Thank you all so much for your advice! I've had a hectic week, but finally used it for the first time this morning for a sourdough spelt loaf. I didn't soak it, just whacked it in the oven when I turned it on. Then I left the lid on until the end. I would have taken the lid off for the last 5 minutes, as @dbcurrie suggested, but my instant read thermometer told me it was done, and the crust was actually lovely. The loaf is one of the nicest I've ever made (I'm pretty new to this kind of baking): the crust is brown and crunchy, but not tough, and the crumb is open, springy and delicate.

Next time I will soak it, as per your suggestions, and see what difference that makes. After today I'm so excited to experiment more with it! I'll let you know how I get on.

Happy Thanksgiving :D

caley

I used to live in Oslo, but I never ate out at particularly fancy places, so these are very local, non-touristy suggestions.
For fantastic coffee, go to Tim Wendelboe. It's a 'micro roastery' at Grunnergata 1 in Grunerløkka. The coffee is absolutely wonderful, as are the cookies, and it's in a really pretty neighbourhood.
For delicious, inexpensive middle eastern food (I think the owners are Palestinian, but the menu is broader), go to Cafe Habibi at Storgata 14. Here you will find young and old, students, people on dates, families, drunk and sober, a real cross section of people. Also, sometimes belly dancers.
The Mediterranean Grill in Torggata (down the end next to Zorbas) is generally considered to have some of the best kebabs in Oslo. I always used to get the falafel and still dream about it now. But be forewarned, it is a very Norwegian take on a kebab/falafel.
Fru Hagen in Thorvald Meyersgate 40. It's a really lovely cafe with nice outdoor seating (great people watching) in Grunerløkka. They're open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the quality of their ingredients is very high for Oslo. Basic fare done very well.
For a drink in a nice, very Oslo sort of setting, go to Oslo Mekaniske Verkstad in Tøyenbekken 34. It's in an old industrial building in the Grønland neighbourhood, and is very cosy when it's cold outside!
There are lots of extremely limited supermarkets in Oslo (Kiwi, Rimi, Rema, etc.), but the best are Centra and Jacobs. Centra is in Majorstua, which is quite central, and I highly recommend it for stocking up on Norwegian staples before the end of your trip!
Have fun!

I saw some in the Natuurwinkel in Waterlooplein this morning!

I have never tried to buy cranberries (called veenbessen in Dutch), but they absolutely do have them here in Amsterdam - in fact, they are even grown in the Netherlands. You have missed the farmers markets in Nieuwmarkt and Noordermarkt for this week, or I would have suggested trying one of them. Maybe you should try going to Natuurwinkel? The one in Waterlooplein has a fairly large produce section, they definitely have them in the form of jam, and they also might have them frozen. Otherwise, you can buy unsweetened cranberry juice many places (definitely in Natuurwinkel), and maybe you could use it in combination with red currants (rode bosbes). Lingonberries are not so easy to find, but currants are everywhere.
Good luck and don't despair. You may not find them fresh, but with a bit of perseverance you will find them in a jar.

Ah, I know the dilemma well. I broke my jaw in March and had to be on a liquid diet for six weeks. Even after the six weeks were over, I had to ease back into eating solids very, very slowly, and still now my jaw does not function like it used to.

For the first week I ate a lot of blended soups (it was cold and I felt extremely ill). Tomato-lentil, chickpea-spinach, etc. I lost weight very quickly and got weak, so I decided that I needed to up the nutrients and especially the fat. I started blending full fat yogurt with berries for breakfast. It was wonderful, and one of the few things I'm still doing. I also started making things like peanut soup (a vegetarian version of the Surinamese dish), and daal with lots of ghee. I ate a lot of quinoa porridge and I would have spoons of almond butter or mashed avocado for a snack. Once, I am embarrassed to admit, I was craving ketchup to such an extent that I made mashed potatoes and ate them with ketchup on them. It was totally disgusting and not something that I repeated.

Here's what I missed: RAW VEGETABLES!!!! Crunchy salads and things like that. Also, food made by someone other than me. For six whole weeks it was basically impossible to get takeaway or go to a restaurant. I don't normally do those things much, but I really missed it when I couldn't. Also, chocolate. Sigh.

My first non liquid meal after six weeks was a Thai red curry with tofu at my local Thai place. It was delicious but terrifying after such a long time eating pastes through a straw and with a tiny child-sized spoon. It was also not helped by the fact that two seconds in I ate a very hot chili and spent the entire time coughing desperately. Still, it was nice to get back in the saddle, food-wise. And I can assure you that in the intervening months, my immersion blender has been gathering dust in the cupboard under the sink!

but of course what you described is nothing like æbleskiver :-)

I know a few freegans. And also, Giles Coren did a segment about it on the British programme 'The F Word,' in which he demonstrates that it's not actually disgusting - supermarkets throw away plenty of good food every day, and people who are serious freegans know where to go for reliably fresh food. Some freegans are proper vegans, and some will only eat meat/dairy/etc. that they have obtained for free.

Spelt is a species of wheat (and it contains wheat gluten). However, some people who have problems digesting normal wheat are able to eat spelt. It is nutty and delicious, although spelt bread is generally denser than normal wheat bread. I also use it (in combination with buckwheat and millet flours) to make fantastic pizza dough. Long live spelt!

Maybe if Americans referred to arugula as 'rocket,' as the British do, it would sound a bit more butch (and even kind of militaristic and hawkish) and then John McCain would stage photo ops with it.

@sfgoo, I know, this is why you should cultivate some Swedish friends, particularly ones who were born in the early 70's and view this as nostalgia food rather than a national embarassment. Otherwise, google flygande jacob and you will find many identical recipes online (which I did because I couldn't believe that this was an actual dish). The pictures that come up in google images are the most accurate food photography I've ever seen, lol.

I hate it too. I think it tastes rancid.

@sadiepix - just looked it up, and it's actually called 'World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking' - a clunky name for a fantastic book. It's one of the few cookbooks that I have that I've actually made recipes from, and every one has been a gem.

I cook chickpeas in lots of different ways, but this slightly unusual recipe is the one people always ask for. It's good with pita bread and yogurt, and sometimes I add some red pepper flakes when I want something a bit spicier.

Chickpeas and Apricots

olive oil
1 bay leaf, broken in half
1 cinnamon stick
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 small tin tomatoes
1 cup chopped dried apricots
2 large tins chickpeas
water
salt
pepper
lemon juice
fresh mint

In a pan over medium heat, dry fry the cumin seeds until their aroma rises and they are nice and toasted. Set aside. In the oil, sauté the bay leaf and cinnamon stick until the cinnamon stick begins to uncurl. Add the onion and continue to cook until the onion is brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the cumin seeds and cook a minute more, until the aroma rises. Now add the tomatoes and incorporate them well into the onion mixture. Add the apricots and chickpeas, along with a little water. Cook, partly covered, until the apricots are melty and the stew is very thick. Season with salt and pepper and some lemon juice, and stir through a few handfuls of chopped mint.