Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bicycles and Icicles

The snow just keeps on coming! It hasn't been melting very fast, and it has been falling fast, so it's accumulating everywhere. Native Danes say this is the earliest major snow in many years. We've been trying to take advantage of it, and enjoy it as much as we can, and of course that means lots of pictures. So, here are some more shots of the frozen land we now call home.

We had some serious snow on Saturday. I was in it!


E was too! Notice her new knitted wool hood. Feel free to compliment her on her fine knitting.


A bicicle! Get it? Anyway, I'm not sure how this happens, but this bike was totally encased in ice. Personally, I think it's shameful - any real Dane should never leave his bike in one place long enough to freeze like this!


Some awesome icicles. I see these on my way to work.


This is a little lane very near our house. Saturday afternoon, they had a Christmas market there, with music, hot drinks, and various crafts. It was awesome. I felt like I was in a movie. Somehow, the Christmas traditions just feel more real when you are in real snow, it's freezing cold, and you're on a little lane that's been there for hundreds of years (I'm guessing here, but it's in an old part of town, where some things, like the churches, are 800+ years old).


And there's one such church in the background, the Aarhus Domkirke. We're actually going there tonight to hear Handel's Messiah.


You can really see the snow falling here!


The main pedestrian zone gets lit up beautifully. We had a really nice walk here on Saturday.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

We'll All Be There With Snow

Snow! It's snowing right now--hasn't stopped all morning, and this is the third day of it.

We always pass this windmill on the way to Danish class.


My favorite parking lot in Denmark. See how you have to park your car between the trees?


In the Botanisk Have, or Botanical Gardens


I'm so brave about the cold! (But only when wearing multiple layers of wool. In this picture, wool pants, two sweaters, a coat, scarf, and hood. Go sheep!)


B is naturally tough and cheerful.

OK, so it's kind of cheating to take pictures of Den Gamle By, but there really are buildings just as old and picturesque as these in Midtbyen, or the downtown.

All this snow just makes me want to hygger myself! I'm planning a cozy (or as the Danes say, cosy) afternoon with tea and knitting--what better way to spend Thanksgiving in Denmark? I hope all of you have a happy and cozy holiday too!




Sunday, November 21, 2010

Glaedelig Jul!

The Christmas season has begun in Denmark!

How do we know? Because there are more candles than usual, everyone is drinking "Juleøl," and we have been invited to at least three Julefrokoster. (A Julefrokost is literally a Christmas lunch, but these days it's pretty much just a drunken pre-Christmas revel of great cultural significance).

It all really begins with "J-Dag," the day on which one is officially permitted to begin drinking Christmas beer. This year it was on Sunday, 7 November.

This might seem really early. But consider that here in Denmark, we went off of "Sommertid," or daylight savings, on 31 October. So it's basically dark all the time now. You really need a special beer and some extra candles to make up for that.

Juleøl. It's special beer. It has licorice in it. Not in chunks, just licorice flavor, along with barley and hops and stuff. It's pretty good. (Dane-ification is clearly progressing nicely if I've just endorsed a licorice flavored beer).

The big business, though, is Julefrokoster. Every possible entity has one. Families, businesses, departments, apartments, etc. B and I attended our apartment buildings' Julefrokost last night, and we have plans for the biology Julefrokost, the computer science Julefrokost, and the International Club Julefrokost. (That's also why you have to start early).

It's hard for us to say if last night's Julefrokost was traditional. Some people said it wasn't; that if it had been traditional, there would have been a lot more meat and fish. (There was still a lot of meat and fish). Also, nobody drank schnapps or gløgg. (There was still a lot to drink). And it was not, in fact, at lunchtime. (Nobody cares about this. You can have Julefrokost at pretty much any time of day, I think). It was a good time.

Some people told us that you can count on Danes pretty much giving up all of their habitual reserve at Christmas lunches and airing all their dirty laundry. The day after, of course, everyone will pretend none of it happened. So we went into the whole thing pretty excited. Nobody told us about their secret lovechild or Swiss bank account, but they did tell us what they don't like about Denmark--and Danes don't like to criticize Denmark, especially in front of foreigners.

As I write this, it's 2:45, so the sun is setting. Then again, B claims it never really rose. But we can't complain too much, because Friday night we exited the cinema (Harry Potter #7! Of course we were there!) and it was snowing as we walked home. It was perfectly picturesque.

It's not snow, and it's not (technically) at night. But it is out our window and it does look great.


All this talk about Christmas lunches always reminds me of something, and it's so charming and hilarious that I really want to share it. It's the Vicar of Dibley "Christmas Lunch Incident." Go find it online and watch it. (Try youtube.) And stay tuned all the way past the end credits so you can hear the Vicar tell her joke. (Especially you, R. I know you will love the Vicar and her classy jokes).

Friday, November 12, 2010

Whistling in the Dark

You know what time it gets dark here? 4 PM, that's when.

OK, the weather website claims that sunset today was officially at 4:13 PM. But what I know is this. Yesterday I walked to my knitting club. When I left the house it was pretty dark, and when I got there, just after 4, it was really dark. Night dark.

Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 58 seconds shorter.

I'm just going to have to walk everywhere whistling this little tune. And remind myself that as of today, it's only 38 days until the Solstice.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Scandinavegan PSA; Plus, Cake Consensus!

B and I are overwhelmed with all the awesome responses! Thanks for reading and posting! I'll say more about cake, and about Danish decision-making, in a bit. But first, an important PSA.

Eat figs, everybody! If you live in California, I know you can still get them now. Heck, they may even be growing on a tree in your yard! Don't pass by this opportunity. You could one day find yourself living in a cold land where figs make only the briefest of yearly appearances, ruing all the figs you didn't eat before.

I highly recommend this Fig and Fennel Pizza, from NPR's "Food Blogga." It sounds weird, I know, but if you're in the land of figs and fennel, why not give it a try? It will amaze you with deliciousness. B and I made this for a California Christmas dinner with his family two years ago, and we reprised it a couple weeks ago after seeing figs at the farmers' market.

B's cheesy pizza!

I'm pretty sure none of you readers are interested in foregoing the cheese--although you can make a delicious pine nut and garlic pizza topping that's completely vegan and yummy! That's what I did. B had real cheese. If you want to make cheesy pizza too, maybe you'll buy your cheese at the Cheeseboard and say hi to everyone for us!

E's non-cheesy pizza!

So, Cake Consensus! Yes, it looks like most people are voting for option three: different weekly cakes, and bonus repeat cakes when necessary. But in the spirit of Denmark, I'd like us all to come to a consensus.

You see, Danes are quite averse to conflict. This is a defining cultural trait. Even in the Folketing--the Danish Parliament-- decisions are most often made by discussion and consensus rather than a simple vote. According to an AU professor I heard speak recently, consensus is reached over 85% of the time!

You'll also notice this desire to avoid conflict when speaking English with Danes. Two favorite phrases are

"That may be difficult" and "It's a bit problematic."

These are coded phrases which actually mean "It is utterly impossible to do that here," or "That thing you are asking about is never done."

For instance, you may ask a shopkeeper where to find molasses. And she may say, "Well, it's a bit problematic. Hmm...."

And you should interpret this as, Danes do not eat molasses. You will not find any food-grade molasses in this entire country.

To Americans, this seems somewhat odd. But then, Danes are the happiest people in the world, so there must be something to it. Let's take a page out of their book--can we all agree to option three?

Finally, the Monday Cake, Week 45!*

Roasted Hokkaido Squash with Chocolate Chips, Toasted Hazelnuts, and Cinnamon Icing.

It might not look like much, but it's delicious.


*Another Danish tidbit. Danes number the weeks of the year and use this as a reference system. Ie, Fall Break is week 42! Choir rehearsals will begin week 36! It's very strange.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Meet the Scandinavegan!

I just can't help myself. The Scandinavegan! As B says, you can't buy names like that.

So, why the Scandinavegan? Well, besides that I like to say it (over and over), maybe you'll think it's kind of interesting to know what it's like to try to cook fantastically delicious and healthful food in a foreign country.

Well, it's certainly different. Here are a few observations (and commentary, because the Scandinavegan has a lot to say)!

1. Danes don't do tofu. You can buy it in a specialty market, but I don't. Two reasons--it's expensive, about 14 USD/lb; and it comes in a jar sold on the shelf, not the refrigerator. I just can't see eating tofu that's been sitting in old water at room temperature for who knows how long. Clearly I've been spoiled by the daily influx of fresh tofu in Berkeley. Actually, I've been spoiled by all the Asian markets and products in the Bay Area. When we were in Paris, I begged B to let me bring home rice noodles and soba from a little Asian market we found. You just can't get those things here.

2. Danes also aren't really into canned beans. This is OK, though, since it's much cheaper to cook dried beans anyway.

3. They do really like faux dairy products, though. So far here I've seen soy milk, soy yogurt, soy pudding and vegan margarine; plus rice milk, oat milk, hazelnut milk, almond milk, quinoa milk, and spelt milk. Scandinavians are classically heavy dairy eaters, so I guess this shouldn't be a surprise.

4. Potatoes are also a hit. Danes are very proud of their potatoes. And with good reason; we've eaten some fantastic potatoes here. As a matter of fact, we've decided--as part of continuing Dane-ification--to eat more potatoes while we're here. It's like a world tour in potatoes. So far we've made a Peruvian chickpea and potato stew, patatas bravas, latkes, potato and mushroom blintzes, and pinto bean and potato breakfast burritos.

But enough about all of that. It's time to get to the reason for this post. Why does the Scandinavegan debut today?

To answer that, I need to explain one of our little "traditions." Every Monday, I bake a cake. Sometimes you need a boost when you know you have to go to language class after dinner and will be coming home in the pitch black, potential cold and damp. In this situation, there is nothing like knowing there is a fresh cake waiting for you.

So last night, B said to me,
"Hey, can you think of all the cakes you've made since you got here?"

Well, I could. Which seems like an accomplishment--both the listing and the baking.

Here's the list.
23/8 Banana cake with cinnamon icing
30/8 Gingerbread with orange glaze
7/9 German apple and walnut cake
14/9 German chocolate
21/9 Orange carrot cake with toasted coconut icing
28/9 Hershey's classic chocolate cake
4/10 Anise cake with poached pears (this was terrible. It came out of Gourmet magazine and it was still terrible. We couldn't finish it).
11/10 No cake. Flew to Paris. (Also, needed time to recover from the dismal pear cake of the week before).
18/10 B's mom's fantastic pear and walnut cake
25/10 Orange chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing
1/11 Coconut lime cake with lime icing

Ten cakes! No repeats! Time to publish the list and free up brain space for more cakes!

This brings us to a point of contention in our household. I think it would be awesome to make a different cake every week of the year, but B thinks it would be a terrible shame to wait a whole year to get back to the highlights. So, dear readers, will you weigh in on this dilemma? I'm proposing these three options.

Option 1: Have a different cake every Monday, all year.
Option 2: Allow repeats whenever B wants them.
Option 3: Have a different cake every Monday, but sometimes have bonus cakes, which can be repeats. For instance, this Sunday our friend Danish C and his five children are visiting, so we're making a bonus cake. It could be a repeat.

In other words, readers, this would be an excellent time to leave a comment. Let your cake voice be heard!

Finally, the Scandinavegan wants to say,
"Tak for at laese! Det var hyggelig at moede dig!"