DDE concert at the Sunndal Cultural Festival

Today's culture festival main attraction is the concert held by D.D.E, who is a Norwegian pop/rock band founded in 1992.

While working I could hear most of their songs thumping out of speakers, and I have to say I sang along when their most famous songs came:

"Rompa mi"

"E6"

"Her blir det liv! Rai! Rai!"

Sunndal Cultural Festival 2013

Sunndal Cultural Festival is a annual festival where they celebrates at the end of June and this year is held from 20 - 29 June.

There are a multitude of concerts, events and exhibitions during the festival, however, the main attraction is the music play of "Lady Arbuthnott - The mistress of Elverhøy" (Lady Arbuthnott - Frua på Elverhøy), by Norwegian playwright, Stig Nilsson with music by Lars Ramsøy-Halle.

It's a story about love and sorrow, abundance and poverty. Stig Nilsson - who wrote the libretto for the musical, said this about Barbara:

"For me the story of Lady Arbuthnott, is the story of the woman who lost everything."

The play is based on a true history of Barbara Arbuthnott, who come to Sunndal in 1866 for her honeymoon. She and her third husband, William Arbuthnott, fell in love with the Norwegian nature, the valley, the mountains and the fishing in the Driva river. The visit was repeated the next two years before she decided to settled in Sunndalsøra. In the summer of 1968 she bought half of the farm Løykja, consumption Elverhøy. The farm is now a heritage park, located on Grøa in Sunndal municipality.

Because of her strong personality and her active involvement in the community, she was legendary in her own lifetime. She made the Victoria Era a part of the culture and lifestyle of Sunndal local history. In the vernacular, she was eventually titled as "Sunndals uncrowned queen".

This years is 18 consecutive years for the music play.

Because of the annual festival I will from tomorrow on stay in Sunndalsøra for work, and I am really looking forward for it!

After all, Sunndal is well know for her wild and beautiful scenery with alpine mountains and fjords.

17 May feast

As usual, we are quite careful with the economy, since we are students and do not have the best earnings.

However we took ourselves afford to an feast, since it's the national day. Once in a while should be allowed.

Pork loin steak, with almond potato, carrots and Bearnaise sauce <3

Easter cake

We managed to return from Thailand's tropical warmth to a Norwegian Easter and even buy a Easter cake! Wish you all a Happy Easter!

Prince Restaurant (王子饭店)

Once again we are at Prince Restaurant, but this time with a different menu than last time, and it's a gift to Esta, my mom's childhood friend. Since we got to stay at her place for free, we wanted to thank her with a fancier dinner.

However, compared to last visit, this menu was kind of dull in comparing, it didn't give a special food experience. Don't misunderstand, the food was good, but not satisfying. I was expending more or something similar to the first time.

This time many of the dishes had poor/faint seasoning, some meat was chewy because of overcooking, and everything of service and serving took a very long time, we even got served wrong dishes. Because of this experience, I feel that the restaurant's standard goes a bit down when there is a lot of people to serve.

Our menu

Appetizer: Norway's smoked salmon

This time the salmon tasted more like those from Norway. They did a better job this time. Maybe the fish was more oily. Still a little hint of sweet aftertaste, the vegetables were fresh, tomato sweet, match well with the aftertaste. They used some kind of vinegar that spices the vegetables and gave it a sweet aroma.

Peking duck and pancakes

This is how you "set-it-up": 1. You add the vegetables around the middle of the pancake (in this case, cucumber and onion). 2. Add some hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce 3. Add duck meat on top. 4. Fold and eat <3

Pecking duck and pancakes - step 3 add the meat

Pecking duck and pancakes - step 4 fold and eat

Noodles with lobster.

The taste was OK, the lobster was fresh and the sauce was not to strong, so you was able to taste the natural of the lobster sweat meat. However they have overcooked the noodles - maybe they were too busy in the kitchen.

Dessert

Prince Restaurant (王子饭店)

Because I have completed my BA, we wanted a small celebration, so before the trip we had already made a reservations at Prince Restaurant (王子饭店), where we had a 9 course dinner. Fancy place with fancy food to a fair price.

Our menu

Appetizer: Norway's smoked salmon.

This dish was nothing like the "Norway-way" of smoked salmon. The meat was fresh, but maybe the fish wasn't oily enough. The smoked salmon I am used to have a hint of smoked and it's salt, and yet you can taste the natural flavor. This one was sweet, maybe too sweet after my taste. However it's was very good, you got a little hint of salmon aftertaste,  the vegetables were fresh, tomato sweet that match well with the aftertaste. And they used some kind of vinegar that spices the vegetables - gave it a sweet aroma, maybe too sweet.

This dish was special! It's was so simple and yet nothing I have tasted before. White fish, lightly fried, with a sweet orange sauce. Powerful taste.

Peking duck

Dessert:

Dessert:

Dessert: 

The year of the Water Snake

Happy Chinese New Year!
From today on heralds the beginning of the Year of the Water Snake.

The highlight of this merry festival, means in 15 days, from sunrise to sunset, I get to eat a lot of good food and snacks! Like the Sweet Egg Twist (蛋散, dansan), who is a traditional Chinese New Year snack, at least in Hong Kong. And that's also why I tried to make some.

Can't say my first try was a success... was like "Beauty and the Beast in comparison. Some went literally to hell, a totally disaster(!), but somehow, in a miraculous way,  I got hold of some few.

Everyone, I wish you a Happy Chinese New Year!

 恭喜發財! 龍馬精神! 萬事如意! 心想事成! 大吉大利! 出入平安!