Day 191 -- Random stuff in Denmark

As I kill time before I leave for the airport for Amsterdam I thought I would do a quick update on a few Danish things.


First off,  I have been trying out new Danish recipes.  These come to me from a facebook page I "like" that gives me a new Danish recipe each day in the month of June.  I am embarrassed to say I have only tried two recipes so far.

The first is for the hindbærsnitter, with hindbær meaning raspberry. I only had a little bit of raspberry jam on hand so mine became half of a hindbærsnitter and half of a jordbærsnitter (meaning strawberry).  I have seen this in every bakery near me and thought it looked like a giant poptart so I figured, I like pop-tarts, why not try it.

For proportion-sake this is about 8 in x 12 in

 The snitter consists of two pastries made with a LOT of powdered sugar.  After they are cooked, jam is spread over one of them and then the second is placed on top like a sandwich. The whole thing is covered with a powedered sugar icing (again, this is a LOT of powdered sugar) and then covered with sprinkles or non-pareils.  In my opinion they were a bit too sweet (I am not generally a fan of ultra sweet desserts), but they did get better with time.  Collin brought a bunch into work and was told they tasted very much like the real thing (which, sadly, I have never tried).   So I guess I was successful but don't know if I would make it again.

The second recipe I made is just called strawberry pie.  I like to call it DANISH strawberry pie since it is so much more than just a strawberry pie as I think of it.  This is made up of a crust which is basically a giant sugar cookie (i'm sensing a theme here, Danes like sweet desserts).  The uncooked crust is topped with kind of a cookie batter made up of butter, sugar and marzipan.  This whole thing is baked.  After it cools it is coated with a layer of melted dark chocolate.  Then it is supposed to be topped with some sort of custard involving ingredients I wasn't really sure about (sounded like just a box of custard mix maybe?) so instead I made my own vanilla custard and put that on top, followed by cut strawberries.  The main impetus for this pie is that June is strawberry season in Denmark, and Danish strawberries are absolutely delicious.  They tasted like you just picked them off a strawberry farm, dark red and juicy and just the right amount of sweetness.   I also made strawberry shortcake with them but as that was not a Danish recipe I don't have any pictures here.  This recipe I will probably try again...maybe baking the bottom just a tad bit longer though.

I am running out of time before I have to leave for the airport so I will leave Sankt Hans celebrations and high school graduations for next time.  But I will end with some pictures of my really stylish work-issued lab shoes.  Technically I am allowed to wear sandals in the lab but that goes against all my training so instead I requested these beauties for days I wear sandals to work.  they are actually very comfortable.  

Day 172 - Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek / National Museum / BOARD GAME NIGHT

Hello friends. As promised, we will now recap Michael's final day of København fun.

Michael and I first took a trip to the National Museum of Denmark. It is always free and gives visitors a nice look at Danish history. I particularly enjoy the first floor - blogged about earlier - covering early Danish history from stone to bronze to iron age. It felt like I was playing Civilization!

Our Danish friend Lasse wants me to go here with him. At least I think that's the place. He described it as a three age educational experiment - choose stone, bronze, or iron age and live there for up to a month! Worst. Vacation. Ever.

As opposed to our last visit, this time - with Emily now joining us - we ventured up to the 2nd and 3rd floors. These floors cover Danish history from the end of the iron age up to today. There was a section on Danish toys and shockingly, no LEGO.

At this point, I was regrettably getting a little museum-ed out. It doesn't help that the museum's upper levels are built as some sort of maze designed to keep patrons in. Like some sort of...casino. I walked around for far too long through the same rooms trying to find an exit. Sadly, there were no drinks or gaming tables or other distractions to make my confusion less taxing.

Once we made it out of the National Museum, it was on to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. It is free on Sundays. The atrium / garden alone makes it well worth checking out.

The museum also houses a very nice collection of antiquities, Danish art, and other paintings / sculpture / etc collected over the years by J.C. Jacobsen. One of the more interesting exhibits was The Ishøj Prince, which displays a recently discovered iron age burial site complete with Roman relics including two nearly-complete Roman circus beakers. The beakers in this case were painted with nautical themes. I think that one involved dolphins.

The other traveling exhibition was Degas' Method, covering a wide range of works attempting to show how / why Degas became, well, Degas. Great exhibit but soooo much text. Collin's brain was nearing overload and as such, Emily and I went home while Michael was left to soak in more culture on his own.

Then it was time to eat hamburgers. And play board games.

If you didn't already know this about me, I have always loved gaming of all shapes and sizes. My excellent German friend Christoph has, through the years, introduced me to great games like this, this, and this. Because I can't resist, that last game has cards like this.

Yes, that guy on the top left is wearing a colander on his head. And yes, that colander says "born to chill". And yes, that guy on the bottom left is definitely Dave Grohl.

This night was about a new game. Village. I find that - most of all - I really enjoy the variety of play style in these games. So many of these really strange games have game play that is, sadly, very difficult to describe. In other words, you need to play them.

Anyway, Village is weird. And fun. And addictive. The basic concept is this; each player has a "family" with many members that can perform different tasks on the game-board. Each task costs hours and / or resources. There are many different areas of tasks - the workshop, travel, the church, the council, etc. As "time" moves on, members of the "family" die off and new generations are born. There are a million different things to do / ways to play. I repeat, this game is fun.

Michael dominated, winning both games of Carcassone and, IIRC, the only game of Village. Fun times were had by all.

And that wraps it up. Thanks for visiting København Michael! We hope you had fun.

Day 141 - Roskilde

What is happening? Isn't it actually Day 181? And your last post was Day 171!? What is happening!?!

I could say that I'm just playing with the method. It's like Pulp Fiction. I'm allowing the reader to piece the story together. It makes you do more of the work, but don't worry. You're all the more enriched!

With all due apologies to Quentin (and Brick for that matter), the reality is that I'm horribly lazy and only blog when I feel like it. And now I feel like it! So lucky for all of those that were just itching to hear about my trip to Roskilde with Emily and her parents. Over a month ago.

Roskilde is best known for its Cathedral, the Viking Ship Muesum, and the Roskilde Festival. A co-worker told me that both Pearl Jam and Nirvana played it circa 1990-1991. My brain nearly melted.

This year we'll have to settle for half-Dane Lars Ulrich's band, Rhianna, Kendrick Lamar, Henry Rollins spoken word, Suicidal Tendencies, The National, and others. Many, many, many others.

And Miike Snow!

Holy crap do I love this song. Thanks Sweden. You're good for so much more than just ABBA.

Our trip did not include seeing groundbreaking bands. It did include a tour of the cathedral and the Viking Ship Museum.

The cathedral is essentially the Danish Royal burial ground. Think Westminster Abbey-of-Denmark.

This is the door that is only used by royalty.

And this is our friend Christian IV.

Maybe it was just a sign of the times, but Christian's casket was - comparatively - decidedly simple. I should have taken an appropriate picture. It is black - most likely velvet - adorned with silver and some gold. Not nearly as over-the-top as I had expected. Here's some stock footage - stolen from here. Sorry about that.

You can see the "gates" in the background, here are some close-ups.

You were totally waiting for this. A ceiling picture.

This room has a surviving period-painted mural. You can see bits of it behind these statues. For some reason I imagine them as being members of Poseidon's royal guard. I am weird.

From here it was on to the Viking Ship Museum. Roskilde is at the end of a long channel / fjord that connects it to the sea. This channel snakes along the coastline, this way and that. As such, Roskilde proved to be a relatively protected port city for much of the Viking era.

There are three deep channels - deep enough for sailing - in the section of the fjord nearest Roskilde. During the height of the Viking age, two of the channels were filled with ballast - old ships, junk (but that's also a ship!), etc. The third, easily the most difficult to navigate, was left open. The idea being that local sailors who understood the channel could handle it. Alien invaders could not.

This proved to be excellent for the Vikings. It might have been nearly as excellent for 1950s Danish archaeologists. In one of these channel-blockades, pieces of four different ships were found - relatively preserved - in the mud and sand.

What followed next was the painstaking process of coffer-damming off the salvage area, finding fragments, keeping them wet, cataloging them, sending them to Copenhagen, preserving them, and putting the pieces together. The thing about ancient submerged wood is that it will, when exposed to air, quickly disintegrate. Every-single-piece was preserved through a sort of glycol-water exchange. The pieces were submerged in glycol and the water in the wood was slowly replaced / displaced by glycol. Imagine a dialysis that could take years.

The other issue was putting the ships back together. Remember, this was an era - for the most part - without computer assistance. After many years, the ships were reassembled. They are now displayed at the museum.

It is a very cool museum. Just imagine sailing one of these from Scandinavia to Greenland or - in one case - to Newfoundland. 

We were privileged to have an English-speaking tour provided by a history student currently earning her doctorate at the University of Copenhagen. She mentioned that - for long journeys - the Vikings would bring cows and other animals with them on the boat. They would actually cook the meat on the boat. With a fire built on rocks.

Today, the museum has recreated several Viking ships using - to the best of their knowledge - period technology / craftsmanship. It's really impressive.

I'll finish with this statue / sculpture near the Roskilde S-tog station.

Day 171, OT - Kronborg Slot and Dinner at HöST

...and we're back.

After thoroughly enjoying our visit to Hillerød and carefully avoiding water-spouting-fountain-gods, Emily, Michael and I took the 930R to Helsingør to do some more castle hopping. This time is was Kronborg Castle, the home of Hamlet.

The castle slot is located on the Øresund, at the point of Denmark closest to Sweden. The land mass on the right side of the map is Sweden. Thanks a lot blog, now I can't get Waterloo out of my head. With any luck, I've put it in yours. But just in case...

This is taken from the 1974 Eurovision song contest. A contest that ABBA - I mean how could they not - won. I wonder if the Swedish keyboard has a backwards "B" key. It certainly should. 

Anyway, for our American friends, the Eurovision song contest is basically American Idol meets The Olympics. Each country sends a singer / band to compete with a new, freshly written song. Past winners include Lulu (she was married to Maurice Gibb and had an affair with Davy Jones!) , Bucks Fizz, and even Celine Dion. And yes, that Bucks Fizz song is featured on the Extras episode where Ricky does the theater tour playing a very colorful genie. 

I thought Celine Dion was Canadian? Did France claim her? What gives?

The winning country is required to host the next year's festivities. This year's winner...Emmelie de Forest from Denmark!

This sounds more Irish than Danish. So, next year, we have Eurovision to look forward to.

And I now realize that Emily already talked about all of this! Sorry readers!

Anyway, from that digression, Kronborg Slot. It was built by Frederik II, from 1574-1585. As for the Hamlet connection.

The legend’s association with Elsinore and Kronborg did not begin until Shakespeare, presumably due to Elsinore’s status as one of the world’s most important towns in the 1600s. Thanks to the Sound Dues which was a special toll that all passing ships had to pay in the town, Elsinore had become a traffic hub for international shipping. 

The town was also regarded as a cultural centre due to the newly built royal castle, Kronborg. It is unknown whether Shakespeare actually ever visited Elsinore. It is known with certainty, however, that a number of English and Scots players from his retinue performed as visiting actors at Kronborg and in the town of Elsinore. They could have been the source of stories about the illustrious castle on the Sound that reached Shakespeare and which inspired him to set the play here. 

“Hamlet” is one of the most famous and frequently performed stage plays in the world. Since the 1600s, countless theatrical productions at the castle and many other venues have endeavoured to keep the legend of Hamlet alive. That is why Kronborg is now known all over the world as Hamlet’s castle, and Elsinore is known as the Town of Hamlet.

We climbed up another tall tower - because, again, that's what we do - and viewed Helsingør / Helsingborg from above. It was a beatiful day.

We also explored the "dungeons" which were - as was expected - dark and cold and wet and - as was not expected - above ground. This guy is down there.

It's Holger Danske! The legend follows that should Denmark ever fall under threat, Holger shall spring to life and protect the Danish state. Sadly, he neglected to do this in 1940. Holger!

Interesting thing about these "dungeons", there is limited to zero lighting. Just before you enter, there's a small vending machine that sells flashlights. Seriously. For all of it's nanny-state leanings, Denmark is awesomely disinterested when it comes public safety. I found the whole experience to be embarrassingly terrifying.

After our train journey home and some much needed rest, we went to HöST for a nice dinner. It is very much in the new nordic style that we've discussed here previously, but at a much more affordable price. For 525 DKK one can enjoy a glass of cava, three courses paired with wine, several small bites, and coffee / tea to finish. It was a very nice meal and the staff was very generous. Plus we ate like we actually live in Europe for a change - we were done around 11:30 or so. What wild and crazy lives we lead!

Thanks to the Kronborg Slot website, mentioned earlier, for the part about Hamlet.

Next time, Michael finishes his trip with a visit to the National Museum and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Will he make it out alive? Collin makes hamburgers and the three of us bend our brains with german board games. Will the fun ever stop?

KBH Restaurants : Barburrito

As mentioned in a previous post - HERMANO! - Emily, Michael, I checked out Barburrito. It is, of all things, a tasty, surprisingly authentic, Mexican place in København.

A few weeks ago I went out to bowl and gorge myself at an Italian buffet with some of my fellow male Spousecare spouses. It was fun. Here I am enjoying myself with my counselor, Sys.

We got on to talking about restaurants and what not. I mentioned that I missed Mexican food and Steven, a spouse from the Netherlands, mentioned Barburrito. Thanks Steven!

It's just a short walk from Nørreport, in a basement spot next to a tattoo parlor. We almost missed it and thought it had been closed and turned into a tatto parlor. It's a pretty un-assuming, small, sparse place. Stainless steel tables. Tiny paper napkins in those napkin dispensers you would see at an American diner. Two broken down wooden benches outside for "garden" seating.

When we arrived - probably a bit early - it was pretty empty, but filled up shortly. It was a fun vibe once things got going. We started with some tasty margaritas, very solid guacamole with plantain chips, and some cod ceviche. Yes, plantains! I need to figure out where these plantains came from. First good thing, there was heat! I find with most approximations of Mexican food, there's a fear of heat, this was not the case at Barburrito. Thanks Barburrito!

Emily had some corn on the cob that reminded me of the very Central American elote. They had a version of this at Toro. Both were delicious.

Tacos are the main deal here. They have five different types.

Michael and I both opted for the full set. The ugens taco this week was a slow cooked / smoked lamb. It was good. I was most impressed with the care in assembly - lots of nice little touches. Each taco had so many different elements. Emily and I thought the veal was best, with the roast chicken the least interesting - but still tasty. I really enjoyed the shrimp as well - the black beans were a nice touch.

They had habanero hot sauce! Delicious and hot.

The corn tortillas were very good, albeit small - even for corn tortillas.

All said and done, I will definitely go back. Really good stuff.

Day 171 - Frederiksborg Slot

And here we are, a week later, with recap of day three of Michael's visit to København.


View Larger Map

We began the day with the Train to Hillerød to visit Frederiksborg Slot (Castle or Palace for our American friends). The oldest parts of the castle are from the era of Frederik the II in and around 1560, but it is best known for the additions / new construction done by Christian IV in the early 17th century. I hope to do a DotW on Christian IV this week. He is, perhaps, the best known of all Danish Monarchs if not certainly one of the most interesting.

So the palace. It is situated on on small island - which I'm assuming was constructed for the castle - in the middle of lake, with acres of carefully planned garden behind.

Apologies to the Facebook-ers that have already seen these pictures. Here we go.

These pictures are as you enter the main courtyard - it was a great day for taking pictures. This fountain is fairly surreal, we'll see more of it in a bit. The tour of the interior is self guided and - thanks to Michael's student discount card - was only 60 kroner. I'm fairly impressed with the relative cheapness of museums / landmarks as compared to everything else in Denmark. The palace also houses a museum of Danish National History. 

One of the oldest sections of the palace that still survives - a massive fire in 1859 destroyed much of the interior - is the The Castle Chapel. It exists today pretty much as it would have from the period of Christian IV.

For some reason, I always take pictures of ceilings. It's just my thing. Here we go.

The top floor of the museum is a modern art collection. It included this picture of Danish national treasure Kim Larsen!

Kim was in the super-famous-in-Denmark 1970's band Gasolin'. I challenge you to not get this stuck in your head. It's Jutlandia.

There was also this look at modern day København.

If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you'll see these!

Every pizza place in København uses these boxes. When making pizza in Denmark, it is important not to wear pants. You should probably also yell mamma mia in your best Mario voice. Especially if you're the hungriest.

The gardens are pretty amazing.

We walked through the gardens for a bit and then had a nice lunch at a small cafe in the garden.

As we made our way back through the castle to get to the train station, I took some more pictures in the courtyard.

I am childish and this amused me endlessly. Even Michael looks worried.

Next, it was on to Helsingør to Kronborg Slot - the castle of Hamlet. Stay tuned.