Making the ChickieNob a Disney’s Frozen-themed Meal
The summer between my sophomore and junior year, I went to Norway, running away from a friendship that was unraveling. This woman had been my touchstone since we were children, and I didn’t know how to be myself without her. So I ran away and spent about three weeks in Oslo.
But it turns out that when you run away, you bring your troubles mentally with you. And sometimes they sound louder the further away you get from home.
I was a hot mess while in Oslo, unable to sleep, unable to get around very well because I spoke about three words of Norwegian, and none of them were useful. I bought a lot of yarn and sat in Vigeland Park crocheting to have something to do. I was miserable.
On the first day, before my friend left to go on the camping trip I skived off, he made me a potato dish using potatoes he bought on our walk home from a woman selling them on the side of the road. For the rest of the trip, I made this same dish over and over again, purchasing dirt-covered potatoes from the same woman’s stand.
We’ve seen Frozen now more times than I should probably admit (and I just got news yesterday that they’re coming out with a sing-along version on January 31st. Not sure if we’re getting it at our theater but I suppose I should call). The second Arendelle popped up on the screen, I knew it was modeled on the Oslo fjord and the castle was Akershus Slott. I lugged out my photo albums from Norway and the ChickieNob melted seeing that there was a tangible Arendelle that she could visit.
She wants to talk about Norway a lot, and at first it made me feel sad to remember how I felt on that trip. I was so small. So empty. Depleted. I had no confidence.
And then Josh reminded me of a totally ridiculous moment I had told him about from that trip, when my friend’s fiance’s mother had us over for dinner and she served frozen bagels. They had just started importing crappy Lenders bagels, and she bought some for me because I’m Jewish and she thought I might want a Jewish food. It was fairly mortifying but sweet, and she had no clue what to do with the bagels. But she kept saying, “so, you like these bagels? Because you’re Jewish? This is Jewish food?”
And now we can’t stop saying to each other, “so, you eat bagels?”
Last night, I made that potato dish for the ChickieNob. It had been almost twenty years since I last made it. I told her that it was definitely something that would have been served at Elsa’s coronation ceremony, so we had a Frozen dinner with pea soup (sans pork) and potato pancakes.
It made her night. And it reclaimed Scandinavia for me.
To make the pancakes, just peel and grate a few small, white potatoes into a mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt. Melt a 1/2 tbsp of butter in a big pan, moving it around to coat the surface. Scoop in all the grated potato and sprinkle again with a little salt, flattening it into a pancake to fill the pan with the back of a spatula. After about 5 minutes of cooking on medium heat, spread another 1/2 tbsp of butter on the top of the pancake. Flip it upside down so the recently buttered side is against the pan. Let it cook another 5 minutes until golden and serve.
Pair it with pea soup and you have a Frozen meal you can convince even a nine-year-old that they served at Elsa’s coronation.
She ate every last bite.
15 comments
I can’t wait to see this movie!! And make those pancakes they look like something that would warm you right up!
I love this. I need to see this movie.
Everyone I know who has seen it loves “Frozen.” I may drag dh, after the initial rush is over (so that we’re not sitting in a packed theatre with 20 gazillion kids). 😉 I am 1/4 Swedish & I would LOVE to go there someday (Norway too). My uncle and some of my cousins have been. The house my great-grandfather was born in is still there. It was built in the 1700s & has walls that are about a foot & a half thick. It’s now a daycare centre.
We haven’t seen the movie, but plan at some point. On Christmas Eve morning, I made Jack the breakfast from Elf… the one with spaghetti, Maple Syrup, Smarties, Pop Tarts, and etc… Yes, that crazy breakfast! I cringed with every bite of candy and sugar and carbs, but I knew he’d remember it forever…. Luckily, he didn’t eat every last bite!
I loved this post. My husband was born in Norway and the fjords are on my bucket list ever since I saw a picture of them in my 9th grade world geography book. I think what hit me more than that about this post, though, were the emotions you describe. How many years later things from our past can still be piercing and numbing.
I’m in awe that I can’t remember the pain of contractions but I can remember the hollow, empty feeling when my boyfriend of six years broke up with me, remember every emotion of that summer.
Sing along. Just to make us all sing it again. Mind you, I think we did the singalong version at work last week and maybe it doesn’t need a repeat…
In my house, we call that hash browns. 🙂
If you add flour and milk (or maybe it’s egg?), you have my mother’s potato pancakes, which I did not enjoy eating. Even though they were served with sour cream and sugar.
I love potatoes, but only in about 4 iterations, apparently.
My daughter liked Frozen, but she does not get obsessive about too many things. Well, movies anyway – she is rather obsessive about her Rainbow Loom – she’s had it a month and is still using it every day.
Singalong Frozen, eh? Pretty sure that would go down well around here.
Those potato pancakes look lovely. I bought bagels for my parents one day when we were visiting – they’re perfectly normal food in Ireland these days, but my parents wouldn’t think to buy them. I got the cream cheese and recommended they put sliced tomatoes on top… but I don’t think they were convinced.
This is lovely. I’m glad you reclaimed Scandinavia. 🙂
Love this post, also speaking of crochet I am coveting this pattern. Soooooo cute OK you’re all welcome.
http://www.freshstitches.com/owl/
I loved Frozen too. And that recipe looks good. I really like potatoes. I think I’ll try it out tonight (but with chicken, my hubby will freak if there’s no meat and I give him pea soup!)
Your post reminded me of my mom. She used to make one of these when while we watch movies. She passed away 3 years ago, and I missed being with her. She would have loved Frozen.
I loved that movie, and I love the story about your coronation meal. Scandinavia is on the list of possible destinations for this summer, when I suspect it would be a lot less bleak. But I always thought it took a special sort of human to survive places like that, like Alaska … people who known how to be warm despite the temperature.
Yummy! I’ve been making something similar for years to eat with eggs and bacon instead of bread. But your version is better!
A location decasualty.