Unusually normal

Normality is a much stranger thing than it appears be. After a holiday like the one Ariz and I just enjoyed in Norway, we are once again reminded of this fact, and I seem to be re-learning (although at a quicker pace than a toddler would) all the things that is my “normal” life. The sting in my eyes from onion being cut in the kitchen; the pace and settings of the treadmill at the gym; the fantastically expensive vegetables in this country exceeded only by the selection of sun dried and pickled tomatoes. It’s in the little things I notice I’ve been on holiday, and to me, the little things include both food and exercise. But while I’ve indulged in inhumane amounts of pork, gravy, potatoes, potato chips, cookies, chocolate, and much too little physical exertion while I was away, it was nice to feel that I was fully capable of completing my horrendous lunge/jump/push-up supersets when I once again entered our much loved gym on Saturday. It was almost like an extra treat, after all the deliciousness of Norway, that we were still (albeit a tad less) fit. 

On our last day at home, Ariz and I went shopping for a cookbook. 

“We need some inspiration,” he said to me, “if we’re going to keep up with cooking homemade food.”

In Scandinavia, we pride ourselves in the culinary art of husmannskost, literally “houseman’s food,” meaning basic, nutritious, and tasty food that fulfils your dietary needs all day long, even through the arduous skiing and mountain climbing we do every day at home. Maybe not the last bit, entirely, but it does keep you alert and concentrated. So we roamed the aisles of a small bookshop in Oslo, and finally came upon a cook book literally called “The Cook Book”. Which is saying a lot in Norway. We paid the 80 dollars it cost, and soon realised that this book is the most marvellous thing to have hit our shelves; separate sections for fish, pork, beef, vegetables, grains, and anything else you can think of that is a basal element of cooking. This thing has everything from standard cooking measurements to basic sushi craft; how to fillet a cod and how to make the perfect steak. I’m thankful that in my slow, and somewhat reluctant, ease into the everyday life of Perth, I have this guru with me; just as a reminder that even a boring stew can be mixed with spices I won’t even begin to attempt spelling here.