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Posts from the ‘Food’ Category

Mar 10

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Epilogue

The night before we left Boston to spend a year on Rødøy, we got cold feet. Sitting among 6 giant duffle bags, we asked ourselves, “Why are we doing this?”

We had a good life and had no need to escape anything. Instead of staying on that path, I resigned from my job and we set off to live on a small island north of the Arctic Circle for a year, with nothing planned beyond the year. It was crazy.

That night, we proceeded to work out all the necessary steps to reverse course. Despite the last minute doubts, we stuck to the plan. And it turned out to be the best thing our family has ever done.

6 months after we came back from our year off, the children are happy and well adjusted socially and intellectually. Kristin is teaching part-time at a private school in nearby Cambridge, and she loves her job. The app I started writing, Voice Dream Reader, has acquired a passionate customer-base around the globe, reaching top 10 grossing educations apps at one point or another in 48 countries. That doesn’t make us rich, but we live comfortably while my work gives me profound satisfaction: I feel closely connected to my customers and I’m making a small but positive difference in their lives.

I’ve changed. I think. It’s difficult to tell because I’m hardly a neutral observer of myself. When I talked to companies about jobs after I came back, I smiled and nodded but my heart just wasn’t in it. Meanwhile, I kept going back to work on my app even when sales had not taken off, stubbornly tolerating being unemployed far longer than the old me would have. Perhaps, the knowledge that we could live happily with less gave me strength. At the same time, I’m a lot less stressed about things, and I sometimes find the level of stress around me incomprehensible. I’d like to think that I became a better person.

But even if we did not end up at a better place after the year, we would still do it again without hesitation. Because we had an amazing year that is a treasure of experience and memory. For that we’re deeply grateful to Rødøy and everyone there. For the rest of our lives, in good times and bad, this year will be a reference point for what life could be.

Here are the photographic highlights from our year living on Rødøy, and below are some representative blog posts:

Island Scenery

Fishing

Miscellaneous

Jun 25

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

On Saturday night, after all our guests have either retired to bed and left for home by boat, Kristin and I took the boat we borrowed out just a stone’s throw away so we could see the sun. It was 2:30 am, and the sun had already started its lazy flight up. The light was fairytale like. We turned off the engine and floated among sounds of seabirds and light breeze. Kristin said that if she died then, she would’ve been happy with all of it. Me, too. Read more

Feb 23

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Cold Smoking Salmon

Our neighbor Ove built a big industrial sized smoker recently. It’s a monstrous beast of a contraption constructed, fittingly, using an old aluminum container for salmon feed. On one end is a stove in which smoke is generated. From there, the smoke goes through a long metal tube to cools down and enters the big container. Inside the container there is a row of wooden racks on which fish filets are hung. You can probably smoke 50 filets at a time. Read more

Jan 30

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Dried Fish Dipped in Chocolate

Last November, I went to Mo i Rana to buy Christmas presents. After spending one hour at the first mall, I was drained. I had no idea of what to get for people. It turned out leaving without a list was a huge mistake. Walking the aisles of big stores (big by island standards) didn’t at all make me inspired. Then, in a moment of desperation, a revelation! I would go home empty handed and order all the presents from a chocolate factory that I just heard about. Read more

Jan 13

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Cod Offal

I didn’t know that cod had tongues. I didn’t even know they could speak. Kristin’s father told me about them being a delicacy a long time ago, and I had been anxious to try them ever since. Until last week, I only caught relatively small cod whose tongues were too small. Read more

Jan 4

5 Comments

Pinnekjøtt: The Best Norwegian Dish

The dish most commonly associated with Norway is lutefisk, which has become the symbol of Norwegian cuisine and made the term “Norwegian cuisine” an oxymoron. Even those who can’t name the capital of Norway know about lutefisk, probably through the popular American radio show “Prarie Home Companion.” Read more

Nov 16

6 Comments

Food Shopping

Sure, there is a lot of fish on Rødøy. Even if I can’t catch any myself, we can always buy fish from Steinar for cheap. But we can’t live on fish alone. Scurvy is a nasty disease. Your teeth fall out. Before we came to the island, we knew there was a general store, but we expected its selection to be very limited. We were especially worried about getting fresh fruits and vegetables. Read more

Nov 9

18 Comments

5 Best Cod Recipes

I’m sick of cod. Nine out of ten fish I catch is cod. I’ve paid modest amounts for monkfish, halibut, ling-cod, rock fish, and crab, but I have not, and will never pay for cod, because I can pretty much guarantee that on any given day, with enough time, I can catch enough cod on my own.

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Oct 6

14 Comments

How to Salt and Dry Fish

When I go fishing, I rarely catch just the right amount of fish for one dinner. Sometimes I don’t catch anything, so I’d go to the general store in disgrace. Sometimes I catch so much that I feel guilty. When I do have a good day, I need to preserve the extra fish for later, less bountiful days. Surely, preserving food is one of the oldest problems facing humanity. Read more

Aug 29

3 Comments

First 24 Hours

My first 24 hours on Rødøy are best captured with visuals:

Dining on Our Deck

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