Episode Seven: The Best Fiskegrateng (Fish Au Gratin)

December 8, 2022

Narration

In this episode, Bjorg is really getting out in the world! She finishes cooking school and starts working.

Before we hear about that – back to Bjorg’s first boyfriend, Endre. You heard about him in the last episode. They went together for a long time.

Let’s get right into it and hear about her first kiss.

Bessa: Um, the first kiss from him, I got in the wood shed, outside the house where I had a room with Henny. We were say he was sitting on, you know, those things that they use for splitting wood.

He was sitting on that and I was sitting in his lap and he kissed me. That was my first kiss kiss from a boy. We were not into that kind of stuff. 

Narration
Around this time, Bjorg finished cooking school. By the way, the school wasn’t just cooking – the students learned how to cook and clean. All types of domestic skills. I believe the purpose of the school was to prepare a young woman to have the skills to run a home. Her own home, or someone else’s. 

This was the case for when Bjorg graduated, she was hired to cook and clean for a man and his mother who lived in another town. Another young woman was also paid to cook and clean.

Soon after Bjorg started that job, she cooked the man a meal for the first time by herself. Here’s what happened.

Bessa: After a couple of days it was my job to fix him his lunch and he wanted hot lunch so I decided to make him Fiskegrateng because I had just learned that in cooking school. Like an au gratin dish. 

And I put that in front of him and went back to the kitchen. Of course, he was a big shot. He ate in the dining room at the dining room table. So I put it down and I have to serve from the right, and go back in the kitchen. And no sooner when I got back in the kitchen, he banged his spoon on his cup. That means I have to go back in. 

Kristen: He didn’t call for you? 

Bessa: No. Only ding, ding, ding. Instead of a bell, he would take a spoon, silver spoon and clink his coffee cup. That is a sign. He wants me in there. Okay. I said Ja. In other words, Yes, sir. So he said, this is the best fish au gratin I ever had in my life. Where did you learn how to cook like this? So I said, I just finished cooking school. That can’t be. You’re so young. 

Kristen: So you did all the cooking. 

Bessa: All the cleaning, all the laundry. Took care of his mama, gave her first shot of insulin every day and take out her glass eye and clean that.
 

Kristen: What? 

Bessa: She had only one eye. The other one was glass. And I had to take that out and put it in a solution and clean it and put it back in. One morning, I came in and her eye was laying on the floor. This is the truth. And she said, Bjorg, my eye is on the floor. You have to pick it up, put it back. And I did. Washed it good. Put it back in. I don’t know how I did it. I couldn’t do it today if you paid me. 

But she was very nice. 

Every Sunday, knock on the door with a tray. Coffee, egg, toast, linen napkin and a newspaper. 

The other days we would have to serve him breakfast in the dining room. And he would come down at a certain time. I forget if it was seven or eight, and he would say, Good morning. And he had his newspaper in his hand and he pulled out a kitchen chair and he put his foot up on the chair. I had to go there and polish his shoe and then the other one. And when that was done, he would go into the dining room and then breakfast was served every day. 

Kristen: Every day?

Bessa: Every day.

Kristen: Did you live there? 

Bessa: Mm hmm. We had a room upstairs, we shared the room, her and I. It was too bad I could still see the room. There was two beds. I had a night table and she had a night table. There was a rug on the floor and a tiny little wood stove – no chairs. And we were allowed to use the bathroom down the hall. No shower. 

We washed in the basin. But we were lucky there was hot water in that house. Oh, he had a shower. We were not allowed to use that. We were the help. 

Kristen: Did you see any injustice? 

Bessa: No. We were used to it.  It was much better when I was now and I was at home. How everything was so nice and cleaned. 

Kristen: Because you cleaned it!

Bessa: Yes. They were heated up. Water, got the basin. And then I did one one day and my girlfriend did the other day. And we were nice and clean. Deoderant? I never heard of a deodorant or powder. We were lucky if we had a bar of soap.

Kristen: When you went to the store, did you were you able to get the things that you needed at the same time? 

Bessa: What do you mean, I needed?

Kristen: Didn’t you need toiletries? 

Bessa: No. 

Kristen: Didn’t you need toothpaste? 

Bessa: I don’t know. Remember toothpaste? Oh, toothpaste. I remember putting my toothbrush on the soap. 

Narration

When Bjorg wasn’t working, she had some freedom to go out and see Endre.

Bessa: I would be allowed to go out at night, like Wednesday night. There was a dance in in the town hall and I loved dancing and he was a good dancer. So we went dancing every Wednesday. And if there was something going on Monday, on Saturday, we would go dancing on Saturday too. At night. 

And then, of course, we had to be home because Sunday morning breakfast had to be served. They were not bad days, Kristen. 

Narration

Quite a contrast to the days on the farm during the war, isn’t it?

On the next episode, Bjorg’s days living in Norway are almost finished as she gets closer to the age of 18. She takes a motorcycle camping trip with Endre. 

My grandma also talks about how she didn’t know how babies are made, and she tells how she thought babies were born. Even until she was 18 years old, she didn’t know. 

Thank you for listening to Bessa’s Story. I’m your host Kristen, and hope you’re enjoying the stories. We only have a few more episodes when Bjorg is young in Norway.

Thank you to Kalyn Pedde for giving a critical listen to these episodes before they’re published and letting me know how to improve the sound!!

You can subscribe on iTunes and on Google Podcasts. Please also check out bessa story.com where you can find transcripts, photos, and some bonus content that you can read, like when Bjorg went to her first dance.

Thank you!