Blogger Interview – Gard Karlsen from Eating Out in Stavanger

Eating Out in Stavanger

GUEST BLOGGER INTERVIEW
Norwegian Food Blogger, Gard Karlsen
Welcome to the latest blog series at Thanks For The Food, blogger interviews. This blog series is designed to help introduce you to my favourite food (and other) bloggers living (mostly) in Norway. Since I’ve been receiving more and more feedback from you all asking me about the bloggers whom I follow, I thought I’d interview some of them in order to help you get to know them better. 

This series is my chance to help you get to know not only my favorite blogs, but also help you get to know more about the experience of blogging in Norway. 

Today’s featured blogger is Gard Karlsen, blogger extraordinaire at Eating Out in Stavanger. Gard is Norwegian and blogs in both English and Norwegian. 

1.What is your name, blog address and what is your blog about? What can readers expect to learn from your blog?
My name is Gard Karlsen and as a part of my homepage gardkarlsen.com, I also have blog about restaurants in Stavanger and people can find it on http://eatingoutinstavanger.blogspot.com/. Hopefully that can get a view about what is like to dine at some of the restaurants that we have in Stavanger from a local persons point of view.

2.Share a bit of your history with us. How did you get into blogging? When did you begin blogging and why? Did you have any previous writing, photography or video making experience before you started blogging?
In connection with my homepage gardkarlsen.com where I write about my trips, I also decided to write a bit about Stavanger. And since I like food, eating out etc., I also decided to write about my favourite restaurants in Stavanger. But as that was a bit too static I started a blog instead where I can write about the dining experiences in Stavanger and Sandnes. I do it as I like to help people when they come to Stavanger and it is always best to get advice from locals.

3.What advice, tips or insider secrets would you give anyone starting a food or other type of blog in Norway?
I guess it all depends on what kind of blog you start. But whatever you do write about, there will always be someone out there with the same interest. I recommend blogging in English if you want to reach a broader group of readers and you should of course make sure to update it from time to time to make sure that people return to the blog. And I think photos are important – they do tell more than a thousand words (most of the time at least)

4.Let’s say you win the lottery, and you can make any food or dish you want for a dinner party of 4. What would you make?
I’m not that adventurous when it comes to cooking when having guest over…so it would probably be something that I have made before and that I know I like. I do love Italian inspired food so a simple saffron risotto to start with followed by a stew (e.g. chicken cacciatore) and followed by a good dessert. I would probably splurge on the wine and get a very expensive Brunello de Montalcino.

5.Which meal of the day is your favourite? Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
I do enjoy my breakfast every morning but I tend to stick to the same for breakfast and lunch most of the time. So the favourite is dinner during weekends as we normally make something that takes a bit more effort or we try some dish that we normally don’t have during the week.

6.What’s your favourite tip for anyone cooking on a budget in Norway? 
Is it possible to cook on a budget in Norway? 😉 As a healthy and fast option I normally just go for fried salmon and steamed vegetable on weekdays – and it is not that expensive.

7.How do you continue to improve your cooking skills? 
I did take a cooking class a couple of years back but apart from that it is just a matter of trying out new dishes to see what you like and don’t like. And if you travel make sure to try out the local specialities. Some can be horrible but at least it gives you an idea of what the country can offer. But I also enjoy watching cooking on TV and on youtube and you can always pick up some useful info.

8.What trends do you see within the blogosphere in Norway? 
I’m not sure I follow enough blogs to see a trend.

9.What other social media sites can we find you on (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, SlideShare, YouTube, etc.)?
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

10.Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your life as a blogger or your blog itself?
It is fun to see how the blog is being found and read by many people. From the chefs, waiters and visitors – and I do get e-mails from all of these groups and from time to time people they are not very happy. But what can I say? – I’m only trying to be honest in my blog. In general I don’t think Norwegian restaurants are used to get this kind of feedback yet but this is changing as more and more post reviews on e.g. TripAdvisor.

11.What tools or services do you reply on to help you develop your blog?
I normally use Microsoft Write to write in the blog – makes it easier to upload and place photos

12.What has been your biggest success as a blogger?
It is a niche blog so I don’t really expect success with it. But I have been invited to some restaurant openings at least and get to speak to people that run the places and that is fun.

13.What has been your biggest failure as a blogger?
Trying to keep the blog updated in both Norwegian and English. It is hard enough to keep the blog updated in one language!

Gard Karlsen

Read more about Gard on his website gardkarlsen.com or his reviews of restaurants in Stavanger/Sandnes on his blog, Eating Out in Stavanger.