Sun 15 May 2016. Trangsviken to Follinge

Sun 15 May 2016. Trangsviken to Follinge
Woke to a dryer cold this morning - piercing inside jacket! Enjoyed a traditional Norwegian porridge with sugar and cinnamon, and fine Norwegian crackers with ham and sour cream for breakfast. Heard that the winners of Eurovision were Ukraine. Their entrant Jamala wrote the (non-political?) song inspired by the forced removal of Tartars such as her grandmother from Crimea in the 1940’s by Stalinist troops. Australia excelled, Dami Im coming 2^nd, and the favourite Russia was 3rd after counting public votes. KnowRoaming sim sticker had arrived from US, so GirlRob watched the YouTube instruction video and installed it easily on her phone. Downloaded app to manage credit loading and real time usage, got two free numbers one UK one US. It was great to have access to internet, happily downloaded, updated and communicated!

Eskil and Julia drove us to Follinge, seeing white-necked cranes and deer on road.  There had been three accidents on road overnight. We met their good friends Anita (ex-teacher) and Goran pronounced "Uron", (an ex-carpenter), who taught us how to make/bake flatbread in their gasthaus. They removed the bunk bed and put up a long table. We watched them mix dough in baby bath, give it a light knead, use a giant rolling pin to make a circle, thoroughly brush off excess flour (otherwise forms bitter tasting yellow patches on bread), use a small rolling pin with cube pattern to flatten evenly, then a wire rolling pin to aerate dough, shuffle a long flat stick all way under centre of circle, pick up with both sides hanging over stick, put on huge circular paddle and unroll second side, give a final brush off to the underside, then give one effective shake from paddle to floor of bread oven, bake lightly one side only, remove, place on rack, cool, cut into large (pizza sized) triangles, and pack some in large sandwich bags for freezer. 

Guesthouse and carpentry shop

Then it was Wanderoos turn – it didn’t take long to get the hang of it given our hosts did all the preparation and actual cooking!! Satisfied with the morning's work, we sat down for the taste test, applying thick yellow butter with a wooden spreader, using a cheese slicer for desired thickness of cheese (both implements made by Goran in his workshop), roll up and eat with more of Eskil’s medicinal alcohol from Ukraine! 

We were delighted to tour the main house, overflowing with the family’s knickknacks, mementos, photos, tapestries, embroidery, carvings and plants. Anita's sewing room displayed wall hangings, her finely worked handicrafts, pictures, appliquéd quilts, throwovers, cushions, chair upholstery. The ceiling of their entry was lined with magnificent thin birch tree tiles which were over 100 years old.

Next it was Goran’s turn to show us through his workshop, with a place for every woodworking tool or machine possible. He made knife handles, wooden jigsaws, candle holders, moose breadboards, concentric monster trivets, cheese slicers, butter spreaders (we bought last two in beautiful mountain ash, the emblem tree of Jamtland). Goran had picked up lifelong illness from a hand infection on the job, and has recently had to pare back his once expansive gardening to a couple of vegie beds, blackberry bushes, greenhouse, hanging plants, bird feeders and boxes, so lucky to see a squirrel family in one. Goran told story of mother bringing baby squirrel in her mouth and placing on ground in front of him whilst she bounded off - he was worried about  her motives until he saw her foraging in nearby trees - she eventually came back and picked up her baby – he said he never got paid for his “squirrel day care”! We walked up several blocks to buy eggs from farmer, Anita pointed out who lived in each of houses and heard their history/ life stories.

Spent some quality story time in lounge room around stove built into one wall, clever design to spread warmth into other rooms. Now they are retired, Anita and Goran travel three months every year. Dinner was a magnificent fish feast - smoked pike, grilled perch (freshly caught), creamy salmon salsa, GirlRob was touched that Anita was aware of her allergy and kept prawns up one end only of the salmon pate log. Wanderoos made sure the recipes of the roast potato salad and quinoa green salad were shared - and thankful they had contributed Australian wines to the feast. Finished with "Americans" slice, cream and fresh raspberries. After a delightful day, everyone was yawning by our departure at 8.30pm…