so far my favourite foodstuff in Norway has been… jam! it’s more fruity and has less of that artificial gelatin consistency than what I’m used to, which means it’s easier to use a spoon with this stuff than a knife. our cupboard is currently stocked with apricot, strawberry, raspberry, and (deliciously chunky) apple jam–and with [...]]]>

so far my favourite foodstuff in Norway has been… jam! it’s more fruity and has less of that artificial gelatin consistency than what I’m used to, which means it’s easier to use a spoon with this stuff than a knife. our cupboard is currently stocked with apricot, strawberry, raspberry, and (deliciously chunky) apple jam–and with a higher turnover rate than I’d like to admit.

the bread here is also spectacular, the average loaf being something I would have died for in NY. made with a variety of grains, even grocery-store bread is sold in whole loaves and baked daily… I’m not sure I’ve even seen a package of preservative laden plastic-wrapped mushy bread anywhere.

but my latest discovery? banana spread! amazing stuff, it makes every slice of bread taste like banana bread!

banos: "new and better!"

Ingredients for the “bananpålegg”:

• Bananer (36%)
• sukker
• herdet vegetabilsk fett (uten transfett)
• vann
• surhetsregulerende middel (melkesyre)
• fargestoff (tagetesekstrakt)
• konserveringsmidler (kaliumsorbat of natriumbenzoat)

I’ve been dying to find a decent bakery or pâtisserie in the city. there are none in my neighbourhood, so when I saw this window in the Upper East, I immediately dove into the shop.

everything looked alright (looks like a bakery, smells like a bakery, must be a bakery?). but the prices are high, with [...]]]>

I’ve been dying to find a decent bakery or pâtisserie in the city. there are none in my neighbourhood, so when I saw this window in the Upper East, I immediately dove into the shop.

everything looked alright (looks like a bakery, smells like a bakery, must be a bakery?). but the prices are high, with each tartelette being at least $5-6. for some reason I didn’t want to spend that much for a snack, so I settled on an apple-cinnamon muffin. I think it was $2.

(sorry about the out-of-focus photo–it was taken with my cellphone). now back to the muffin: imagine eating a dense lump of indigestible dough; I mean, I was certain each bite was going to sit in my stomach for hours. what the hell? did I order the wrong thing again? (I’ve been giving a lot of places this benefit of the doubt). or can I finally definitely say that affordable baked goods in this city suck? (and don’t get me started on how difficult it is to find decent bread around here…)

sigh.

le pain quotidien
833 Lexington Ave
(at 64th St E)