Frozen

Let me start by saying that it is a really good thing that I'm flexible.  I originally planned Frozen this week thinking I better be sure to get this one in early so that it's at least cold, since there is absolutely no way to plan for snow.  Ha, we are currently having record high temps this February, so definitely no snow.  I was also planning on just making some sandwiches ("we finish each other's sandwiches") and then melting some chocolate that we could dip some fruit and marshmallows in (since some friends are worth melting for.)  However, Patrick had other ideas.  As we were driving home from church Sunday morning, he asked what was for dinner.  Since I was planning sandwiches for our Frozen viewing I figured we would do that for lunch, so my response to Patrick was "I don't know, what would you like?"  His face visibly fell as he said "oh, you mean you don't have a nice Norwegian meal planned like from Akershus?"  LOL I think my husband just confirmed my belief that Akershus may just be his favorite Disney restaurant.  Needless to say, by the time we made it home I had a new meal planned.  After a trip to the grocery store and a few calls to family, we had a nice Norwegian-themed family dinner.
Shortly before our family arrived, we started Frozen for Littlecjc to watch since we figured she would rather play when our family showed up anyway.  I'm not sure how much she saw before and after they arrived, but let's be honest, it's not like she hasn't seen that one a million times before.  In fact, her first birthday was Frozen themed. (You can read about that here)

Thanks to pinterest, I found this recipe here for authentic Norwegian meatball / kjøttkaker.  This post thankfully planned my entire meal.  She stated that the meatball should be covered with brown gravy and served with boiled potatoes and steamed vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  So, this is exactly what I did.  It was still a pretty simple meal to make, but it always seems crazy when you have company over while you're cooking and you want to rush around so that you're done faster.  My mom's pretty awesome at helping here.  I feel a little bad, since the last two times I've had her over for dinner I've put her to work, but it's nice to get that one on one time with her (even though I'm an adult) since usually Littlecjc gets all her attention these days.  The meal was a success, and everyone loved the meatballs.  Even though they were all like "so we're eating Norwegian food tonight, huh?" when they agreed to come or arrived, I knew that it would be okay.  Since my family is of a German background, I didn't think it was too far of a stretch.  I can actually see us making this meal again on any regular night.  Here's a picture for your drooling pleasure.

For dessert, I found this recipe for Norwegian almond cake.  I didn't have either of the pans suggested, but I attempted it in a loaf pan.  I also didn't realize that I didn't have almond extract when I was at the store, so I'm not sure how authentic our cake was since I used vanilla instead of almond.  My glaze also did not turn out as a glaze looking anything like the picture, but even with all that, the cake was tasty.  Unfortunately, we ate it all up before remembering to get a picture.

When we finished with dinner, we actually ended up watching Trolls, instead of Frozen.  We gave Littlecjc this movie for Valentine's Day and she was so excited to share it with everyone.  Over Christmas break, my mom had actually taken her to see this movie and she loved it.  She's been talking about it ever since and even a few weeks ago she made the statement that Guy Diamond shot sparkles out of his butt.  Since I hadn't seen the movie yet, I called my mom to ask her and she said she didn't remember that part.  If you haven't seen it yet, let me tell you that my mom was wrong and Littlecjc was right.  She was so proud of herself showing everyone.  After the movie, she even made up her own game of "hug time" where everyone had to take turns calling out hug time as everyone else walked away.  Upon hearing "hug time" everyone had to run back to the caller and give them a hug.  Not super exciting if you're not three or grandma, but she had a blast.

During the movie, we also did a blind taste test of some chocolate.  My brother and sister-in-law had picked up this chocolate while in Spain and loved it.

They recently found this locally for our comparison.

Even though it was a blind taste test, everyone knew which sample came from Spain and which did not.  Although the bars were similar, the chocolate on the outside was so different.  The one from Spain was so creamy in comparison.  It really did melt in your mouth.

We had a great evening of good food shared with great family.  I really wish I had taken more pictures, but after finishing dinner, I just soaked up the family time instead.