Tuesday, October 23, 2012

efterÄrsferien = autumn break

Historically the autumn break week off school was for school children to help with the potato harvest. It was really great this fall to enjoy "half-term" as it is called in the UK. We booked our flights relatively late (due to transatlantic relocation) so our choice of destination was determined by availability, and direct flights from Copenhagen .... so off to Rome we headed!

On arrival into Rome we drove southwards. The highlights were an afternoon at a relatively empty Herculaneum - the fishing village buried in mud during the eruption of Vesuvius AD 79 - and a long day at Pompeii - which had plenty of other tourists visitors - but is so vast they are still excavating part of the site.











HERCULANEUM
 





POMPEII

We were spoiled during our five day Italian trip: 24C (75F) sunshine, and crystal blue skies. It was such a joy to be able to take a short flight and be in a completely contrasting culture without changing time zones. To see our teenage children riding the Rome metro and negotiating that marvelously hectic and busy city so competently made us realize the extent of their new found city living confidence after barely three months in Denmark.

Copenhagen K

I have had several emails from friends in the US asking about the adjustment from living in a rural Colorado mountain community to a European capital. Honestly I think for my part it comes down to two things: firstly intrigue, the logistics of changing how you live, how you react to a new setting; and secondly challenge, how you cope, how you respond, how you can find humour even when tested to the limit. I would be seeing through "rose-tinted glasses" if I claimed that the adjustment process for our family had been easy or that it is a quick process!

Here are a selection of photos taken over since our arrival at the start of August from central section of the city: Copenhagen K - our neighborhood.











Friday, October 12, 2012

Brunch - Danish Style

The first time I lived in the USA, as an au-pair in Washington DC, way back when in 1984, I went to "brunch" at a small restaurant in Georgetown with the family. The whole concept of 'all-you-can-eat', or perhaps it should be more aptly termed 'eat what you choose' was new to me. Here were unfamiliar foods I could sample, without the stress of menu ordering. The leisurely pace and family-style dinning was a shock to an 18 year old Londoner just out of high school who had mainly only been to restaurants on special occasions like birthday dinners. Needless to say I was hooked ... brunch & breakfast are still my favourite meals to eat out after nearly two decades living in Colorado.
 

Fast forward to late summer 2012 Copenhagen. A few weeks after we moved, we were invited to join a colleague of B's from Maersk and his family for Sunday brunch in the Danish Film Institute building.The restaurant SULT, which means hunger, http://www.restaurantsult.dk/ offers brunch both weekend days. It is situated on the ground floor with two complete walls of glass windows, long cafeteria style tables with white linen table cloths, and in the area that was the former book shop these amazing lights. The round ones look like woven insect nests.


So a lovely environment to relax with friends and family. With teenage children who like to eat and then leave the table, brunch offers the opportunity to linger over a meal. As C & R grow older I have a new appreciation for 'family-style' dining. And so to the choice, time to let the photos do the talking!



 

Already on our family's Danish food hit list - local pancakes - they are like french crepes but made with a heavier flour, and no sugar. But fear not you are not being deprived of sweetness - there are a range of things to add on top of your pancake including chocolate creme, or chocolate mousse, or different jams .... hard to decide, so you might as well get at least two pancakes as a vehicle for your toppings!


Writing about this scrumptious food is making me hungry, so time to raid the kitchen in search of licorice (lakrids - which is a Danish specialty and I think will deserve a blog post all of its own!)