halloween

When I was a little girl, Halloween always trumped Christmas as my favorite holiday. This may be due in part to autumn being my favorite season, or because Halloween was a once a year chance to embrace my inner princess, fairy, or bobby soxer. Or maybe it was all of the free candy. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, Raisinets, KitKats, and Dubble Bubble were my favorites. Three Musketeers, Milky Way, Mounds, and Almond Joy were my least favorites, and I happily traded 3 to 1 for my favorites when I was lucky enough to find someone who was willing to negotiate!

Halloween traditions are slowly making their way to Denmark and I can always count on my friend and fellow expat Tara to keep our American traditions alive on this side of the pond. Her husband was born on Halloween, so of course she threw an all-American Halloween/birthday party complete with hot apple cider, Rice Krispie Treats, and jack-o-lantern carving!





These jack-o-lanterns are much cooler than the ones I used to carve, but that's what happens when you give designers a table full of pumpkins, markers, and knives! Nice work, guys!

To most people reading this blog, these look like six carved up pumpkins, but really, they are a Halloween miracle.

Pumpkins were available at most grocery stores, but disappeared in mid-October. I figured this out yesterday when I ended up trekking all over town looking for a pumpkin only to come up empty handed. Tara's pumpkin search was also unsuccessful, but her neighbor surprised her by scoring the last Danish pumpkins from a florist (go figure!), thereby saving Halloween and her husband's birthday celebration!

We didn't have to resort to the back-up plan of carving squash :)

minestrone soup

I'm going through a bit of climate shock. We mostly skipped over the beautiful fall weather I'm used to and went straight into cold and rainy weather. I've been wearing a winter coat, tights, scarf, and gloves for at least 3 weeks.

It's been another cold, rainy weekend. Opie and I have been hanging out next to the woodburning stove trying to finish up a website I'm due to launch this coming week. But all work and no play makes Sage an irritable girl, so I took a time out this afternoon to make a delicious pot of minestrone soup.

olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, pressed

2 celery stalks, diced

5 carrots, chopped

1 zucchini, cubed

1 pepper, chopped

2 t salt

1 t oregano

1 t basil

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

3 t dry red wine

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas

28 oz whole canned tomatoes, chopped

6 cups veggie stock

1 cup dry pasta

frozen leaf spinach

Sauté the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil, until the onions are soft. Add the carrots, celery, 1 t salt, oregano, black pepper, and basil. Stir, and cook covered over low heat for 10 minutes.

Add the green pepper, zucchini, stock, tomatoes, chickpeas, remaining 1 t salt, and wine. Stir, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Bring the soup to a boil, add the pasta, and cook at a gentle boil until the pasta is done. Stir in a bit of spinach and cook until heated through.

To give the soup a higher protein content, I substituted the cooking liquid from a batch of chickpeas for the veggie stock. The frozen spinach here comes bagged in little clumps which is pretty convenient; I used 4 clumps. I seem to remember little boxes of frozen spinach all clumped together in the US. If that's your only option, you're probably better off using fresh, or skipping the spinach altogether.

In the US, I used to buy just the veggies I needed, but here, most of the produce comes prepackaged and I generally have to buy a bag of multi-colored peppers in order to get a green or red bell pepper. I had an orange pepper leftover from my latest pepper buying venture, so that's what I used here. Like orange popsicles, orange peppers are my least favorite and always the last ones left. Given a choice, I'd have opted for a green bell pepper; in popsicle terms, that would be grape :)

the story of opie

It's kind of ridiculous how much I love this cat. He was actually supposed to go to someone else, but some kittens are too fragile and the one I was planning to take left us earlier than expected, so my sister gave me Opie instead. I'd always wanted a red cat, but I choose my pets on the basis of need, not looks and so I was happy to take in the last baby in the litter who needed a home.

I've had Opie since he was 5 weeks old and he's totally the best free thing I've ever gotten! I tell him he needs to take care of himself because he's awesome and I want at least 20 years.

Here's why...

He's a teddy bear. He sleeps snuggled up next to me and he purrs so loud that it wakes me up. He helps me stay in shape by lying on my yoga mat, curling up on my bench, or trying to snuggle up with me during ab work. He waits outside of the shower, and once when he was a kitten, he fell into my bubble bath. He's always at the door when I come in, even if I just went to take out the trash or check the mail. He sits with me every morning as I get ready for work. I talk to him and he talks back. He follows me around, he helps me cook, he catches bugs, and tonight when I was working late at home, he was alternately on the table touching me with his paws, and snuggled up in his bed at my feet.

He's got a thick, beautiful, soft coat and loves to be combed and petted, until he doesn't, then he bites. He hisses at visiting kids, then hides under the bed. If I'm late to feed him he carries on like he's starving to death, and it feels so good to save his life ;)

Opie was born about about 4 months after my grandfather died. My grandfather raised me from the time I was nine and I've said "goodnight" to him every night since he left us. After 8 years, I still miss him terribly, and wish he could visit me in Denmark and that I could take him to Italy, or wherever he'd like to go. I'm not sure where I stand on angels, heaven, and all of that, but Opie brings such joy to my life that I often wonder if he is a gift from my grandfather.

going to thailand!

Three weeks from today, I'll be in Tuscany! I've dreamed of visiting Tuscany ever since I saw Stealing Beauty back in college. I don't remember much of the movie anymore, I can barely even tell you the plot, but I remember the beauty and magic of the scenery and since then, Tuscany has been on my life's wish list (not a fan of the term "Bucket List"). Rome is just a bonus, but Italy is sort of old news for now.

It's a crazy life when something comes along and upstages a trip to Italy! But it's happening... I'm taking a trip I've often imagined, but never thought I'd take. I'm going to Thailand!!!

In February, eight of us will spend a few days in Bangkok, then move to a luxury villa in Phuket! It's even got an infinity pool :)

Here are some photos of where we'll be staying in Phuket:

Home theatre opens to the pool deck!

It comes a private chef for breakfast and lunch!

Dining table seats 10!

One of 5 bedrooms, I hope I get this one :)

One of 4 bathrooms, I cannot wait for a bubble bath!

We're a mix of couples and singles. We girls are planning to shop, take cooking classes and spa treatments, and have dresses made.

Custom dresses! How much fun is that? OK, maybe not as much fun as say finding a vintage black dress with leopard print collar and cuffs at Goodwill for $7.99. But how many times am I going to have something completely custom made? Someday, I'd like to have a bra custom made in Paris.

Still, there's a little pang of pain and loss in my heart and in the pit of my stomach for what I gave up to have this. However, it's also the life I dreamed for myself, but always thought was for other people. It's quite bittersweet.

In all of this, I've learned that the things you want in life are only for other people if you don't have the courage to go after them for yourself. If you're willing to dream, sacrifice, close your eyes, take a chance, and leap, you can often get exactly what you wanted (give or take, of course).

I was restless, but I never imagined that I'd throw out my safe, stable life plan for something extraordinary.

Here it comes...

secondhand hygge

The days are getting shorter and I'm already in scarf, gloves, tights and winter coat. I saw a large display of Christmas candy the other day, so it's inevitable that my park days give way to cozy days at home.

As I was going through my photos from this past week, I struck by the coziness of this one... a secondhand Monopoly game atop a solid wood antique table, lit up by a vintage 50 DKK (about $10 US) floor lamp, accompanied by a French red, of course sipped from secondhand glasses. And I won the game!

boarding opie

I've been going to Danish class, doing my homework, making a conscious effort to at least attempt to read my own mail, etc. But there are no two ways about it, learning a new language is tough!

Next to the Unit Converter on my iPhone, Google Translate is the most useful tool in my life, but sometimes, just like the weather app on my iPhone, it lies.

One of my friends feeds Opie when I'm out of town and I feed his cat when he's out of town. It's a nice arrangement, until we're both out of town at the same time.

Not having someone to take care of Opie would've been a tripstopper, but another friend recommended a cat hotel. Of course the website is in Danish, so Google Translate to the rescue (or not)! Everything looked cool until I read:

"Castrated mature male cats are not accepted."

This makes absolutely no sense. Normally, I'd assume it's a typo, but who knows how things work here? People do wear a disturbing amount of fur in Denmark... just sayin' :(

I was totally stressed out wondering what I was going to do with Opie. Could he pass for a girl? Given his size and the fact that most orange cats are males, not bloody likely!

I finally got a live (reliable) translation via a friend, and it turns out Google was wrong and the policy in question is just the opposite. Crisis averted!

Come February, Mama will be relaxing on the beaches of Thailand and Prince Opie will be living it up in a king size suite at the cat hotel.

More details to come, but isn't he a handsome boy?

freezing beans

Denmark's selection of beans is paltry at best. A few weeks ago, wanted to serve my veggie enchiladas at an impromptu dinner party, but I couldn't because I hadn't soaked any black beans and none of the 4 grocery stores I shopped had them in cans.

Dried beans are definitely the most economical choice, but they're not the most convenient choice, and here, they're pretty much my only choice.

Danish grocery stores also don't carry much in the way of dried beans. I can sometimes find lentils, but mostly I buy my beans in 900g bags at a middle eastern market for around 20 DKK (about $3.75 US).

When I lived in the US, I used mostly dried beans, but I kept a few recipes worth of canned on hand for convenience. Now, I pressure cook my dried beans in bulk and freeze them, which ends up being cheaper and just as convenient (in the long run, anyway) as the canned beans I used to buy stateside.

I pressure cook the beans for a minute or two less than I would if I were planning to use them fresh out of the cooker; they don't freeze and reheat well if they're too soft.

After they've cooled, I spread them into a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then depending on my level of ambition, I vacuum seal them into 1.5 cup portions, which is the equivalent of a 15.5 oz can, or I freeze them in bulk, double bagged in gallon size freezer bags.

Now I always have cooked beans on hand... another challenge solved :)

going to italy!

One of the things I most looked forward to about living in Denmark was the opportunity to travel Europe in a way that few Americans can.

The dust from the move is settling, I'm launching a major project at the end of the month, I'm stressed beyond belief, and I have 6 weeks of vacation time, so November is a perfect time to take a trip!

Italy was kind of a random choice. I've always been more of a France girl, but airfare to Rome was cheap, and Europe is a big continent, so that's how I'm doing it, one city at a time as the opportunities come along.

I don't really have a game plan for this trip. I'll bring my camera and a list of secondhand shops. I plan to eat, drink coffee, taste wine, take photos, and pinch myself often. I'll of course eat gelato, but I'll steer clear of any nonsense like retracing the steps of Elizabeth Gilbert or eating gelato at that Crispy Saint place she wrote about. This is my adventure and while I loved Eat, Pray Love, I don't really get the point of retracing someone else's steps.

That reminds me, I was planning to take a crack at NaNoWriMo, but now that I'll be galavanting around Rome, and possibly Florence and Naples in November, I'll need to postpone that creative exercise until December. It's just as well. I'll have more time, and hopefully more to write about then.

If you've got any suggestions for things to do and see in and around Rome, Florence, and Naples, don't be shy. I'm going to buy a guide book or two, but I like personal recommendations best :)

the learning curve

I definitely underestimated the difficulty of living in a foreign country. Last Saturday, I took on the adventure of getting my first Danish haircut. I'd been warned that this could be a tragic and even catastrophic event, but I'm short haired girl at heart. I've grown my hair long many times, but really, I'm a bob girl and nothing, not even a language barrier or the threat of dull scissors was going to get between me and a bob.

I'll post more about that later, but the point of this post is to talk about another example of the learning curve of living abroad.

The easiest way I've found to style a bob is by using one of those hot air curling brush things. No matter how good a power inverter you have, it's pretty much universally accepted that blowdriers and the like will not survive the conversion, and I'm really not into messing around with 220 volts next to my hair and face.

I could not find a suitable hot air curling thingy (magic hair wand?) locally, so I ordered one from Amazon UK. Even after getting scolded by post office demon for not speaking Danish, this seemed like an excellent plan until I opened the package and realized that UK plugs are different from Danish plugs.

Are they kidding me? It's like 2 hours away by plane!

I get that I ordered from a UK site, but this not so magic hair wand is available for shipment to all of Europe! It shipped from Germany! So why would I expect it not to work on mainland Europe??? Shouldn't it have been clearly marked as UK only?

I can't even think about the hassle of shipping this thing back, so I'll have to find and use yet another kind of adapter with it. I miss the days when I could just plug my appliances into the wall and have them work. These days, at a minimum, I need a plug adaptor, but in most cases, I need a 40 lb. power inverter. Good times!