146 Christmas in Norway with Alexandra Taylor

Welcome Alexandra!

Today’s guest is Alexandra from Norway. She contributed a recipe for her mom’s Chocolate Peppermint balls – sort of a mint chocolate truffle – or an especially beautiful homemade Peppermint Patty. In today’s episode, Alexandra also shares a recipe for the special Rice Porridge left for Saint Nicholas on Christmas Eve. In our conversation today, Alexandra who grew up near the oldest town in Norway, established in 898, shares absolutely delightful memories of ancient Norwegian Christmas traditions that she experienced both as a child and as a mother. You may recognize these as the basis of so many American Christmas traditions and imagery – before the layers of consumerism were slapped on top. The stories Alexandra shares – and especially the beautiful way she shares them – evoke a sense of magic, calm, wonder, and peace. Welcome to Alexandra – and be sure to check out her Mint Chocolate Truffles and Risgrot recipes!!

Highlights

• Bunad – the Warrior Norwegian Queen outfit
• Santa Claus as Nordic
• Walking in the “loud silence” of snow with the smells of coffee and baked goods
• “Feeding your children is just the best feeling in the world”
• Reminiscing on the “hygge” trend
• Alexandra’s grandmother, a professional baker
• Skoleboller, Rice Porridge, and other Norwegian Christmas Food
• Coconut in Norwegian baking/cuisine
• The Norwegian Church and the “church mother”
• The Norwegian, concept of time and Christmas Eve vs. Christmas Day
• The 12 Days of Christmas and the beauty of 12th Night services
• Lutefisk, roast pork, homemade alcohol, and other common dishes of the traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner
• Linie Aquavit (Akvavit) - the traditional alcohol that travels around the world
• Singing and dancing traditional Norwegian folk tunes around the Christmas tree - and the traditional Norwegian Christmas tree decoration
• All about the recipe for Norwegian Peppermint Balls that Alexandra shared with us

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Partial Transcript - First 10 Minutes

Becky Hadeed

Why, hello!

Alexandra

I'm so excited to be speaking with you. I've been listening to all your podcasts from last year and going back all the way to the beginning. Ohh I love the one with you and your boys. That was that's my favorite one so far.

Becky Hadeed

Ohh you know I hear that actually a lot and I was just thinking the other day, especially because my oldest is getting ready to graduate. I was thinking, I know we might need to do, you know one one last iteration of that?

Alexandra

Right? I think you should. That would be lovely.

Becky Hadeed

Well, thank you. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on and uh, for your kind words it means a lot. So can we just start by talking about this image of... What's the name of this this traditional wear?

Alexandra

It's called a Bunad.

Becky Hadeed

Say it one more time?

Alexandra

Bunad. B UN AD Boo nod.

Becky Hadeed

Bunad. OK. I mean, you looked gorgeous. You're like a Norwegian Warrior Queen

Alexandra

That's what the boys call me.

Becky Hadeed

Do you own? Do you own that?

Alexandra

Yes, that was a gift from my parents when I turned 21 and it comes with of course the the dress and it also has a skirt underneath it has that blouse and then it comes with a cake. A hat and a belt and everything has to be made or grown in Norway. So for it to be an official, it has to be done by someone who's certified and everything that cotton everything is from Norway. And then, as I had birthdays and special occasions and Christmas gifts and what not, my parents added to it. The silver is fairly expensive, so you you add that to the cost and as you go of course it comes with shoes that has a silver belt buckle on it and then.

Speaker 2

The belt was a pretty.

Alexandra

Yeah, it's a big deal because it's all silver. And then when my son was baptized, my father gave me the knife that goes with it. And then of course the symbolic key to the cupboard, which is actually a pewter key, an old tradition.

Becky Hadeed

OK.

Alexandra

And of course, and then there's the purse that you have hanging off of your your belt as well, and it has all silver and then it's embroidered - part of it's embroidered so as the years went on, you know, they gave me bits and pieces of it. So now I have the complete, the complete thing, there's nothing more I don't have.

Becky Hadeed

It's just it's just gorgeous. And it's very, you know. I feel like I'm looking at a again, a queen from a Tolkien novel or something. And I look at you and that, and that gorgeous that gorgeous outfit and you're talking about actually fashioning things out of silver and all of a sudden it's easy to see how it was so real in his mind.

Alexandra

Right, yes, absolutely. And you see that in the Viking history as well. When you you know, go to museums and see the things that they've found in Norwegian towns in Northern Norway, Western Norway. They were very fashionable as far as jewelry and things like. That and so that that just really cements you into your roots and I I love that.

Becky Hadeed

Well, yes, and I I find it so interesting that a critical component is the knife. Can you speak to that?

Alexandra

You know, I can't directly I would assume that maybe it has to do with maybe you're you're slicing up some meats. Or like the they do a lot of prosciutto type hams and things like that in a tradtional meal. Potentially that or maybe its just symbolic.

Becky Hadeed

Hmm hmm. Amazing amazing. OK, well it really it really set the stage for I think our conversation about the traditional way Christmas has been celebrated in different parts of Norway? For me personally, Christmas is a very religious holiday. You know, even though I don't believe there's any indication that Jesus Christ was born in the winter time for whatever reason, it's gotten tied to this time of the year. So I guess, technically, I believe that modern day Palestine or Israel's was the birthplace of Christmas. But in my mind, I think the Nordic countries were the birth place of Christmas, if that makes sense, like when I think about Christmas, I think about the magic of the Nordic countries. Do you know what I mean?

Alexandra

Right, yes I do. Yes, absolutely.

Becky Hadeed

Where in Norway did you grow up?

Alexandra

So I was born in Oslo, which is the capital, in Eastern Norway. And then we spent all our summers and all our time really in a small island which is in Skjærgård, the islands off the southeastern side of Norway. That little island is also where the. King and Queen have their summer home, so it's a fairly small community, and then the closest big town is, uh, called Tønsberg, which is considered the oldest town in Norway. I think it was.

Speaker

Oh wow.

Alexandra

...established in 898 or something like. So that's where, that's the closest big town where we'd hang out and I moved to the states when I was seven, but we always spent all summer holiday season in Norway on the island of [Norwegian Word].

Becky Hadeed

Yeah, so Norway is absolutely a second home for you.

Alexandra

It is absolutely, and as a matter of fact, I'm going in another two weeks I'll be going for a trip to see my brother and family and we're a close family.

Becky Hadeed

That's wonderful, so your brother is back in Norway. He obviously came to the states with you because you were so young, but he's back in Norway now?

Alexandra

He is yes. He is a veterinary surgeon and lives there with his family. And he's got a daughter and he's married to an American. They've been in Norway now for over 10 years, so they're very happy there and I'm glad that they're there so we have a reason to go often to Norway today to see family members.

Becky Hadeed

I'm happy for you too. So when you think, if you spent your summers there and you left when you were seven, are Christmases in Norway very murky in your mind. Or do they have strong memories associated with them? I mean, seven is young.

Alexandra

Seven's young, yes, and now I have some memories and then my parents moved back at four time and so we I had young children at the time so we did go and spend the Christmas season and Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with them. So I have a little mix of, you know, some memories from when I was a little young and then some that were formed when the boys were young.

Becky Hadeed

Well, that's amazing that you've experienced it as a child, with other Norwegian children, and as a mother. Tthose are kind of like the bookends - well, I guess you'll have to go back as a grandparent someday, right? Yes so. And experience Christmas as a grandparent there. Ohh so so when you I mean again, like when I think about the magic of Christmas.

Speaker

Right?

Becky Hadeed

...it's to the extent that our Christmas here looks like what I would imagine, you know, Scandinavian or Nordic Christmases from ancient times looked like. So maybe don't burst my bubble. What does it look like? Can you paint a picture of Christmas in Norway? Just if you look out the window or if you go outside on the winter solstice or the first day of Advent, what do you hear? What you smell?

Alexandra

Well, for me it's always the snow that that I remember and that I love so much and I love walking outside when it's snowing and there's that that loud silence that you get when it's snowing. You know, it's like that, you just don't hear anything other than just that snow. And I the the I just love that feeling and I love the smell of the fresh snow and of the earth when it, you know, especially when it first starts to snow and it's wet and you can smell if you're walking along the streets. You know Norwegians walk everywhere, and if you're walking along the streets, you're probably smelling coffee. You're smelling baked goods. There's you know bakeries on just about every corner and everybody buys a fresh loaf of bread every day. So those are the the smells and sounds that come to my mind. And certainly you know from the inside perspective just the the the warmth of the fireplace. And of course of the baking of gingerbread and that's probably one of my favorite smells is is that, so those are the.

Becky Hadeed

Yes, that smell is I, I think gingerbread houses, it's got to be, I mean, one of the top three smells in the world, I think.

Speaker 2

That's right, and.

Becky Hadeed

I guess as a young mother you did get to experience both there.

Alexandra

I did, yeah.

Becky Hadeed

Oh, that you want to talk about magical. That almost brings happy tears to my eyes.

Alexandra

That's I agree. I know, and I can't wait. I get to see my boys tomorrow. We're going to know Friday. We're driving to Tulsa to see them and. I'm just I. I'm baking and creating things you know, cooking for them that they can take back to college with them. And it's just, you know, feeding your good children. Oh my gosh, that's just the best feeling in the whole world.

Becky Hadeed

Yes, it. It's almost like, it boils down to the one thing you can do, so you pour everything into that.

Alexandra

Yes, agree, well said.

Becky Hadeed

Ohh my goodness, so just following up on on your beautiful picture, which you painted a very magical picture for us, so thank you. We're not, yeah, we're not bursting my bubble.

Alexandra

I wouldn't want to.

Becky Hadeed

Actually, it got bigger and greater and more lustrous as you spoke, so you spoke about the warmth in the home. And I have a really good friend, I think I mentioned her to you, who's Icelandic, and we went there in the summer. And we were boiling hot every time we were inside and she explained, "Oh yeah, Icelandic people do not like to be cold. We are used to being warm." Is that true in Norwegian homes? Because it is such a cold climate, part of it is even in the Arctic Circle, are you used to your homes being very, very warm?

Alexandra

I don't keep my house warm at all. As a matter of fact, everyone's always complaining, like, "If you don't go to Alex and Patrick's house bring a sweater." But yeah, my parents keep their house really warm and most of the like the modern houses have heating in the floor instead of like coming out of the vents. And so it kind of rises. Up, so sometimes it feels a little stifling you. Know so I don't know I. I mean, I don't. Really remember it being too stuffy. But she's probably right that now that if. I think back. On it that that it probably is fairly warm in the wintetime in most homes, yes.

Becky Hadeed

It's very, very cozy?

Alexandra

Yes, it is koselig, as they say.

Becky Hadeed

Right, right? Remember the big trend? Maybe like three years ago? The... I can't pronounce it....

Alexandra

Yes, hygge and that is so Scandinavian.

Becky Hadeed

You just brought that back.

Alexandra

And it is very important culturally.

Becky Hadeed

I see, I can imagine and I'm sure it's that way when you step inside the bakery, there's just....

Alexandra

Yes, yes, and my grandmother were, so my Mor's Mor in Norwegian that is Mother's mother, so that's what I called my mom's mom and she worked at a bakery. She was a single mom and she worked at a bakery her entire life. That's where she retired from and so bakeries, not only do they smell amazing, but it brings back memories of my grandmother. I was very, very close to her and I in the summer times I would stay with her all by myself for the first week of vacation and she would take me to the bakery and I would get.

Becky Hadeed

Oh wow.

Alexandra

To help. And you know, pretend, I was a big kid and and serve people, bread and things like that but but they have so many, I mean that all these types of fresh breads and they have rolls and pastries and one of my favorite ones Skolleboller - Skolle meaning school and boller - its just basically a a bun and it's, gosh, almost a sourdough type of bread and then on they put a a custard in the middle and then they sprinkle coconut on top. And like, that's what kids on the way home from school they stop in at the bakery and they get a Skolleboller on their way home. You know so, those are the amazing memories that I have of bakeries in Norway.

Becky Hadeed

Oh, that's yeah, that sounds. That sounds amazing now. I did an interview several years ago with a chef from Norway. Chef Mikko, I think is his name. He's pretty famous in the, at least where I live in the DC area, and, uh, I interviewed him about semla buns, which come out, you know, right in the Lenten season and he was very yeah. He was very like, you know, these young people are extending the season. They're really supposed to just be eating on a couple of days, and now it's a month and then it's getting longer and in some places they have them out all year round and it was like sacrilegious for him so.

Alexandra

I'll have to check that.

Becky Hadeed

Of course, it was also profitable for him, so he he was, he was OK with it from that perspective. But I'm wondering, are there, now you gave these Norwegian Peppermint balls, which we'll talk about in a minute. But in the bakery, are there treats or a special bread or different types of cakes or traditional food that were specifically put out at that time of year , maybe on the first Sunday of Advent?

Alexandra

Not that anything particular comes to mind for. Me, although I'm sure. Like the Kransekake, you've probably heard of that the almond ring cake, the one that stacks. From a wide ring all the way to the top. Have you ever seen those?

Becky Hadeed

I think on one of the Christmas specials of the Great British Bake Off.

Speaker

OK, there you go.

Alexandra

Almonds, just ground up almonds and powdered sugar and egg white. That's it, but that's a very special cake. And so they sell them I'm sure that at Christmastime, they would sell those and then at the 17th of May celebration. So that's the one thing that comes to my mind.

Tune in for more on

Singing Christmas carols in traditional Norwegian folk tunes around the Christmas tree

Good food on Christmas eve and Christmas Day, including all the famous Norwegian dishes and an alcohol that travels the world

How Father Christmas began as a Christmas gnome! - and how parents in Norway flipped a traditional story on its head to motivate their children to be good!

Risgrot: The special rice pudding left out for Santa Claus

Christmas time: From December 23 to Epiphany on 12th Night, January 6th