Today was the day I was to announce via a "live" video drawing the winner for the Jarlsberg Prize Package pictured here. But I have done a little soul searching and in light of the horrific tragedy in Norway I don't feel comfortable doing that right at the moment.

If you have seen my giveaway videos before then you know that I don a silly red ski hat and clown it up a bit. It's just my way of personalizing these giveaways. Random.org is a perfectly fine way to run a blog giveaway. But I don't do many giveaways, so I like to keep things fun when I do. That's why I put in some extra effort and draw the name of the winner on video– in real time, with no edits. I may look silly mispronouncing your name, and I am likely to fall all over my words. But doing it live is how I make sure you see for yourself that my process is as fair as one silly blogger can make it. Besides, who doesn't like bloopers! This way, even if you don't win, you have a little fun playing along. It's just the way I choose to do it.

So you can see that this is not the right time for these antics. But don't worry. There will be a video drawing. We'll get back to the way we do things around here. Evil can't stop decent people. Never could.

To be fair to those who already entered, I am closing the entries down as of this post. There are nearly 300 entries, all from people who followed the original rules as I laid them out. Changing the rules at this time doesn't seem fair. But under the circumstances I don't think anybody will mind a small delay. We'll announce the new date soon on Twitter, on the Jarlsberg Facebook page, as well as on the Sippity Sup Facebook page.

Thanks for understanding. Oh, and to tide you over I am reposting my Pasta Jarlsberg recipe after the jump. GREG

I had another restaurant experience I want to talk about while I was in Norway. This one is going to raise a few eyebrows and maybe even a few tempers. But I think we are all mature enough to handle this conversation.

I had a great meal at a very innovative restaurant in Bergen called Jacob’s Bar & Kjøkken (Kong Oscars gate 44). It's an innovative restaurant, casual in feeling but serious about food and wine. In other words, my kind of place. Hand me a menu and let's get started.

There's an appetizer billed as “Bread and Fat” (lardo, aioli and soy lemon nut butter with bread) Yum! Followed by a seasonally appropriate cold soup with ramson (wild garlic) and potato with dry-cured salted leg of lamb– Wowza! But what should I have for my main course? The skate with egg & potato salad, radish, turnips, herring roe and dill cream looks good. Maybe I’ll order that. But look, there’s whale on the menu. Would you eat whale? Would I?

In my part of the world people are aghast at the idea of consuming whale meat. But it might surprise you to know that there are only 6 nations who still practice whaling. And the U.S. is one of them. The others being: Japan, Denmark, Russia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, and (as I discovered) Norway.

There's a lot on our plate today. Including a Jarlsberg Giveaway. So strap yourself in and pay attention...

The idea for the giveaway came to me after an amazing dining experience In Oslo. Just to warn you, I'm going to use a lot of words that may challenge my English speaking audience. But power through and stay strapped in. Most of these words are names, so with that in mind it shouldn’t be too hard to follow along.

The first name I want to throw at you is, Terje Ness. He is a chef in Oslo, and currently helms two excellent restaurants there. The Michelin starred restaurant Haga, in the suburb of Bærum and Oro Restaurant in Oslo proper­– Oro is where I ate and is the subject of my story today. Michelin has also bestowed a BibGourmand distinction on Oro, so he now can boast two levels of Michelin excellence.

Chef Terje Ness came to super-prominence in 1999 as the winner of the Bocuse d'Or (the biennial “culinary Olympics” held in Lyon, France). Winning the Bocuse d’Or is an amazing accomplishment. But it’s just one of Herr Ness‘ accomplishments. Because he got quite a start on his professional career by working at Eyvind Hellstrøm's (yep, that’s a name) famous double Michelin starred Oslo restaurant Bagatelle.

We spent some time in another of Norway's leading cities. Bergen is on Norway's west coast and is the gateway to the fjords. One of my priorities for my time in Bergen (besides the fjords) was to see the city at night like the locals do. We had just finished a great meal way above Bergen at a restaurant called sky:skraper. You take a cablecar all the way to the top of a mountain, 643 meters above the city. On a clear day the views can go on forever.

We were brought up to this place by Linn, a representative of Visit Bergen. As she was pointing down at Bergen, explaining it's history and areas of interest, it occurred to me that I had a real Bergen expert in front of me. I got the idea to ask her to suggest a few pubs for me to check out. Places the locals would go. Something off the map for most tourists.

Well as soon as I asked her eyes sparkled in a way that only blue eyes can. She wasn't merely going to make me a list and shove me in the right direction. She'd escort me on this beer crawl. Score! And no, I don't mean score in the way you are thinking. I am not that kind of guy, if you know what I mean.

As the plans were being made Chris from Mutineer Magazine (fine beverage... redefined) and Aja, a PR rep for Jarlsberg USA (one of our hosts) said they wanted to join us! Yea, a party of four– a true beer crawl was in the works. Plans were made to meet later down the hill in Bergen proper.