The Christmas lights have been lit for the dark season. Even at midday the lights shine bright. The sun never makes it over the horizon now so it is necessary to have the lights on all the time. Most shops have torch-candles outside to welcome shoppers a God Jul and add to the atmosphere. (The above pictures where taken at noon.)

In the winter-blue the lights turn the city into a fairy tale land. Walking in the snow along the decorated shop windows with the lights overhead, while hearing Christmas carollers and smelling the waffles from the street stalls all makes up Christmas in Tromsø.

(This is the first post in a four part series of Saturday in the City. The second is Saturday in the City: Waffles.)

In winter Tromsø is just a back to back of sunrises and sunsets. You can only tell which one you are looking at by checking your watch.

The snow is falling and the house has a thick blanket of white on the roof. The house is contained in a round glass ball in the hand of a dying man. He whispers through his lips ‘rosebud’ and lets go of the ball. It rolls down the stairs and smashes at the bottom.

The Rosebud mystery from Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane still lives today and is considered the greatest secret in cinema.

In the film, ‘rosebud’ was the name on Charles Foster Kane’s snow sled (the main character played by Orson Welles himself). It is clear in the movie what ‘rosebud’ was the symbol of Kane’s last true happiness, but outside the theatre ‘rosebud’ has still stumped critics and movie-goers alike.

I must admit, this film has become quite profound to me. Not only did I first see this film at a time of great change but the word ‘rosebud’ has been remembered everyday of my life for the last year here in Norway.

About one year ago, when the snow was falling and the houses had a thick blanket of white on their roofs, a little girl was born. The first thing her mother could say when holding her for the first time was ‘Rosebud… Look, she has a rosebud!’

Over the past year we have watched the rosebud grow bigger and move around to the front on Lilu’s forehead. We don’t know how long it will last as it seems to be fading, but it will always be remembered, the time our little Norwegian girl had a rosebud in her hair.

Their history is a mystery. It is an abomination to put raisins in and an abomination to leave them out. They are eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner. If you haven’t eaten one you cannot call yourself Norwegian. Their name just means ‘bun’ and they are a national icon. Welcome to the land of the Boller!

To me, a bolle just seems like a hot-cross bun without the hot-cross and eaten everyday rather than just Easter. But to a Norwegian the bolle is a way of life.

The small bun is a sweet bread flavoured with cardamom and fits in the palm of your hand. It is enjoyed on its own, with butter and jam, Norwegian brown cheese, coleslaw, and even as a savoury meal with cheese, salami and cucumber. Some boller are made with custard on top with icing and coconut – these are called skoleboller (school Buns). Below is a Bergensk kanelbolle (Bergen’s cinnamon bun).

There are also boller for special occasions. The solboller (sunbun) is made to celebtrate the return of the sun after the long winter. It is coloured with saffron and has a yellow custard centre. The Lent bolle is made during Lent (of course). It is cut in half and a big spoonful of fresh whipped cream is piled on inside before closing the lid and sprinkling icing sugar on top. This one is very fun to eat!

Boller are the cheapest bread you can buy in the store. You can also buy ready-made mix packets but I think the home-made boller are best. There is a continuing discussion of whether the bolle should have raisins in it or not. I think it is really just a matter of taste but Farmor always makes ones with and ones without to please everybody.

Farmor’s boller are famous in Alta. She has won many competitions for her cakes and breads. She has been trying to teach me her Norwegian secrets but it can be a little difficult some times. You see, Farmor never uses recipes. Instead she dances her boller-dance around the kitchen and so I have to watch her carefully, writing down every move she makes. A handful of sugar and a sprinkling of spice, she has a way of making all things nice. She has danced this bolle routine so many times that it is hard to keep up. I must say, some of her tricks of the trade are very smart. Technique is key and even though I’m going to give you the recipe, it is only years of experience that makes this recipe turn out just perfect.

Farmor’s Boller

This recipe is made with love and so I’ve kept the ‘bolle-dance’ intact for you to enjoy some special Norwegianess:

Warm the oven to 240oC.
Fill a 2 litre jug with white flour and put into a large plastic bowl. Sift in about 1 cup of whole wheat flour for some extra goodness. Add in about 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of cardamum, 2 sachets of bread yeast. Mix all the ingredients together with a whisk. Rub in about 200 grams of butter with your finger tips.

In a pan warm 500mls of full cream milk and 250mls of water.

Put aside some of the flour mixture. This is so you can manage your dough. If the dough is too wet then you can add some more flour mixture. Add the milk and water to the flour mixture and mix with a whisk. Add in extra flour as needed. Put in 1 table spoon of olive oil and now mix by hand. Again, add in extra flour as needed. Mix until doughy. The dough is ready when it doesn’t stick to the plastic bowl at the bottom. The longer you knead it the better.

Let the dough rise for 1 hour in the bowl. You can put the plastic bowl over a pot of hot water – but make sure you use something like chopsticks to rest the bowl onto of the pot, otherwise the plastic can melt.

Make a well in the dough. Light a match and hold it in the well. If the fire is extinguished then the dough is ready. (This lets you know that the yeast has done its job and fermented.)

Spread dough out on a flour board (and sprinkle with raisins – if you like). Cut into 32nds by halving five times. Roll each piece into a ball.

The technique of rolling boller is quite an art. The boller are made into tight balls but they also need to keep the air inside so they will rise in the oven. Farmor has been teaching me how to roll them but I’m still just a beginner. It’s hard to explain but here goes: ball a dough piece in the palm of your hand against the flour board. Your palm adds pressure while your thumb shapes the dough. You use a circular motion against the board until the surface of the boller becomes smooth.

Place on a butter and floured oven tray. Let the boller rise for 15 minutes. Glaze with whole beaten egg. Put down oven temperature to 200oC and place tray in oven. Bake for about ten minutes or until centre is dry. The tops of the boller turn dark golden brown.

Boller are beautiful to eat warm with just butter. Cool on a rack. They will last for a couple of days in a sealed container (if you can save them from the hungry hordes) and you can also freeze them. Serve with home-made jam or cheese and salami.

Boller goes perfect with home-made hot chocolate. Stay tuned for the secret Norwegian recipe.

For a more conventional recipe see our Norwegian Christmas page: Boller (Conventional Recipe)

Put eight teenagers on a ski trip to a remote mountain cabin in Northern Norway. Then, let them be haunted and attacked by a horde of undead Nazi soldiers, who were massacred by angry locals in the final days of World War II. There it is – the plot for the horror-comedy “Død Snø” (Dead Snow) from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola.

Wirkola, from Alta, had his breakthrough with “Kill Buljo: The Movie” (2007), a low-budget parody of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Despite getting butchered by nearly every film critic out there, Kill Buljo became a huge success – Quentin Tarantino himself is said to have made the comment “I love it! I love it!”.

With “Død Snø”, Wirkola flaunts one of the biggest special effects budgets in Norwegian film history, acclaimed actors, live-action snowmobile stunts, ‘zombies on ice’ and the world’s coolest tagline: EIN, ZWEI, DIE! But on top of it all, the film was selected yesterday for the Sundance Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious Independent Film Festivals. Adam Montgomery of the Sundance Institute has commented: “Dead Snow is the best and most original zombie film I have seen in over ten years. You just can’t go wrong with Nazi zombies!”

Død Snø was originally meant to be titled Rød Snø (Red Snow), but due to conflict with a TV thriller mini-series from the 80’s with the same name, the movie title was changed to Død Snø shortly before advertising started.

I went to High School with this guy. No joke. (The actor, not the zombie…!)

Død Snø will be in cinemas nationwide on 9th of January 2009. The DVD will most likely be released internationally some time later. You can watch the trailer at Filmweb.no. If you dare.

OK, picture this: You are walking around in the city, minding your own business and focusing on the ground to avoid slipping on the ice. It’s late November and shops are beginning to put up decorations. You hear the low hum of rotor blades in the distance. As you walk, the hum gets louder and louder and you realise that the helicopter is coming in straight above you. You look up and see…

… a tree!

That’s right – no strapping on the back of a truck or shipping by boat. In Tromsø, the three-story tall Christmas tree gets a VIP ride to town square. And I just happened to be there with my trusted phone camera:

The tree is officially lit on the first Sunday of Advent (fourth Sunday before Christmas), and the event always gathers a big crowd. The town square, usually occupied by fruit stands and statues, gets flooded with people of all ages. The Salvation Army and other bands play familiar Christmas tunes as the crowd forms circles and dance around the tree. If there are too many for a circle, they form another one outside it and dance in the opposite direction. I counted eleven circles. The city tree certainly gets a warm welcome.

A thick, white, blanket for those who rest.

I’m sure every nation has a country soup dish – Norway has Lapskaus.

Lapskaus can range from a watery soup to a thick stew, it all depends on how you like it. Traditionally being made from last nights left overs, Lapskaus uses potatoes as a thick base with other hearty, winter vegetables and meat. The idea of Lapskaus is ‘anything goes’, so you can guarantee that your soup will be an original masterpiece every time.

It seems like everyone in Norway has made up their own version, even the Kings Royal Guards have their Gardelapskaus (The Guard Lapskaus) that they make for everyone on their open days. Over the years there have been some recipes that have stuck, however they describe more of a theme rather than set ingredients:

Brun lapskaus
This lapskaus is like a thick brown stew with beef. Brown gravy adds to the potato base and it is generally so thick you can eat it with a fork.

Lys lapskaus
A creamy sauce (bechamel) is used to give this lapskaus a smooth creamy texture. Light meat such as pork or sausage is used to add a little salt to balance the meal.

Soup lapskaus
This soup uses potato and stock for a base. Any meat can be used, however, it is very common to use salty meats such as pickled pork or ham to enhance the flavour.

I find that the potatoes are very important to the texture of the dish. When the dish simmers the edges of the potatoes dissolve making a natural thick sauce. In Norway they use yellow, floury, potatoes for such dishes, so any potato that is good for mashing will probably be good to use.

As a guide, you can use our original (last nights) lapskaus recipe:

Chop into bite-size pieces and throw all into a big pot:
4 large potatoes
2 large carrots
1 celery stick
1 think slice of swede
2 onions
2 garlic pieces (minced)
1/4 leek
200g cooked chicken pieces
200g cooked salty bacon bits*
500mls water
1 chicken stock cube
pepper, parsley

Bring to boil and simmer for at least 30mins. Serve with crusty bread, pita bread – or even better, Norwegian flat-bread.

*Salty bacon or ham goes really well with this dish – I find it a little bland without it. It also means you don’t need to use extra salt. Make sure you don’t overcook the bacon otherwise it will be too hard for the soft soup.

Note: If you like your soup thick add less water – if you like it thin, add more – easy!

You are most welcome to do all the ‘chefy’ stuff like saute the onions, garlic and herbs in butter and use your home-made stock, etc – but Norwegians never do and it still tastes great.

By our favourite jetty is the cutest little boat shed. We often have picnics there in Summer. It’s nice to just drop by our favourite places in Winter to see how very different but very beautiful everything still is.