Saturday, November 12, 2022

Norge 2022 - Christmas, Gingerbread


Technical Details:
Issue Date:11 November 2022
Designer:Camilla Kvien Jensen
Printer:Joh. Enschedé Security Print
Process:Offset
Values:Domestic 20g x4

About Christmas

Gingerbread is most often made at Christmas. The world's largest "gingerbread town" is built every December in the Norwegian city of Bergen. And in 2016, Holmestrand proudly presented the world’s longest gingerbread train in connection with the official opening of its new railway station inside the mountain.

In December 2021, Norway Post and the TV 2 breakfast show “God Morgen Norge” jointly launched a contest on Facebook and Instagram asking people to send in photos of their own gingerbread creations. The four winning entries would be the motifs for the 2022 Christmas stamps. The entries included gingerbread houses, gingerbread men and other shapes, and decorations. Two winners were selected by an expert panel of judges consisting of Wenche Andersen from “God Morgen Norge”, stamp designer Camilla Kvien Jensen and Stamp Director Halvor Fasting. The other two winners were voted by “God Morgen Norge” viewers.

Spain 2020 - EUROMED, Traditional Gastronomy in the Mediterranean

Technical Details:
Issue Date:16 July 2020
Process:Offset
Size:40,9 x 57,6 mm
Values:€2

About Euromed - Traditional Mediterranean Gastronomy

One of the most popular culinary delights to be enjoyed on the Costa del Sol in Malaga is the ‘espeto’ or skewered sardines. A simple, easy-to-prepare dish based on sardines skewered on a bamboo spit that, after being cooked over a barbecue, are eaten in the natural environment offered by the beaches that surround the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, the simplicity hides a special technique that has been perfected over the years by traditional culture so that the fish, most often sardines, are skewered well and not lost while being cooked.

In short, a culinary art that forms part of the culture in Malaga and traditional Mediterranean gastronomy.

Its popularity dates back to the late 19th century with the arrival of the first tram and railway lines in Malaga, which enabled inhabitants to visit the coastline to enjoy a day at the beach, which used to be called baños de ola or sea bathing. One of the fishing villages that people used to visit was El Palo, where Miguel Martínez Soler set up his famous bar on the beach in 1882 called La Gran Parada, one of the first beach bars on the Costa del Sol. He was the first to skewer sardines on a stick and place them in the sand next to the fire. The place soon attracted attention not only from the people of Malaga but also from such celebrities at that time in Spanish history, such as King Alfonso XII himself.

Nowadays, numerous restaurants near the sea and beaches cook espetos in little boats that, besides making the work of espeto chefs easier, allow the sardines to be positioned according to the wind in order to prevent a smoky taste.

The stamp, which is issued as part of the annual Euromed Postal series, is presented in Premium Sheet format with six stamps that incorporate a die cutter that silhouettes the sardines skewered over the fire, which, when printed using the silver-effect cold-foil technique, simulates the tone of the fish scales.