, a photo display of refugees in different countries. the most interesting facts presented in the exhibit were the numbers of refugees in various countries (in 2010):
Gotta wonder who the refugees from Norway are–and who would flee to Afghanistan… TRANSIT: until 22 January NEXT FREE DAYS IN 2011 PLEASE NOTE: On Friday 7 October at 11.00 you can watch the announcement of the new Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the Nobel Peace Center. 15 August 2011
I’ve visited the Oslo opera house many times but have never been tempted enough by any of its concerts to actually see the main music hall inside. So when they held an open house this weekend, I jumped at the chance to go visit.
It’s beautiful inside, lots of smooth lines and dark wood, and I really liked the “centerpiece” (shown above): it’s a simple but elegant skylight—though perhaps that can only be appreciated after you’ve been exposed to the garish 70′s style chandelier at the Met and at the New York City Opera. the folks at Operaen claim that its acoustics are among the top 3 in the world. while I don’t know if that’s true, this building is definitely the architectural highlight of Oslo. gorgeous!
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