Author Archives: Laura

My goals for 2015

Posted in Personal by

I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of making resolutions because I tend to not keep them and then get sad. Also, why would I need another year of vowing to lose weight and go to the gym more often when all I really want to do is bake awesome cakes and then eat them?

So for 2015, I’ve decided to sit down and make a list of things I want to do in 2015. I will call them goals, because it sounds less puckered-brows-determined than the dreaded “resolutions” and I won’t have to hate myself if I don’t live up to one of them. Despite everything we learn about goals in business school (make them “SMART“), you’ll find that they are often not easily measurable. I’m focusing exclusively on things that I think will make me happy, because I think that’s what life is all about - making the most of everything and trying our very best to pursue happiness. So without further ado, here are my goals for 2015:

Finish paying off my student debt

The most boring goal first: I got my Master’s degree at a private business school, and I paid for it by taking out a student loan. I have a five-year horizon to pay it off, but I have a plan and I’m determined to make 2015 the last year in which I pay back my loan.

 

Travel

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I used to work in consulting and had to travel a lot. Like, A LOT a lot. Every week. I grew tired of airports and hotel rooms. I have eaten enough room service Caesar’s Salads and Club Sandwiches for half a lifetime. But since I started my new job early in 2014, I’ve been able to enjoy travelling again (for leisure, not for business). We had some great weekend trips to Sorø, Helsinki, Oslo, and Snekkersten, and we spent some time in the summer house. In 2015, I hope we will finally be able to do our road trip through the historic Southern United States that we’ve been planning for ages!

 

Learn a new skill

I have always enjoyed learning, and I intend on keeping it up. I finished my Danish language education in November 2014 by passing Studieprøven, and now I have capacity for something new. I haven’t quite decided what it will be - maybe photography? Maybe another language (I could really brush up my beginner’s Spanish from a couple of years ago)? Maybe something completely different, like meditation or yoga?

 

Cook more

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I love to cook, but in the recent months, I have been slacking a bit in that department. Our weeknight dinners too often became quick-and-easy solutions like pizza (at least homemade, though!) or some simple pasta dish. This year, I want to focus on trying new recipes, using new ingredients that I’m not familiar with, and cooking healthy, fresh, and delicious food. I also want to host more dinner parties or brunches for friends and family.

 

Keep exploring

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This past year, I’ve been enjoying Copenhagen so much! I’ve shared my favorite places, restaurants, and things to do, and I feel like I’m just getting started. This amazing city has so much to offer, and I want to soak it all up and experience it! This also means making more time for cultural things, such as the theater (I got tickets for Christmas, yay!) or concerts. I’ve been wanting to go to see a classical ballet, so I’ll be on the lookout! Copenhagen also has tons of music, art, film, photography etc. festivals around the year, so there will be plenty of opportunity there!

What are your goals for 2015? Any tips for how to stick to them?

Welcome 2015 - godt nytår and happy new year!

Posted in Copenhagen by

A very happy new year 2015! I hope it will be as fun and full of new discoveries as 2014 was. I have some plans for the blog, and I’d be thrilled if you would follow along.

Here are a couple of impressions from my New Year’s party, which was held at our friends’ place smack in the center of Copenhagen, across from the Glyptotek. Now, every Danish New Year’s party starts at 6pm with watching the Queen’s annual speech. As last year, you could place bets on what she would mention (safe bets include Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and “søfolk”, whereas guesses like “snapchat” or “Bendtner” have great odds, but did not make you rich this time). Some people also have a drinking game centered around the number of times she makes a mistake while reading up from her papers. I am always greatly surprised by the table of “royal experts” that dissect every part of the speech afterwards. What does a “royal expert” even do all day? My guess is writing for ladies’ magazines, probably.

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For dinner, we had an amazing three course meal, which consisted of a starter with carrots and scallops, a main course of venison with root vegetables and potato nests, and cheesecake for dessert. The dinner was a bit potluck style, with different people bringing the three courses, but all of them were truly delicious.

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We were so lucky to have access to a rooftop terrace, so around 10pm, we headed up to watch Tivoli’s big firework show. For some reason, they don’t wait until midnight, so we got two times the fireworks, and I won’t complain about that! After dinner, it was already time for the show, and it was definitely good to get some fresh air. The party continued as parties do, and we made sure to climb on couches and chairs so we could “jump into the new year” at midnight, as Danish tradition requires. Afterwards, we headed out onto the street to watch the fireworks, and shoot off some of our own.

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Now, I admit that the pictures could be better, but I didn’t want to bring my camera, so I had to make do with the phone! Next year, I might try some long exposure shots of fireworks, but I don’t have a foot for my camera yet, so any attempt this year would have turned out blurry anyway.

We finally headed back inside and had a piece of delicious, homemade “kransekage”, which is a delicious pyramid of layered marzipan cake rings. I failed to get a shot of the entire cake (a masterpiece!) but I did manage to snatch the top layer, including the little silver umbrella.

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Now, I had a great time at the party, potentially a bit too great, because after boasting that I never get drunk (allegedly because I’m German - great logic), I spent the complete day yesterday a miserable mess on my couch. So I guess I had that coming. But I’m still determined that 2015 will be an amazing year, despite that somewhat failed first day. I don’t have a list of resolutions, because I tend to not keep them and then feel bad. So instead, I just plan to enjoy every second of this new year to the fullest, and make the most of it the best way I can.

How was your New Year’s Eve? And do you have any resolutions for 2015?

 

Between the years: A Danish and German winter wonderland

Posted in Photography by

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and some great days off to enjoy with your family and loved ones. If you’re anything like me, you have practically been eating non-stop these past couple of days, and are now feeling like you need a break from food in general! But I’m still at my parents’ house in Germany, and my mom will not stop serving me delicious stuff to eat, so my resistance is futile. I guess I’ll just have to eat extra healthy come the new year (what an original New Year’s resolution!).

I’ll be posting in more detail about the fun Danish Christmas I’ve had once I get back home. But I we were so lucky to have snow both in Denmark and here in Germany (well, re-define lucky when your 8am flight gets delayed because the aircraft needs de-icing), I wanted to share some nice snowy pictures with you!

In Denmark, it snowed in the night from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, so we woke up to everything covered in a thin white blanket. I love the smell of snow and the freshness it brings to the air, so I went out in the garden to take some pictures.

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Down here in Germany, we arrived early on the 26th and there was no snow at all, but again, we woke up to a world in white on the 27th. I had received an amazing new prime lens for my camera, so my dad and I went for a hike through the forest to take some pictures. Aren’t the woods in the snow just so magical?

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Have you had snow for Christmas?

Merry Christmas 2014!

Posted in Christmas, Typical Danish by

The day is finally here: it’s Christmas again! We have waited for weeks and weeks, brought ourselves in the mood with candles, cookies, Tivoli trips and hot alcoholic beverages. We have planned, conspired, ordered online, and shopped ’til we dropped, and we finally managed to get all the presents. Except that one thing we forgot, damn, we had been thinking about that all fall - meh, they’re getting that other thing now, so it’s okay. We wrapped, bound bows, wrote nametags, fought with stubborn wrapping paper, and finally managed to make those funky frills with the ribbon. In short: we are prepared!

As for me, you would be hard pressed to find a cuter little Christmas tree than the one we picked out this year! We always go for the small ones, because we don’t have the room for a large one, but we still want our own tree. There was hardly any room for ornaments, but we put up some of my favorites: the birds, and of course, my little “garder”!

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Seriously, though, aren’t these the most adorable little dudes?!

For the rest of the decoration, I usually like to keep it simple. Two years ago, somehow this horrible little piece of kitsch got into our possession (okay, okay, we may have bought it, shame!) - it is a little city, covered in snow, and two batteries power some colorful lights that are meant to be festive, but really are just plain disco. So this year, I have sneakily omitted this particular item of decoration, and it has gone unnoticed thus far - success! I’m keeping it very simple and stick mostly to silver and white. Oh, and anything with antlers, of course.

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This past Sunday, the 4th of advent, we had a family thing, where we - very much Danish - made our own “konfekt”. Konfekt are Christmas sweets, which can often contain marzipan, truffles, nougat, and of course massive amounts of chocolate. I had never tried to make them before, so I tried not to get in the way too much, but I am very proud to say that I did help decorate those pretty dark-and-white-chocolate ones in the last picture!

Later today, we’re heading out to my boyfriend’s family for the traditional Danish Christmas Eve, including flæskesteg, risalamande, and dancing around the Christmas tree. And if we wake up from the certain food coma on time, we’ll be attending “julefrokost” on Christmas Day, where we’ll be treated to the classic Danish cold lunch buffet - and tons of snaps, of course! And then, on the 26th, we’re heading on down to Germany to start all over!

I hope you have wonderful Christmas days with your family and friends, and share lots of great food, laughter, and memories! And I hope many of you actually get a white Christmas - aren’t those the best?!

PS: You can head on over to my Instagram to see more pictures of all the deliciousness that’s awaiting me.

The taste of Danish Christmas

Posted in Denmark, Typical Danish by

Christmas is kind of a big deal in Denmark. In absence of Thanksgiving, there’s only one holiday, Mortens aften (St. Martin’s Day) on the 10th of November, between Halloween and Christmas. That effectively means that Christmas season begins in November, at the latest when the gates of Tivoli open again after Halloween. Christmas is season of hygge, making these long, dark, cold days ever so much more bearable and – dare I say it – actually enjoyable, not least because of a bunch of tasty seasonal delicacies.

Gløgg

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The season’s favourite drink, this deliciousness will warm even the coldest heart. A sort of mulled wine seasoned with spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom, gløgg exists in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties. In Denmark, gløgg is usually served with raisings, chopped almonds, and orange slices. You can make gløgg from scratch (examples here and here), buy it by the bottle (Irma’s house brand is quite nice), or get different types of gløgg mix to prepare with red wine. There are also white wine varieties.

Æbleskiver

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Æbleskiver, in a literal translation, means “apple slices”. This is odd, since they are completely spherical and do not contain apples! I’ve seen them described as the “Danish donut” or “Danish pancakes”, but none of those explanations really seem to hit the spot. They are, simply put, small, sweet balls of deliciousness, waiting to be dipped into strawberry jam and powdered sugar (which is the traditional way to eat them). I’ve never tried to make them, since you need a special pan and the flipping process seems quite challenging! But you can get them frozen, so you simply need to bake them in the oven for a couple of minutes. Addictive!

Flæskesteg

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The classic. A Christmas Eve dinner without it is pretty much unthinkable in Denmark. Flæskesteg is pork roast, with a thick layer of crispy crackling that everybody likes to fight for (except me – not a fan!). It’s usually served with red cabbage (“rødkål”), brown sauce and caramelized potatoes, another Christmas favourite.
Another variant is the flæskestegsandwich, usually served in a big whole-wheat bun with red cabbage, pickles and a mustard sauce. You can get a recipe from Danish chef Claus Meyer here or get your sandwich at Bøfgrillen in the Tivoli gardens.

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Duck

Besides flæskesteg, many Danish families also serve duck on Christmas Eve (some do both - see picture above with two massive flæskesteg and a chopped-up duck in the background!). Usually, the duck is filled with dried plums and apples. Yum!

Ris à la mande

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Important note regarding rice pudding in Denmark: there is “risengrød”, the sort of standard rice pudding. This can be eaten all year round, and is served sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. And then there’s “ris à la mande” (sometimes spelled “risalamande”), which is that same rice pudding, but refined with whipped cream and chopped almonds, and served with cherry sauce. [Side note: don’t make the mistake of suggesting to serve cherry sauce with standard “risengrød”. My boyfriend shot me a stare that said “what is wrong with you?!” when I did, stupid little me.] Ris à la mande is always served from a big bowl, and there’s one whole almond hidden in it. Whoever finds it gets a little present (“mandelgave”, like I did last year). I’m also over the moon by this recipe for a ris à la mande cake!

Klejner

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Very popular all around Scandinavia, these little pieces of fried dough are commonly seen in Denmark around Christmas. They are similar to donuts in their style and taste, and are usually served with powdered sugar.

Julebryg

It’s no secret that Danes love beer. The Vikings from the land of Tuborg and Carlsberg are also really fond of their seasonal brews, like for Easter. But there’s a whole cult surrounding Tuborg’s Christmas beer (“julebryg”). It’s only on sale for about six weeks a year, and its release is celebrated on “J day”, the first Friday in November. Tuborg’s Christmas brew is by far the most popular, with its characteristic blue-and-white labels, but other brands have followed suit and today, you’ll be able to choose from a variety of julebrygs. Since I’m not a great beer fan, I cannot really recommend which one is best – so you’ll have to try them all and decide for yourself!

What’s your favorite Christmas food, either Danish or from your home country?