On my plate

Well, this morning its toast with jelly (or jam; are the two things different or one-in-the-same?). I'm not a *sweet* person generally, but I have to admit, this DK brand (Den Gamle Fabrik - translated - The Old Factory) is very good. They also have flavors not often offered in the US, like boysenberry or currant.


The other day I found canned garbanzos at a *nice* grocery store for a reasonable price - about $1.80 per can. They had organic for about $4.00 per can, but I just can't stomach that price quite yet.


Yesterday I boiled some pinto beans, and even though I cooked them with onion, garlic, and rosemary, they still tasted blah. After mashing with a potato masher I added a packet of magic Sazon, ground cumin, and a splash of olive oil. Rich volunteered that they tasted good. Specifically he said - these are good, did you make them? Thanks honey. So I think overall they worked out. I re-fried the beans, and served them with cheese, raw cabbage, black olives, and cilantro with sides of chipotle mayo, canned salsa, and a scrambled egg.



So, on my personal plate, I don't have that much going on. I have some *things* that I'd like to do during the day - like reading, or knitting - but I feel sort of guilty doing these things. They don't seem particularly productive. But then, no one is expecting me to be productive. Still, it feels a bit weird.

I did manage to check off one little task that's been floating out there for the last month. Weeks ago, I got a letter from the BorgerServiceCenter (a.k.a the Kommune). Something to do with depositing $$$ into our bank account (I guess we get $$$ four times per year from the government for Peter, just because). This set off a series of events which could have been avoided had they just written the letter like this...

Please send us a written letter with your bank account number.

But, of course, they didn't. Short, concise, and to the point is not their way.

Turns out that the Danish language is not only difficult for foreigners, but for regular Danish people as well. While the daycare strike was going on, I was getting letters from the Kommune that were impossible not only to translate, but to interpret. I would bring these letters to the daycare, so that the staff could simply tell me if Pete was allowed to be there or not. Even the teachers would say - "this is hard for me to understand". You can see why some Danish companies have a policy stating that English is their "official" company language.