Day 413 - Plan this Magical Mystery Tour

In a mere eight days, Emily and I will be off to London for a long weekend. This was Emily's idea and she was nice / thoughtful enough to snag tickets to see Derren Brown's latest show "Infamous" in Wycombe. Yes, I am going to London. To see a magic show. And like a whacked-out-on-caffeine-pills Jessie Spano, I couldn't be more excited.

"Magic show" is probably underselling things. When I think "magic show", my mind travels back to hazy memories of Cub Scout banquets and junior high assemblies. The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I'm sensing...The Great Chezaday!



If you grew up in the Naperville area in the 80s, chances are that you have seen Chezaday in action. I don't remember very much about the show other than the sawing-a-woman-in-half section and the fact that Chez and his assistant were always decked out in something sparkly and possibly silver. This was probably my first experience with a real live stage magic act.

At any rate, I really do love magic. I remember watching Penn and Teller's "Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends" at a friend's house when I was 8 or 9. I particularly remember being duped by the "Super Kleener" bit.



On some level, that's what's fun right? Deceiving others is fun but it's also fun to be willingly - or actually unwillingly in this case - deceived. I take that back, it's probably not that fun to be unwillingly deceived. It's fun in retrospect. I digress.

I've never been big on breaking things down to their small bits or taking joy in the "oh that's so SIMPLE, THAT'S how they're doing it" aspect of watching magic. Mostly I like to be transported to a place where even though I KNOW I'm being deceived, even though I KNOW it's not "real", I don't care. It's magic to me.

In this vein, close-up magic - card manipulation, etc - is probably my favorite genre. The idea of an artist doing things with his / her hands with such shocking speed and dexterity blows me away. It really is magic. Back to Penn and Teller - "The Cups and Balls".



I mean, they're using clear cups. You can see everything they're doing. They tell you everything that they're going to do and when they do it, it's so seemingly effortless and amazing that it still looks like magic.

So who is Derren Brown and how does he fit into all of this? For the uninitiated, Derren is a magician, illusionist, sleight-of-hand-artist, mentalist, showman, and renowned parrot enthusaist. I think that I originally stumbled upon him whilst listening to the old XFM Ricky / Steve / Karl shows.







He also did an American version of his UK TV series "Mind Control" which appeared on SyFy.



This is a very old clip - great hair! - but anyway, I was hooked and went back and watched pretty much all of the TV series and specials and everything I could find. It was the stage shows that really got me.

They really are fantastic. He does such a wonderful job of presenting these illusions / tricks / manipulations in a fun / memorable / sometimes creepy / always amazing way. Derren really is an amazing showman / performer, and these performances highlight his skills wonderfully, specifically the way that he can control a room. So for many years I have wished for a US tour that never materialized.

Now as I live in Denmark, it's easy to hop on over to jolly old England and catch a performance and I am very much looking forward to "Infamous".

That is - however - the only plan we really have. We have both been to London before and have visited the more popular tourist attractions. So, I ask you loyal reader...what would you do on a long weekend in London? What would you eat? Where would you go?

I almost forgot, how could I fill an entire post with stuff about magic and not include this?

Day 412 - Valentines Day

Like most American holidays designed for profit, Valentines Day is catching on hard and fast in Denmark. One of the local grocery stores - SuperBest - is currently running this ad / promotion;

Yes, that's a Valentines cake above for only 40 kroner! But, what, you might ask is that fancy ring? Much like a golden ticket hiding inside a the wrapper of a Wonka Bar, the tiny / creepy baby trapped inside of a king cake, or the magma-hot silver dollar lurking inside loukoumades, biding it's time until the moment it gives you the gift of third-degree burns, this cake has a surprise. 

Hiding inside ten of these cakes throughout Denmark are gift certificates / cards which you can then exchange for the ring pictured above - it is valued at 7,575 kroner, about $1400!

Day 411 (OT) - Danish Cochinita

Obviously, OBVIOUSLY, Emily and I love Mexican food. We love cooking it. We love eating it. We love thinking about it.WE LOVE MEXICAN FOOD.

I was on a mission to make a cochinita pibil - a sort of Mexican pulled pork. That's selling it short. I'll let Robert Rodriguez tell you all about it.

I didn't go with Robert's particular recipe - I didn't make my own paste and I am weak - but the thought is there. I went with a variation / combination of my stern-but-groovy-master Rick Bayless' version / and a Chowhound variation. Thank you Rick for an epic habanero salsa.

An aside, I can't be happy enough about the end of this video. Cooking is fun. Master cooking some stuff and cook it. Control it. Learn what you like. Cook that. Thanks RR for putting it more succinctly.

This brings me to praise two awesome CPH stores for their assistance and stock. First the Chili House. I really wish I would have caught the owner's name. It's a great place. Tons of hot sauce. Many spices. Tons of seeds for growing. Good stuff. On this trip I was looking for Annatto / Achiote, those little delicious-ridiculously-difficult-to-grind seeds. Chili house didn't have the seeds but they did have some paste and I was happy to grab that. It's a great place and I can't recommend it more.

Two, on the the suggestion of the owner / dude that helped me, I went searching for banana leaves at a Thai Supermarket in Vesterbro. This Thai Supermarket. Good stuff. Great staff. Clean and awesome. I can't say enough. Plus they had banana leaves!

Verdict? Delicious.

Day 411 - On the subject of Marius...

Once again Denmark is thrust into the international spotlight. The last time it was our Prime Minister chatting up President Obama. The first lady was not amused.

Today it is a new controversy. One in which a young giraffe was euthanized and fed to lions. During zoo hours. In front of little kids.

So yeah, that's pretty messed up. The zoo is walking distance from my flat, but I chose not to pop in for the autopsy. I did have the displeasure of seeing poor Marius' bolt-gun perforated head on the cover of several Danish tabloids at the grocery store checkout. Great!

At the center of all of this is EAZA - European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. EAZA has very strict rules for selective breeding of its member's animals in order to maintain genetic diversity for long term survival of all of the animals in captivity - specifically those that are endangered. 

At any rate, it's a sad story. From a very non-scientific humanistic view, killing cute / cuddly animals with a bolt gun to the head is depressing. There are pros and cons here and any sane person / organization going forward with this had to at least consider the fact that - at the very least - it looks bad. For me, the reason that it's an INTERNATIONAL story really highlights the problems that Danes have when they have to interract with non-Danes.

There's a general lack of self awareness. How will others view this? How will others feel about this? How does this represent us? Denmark? Here, for the most part, it's a non-issue. Almost every Dane I've spoken to doesn't understand the outrage. That's the crux of the problem. I'm only speaking in generalities here, but empathy isn't necessarily a strong Danish trait. The idea of thinking, hmmm, what will someone else think about this? It's not common.

When you combine that with a very matter-of-fact cold-and-calculated way of explaining what you've done, you get this reaction from the world community. Ricky Gervais is probably right here.

“Destroying a beautiful healthy animal because it was surplus to your needs just isn’t good enough.”

On the flip side, the people who did this didn't even consider the fact that it would be a big deal!? Of course we'll do the autopsy in public, it will be a learning experience for children! Lions eat giraffes. It is a fact! More learning! 

These are complicated issues that have been handled in a very ham-fisted, this-is-what-we-do way. 

Day 403 - Super Bowl

I love American football. Scratch that, I love football - thanks Kevin Costner!

I've broached this subject before, but there's something about living abroad that has awakened the long dormant capital "A" American hiding deep inside me. I've never felt the need to feel "American" before. I've never described myself - internally - as such. But here? I'm an American. I am a real American! It's a weird feeling to suddenly have this designation thrust upon me, but I'm there now.

We have hosted / co-hosted / attended many Superbowl festivities in years past which - at their best - have proved a glorious excuse for gluttonous excess and football. Here are a few of the funtime invites that I've put together in the past. Enjoy my spare time and rudimentary / mad Photoshop skillz.

For many years I dubbed it - or perhaps cdubbed it - the "Chili con Superbowl". Yes, I stole this from Eric Cartman. Mostly, I made chili, we watched the Superbowl, and fun was had by all. As things progressed, I've attempted to make something that might approximate the regional tastes for any of the cities involved - be it either of the teams involved or the host site.

It's both weird and great when you do this kind of thing with just two. When you're abroad and have to stay up until 12:30 for kickoff? It's doubly weird, but it's a fun time. You can cook whatever you want. For example; you can "represent" "Seattle" with jalapeño poppers stuffed with smoked salmon! No one will complain! (Note, these were actually awesome, I should patent them)

There was an original plan for some sort of Denver omelette, but that was vetoed. Had I access to bison, I would have done bison sliders, but here we'll have to settle for plain old beef. From left to right you have bernaise / mushroom / onion, AMERICAN, and blue cheese / BBQ / mushroom / onion. Yes!

Somehow I thought it was a good idea to do some sort of shrimp / pineapple skewer. It probably wasn't.

And as is always necessary, a seven-layer dip. It's seven, Emily assured me. Delicious times seven.

To finish up, dessert. Chocolate? Check. Caramel? Check. Delicious? Check.

It was a fun, stomach-filling / scorching, Superbowl Sunday / Monday. What more can you ask for? 

Day 364 -- Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår

As we are closing in on the end of our first year in Denmark (Dec 30 is our anniversary of moving here) we thought we would mention the things we like most about our new country and the things we are grateful for.  It has been an interesting, challenging, frustrating, exciting, educational, and emotional 12 months.  But here are some things that we like about Denmark/Copehagen in no particular order:

1.  Ease of traveling around Europe.  This is hampered somewhat by having Charlie and having not yet found an ideal dog-sitter.  But in 2013 we (or at least one of us) were able to visit Warsaw, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Barcelona, western Denmark,and Malmo Sweden.  Next year we have Brussels, London, and Australia (not Europe and not any closer than from the US but still exciting) on the docket already, and hopefully more as the year progresses.  Living next to the metro we also have easy access to the airport which is really helpful.

2.  Warmer winter weather. It's gray and dark in the winter but so far this winter we have not dropped below 30 Degrees F and I am thankful for that.  I know colder weather is coming, but for now it has been bearable (now the lack of sun is another story but we're keeping this post positive...)

3.  Lots of summer sun.  In the height of the summer the sun rises around 4:30 am and sets around 10:30 pm.  It was not nearly as hard to adjust to as we thought it would be.  And after experiencing a winter here we can understand why the Danes get so excited when the sun is out.  The summer here was quite nice, weather-wise.

4.  6 weeks of vacation.  We haven't actually experience this yet since the Danish vacation system is a little odd and you earn vacation the year before you get it.  But I get a full 6 weeks starting in May this year (2014) and Collin gets 5 so we are close.   In 2013 I had 4 weeks and it's amazing how quickly that amount does not seem adequate.  Next year Collin and I are planning a trip to Australia (centered around a conference I am attending) and it's such a luxury to be able to plan 3 weeks away and still have vacation left for the rest of the year.

5.  Christmas in Denmark.  The Danes love Christmas and really do it right.  Lots of decorations, good food, and festivities, gifts and holiday cheer.  And time off work.  I have enjoyed December very much.

6.  "Free" healthcare.  Not having to pay a thing for my surgery was pretty sweet.  Of course, taxes here are another story...but we pay those whether we need surgery or not so it still feels good.  And being able to take as much time off work as I wanted without pressure to get back as soon as I could was a nice feeling.

7.  Public transportation.   The metro (subway) doesn't go to too many places right now but it does run every 2 minutes (normally) which is pretty great. They are expanding it tremendously but that won't be completed until after 2018.   and it hooks up to the train system which typically runs every 10 minutes and goes to most places in the area we would want to visit.   A car may be helpful for more remote places, or for buying lots of stuff at IKEA, but for the most part public transportation has been more than adequate.

8.  Danish design.  It might be expensive, and a bit repetitive, but the Danes really do furniture and aesthetics right.  I love the crazy lights we have in all our rooms.  A little color on the walls would be nice though.

9.  Candles.  The Danes love candles, especially in the dark winters, to convey a feeling of coziness or the famous, unpronounceable, untranslatable "hygge".  We have acquired all sorts of fun candle stick holders and tea light containers.  and have fully embraced candles in our house.

10.  Jerusalem artichokes (jordskokker).  Even though you can find these in the US, they are EVERYWHERE in Denmark and we had never cooked with them before moving here.  Collin, especially, is a big fan. And as long as we are discussing produce...  Danish strawberries and danish potatoes, when in season, can't be beat.  we enjoyed many of those this summer.

11.  Scarves and tights.  These again are available in the US of course, but they are taken to a whole new level here in Denmark.  I love all the different patterns, colors, and styles (of both) that are found here.

12.  Working hours.  We generally work 40 hour weeks without any expectation to work more.  I typically work 8-4 and on occasion when I am around until closer to 5 the place is really dead.  Being able to go home to your family is very important to Danes.

13.  Desigual.  This is actually a Spanish company but is very popular in Denmark as well.  I'm a big fan!  but enjoyed the Barcelona prices much more than the Danish prices :)

14.  The abundance of celebrating with cakes/cookies/sweets.  At work you bring in something sweet when it is your birthday, your work anniversary, you are going on vacation, you return from vacation, you return from any absence (including surgery), your wife is pregnant, you got a promotion.  It doesn't matter.   whatever it is, you celebrate it.  The Danes love to celebrate.

15.  Work canteens.  We have two different canteens at work that both serve pretty amazing food, buffet style, for only 22 DKK (that's roughly $4).  It's so much nicer than having to think about bringing lunch, and the cost is deducted right from your paycheck.

16.  Bike lanes.  Copenhagen, and Denmark in general, is a biking place.  Everyone bikes, young, old, rich, poor, fancy, casual, rain, snow, sun.  It doesn't matter what the circumstance.  And what makes it really positive is that Denmark has the infrastructure for it.  Bike lanes everywhere, even along the highways, that are shoveled in the winter and often have their own traffic lights.  and most, MOST, people follow bike rules, signalling for stops and turns, waiting at red lights, etc.  Now that Collin finally purchased a bike, I am looking forward to using the bikes more often.

17.  Heated floors in the bathroom.  I know these are available in the US but are usually a luxury.  Here pretty much every apartment has a heated floor in the bathroom.  I am thankful for it every morning.

18.  Accessibility of British TV.  We no longer have cable here, but when we lived in our temporary housing for the first three months it included cable.  It was fun being introduced to all sorts of British shows we had never heard of, as well as some that we had.  I do miss that aspect of cable...but not enough to pay the exuberant price for it!  some of the Danish commercials were pretty sweet too.

19.  Bakeries.  Yes, the US has bakeries, but the regular bread and "danish"-like sweet breads (they're not called "danishes" for nothing!) are amazing and so easily available.

20.  Pickled food.  Danes pickle everything from the famous pickled herring to just plain old pickles (although they are called pickled cucumbers here).  What a wonderful accompaniment to food.

21.  My coworkers.  They have been so accepting and inviting, and work hard to make both Collin and I feel welcome here.  I am very lucky to have them.

There you have it.  21 things about Denmark we have enjoyed/appreciate.  I'm sure there are more as well, but we will leave those for next year.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.   We hope your holidays are as nice as ours have been!

Day 363 -- Christmas in Denmark

It's Christmas Eve (or Juleaften) and I thought I would blog about all the various Danish Christmas traditions we have experienced so far.  

1.  Advent Candles/Calendars.  These are all over the place in Denmark.  Some candles are sets of four, like we purchased and I have pictured below.  You light one each of the four Sundays before Christmas.  Another alternative is the single advent candle that is a tall pillar candle with 1-24 numbered down the side. On the Dec 1 you burn it until it reaches the 2, on the 2nd it burns until it reaches the 3 and so on.  Apparently this is a very popular one with kids.   Advent calendars are very common...they have the traditional ones you find in the US where you open a little door each day and get a present or something...Stores have these as well with each day offering a new deal.   Finally they have Advent shows on TV...24 episodes with one a day until Christmas.

2.  Christmas markets  (Julemarked).   We went to three Christmas markets, all very different from each other, yet all selling pretty much the same things.  Our first market was on the Strøget (the pedestrian shopping street downtown).  This was modeled after a German Christmas market and sold German sausages along with Danish gløgg (more on gløgg later), ornaments, winter hats, christmas trees and more.  The second market was the famous Christmas market in Christiania, the "free town" in Copenhagen that has been discussed earlier in this blog.    We got there right when it opened at noon.  It was fairly crowded, an indoor market with tons of booths selling various Christmas foods, ornaments, hats, and various handmade trinkets.   We left at 12:30 and the line to get in was wrapped all around Christiania.  The third market we went to was the also-famous Tivoli Christmas market.  Tivoli is the old amusement park in the middle of the city.  They open for a few weeks in December and the park is transformed with lights and animatronics and music and stands selling Christmas foods, ornaments, hats, etc.  (sound familiar?)  but this market includes stands from well known Danish stores like Georg Jensen and Illums Bolinghus.  They also have a few actual reindeer that live there in December.  The following pictures are from the Tivoli market (Christiania does not allow photographs)

real live reindeer

 

3.  Christmas "lunch" (Julefrokost).   We were invited to three julefrokosts but two occurred immediately after my surgery so we had to skip them.  So I only went to my work julefrokost and only have that one to discuss.  Julefrokosts are super-common Christmas dinners hosted by work colleagues or friends or family.  They are known as being lots of food, LOTS of drinking, and lots of fun.   Mine ended up being not very traditional as we had it at Favrholm (previously discussed in this blog) which is known for its creative and exciting food preparations...so the things we ate were twists on traditional foods...smoked salmon tartare appetizer, duck confit with brown potatoes (more on them later), and the very traditional ris alamande for dessert (more on that later as well).  There was no aquavit which is the common liquor at these events, but just lots of wine.  so nobody got as drunk as I was told would happen.  We had live music but that was it.  I heard these events get pretty crazy but my department tends to be pretty calm and lowkey (I'm certainly not complaining!)  Collin's department has a reputation for wildness but he didn't go to his so nothing to report there.

4.  Christmas foods.  There are a number of food items that show up in December and are served at julefrokosts or Christmas dinners.  I'm a big fan of Æbleskiver which is a kind of Danish pancake/donut.  They are traditionally served plain with a side of raspberry jam and powdered sugar.  Along with these you often have a glass of gløgg which is a warm mulled red wine.  very satisfying on a cold day.  Risalamande is a typical Danish dessert served on Christmas Eve.  It's kind of like a rice pudding with almonds.  A whole almond is mixed in, and whomever gets the almond wins a present.  I read that the person who gets it usually tries to hide that they did in order to keep others eating as much as they can in hopes of winning it themselves.  Brown potatoes (brunede kartofler) are small boiled potatoes that are then pan fried in browned butter and sugar.  Well-made ones are DELICIOUS.  not-well-made ones are oddly sweet and kind of not delicious.  one of the most common, and seemed to be well-liked, meats is flæskesteg, a type of roast pork with crackling around the edge.  I can't stand the crackling and can't understand how you eat it, it feels like crunching on rocks, but everyone here goes crazy when it's served.  For Christmas eve dinner most families serve duck with flaeskesteg on the side.  

5.  The three days of Christmas.   The official Danish Christmas in Dec 24, 25 and 26th.  Most people have off on these days and most stores, restaurants etc are closed on these days.  Danes typically celebrate Christmas on the 24th.  The whole family gets together for dinner followed by the lighting of the candles on the Christmas tree (yes, often REAL candles...although nowadays they often keep a bucket of water next to the tree just in case...) After dinner they join hands and walk around the tree singing Christmas carols.  Then AFTER that is all done (sometimes 9, 10:00 at night) the kids pass at all the gifts and they open them, usually one at a time.  This could take a long time.  Christmas day (the 25th) is a day of quiet recovery.  The 26th is often a day of family julefrokosts.  

6.  Julemand.  Translates to "Christmas Man"  This is what they call Santa Claus.  According to them he lives not at the North Pole but in Greenland.  He is sometimes accompanied by nisser which are little pixie/elf-like creatures that go around creating mischief.  You want to be good so the nisser aren't too mischievous with you.  

7.  Christmas decorations.  Danes aren't too much into color.  Most lights (except at Tivoli) are white, with maybe monochrome colored lights -- with blue being the most common.  Paper decorations are very common.  The julehjerter and julesterjner are handmade hearts and stars.  I bought some silver strips of paper to attempt to make my own.  The star directions were quite complicated.  The heart was a little easier.

This heart came from Novo (hence the two blues which are Novo's colors)

I apologize for the quality of pictures.  My phone is old and has no flash making night time pictures especially difficult.

Nyhavn (the port area)

Strøget:  the pedestrian shopping street

Magasin...the old department store

Hotel d'Angleterre :  Nutcracker decorations

animatronics at the mall

more animatronics

our own tiny tree purchased across the street

a little Danish pixie

8.  Pakkeleg:  This is a game played at Christmas time at julefrokosts or other get-togethers.  Everyone brings a wrapped present which goes in the middle of the table.  In the first round you take turns rolling a die.  If you get a 6, you get to pick a present from the middle of the table.  If not you pass it on to the right to the next person.  This continues until all presents are selected.  Round 2.  The presents are still unwrapped.  The second round lasts for a pre-determined amount of time (but no one knows the amount).  This time if you roll a 6 you get to pick ANY present you want from anyone.  If you roll a 1, you have to pass one of your presents to the left.  Sometimes people have other additional rules for other numbers but this is all we played with.  After round 2 the presents are all unwrapped and showed to everyone.  Round 3 is the same as round 2 except this time you know what the presents are.  After three rounds the game is over.  Some people end up with lots of presents, some get none.  It's a fun time.  

There are probably many more traditions that are Danish in nature but that is all I can come up with right now.  Here's a picture of the cookies I made this year.  The biggest comment they got "So much color, is that safe to eat?"

Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår!!