Sage & Simple

homemade chai latte

2012-02-12T12:25:00.016+01:00

I'm a chai latte junkie. This has its downsides here in Denmark where they cost $8-$9 a pop and most places don't have soymilk.

So, I've taken matters into my own hands (again) and now I make them myself at home, with soymilk, and for way less than $8. Of course, this doesn't replace meeting friends at a café on a Saturday afternoon, but it sure is nice to sip one at home when I don't feel like going out.

My experience indicates that the best chai lattes are made from a syrup, not from a teabag and spices. I'm sure it can be debated whether or not this is actual "chai," but honestly, I don't care about that. I like what I like, and here's how I make it...

10 teabags
1/2 t nutmeg
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t ground ginger
3/4 t ground cloves
1 1/8 t ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups boiling water
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 T honey
1 T vanilla

I use English Breakfast tea for this. It's a readily available black tea that's generally fixed with milk and sugar, so it works well.

I add the spices and teabags to a large bowl, add the boiling water, stir, and steep it for 20 minutes or so.

Then, I remove the teabags and strain it through my yogurt cheese maker a couple of times to filter out the sediment from the spices. Using whole cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, etc., would simplify things, but I have an easier time finding ground spices here, so that's what I use.

After it's been well strained, I stir in the sugar, honey, and vanilla, and store it in the fridge in a Mason jar.

You may need to tweak the spice and sweetener proportions according to your taste, but this tastes pretty spot on to the latte I get at my favorite café, and it includes all of the spices listed on their menu, plus the honey that I can most definitely taste :)

When I want a chai latte, I mix the heated syrup about 50/50 with frothed soy milk. I used to have a really nice super automatic Jura Capresso, but my equipment is a bit more humble these days, so I just use the microwave and a frothing wand.

And it seems to work just fine :)

finding my center

2012-02-10T09:20:00.036+01:00

I took the day off from work because I have time to burn before May and because I needed to re-center.

My new carpool leaves at 6:30, which means I get up at 4:30 to workout. I suppose I could sleep another hour and workout after work, but the realist in me knows that I'll find 1001 excuses later in the day, and so I make it my first priority.

Then there's been the stress of the floor situation, and a dozen or so other little stresses that cumulatively have brought me to a place that's a bit more negative than I'd like.

On the bright side, getting up at 4:30 most days means that 7:00 has become "sleeping late!" And so, I slept "late" today and took the day for myself.

I took the time to brew french press coffee instead of the instant swill I usually gag down between make-up and blowdrying. I skipped my workout because I never do, and for breakfast, I actually skipped yet another awful tasting protein shake in favor of homemade yogurt with honey and granola.

Then I got antsy and decided to rearrange my bedroom. It started with seeing how the the chair would look "over there instead." Soon, the shoeboxes were pulled out from under the bed, I was cleaning woodwork, and nothing was left where it started.

Unfortunately, I don't have a before photo, but here's how it looks now:

It appears my flower eater approves ;-)

It feels a lot bigger, cozier, and more romantic than it did when the dresser was on the opposite wall, and the chair was near the radiator, and the bed was where the dresser is. I still can't believe I moved all of that furniture by myself!

Much better, but that awful orb of a light fixture most definitely needs to go... I'm thinking a petite chandelier on a dimmer :)

another opie lunch

2012-02-09T14:56:00.011+01:00

This time, chewed up flowers were the least of my problems. He threw up all over my hallway carpet. It's natural fiber, so I can't get the stains out. Ew!

A new floor has been on the agenda, but I hadn't planned to do it so soon. However, now I don't have a choice and so it will be installed next week.

It's so "me" and it's going to look very pretty with the purple walls. It's definitely another love it or hate it decorating decision, and I can't wait to post a photo!

So, any would-be suitors out there, if you want to impress me, don't send flowers ;-) Instead, send Indian takeout or falafel...

homemade pita chips

2012-02-05T09:49:00.009+01:00

I'm a hummus junkie and after far too much mental whining about missing my beloved Stacy's Naked Pita Chips, I decided to take matters into my own hands...

1 package whole wheat pita bread
olive oil
sea salt

Separate each pita into 2 layers, then cut them into eighths. Arrange them in a single layer on baking sheets and brush on one side with olive oil. Trust me, you do not want to toss them with olive oil, I tried this method first and it was a greasy mess!

Sprinkle them with sea salt and bake at 350 degrees (175 for my Euro readers) for 20 minutes or until they're crispy.

I thought about brushing them with garlic-infused olive oil and herbs, but let's face it, the main purpose of these chips is to get hummus to my boca, so why complicate it?

There's a new and improved hummus recipe coming, but I can't seem to keep from eating it long enough to take a photo, so in the meantime, here's my original recipe, which is rated 5 stars at food.com :)

homemade waffles

2012-01-28T21:46:00.022+01:00

There is little of decent nutritional value on this plate. We've got white flour, oil, butter, and Vermont Maid syrup (which is chock full of HFCS). It was a lot of empty calories, which is so not how I roll, but it tasted like home.

1 3/4 cups flour

3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
a splash of vanilla extract

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.

Bake on a hot waffle iron. Viola! Fresh homemade waffles :)

I could've made these a bit healthier by using egg whites, 1/2 whole wheat flour, substituting applesauce for the oil, and topping with anything that doesn't contain HFCS and obscene amounts of fat. But sometimes, for the sake of happiness and inner peace, I need to forget all of that and savor a taste of something from home, exactly as I remember it.

I miss diner breakfasts.

gerbera daisies

2012-01-23T17:08:00.009+01:00

My favorite flower. My favorite color. My favorite Tiffany vase.

I thought they were beautiful. Opie thought they were lunch :(

thrifted red coat

2012-01-15T21:59:00.013+01:00

Aside from a few designer pieces, most of my wardrobe is secondhand/vintage, but secondhand clothing bargains are few and far between in Denmark.

However, I was in the right place at the right time yesterday, and I scored this practically new coat for 120 kr! (about $23)

Red is one of my favorite colors :)
Perfect.

copenhagen shoes & vintage

2012-01-08T15:10:00.013+01:00

Yesterday was an amazing day in Copenhagen! I went early, stayed late, and the whole day focused on two of my favorite things... vintage shops and shoes!!!

I didn't actually buy anything, but I did see some lovely things...

A pink Valantino suit with black polka dots, which was love at first sight, but honestly, where would I ever wear such a thing?

Then there was a vintage Birkin bag... I covet The Birkin, but accept that I'll never own one. And besides, it was tan and if I were going to pay a king's ransom for a handbag, I'd pick a sensible color like black or red. Not that tan isn't sensible, but *yawn*.

One shop had a whole section of vintage wedding dresses, which were amazing, especially the flapper style one that was still in great condition.

There was also a silk Diane von Furstenberg dress that would've been a steal had it not been too big in the waist.

And a turquoise robe with beautifully decadent ruffles, worthy of Hollywood royalty, but alas, made for someone much taller than me :(

On the shoe front, there were of course Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos, but no matter how beautiful they are, Sex and the City sort of beat them to death and I refuse to succumb to product placement.

So the highlight of my day was the Christian Louboutin shop. It was like a shoe museum... or a church, but unfortunately, they were sold out of my size in everything I liked. They offered to waitlist me for a pair of black patent leather pumps, but I passed because I really, really wanted the red pointy-toe pumps and they didn't have a waiting list for those, just a very long wait. Oh, how I long for those red soles! *sigh*

All of the shoes and vintage goodness reminded me of this photo:

From a vintage shop in Siena, Italy.

SAD

2012-01-02T12:06:00.006+01:00

I've been firmly in the clutches of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) since mid-December. It's been dark here about 18 hours a day. I go to work in the dark, I come home in the dark. Even when it's light, it's often a dark light that makes me feel like I'm living in von Trier's Melancholia world. And it rains or drizzles a lot.

This is a frustrating condition because I'm completely content with my life. I'm not depressed, I just feel "off" and I'm not able to enjoy things as much as I'd like and my creativity has all but dried up. At least depression sometimes leads to great creativity, but SAD has lead to nothing but wasted time.

It gives me insomnia, which means I'm exhaused, so I drink too much coffee to make it through the day, and then I can't sleep, and the cycle never stops. Once I'm asleep, I'd gladly sleep all day, but I won't because I will not surrender to this.

I've tried as much as possible to live my life as I would if I wasn't having this issue, but it's a haze that I haven't been able to completely escape. I've started light therapy and it seems to be helping. The past few days have almost felt "normal," which is a huge relief.

Anyway, that's where I've been all this time. Off, sitting in front of a lightbox in the happiest country in the world :)

But good things are coming... I'm going to Copenhagen on Saturday, I'll be guest blogging at Unplugged Sunday in few weeks, and winter's darkest days are behind us for now.

I'll be back soon :)

curried pumpkin soup

2011-12-14T20:50:00.011+01:00

This spicy pumpkin soup is perfect on cold, rainy, windy days. Lately, that seems like everyday.

The ginger and curry paste warm me right up and I'm pretty sure this would scare away a cold PDQ, which is an important quality in a soup :)

olive oil
a large onion, chopped
1 - 2 t minced ginger
2 T red curry paste (or less)
1 diced tomato
29 oz. pumpkin puree
4 cups vegetable stock
1 - 2 t salt
14 oz. coconut milk

Heat a bit of oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions until they begin to soften, then add the ginger and sauté a minute or two more. Add the curry paste and tomato and cook another minute or so.

Add the pumpkin and the stock and mix it very well. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer it for 20 minutes or so. I like velvety soup, so I puree it with the immersion blender, but you could easily skip that step :)

Add the salt, then stir in the coconut milk and heat it through.

I love this soup! Once my US stash of canned pumpkin is gone, I'll be making this with carrots :(

Notes: 2 T curry paste for me makes a very spicy soup, but this depends on your particular paste and preferences, so use this measurement as a guideline, not gospel. If I don't have fresh vegetable stock, I substitute 4 cups boiling water and 3 t powdered bouillon. I've used up to 1 T salt in this recipe, depending on the curry paste and whether I use stock or bouillon. Taste, taste, taste... and adjust :)

my first (and last) danish xmas party

2011-12-10T12:38:00.018+01:00

Well, my dear readers, I'm nursing a Hall of Fame hangover. Yep, this is definitely top 3 material, right up there with the one I got from drinking too much Chianti in Siena, and the 2 day version I got after I mixed beer, wine, and shots at my first Danish 30th birthday party.

To make matters worse, I may or may not have begun worshiping the porcelain god early... like on the bus early. Bloody hell, I'm too old for these kinds of shenanigans!

It's not exactly that I drank too much, it's that I drank cheap wine and didn't eat enough or drink any water. I was drinking a Chilean Carmenère, and likely a sub $5 bottle at that! I hate Carmenère and I hate cheap wine!!! Perhaps cheap beer would've been the better choice. Or maybe I should've just skipped the cheap booze altogether!

After springing for a cab to the bus station in the pouring rain, a 40 minute bus ride and huddling in a bus shelter in a hail storm waiting for someone to come rescue me in a car and drive me the rest of the way to the party, I was ready for a good time. However, it seemed more like a work dinner than a party and I probably would have had a better night snuggled up with Opie on the sofa watching Sex and the City, spending my wine calories on a big plate of french fries.

But live and learn. I've been to a Danish Christmas party, and next year I can stay home without wondering what I'm missing :)

lbd

2011-12-09T15:19:00.009+01:00

Tonight is my first corporate Christmas party in Denmark!

My little black dress is cued and ready for trouble ;)

Will the party live up to rumours? A full (or slightly censored) report is coming as soon as I've recovered from the night's festivities...

julemarked

2011-12-06T18:51:00.021+01:00

I was going to take photos and write about my first Julemarked, but I decided instead to enjoy the day, and not spend it squinting through a viewfinder and obsessively looking for photo ops.

Despite the freezing cold temperature, the rain, and the bike ride home from the train station in the snow, the day couldn't have been more hyggeligt.

Chai latte at a café, the Christmas Market, English tea, sherry, warm hospitality, engaging conversation.

And a new ring!
(via iPhone Instagram)

It looks huge, but it's actually much lighter than its platinum & diamonds predecessors... and so much more fun and less of a liability :)

What more could a girl ask for on a cold December afternoon?

barbeque tempeh

2011-12-04T21:27:00.015+01:00

Hallelujah! There is tempeh for sale in my town! It is indeed a season for miracles ;)

I've had such a jones for tempeh since moving to Denmark (plenty of whining about this in past posts) that I actually brought some home with me from Amsterdam and my last trip to the US. It's amazing the lengths I'm willing to go to for fermented soybeans!

I've never met a tempeh dish I didn't like, but this is my current favorite. I love it so much I ate it for Thanksgiving! What? Barbecue is très American and they don't sell Tofurky in Denmark...

1 tempeh cake
olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup molasses
1 T dijon
3 T tamari
1 T rice vinegar
1/2 t ground ginger
brown sugar

Cut the tempeh into whatever size strips makes you happy. I prefer my strips in the thinnish side. My tempeh comes in 425 g packages, so that's what I based the recipe on, but it should be fine to use your local standard size package. Let's keep it simple and say 1 tempeh cake :)

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the tempeh strips. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain it.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet and add the tempeh. Stir and cook it until it's browned, then remove it from the skillet and set it aside.

Heat a bit more oil in the skillet, add the onion, and cook until it begins to soften. Add the garlic and cook it a few more minutes, then add the tomatoes, molasses, dijon, tamari, rice vinegar, and ginger. Stir and bring it to a boil. I usually add a few teaspoons of brown sugar here because I prefer my bbq on the sweet side, but that's judgment call that varies by region and personal taste :)

Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes, or until it starts to thicken, then add the tempeh back to the skillet and cook another 10 minutes or until the tempeh is heated through and the sauce is as thick as you'd like it.

My favorite way to eat this is on a baguette with dill pickle slices (and truth be told, a side of fries). It's like a pulled pork sandwich, except kinder and healthier :)

december 1st, copenhagen

2011-12-02T19:30:00.022+01:00

It was one of those perfect days. We took an early train, shopped, had a hyggeligt lunch, shopped some more, dropped into a café to warm up, met a plane from Moscow to retrieve a new kitten, and had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with the German woman who accompanied the kitten on the journey. She spoke very little English, but we had an instant connection.

Strøget, 12:08

My friend wanted to know why I looked so pretty, I told him I was happy. What have I done to deserve such a beautiful life?

moroccan chickpea soup

2011-11-28T14:12:00.006+01:00

I was a bit under the weather last weekend and I made this soup in hopes that the garlic and spices would chase my cold away, and it did!

olive oil

1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t ground cumin
1 1/2 t smoked paprika
cayenne pepper
4 cups cooked chickpeas
14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable stock
1 t dark brown sugar
fresh spinach

Hit a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions until they're translucent, then add the garlic and sauté a few more minutes. Add the spices and cook for another minute or so.

Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, stock, and sugar. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes or so.

Puree about half of the chickpeas and add them back to the pot. Stir to reincorporate, then add a few handfuls of fresh spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.

Season with salt, pepper, and maybe a little more cayenne. Viola! Delicious :)

obligatory thanksgiving post

2011-11-24T15:59:00.015+01:00

Last year, Thanksgiving week hit me unexpectedly hard. I’m not a fan of excess, or of dead birds, which are in my view, pretty much the pillars of this holiday. But for some reason, I felt oddly out of touch and even a bit sad.

This year, I’ve barely given Thanksgiving a thought. I don’t feel the sense of disconnect I felt last year. Maybe I’ve finally landed and settled here.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d relish the opportunity to throw a vegetarian feast, but it’s not really worth the effort for myself. But perhaps next year I’ll have someone with whom I can share this American tradition ;)

This year, I’m thankful for the opportunity to see Thailand, London, Amsterdam, and the Norwegian Fjords. I'm thankful for the Buddha. I’m thankful for my amazing job at a fabulous company that uses my strengths and is about to get a whole lot more exciting. I’m thankful for my beautiful home, for Opie, and for the courage to follow my dreams. I'm thankful for the bumps and bruises that have made me who I am, and for the fact that I'm resilient and able to shrug off most of what comes flying at me.

And I'm really thankful for my pretty arms & shoulders!!!
I've been working very hard :)

dummy 246

2011-11-20T14:57:00.024+01:00

The graffiti, the wide-neck green top, the turquoise scarf, and her stiff Aqua Net coif unwittingly give me a video killed the radio star vibe :)

This is why I love fleamarket mannequins almost as much as the fleamarkets themselves.

Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam

london lovelies

2011-11-18T13:35:00.015+01:00

I know I promised Amsterdam mannequins in my last post, but this isn't entirely off topic :)

I just had to post this photo of the beautiful vintage 1960's clip-on earrings I found in London at Portobello Market...

When I was a little girl singing along with Bedknobs & Broomsticks, I never dreamed I'd grow up and actually go shopping for "the riches of ages" on Portobello Road :)

They're fabulous with my new little black dress... très Audrey Hepburn!!! I'm so ready for the holiday party circuit... or maybe not, given the rumours of what goes on at Danish Christmas parties.

I also scored a vintage 1960's faux leopard fur coat, which sort of makes up for the vintage Valentino coat I had to pass up in Siena last year.

I have the best life! And a pretty cool wardrobe :)

for the love of dummies

2011-11-16T19:05:00.010+01:00

Flea markets are one of my favorite things. Some people look for museums, some look for restaurants, but when I travel, I look for flea markets.

Flea market mannequins are one of my favorite photographic subjects, and it started in Bangkok's Chinatown...

What's not to love?

veggie korma

2011-11-15T17:11:00.007+01:00

Where have you been all my life?

I cannot get enough of the creamy flavor of coconut milk and exotic spiciness of madras curry powder, fresh ginger, and garam masala. It makes me want to go to India, just to eat :)

This is a soul warming on cold fall/winter evening, eating next to the fire kind of dish. And it's easy to improvise with what's on hand.

vegetable oil

1 medium/large onion, chopped
1 t minced fresh ginger root
2 garlic cloves, pressed
4 - 6 potatoes, cubed
5 carrots, cubed
3 T ground cashews
2 t salt
2 T curry powder
1/2 t garam masala
1/2 t turmeric
hot chili powder
1 cup frozen green peas
1 red pepper, chopped
400 ml coconut milk

Sauté the onion in a bit of oil over medium heat, until it softens. Add the ginger and garlic, sauté for a few seconds, then add the potatoes, carrots, cashews, salt, curry powder, garam masala, turmeric, and hot chili powder to taste.

Cook, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are becoming tender, 10 minutes or so, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for at least 10 minutes. I think it's best to turn the heat to very low and simmer longer to develop the flavors, but 10 minutes should be enough if you're in a hurry. Though you should strive for slow food over fast food ;)

I served it over not so properly cooked brown rice; someday I'll get the cups to ml conversion right :( It's even better the second day! Other things I would add to this dish are cauliflower, green beans, and chickpeas.

Make it, you will thank me :)

new mattress

2011-11-09T17:49:00.009+01:00

I've been putting off buying a new mattress mostly because I had no clue how to do it. There's one place in bikeable distance that sells mattresses and they pretty much cost as much as all of my furniture combined. On principle, I had to find an alternative.

So, I ended up ordering a mattress online and I was feeling pretty accomplished... finding it, ordering it, scheduling delivery in Danish all went very well, until...

It was a cold and rainy night (really, it was!)...

When I answered the door, the mattress was leaned up against my mailbox and the delivery guy was making a quick get away. I called after him, "Undskyld," and he came back, but that's pretty much the extent of my Danish in this situation, so I asked in English if he was going to bring it in and he said he couldn't because it's "against the rules."

And then he was on his way again. Wait! What "rules"? Oy vey! Where I come from, they bring the mattress in, even to a second floor, they set it up, and they even make the bed for you!

I missed the fine print which said that they only deliver to the front door. It was there, but I didn't bother to translate that bit, so it's my own fault. Another lesson learned about life in Denmark.

I'd like to say I was calm in this situation, but I had a real Princess-style meltdown.

What? It was raining, I'm 157 cm tall, and the mattress is 140 cm x 200 cm. I seriously had no idea how I was going to deal with this. It's not like I have a small army of people I can call to come running over spur of the moment to help me lug a mattress inside.

Really, it's moments like that which remind me how truly alone I am over here. The internet makes it easy to forget that, but when it comes down to it, who am I supposed to call in a crisis?

After I got my Princess in check, I slid it inside and pushed and dragged it down the hall. All of those before the crack of dawn weight training sessions finally paid off! I got it into the bedroom, assembled the legs, and flipped it all by my tiny self, and without cracking the wooden legs :)

It's hard as a freaking rock, which will teach me to buy a mattress without trying it, but whatever. Another dreadful task is off of my "to do" list. Next!

turkish green lentils

2011-11-08T20:21:00.009+01:00

I'm back from London! I picked up some vintage lovelies of the leopard print and rhinestone persuasions at Portobello Market, will post photos soon, but there's so much to do before winter arrives!

There's wood to stack and supplies to procure. The other day, I was riding home with 10 kilos of cat food on the back of my bike, the weight shifted, and the basket flipped off the back. Luckily, it was only raining. On ice, it would've been much worse, so it's definitely a good idea to stockpile the heavy things before the ice comes.

Last month, my Turkish friend (and London travel buddy) invited me for lunch and served the most delicious lentil dish. She was nice enough to give me the recipe and now I'm giving it to you.

I love this recipe because it's delicious, healthy, inexpensive, and so very simple...

2 cups green lentils
1 large onion, chopped
2 T (or so) olive oil
1 T flour
1 small can tomato paste
water
2 t cumin
hot chili pepper
salt

Wash the lentils and add them to a pot of boiling water. Boil them for 3 minutes or so, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook them until they begin to soften. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes, but the cooking time will vary based on the age of your lentils. You're going to cook them again, so they should still be firm at this point. Drain them.

In a large pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil until it begins to soften, sprinkle it with the flour and continue to sauté until the flour begins to brown.

Add the lentils, tomato paste, and enough water to cover the lentils. Add the cumin, a bit of salt, and a bit of hot chili. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and most of the water is absorbed.

Adjust the salt and chili... viola! This recipe nearly filled my 2.5 quart Le Creuset casserole, I've been eating lentils since Friday, and I'm actually sad that they're gone. I'll be making this again very soon :)

P.S. After freaking out about my pink living room, I've come full circle and have fallen back in love with it. Phew! I was not looking forward to repainting ;)

P.P.S. I'm also at peace with my decision to paint the chairs white. The table will stay as it is and I'm searching for the perfect pink and white fabric for the chair cushions. I should have some before & afters soon :)

new decorating dilemma

2011-10-23T10:42:00.006+02:00

I generally have a "no paint" policy when it comes to wood. I love the look of painted furniture, but I've never had a piece come out really, really amazing.

But now I'm faced with a dilemma. I found this fabulous dining table at a secondhand shop for about $150. The top is pretty trashed, but that was part of its charm.

Then yesterday, after a year and a half of searching, I found chairs for about $10 apiece. The upholstery needs to be redone, I'm thinking something in cream and pink, but all that dark wood is messing up the girly vibe in my pink room.

I'm armed and ready to paint with $150 worth of supplies, which amounts to 2.5 litres of white paint and .75 litre of laquer. Can you believe those prices? The paint costs almost as much as the furniture, sheesh!

I see a few ways this could go...

1) Replace the upholstery only.

2) Paint the chairs white and replace the upholstery, leave the table as it is.

3) Replace the upholstery and paint the whole shebang.

What's a girl to do?

living room makeover

2011-10-22T10:11:00.020+02:00

I was really leaning towards red, but it seemed too heavy and in a way, too masculine. I took a chance in the hallway and it paid off. After that, I knew there would be deep pink somewhere in my living space, but it seemed too bold a choice for the living room. But why? Once I asked that question, pink became the only choice for the living room.

Pink is a leap of faith... the wrong shade can be tacky, trashy, ugly, dated, Barbie-like, overpowering, and so many other shades of wrong. In order to work, it needs to be the perfect shade, so I let the inside of my favorite shoes be my inspiration...

Turns out it's also Pantone's color of the year. Who knew?

Ready for the great reveal?

Here's the room in the very beginning...

Then, I replaced the daybed with the thrifted sofa...

Then, I dove deep into the color pool...

And now I have a pink livingroom that's so me!

It's almost an exact match to the insole that inspired it, and now I'm a young(ish) woman who lives in a Kate Spade shoe!

I can't wait to accessorize! I'm going to add a mirror or some artwork over the sofa, and there's a whole end of the room that you haven't seen yet!

After a year and a half of searching, I finally found dining chairs this morning at the secondhand shop! They're upholstered in a dreadful country blue, but I'm going to redo them in cream and pink, which should lighten up the dining area.

I don't know about the sofa. I finally got rid of the homemade Febreze smell, but now I think it smells like cigarette smoke. I'm on the prowl for a replacement, but in the meantime, it works, for Opie. I sit on the pretty fringed one ;)

Also, Sage & Simple is now on Facebook, so if you enjoy reading my blog, please consider "liking" it. I'll be posting things in the same style as my blog, but in snippets that don't warrant a full blog post. (Psst! I posted a photo of one of the dining chairs over there...)

close call

2011-10-17T17:51:00.022+02:00

When "they" tell you not to worry about how it looks in the can, it will look "just like the chip" once it dries, don't believe them.

The pepto bismal looking stuff in the can dried very red, but not a good red. It sort of reminded me of day-glo BBQ spareribs, like the ones they serve at chinese take out. It was so not good.

I fell asleep last night calculating what it would cost me to prime and repaint the room. That one 5 litre can of paint ran me $128, that's like $35 more than my "new" vintage sofa!!! This could've easily been a $500 disaster. Oy vey!

But, in the calmness and clarity of morning, I decided to see if it could be remixed. I went back tonight and explained that it was too dark, too red, and too saturated.

I'm afraid the paint store people are starting to know me as "that eccentric color-crazed American chick who is probably off somewhere right this moment ruining a perfectly white Scandinavian flat."

But I guess I sort of ask for it when I do things like bring in my Kate Spade leopard print pumps and ask them to color match the insole ;)

Anyway, the paint store guy had a good laugh and he was able to fix my paint. It's not exactly Kate Spade pink, but it looks great on my walls and that's what matters!

I'm literally about a cup short on paint and will need to buy another 5 litres to finish (ugh!). Maybe I'll give it a 3rd coat, just to make sure the spareribs aren't poking through...

it's on

2011-10-16T09:25:00.002+02:00

The metamorphosis has begun!

The idea of rolling Pepto Bismal onto my walls is a bit stressful, but the lady at the paint store promised it would dry very close to the color on the paint chip, which is nothing like pepto pink.

Yeah, I've heard that before...

unplugged in denmark

2011-10-10T18:44:00.005+02:00

Find me over at Unplugged Sunday today!

thrifted sofa

2011-10-07T13:19:00.016+02:00

I mentioned the other day that there was a fabulous thrifted treasure being delivered on Wednesday. Well, it's here!

It's a new to me vintage sofa with red velvet cushions!!!

And I love it!

It's replacing the daybed, which was always meant to be a temporary solution until the perfect sofa came along.

There's only one slight issue, it smells like attic. As a seasoned thrift shopper and vintage aficionado, I have my own steam cleaner, so it's gotten two thorough steam cleanings. But that hasn't helped the smell :(

They don't sell Febreze in Denmark and I actually abhor the scent of it, but desperate situations call for desperate measures, so I bought a bottle of fabric softener, mixed 1 part to 2 parts water, and sprayed it onto the sofa. The attic smell is gone, but now it and my entire place reeks of fabric softener. I cannot stand scented laundry soaps and fabric softeners, so I should've known better.

I've been misting it with straight white vinegar, which I'm hoping will cut down on the fabric softener scent, plus it's a disinfectant, and never hurts to disinfect furniture of unknown origins. I need my place to stop smelling like a laundromat!

If I can't resolve the smell issue, I may need to donate it back, which will break my heart. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them :)

P.S. I still haven't picked a paint color, but now with the red sofa cushions, I'm leaning towards red more than ever.

love

2011-10-03T20:54:00.007+02:00

thrifted spanish bowls

2011-10-01T19:20:00.011+02:00

After the week I've had with driving (or not) and plumbing, I needed good day at the secondhand shops! The thrifting gods smiled down today and bestowed me with these 4 little handpainted bowls from Spain...

They were less that $1 each :)

But that's not the best part! There's something even better coming, but it won't be delivered until Wednesday. Stay tuned, it's gooood :)

the plumber is a thief!

2011-09-30T10:55:00.022+02:00

I just got screwed by the plumber. Now, now, this isn't that kind of blog, I meant it figuratively ;-)

I tried to replace my bathroom faucet myself. I bought the same model, hoping it would make things easier. It didn't, and so I had to hire a plumber.

The plumber just left and when I went to admire my new faucet, I found this...

I don't know if I want to punch something, yell at someone, or cry. I'm supposed to be finding inner peace, but obviously the Buddha never lived as an expat in Denmark!

I know for a fact the "cold" insert was there when I unpacked the faucet this morning. Coincidentally, the same piece on my old faucet was very worn, but the hot one was ok.

The reason I was replacing the other faucet was because it was leaking, which is probably an easy repair & flip opportunity for a plumber. Unless of course it's got cosmetic issues, like a worn insert.

Now I'm not Nancy Drew, but if there wasn't something shady going on, wouldn't he have mentioned the obvious missing part? Of course it's moot because I'm 100% certain that the piece was not missing when I handed it over for installation, and I can see from the other one that it would've been pretty easy to pop it out with a screwdriver.

And he never bothered to ask whether or not I still wanted the old faucet. He just slinked out of my flat with it under his arm. Even if he asked, I would've said "no" but it's a bit odd that he just took it and ran.

I can't exactly call up and complain because I contacted this same company about an appointment and never heard back, but when a colleague contacted them in Danish, I got an appointment right away.

Yet another mark in the "reasons to leave" column. I probably just spent like $400 for a broken faucet. Awesome.

And there will be no Danish drivers license for me. I've overlooked a lot of crap in the past 17 months, but at a point, it becomes too much to make it worth my while, so I'm thinking long and hard about what I'll do when my contract expires. In the meantime, I'm not investing anything more than is absolutely necessary to live and/or stay off anti-depressants.

This morning, I was working from home in my pretty living room, at my big antique dining table. Opie was sleeping in the sun and I was thinking how, even with disappointment of the driving situation and the impending winter, this isn't a bad gig. But I'm deluding myself. This plumber situation is just one more example of the crap I put up with when I have to venture outside of my home and work bubble.

Happiest country on earth, my ass! Maybe for the Danes, but not for me.

what color will it be?

2011-09-28T13:47:00.013+02:00

The wind beneath my decorating wings is in Seattle for a week and I'm itching to paint my living room. Actually, it's good that he's in Seattle because he's of the opinion that I should hang some artwork and mirrors and call it good, but then again he's the one who was pushing white with lavender undertones in the hallway. I'm not so sure he's to be trusted in matters of color ;-)

I adore the bohemian interiors at Moon to Moon and bohemianhomes.tumblr. Though I could never live with that amount of clutter, I love the textures, colors, and general laid back lived-in vibe of those spaces.

So, my dear readers, what color should I paint my living room?

My heart tells me it should be red. I had a red formal living room in Connecticut. I loved it, yet never spent enough time in it. But that's the way it goes with "special" rooms.

Here in Scandinavia, it's mostly overcast and dark 18 or so hours a day during the winter, so I know that red could easily close the space and make it too dark and depressing.

I've also considered a light sage green, but I think it's too modern for me. Rose is a strong contender, but I was planning to paint my bedroom pink, so I'm hesitant to use it in the living room. It's a short leap into Barbieland.

If this were your room and you didn't have to junk up your house with man colors, and you were drawn to the bohemian side of life, what color would you paint?

P.S. I'm still at a dead end with my license. I won't bore you with the details, but things are bad enough that the bus scenario is actually looking less painful than converting my license. If you ever find yourself wanting to move to Europe, may I suggest any country other than Denmark? This is not the place for expats who are here for any reason other than love. At a point, a hot viking is the only thing that would make this worth the hassle.

process hazy, try again...

2011-09-26T16:36:00.031+02:00

(alternately titled, we don't know our asses from our elbows)

I cannot go through another bike to bus, walk, bike to office, repeat in reverse winter. I live in Scandinavia. The winters are frigid. It's windy. It snows. It rains. I have asthma. The buses to and from work run once an hour and I have a very long hike to and from the bus stop.

I've been sucking it up like trooper, but a few weeks ago, the bus driver overcharged me for my ticket because he couldn't change 400 DKK for a 338 DKK ticket, and my Danish isn't good enough to hold my own in arguing about it. Then I got caught in a downpour and spent the morning in wet clothes. The combination of that, and staring down another Danish winter of biking and bussing has made me decide to look into getting a car.

From the beginning, it was the 180% registration tax and $8+/gallon gas that deterred me from getting a car. But actually, those were the least of my issues. The bigger issue is that I can't legally drive here on a US license. Nevermind that people from the UK who drive on the other side of the road and the other side of the car can drive here on their UK licenses. *Sigh* I'm over wasting energy getting jacked up over that. Really.

When one moves to a new country on a work contract, they might expect the corporate relo department to have helpful information on topics like, "how do I get a Danish drivers license?" And on the surface, they do, except according to them, the process involves a first aid course (good luck finding one in English), about $3,000 for a "driving course," and hiring a "government certified" translator for the test.

Given my 20 years of driving experience, clean record, and the "UK phenomenon," there's not a chance in hell that I'd be willing to plunk down $3,000 + 180% registration tax for the pleasure of driving some POS in this god awful climate. Call me stubborn, but I've got to draw the line somewhere.

Through a colleague, I was referred to an angel of a driving instructor, who gave me hope. He said that I'd need a Dr. certificate (a waste of about $100, but ok), and to pass a theory test that I could study for on my own, but for which I'd need to hire the translator, and viola, I could have a Danish license. Well, hallelujah!!!! Finally, there is hope in my rain soaked, bike weary world!

In the meantime, someone else referred me to the DK borgerservice website, which supposedly tells you how to convert a license, and it seemed even easier than that:

"Hvis du er udlænding med midlertidig bopæl i Danmark, kan du bruge et internationalt kørekort eller et gyldigt udenlandsk kørekort. Hvis du ikke har det, kan du få et turistkørekort udstedt hos politiet."

Basically, it means if you live in Denmark for a certain period of time, you can use the license from your home country. Well, my work contract is for 3 years, and my visa is for 3 years, so if that's not a certain period of time, I don't know what is!

So, my driving instructor went to the borgerservice with a copy of my visa, my contract, and printouts of my license and the borgerservice page, and asked them to confirm that I'm able to drive on my US license. But noooooo, I have a CPR number and once you have a CPR number, you must convert your license. Well, since you can't get a place to live, a bank account, or an income without a CPR number, I don't know who that clause applies to and apparently, neither do they!

I finally met with my driving instructor, who needed to take my license to the Kommune so that I could waive in under the conversion requirements, not the new license requirements (e.g. skip the $3,000 in lessons and the first aid course). Everything seemed easy peasy, but if you've been following my move to Denmark at all, you know where this is going...

The Kommune wants to send my license to Copenhagen for "authentication." OK, if I were going to fake a license, wouldn't I just fake an EU license and skip all of this bullshit? Like that's not bad enough, they're saying I have to have it translated to Danish by one of those government certified translators.

But the borgerservice website says:

"Du skal medbringe en oversættelse af dit kørekort, hvis dit kørekort ikke er udstedt med latinske bogstaver, eller hvis det ikke findes i en oversættelse til tysk, engelsk eller fransk. Oversættelsen skal være udstedt af en translatør eller en af Rigspolitiet godkendt oversættere."

Which means that if the license isn't in Latin characters, or German, English, or French, it needs to be translated. I'm from the US, my license is from the US, it is written in English. Could there be something wrong with the system, if I, someone who barely speaks or reads Danish knows the borgerservice requirements better than the freaking borgerservice????

Someone's gotta be taking the piss here.

So, I'm waiting for my instructor to sort that out, or to hear back from the government certified translator, whichever comes first. On principle, I'd like to make them accept my English license, but the weather is starting to turn and I want my damn license!!!

Oh, and the driving school doesn't have English study materials, so I'm in the process of chasing those down, hopefully the library can help me. Otherwise, I'll have to pull yet another rabbit out of a hat and I'm running out of tricks!

Throughout this move, I've tried to play by their rules, and not take a whiny "why do they make everything so haaaard for me, I'm an Amerrrrricaaaan" attitude. But come on! It seems just a little ridiculous to be jumping through hoops trying to follow the laws and processes of a place that doesn't even know their own laws and processes.

Is it any wonder why more people are moving out of this place than moving in?

I'll post more about Amsterdam soon, but at the moment, this license situation is sucking my will to live (and develop photos).

amsterdam

2011-09-11T21:16:00.005+02:00

One from my recent trip...

What a cozy city! Why is it that each new place I visit becomes my favorite?

color

2011-09-04T20:23:00.024+02:00

Once upon a time, I dreamed of an old house full of plants, color, and funky secondhand furnishings. Then I found a husband and was persuaded to buy a very traditional 1940's Colonial in the suburbs. It was someone's dream house, but it wasn't mine. Before I knew it, I was shopping at Banana Republic and living in a Pottery Barn catalog. Blech!

Then I left all of that and moved to Denmark where I found the ultimate vintage flat. Unless it came with a gas stove, and a clawfoot bathtub instead of a shower, it couldn't have been more perfect if it was built especially for me. For a little over a year, I tried to love my light, neutral walls. I tried to convince myself that it would be easier to resell if I fell in line with the Scandinavian norm and kept the walls neutral and light. But I soon realized that I was living in an Ikea catalog and I didn't like that any more than I liked living in a Pottery Barn catalog.

I bought this place to live in, not to resell. It's my home, so to hell with norms, resale value, and the rest of it. I'm going to add color to my life :)

And so, I dipped my toe into the color pool. My design advisor tried to guide me toward a lesser commitment, "maybe white with lavender undertones," he'd said. But I'd sold out before. The list of compromises went on and on until I wondered why I was even paying the mortgage. Screw that, there's no compromising this time!

I went all in...

And I'm glad I did...
My best decisions are the ones where I trust my gut. When I pick a direction and go, without second guessing, without over-analyzing.

I'm definitely thinking about a new floor, black and white tile, or maybe aged hardwood to match the rest. There will be more color in the other rooms. I'm thinking red in the bathroom, deep pink in the bedroom, and who knows what in the other rooms!

Who cares if the next owners wonder what I was thinking? It's only paint... it can be undone :)

tofu stirfry

2011-08-18T17:49:00.007+02:00

This is sooooo good! And sooooo easy. And flexible. And sort of healthy...

1 package tofu
your choice of veggies
1/2 - 3/4 cup water
2 T cornstarch
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 T dark brown sugar
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 - 1 T minced ginger
1 t rice vinegar
1 t sesame oil
hot chili oil (optional)
vegetable oil

Start by whisking 1/2 cup water with the cornstarch, then add the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, whisk until it's combined. Add the chili oil and adjust the sugar to suit your taste. This sauce gets sweeter as it cooks, so don't go crazy with the sugar!

If it's too thick, add up to another 1/4 cup of water. You can substitute 1/2 t ginger powder if you don't have fresh ginger.

Drain and press the tofu. Cut it into cubes and stir fry in a bit of oil until it's golden brown on all sides. Remove it from the wok, drain it on paper towels.

Stir fry the veggies. I use whatever's around... frozen wok mix, sliced peppers, cabbage, baby corn, water chestnuts, scallions, broccoli, spinach, carrots, mushrooms, etc.

When the veggies are cooked, but still crisp, add the tofu back to the wok, then add the sauce and cook a few minutes, until the sauce thickens. Don't add the sauce too late, or the veggies will be mush by the time it thickens, but once you get the hang of it, stir fry is pretty awesome fast food :)

Serve over brown rice. Yum!

I know a lot of people are opposed to tofu. That's a shame. Badly cooked tofu is disgusting, there's no two ways about that. I wish everyone could have a positive first experience with tofu... shame on people who cook bad tofu!!!

rugbrød

2011-08-11T22:38:00.012+02:00

I've baked my first Danish Rugbrød!

Rugbrød is pronounced something along the lines of "roobroll" and it's a Danish rye bread made with a sourdough base, rye flour, whole rye grains, honey, salt, and the baker's choice of seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, and flax.

I had to proof it overnight, then it went through a three stage baking process.

It's very heavy. One loaf weighed 2 lbs., 8.4 oz.!!!

I'm not going to post the recipe because you can't make this without the starter. Mine is made from a starter that's been going for about 30 years!

I shared some with a few Danes for validation and they declared it a success!

I think this should count for at least 5 integration points because I actually like a distinctly Danish food, I can make it from scratch, and I managed to procure the starter, which means I actually had to cavort with a Dane. (thanks, Sanne!)

The Danish government should consider accepting a batch of rugbrød in lieu of the language or community service requirements for permanent residency. Hell, I'd even consider eating a pickled herring with it!

In exchange, I'd promise not to share my starter with any other expats, and instead encourage them to integrate and procure their own ;)

falafel red sauce

2011-08-08T20:27:00.013+02:00

Here's the recipe for the spicy sweet red sauce for falafel that I've been promising but neglecting to post.

How perfect are these falafel?
(or is it falafels?)

2 cups canned diced tomatoes
2 T lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, presses
2 -3 t brown sugar
1/2 - 1 t hot chili powder

Bring all of the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, or until it thickens a bit. Allow it to cool, then puree it. If it's too thin for your tastes, you can thin it with a bit of water.

You may also want to add a bit of salt, but I find this depends on which brand of tomatoes I'm using. Play with the sugar/chili amounts to suit your taste, I like a good spicy-sweet combo.

I'm a condiment junkie, so I usually use this along with a creamy garlic kebab sauce. Yum!

Have I mentioned how much I love falafel??? Srsly, what an invention!!!

freezing falafel

2011-08-07T15:40:00.009+02:00

After a long break from blogging, of course I'm back with a falafel post! What else could I possibly write about after such a long break?

One of the downsides of making homemade falafel is that I'm stuck eating it everyday for a week (or more). I love falafel, but yikes... it's a falafel feast or famine and there's got to be a better way, so I got to thinking "can I freeze falafel?" Why yes, I can... and you can, too!

One of my friends gave me a falafel press for my birthday, so now all of my falafel are the perfect size and shape. Best gift ever!!!

Anyway, here's how I freeze (and ration) my falafel...

I mix of a batch of my favorite recipe, I chill it overnight, then I form it into patties and freeze it on a cookie sheet. Once it's frozen, I pop it into a ziplock, and viola! Falafel whenever I'm in the mood :)

Really, there's no reason to buy this already prepared. It's so easy and inexpensive to make from scratch, and in the land of very little pre-prepared vegetarian food, I totally dig the convenience factor of homemade frozen falafel.

I can't leave well enough alone, so I've been playing around with my falafel recipe and have found that I prefer to use flour instead of breadcrumbs because it makes a lighter, crunchier falafel.

Here's how I'm making it these days...

1 lb. dried chickpeas
1 large onion
2 t salt
1 t cumin
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t dried hot chili
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 t baking powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup flour

Soak the chickpeas overnight, drain, rinse, and add them to a food processor outfitted with a blade. Roughly chop the onion and add it along with the salt, cumin, black pepper, dried hot chili, and garlic. Pulse a few times to blend it, the mixture should still be coarse.

Add the baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour and pulse it a few times, then check the consistency. It should be dough-like. If it's too wet, gradually add the second 1/4 cup of flour until it dries out a bit, you might even need a bit more to get the right texture. How long the chickpeas soaked are a variable here, so there's some intuition involved.

Chill the dough for at least a couple of hours, then form it into patties and fry it. I've stopped deep frying and now I just pan fry it in a bit of oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side, until it's a nice golden brown. If it's a fresh batch, I usually stick the patties in the freezer while I'm chopping veggies and heating the oil, this seems to help keep them from falling apart. If I'm cooking frozen falafel, then I take it out of the freezer and let it sit out while I'm chopping and heating.

It's also possible to bake them, I'll post about that next, along with my recipe for a spicy, sweet red sauce I like on them. Gotta go heat some falafel...

more photos from bergen

2011-07-16T20:23:00.012+02:00

This is it from the Fjords...

I love that Bergen still has phone booths, we have them here in Denmark, too!

I guess there's graffiti everywhere, even in beautiful old villages :(

Umbrella repair? Really? This place would go bankrupt in the US.
See what happens in the absence of Walmart, etc.?

These last two shots are of Bergenhus Fortress, one of the oldest and best preserved castles in Norway, it dates back to 1240's.

I'll be back soon with recipes and more expat living stuff. Danish summer 2011 is cool with lots and lots of rain. But I've ordered a new raincoat, which of course won't ship until end of July (I do not exaggerate when I say the entire country shuts down in July!), so I'm expecting a warm and sunny August :)

bergen, norway

2011-07-09T20:24:00.011+02:00

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, but it felt more like a small seaside village to me.

I'll admit to being a bit blasé about Bergen while I was there. But looking in through my photos, I see now that I'm starting to take things for granted. Scandinavia is chock full of quaint. Nothing ever feels crowded and cute homes close to the sea are quite attainable. You can't beat biking to the beach, picnic basket in tow on a sunny summer day!

Moving back to the US is going to be a tough call. Things are so much prettier, calmer, and less crowded here. Will I be able to go back?

More Bergen photos to come...

more geiranger fjord

2011-06-22T18:24:00.010+02:00

Here are a few photos I took sailing out of Geiranger Fjord. It was raining and the lighting conditions were difficult, so it didn't make for great photos, but the mood was excellent.

It took several hours to sail out of the fjord, so this was our view at dinnertime. I would've been content just to sail in and out of this fjord for a week straight, but no such luck!

Next stop, Bergen...

geiranger fjord

2011-06-15T22:49:00.006+02:00

Geiranger is a remote village of about 300 year-round residents. During summer, they see about 5,000 tourists a day, in the winter, they see none...

I'm struggling with these photos. I'm not a landscape photographer and I feel like I'm doing a disservice by posting photos that can't possibly show you the beauty and scale of this landscape.

I wish my photos could show you what it was like to sail through this narrow passage, surrounded by snow capped mountains and natural waterfalls. It was spectacular!

chair score

2011-06-11T20:52:00.008+02:00

Tied to my bike with bungee cords because when the perfect desk chair shows up at the secondhand shop for 165 Crowns (about $30), there's no time to be a princess.

After paying $40 to replace the light bulb in my bathroom, yes the light bulb, not the actual light, I needed something like this!

the kitchen house

2011-06-07T19:26:00.006+02:00

There are so many wonderful books that I wouldn't have known about if another blogger or message board poster hadn't drawn my attention to them, so I'd like to return the favor by posting what I'm reading.

Last week's cruise read was The Kitchen House...

Set on a tobacco plantation in the Antebellum South, this story takes place over the course of 20+ years and is told from the perspectives of Lavinia, a young Irish indentured servant, and Belle, a mixed race slave.

I've always been intrigued by the South, and the historical perspective of this novel made it a very enjoyable read.

What are you reading?

cruising

2011-06-06T18:58:00.016+02:00

OK, so it wasn't the Love Boat (like you didn't see that coming!), but I'm happy to have had the experience.

As a get away from it all experience, my cruise was lovely. At $6.99/minute for cell coverage, and $1/minute for internet access, I was mostly unplugged for 5 days, which pretty much never happens. I had two days at sea and it was amazing to watch from the Promenade deck as the ship skimmed over the water, leaving a wake of beautiful greens and blues, and white foam. I took some video footage of it, for which I've been called a "hippie," and now I'm just a little self conscious!

As a travel experience, cruising is not for me. At least not in Europe. I think cruising is great for people who want to see as many places as possible in the shortest amount of time. If I had limited time in Europe, or wanted to inflate my travel resume to impress people at cocktail parties (you'd be surprised!), it would be hard to beat. But I like to spend time in the places I visit, I want to know what a place really feels like, not just rattle off the list of places I've been. Traveler vs. tourist.

Dining was a definite low point of the experience, which is sad because food is one of my favorite parts of traveling. I knew going in that as a vegetarian I'd have limited options, but most of the food was very rich, yet not very good, and it wasn't worth the calories/damage to my arteries. It was like spending a week at the Hometown Buffet, except with a head waiter, fancy linens, and a lot of forks.

But... the Norwegian Fjords are the most beautiful natural scenery I've ever seen!

This photo was taken in Geiranger, Norway. I didn't leave the ship that day because about 85% of my shipmates were of advanced age/limited mobility, so it took awhile to get them tendered. By the time my group was called, it was 1 PM, we were sailing again at 5:30, so I opted instead for a quiet day of reading, tea drinking, and looking out at the incredible scenery. On the upside, it was almost impossible to get an elevator without waiting 15 minutes, so I climbed a lot of stairs that week :)

More photos to come...

tabouleh

2011-05-28T16:56:00.010+02:00

I love Indian food, but Middle Eastern food runs a very close second. I'm currently having a passionate love affair with fresh mint, so of course, I've got to have tabouleh!

Some people make tabouleh with couscous, but I prefer fine ground bulgar. Some versions use fresh coriander or fresh parsley. I'm not a fan of either, so I just use plenty of fresh mint.

2 cups bulgur

2 cups boiling water
3 green onions, sliced
1 bunch fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4-6 T lemon juice
1 T tamari
salt
pepper

Mix together the bulgur and the boiling water in a large bowl, and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. If you're not using fine grind bulgur, you may need to adjust the water/grain ratio and sitting time.

Add the green onions, cucumber, tomato, and mint. Mix to combine and fluff the grains, then add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Chill it, then fluff it before serving.

I cannot get enough of this and I love that if I had a garden, I could, in the height of summer make this from mostly things out of my garden. It doesn't get any better than that!

With this post, I'm off to fulfill another dream... the "Love Boat" sails tomorrow and I've got to get packing. I'll see you next weekend with photos of the Norwegian Fjords!

I wish my American readers a lovely Memorial Day weekend :)

the one year mark

2011-05-20T18:09:00.011+02:00

Last Friday, it was one year ago that Opie and I boarded a plane out of Boston on a one-way ticket to Denmark.

Living and working in Europe is the experience of a lifetime. This past year has been exciting, amazing, scary, fun, overwhelming, frustrating, and so many other things.

On the subject of work...
Even though I worked for the same company back in the US, the corporate culture here is pretty different. The work week is 37.5 hours and I'm not expected to work more, though if I do, I'm allowed comp time later on. I get 6 weeks of vacation and I'm expected to use it. If I'm still at the office at 3 PM on Friday, people start asking why I'm still there and encourage me to start my weekend soon.

I share a work area with my boss and we bounce ideas off each other throughout the day. The organizational structure is a lot less hierarchical than I'm used to, everyone gets a say on what seems to be pretty much everything, and the environment is very casual. Quite often, issues are resolved on the fly in impromptu meetings over rugbrød, cookies, and cappuccino.

English is the "company language," but I'm working in Denmark with mostly Danes, so unless someone is speaking to me or another foreigner, the chatter around me is all in Danish. In larger meetings they usually ask, "should we do this in Danish or English," though sometimes it inadvertently switches back to Danish. This happened last week and when the meeting organizer apologized, I said, "that's ok, you're talking about whether or not to break for lunch. I'm starving, so what's the verdict?" Everyone had a good laugh and it felt good to actually be able to catch the gist of the conversation.

On everyday life...
I assume there comes a point where a new country feels like "home" for some people. Though I think for others, that point never comes. Or maybe it comes more easily with a partner.

I love living here, but aside from times that I'm on a trip somewhere, not a day goes by without a little pang of homesickness.

Somedays, it's just a craving for something silly like Lucky Charms or Tater Tots, things I never really ate back in the US, but that seem super delicious now that I can't have them. Or wishing I could have a conversation with a native English speaker who grew up with the same pop-culture and similar experiences to mine. Or trekking to the bus stop in wind and sideways rain, remembering my sweet little silver Roadster with its heated seats. Or wishing I could go out and understand all of what's going on around me. Or missing the stability of a house, a husband, and an established path.

It seems impossible to buy clothes and shoes here. I'm a solid 7.5 in shoes, but most places don't sell half sizes, so the shoes are usually too tight or falling off. The clothing styles are a lot different from what I'm used to, and they're mostly designed with a different, much taller body type in mind.

But there are tons of things I love. Like bike lanes, the beautiful countryside, and how Coke comes in little glass bottles, and how there's no corn syrup in anything, and the ketchup is so sweet and delicious. Warm days in the park and in my garden and how I live close enough to the beach to bike there! And how Rome is only 2 hours away by plane and how all of Europe is at my doorstep. How everything seems slower and simpler, and a little more elegant than back home.

On the future...
In another year, I'll need to start planning. If I want to stay in Denmark, I'll need to renew my work contract and reapply for a visa. If I decide to leave, I'll have to put my flat on the market and hope for a buyer with flexible timeframe. Then there's the whole daunting task of rebuilding a life somewhere else. I'd love to spend more time in Europe, possibly the UK, but I just don't know if I'm up for another solo international adventure of this magnitude. Maybe this is my "gap year..."

making a home

2011-05-08T12:16:00.006+02:00

I've never been a "that will do" sort of person, I need to love everything in and about my home.

Moving continents was a feat in and of itself. Trying to make a home in a place where I don't know the shops, don't have a car, and most places close early on weekdays, open for a few hours on Saturdays, and are closed on Sundays has proven to be an even bigger feat.

Last week, karma smiled at me and I was able to borrow a car. My evenings were a blur of trying to choose curtain rods, curtains, rugs, lamps, picture frames, plants, table linens, bed linens, a chandelier, return the stuff that didn't quite work, and track down stuff that does. By Friday, I was exhausted.

As I was sleepwalking through Ikea (How Scandinavian!) with photos of my rooms and a detailed list of their deficiencies, my friend said to me, "relax, you will have a beautiful home but it takes time and effort." Once upon a time, I'd known that, but somehow it had gotten lost in the suburban race for conformity and perfection, and it was spilling over into now.

I was 26 when I bought my first house. It was a beautiful house, more than most 26 year olds could dream of, but it wasn't the house I wanted. In the beginning, I had pretty much the same philosophy as I do now... "love it, or wait for it."

But being 26, I was easily bullied into doing and accepting things that didn't make me happy. Slowly my house filled up with things I didn't love. A sofa we bought in a hurry because we were hosting Thanksgiving, a couple of chairs because the living room was still "too empty", a lamp here, some kitchen stuff there, and it never did feel like home to me. I love the beauty and aura of imperfect things and all the Pottery Barn stuff in the world wasn't going to nurture that.

Now, I do have the house I wanted and I'm free to make it my own, in my time, free of judgment, disapproval, and snide comments. It's not happening as quickly as I'd like, but as I look around, there's nothing here that will just "do". I buy what I love and slowly it's coming together in a way that's so pretty that I find myself just standing back and looking. It doesn't take a lot of money to make a beautiful home. Like my friend says, it takes time and effort. Money helps, but you will see in upcoming posts that it doesn't have to cost a fortune.

There are still a lot of loose ends, but I can show you my bathroom. I love this room. Seems kind of silly to say that about a bathroom, but I do love it! The only thing it's missing is a clawfoot bathtub, but bathtubs in general are not in vogue here :(

I begin and end my days at my dressing table. The chair was part of a vintage bedroom set I picked up at auction for $70. I found the Buddha at the Chiang Mai night market for less than $5 and I love that he's one of the first things and last things I see everyday. The sink is set atop an antique cabinet and it was one of the things that made me certain that I had to have this place. And there's tons of storage! The floor is heated, in the shower, too and it's one of Opie's favorite sleeping spots.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to be on House Hunters International, but I decided to pass on my 15 minutes of fame. In 2002, I was featured as a success story on a fitness infomercial and I'll never forget the loss of privacy I felt everytime I saw myself on TV. When the House Hunters opportunity came up, I seriously considered it, but in the end, it didn't feel right to open up my home like that. But I do plan to share more of my space here, on my terms, soon.

for the love of travel

2011-04-26T21:10:00.009+02:00

Every new place I travel is my favorite. Berlin was my first major European city and despite being incredibly uncomfortable due to the snow and sub-zero temperatures, I was overwhelmed by its history.

Next came Italy. Italy!!! Rome was so beautiful I cried. Really. What must it be like to live in a city that looks this beautiful everywhere?

Please remind me to find a nice Italian man with a vintage Vespa and preferably a place in Rome or Siena, though I'm sure Florence, Venice, or really any place in Tuscany would be just as nice. Of course, to be absolutely certain, I should go see for myself at some point...

Thailand gave me the gift of kindness and a desire for inner peace, allowed me to discover tamarind chutney, and taught me how to make a mean pad thai and even better spring rolls. And sundresses! I bought more pretty sundresses than I should have, and I don't regret it for a second. Chiang Mai and Khao San Road will see me again someday.

With so many more places on my must see list, I considered canceling my upcoming trip to Berlin. I mean, why go back to someplace I've already been? But, the more I travel, the more I realize that it's not about the sights I see, as much as about the memories I collect. Berlin is about 8 hours away by bus, it's very affordable and I've found a really awesome hostel that even has group vegetarian dinners a few times a week. The time may come when I'm sitting back in the US wishing I could take a long weekend in Berlin. And so, I'm not going to overthink it. I'm gonna go with the flow on this one and hope I score some great flea market finds, meet some interesting people, and maybe perfect my falafel a teeny bit more! I think I've officially crossed over from tourist to traveler.

Somedays it's too much to think about what I gave up for these experiences. And other days, I know with absolute clarity that I'd still be restless, bitter, and unhappy. I wish I wasn't raised to fear the world and I wish I had taken the time to travel when I was in my 20's. Part of me wishes it was in me to be happy with a couple of kids, a husband, and a house. But there's no time like the present to give the past the smackdown it deserves and to accept myself. So caution goes to the wind and I go forward. To Berlin, to a cruise ship in the North and Norwegian Seas, to the life I'm building here, for now.

stuffed broccoli bread w/ feta & sun-dried tomatoes

2011-04-22T00:10:00.002+02:00

I cannot get enough of this bread! It was inspired by one my grandmother used to order for special occasions from an Italian bakery.

Smaller slices make a great appetizer. But half a loaf or so makes a portable and delicious lunch that keeps well and tastes great at room temperature!

It doesn't get soggy, it's easy to eat, and it's been in my park picnic basket everyday this week. It's Easter week in Denmark, so most people are off until next Tuesday :)

This recipe makes 3 loaves...

2 lbs. bread dough
olive oil
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
1 lb broccoli, cooked, drained, chopped
cayenne pepper
paprika
salt pepper
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
6 T parmesan cheese

I make my own bread dough from scratch, but frozen dough would make this go a lot quicker. I let it rise for an hour, punch it down, divide it in 3 by weight, then roll it out.

To make the filling, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté until it softens, then add the garlic and sauté another 30 seconds or so. Add the sundried tomatoes and cook another minute, then add the broccoli, cayenne, paprika (I use smoked), salt, and pepper to taste. Stir to combine and cook a couple more minutes to meld the flavors, then let it cool.

Roll a third of the dough into a rectangle of about 12" x 9". Spoon a third of the mixture down a long side of the dough, sprinkle with 2 T parmesan and 1/4 cup feta, then tuck in the edges and roll it. Place it seam side down on a greased cookie sheet and repeat with the other 2/3 of ingredients.

Bake it at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until it starts to brown.

Cut it into 2" wide slices for appetizers, or slice the loaf in half or in thirds for a light meal. I like it best cooled slightly or at room temperature.

This article was first published as Vegetarian Recipe: Stuffed Broccoli Bread w/ Feta & Sun-Dried Tomatoes on Blogcritics.

amazing may

2011-04-18T10:58:00.009+02:00

First, I'm spending a week in Berlin. I'm leaving on a Friday so I can have 2 solid days of flea market time, with plenty leftover to see the major sights, relax a bit, and of course eat tons of falafel!

Last time I visited Berlin was in December and it was excruciatingly cold, so I'm looking forward to visiting in milder weather.

Two weeks after that, I'm going on a cruise of the Norwegian Fjords! I grew up watching the Love Boat and have been dreaming of a cruise since I was a little girl. I promised myself less dreaming and more doing, so as a belated birthday gift to myself, I'm doing :)

The rest of the year has a tough act to follow...

aloo gobi

2011-04-14T18:51:00.016+02:00

I love Indian food and I'm on the lookout for Indian restaurants whenever I travel! Turns out this is great for my cooking skills because when I've had something really amazing, I ask about it, then I take the knowledge home with me to play.

I've had quite an Aloo Gobi run lately, trying it in Rome, Patong, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and my own little city in Denmark.

Aloo Gobi is traditionally a dry curry, some versions are more soupy than others, but I like the traditional version best. And thanks to a restaurant in Patong, I've learned that Tamarind Chutney is heaven atop Aloo Gobi.

I'm amazed that something so delicious can come from something as simple as potatoes (aloo), cauliflower (gobi), onions, garlic and a few spices. But, it's really that simple!

This is my Aloo Gobi recipe, perfected from recipes around the internet, and tips I've gotten in my travels...

florets from one medium-large head of cauliflower
slightly less cubed and peeled potatoes than cauliflower
2 T vegetable oil
1 t cumin seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 t turmeric powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t amchur
1/2 t ground cumin
1 1/2 t coriander powder
1 1/2 t curry powder
1/4 t garam masala
salt
Optional: fresh ginger, tomato, lemon juice

Cover the potatoes and microwave with a little salt and water for 3-5 minutes, or until they're half cooked, then drain them. Do the same with the cauliflower.

Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir them until they sizzle. Add the onion and sauté until it starts to brown at the edges, then add the garlic, and cook a few minutes more.

Lower the heat and add the spices (I'll sometimes add 1 t fresh grated ginger here). Stir a few seconds to coat the spices with oil, then add the potatoes and cauliflower. Stir well to coat the vegetables with the spices and salt to taste (I'll sometimes add chopped tomato here).

Add 1/4 cup or so of water to keep the veggies from sticking to the bottom of the pan, then cover it. I stir and re-cover every few minutes to help the veggies to brown and cook evenly. Once they're tender, but still firm. Turn off the heat and let it rest covered 10-15 minutes.

Sometimes I'll finish the dish with a splash of lemon juice, sometimes not. With the optional ingredients, it depends on what I've got on hand.

I serve my Aloo Gobi over brown rice with Tamarind Chutney. Delicious!

This article was first published as Vegetarian Indian Recipe - Aloo Gobi on Blogcritics.

baybee!!!

2011-04-06T18:21:00.004+02:00

It was definitely cute overload when I came upon a mama kitty and her babies sleeping in a flower bed next to a massage parlor in Patong :)

I took about 1001 photos of them, but this one is my favorite. I could've just scooped this baby up, brought it home and loved it forever. Opie, on the other hand might've been less enamoured...

thai cooking class - spring rolls

2011-04-03T15:55:00.012+02:00

Here's the spring roll recipe I learned in my Thai cooking class. I love that the filling has egg, tofu, and glass noodles instead of the usual lame filling that's mostly cabbage and carrots.

There's so much more to a good spring roll than coleslaw mix and soy sauce!

2 T soybean oil

4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 T very small diced carrot
5 pre-soaked black mushrooms, diced very small
2 T very small diced cabbage
1/4 cup mung bean sprouts
3/4 cup very small diced tofu
1 egg
1/2 cup glass noodles
1 T light soy sauce
1/2 t salt
1/2 t white pepper
1 t white sugar
spring roll wrappers or rice paper

Soak the glass noodles in warm water for 15 minutes, then cut them into 1 cm lengths and set them aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté a few minutes, then add the carrot, mushrooms, cabbage, bean sprouts, tofu, egg, and glass noodles. Cook until the egg is scrambled and done. Add the soy sauce, salt, white pepper, and sugar, cook a few more minutes, then remove it from the heat and allow it to cool.

Place a tablespoon of filling near the bottom of a wrapper, fold the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, fold in the sides, then roll it tightly closed, seal the end by brushing with a little water or beaten egg and pressing closed.

Deep fry the spring rolls in a wok, turning constantly with 2 forks, until they're golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

I also learned this dipping sauce that honors the classic Thai flavor combo of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy...

1 cup water
4 T white sugar
3 T rice vinegar
1 t salt
1/8 - 1/2 t cayenne pepper
4 T ground roasted peanuts

Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.

If you're not cursed with the gene that makes coriander taste like soap, you can add some/garnish with chopped fresh coriander :)

socialized healthcare

2011-03-31T20:33:00.023+02:00

Having followed both sides of the US healthcare debate, I approached the Danish healthcare system with skepticism. I was prepared for long queues, difficult access, and a poor level of care. But, I've been pleasantly surprised!

I'm not sure this is the place to be if you've got a life threatening illness, too much potential for cost cutting and shortcut taking, but my experience so far has well exceeded expectations. It's at the very least equal to, and in some ways, better than the private system I was used to in the US.

The CPR number is the Danish equivalent to the US Social Security number. I swear you cannot do anything without one of these. This little yellow card is my health card, library card, and ticket to a Danish bank account, the tax office, and pretty much every other practical aspect of setting up a life here. In Denmark, everyone who has residency (temporary or permanent) or citizenship has healthcare.

They've also introduced something called, "NEM ID." It's basically a single sign-on to the tax and banking system. Enter your username and password, then you get a 4 digit code, which you look up on a paper card that's sent in the mail. Each 4 digit code corresponds to a single use PIN that you can then use to login. Once you're out of codes, they automatically send you a new card.

My bank account and the tax office (SKAT) are linked, so my income, interest earned and paid, etc. is automatically shared by my bank with the tax office, and my Danish tax return is figured automatically.

As an American, this is an uncomfortable system for me. I'm not used to Big Brother having such easy access to my health records, library records, and spending habits. Yeah, I know, "if you're not doing anything wrong, there's nothing to worry about." Whatever. I'm not a fan of the Patriot Act, either. It's not because I've got anything to hide, it's because I was raised with a certain expectation of privacy and giving that up makes me a bit anxious. It's just so... not American.

But, the system is incredibly efficient. Need to book a Dr. appointment? I go to a website, sign in with my CPR number and book online. I can email my doctor and receive a reply the next day. I can call any weekday morning between 8 and 9 and speak with my doctor. I have direct contact, not just an empty promise of "the Dr. is with a patient, I'll have her call you."

My asthma has sent me to the hospital twice, by ambulance once, and I'm scared to death of having an asthma attack. So when I moved, I was very concerned about how I'd manage my asthma.

I chose a health clinic when I applied for my CPR number and I can see any Dr. at that clinic. Shortly after figuring out how to navigate the Danish website, I booked an appointment online, showed up for my appointment, swiped my yellow card, saw the Doc, and left without a copay. I waited maybe 10 minutes past my scheduled time, but I've had longer waits in the US.

Based on some things I'd read online on various blogs and expat forums, my stomach was in knots at the thought of having to go in and ask to speak English, but no need, my Dr. is lovely. She introduced herself by her first name and asked if I preferred to speak English or Danish. Her office was big, bright, and nothing like the dismal inner city Planned Parenthood sort of place I was expecting.

She asked a lot of questions about asthmatic history, and looked up both of my medicines to make sure she was prescribing the Danish equivalent. Then she asked if she could up the dose of my primary treatment because she felt I was using my rescue inhaler too often. I didn't feel rushed like I sometimes did in the US and I didn't at all feel marginalized for speaking English.

The weakest part of the system for me is that we don't have prescription coverage. Here, I pay for a one month supply of asthma medicine about what I paid for a 3 month supply with prescription coverage in the US. It's expensive. I hear the prescriptions get less expensive the more you refill them, but I can't comment on that yet.

Refilling. I'm almost out of medicine so I had to deal with that this week. I'd been overspringshandling. <---- Danish for "procrastinating" It's weird not to know know the process of things. I didn't know if there were refills left on the last prescription, if I needed another office visit, or what.

So, Sunday night, I emailed my Dr. and asked for refills. Monday morning, I got a reply from her in English :) asking me to call her because she was worried that I might be using my rescue inhaler too often. At first I was annoyed because in the US, I could call up and get refill on almost anything without a hassle. But then, I felt grateful that she had such an interest in helping me control this so I can live without worrying too much about another major attack.

I called and explained that I still have most of my rescue inhaler left, but would like an extra one to keep at work. No problem :) And she said if my asthma gets worse in the summer or starts acting up when I'm trying to run to be sure to come in for a lung capacity test and so she can adjust my treatment.

OK, so taxes are high, my health situation has been straight forward, and I won't say I've drunk the Kool-Aid, but I'm definitely sipping it. So far, compared to the US, I give Denmark an A+ in healthcare. I'm impressed!

vegetarian butter "chicken"

2011-03-29T20:15:00.009+02:00

Right off the bat, this is not the prettiest dish you'll ever see on this blog. Secondly, I've never had butter chicken, so I don't really know if this is good butter "chicken".

But, whatever it is, it's quick, delicious, inexpensive, relatively healthy, and I pretty much always have the ingredients on hand. So, off we go...

olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 -2 garlic cloves, pressed
3 t curry powder
1/2 t garam masala
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t cumin
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 T sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups chickpeas*
1/2 lb potatoes, cubed and boiled

Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and sauté just until the onion starts to brown, then add the garlic and cook a few more minutes.

Stir in the curry powder, garam masala, ginger, and cumin. Stir and cook a few minutes more, then add the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens a bit. I'm still learning Danish tomato products, so if it's not thickening up to my liking, I stir in a bit of cornstarch.

Once I get the texture squared away, I add a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper and taste it. I find that curry powder and garam masala vary from brand to brand, and even package to package, so I start off easy and usually pimp it near the end. Sometimes I add hot chili powder, smoked paprika, and/or red curry paste.

I serve this over brown rice, but then again, I serve everything over brown rice :)

*this is equal to one 15 1/2 oz. can

opie in the sun

2011-03-27T12:28:00.025+02:00

First, I separated him from his friends and dragged him across the Atlantic, in the cargo hold. Then, I made him live in half the space he's used to in a place that's dark and frigid all winter.

Now I practice random Danish phrases at him... *"Jeg elsker kikærter. Godt gået! Det er forår. Jeg spiser ikke kød. Er der kød i? Jeg er vegetar. Pøj pøj med det! Det er varmt. Det irriterende! Vi ses."

I let him sleep on the bed, I comb him, I snuggle him, I keep the heated floors on for him, and I don't drag him to cat shows. All things considered, he's got a pretty good life, but still sometimes I feel like the worst cat mom, ever!

But the sun is shining today, he's found a little slice of heaven, and that makes my heart happy :)

*"I love chickpeas. Well done! It is spring. I don't eat meat. Is there meat in it? I am a vegetarian. Good luck with that! It's warm. That's annoying! See you."

soi cats

2011-03-25T18:02:00.010+01:00

My heart was broken my first night in Bangkok by a tiny cat that crawled out from under a bush and laid down on my foot as I waited to cross a street. I don't know why it chose me, I mean how could it have possibly known the giant space in my heart that's reserved for animals?

At first, I was a little put off by this rough looking and possibly flea and disease ridden stray cat rubbing itself all over my almost bare foot. But I was overcome with love and compassion for the poor little thing and I leaned down and petted it, and it purred, and I wanted to bring it home with me.

There are so many stray animals in Thailand. By one estimate, there are around 300,000 stray dogs in Bagkok and even more cats. The monks feed the ones lucky enough to have found their way to the temples and monasteries, but tens of thousands of others have to fend for themselves :(

These cats live under that car. They had cardboard to sleep on and someone had given them water, but it didn't look like they'd been fed.

This organization is trying to help these animals through adoption, sterilization, and education. But man, they've got their work cut out for them.

A few days into the trip, I bought cat food and carried it in my camera bag so I could feed stray cats as I met them. I know some people say this just contributes to the problem, but I couldn't turn my back on them.

seeking kindness

2011-03-22T18:12:00.032+01:00

I've been drawn to Buddhism for awhile. I'm the same age as The Buddha when he gave up the throne to go find enlightenment, but I've got a chatty mind and perfectionist tendencies, so inner peace does not come easily.

I wanted to know more about The Buddha and his teachings, so I talked with a monk in Chiang Mai and it turns out that there is hope for this fiery-tempered, half-Cuban, perfectionist-leaning Aries.

When I was growing up, I went with friends to the Methodist Church and the Baptist Church, both of which were different from each other and the Catholic Church I was used to. I briefly dated a Jewish guy in high school, which was pretty much the pinnacle of rebellion ;)

I remember asking my grandmother some religious questions and the answer pretty much boiled down to our way being "best." I remember telling her that I thought it would make more sense to have a "religion buffet" where you could pick what suited you, but she said it didn't work like that. And I wondered how she knew we were the "right" ones, and how God could be so judgmental.

In talking with the monk, I realized that Buddhism is the religious buffet I'd imagined back then! The Buddha encouraged people to adopt the lessons that resonated with them and forget the rest. There's no guilt, no fear, just compassion and tolerance.

But the point of this post isn't to teach or preach Buddhism. The point of all of this is to say that because of the monk, I've been kinder to myself. He had no idea he was talking to a fitness infomercial success story, someone who struggled all of her teens and the majority of her 20's with her weight and was still fighting a daily battle with perfection.

As he was explaining mindfulness, he told me to focus on the moment. He took exercise as an example. He said, "don't think about the result, just think about the task at hand, the movement." And I have. I've stopped obsessing over which program will give me the most muscle definition or the best abs. I take it one day at a time. I focus on each movement, I don't think about all of the things I have to do when I'm finished working out. Each workout is like a coat of paint, the first one will be spotty, but eventually, subsequent coats will dry to an even and beautiful finish. If I'm having an off day, I go easy. If I miss a workout, I don't punish myself. I don't fall off the workout wagon and stop taking care of myself. I forgive myself and pick up where I left off.

Learning Danish is a similar scenario. I was taking my failure really hard. But then I told people how frustrated I was and how disappointed I was in myself that I couldn't learn this language. And they've been helping me. And I've been helping myself. The wall near my desk is covered in post-its of Danish words and phrases. I practice them throughout the day, and I practice every night with Opie, who looks a little confused by my strange sounds, but my practice is deliberate and I try not to let my mind wander. If an unrelated thought comes, I acknowledge it, then let it go, and refocus on the spelling and the unusual sounds. There's more than one way to skin a proverbial cat and those state-sponsored classes weren't doing it for me. I'm actually starting to recognize words and phrases in conversations around me and it's only been a week!

I feel like I've spent so much time lost in the forest, when if I'd just slowed down instead of freaking out, I could've found my way out much sooner. But I'm out now, and it's good :)

pad thai on the fly

2011-03-21T20:14:00.012+01:00

Improvised tonight from the recipe I learned in Thai cooking class to feed my Pad Thai craving with what I had on hand...

I subbed egg noodles in place of rice noodles; two additional eggs in place of tofu; rice vinegar in place of lime juice; and a can of "wok mix" instead of the mung bean sprouts.

Conclusion: My cooking class was a very wise investment :)

three wise monkeys

2011-03-19T09:34:00.017+01:00

I never connected the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" maxim with Buddhism until I came upon these little statues at a Buddhist monastery in Chiang Mai.

It makes perfect sense :)

I love them! So, I'm going frame this photo set and hang it in my hallway.

jeg taler lidt dansk

2011-03-14T16:57:00.005+01:00

But that's the problem. I cannot seem to progress beyond speaking a little Danish. Reading has become easier, I can pretty much navigate the grocery store and complete my transaction in Danish, I can read a bit of my mail, and schedule a doctor appointment, but I cannot hold a conversation. Even a basic one.

There are a number of issues contributing to my miserable failure in this area. The language itself is extremely difficult, nothing sounds like it looks and there are very few rules to lean on. Outside of class, I can't even hear where one word ends and the next begins.

There are 5 modules to the program, but the classes are rolling, so in every level, there are people just coming in, people in the middle, and people who are almost ready to test into the next level. I joined the class just as everyone else was in the middle and preparing to test out, so I don't feel that I had the foundation I needed in order to grasp the language as well as I needed to.

I go to class once a week. Socially, I hang out with ex-pats, and our common language is English. I have a couple of Norwegian friends who can speak Danish when necessary, but even they mostly speak English here. I have no one to practice with, I speak English at work.

I'm due to test out of Module 1 on April 11. It's a verbal exam where I have to talk about myself and one of 3 Danish books I've read. I thought I was doing pretty well. My instructor read my book report and the paragraph about my personal details and had very little to correct, then he asked me to read it aloud and my word came crashing down.

The thing is, it's relatively easy for me to read and write this language, but when I'm learning mostly by reading and writing, and words like "morgenmad" are actually pronounced something along the lines of "mooremal," it's not hard to see that there's little chance in hell of me passing this test.

Today, my instructor asked me why I was learning Danish. I honestly don't need it to get by. My life would be a bit less stressful if I could speak and understand Danish, but I'm many lessons away from reaching a useful level of proficiency.

My answer to his question is that I'm living in Denmark and as a guest in this country I feel I should learn Danish. Yes, the majority of people speak fluent English, and I'm beyond grateful for that, but I don't think I should expect it.

I used to be annoyed in the US when it seemed like everything was in English and Spanish. Of course Spanish isn't the "universal" language, but somehow I feel like living in Denmark and not speaking Danish makes me a hypocrite.

On the other hand, my Danish will most likely reach the neighborhood of par right around the time I'm planning to leave the country. So, does it make sense to struggle with a language that I'll probably never use?

The instructor himself said that some people have a knack for languages and some people don't. I, unfortunately don't. He said if we look at my proportion of effort to progress, it might make sense for me to put my effort into something else.

But am I willing to live here as a guest who doesn't speak the local language and has given up on trying? Can I accept that I'm one of those monolingual Americans? Should I try a different language? Maybe I'd do better with French, Italian or Spanish. But is there any point in learning a language just to be bilingual?

The thought of giving up feels like an anchor disappearing from around my neck, with a side of failure in the pit of my stomach. Which makes me wonder, which is worse, an anchor or failure?

spring cleaning

2011-03-13T20:20:00.020+01:00

This was the moment where I looked around at the chaos and said, ~~"what the hell am I doing?"~~ "I lugged all of this across the Atlantic?" There was stuff everywhere!

But, spring cleaning needs to be done, and I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from watching dirty water swirl the drain, and seeing everything all clean and put away!

I scrubbed the cabinets, woodwork, and fridge; vaccumed the drawers; tamed the under sink area; polished the vent hood; scrubbed the counters; cleaned my small electrics; bleached the sink; washed the windows; and steam cleaned the cooktop and the floors.

And it does look lovely, if I do say so myself :)

It takes time to learn how to live in a space and I finally feel like it's mine. I'm anxious to move on to the other rooms!

Now that it's not so frigid, I'll restart my Saturday tours of the secondhand shops. I'm looking for picture frames, I'd like to print and hang some of my photos. I also need a set of bedside lamps, and hopefully some blinds that I can make into roman shades with the silk I bought in Thailand. Curtains would be nice, and a set of chairs to go with my antique dining table.

We don't turn our clocks ahead until March 27, but spring is in the air, and not a moment too soon!

i love u

2011-03-12T17:53:00.010+01:00

A heartbreaking, yet common sight in Bangkok :(

I took this photo late, on my way back to my hotel for the night. How is this even legal?

It costs upwards of $22,000 to adopt a Thai child. Applicants must be married and under 40. I'm constantly amazed by how difficult it is to adopt, when so many kids clearly need homes.

thai cooking class - fried rice

2011-03-11T17:34:00.006+01:00

This is the Thai fried rice recipe I learned in my cooking class. I've always thought of fried rice as a Chinese food, but it turns out that fried rice is a very popular and inexpensive street food in Bangkok.

2 T soybean oil
4 garlic cloves, pressed
200 grams tofu, cut into cubes
thinly sliced carrot
shredded bok choy
1 beaten egg
4 cups cooked rice
2 T soy sauce
1 t white sugar
1/2 t dried hot chili powder
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 T lime juice

Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until it's fragrant, but not beginning to color.

Add the tofu, carrots, and bok choy and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes. Add the beaten egg and continue cooking and stirring until the egg is half set.

Add the rice and continue stirring as you add the sugar, soy sauce, chili powder, and green onions. Cook for a few more minutes, until the the ingredients are well mixed and the rice is an even color.

Turn off the heat and mix in the lime juice. To serve, fill a small bowl, and flip it into the middle of a plate, and repeat for each portion.

One tip I learned in class is that this recipe works best with cold rice that's a day or two old and sort of dried out. So, cook your rice in advance and maybe even leave the cover ajar in the fridge to help it dry out a bit, or else make this when its time to clean out the fridge ;)

riverboat

2011-03-10T20:56:00.003+01:00

Ping River, Chiang Mai

wat chaimongkol

2011-03-09T20:14:00.006+01:00

Along the Ping River, Chiang Mai

lamonglass

2011-03-08T20:32:00.019+01:00

Bangkok taxis are incredibly cheap. Like you can pretty much go across town for what it costs to sit in traffic for 2 minutes in NYC.

The downside to that is that pretty much anyone with a pulse can get a taxi license. Some of the drivers are super picky about which fares they decide to take, and some are averse (um, hostile) to using the meter where "falong" are concerned. One afternoon, it took 5 taxis before I found one to drive me out of Chinatown on the meter!

OK, so "lamonglass," taxis... what does one have to do with the other?

Well, I'll tell you...

I thought it was a bit odd that one taxi driver after another had no clue where to find my high rise hotel. Then I began to notice that after showing them the hotel on a map, they'd say with sudden recognition, "ooooh, Lenaissance."

So, I decided to cut to the chase and start asking to go to "Lenaissance Hotel" right off the bat. Talk about an "aha" moment, worked like a charm!

And that my friends is how "lamonglass" and taxis are related. In Bangkok, anyway :)

sirilanna

2011-03-07T19:56:00.017+01:00

There are tons of cheap accommodations in Chiang Mai and I hope to someday take advantage of those for an extended stay. But, for a short trip of say a week or even two, Sirilanna is worth every penny. I've never stayed anyplace like it.

Words cannot do this hotel justice, so we'll have to rely on photos...

Each night, I returned to find that someone had lit jasmine incense in that little pot on the stoop outside my room. A peaceful end to such amazing days.

The hotel only has 15 rooms, so the pool and public areas have a small, intimate vibe.

My first morning there, I expected the usual breakfast buffet, but instead was given a quiet poolside table. Soon, the lovely hostess came by and asked if I'd prefer an eastern-style or western-style breakfast. When in Thailand, go East. I explained that I was a vegetarian, she was as well and took excellent care of me with the best Pad Thai of my life, a pot of green tea, and a plate of fresh fruit. The other mornings, I had a fried rice, and a super-fresh stir fried veggies plate. Kudos on the liberal use of tofu :)

Such a beautiful and relaxing start to my day. I could not have picked a nicer place, it totally made up for the hell that was Patong.

thai cooking class - pad thai

2011-03-05T19:11:00.010+01:00

This is the Pad Thai recipe I learned in my cooking class. Traditional Pad Thai usually contains shrimp and fish sauce. This version substitutes tofu and light soy sauce.

2 T vegetable oil
3 - 4 garlic cloves, pressed
50 grams diced tofu
1 egg
2 T soy sauce
1 t white sugar
1 cup warm water
150 grams rice noodles
2 T ground peanuts
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 green onions, sliced
1/4 of a lime

Soak the rice noodles in warm water for 2 minutes, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and fry until it becomes fragrant. Add the tofu.

Crack the egg straight into the wok, immediately add the soy sauce and sugar, stir rapidly until the egg is scrambled and cooked, then push it all up onto one side of the wok.

Pour the water into the bottom of the wok and add the noodles. Stir the noodles and cook until they become soft.

Add the peanuts and the bean sprouts, then mix everything together. Fry for another 30 seconds, add the green onions, and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Squeeze the lime over the noodles and serve.

In Thailand, Pad Thai is seasoned to taste after serving with soy (or fish) sauce for saltiness, sugar for sweetness, lime juice or rice vinegar for sourness, and dried chili for spiciness.

thai cooking class - market tour

2011-03-01T19:10:00.026+01:00

What an amazing day! If you're a traveling foodie, you must take a one-day cooking class! This was the best day of my whole trip. Why didn't I take a class in Italy?

I had a choice of several cooking schools in Chiang Mai, but I chose this particular school because it uses 80% organic ingredients, offers vegetarian modifications for all dishes, and lets the students pick what they want to learn.

The school picked me up from my hotel and brought me to a market where the day's group was given an introduction to Thai ingredients, and where our instructor bought the ingredients we'd be cooking with.

This is totally the way to shop, it doesn't get much fresher than this!

Thai cooking uses several varieties of basil. Here, you see Holy Basil, Hoary Basil, and Sweet Basil.

I've used dried wood ear mushrooms in hot & sour soup, but I had no idea the fresh ones looked so cool!

On the left, is ginza root, which belongs to the same family as ginseng. In the middle is galangal root, a relative to ginger, that tastes a bit citrusy and peppery, it's used as a complement to ginger. On the right is ginger root and on top of the ginger root is fresh turmeric.

The withered looking lime near the front is a kaffir lime. The leaves of the plant are very prevalent in Thai cooking, and so are the rinds, particularly in green curry.

Thai garlic is milder and more delicate than other varieties. It is most commonly smashed and added to the dish whole without peeling, mincing, or pressing.

Tofu! The yellow tofu is coated with turmeric, which does not affect the taste, but makes it look a bit more attractive in stir-fries, etc.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't put off by the dirt and mold in that styrofoam cooler, but when in Rome...or Thailand in this case, do as the locals do. Traveling is good for my immune system :)

Once we were finished at the market, we got down to cooking! We were split into groups based on the dishes we chose to learn. We prepped our ingredients, then cooked in the open air kitchen at our own propane powered stations, sampled the goods, and moved on to the next dish. By early afternoon I was stuffed!

I cannot believe the amount of work that went into this class, the staff was really amazing! The amount of prep work and dish washing was unbelievable, now I want a sous chef every time I cook!

Stay tuned for the recipes...

chang beer & dive bar restrooms

2011-02-26T19:09:00.020+01:00

I loved Chang Beer, but I did not love the public restrooms in the dive bars of Khao San Road...

BYOTP is the rule rather than the exception in these places, and toilet seats are optional. Bangkok doesn't have a great sewer system, so most restrooms have a bucket for the paper, and in one place, there was a bunch of garlic cloves in the paper bucket. Ew! How does that happen? Dirty toilet and garlic is a smell I won't soon forget.

But, my favorite restroom experience in all of Thailand was the one where I was faced with a tankless toilet, a spigot, a bucket of water, a pot, and no flush lever. I didn't give the situation much thought until I realized I had no clue what to do with this odd assortment of equipment. It was a tense time because the bathroom reeked, the paper bucket was overflowing, and there was a waiting line. I considered opening the door and asking advice, then it struck me that the only option was to pour water into the toilet by the pot full to flush it. Phew! Crisis averted :)

If you told me 2 years ago that I'd be eating my dinner with chopsticks on a curb, frequenting BYOTP places, and flushing with pots of water, I'd have called you a liar. But scary restrooms and all, I can't wait to go back! That said, I'm grateful to be back in the world of plentiful multi-ply toilet paper, and dual flush toilets.

street food - pad thai

2011-02-24T18:38:00.016+01:00

Pad thai from the street stands of Bangkok is easily one of the best food bargains in the world! I felt sort of guilty for all the work these people went through to earn less than $1, but 25 - 30 baht was the going rate for a vegetarian pad thai consisting of noodles, cabbage, mung bean sprouts, fried onion, peanuts, and egg.

How do they turn a profit?

Street food isn't for everyone. Corners are cut; for example, street pad thai often uses soy sauce in place of fish sauce, and vinegar in place of tamarind. There are cleanliness and food safety issues to consider. And it can be awkward to walk or sit on a curb and eat, but street dining is one of my favorite travel experiences!

Pad thai is traditionally made with rice noodles, but this another area in which the street vendors cut costs. Still, most offer a choice of 3 different types of noodles and the pad thai is still much better than anything I've had outside of Thailand.

Sour, salty, spicy, and sweet with a little bit of crunch for less than $1, what's not to like? Some vendors offer a variety of sauces, but the more traditional stands outside of the touristy areas simply offer white sugar and crushed red pepper. And you have to eat it with chopsticks :)

anger

2011-02-23T08:15:00.006+01:00

When I signed the contract to move to Denmark, I was told that my employer would provide income tax assistance with my foreign return for the first 2 years.

Since the Danish system calculates our taxes automatically and I am living in Denmark, I thought that the "foreign return" was the US return. Except, I was wrong.

This morning, I received the following reply to my request for assistance:

Hi Sage,

I’m sorry to disappoint you but you are only entitled to assistance with your Danish tax return and not the US one. You have the appendix valid for local hires from abroad and they will only be assisted with their Danish Tax return. If you have no other agreement than this appendix, I’m not able to help you. Sorry!

I hope you will find a way to solve the US tax return yourself.

Best Regards,

xxxx

How nice of them to help me with the "return" that isn't even a return!

I am beyond angry that I've been dumped in the middle of a new country without any help finding a place to live, setting up a bank account, getting a CPR number, navigating the healthcare system, etc. etc. But this one takes the cake!!!

How the hell am I supposed to pull a rabbit out of a hat this time??? It's hard enough finding an electrician, how am I supposed to find a US tax accountant in this freaking place?

I am angry. I feel defeated. I don't know where to turn and I'm tired of everything being so difficult. I'm ready to cry "uncle" or just cry because just when I think I've finally reached cruising altitude, someone cuts the engine, again.

If I were a weaker person, I'd list my flat and go home. But I'm not going to quit that easily. My Danish might suck and I might perpetually feel like I've been alternately kicked in the teeth and punched in the stomach, but it's going to take a lot more than that to run me out of town.

But, sometimes it feels like too much. Just too much for one person to handle alone. I keep telling myself it gets easier. But when? It's been almost a year. When does it get easier?

pig of good fortune

2011-02-22T20:18:00.004+01:00

Chinatown, Bangkok
4 February 2011, the Year of the Rabbit

chiang mai

2011-02-20T11:44:00.021+01:00

I will go back to Chiang Mai. I must go back to Chiang Mai. I'm already checking airfare prices daily. I want to spend a month there. I want to learn more about Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. I want to travel to Laos and Cambodia. If I weren't so grateful for the opportunity to travel to Thailand at all, I'd consider it a tragedy that I wasted 11 days in Bangkok and Patong, and had only a precious 3 in Chiang Mai, but I will not dwell and I will not be greedy. I will save my øre, I will hoard my vacation time, and I will visit again.

Chiang Mai was everything I expected in Thailand. It was the first time in the trip that I felt like I was someplace very far away from anywhere I'd ever been. And I wanted to drink in every last drop.

I took a one day Thai vegetarian cooking class. I went on a river cruise. I went to a night market, where I got the most incredible deals on Thai Silk (less than $1/meter) and a Buddha statue (about $3). I visited temples, talked with a monk about Buddhism, and stayed in the the most amazing boutique hotel!

There are some more commercial areas of Chiang Mai, but a significant portion of the city is made up of little roads (Soi) like these. They are dotted with guesthouses, restaurants, bars, etc. It's possible to rent a room in a guesthouse here for less than 5000 baht/month (less than $200). It's a very popular area with backpackers and other alternative types of travelers, which suits me perfectly.

Vegetarian food was plentiful here. Happy Cow lists 49 veg-friendly choices in Chiang Mai, but there were so many more, and they're silly cheap! Aloo gobi with rice at the night market was less than $2. And it was good!

The most expensive thing on this menu is slightly over $2.50, and these prices are on the expensive side. If you've got the time, it's totally possible to take a long break here and live well without going broke :)

No matter where I go, I'm always on the lookout for Vespas. Somehow though, they're never as romantic outside of Italy.

Chiang Mai has around 300 Buddhist temples. I didn't see nearly as many as I would've liked, but I did visit a handful of temples, and I will post separately about them.

Elephants are very prominent in Thai culture, and especially Thai Buddhism. There is a lot of elephant imagery in art, sculpture, and decor.

Unfortunately, there's also a fair amount of elephant tourism in the form of elephant parks, elephant treks, elephant shows, etc. Animal welfare standards in Thailand are very low and I really wish people would stop supporting this ugly side of the tourist trade, or at least educate themselves enough to know the truth about the poaching and abuse that they are so blindly supporting in their quest for an "exotic" vacation experience. Isn't visiting Thailand exotic enough? *stepping off my soapbox now*

Now that I've given a rundown on each of the three areas I've visited, I'll post my favorite photos and more in-depth about individual experiences. I'll also post the details of my cooking class and share the recipes with you.

If you get sick of hearing about Thailand, let me know via the comments section and we'll return to Scandinavia or Italy for a bit ;)

patong

2011-02-15T19:01:00.012+01:00

Patong was the low point of my trip. That'll teach me to retrofit my itinerary the night before I leave!

My first thought was to skip Phuket entirely, but since I'd already bought a non-refundable plane ticket from Bangkok, I thought it made sense to at least go check it out for a couple of days. Talk about penny wise and pound foolish!

I tried to make the most of it, but mostly I just waited around until the glorious moment I was to leave for Chiang Mai. One day in, I tried to get an earlier flight to Chiang Mai, but I missed the change cutoff by a few hours. So, I ended up wasting an additional two days in the tourist trap from hell.

If you look carefully at the blue massage sign, you'll see it says, "no sex". That's because Patong Beach is the sort of place where they need to spell out that kind of thing.

Here's a closer look...

There were hookers on the street, and so-called "sweetheart bars" where the lonely can go for some "quality" female companionship. To each their own, that wasn't really the issue. It was more the tourist trap vibe of the whole place.

I could not walk more than a few meters without someone asking where I'm from; if I'd like to have "designer" clothing made; if I'd like a massage; if I'd like to buy a laser pointer, electronic cigarette, wooden frog, counterfeit handbag, sunglasses, or watch; if I needed a taxi or tuk-tuk; if I'd eaten; if I wanted to see a ping-pong show, etc.

Trucks with advertising on the sides drove around all day and night hawking their tourist experiences via loud speaker at a few decibels louder than necessary. My favorite was the one with 4 bony teenage looking guys on the top, trying to look tough whilst luring the masses to their Thai boxing arena. Unfortunately, I was too busy thinking about how silly they looked to remember to take a photo :(

The competition for restaurant patrons is so stiff that they'd hover around the sample menu and try to coerce people into their restaurants. One guy got irate with me because I didn't want to eat his one vegetarian dish, which was stir fried vegetables with soy sauce. This was vacation, not fat camp, would it have killed him to throw in some tofu or something a little more tasty than soy sauce? I had the worst falafel of my life at Shawarma Express. I finally found an ok Indian place on a back street that had decent but overpriced aloo gobi, a pretty good tamarind chutney, and cheap beer.

Shopping was an even more frustrating experience than dining. I get that it's a tourist area, but come on! One woman started at 1,850 baht and promptly dropped her price to 500, based on Bangkok prices, 300 baht would've been an ok, not great deal. Another wouldn't go below 500 baht for the same dress, different pattern that I bought in Bangkok for 179. This scenario repeated over and over until I gave up and only spent on food.

Patong Beach is nothing to write home about. It was overcrowded and swarming with people trying to sell me jet ski rentals, beach chair rentals, parasailing, boat rides, etc. Nevermind that I was wearing a sundress and carrying a camera with a giant zoom lens, which I'm sure they would have taken real good care of while I was out in the water ;)

Obviously there are prettier and quieter beaches in Phuket. But I am not a beach person and Phuket just isn't my thing.

There were a few nice moments in Patong... my hotel was an amazing deal and run by lovely people, I fed a colony of stray cats, snuggled a family of kittens, ate an amazing crepe with chocolate and fresh coconut from a street vendor, and found a great little spot to hang out and play Jenga in the afternoons. Still, that time would've been much better spent in Chiang Mai, but live and learn.

My departure from Phuket was consistent with my overall Patong experience...

On the van to the airport, the woman behind me puked all over the floor. Who, outside of grammar school does not know they're about to be sick in time to get a bag? If worse came to worse, I'd puke in my purse! It splashed my legs, my dress and my shoes. It reeked, it was awesome, and it pretty much summed up my Patong experience.

bangkok

2011-02-09T03:20:00.004+01:00

Bangkok was everything I'd heard... hot, dirty, smelly, congested, smog-filled, seedy, and wonderful. It was also different from what I'd expected. I was shocked at how Westernized it has become. Grabbing a quick bite in a mall food court, it struck me as I ate my Subway that as I looked around, I could only see Starbucks, Auntie Anne's, Krispy Kreme, and McDonalds from where I was sitting. It didn't feel like Bangkok, I could've been back in Connecticut.

I was not prepared for the poverty that surrounded the glamour of the downtown area. People with missing limbs crawled face down on the filthy sidewalks, begging for money. I looked into the empty eye sockets of a begger man, taking a few moments to register what I'd just seen. Tiny children sat alone begging in the dirty streets at night.

Emaciated cats and dirty dogs were everywhere. And so were sex tourists out on "dates" with their beautiful hired companions.

This shot is from the mall complex near my hotel. I cannot believe the size of the malls! The green covered bridge is part of a skywalk system that allows pedestrians to walk above street level and connect to the malls and skytrain without having to deal with traffic. It's really convenient and it feels a bit cleaner up there out of direct range of all that exhaust. Of course, it's really just an illusion because there's so much smog, you can't even see the sun, but it's a cool and well designed system.

I'm leaving Patong tonight and it's not a moment too soon! I guess I'm just not into beaches and tourist traps. I'll write more about Patong and Bangkok, but right now, I have to pack for Chiang Mai!

by the skin of my teeth

2011-01-27T22:58:00.015+01:00

I mentioned awhile ago that I'm going to Thailand. Well, I leave for Bangkok tomorrow morning and I started this morning pretty much at square one.

This was a group trip and the original plan was to spend a few days in Bangkok, then move to a private villa in Phuket. As I began looking into how to spend my time, I realized that the villa isn't in Phuket, but in Nai Harn, a 25 minute drive from Phuket Town. By all accounts, it's one of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand, but it's only 1 km long, it's located in a mostly residential area, and the villa is a 10 minute walk from the beach. *yawn*

I should've looked into this sooner (um, like before I made a deposit), but I didn't. I'm sure Nai Harn is a lovely place if you love beaches. I don't, which is why I usually book my beach vacations at posh resorts with plenty of activities, and why I lust for trips to European capitols. As the trip got closer, my sense of dread grew, and this morning, I decided to opt out of the villa and start over.

There is collateral damage, and I'm sure you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "come on, Sage, you're going to Thailand in February, you live in Scandinavia, how bad can it be?" But Thailand isn't a trip you do once a year, and I'm not one to squander opportunity, so it's important to get this right.

This trip is going to be a total seat of my pants, skin of my teeth sort of adventure, but maybe it's better that way. I think a lot. Probably too much. So, this will be an exercise in letting go. Really, I leave in fewer than 12 hours, what choice do I have?

I'll be spending 8 days in Bangkok, followed by 3 in Patong Beach, and another 3 in Chiang Mai. It feels right.

I expect Bangkok to be sensory overload and I can't wait to check it out... the markets, the temples, the spas, the counterfeit goods, the traffic, the tuk-tuks, Khao San Road! My original Phuket ticket is non-refundable, so it would be a waste not to check out Patong Beach, at least for a few days. Chiang Mai is to the north and seems to be the object of universal traveler love, plus my boss told me that the best curry of her life was in Chiang Mai, so of course I have to go there!

That was a lot of Googling!!! What did we do before the internet?

In keeping with the recent panini theme, I'll leave you with a couple photos of my favorite panini place in Rome. It's near the Colosseum and it's mostly a bakery with a few grocery items, and a takeaway counter that sells panini, lasagna, cannelloni, etc. by weight. I ate here my first day in Rome (another breakfast panino...lol!) and walked around for several hours trying to find it again on my last day in Rome.

I don't expect to be online again until Patong Beach, but I'm bringing my camera and will give you a taste of Thailand as soon as I can :)

quattro cantoni, siena

2011-01-24T20:08:00.015+01:00

Steep, narrow cobblestone streets lined with the most beautiful ancient row houses and shops you can imagine. Vespas, churches, a clocktower, galleries, a piazza, olive groves, and fountains.

Surrounded by an ancient wall, Siena is pretty much everything I've imagined an ancient European city would be.

One of my favorite places in Siena is a café called Quattro Cantoni. Its high arched ceiling and plaster work is stunning, the cappuccino is definitely worth writing home about, and the clientele is an interesting mix of locals and tourists.

My favorite locals were the old woman who wore a fur collared coat and came in early each evening for a cocktail and an ice cream, sometimes followed by an espresso. And "the professor" who took a seat at a table in the center of the cafe, read his newspaper and sipped a martini in his turtleneck and blazer with leather patches on the elbows.

Even if this place were to close tomorrow, I swear it would still smell like coffee in 50 years. Amazing!

I found Quattro Cantoni my first morning in Siena. I'd skipped dinner the night before, so naturally, I had to have 2 panini...

One pomodoro, and one with grilled aubergine and fresh mozzarella!
What? I was famished! And for the record, I did skip the cannoli that I regret skipping.

After that, I found it hard to leave. There have been a handful of places in my life that have had a vibe that I can't explain, other than to say that I felt like I belonged there. Some kind of past life thing? I don't know. Like I said, it's hard to explain.

If I ever get around to writing the book that's been bouncing around my head these past few years; and if that book is a success; and if I can live on royalties or at least get an advance to go somewhere and write another book, I will go to Siena. I'll rent a flat in one of those delightful rowhouses. I'll buy Vespa and a pair of fabulous boots, I'll become a regular at Quattro Cantoni, and I will wonder how I got so lucky.

A girl can dream. A girl should dream. Last time I dreamed, it came true...

roasted veggie panino

2011-01-20T21:54:00.012+01:00

Writing about Siena made me crave a panino from a café I'll write about later on. My first choice was a panino pomodoro, but my basil plant died, so I improvised this roasted vegetable sandwich with aioli and feta from what I had on hand.

Before going to Italy, my experience with "panini" was limited to a few unimpressive trips to Bertucci's. I'd thought that the only thing worse than Bertucci's is Olive Garden; traveling to Italy has confirmed that.

"Panini" is the plural of panino, which is what they're called in Italy. An Italian sandwich does not need to be pressed ridiculously flat and grilled to hell in order to qualify as a "panini." All of the panini I had were served on ciabatta or focaccia. Sometimes they were not grilled at all, and when they were, they were very lightly warmed, not even enough to melt the cheese, sometimes they were slightly warmed in the oven. They were never pressed flat.

The reason I told you all of that is because if like me, your panini experience is limited to Bertucci's, you're going to take one look at my sandwich and say, "hey, that's not a panini!" But now you know that it's not a panini, it's a panino and despite what Williams-Sonoma would like you to believe, it's ok that it hasn't been squashed and charred in an overpriced panini press. It's actually more authentic this way :)

1 courgette
2 red peppers
1 large red onion
olive oil
dried basil
salt
pepper
2 T mayonnaise
1 1/2 t lemon juice
1 clove garlic, pressed
crumbled feta
bread

Cut the courgette (zucchini) to half length, then slice it thinly into long slices. Slice the peppers. Cut the onion into eight (or whatever size you like) wedges, and separate the layers. Toss the veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

This sandwich could've used a little more diversity, but like I said, I used what I had on hand. Aubergine (eggplant) would've been nice place of the second pepper, artichokes might've been nice, maybe some mushrooms, but you can get creative with your veggies and spices. At 25 minutes, the veggies were roasted and sweet, but not limp, which was exactly what I was after.

While the veggies are roasting, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and garlic. Spread it onto the bread, sprinkle the bread with feta, and put it in the oven for the last 5 minutes or so of veggie roasting. You don't necessarily need to toast the bread, just get the chill out of feta. I'd have preferred this on ciabatta, but all I has was a white baguette, so that's what I used.

Stuff the bread with the roasted veggies, and viola! I was almost back in Siena :)

italian marzipan

2011-01-17T20:54:00.018+01:00

Aren't they delightful? I found them in a sweet shop in Siena, Italy.

Siena is the sort of picturesque city that makes you daydream over your cappuccino about a sexy Italian man whisking you away through the narrow cobblestone streets on a vintage Vespa to his family's Tuscan villa.

Did I mention that the city is surrounded by olive groves and an ancient wall?

*sigh*

apple pie

2011-01-13T20:50:00.005+01:00

Last Friday, I was given a bag of apples and I was undecided about what to make...

Apple cobbler? Fondue? Baked apples? Apple muffins? Apple cake? Baked apples? Cinnamon apples? Apple sauce?

Ohhhhh, apple pie, how I've missed you!

I'm an apple pie purist. It seems a little lame to mix up up some apples, cinnamon and sugar, dump it into a premade crust and call it "homemade." So in my kitchen, homemade apple pie gets a homemade crust!

I haven't made pie in awhile, so before I started, I reread Tracey McBride's flaky crust secrets on her Frugal Luxuries Food blog. She seriously unlocked the pie crust mystery for me.

I use this recipe, which can also be done in a food processor using the dough blade. Because pastry is fussy, I always weigh (instead of measure) my pie crust ingredients. I freeze my shortening and butter, I use ice water, and I take great pains to handle the dough less that I think is comfortable. If you overhandle the dough, you will not get a flaky crust. I chill the dough in the freezer while I'm making my filling, then I roll it out between wax paper, fill it, and put it back in the freezer while the oven is heating.

6-8 cups peeled & sliced apples

1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg

pinch of cloves
2 T lemon juice

1 T butter
a double pie crust

Combine all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl. Since these were eating apples, not baking apples, I worried that they would release too much juice and make a soggy pie, so I tossed the apples with 3 T of flour plus 1 T of cornstarch before adding the rest of the ingredients. In the US, I used to use 2 T cornstarch and 2 T minute tapioca, but I can't find the tapioca here, so I had to improvise. Even with the flour, the filling thickened up quite nicely.

Pour the ingredients into the bottom crust, add the top crust, seal and flute the edges, then cut steam vents into the top crust. Don't let the fluting scare you, this video will show you that fluting the edges seems more intimidating than it actually is :)

Then, like Tracey says, pop the pie into the freezer and preheat the oven. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. My oven is not self-cleaning, so better safe than sorry, I baked mine on a cookie sheet.

Since I made this one with scavanged apples, it wasn't as full as I'd normally like. I usually like a full 8 cups of apples, this pie was closer to 6, but it worked. I thought about buying a few extra apples, but that sort of takes the making something out of nothing fun out of it!

I wanted to take a photo after I'd cut it, but I like to share my pie and apparently, people really

like to eat my pie, so unfortunately there wasn't any left to photograph. Sorry :(

vegetable fried rice

2011-01-04T20:42:00.033+01:00

When I cook rice, I usually make extra to have on hand for veggie burgers, burritos, soups, or some sort of snazzy rice.

Fried rice is a creative cooking experience I turn to when I haven't been grocery shopping, or when I have some odd veggies that need to be used up.

I scraped the bottom of the post holiday barrel for this batch... some withering mushrooms leftover from holiday appetizers, a couple of stray scallions, an egg, and some frozen veg mix and peas. It doesn't sound like much, but it's so satisfying to make something delicious out of nothing!

While I don't really make this the same way twice, I always first stir-fry the rice in peanut oil, add the good stuff, then finish with soy sauce and sesame oil.

2 T peanut oil

2 cups cooked brown rice
2 handfuls veg mix, thawed
(broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 green onions, sliced
6 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 t salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 t soy sauce
1 1/2 t sesame oil

Heat the the peanut oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the cooked rice and stir-fry until lightly golden. Add the veggies and salt, and stir-fry until the veggies are tender but still crisp (5 minutes, or so).

Hollow out a circle in the center of the rice and add the egg. Cook, lightly scrambling, then stir the cooked egg into the rice mixture. Stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil.

This recipe is very forgiving and quick to come together with whatever is in the fridge, veganize it by ditching the egg. I've made it with tofu, shredded cabbage, fresh carrots, mung bean sprouts, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, garlic, ginger, and possibly other things I can't remember right now. If using fresh veggies, blanch them ahead of time.

There isn't a whole lot of Chinese takeout here, so this is easily the best fried rice in town :)

homemade napkins

2011-01-02T15:40:00.010+01:00

When life hands you granny fabric, make napkins!!!

Awhile back, I was given a stack of quilting fabric that was more Grandma Walton than Sage & Simple. I struggled with what to do with this fabric, and then it struck me... napkins!!!

The first batch of 23 is done :)

Here are my sewing instructions for homemade fabric napkins:

1) Cut fabric squares of 17" x 17" (or whatever size makes you happy). This left me with some smaller pieces that I will make into snack napkins to use with tea, dessert, etc.

2) Iron in a 1/4" hem on all 4 sides, then another 1/4" hem to tuck in the raw edge.

3) Miter the corners. You can also leave them square, but I have perfectionist tendencies so I mitered mine :)

4) Sew all the way around the edge. Viola!

Not only have I given life to this not so hip looking fabric, but these cloth napkins are going to save trees and save me money! Finding another way of beating that 25% VAT makes me happy :)

P.S. Happy new year!

tastes of home

2010-12-28T23:03:00.018+01:00

A lunch with expat friends always has a way of making me realize with renewed shock how truly different my life is now.

Yesterday, at a julefrokost (a traditional Danish Christmas lunch), our American hostess mentioned that she found Betty Crocker mixes in Germany. A year ago, the idea of driving to another country to stock up on Betty Crocker would've seemed absurd, I might even have mentioned the evils of processed food and the virtues of cooking from scratch, but today I actually thought up ways to score a ride to the border to procure brownie mix!

Later on, waxing nostalgic for the pizza joint where my sister and I used to overstay our welcome munching on and gossping over onion rings, french fries, and philly cheesesteaks, I realized how discomforting it is be in a place where a Taco Bell burrito, a plate of tater tots, or a bowl of Lucky Charms are not available remedies for a stressful day.

After I went vegetarian and stopped going to the cheesesteak place, I made them at home using tempeh instead of steak. I've found a place that sells tempeh in Denmark, but it has to be shipped in dry ice and the resulting price makes it something like a filet mignon during the Great Depression. All kidding aside, I can afford it, but really, how much am I willing to pay for a cake of fermented grains that goes for $1.69 at Trader Joe's? It's kind of like those $10 pints of Ben & Jerry's... how much do I really want it? It's more about principle than finances.

I've been missing my tempeh cheesesteaks and decided to quite whining and start improvising. I find myself doing that quite a bit these days. I was cool with skipping the tempeh, then I realized that somehow I forgot to bring A-1 Sauce with me.

Seriously. I have an entire room in my basement dedicated to (ok, filled with) provisions. I'd say my shipping container was 50% personal items and 50% American consumables. Opie will have his favorite food and litter, and I will have my favorite peanut butter, salsa, taco shells and seasoning, soy sauce, maple syrup, shortening, liquid smoke, worchestershire, haircare items, soap, and other impossible to find items right up until about the time my visa expires.

OK, I've made a short story long here, but until I was living this experience, I never realized how easy it was to take the little things for granted. Half of my heart is living and experiencing Denmark and Europe, and half is dreaming of a farmhouse on acreage somewhere in the US, not too far from a Taco Bell and/or a place that sells tater tots and Lucky Charms.

While I'm sorting all of that out, I'll have to make my own A-1 and skip the veggie "steak" in my cheesesteaks. And the provolone. They don't have provolone here. Or dill pickles :(

The Sauce:

1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup worchestershire
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
1 T dijon
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
black pepper

The Sandwich:

olive oil
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
8 large mushrooms, thinly sliced
garlic powder
pepper
soy sauce
steak sauce
baguette
cheese

Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer 30 - 45 minutes, or until it thickens a bit. Let it cool, then puree it in a blender until the sauce is smooth.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet, add the veggies and saute until they begin to soften, but are still a bit crisp. Season with garlic powder, pepper, soy sauce, and steak sauce. Cook a bit longer.

Serve it toasted baguette, topped with additional steak sauce and cheese. I ran mine under the broiler to melt the cheese.

I'm not winning any health points here, but this vegetarian philly cheesesteak almost tasted like home!

god jul

2010-12-25T14:14:00.004+01:00

A cozy view from beside the fire :)

bicycles of rome

2010-12-23T09:54:00.003+01:00

I've been in love with the romanticism of classic city bikes for as long as I can remember. In college, I bought a blue 3 speed Raleigh from Salvation Army. I painted it black and rode it everywhere.

A few years ago, I found a classic frame ladies bike at the curb on trash night and Jeff made it over into a faux Pashley. He later modified it to a single speed and added a chainguard, and now I keep it at work and ride it around campus.

When I came to Denmark and gave up my car, I deliberated over many bikes and finally splurged on the Pashley Princess Sovereign. But my bike lust hasn't stopped and I plan to add to my fleet come spring. Perhaps something in red :)

Traveling from Denmark, which is a very pro-cycling culture, I was surprised by the general lack of bikes in Italy. Given the climate, I would have expected more bikes, but given the crazy drivers and narrow roads, it's easy to understand why it hasn't caught on.

Still, bikes are part of the urban landscape in Rome and here are some of my favorite bicycle shots from around the city...

The quality of these photos was disappointing, but not too bad considering I was juggling a dSLR and an umbrella :)

I just love the look of a well-used, good quality city bike with patina. Sometimes I think I should stop babying my Princess and let her age naturally, out in the elements. Maybe I will.

sink or swim

2010-12-21T19:25:00.011+01:00

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that unglue me. My washing machine broke. I opened the door and water came rushing out. I'm generally calm in a crisis. Breathe. Think. Okay, how do I fix this?

It's a old German machine. I managed to find a German owner's manual online, and through the magic of Google, was able to clean the drain pump. I was feeling so hopeful! But when I ran another load, I flooded my basement, again.

I've been fortunate in my adult life that money hasn't been an issue. A car repair or a broken appliance was never more than a slight inconvenience. But right now, I may as well be broke.

I don't know how to get a new washing machine. I found a place to order one online, but they only offer curbside delivery. That's so not going to help me!

My machine also has a weird outlet that's not like the others in the basement, so I suspect the plug on the new machine will also need to be modified. How am I going to deal with that?

I hate that I don't know how to fix things here. I hate that I can't jump in my car, drive to Sears or wherever, speak to the salesperson in English, throw some money at the issue and be done with it.

The benefits of this experience of living abroad far outweigh the negatives, but sometimes, something as simple as a broken washing machine is enough to send me to bed in tears before 8 o'clock.

Sink or swim. There is no other choice. Tomorrow, I will find the strength and determination to swim. Again.

curried lentils

2010-12-17T11:07:00.009+01:00

Holy hell, these are delicious!!! My cobbler making, Thanksgiving hostessing, Thailand going friend Tara created this recipe.

It's healthy, inexpensive, easy, and scrumptious. I forever bow to Tara's kitchen goddessness, the girl is good!!!

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced in half-moons
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
2 cups dried green lentils
1 can chopped tomatoes (15.5 oz)
6 cups vegetable stock, room temperature
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
1 T curry powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t chili powder
½ t cloves
1 bay leaf
1 bunch spinach, fresh or frozen
1-2 T apple cider vinegar
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

In a large pot, sauté the onion, carrots and celery in a bit of olive oil until tender. Add the garlic and spices, sauté 1 minute. Stir in the lentils, tomatoes and veggie stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

When the lentils are tender, stir in the spinach to wilt. Just before serving, stir in the vinegar, then season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder if you're feeling it.

I've been eating this on its own, but someday I'll remember to buy couscous at the Middle Eastern market to go with :) Yum!

franca & pino

2010-12-10T23:00:00.007+01:00

Most definitely not in the Vatican!

homemade pizza

2010-12-09T07:35:00.006+01:00

Pizza in Denmark is mostly made by Turks whose first culinary talent is kebab.

The pizza here is generally bland, bready, and not worth the calories, or the 50 crowns ($10 US or so). Some places sell "family size" pizzas, but usually, each person orders an individual pizza.

After quite a bit of trial and error, and a lot of cursing, I can consistently make homemade pizza that's far better and less expensive than the fiascos the kebab places are selling.

I use this pizza sauce recipe, except I omit the marjoram and parsley in the garlic bread seasoning, I skip the red pepper flakes, and I cut the onion powder to 1/2 t.

Two of my biggest pizza crust making challenges in Denmark are that I don't have a pizza stone, and that yeast is most readily available in cakes, not the individual packets or jars that we're used to in the US, and that most recipes call for.

I've finally figured out that 17g of a yeast cake is perfect for this recipe. Weighing yeast in grams is kind of a hassle, but I'm not going to complain because a yeast cake is only about 20 cents and I can get 3 pizzas out of a single cake, so it's easily one of the best grocery bargains in Denmark :)

If you're in the US or anyplace else that sells packet or jarred yeast everywhere, give thanks, and use the equivalent of one packet to start.

1 cup warm water
2 T sugar
17 g yeast cake
3/4 t salt
1 T olive oil
3 cups flour

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Cake yeast is fussy, so I always use 105 F degree water, packet yeast is more forgiving.

Add the yeast and set it aside for 10 minutes or until it's sort of foamy looking. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and mix. The flour here seems a bit lighter than what I was used to in the US, so you may want to start with 2 3/4 cups and work your way up. Humidity can also be a factor, so don't take this as gospel.

Knead the dough in a food processor with a dough blade, or in a KitchenAid with a dough hook for 8 minutes. By then it should be smooth, elastic, and not sticking to the sides of the workbowl.

Pour some olive oil in the bottom of a medium size bowl, transfer the dough and flip it around until it's coated with olive oil. Let it rise for at least 30 minutes.

Stretch it onto a baking sheet that's been covered with cornmeal. If it's properly risen, it should stretch out no problem. This is the first pizza dough that has not required me to roll it out with a rolling pin, it's a very smooth and friendly dough :)

Bake the crust at 500 degrees (I'm still and will probably always be a Fahrenheit girl) for 10 minutes. Top it, and bake it another 8 - 10 minutes or until the crust edges look the way you like!

Sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil!

This is a thin crust recipe, so if you prefer thick crust, move along, there's nothing to see here (except maybe that delicious pizza sauce recipe).

True confession: I actually prefer the taste of this pizza to any I had in Italy. Granted, the Italians can knead circles around me in the crust department, oh to be able to make that crust! But pizza margarita, the vegetarian standby, is quite bland and they were sort of stingy with the cheese. But what do I know? I'm American.

ETA: I've since found a better way to bake the crust. I bake it in the bottom of the oven (not on a rack, just set it at the very bottom) at 500 degrees until it looks "done". Then, I top it and broil until the cheese melts.

hygge

2010-12-06T20:34:00.020+01:00

It's home. Creamy walls, high ceilings, heated floors, open space, secondhand furniture, snow falling gently like feathers outside my window, a pot of tea, a vintage cup and saucer, scented candles, jazz, soup simmering on the stove, a lazy day spent lounging on my daybed near the fire with a stack of books and my iPad.

It's Opie, sleepy and purring atop the borrowed pillow I keep meaning to return, but that he's claimed as his own :)

trevi fountain

2010-12-05T21:02:00.017+01:00

My world was officially rocked the moment I saw the Baroque goodness that is Trevi Fountain! Somehow "fountain" seems to be an understatement for something so spectacular. It took 30 years to build!

Trevi Fountain was of course commissioned by a Pope (isn't everything in Rome?) and sits at the end of an aquaduct that was built in 19 BC, with the help of a virgin (of course), and carries fresh water from 20 km away to supply all of the fountains in the historic Roman Center.

Among the many amazing aspects of Rome are the plentiful public fountains that provide potable drinking water throughout the city. This is particularly cool when you compare the cost of bottled water to that of cappuccino and wine; I know where I prefer to spend my Euros :)

Trevi Fountain is massive, 65 feet wide by 85 feet high! It was completed in 1762, so it's pretty old, but since it's in Rome, I expected it to be quite a bit older, but what do I know?

Love it or hate it, you've got to respect the level of skill required to build something this dramatic!

So cool to see real Corinthian columns in person! Sitting in freshman Western Civ many moons ago, I never imagined I actually see the real deal! I could've happily brought a picnic and looked at this fountain for hours had it not been swarmed with tourists.

At the Center of the Fountain is Neptune, god of the sea, riding a shell shaped chariot pulled by two sea horses, each guided by a Triton and representing the contrasting moods of the sea.

One is calm and obedient.

The other is wild.

As is the custom, I tossed a coin into the Fountain, hoping to ensure my return to Rome. There is a cannoli, a cookie, and a hot chocolate that I deeply regret passing up, and so I need to go back and make things right :)

st. peter's basilica

2010-11-29T21:20:00.015+01:00

The Vatican was a bit of a controversial destination for me. I'd initially planned to skip it, but when it Rome... it seems silly to skip the Vatican!

I was raised Catholic and don't have particularly fond memories of the experience. My grandmother forced me to make my Confirmation to ensure I'd be allowed allowed to marry in the Catholic Church. I was always pretty sure I didn't want kids (strike 1!), wasn't sure I wanted to marry (strike 2!), but if I did, I wanted an outdoor wedding, and I definitely wasn't interested in marrying anyone who would insist on a Catholic ceremony (strike 3!).

The fact that I went through with it even though I knew it wasn't in line with my beliefs still causes me trauma from time to time. If the Church had any integrity, they'd have thought twice about confirming me after I'd gone head to head on birth control with the Bishop at my Confirmation retreat. But I suspect they prayed for the best and hoped I'd grow out of it.

Guilt and I have a longstanding relationship. Guilt has controlled me, pushed me into stupid decisions, and at times crippled me, but now I'm learning after many hours of rational thought and soul searching that life does not need to be a guilt trip. Despite what I've been led to believe by my rosary clutching grandma and the Catholic Church, I am not a bad person and there are much cooler places to visit than Guilt City.

I am breaking up with guilt.

As I was growing up, the Pope and The Vatican figured heavily into my life. Most nights, I ate dinner while looking at one of those awful Pope John Paul II collector plates and listening to my grandmother lecturing me on how to "act like a lady" or the laundry list of my supposed sins which would range from not studying hard enough, to wearing a mascara, to being overweight, to wearing my skirts too short, to much worse things like wanting to date when I was 16.

So, I didn't know how it would be to cross enemy lines. Turns out it was neither traumatic nor religious, just another sight to be seen and photographed.

It was quite breathtaking to stand in the Piazza San Pietro and see Michelangelo's dome in person, but I did not have any sort of epiphany, and so the war on guilt continues ;)

I didn't visit the Vatican Museums. The queues ensure it's an all day event and it's quite spendy to hire a tour guide in order to skip the queue. Structured sightseeing isn't really my style anyway. Instead of ratting off a list of museums I've visited, and artwork I've seen, I'd much rather take photos and tell you how a place feels.

I now have a solid grasp on the vibe of Berlin, Copenhagen, Rome, and Siena, with so many more to come!

an expat thanksgiving

2010-11-28T22:33:00.011+01:00

Thank you for all of your lovely comments on my Thanksgiving post! I'm feeling much better and I had the best ever Thanksgiving today!

It was wonderful to taste familiar foods so far from home. Our hostess, Tara always delights and today was no exception... she made the best mashed potatoes I've ever tasted, and pecan, pumpkin, and apple pies all from scratch, including the crust!!! Respect.

She even managed to track down a turkey! It was obscenely expensive by American standards and according to her husband it still had some feathers on its legs. It looked so moist and delicious that it was a little bit tempting, but I behaved.

I brought along my controversial green bean casserole and it was a hit. Yep, even Europeans appreciate a nice, trashy GBC ;) I threw in a batch of cornbread for good measure and there wasn't a crumb left. So fun to share American foods and traditions with friends on this side of the pond! Tara and I asked for requests from the group and next we'll be introducing them to egg nog :)

We watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special, and a History Channel Thanksgiving documentary. We nicknamed our lone Danish friend "Squanto" for helping us navigate life here in Denmark, and it really did feel like a Thanksgiving TV special. Hallmark Channel, are you listening??

Due to a glitch in planning, I wasn't able to get my cream of mushroom soup in time for today's festivities. Life is so different when you don't have a car and the only way to get hold of something like the aforementioned soup is to walk a few kilometers in the snow to pick it up. So I had to improvise a bit.

It was actually pretty simple and probably much healthier than the canned stuff anyway, so in case you're ever in a pinch, here's the recipe for cream of mushroom soup substitute:

1 T butter
3 T flour
1 t veggie bouillon dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk

Melt the butter over medium heat, gradually stir in the flour to make a roux. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the boullion and milk, return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth and thick, like the consistency of condensed, canned cream of mushroom soup.

You may have noticed that the mushrooms are sorely lacking here. This is because I thought I still had a can of mushrooms in my US stash, but I didn't. Most stores are closed on Sundays in Denmark, so I had to skip the mushrooms. It was still fine, though given a choice, I'd have sauteed some chopped mushrooms and stirred them in at the end.

I had a bit of a goose chase yesterday trying to find the right green beans. As with most things, Denmark's canned vegetable selection is not exactly up to par. One store had canned haricots verts, but that just didn't seem right.

The frozen vegetable selection is not much better than the canned selection. One day, I actually picked the broccoli out of a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix in order to make a quiche. Today, I ended up using frozen haricots verts that I defrosted and cut to mimic cut green beans.

I usually use canned french cut green beans for this dish. I keep meaning to ask my French friend if french cut green beans are actually french cut. Also french manicures... are those really French or is that just something they tell American women so we'll pay an extra $5 to upgrade our manicure?

I've already established that books like "French Women Don't Get Fat" and "Entre Nous: A Women's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl" are pretty much written for women who want to feel chic despite the fact that they will never go to France or meet a French woman. So this other "French" stuff is also a bit suspect.

Next post is back to Italy, I promise! Too many cool things and beautiful photos not to share :)

cat show

2010-11-21T20:56:00.015+01:00

Normally, I wouldn't go to a cat show, but my friend just bought a show quality kitten from Russia and I went with him to inspect the show circuit. Really, I just went along as moral support, but the promise of kittens and hot chocolate definitely helped.

I'm sort of at odds about this whole thing. Cats are being euthanized by the millions due to a shortage of homes, so I'd never entertain the thought of buying one, no matter how special it is. I really don't care if Opie is too short, too fat, has substandard markings, a badly shaped head, a tail of unacceptable length, weird paws, ugly ears, or is a mix of 10 different dumpster breeds. A cat is a cat and no amount of papers or ribbons is going to change my mind.

Throughout cat show, I just kept thinking "pageant moms!" I've never seen so much primping and fluffing in my life. I actually saw someone putting baby powder on a white cat to make it appear whiter. That is the level of crazy we're dealing with here!

I got a lot of sideways looks for taking photos, so I had to be sneaky and they're not up to my usual standards, but you've got to see this...

Every cat had some sort of Princess dressing on its cage. There was a vendor selling these things for about $120 US. I wonder how big of a niche this is because they're a pretty easy sew!

I don't mean to talk smack about poor, helpless cats, but are they cuter than Opie? Didn't think so. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

I noticed that everyone standing near the judging tables was holding their cats in this same awkward position. This is to show off the cat's length, the longer the better! Who knew?

It's a good thing Opie isn't show quality because he'd most definitely bite me and run away if I tried to hold him like this in a gymnasium full of people.

For the most part, the cats were pretty compliant with the judging process. It must have something to do with good breeding :)

$20 US bottles of shampoo to enhance the color of your cat's coat, the one on the right is volumizing, and there is also creme rinse and a variety of styling aids. It's best to shampoo your cat about 5 days prior to showing, so some of the natural oils have a chance to come back. I can't believe I know this!

I own a Mason Pearson hairbrush and I deliberated for several months before justifying a $125 US hairbrush. I noticed at the show that these are the standard among the beautiful cats of the world, and now I feel like true Princess ;)

Not really. Actually, I'm wondering if I bought myself a very expensive cat brush, and I'm pondering whether or not Prince Opie is handsome enough to warrant such a fancy grooming implement.

If you're going to the hassle of shampooing your cat with color-appropriate shampoo, creme rinse, styling product, and a good going over with a Mason Pearson hairbrush, for goodness sake, do not screw up its grooming with an improper blow out!!! This fancy machine is a cat blow drier and it costs a mere $1,000 or so US. Isn't Fluffy worth it?

Remember the baby powder people from beginning of this post? Well, apparently, they're not alone because for about $20 US, you can buy concealer of sorts for under your white cat's eyes. Really, who wants to look at stained fur?

I've written this post mostly in jest, but I found the whole thing quite sad. Not just because people are spoiling show cats when so many others are being killed for no good reason, but because the photo above pretty much sums this up from the cat's perspective.

At the back left of the cage, you can see that the poor cat is trying to hide itself from the show traffic. Purebred or not, it's still just a cat and cats like to sleep and they like to be cuddled. They do not like to be bathed, primped, held on stretched arms, inspected, or made to spend their days in cages while people look at them like some sort of bizarre specimens of perfection.

January may find me on the show circuit with my friend and his gourmet kitten. With or without me, he will show this cat, so I may as well join him for the ride!

Next post is back on the topic of Italy, Trevi Fountain sounds good...

pasta & sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers & artichokes

2010-11-18T20:03:00.012+01:00

If I had to be picky, I'd say the one place Italy disappointed was in the area of food. I know, I know, I must be crazy, right?

To Italy's credit, I've never been a big fan of pasta. Even as a student, I've never "lived on" pasta, I much prefer potatoes. I love a good manicotti, but let's face it, that's more about the cheese than the pasta.

In Italy, I had pasta exactly twice, more out of a feeling of obligation than real desire. The first dish had tomatoes and roasted aubergine (which used to be "eggplant" until I moved to Denmark and decided I prefer its European name), but it didn't even begin to appease until I'd buried it in freshly grated cheese. The second was a delicate spinach and ricotta filled ravioli with pesto and pine nuts, which was much better :)

I ate enough caprese panini and pizza margherita to last several lifetimes. It got so boring that I actually ate Indian three times... Indian, in Rome!!! Crazy!

But as a pasta averse vegetarian, my options were somewhat limited. Authentic Italian food isn't like the Italian American food I grew up on, there was a lot of ham and guts. Yes, guts... like tripe, brains, intestines, and oxtail.

I'm feeling like maybe I haven't given pasta a fair chance, so I'm going to give it another try and see if I can't make friends. Of course, given my potato habit and the abundance of potatoes in Denmark, I'm not sure I need to make friends with another white food. But in most Danish restaurants, vegetarian = pasta so it wouldn't hurt to learn to enjoy it now and then instead of just sulking and picking out the good stuff.

Tonight's foray into pasta involved sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and artichokes in a creamy sauce finished with white wine.

1 lb. pasta

olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
7 0z. chopped roasted red peppers
1 jar water packed artichoke hearts, sliced
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup creme fraiche
chopped fresh basil leaves
salt
pepper
white wine

Cook and set aside the pasta. Saute the garlic and onion in a bit of olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the sundried tomatoes and roasted red peppers, cook for a few minutes, then add the artichoke hearts and cook another few minutes. Stir in the grated Parmesan and creme fraiche and heat through. Add the basil (as much as makes you happy), season with salt and pepper, then add to the pasta. Stir to combine over medium-low heat and finish with white wine to thin the sauce.

It wasn't quite love for me, but it was quite good, and if you like pasta, I think this could be your dish!