“Lefse uten gomme er som grøt uten salt”.
(Lefse wthout gomme is like porridge without salt)
Gomme goes by many names, including gumme, gubbost, and dravle. It’s created by cooking down fresh milk – curds and whey and all – to achieve a soft and spreadable sweet cheese. It’s been around for centuries, perhaps one of the older desserts known, and has had a central place among Norwegian milk dishes. Life on a self-sustainable farm meant a limited supply of cow’s milk during certain parts of the year. Therefore, since gomme was made of fresh milk, it is reasonable to assume it was a highly treasured dish that was reserved for special occasions and high holidays. (more…)
There is an intense ruggedness at this time of year when autumn is holding on tightly before winter sweeps through for good. The sky is more often than not a grey hue with gaps of blue sometimes piercing through. The landscape is subdued, quiet even, as it slowly paces toward the end of another season. The fog comes rolling in with more vigor, covering everything in its path in a billowy embrace. It’s a magical time; a window between the end of one period and the start of a new. 
Scrumptious lamb, slow-cooked atop cabbage that has softened while baking in all the juices is just one of the autumn dishes I look forward to the most this time of year. The combination is simple. No fuss. Just allowing the flavors of the ingredients to shine. 
Orchards have this incredible presence and sense of wonderment that draws you in and envelops you as you gaze among its rows and rows of spectacular fruit-laden branches. An unkept orchard can become a magical arena for the imagnination and the senses to come alive.
Stacks of dried cod, butterflied and doused with salt, are one of the most iconic images you will find along Norway’s coastline and in traditional food markets across the region. Although their earthy tones may not immediately attract the eye, their very existence tells a deep history of Norwegian traditions and a commerce that has shaped Norway’s economy. 
The slender tree branches, laden with luscious, dark sour cherries, seemed in dire need of relieving their seasonal burden. As always, it’s on a first come first serve basis: us or the birds.