Day 334 -- Part II What else did we do this fall?

Barcelona was the last of our trips this year.  The last two months we have just been hanging out in Copenhagen and settling down here.

Collin's work has been crazy busy.  He was offered the opportunity to join a new team within his department at Novo starting in January.  I'm sure he will blog about this himself one of these days, but in the meantime he has been busy finishing up the work he is doing with his current team, and getting ready for the switch.  I think they must be very happy with his work so far to ask him to join this team, and I'm very proud of him.

Work has been going well for me also.   I have been given increased responsibilities on one of my projects, and have had the opportunity to submit a number of abstracts to various conferences next year.  In February I will attend a conference in Brussels, Belgium and in May Collin and I will head to Melbourne, Australia for the World Federation of Hemophilia.  We're really looking forward to that trip.

In the Danish (or maybe just Novo) tradition of holding meetings at unique venues, I had a day long department meeting at the Copenhagen Zoo a few weeks ago.  The morning presentations were interrupted by the sounds of many animals waking up and being fed.  Our view out the windows were of camels, lions and polar bears.  At lunch we got to walk around the zoo and see the animals being fed.   Because the zoo is just down the block from my house I invited the group over for a small halloween-inspired party afterwards.  My coworkers brought me a jack-o-lantern.  Pretty impressive for their first attempt at one!

Day 334 -- What?! We have a blog? and we went to Spain?

So it's been a long time since we last updated our blog.  We have no excuses.  But I hope to make a few posts updating you on our first autumn in Denmark.

In early September Collin and I spent a long weekend in Barcelona.  We've always wanted to go to Spain and this was a great introduction to the country.  It was three days of hot sunny weather, delicious food and amazing sites.  The highlight of the trip was dinner at Tickets, a tapas bar by the former head chef of elBulli, Ferran Adria.  We just sat at the bar and ate whatever amazing things they brought us starting with the famed elBulli olives.  

Click here to watch a video from the New York Times of Mark Bittman and Jose Andreas enjoying Ferran Adria's olives.  They are truly indescribable.  

Collin popped up in many places that night.

In addition to our unforgettable meal at Tickets, we enjoyed some Gaudi architecture includng both La Sagrada Familia and Casa Battlo.  Casa Battlo was especially cool because we went at night and sat on their rooftop and listened to some amazing Spanish guitar.

        

 These shots are the ceiling of the cathedral  

 And the following shots are outside Casa Battlo

We also visited the Picasso museum which was great, and had a drink at the beach on the Mediterranean. We stayed at Casa Camper, an awesome, funky, boutique that included a hammock in our room and a rooftop where we could relax and enjoy breakfast and snacks.

rooftop of the Casa Camper

enjoying our 2 euro bottle of wine

view outside our bathroom window

The last few shots are of the amazing marketplace, La Boqueria.  And my cousin Maggie was right, the fruit smoothies were delicious!   

Day 278 - Chicken in a Bag

As we are fancy Danish folk, we prefer to buy our chicken in a paper bag.

Note, this was not more or less expensive than the standard plastic / cell-o-phane option.

For my cooking friends who have not already heard the gospel...THIS, is the best / easiest way to cook and enjoy a whole chicken. Go drag yourself to ACE Hardware and buy a $10 cast iron skillet. Thank me later.

Day 275 -- Biopharmaceutical Research Unit (BRU) Research Day

Friday was Novo's annual BRU research day.  Novo is split into two research units:  Diabetes (called DRU) and everything else (called BRU).  Collin and I are both in BRU and therefore got to attend this day together.   This year's venue was an area in the northern part of Copenhagen.  The site is called "Docken" and is where, a long time ago, ships were built and then released into the water.  Now it seems like a large warehouse/ shipyard area that is also starting (?) to be revitalized.  We took the train to the closest station and walked the final 2.2 km along construction sites and large warehouses, hoping we were going the right way.

I guess they roll out the red carpet?!   Actually, despite the outside appearance the venue is pretty nice.  Of course we failed to capture any pictures once we got inside, but here are two from the Docken website

sandy outdoor space out back

view from the back

The day started with a scientific talk on FVIIa by Ulla Hedner (who discovered and pushed forward Novo's only currently-marketed haemophilia treatment in the 80s) and a few talks on inflammation and immunogenicity.  Lunch was a typical Danish lunch of meats, breads, mayonnaise potatoes, and frikadeller (Danish meatballs).  The afternoon had more scientific presentations followed by a performance by three sopranos from the Royal Opera.  They performed a medley of songs from both operas and musicals, in English and Danish, ending of course, with a rousing rendition of Abba's "Thank you for the Music".  

Dinner followed the musical act.  We sat with our departments so I didn't see Collin through this part.  It started with a salad with some sort of ceviche, followed by meat and beans and tomatoes and potatoes, of course.  Dessert was some sort of nutcake.  Nothing to memorable  

Following dinner, a cover band took the stage and played a mix of music in both English and Danish...some I knew, some I did not.  And everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, danced.  Danes apparently love dancing.

Collin and I got home shortly after midnight.  It was a long and busy and tiring day.

I will leave you with a picture of the sign outside the bathrooms that made me laugh.

Day 274 part II -- Our anniversary dinner

As Collin has already mentioned, we celebrated our 8th anniversary last week.  Collin wanted to take me out to dinner at a Copenhagen restaurant called 1.th.  The closest reservations we could get were for last Thursday night.

Suave Collin on the metro

1.th stands for "første, til højre" which means, first floor, to the right, as in an address.  The concept of the restaurant is to mimic going to a friend's house for dinner.  There is no sign outside the building.  In fact we walked past it the first time and had to look up the address to find it.  You just ring a buzzer labeled "1.th" like you would when visiting a friend and they buzz you up.  (for our American friends, 1st floor in Denmark is actually the second floor.)  When you walk in, they take your coat and welcome you into one of their two living rooms that are set up with couches, chairs, coffee tables, bookshelves, etc and music is playing.  Again, just like anybody's house.  They bring you a cocktail and an appetizer.

hanging out in the living room

Everyone who is eating at the restaurant that night is supposed to arrive at 6:30.  Close to 7, they open the doors to the dining room where you are lead to your table.  I was happy to see that each party did get their own table and we did not have to sit at one communal table!  The kitchen was at the end of the dining room.

Dinner consisted of 6 courses plus a few desserts.  These were paired with two whites, two reds, and a dessert wine.  The waitstaff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable.  Each course was explained, both the food and the preparation.  The head chef himself brought out a number of the dishes.  My favorite dish was probably the "Vandmelon, bacon, and hørfrø"  This was a little soup of a mussel and bacon broth with watermelon and roasted flaxseeds.  The way the watermelon infused with the smokey bacon flavor over time was amazing.   One of the desserts, "gedefriskost and fennikel" was also amazingly simple and inventive....whipped goat cheese with buckwheat and just raw fennel stems/leaves, where you used the fennel like a spoon to eat the goat cheese.  That would have been a good use of all our root/bulb-less fennel Collin and I grew in Boston!

After the desserts we were invited back into the living room for coffees, liquor/liqueurs, and small chocolates.  We really had a fabulous night.

menu from our dinner

Day 274 - Counting by the week / Kartoffelferie

When I started at Novo, one thing that required some getting used to was the use of "week numbers" when discussing anything involving a future date in the calendar.

It's as you probably imagine it. We start each year with week one and we end with week fifty-two. Would you say, "I'll be out of the office from October 1st through the 11th"? Of course you wouldn't. You would say "I'll be out of the office in week 40 through 41".

Which brings us to Potato Week. Potato Week generally happens in Week 42. What, may you ask, is Potato Week? I'm glad you asked.

Danes like potatoes. Like is far too weak. Love. Danes love potatoes. Example. Once, at the Novo canteen, there were THREE DIFFERENT POTATO DISHES. Ireland weeps in shame.

Anyway, back in the day, country-type Danes needed extra help around the farm come fall potato harvest time. As everyone knows, potato trumps book-learning, and so it goes without question that Danish country kids quit on school for the week and happily labored in the potato fields.

Today, potato week continues! Sadly, most kids no longer have to dig up potatoes. It's fall break or Kartoffelferie. Kids get a week off from school but Danish farmers have to harvest potatoes on their own without the aid of any tiny potato digging hands. Poor potato farmers.

Day 272 - Danish Essay Writing

As you are probably aware, Emily and I have been taking private Danish lessons though Berlitz for something like eight months. Our class is in our apartment and it is twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

It can be exhausting. The classes are from 6-8:15. After a full day at work the last thing I want to do is learn. We have had several different teachers but have now settled in with a "permanent" teacher, Andreas. Andreas is great and if I have to take Danish lessons, I'm glad that we have a teacher that we get on well with.

Anyway, as this "module" wraps up, our homework has primarily consisted of writing "essays" about, well, stuff. One essay was about our trip to Barcelona. Another was about "anything we wanted to write about". A third was about "the differences between Danish and American culture".

As you can imagine, it's hard to write about most of this stuff with very limited language skills. The essays tend to read as if they were written by an eight year old. Here is a sample of this week's homework, "what did you do on Saturday?".

i lørdags morgen, løb jeg, Emily, og Charlie i Frederiksberg Have. Jeg har glemt når jeg løb siden. Det var meget svært, men jeg er sjovt jeg lavede det. Mens vi løb, min hundposer faldt op af min lomme. Jeg løb bag at finde dem. Jeg fandt dem og løb bag at besøge Emily og Charlie.  

Efter vi løb, lavede jeg morgenmad. Emily fik yogurt med frugt og jeg fik bacon med æg. Jeg kan godt lide stærk chili sauce med mine æg. 

Efter morgenmad, gik vi til Nørrebro Bazar at køb som mad. Jeg købte tomater, bønner, og oksekød. Det var meget billige. Jeg var sjovt fordi de havde kylling ”wings”. Det har været svært at finde dem i København. 

Jeg købte disse ting for at lave chili. Mine chili er meget stærk normalt, men denne gang det var lille stærk. Det var stille godt.  

Emily og jeg set en film. Den film var ”End of Watch” med Jake Gyllenhall. Han er politimand i Los Angeles. Det var ok, ikke fantastisk. 

It's fun to put this into Google translate for two reasons. One, my Danish is terrible. Two, Google translate's Danish is terrible!

Saturday morning, I ran, Emily and Charlie in Frederiksberg Gardens. I forgot when I run the page. It was very difficult, but I'm funny I made it. While we ran, my dog ​​bags fell out of my pocket. I ran back to find them. I found them and ran back to visit Emily and Charlie. 

After we ran, I made breakfast. Emily got yogurt with fruit and I got bacon with eggs. I like hot chilli sauce with my eggs. 

After breakfast, we went to Nørrebro Bazar to purchase the food. I bought tomatoes, beans and beef. It was very cheap. I was funny because they had chicken "wings". It has been difficult to find them in Copenhagen. 

I bought these things to make chili. My chili is very strong normally, but this time it was little strong. It was quiet good. 

Emily and I watched a movie. The film was "End of Watch" with Jake Gyllenhall. He's a cop in Los Angeles. It was ok, not great.

This whole experience makes me want to re-read Me Talk Pretty One Day.