I had a very nice time visiting Tor (my colleague & blog friend) and his wife Anna this weekend. They invited me over since Diane, my wife, took a girls trip to Sweden.
At Tor and Anna’s, one feels at home the minute you enter their door. I could tell you a lot of good stories since we had great fun. However, I will concentrate on the sensational good food instead and keep you guessing on the rest. Now we are really talking slow food! Let me invite you to sit in with us, while I give you some details:
They set the table with their best china – hand painted by Anna and silver wear of course (click all pics to enlarge!).
Anna had bought some fresh catfish and I was delighted – on of my favourite! Talking about ‘Slow food’; we where all in the kitchen for hours, making this dish. I’m sorry, there is no recipe since Anne is a kind of self made chef, making the dish out of what’s in the fridge and freezer. So joining her during her cooking, is like a fairytale in food making.
I told her, I just had to share this with my blog friends and I think she was a bit stressed as I was running around her, taking pictures all the time :-). This is how she did it:
You take a glass baking dish and put some butter in the bottom and then the fish fillets.
First, find some muscles, scallops and shrimp and add one thing at the time.
Then you whip up and add a creamy fish sauce, slice and boil some leeks and carrots, add some milk and put some sliced cheese on top:
Olive oil marinaded slices of ham with grated parmesian cheese and basil on top together with toast. We had a lovely Italian red wine: Travaglini Gattinara: Vendemma 2001.
Then the main course; Anna’s Catfish Casserole Delight: served on hand painted plates she has made herself:
You might think we are full and that it ended here. But, you haven’t been to Tor and Anna’s then. For dessert she cooked up homemade fruit (hip rose) syrup while in the kitchen which was poured warm over lemon ice cream and blackberries:
… and the top of the cream to me: Their best cognac: De Luze – XO of course!
So I guess you now know what I mean about a jolly good time in the kitchen, about slow food made in a relaxing and very casual atmosphere, about a nice gathering around the table and a delightful dinner. To me, this is the obvious definition of quality time and if you agree please go over to Tor and tell him you liked it too :-)
All of my favorite foods. Yummy. It looks so good. I’m hungry now. We are having fish for dinner tonight, but I don’t think it’s going to be as good as what you had. Thanks for sharing. I do believe I may have gained a few pounds just by showing up here. Have a great day. :)
RennyBA
I knew you would like it Sandee – hope yours where good too! Yea; its Monday and I’m still full :)
What a yummy feast! The food looks delicious and it sounds like a very warm friendly evening, just the sort I like. Good friends, good food, good conversation – what could be nicer? :-)
RennyBA
Nothing could be nicer – a perfect match :-)
Oh it all looks so yummy, and best of all served on Anna’s hand painted china! She is so talented! It’s totally beautiful! I am so glad you got away and that you had such a good time with Tor and Anna. A very nice addition to your weekend!
RennyBA
I knew you would love it Maribeth and one day I hope all of can meet and have an evening like this!
Thanks for your warm thoughts and support too!
You are lucky to have such nice friends!
The food looks yummy!
RennyBA
I am indeed Sidney and I so much hope you can come and visit Norway and meet those wonderful people too!
Wow, what a feast! You’re tummy must be really happy with that.
Btw, Renny thanks for the visit, and btw just in case you still do tags, I have a good one for you, here:
http://bittersweetcollide.com/2008/04/07/stop-global-warming/
RennyBA
Yea; more happy than it has been for long!
Thanks for the invite – great initiative!
Wow! I want them as friends as well, can you share? ;-)
You seem to attract good food everywhere you go! You really need to take a trip to Canada!
RennyBA
You know I’ll gladly share with a great blog friend like you ;-)
I am and would love to eat yours too – how about February 2010? (combined with seeing the Olympics you know :lol: )
She did a great job!!!! I like the Cognac too…ahahah….Great to know that you had a wonderful time with friends
RennyBA
She did and so did the Cognac hahaha
What a wonderful thing to have friends like Anna and Tor to “adopt” you when your wife is out-of-town and cook you a gourmet meal. I’m truly envious…
RennyBA
I do agree: very sweet of them – hope you one day will be able to experience their hospitality too.
It’s great to have such good friends and such delicious food!
But I am not acclimatize myself to slow food, even with best friends. I’d like enjoy food in a normal speed first, then enjoy a slow tea to midnight with them…..Oh, Maybe it’s another kind of slow food.:)
RennyBA
We might be a bit different in style, but the most important thing is to have a good time and enjoy the company :)
What a fab feast. I wish I was there too but I’m too far. ;-)
Looks delicious ! and the wine sounds like my blog name :lol: !
RennyBA
I was actually thinking of you when I saw the label on the bottle :lol:.
Looks like a wonderful evening! I wish I was there! I am so happy that you all are having such a good time together. Good that you are blogging so that I can keep an eye on all the things my dad is doing while I am on the other side of the world. Looking forward to more posts. Have a good week. Ingelin
RennyBA
Well you know the house and both of them well, so you also know you are taking good care of as a guest.
Your always welcome over to check up on Dad :-)
I have a similar recipe for a seafood newburgh that comes out well with almost any seafood. The dishes are lovely – what a talent!
RennyBA
Sounds delicious too and I do agree; the dishes was so beautiful!
made me long for seafood again after my beach escapades. i have an upcoming post on that :P
RennyBA
So isn’t beaches and seafood a perfect match then? Looking forward to read your new post :P
Anna and Tor are amazingly hospitable! She must be very talented to paint china and cook so well! The dessert looks fabulous! As you know I don’t eat fish so would become very fat there just eating bread and dessert!
Do you use plug -in slow cookers (crock pots) over there?
RennyBA
They are, indeed and Anna is very artistic too.
I know seafood isn’t your cup of tea, but you can always have the dessert and we don’t eat fish all the time you know!
We don’t have crock pots here Ruth.
when i visit your blog, i can’t help but feel hungry :)
RennyBA
So hungry or not: welcome back any time :)
That looks so nice Renny and it is nice that you guys always have these kind of nice dinners and good company!
RennyBA
Thanks – I do hope one day I can introduce you too Tor and Anna – maybe in June? ;-)
Looks awfully fish to me … I’m sure it was good.
RennyBA
I know your not a fish lover Teena – thanks for commenting anyway!
Yo Renny I must have missed out a lot of good stuff ya…I wanna be there and what a way to describe about feeling at home once you stepped in….I wanna visit TorAa & his wife :D
Hmmm….I wonder if TorAa would welcome me in his home :D *hint hint*
RennyBA
Well, we can’t share everything in public you know – come on over and join us one day – I’m sure your welcome as we would have a lot of fun *hint hint*
It looks delicious !! what a treat to have such dear people as friends you can visit :)
Lovely pictures, I am so hungry now!
RennyBA
It was and of course I feel blessed :)
it is just such a lovely thing to be able to be in a kitchen with good friends and prepare a meal together. anna must be quite an artist to paint those dishes. the design looks so intricate and lovely. thanks for sharing the time and beautiful meal with us. :)
This was the wrong post to eat whilst hungry! What a delicious looking feast!
Cxx
Haha, that should have been “the wrong post to READ whilst hungry.” Talk about your Freudian slips!
Cxx
RennyBA
So you where a bit READy when you comment first? :lol:
It’s so nice what you here write. We had a wonderful time together, as we always do. And I’m very grateful you took care of this post, while I’m away on an IT-congress.
PS. I did a short post today, in between, with the both of us in the Sunshine at the Balcony. You might remember how crazy Rosa and Felicia went when they had heard about them having kittens during the Summer. *gigles*
RennyBA
Its told from the bottom of my heart you know – thanks for a lovely party!
I’ve seen it – it was revealing :lol:
Please join me tomorrow, April 9th for a celebration on Dackel Princess!
RennyBA
What a love 20 years of happiness post!
This is exactly what I expect Heaven to be like, Renny. EXACTLY!
Looks delicious. Tell Anna that I am sorry I was occupied with the Mafia, but you know the Mafia cannot be ignored. I had an offer i can’t refuse!!!! Tonight I promise you a fish delight with your children present for the evening meal…Renny’s youngest son had his birthday yesterday…everybody send your congratulations!! We will be having trout and potatoes au gratin – in the Norwegian way…stay tuned!
wow,that looks really wonderful and yummy. thank you for sharing the story about the food. i am curius and will try it one of these days. a friend of mine was just asking me about a fish dish you can put easy in the oven. i will tell her about this.
btw, i have to tor that that the plates look so beautiful.
Hey Renny,
Beautiful plates: Anna is very talented! congrats to her :D!
It seems like you had a very peaceful and relaxing evening! I am under impression that you love gathering with people and share nice meals and conversations…you could easily be an African lol :)! Are all Norwegians like you? :)
I had a nice time reading this, Renny!
Cheers
I’m back, kind of slowly.
So, even though I don’t like mussels at all, I must admit that this looks delicious… Ah, yes, I can imagine that you had a really good time with them!!!! They are really easy going nice persons, both of them.
Great pictures and we got to see Annas handpainted China too. she really are talented, it looks like something from the big stores.
Thanks for your nice comment on the loss of my Mom.
Oh my! Look at the scrumptious catfish dish and dessert! Anna is really talented. Those are very beautifully painted China that she did!
Toraa and Anna are such great friends and hosts. I must make an effort to visit you all in Norway!
The food looks wonderful as does the table. The china is so beautiful and I’m impressed that she could paint it herself. Thank you for visiting my blog. The Big Bang list is a great way to find blogs and I’m glad to have found yours.
Wow! Seafoods Galore! You know my dad would always send me pictures from Norway, and stories of how clean it is there and how nice the people are…The photos would include big fishes that he’s holding!
Thanks for leading me here and for doing the big bang tag!! Good day!
Hi! What glorious food you have here! This got me really hungry. :)
By the way, just dropping by to say hello and thanks for visiting my blog. Have a great day!
http://www.barefootedme.blogspot.com
Looks totally yummy!! Can I come too, next time?
Even if I did a nice dinner tonight, just watching and reading this post I bekome again very hungry suddenly! The atmospher and the self made knowing of Anna impresse me! Isn’t the life beautiful?!
Awesome! Nothing like cooking together with friends and/or family and then enjoying the food together.