Though the temperatures are still in the wet-and-windy region we did get a smidgeon of snow last Saturday, just as I was getting ready to move furniture.

It didn’t last more than 5 minutes and an eigth of a centimeter, but it was there 🙂

Sunday my Father and friends helped moved all my boxes from storage. Here are Rene and Pernille and my (previously my grandmother’s 🙂 ) vacuum cleaner on the back seat, still peaceful before all the carrying.

Later, in the apartment while trying to find new spaces for everything I suggested the blanket be put in the chair. As Pelle had no intention of moving himself, this was the result:

Today, the first of the lengthening days on the way back towards light, there was much to do. Here are a few of the accomplishments. First a tiny selection of the marzipan and chocolates Christoffer and I made.

Apart from the tasty ones with different kinds of liquor, traditional shapes in our family, the heritage of my grandfather, for the colored kinds are snakes, sandwiches, mushooms, dog droppings (yes, really. Made from marzipan colored with cocoa) , apples, cats and carrots. As Christoffer is very interested in every and all things from the Viking age this year we also made many runes, ?suncrosses? (what is the English word for those? Cross encompassed by a circle, all arms same length.) and some moons and suns. Many of the Christmas cookies also came out as runes as well this year ? I wonder if rune shaped cookie cutters are purchasable somewhere 😉 For good measure we also made a baby Jesus in a crib. His followers tend to eat him anyway, so it seemed right that he should be made of marzipan. Despite already having a good mix of various religius symbols, I must point out that we did not make any of the prophet Muhammed. Islam explicitly forbids it, and unlike the Danish Prime Minister, in our kitchen we are considerate enough not to needlessly offend our fellow citizens.
Later we decorated the tree (you’ll notice it’s getting dark, so it must have been before 16:00 😉
Just after we carried it inside my Mother and Christoffere were both energetic and moving fast.

Cristoffer played with the reflection in the glass globes just like the chipmunks in Disney. Here he is hitting close to them, joyed at the enlarging effect.

Finally most of our decorations were on the tree, not in boxes.

Uncategorized • Skrevet 22. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

Hvis jeg havde været mindre ærlig tror jeg at jeg var blevet tilbudt et job i dag.
Jeg var til jobsamtale og blev bedt om at fortælle hvad jeg kunne tænke mig at lave – og hvad jeg ikke har lyst til. Og det gjorde jeg så.
Hvad jeg berettede passede tydeligvis ikke med hvad de havde tænkt sig med mig. Og det virkede meget som om at hvis jeg havde sagt det de gerne ville høre (som jo så altså ikke var sandheden), så havde de tilbudt mig et job.
Er jeg en ærlig idiot?

Uncategorized • Skrevet 14. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

Til min overraskelse og glæde var der rigtigt, ægte dagslys her til morgen – jeg blev ganske paf da jeg ved solopgangstid så en stribe blå himmel.

Tænk som man kan blive i bedre humør af det 🙂

Uncategorized • Skrevet 12. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

This was in my morning newspaper.
First, a picture of the Muir gletcher, taken in 1941:

Then, a picture taken at the exact same spot in 2004:

And yet the worlds governments and companies are still more concerned about profit than about global warming.
After them the Flood. Literally 🙁

(… Though I suspect the Danish saying “After me the Flood” does not exist in English. It looks all wrong and my dictionary has no entry on this. Is there an equivalent? Anybody?)

Uncategorized • Skrevet 11. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

Jeg elsker vinteren, ingen tvivl om det. Jeg nyder at det er mørkt når jeg står op, at spise morgenmad og læse avis i stearinlys, at se himlen langsomt lysne som klokken nærmer sig 9. At føle aftenstemningen sænke sig allerede kort efter 15, tænde stearinlysene igen og vide at dette er den årstid hvor vi nordboer bør sidde med indendørs sysler og varme, krydrede spiser.
Men den sidste uge har det nærmest ikke været lyst, end ikke de 2-4 timer midt på dagen jeg ellers holder af. Regnskyerne ligger som en tung dyne og lyset ovenfra bliver aldrig mere en gråt og træt. Og så bliver jeg også mere grå og træt.
Lad englænderne beholde deres elendige vejr og lad os få det fra Rusland eller Norge og Sverige i stedet. Det er vinter – hvor er frosten? Måske en påkaldelse vil hjælpe? :

Det var en morgen ved vintertid
jeg vågned op til en jord så hvid
og luften mødte mig frisk og ren
og der lå rimfrost på hver en gren.

Eller…:

Sneflokke kommer vrimlende
hen over Diger trimlende,
det knyger ud af Himlene,
det sluger Hegn og Gaard,
det ryger ind ad Sprækkerne
til Pølserne paa Rækkerne,
og Faarene ved Hækkerne
faar Blink i Pelsens Haar.

Og Poplerne bag Mønningen,
de duver dybt i Dønningen,
og over Stakke-Grønningen
omtrimler Kjærv og Neg,
det klaprer én om Ørerne,
fra Portene og Dørene,
bag hvilke de smaa Sørene’
har rustet sig til Leg.

“Stakke-grønningen” – sådan et fint ord 🙂 Trist at det ikke så tit er anvendeligt i samtaler.

Uncategorized • Skrevet 07. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

I går morges da jeg søvnig trissede ud på det lille badeværelse overraskedes jeg af dette syn:

December står på spring 😉

Uncategorized • Skrevet 01. December, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

I sidste uge var det Thanksgiving, som jeg efter at have oplevet den sidste år i USA var så begejstret for at jeg besluttede mig for at indføre til Danmark – eller i hvert fald til familien Damhøj. En højtid hvor man tager hjem til familien, spiser god mad og husker at være glade for at man har hinanden, er sunde og raske og ikke sulter. Det giver god mening, selv i mit forvirrede hovede.
Desuden lader det sig ikke fornægte at her midt i min job-, bolig- og formål-med-livet-søgning er et af de tidspunkter der er mest fred i mit sind når jeg laver mad, og så må man jo gribe hver en lejlighed til at gøre det.
Så efter at Lasse på magisk vis havde fremskaffet en hel kalkun (jeg havde i hvert fald aldrig set en i et dansk supermarked før) og meddelt at den skulle han nok ondulere på sin elskede Weber gik jeg igang med at fremstille resten af balladen.
Efter at have muntret mig i køkkenet nogle timer kom min Mor og dækkede bord, fandt stagen med de lange lys og vimsede rundt og var hyggeligt selskab.

Da Lasse kun har to hænder lånte Christoffer ham et par og bar kalkunen ind. Enten overvejer han vist at spise den selv, eller også er den tung 😉

Det lykkedes faktisk at finde serveringsskåle til det hele:

Fra venstre og rundt fik vi: kalkun, stuffing med bacon, tørrede tranebær og valnødder, ærter, tranebærrelish, æbleglaserede gulerødder, syltede græskar, små hvedehorn, krydrede perleløg og kartoffelmos.
Her sidder de alle sammen og spiser – at have begge sine forældre om bordet på samme tid er nu en særlig fornøjelse 🙂

Da min Far har adskillige søde tænder reserveret udelukkende til tærter havde jeg lavet æbletærte til dessert – ikke at vi rigtig var frygtelig sultne længere da først vi kom så langt. Men det betyder at jeg stadig ikke har fået afprøvet min opskrift på “Sveske Far” (ja, det hedder det altså) – nogen frivillige forsøgskaniner?

I september lagde Christoffer og jeg honningkagedej – rigtige honningkager tager måneder. Da julen jo efterhånden nærmer sin kastede vi os ud i bagningen.

Jeg er åbenbart ikke bare forvirret men også glemsom for tiden – da vi lagde dejen lavede vi halvdelen med hvedemel og halvdelen med rugmel, men da vi krydrede den inden bagningen havde jeg glemt alt herom og kom normal portion hævemiddel og krydderier i. Selvom hjortetaksaltet sviede grumt i vore næser under bagningen blev de til min forbløffelse bedre end de plejer – så næste år kommer jeg dobbelt mængde krydderier i!
Christoffer sørgede for at den tiloversblevne overtrækschokolade ikke gik til spilde 🙂

I sidste uge kom Lars forbi, på besøg fra Djævleøen – det var rigtig dejligt at se ham igen 🙂
Her sidder han på min seng og prøver at se smart ud.

Lidt senere viste han sit sande ansigt 😉

Uncategorized • Skrevet 28. November, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

Hvidskinnende, perfektrund fuldmåne i morgenmørket, svævende lige over trætoppene og hustagene mod vest.
Kold, næsten frostklar luft møder mine endnu brusebadsvarme næsebor. Knasen af novembertynd is under mine hænder på trampolinens kant.
Karlsvognen midt over mit hovede – en halv himmelbredde fra Månen, og dog blegnende i dens skær.
Dybmørke træsilhouetter hvilende i åens vindstilleblanke måneoplyste spejl.

Måne, del stilheden med mig!

.

Uncategorized • Skrevet 16. November, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu

These days my life is mostly filled with little things. All the big and important stuff is there of course, finding an apartment, looking for a new job, pondering what to do with me now that I am no longer travelling, but the things that make me smile are the other things, the little things.

Last Sunday (the 6th) was my birthday – my first under my Mother’s roof since I turned 19. Ever since I can remember the breakfast table would always be loaded with presents for our birthdays – as a child it seemed positively magic, this pile of parcels sparkling in the candlelight (when your birtday is in November, don’t count on too much daylight for breakfast 😉 ) with the flags and paper streamers. Even the years we did not have so much she was very good at making it seem like a lot, wrapping not just the “real” presents but also the coat and new boots we’d need for winter anyway and the underwear and socks. I even remember getting socks individually wrapped – it was great fun 🙂
This year was no exception, though the pile was not enhanced by single-issue socks:

We’ve had a big pumpking sitting around for some time. I think they planned to pickle it or carve it for Halloween, but everybody kept being to busy to do anything about it. As I hate seeing potential food wasted, one afternoon Christoffer (who is a glutton for pickled pumpkin), his friend Julius and I undertook the emptying of the pumpkin. Here they are, bravely scooping out the weblike, smelly and slimy innards of the pumpkin in preparation for cutting out its flesh. Points for Julius who jammed his small hand in there and started scooping away while the rest of us were still wrinkling our noses and going *idrk*.

Also points for Christoffer who stuck with it even after the first hours, despite the temptation to let pumpkin be pumpkin and go play Playstation with Julius instead of stirring the vinegary smelling pickling pot and waiting for the last batch of pumpkin pieces to turn clear and tender-boiled.

They did not waste the remainder of the pumpkin either.

And even stood still for a long exposure so the flash would not drown out the gleam in its eyes.

… And apart from the batch we pickled I now also have pumpkin in the freezer 🙂 On Saturday parts became spiced pumpkin rolls (mmmm, a little Christmassy taste ahead of time, and only getting better loaded with butter) and I ponder what to do with it for Thanksgiving. Because after having Thanksgiving last year in Ithaca I was so taken with it that I decided to import it to Denmark – or to my family at least – and now I’m trying to figure out what to cook. I suppose that’s part of the fun of starting a tradition, but there are an awful lot of dishes to choose from. In case anyone in America (or anyone else with an opinion) reads this, please tell me, what is your favorite dish for this holiday?

On November 10th it’s Mortens Aften (the evening of Morten) in Denmark, a remainder from when we were all Christian. It’s the evening before the saint day of Morten, who was so pious he did not want to be chosen as bishop, so when they came to give him the office, he ran and hid in the goose and duck pen. But the birds quacked and gave him away, and so it’s traditional to eat duck that evening, presumably to get back at them… Or their decendants at least 😉
After two very tasty ducks – of course cooked by Lasse on his favorite thing in the world, his Weber globe grill – we had the most Danish of all Danish desserts, rødgrød med fløde. Apart from looking quite decorative in all its simplicity, also quite the tonguetwister for anyone not Danish-speaking. Can you say it?

This weekend Christoffer helped me out in the kithcen, baking cakes for a past-the-date birthday celebration. It always makes me so happy to have someone to cook for 🙂

Here are some of the people helping me consume it.

My Mother is just as Christmas-crazy as I am (or perhaps it’s the other way around), but Lasse is not too fond of all our window clings, little elfs and other cozy-bringers. I suspect she’s finding other means, so she can start early without annoying him – she just put out this decoration which to me screams “almost-but-not-quite” December 😉

Uncategorized • Skrevet 14. November, 2005 • Ingen kommentarer endnu