You taught me well

Oh Denmark (said longingly). I know all is not euphoria over there. But I've taken with me the good stuff. I no longer just leave the clementines in their box. They are in a cute green, Søster Grøn bowl and I'm planning on poking a few with cloves this coming week. I've dug out my Jul stuff - including nissen and straw reindeer. And I've shown the daycare girl how to make woven hearts for their HC Anderson Day next week. Ho Ho Ho.

I also have a bootleg bottles of Glogg and Viking Blood that I'll be breaking out this Christmas Eve to serve with my first attempt at rice pudding and aebleskivers, served alongside some Den Gamle Fabrik (the real stuff).

Even so - Its been hard for me to get into the holiday spirit this year. So few cards have arrived to our home, or to my office. Its depressing. The holiday parties have been scaled back or are non-existent.

We did finally get snow - but not as much as some places (Holy crap! You guys must just be basking in the snow.) Last night we put on our comfy cloths, made up some popcorn, and drove around listening to Christmas music and looking at neighborhood lights. Mmmmm, a little more in the mood from that.

But finally - my last day of work for a bit was yesterday. I'll be spending the first part of next week getting the house ready since we are hosting Christmas Eve. I've been pretty lax on the decorations up until now. Just a few favorites so far. We'll see if I can get into it when I have a good block of time by myself. Put on some music...make some tea...no kid or hubby to get in the way...

So Long, Favel, Alveterzane

We'll soon be off to MN for Christmas vacation. I'm looking forward to:

A long bath in a bathtub;
Chipotle burritos and Byerly's salad bar;
Doing nothing in particular while someone else takes care of my little man;
Seeing the sun and some snow.

Oh yeah, and visiting with friends & relatives, that will be nice too.

Today was a rather cold day. There was ice on the sidewalks until midday, and frost on some areas all day. After giving Peter a dose of benadryl, I decided to push him in the trailer around town, but I wanted to go somewhere new. A while back I checked Google earth and was pretty sure that a road that looks like a dead end from the curb, actually connected to another trail.

Well, I tried it, and it did. And the foggy, frosty day along with the low horizon sunlight made the forest look dreamy and a bit surreal.


After my walk, I left Peter outside to nap (on the back deck, right outside the giant window; I still can't just park him out front), and I finished up some gift tags. I've learned why the Danes associate hearts with Christmas, especially the woven paper basket heart. Mr. H.C. Anderson once again.

This week seemed to just whip by. One day was spent at Pete's daycare Christmas party, making holiday art and drinking coffee. Another day was spent grocery shopping - I think I remember going to three stores - and I still had not found everything I wanted; specifically shaved coconut and mango chutney for a dip I wanted to make for our USWCF Christmas luncheon on Saturday.

I eventually found what I needed around 6pm on Friday night. I might have shared the recipe before, but here it is again. The combination of ingredients sounds bizarre, but it tastes just wonderful.

Layer from the bottom up:

Cream cheese mixed with curry spice (maybe 2+ tsp per package cheese);
Mango chutney;
Shaved coconut;
Shredded cheddar cheese (not too thick);
Thinly sliced Green onions;

Serve with crackers.

The luncheon was at a woman's home in Svendborg. It was an old home near downtown and the water; it had the feeling of an old fisherman's home. It had great high ceilings, and little doors and rooms everywhere. She let me take pictures of her holiday decorations because I'm trying to build up a little photo library. I want to remember all the neat things I'm seeing, and maybe repeat some of them next year in the states. Some of may favorite things are the lit-up paper stars, the hanging cones, and the *day* candles.




And - another week - another pot of potato leek soup. This time I added the celery root. I also like to stir a spoonful of sour cream into my bowl before eating it - mmm mmm good.

We spent the weekend in Lübeck, Germany at their Christmas market. Odense might be the birthplace of HC Anderson, but Lübeck is the birthplace of marzipan (personally, I can't eat the stuff).

It also has giant old churches and towers. Towns in DK look old, but this place had a different kind of *old* feel. Of course, we ate lots of brats and drank lots of Glühwein - may favorite mix being the one with rum.

Any old web page has better pictures of the buildings. But here are some of mine.






Our hotel was in Timmendorf, Germany (about 15 minutes north of Lübeck). It was fancy schmancy, but still a deal since its off-season. From the looks of the shops along the strand (fur coats and designer bags) I bet its quite the place in the summer.

Can't go south without sampling some food, but we ate out at a restaurant only once - its hard with a kid who often ignores food. The first night we just opted for the hotel restaurant since it was the easiest. The second night we tried a place in Lübeck that had a portion of the menu noted as Bavarian Delights. Rich had the roasted pig knuckle with mashed potatoes and kraut. I also had roast knuckle, but in a pepper sauce with mushrooms, and stuffing on the top. Filling, and yummy.



We also had to do a bit of grocery shopping - its amazing how you can just cross the border where the variety doubles, and the prices drop. Other than our normal purchase of wine, beer, and knödel I picked up these new foods to try out.


One week ago Friday I finally summed up the energy to make turkey soup with the carcass that we saved. To the soup I added a cup of rice - which turned it into more of a goulash.



And one other new food for us lately - celery root. I'd been seeing these things at the grocery lately but didn't know what to really do with it. But I love celery, and after a friend told me she added the root to her potato and leek soup (which I've been making a lot of lately), I had to give it a try. Another friend said she just likes to roast hers with potatoes, so that's how I did it for this first try. It has a flavor all its own. It was good with the potatoes, but I do think it would be even better in the soup.

This Christmas...

...I'm taking the handmade pledge - with a caveat for "Danish things not necessarily handmade".



I don't know what some of my relatives will think about this, working off a list is usually the preferred way to go about it. One thing I do know is that my receivers will at the least be surprised, and at the most appretiate the thought.