DAT: Rygge Airport to Copenhagen next?

Photo: DAT ATR ATR-42-300 OY-CIU at Gdansk Airport by Quibik

Tiny Danish Air Transport is David challenging Goliath, Ryanair at Moss-Rygge Airport. It is expanding in the domestic market but may launch direct flights from Rygge to Copenhagen.

Danish Air Transport DAT have started direct flights to Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim winter 2012. The air carrier operates these services with planes based at Moss Rygge. DAT may expand its activity further, to include destinations as Copenhagen. This according to the company's Director Jesper Rungholm. 

View JANUARY 2012: All non-stop flights from Rygge Air in a larger map

Ryanair launch new flights from Rygge

Malta International Airport is one of the two latest destinations for Ryanair from Rygge Airport

Ryanair will,  from this summer,  operate flights from Moss-Rygge Airport to 40 destinations, as the air carrier launch two new flights in January 2012.  

Moss-Rygge is now dominated by the Irish budget air carrier, since Norwegian Air Shuttle moved its flights to Sandefjord-Torp Airport autumn 2011. Ryanair is expanding flights from Moss-Rygge by opening new direct flights to Malta and Cyprus this summer.

Norwegian Air Shuttle operates direct seasonal flights from Oslo Airport to Malta and the competition may lead to lower air fare for Norwegian travelers to this little known destination.    


Vis JANUARY 2012: All non-stop flights from Rygge Air i et større kart

Marrakech: Mosque of the Golden Apples (Mosque El Mansour)

Mosque El Mansour - main tower with the famous apples 

The Mosque El Mansour or Mosque of the Golden Apples is one out of three main mosques in Marrakech and the largest mosque in the Kasbah area.

Moscue El Mansour - detail

Mosque el Mansour was built by and named after Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur the third Almohad Amir that reigned from 1184 until his death in 1199.

Famous sights as Bab Agnaou gate and the Koutoubia mosque were also built during his reign.

The mosque is also known as the Kasbah Mosque and the Mosquée Aux Pommes D'Or (Mosque of the Golden Apples), due to the three gilded globes on the lantern of one its gorgeous minaret.

The present mosque was restored in the 16th century and in the 18th century. This is a working mosque, and it's closed to non-Muslims.

Vis Marrakech on Enjoy Food & Travel 2010-2011 i et større kart

Other mosques on Enjoy Food & Travel 

• Ali Ben Youssef Mosque, Marrakech (November 25th 2011)  
• Ishak Pasa Mosque and hamam, Istanbul (December 9th 2010)
• Istanbul - the marvellous Blue Mosque (July 26th 2010) 
• Bereketzade Medresesi Mosque, Istanbul (April 28th 2010) 
• Almoravid Qoubba - Marrakech (February 16th 2010)

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Gourmet dinner at Statholderens Krostue

I am thrilled to have another gourmet meal at Statholderens Krostue coming weekend. The last time it was the best meal I have had for years. When seeing this years menu, I am convinced that it will be another feast. Here is what is offered there this season.

Dill marinated ceviche of anglerfish on celery mayonnaise with salmon roe

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Luke warm potato tortilla with smoked halibut, fried calamaris and romanesco

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Trout tartare in avocado roll with herb crust and yellow sweet peppercoulis

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Ballantine of Guniea fowl with quail’s eggs, pumpkinpuré and parmesan foam

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Grilled scallops on saffron pasta with brandade, pickled tomatoes and frothy mussel sauce

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Lightly grilled codfish with petit pois royale, lightly grilled porks jaw, sauteed cabbage and gastrix of crusteacas

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Champagne and vanilla sorbet with apple marinated in creme de cassis

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Duck a l’Orange served with baked red beets, black salsify, and cipolle Borretan, onion cream and orange sauce

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Norwegian trilogy of cheese with goat’s cheese from Haukeli in lefse bread with honey, Munkeby cheese, and Kraftkar cheese med date-bacon muffin and quince puré

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Dark chocolate-espressomousse on hazelnut crust with pickled cherries with Tia Maria espuma, home made ice cream with browned Kviteteseid butter and barley-malt crunch

Stay tuned for the account of a delicious culinary treat from Statholderens Krostue here on Enjoy Food & Travel. It will be intriguing to once again experience the culinary wizzardry of proprietor Bent Stiansen.  

See account of the last visit to Statholderens Krostue 

• Statholderens Krostue, Oslo (July 30th 2010)

Rating Fiskeriet Youngstorget - Oslo Norway

Vis UPDATED: Oslo on Enjoy Food & Travel November 2011 i et større kart

Many of us grieved when Erling Moe fish and fine meats at Youngstorget in downtown Oslo closed in 2009. It was one place to buy products hard to get elsewhere in the Norwegian capital. To our joy another specialty shop, Fiskeriet, opened selling seafood, and takeaway. There is also a bar serving a small selection of fish, mussels and crustaceas.   

Rating Fiskeriet Youngstorget: BBBB (3,80 points)

• Location: BBBB+
• Service: BBBBB-
• Interior & Atmosphere: BBB-
• Food: BBB+

Fiskeriet is located at Youngstorget by Storgata, Oslos second shopping street, just a few minutes away from Oslo Central Station. Just opposite is Oslos old police station and the government area heavily damaged during the terror attack July 22nd 2011.

Fiskeriet Youngstorget is an extremely busy place, packed with people buying fish or take away. Quite a few choose to sit by the bar ordering an open sandwich, fish'n chips or a fish soup. The bar area is small and cramped with people.

This is certainly not a comfortable place to eat, but the atmosphere is informal and nice. You are seated on high bar stools around the bar area or by the window, not my favourite eating position. During summer there is additional seating outside.

The staff is extremely nice but busy, busy. They take orders for take away or serving hot food with a smile, and you do not have to wait long to be served.

I definitely recommend the fish'n chips at Fiskeriet Youngstorget, but I was tempted to choose the lobster ravioli, a delicacy I've been served in New England, and definitely one of my favourites. I immediately saw that something was wrong, when served. The pasta used for the raviolis was definitely to thin, as it had burst releasing all the filling into the sauce.

In spite of this, the taste was exceptionally good, well seasoned with a sweetness complemented with a little chili that tickled your taste buds. It would have been sensational if the lobster meat had been concealed in the small pasta pouches.

I had a cold glass of beer to the ravioli, but ideally I should have chosen a dry white wine, a riesling or a chablis, but the beer worked as well. Full marks for Fiskeriet Youngstorget for service, location and taste, but it is not a place offering comfort and marks would have been higher if texture and presentation of the lobster ravioli had been better.

Address: 
Fiskeriet Youngstorget
Youngstorget 2b, 0181 Oslo
Phone: +47 22 42 45 40
youngstorget@fiskeriet.com
Website: http://fiskeriet.com/ 

More lobster stories on Enjoy Food & Travel

• Baked lobster with scallops (October 19th 2011)
• The New England Lobster Roll (October 18th 2011) 
• Baked lobster in Mornay Sauce (October 24th 2010) 
• Luscious Lobster Club at Rustic Kitchen (October 3rd 2009)
• Lobster raviolis at Assaggio (November 19th 2008)

Make your own medister

Ready made Norwegian medister

Medister is not available outside Scandinavia, but it is easy to make your own. Here are a few recipes to try.

Trond Wuellner from Mountain View in California has a great recipe. He use most of the traditional ingredients with one exception. He substitute the traditional potato starch with corn flour, and this should work equally well.

See Trond Wuellners recipe here

Recipe Pascal recommends 1/3 fat and 2/3 lean pork, but no milk. He recommends ginger nutmeg, as well as mace as seasoning.

See Recipe Pascal recipe here

STORY NUMBER 2000 ON ENJOY FOOD & TRAVEL: Poulet farci

Chicken filled with medister - yum, yum!!

-  or chicken stuffed with "medister" farse, onions and apples

I have rediscovered medister, a Norwegian ground meat mixture made from pork. Seasoned with salt pepper, ground ginger and nutmeg it is very popular during Christmas, but can be used all year around. My friends Øyvind and Stian stuffed their turkey with medister, and that inspired this recipe.

The combination apples, onion and pork is great, and when I tasted the stuffing of that turkey during the New Years Celebration, I just knew I had to try it again. So I bought more medister to replicate the stuffing in a much smaller scale, inside two smaller chucks. The result was equally delicious. 

To make this dish you'll need:

Two large chicken (each 1,5 kilo / 3 lb)
Your favourite chicken seasoning
500 grams (1 lb)  medister
1 medium sized red onion, finely chopped
1 medium sized apple, finely chopped

Season the chicken,  I used Montreal Chicken seasoning.

Mix medister, onions and apples thoroughly.

Medister mixed with apples and red onions

Use a spoon and fill the cavity of the chicken with as much as the medister mix you can - the birds should be stuffed to capacity.

The next challenge is to get the ground pork mix to stay in the cavity. If you have an upholstery needle and some thread you can try some easy surgery by doing some sewing. Or you can do as I did - I just found some wooden skewers and impaled the backside of the bird.

When all this is done, you'll find the easy part of the job left. Place in a low oven (i.e. 100 C or 215F) and bake as long as you want. I allowed it to stay in the oven for 3-4 hours. Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Bon a-petit!!!

More stuffed bird and things on Enjoy Food & Travel:  

• Roast duck with red rice and mushroom stuffing, cranberry relish and amandine potatoes (December 27th 2011)
• A Thanksgiving Dinner (December 4th 2010)

Hamburg on Enjoy Food & Travel

Vis North Germany from A-Z 2007-2012 i et større kart

Hamburg is one of the largest cities in Germany and is only one hour flight away from Oslo. It has much to offer, with a hectic nightlife, good restaurants, historic sights and cultural events.  Here are stories on food, hotels, restaurants, shopping, sights and travel that will come from Hamburg on this site.

Bars

• Bei Heidi 
• Gaststätte Dreyer
• Nobis Krug 

Coffee bars

• Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei

Hotels:

• Stella Maris Hotel

Restaurants

• Casa Ricado
• D. José
• Fishmarkt
• Gasthaus an der Alster 
• Pastalozzi
• Zwick St. Pauli

Sights

• Hamburger Rathaus
• Hauptkirche St. Jacobi 
• Katherinekirche 
• Mahnmal St. Nikolai 
• Petri kirche
• Reeperbahn
• Speicherstadt

Ving Travel launch Aruba as winter destination 2012

View New charter destinations 2012 in a larger map

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya 

Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama 

Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go

Beach Boys

Winter 2012 you can be a Carribean beach bum, as Ving Travel open launch Aruba as their newest charter destination coming season. 

Aruba is Ving Travels latest charter destination from Norway from coming winter season.

The island of Aruba belongs to the Lesser Antilles located in the southern Caribbean Sea, 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela. It forms, together, with Bonaire and Curaçao, the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.

The islands has a pleasant climate with average temperature between 25-30 degrees Celsius (77-86 degrees Fahrenheit) all year around.

Ving Travels offers 11 different hotels on the west coast of the island, north of Oraanjestad, the capital city of Aruba. Many of them are all inclusive resorts. If you book 2 weeks for two people departure December 11th you will have to pay from NOK 30 790 at Amsterdam Manor, that is the cheapest alternative to NOK 44 972,- for two at Westin with departure late January 2013.

See more information on Ving Travels website (Norwegian only)

Fjord Line submit application to sail Langesund to Strömstad, Sweden

Strömstad is a quaint town on the idyllic Båhuslän coast line.

Fjord Line has submitted an application to sail from Langesund, Norway to Strömstad, Sweden challenging Color Lines monopoly on this crossing. 

1,2 million passengers travel from Norway to Sweden past the Oslo Fjord each year. The Norwegian Color Line has until now been the only company offering transportation from Sandefjord, Norway to Strömstad in Båhuslän county, Sweden. Now Fjord Line wants its share on this attractive route from Norway to Sweden.

Fjord Line has recently applied to sail to Strömstad, that is renovating its harbour to acommodate more ferries. This may create cheaper tickets for travelers.

Good luck Fjord Line!!!

More Fjord Line stories on Enjoy Food & Travel.  

• Fjord Line moves future operations from Kristiansand to Langesund (September 22nd 2011) 
• Fjordline started Skagerak express crossings April 30th (May 21st 2010)
• Fjord Line order two new ferries (April 3rd 2010) 
• Fjord Line back with service Kristiansand - Hirtshals spring 2010 (April 26th 2009)