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original Norwegian – in a small fishing village
called Skaarvaag. It is a beautiful place, with
some 60 year-around residents. The climate can
be tough and rough, with the closest neighbor
being the Barents Sea. In TripAdvisor you will
find the following: “Amazing restaurant on
top of the world! Friendly, homely setting.
Beautiful decor. The food was prepared with
love and was so tasty! In fact, this was the best
and most memorable meal on our three-week
trip through Norway.” Now, let us hear about
this impressive – and immensely successful
– project from Lill-Karin...

You have had an amazing career, ranging from
an officer in the Norwegian military taking
you to the Balkans and beyond to a posting
at United Nations Headquarters in New York,
and finally as a book author and restaurant
owner in the very north of Norway. Could you
tell us a little about yourself? in Italy. There were many different units, and
Lill-Karin: I was born in the commune of once again I was the only female among a lot
Nordkapp, and I grew up as the oldest of four of military personnel. Altogether we were
siblings. Both of my parents were working 60 officers. I was then offered a position as
full-time. My mother was a pioneer in this military observer to the Middle East, where I
sense and was very concerned about equal was based in Israel and Egypt. Then, I was sent
rights, so, it became quite normal that I took off to Afghanistan as a military assistant for the Outside of the
responsibility for my siblings, and I cooked for Norwegian base commander. The Norwegian Restaurant
them while my parents were working. presence was there under a mandate from the
United Nations.
Later on, I moved to Stavern, and started my
career in the Air Force. It was in 1984, and it I seem to remember that you were also based
the sannas was the early days of women in the Air Force. in New York working for the United Nations?
I belong to the second cohort of women who Before going to Afghanistan, I had sent
graduated from this place. It was challenging, in an application to the Department of
A Couple, a Northern Outpost and but it did turn out to be fine in the end. The Peacekeeping in New York. It took one year
year I finished my education, I met Espen who and a half from the day I submitted my
an Extraordinary Restaurant was already an officer in the Air Force. We got application to the day I was offered a position.
married in 1984, three years after I had started In the Armed Forces, much happens in a year
my education in the Army. We got married and a half. So, when I finally got the position
in Honningsvåg kirke, in Finnmark. Espen in the United Nations, I had already accepted
Lill-Karin (right), The Sannas, Lill-Karin and Espen, are an Let us go back in time a little, to when it all comes from Telemark and has come to love the position in Afghanistan. I told the United
and Espen amazing couple, people one gladly spends time started. They both began their careers in the the beauty of Finnmark. Nations that I could come to New York once
with. My 84-year-old mother, who has had a Norwegian Air Force. Lill-Karin went to work my assignment in Afghanistan was over, and
chance to meet them, is now planning a trip to for the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations We have had different positions in the Air- this is what I did. So, I started in the United
their restaurant up in the north of Norway. In in New York, then joined her husband, who Force. At times we were together, at times Nations in November 2007 as a staff officer in
the meantime, she is trying out the recipes in had been appointed Military Attaché in we were separated workwise. We continued the Department for Peacekeeping Operations
their cookbook. It is one of those cookbooks the Norwegian Embassy in Turkey. During working in the Defense Department both (DPKO). I worked there for two years, and
that take you on a trip to a foreign land you their time in Ankara, they became cookbook domestically and abroad. I was offered a job as my work was trying to recruit officers from
would never have known about otherwise, authors and decided to set up Daniel’s Hus, Combined Administrative Officer in SFOR (the African countries to the biggest operation they
with lots of photographs and recipes that even a five-star restaurant in the north of Norway, Stabilization Force in Bosnia Herzegovina) for had at the time, in Darfur. We hired military
the beginner can manage. close to the North Cape – the Nordkapp in the a year, in 1996. We had a residence in Rimini personnel from 47 different countries.

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