Looking at the world with baby perspective

My firstborn, Nikolas, has given me a new perspective on many aspects of life as I know it. One of the more profound teachings I've picked up is his way of looking at his surroundings, a.k.a the world.

For instance his ability not to read text. This might sound strange but imagine what you see in your urban surroundings if text is not guiding you. A storefront becomes something completely different. This lead me to think that we grown ups can perhaps learn from these pure souls. By trying to look at the world with a baby perspective we might see objects and design around us in a whole new way. At least for me it has given me a fresh look at the city I live in. Streets that before were boring have suddenly been given a new life because new meaning is given through some sort of childish purification.

Daniel Pink, the creative writer, claims that our left brain (the analyzer and spreadsheet tank) is given too much power. As you know, pictures says more than a thousand words and symbols are way more teling than a word. Take these for example. I guess you know the meaning behind at least to of them (warning some of them are from the digital era).


From left: Play, Action (on Playstation), Agree/Yes, I am happy (smiley)

Me, and many others, claims the importance to give our inner child life and space to breathe. If we're not capable of observing a childs behaviour and being inspired by it, that inner child can become a very dull adult person.
Questions like What is ugly and What is beautiful becomes meaningless (more or less) because they become interesting instead. The curiosity and pure joy of observing something for the first time is off course difficult to purely replicate, but if we give up trying then our ability to become excited takes a hard blow.

So why don't you give it a try. Go out and look at the world with baby perspective. If you have no clue how to, then observe a baby at first oppurtunity to get inspired.

"In adults, there is an ability to turn the brain up, to pay full attention, as we call it, so as to absorb information with more efficiency. In little kids, the brain is at this state of alertness all the time. Even when a kid is distracted, they are intensely distracted." David Cairns

How to make a gourmet Salmon dinner in 30 minutes

It is easy to make delicious food. It's just a matter of knowing how. Here's a easy way to make a superb dinner with salmon or trout in 30 (40 the first time) minutes. I promise you that this method will make your friends or family go "mmmm ahhh how did you do that". They'll propably use the word succulent about the fish as well.

Shopping cart:
200 - 250 grams filet/loin of trout or salmon (with or without skin) per person
White wine
Carrots
Parsnip
Potatoes (Amandine or other firm kind)
Parsley root (direct translation from norwegian...)
Parsley leaves for garnish
Olive oil
Sage, salt and pepper
Cream, cauliflower, vegetable stock and shallot onion (if you want to deluxe the dinner)

To make this you are best prepared by having what I call oven forms (see picture). They are a crucial tool for making dinners that practically makes themselves superfast. Steel gets warm faster than porcelain and ceramics, it's as simple as that. The oven should be preheated to 160-170 celcius degrees. This is actually slightly too hot for fish but since we're making veggies in the same oven this is a must.

All the veggies must be sliced in cubes maximum 1,5 cm in size. Put them in one of the steel forms. Pour in a good amount of olive oil and rub it all in with salt and pepper. The veggies needs slightly more than 20 minutes in the oven. Note that layers of vegetables will increase length of oven time so use a large form or add time. So spread in one layer for short prep time.


Then the succulent fish. Again steel oven form. The bottom should have a thin layer of oil and white wine. Too much and your fish will be boiled instead of steamed in the wine. Cut the fish in portion sizes (200-250 gr) and make sure it is boneless for optimal eating experience, but not a must. (I use my wifes tweezer to easily remove the bones.) Gently rub in pepper and sage on the fish. If you like you can squeeze lemon over the fish as well. Remember that salmon is a fat fish so no need for butter. This should be ready in 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how thick the loins are. In the picture I have both filets of mountain trout and seawater trout. I wanted to taste the difference. Freshwater mountain trout rules by the way!


That's it. When ready prepare on plate and garnish with parsley leaves and add some reduced balsamico vinegar.

For the deluxe version add cauliflower cream. This is the easy version. Cut the shallot onion. Also cut half a cauliflower into 8 pieces. Boil in vegetable stock. When done (appr 10 min) reduce fluid amount to 0,5 dl. Add 0,5 to 1 dl of cream (i use a kind of cream that is lower on fat and meant for usage in prepared food. Then I use my Braun Hand Blender to make a cream (or puree if you like). This works great as sauce and adds even more veggies to the meal.


And I almost forgot. The wine. Do yourself a favour and go for a Riesling from Alcase. A perfect match to the mild taste of the meal. Go ahead. You deserve it.

That's it. Do this a couple of times and you'll be ready to experiment further. Try making a puree of petit pois (baby peas) or using other vegetables. Oh, and remember to say that you've oven steamed the fish to sound a chef.
Bon apetit.

Being parent - The introduction

For one month my wife and me have had the fantastic experience of becoming parents for the first time. And I guess we're like all other parents in most aspects. Our baby is the worlds most beautiful little revelation and he is fun to watch, even when he is staring empty into thin air.
But nobody told me that this creature had similarities with an army vehicle, namely the tank.
Meet the Nikolas WMC Tank
The Nikolas tank comes equipped with the basic package, but shows no mercy.
His cannon are showing steadily brute force and shoots without no warning when feeling danger. Danger can be daddy removing diaper or having slightly cold hands when trying to clean up the mess "down there". At latest measurment his cannon has shown reach beyond 60 CM. So far, the bathroom tiles are not breaking down from the harsh attacks...
His target precision is getting more accurate for each day that passes, and daddy is now thankful for all his promo t-shirts.
His armour seems to have an alarmsystem that is not adjusted properly yet. When trying to remove outer layer the alarm (read crying for the slow learners) goes off in a loud setting. It really doesn't matter if he has been driving through muddy terrain (read left a poo). The Nikolas WMC Tank likes dirt and mud much more than go through maintanance.
His fuelsystem is off the charts. The consumption of gas cannot be displaced fast enough and if his fuel tank are getting close to zero, the famous alarm goes off.
Actually, the alarmsystem really needs adjusting. It can sometimes go off for no reason in the middle of the night when parked in the garage (crib). It seems that his liking for close combat (read hugs and kisses) makes the garage a dull place...

Apart from the need for tweaking the system setup we are thrilled to have the Nikolas WMC (worlds most charming) tank in the house. If you haven't guessed it by now. The latest addition to the family is a wonderful boy named Nikolas.

I promise regular updates on how this superb creation fare with family and friends.

Creating a picture story with Lego

As I have written about earlier on this blog. Having fun and being creative is only about your inner boundaries. Who said adults cannot play with action figures on holiday? DaVinci? Don't think so. And he was a cool dude.
Well, now the family here at Sagene has gone even further in their playful behaviour. It's Lego time!


Maybe you weren't aware that adults playing with Lego has become a major source of income for the danish toy giant. They are not buying for their kids, no I'm talking about complex but fun advanced Lego building. I am not one of those. I'm nothing but a humble amateur trying to see if I can use Lego as a storytelling tool. (Actually, I'm concidering implementing some of this in my many business presentations and lectures.)
But let's look at this just for the fun of it for the time being. Lego worth half a Chanel bag takes you far. A good digital camera even further (this family use a Canon EOS 400D with Tamron 17-50XR Di II, so that's not for the kids). And to top it of you can use a program like Comic Life from Magiq. This program makes it easy to create comics. In a few minutes you can create something like what you see below. (Click on image to enlarge.)


So what are you waiting for? Go play with your kids and create stories. Remember, they are just an excuse, so if you don't have any small ones available at hand, just say "I play with Lego and I'm proud of it".
It doesn't mind if your beloved ones have high acceptance factor for "different" behaviour either...

Elfes through the history - A very rough guide

Christmas is getting nearer. And for absurd but proffesional reasons I've had the pleasure of getting close up and personal with elves.
Elves is off course closely linked to the name of this blog, Volvur. "I didn't know that" you might say in pure and honest surprise, and few will claim that your lack of knowledge is something to be mournful about for more than a brief moment. Just a bit shorter than the time Thor will use to raise his hammer. But before Thor gets too confused of the analogy let's get back to business. Elfes.
Thing is, there is a US retail chain, Office Max, that for the last 3 years have done a so called viral marketing campaign with tremendous success called Elf Yourself. And since marketing is my profession it was easy to find arguments to delve into this phenomenon that has made more noise in America than Thors famous hammer.
The result will be revealed later in this comment. Again let me try getting back to the elves.
Here goes, a rough guide to the history of elves. For many young and poorly educated soul in the northern hemisphere, elves comes from Midgard/Middle Earth (Tolkien, Lord of the Rings or Hringadrottins Saga in Icelandic or Ringenes Herre in Norwegian). This is off course incorrect. Tolkien, was in many aspects inspired by norse mythology. As with the name of this blog. Volvur also stems from norse mythololgy and is the name of the seers (volves in english?), the women who spin threads from the world tree Yggdrasil and tells us about the past, present and future. Hmm, people spinning threads from the world tree like a web of knowledge you might ponder, kind of like a ancient world wide web? Indeed so.
Yggdrasil has it's roots in three of the norse worlds nine homes. Alfheim, or the home of elfes is not one of them. But it is the first historic reference of elfes. Not the Middle earth of Tolkien or the green silly anglosaxon modern christmas version.
But my ramblings stems from the modern version. So with this thin thread of historic elf trip, here is my anglosaxon happy christmas video to all friends and family.



With hopes of this being a merry inspiration to keep smiling through all the hectic pre-christmas activities that steals all the positive thunder from eating birds, pigs, figs and other findings in mother nature. A slightly early, happy christmas from the family at Sagene, Oslo, Norway, temporary home of silly elfes.
And by the way. I have no idea of how the americans clearly succeded in ruining yet another wonderful myth by making them into silly xmas ornaments.

PS For those who understands the norse inspired language norwegian. More marketing info on the campaign Elf Yourself can be found on my marketingblog.

Never save for tomorrow...

In these economic worrying times the headline might sound a bit absurd, but there is a lesson to be learned behind it.
Never save for tomorrow what you might gain pleasure from today, because the pleasure might be gone tomorrow. Earlier in the autumn my wife and I found this superb chocolate pasteria in Lecce, Italy. In the window display you could see the dessert creations being made in the kitchen via live TV transfer. It was pure joy, and impossible to resist a purchace of their produce.
So we brought home some goodies. And as often happens when we buy these extra treats we saved them for that special occation.

It never came. In time at least. Here is one of the cookies we bought.


Mould has never been the highlight of our daily intake. This has happened to us more often than I like to remember. Truffles from Umbria, dried ham from Barcelona and the list goes on. I know we're not the only ones who happen to experience this.
An interesting research study I picked up some years ago. In economic downturn we happen to buy the finest goods on Sundays in Mini marts and similar stores. Theres few places a beef cost as much as in those venues, but it is a comfort buy when we're filled with daily worries. Daily escape through absurd purchase. Irrational, yes. Human, yes. Smart economics. No.
It's irrational but human to save. In older times we were forced to dry the meat to even have meat in the coldest months of the year. Today it is a pricey high street product. One that we still save for those special treats. So unfortunate that those are rare and we have forgotten to preserve.

A good advice. Celebrate today, even the smallest thing. And make sure to look in the cabinets for those really precious goodies. They don't last forever, with or without you.

A different holiday story from Italy and Croatia

In many ways I behave like a big child. And I really like that. A childlike behaviour keeps you young at heart and helps keeping the creativity flowing through the brain.
As a result I went perhaps a little overboard on my wife and I on holiday this September. We went from Naples (Napoli), to Amalfi, to Lecce, to Bari, to Hvar and ended in Dubrovnik. A great trip.
And I made this very different picture story from parts of the trip. Do yourself a favour and click on the Full Screen icon (the one that looks like a screen in the bottom right corner) so you can read the text more easily. Enjoy!

Adventures Of The Cavalieris

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

More typical info from the trip might be posted on the blog later. In the meantime some lovely pics have been published on Flickr from the various cities.