home tour - the studio & hallway

We'll continue our tour in the "Værelse/Opholdsstue" in the floorplan and since there's not much to see, I'll throw in the hallway ("Gang") as a bonus!

I've never known what to call this room.  It's so much more than an office, so I've settled on calling it "the studio."  It's where I work, sew, write, surf, develop photos, and exercise. Opie is usually close by, lounging on his green velvet throne, or trying to snuggle me while I'm working my core :)

This room is joined to the living room by a set of original pocket doors, and when the doors are open, it feels like a very big space.  I love the flow!  Robert's place has a similar set-up, but not on the same scale as this :(



I have not repainted the hallway.  I'm a firm believer that hallways should be treated as rooms and that they can handle dramatic color, and so, the purple stays!  I love this hallway, especially considering how boring it was when I moved in.

 Fingers crossed that St. Joseph will work his magic on Sunday...

home tour - the living room

Now that I have to consider my chick pad officially "done," I thought it would be fun to give you a tour!  I might've shown you bits and bobs along the way, but now I'm offering the full monty ;-)

First, let me show you the floorplan:

We'll start our tour in the Opholdsstue/Spisestue, which is my favorite room and the one I've shown most often, particularly when it was hot pink :)

The listing has only been online for 2 days and there's already a showing scheduled for Sunday!  It's so strange to know that this could be someone else's home just. like. that.

I may be moving to one of Denmark's hottest neighborhoods, yet Robert's place just doesn't soothe my soul like this one does.  It's bittersweet.  But I guess that's the duality of me, the girl who carries a Louis Vuitton handbag with a $6 secondhand dress...

cinnamon ice cream

I'd intended to post this cinnamon ice cream recipe last week, but I got wacked with the flu and almost missed Thanksgiving, so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

I managed to deliver a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner to my British family, but had to nix the soup course and delegate dessert to Robert because I just didn't have the energy to bake homemade pie.

Luckily I'd made the ice cream in advance, and Robert came through with a delicious apple crumble, which went perfectly with this homemade cinnamon ice cream!

 3/4 cup sugar

 1 1/2 cups coffee cream
(that's "half & half" in the US)
2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 t vanilla

2 1/4 t ground cinnamon

Whisk together the sugar and coffee cream over medium-low heat, and slowly bring it to a simmer.  As it starts to simmer, remove it from the heat.

Use an electric mixer to lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl, then beat half of the cream mixture into eggs.  You need to be quick here, or you risk cooking the eggs, which would be gross ;-) 

Add the mixture back to the pot and whisk in the heavy cream.  Continue to cook it over medium-low heat, stirring with a metal spoon until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.  

Remove it from the heat, whisk in the vanilla and the cinnamon, and let it cool, then process it in your ice cream maker for 45 minutes to an hour.

Next up... a photo tour of my flat :)

nut loaf & vegan gravy

Way back in 2010, I celebrated my first Thanksgiving abroad with other expats.  Over time, I lost interest in spending time with people who I had nothing in common with aside from the country issuing our passports.  For the most part, I'd let Thanksgiving go, at least temporarily.

Looking two years back, I see I was quite optimistic about finding someone to share my life with.  Last year was not a great year for me, and Thanksgiving passed without even a mention.  But I'm on the other side of all of that, and this year, I've got a whole new family who wants to share my American traditions :)

Robert's parents are visiting from England next weekend, and we're celebrating Thanksgiving!

In the absence of Tofurky and stuff-able winter squash, I've had to go a more basic route for our vegetarian Thanksgiving entreé (Robert's mom is kindred spirit and also a vegetarian!).  I've been auditioning nut loaves this past month and last night, in the nick of time, I finally nailed the one I'm going to serve.

If you're looking for a delicious Thanksgiving vegetarian main dish, I don't think you can miss with this one.  It's so good, we were eating it cold for breakfast!

150g toasted walnuts
(about 5.5 oz)
100g toasted almonds

(about 5.5 oz)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed
200g finely chopped mushrooms
(about 7 oz)
1 t marjoram
1 t thyme
1 t sage
1 cup brown rice, cooked
350g shredded emmental cheese
(about 12 oz)
250g cottage cheese
(about 8 oz)
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper

4 lightly beaten eggs
oil

Toast the walnuts and almonds on a baking sheet for 10 minutes or so at 190°C (375°F).  Allow them to cool a bit, then finely chop them.

Finely chop the onions and sauté them in a bit of oil, meanwhile chop the mushrooms until they're pea-sized.  Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic, mushrooms, marjoram, thyme, and sage.  Continue to sauté until the mushrooms are golden.

In the biggest bowl you're got, stir together the nuts, rice, onions and mushrooms, emmental, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper.  Stir in the eggs and mix until it's well combined.

Oil a loaf pan, line it with parchment paper, leaving extra around the edges to help lift the nut loaf out of the pan later on.  Oil it again and pour the mixture into the pan, smooth the top with a spatula and knock it on the counter a few times to settle it in the pan.

I laid a few mushroom slices down the center to make it look rustic and pretty, then I baked it for an about hour at 190°C (375°F), and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes.  After it cooled a bit, I lifted the parchment out of the pan, onto a serving platter, and peeled it from the nutloaf.

The nut loaf is delicious as is, but since there will be mashed potatoes, I also made a gravy, which according to Robert, "tastes bloody gorgeous."

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

1 cup canola oil

chopped mushrooms

2/3 cup chopped onion

8 - 10 garlic cloves, pressed

3 T nutritional yeast 

1 cup flour

1/2 cup soy sauce

4 cups veggie stock

1/2 t black pepper

1 t sage

Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onions and the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are translucent.  

Regarding the mushrooms... I just chopped up what was leftover in the package after making the nut loaf, which was about 100g.

Add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes.  Take the pan off the burner and whisk in the nutritional yeast, flour, and soy sauce until it's smooth and lovely.  Move it back to the burner and whisk in the veggie stock.  Stir in the black pepper and the sage, bring it boil, reduce heat, and cook it at a simmer, whisking constantly until it thickens.

This recipe makes a lot of gravy (about 2 quarts), but we'll be five for dinner, and there are mashed potatoes to be drowned ;-)

If you're a smaller group who tends to be light handed with gravy, you might prefer to halve the recipe.  However, Robert has a great metabolism, and is happy to eat the leftovers with a spoon, so I make it by the vat ;-)

Next up... a word about dessert.

st. joseph

After I wrote about putting my apartment on the market, quite a few blog readers suggested burying a St. Joseph statue to encourage a quick sale.  Your stories were very inspiring, and I thank you for introducing me to St. Joseph, my Assistant Real Estate Agent :)

I'd never heard of burying a St. Joseph statue before, but it's apparently a well known practice.  So well known in fact, that you can by a St. Joseph home selling kit off of Amazon!

So I did :)

St. Joseph is now buried upside down in the pot of my favorite (and Opie-chewed) spider plant in the front window, next to the "Til Salg" sign!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you might know that I was raised Catholic, but now consider myself a Buddhist leaning agnostic.  You might wonder how I reconcile asking a Saint for help.

Well, I don't see it as asking a Saint for help as much as I see it as invoking the law of positive attraction.  I've gotten almost everything I've ever wanted in life, and I mostly attribute it to being a big time daydreamer.  I believe that daydreaming helps to manifest the things I want, or at least leads me to make the decisions that lead me to the things I want ;-)

The St. Joseph statue is another way to help me focus on the outcome I want, which is a quick sale at my asking price.

The real estate photographer was here today and after a quick look around, he said that he shoots over 1,000 properties a year and that mine is one of the coziest, most inviting properties he's seen and that he was, "from a personal perspective," looking forward to photographing it.  Creating this home has been a labor of love, and that was one of the best compliments anyone could've given me :)

Let's hope St. Joseph and the universe bring me a potential buyer who agrees...

it's on!

Man, what a whirlwind!  What have I gotten myself into? 

I signed with a Realtor yesterday afternoon and already, there's a For Sale sign outside, three Realtors have come for a viewing, there's a potential buyer, and we could have a showing as soon as tomorrow... yikes!

I've had to push off the property photographer from today until next Tuesday to give myself time to arrange a pick-up of the furniture I won't be moving or storing.  I guess it all could've stayed, but since I've already picked my darlings, it makes sense to cast off the rest now so my rooms look bigger. 

I feel like I'm not even close to ready for this, but would I ever be ready? There's nothing like jumping into the deep end to get one's rear in gear ;-)

The weirdest part about this experience so far is that I could have a buyer within the week, the month, or I could be waiting until spring.  It all seems so chaotic, which is difficult for this girl who craves order and stability in all things.

But, I have priced to sell, and according to the Realtors, I have a very cozy and charming home that's unlike anything else on the market right now.  I hope it grabs someone else's heart the way it did mine nearly four years ago :)

Fingers crossed, let's get this show on the road!

back to white

Three and a half years ago, I arrived in Denmark, bought myself (and paid off) the apartment I fell in love with, and created the funky, eclectic, bohemian pad I'd long seen in my mind's eye.

So much has changed since then, and now it's time to let go of this nest that has occupied me, protected me, and allowed my life to evolve into what it's become.

Opie and I are moving on, again... to Robert's white, modern, Eames furnished home! 

It's in in a really cool neighborhood in a large (for Denmark) city with a vibrant expat community, fleamarkets, secondhand shops, ethnic grocers, international restaurants, and a vibe I've loved since my first visit long before I'd met him.  We'll just have to find a way to work out that white, modern, Eames thing  ;-)

It's the end of an era in so many ways...

And it begins with painting my beloved hot pink living room a nice, creamy Scandinavian white :(

But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  The sooner I get this place sold, the sooner I can have all of my things in one place.... especially my kitchen things!  Robert's man kitchen doesn't even have measuring cups or cinnamon, let alone a blender, a food processor, or a waffle iron!

I expect it to be on the market within the next month.  I'm hoping that by being on the market in January when inventory is low and people are starting to shop, I'll be able to close by summer.

Prayers, good vibes, and crossed fingers are much appreciated :)

P.S. I'm particularly looking forward to sticking it to The Man by only having to pay one media license :)

empress' new shoes

Christian Louboutin, you've failed to impress me!

After unsuccessful hunts in five Louboutin boutiques in three countries, I'd nearly given up on ever finding a pair of these red soled lovelies in my all too popular size.

My losing streak seemed to end last week in London at Selfridges, when I fell in love at first sight with this pair of Neofilo 120 Platform Pumps, which by some miracle, they had in my size.

When I came back to Denmark and had my first out of store look at my glass slippers, I was horrified to see that one of them was riddled with quality issues...
 

Selfridges forwarded my complaint to Christian Louboutin's UK customer service.  I filled out the required form, and sent it in along with these photos and received a reply saying:

"Your areas of concern are not easy to identify within the images.   As a gesture of goodwill I can offer to cover the shipping cost for your replacement pair but you would have to send the shoes back to Selfridges (the address is stated on your recite). Please let me know if you would like to go ahead with this and I will have a replacement pair fully inspected and reserved until we receive your current pair."

First world problem, but REALLY???

I've paid £525 for a pair of shoes, one of which is clearly of inferior quality and I'm expected to pay the return postage so that "as a gesture of goodwill" I can receive a replacement of appropriate quality? 

If this shoe is in fact what Louboutin deems to be appropriate quality, then Christian Louboutin should be ashamed.  I could probably have found similar quality counterfeit Louboutins on Canal Street for a tenth of the price!

The thing is, I'm in a quandary here.  On principle, I should insist on a refund.  On the other hand, the other shoe is beautiful, and as a pair, they'd complement my other insanely indulgent London purchase, which I'll show you in an upcoming post.

What would you do? Pay for return postage on an exchange, or insist on a refund?   Please don't tell me I'm insane for spending £525 on a pair of shoes ;-)

Either way, I'm appalled at the poor quality of Christian Louboutin shoes, and their very poor customer service. This is not my first pair of designer shoes, but regardless of what I decide, this will be my first and last pair of Louboutins.