a long time has passed...

Oh man, so much time has passed that blogger has updated their site and it is confusing to figure out if my format still holds. I guess we will see when I hit publish...

So I didn't think that I would blog once we moved to the US. I figured that we would be too busy settling into our new lives, looking for jobs, house training a dog, and studying for school. Well, I really was right on that one. This is the first time in 9 months that I feel like I can sit down, breathe, and write a blog post without feeling guilty that I should be writing a paper, playing with the pup, or reading *another* journal article. While it feels good, it also feels eerily unproductive. I am so used to having a 9 to 5 job and then treated school like my 9 to 5 job that now that summer vacation is here, I'm not sure what to do with myself! Luckily, my internship should start in the next few days to a week and then I will be back to a daily schedule, and I suppose Betty will be back to life in the kitchen and/or doggie daycare.

LIfe in the US has not been the easiest transition to make. While I would like to think that it was fun to slip back into the extras of American life, at the same time, I feel like these are the things that bother me and drive me crazy. I love the selection at Kroger (when they have the exotic stuff I am looking for), but I hate having to drive to get there. Sitting in traffic drives me crazy (see what I did there?) and people's inability to drive (no turn signals, breaking short, not staying in their own lanes, running red lights by 10 seconds, etc) does not make life any easier. I feel months falling off my life every time I get in the car as my chest begins to pound because every other driver on the road is too busy texting or talking on the phone to realize that their lane is now a turn lane, but they just keep driving straight anyway.... right into my lane.

The political situation isn't easy to deal with either. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don't appreciate how the political game is played. That candidates are allowed to blatantly lie to voters about their competition. That only creates MORE voter ignorance, which is already a huge problem here. Sometimes I really can't believe my ears when I hear people talking about the healthcare law and spouting out "facts" so confidently when it is obvious that they never read the law themselves, and only listened to tea party propaganda. People are so quick to just spit out and repeat what others have said without looking up the facts. For those of you that may be reading this and would like to do some research yourselves, start with factcheck.org.

In addition to the lying, I can't stand the whole the Christian stance. This country has separation of Church and state, but you would never believe it by watching the news and listening to political speeches. Religion has no place in politics, especially when we live in a country with no official religion, freedom to choose what you believe, meaning that we all have the choice to believe what we want. Last week North Carolina voted for an amendment to the constitution stating that marriage is now only between a man and a woman. No more common law marriages. And obviously no gay marriage (it wasn't even legal to begin with). The biggest groups for the amendment were all religion-based, and while you are entitled to feeling that God thinks it is a sin to be gay, I really don't care what he thinks. It is not fair for you to do the judging and write laws that discriminate against others based on your religious beliefs. Again, religion has no place in politics. And if pastors and preachers want to be able to use their pulpits to spit out political rhetoric, then they should start paying taxes. I just don't understand how no one else sees this but the youth and why no one in Washington doesn't say "enough. no more religion in politics."

Other than that, getting back into "this american life" has been relatively easy. We love our apartment and are looking forward to a summer full of weekend pool time, cookouts, festivals, and mini-vacations around the US. First on the books is New Orleans and we are super psyched about it! We found a walking tour of the French Quarter on the internet that we need to print off, and we need to make reservations for a swamp tour. What tour to LA is complete without an alligator sighting? And I can't wait to eat my weight in po' boys and beignets :)

So let's see how blogging goes from now on and if I can maintain the trend. Fingers crossed!

thing number 2

one of the most special places i have ever been to in the world is the Danish island of Bornholm. the "sunshine island" has so much charm; it is hard to put into words why i love it so much. the combination of quaint seaside villages, freshly smoked fish, homemade ice cream, fresh licorice, old castle ruins, fields of rape (the plant!), and local beer are only a small fraction of the things i love about Bornholm. i have been fortunate to go 3 times on paid work trips where we spend 2 full days biking around this lovely place and exploring everything that it has to offer. after 90+km of biking in a weekend, your ass is definitely sore, but the views, food, and ambience are worth it. even though i don't go to Bornholm all the time, it is still a magical place that i am going to miss having access to.

so, you can only imagine my excitement when my favorite "gourmet for the people" restaurant chain offered a menu inspired by Bornholm and its special ingredients. i was determined to get morten and i a table during the 2 week campaign and was successful :) we enjoyed a delicious 4-course meal, all inspired with ingredients from Bornholm -- mackerel, chicken, pork, blueberries, and after dinner treats of licorice. it was definitely the second best thing to actually being on the island.

which i guess brings me to the second part of this post, which you can consider as a 2-in-1 "thing i am going to miss"... oh cofoco. you are the best restaurant chain and i will miss your campaigns, deals, competitions, and the fact that you can get gourmet food at a cheap price in copenhagen. eating at a cofoco restaurant was one of my first dining out experiences when first moving to copenhagen, and it will be one of my last, as morten and i will celebrate my last day of work with a milan-inspired 5-course menu. nom nom nom.

so here is to bornholm & cofoco. two great places in themselves and two places i plan on visiting again in the future. and as for you, cofoco, i will see you already in december when it comes to the pebernødder competition. i am determined to win this year!

cofoco's Bornholm inspired menu

a handsome face i am so fortunate to spend my days with

things i will miss about denmark

i've been inspired by a recent conversation during a bike ride with a friend of mine. she asked me what i would miss the most about copenhagen. it is too difficult to narrow it down to just one thing, so i figured i would just do some shout-outs over the next few weeks as i think more about the question :)

Thing number 1:

The Mosquito. The Skeeter. Skeet skeet. My bike.

copenhagen is a city dominated by bikes. city planners work hard to redesign roads and bridges to accommodate those that commute by bike -- bike lanes get wider, car lanes get fewer, bridges only for bikes get built, etc.

they say that 30% of copenhageners commute by bike, but it feels like every day the number grows. there is no better way to get around the city and no better way to explore its inner crevices.

getting a bike was my number 1 priority when i moved to copenhagen in 2007. i inherited an old, used bike from a colleague and it got me where i needed to be, but after a year, it was time for it to retire. in fact, it has been parked outside of my old apartment enjoying the fresh air for the past 1.5 years (think retired racehorse in the pasture).

the mosquito was a gift to myself after being hired permanently at dis, and it has been my trusty stallion for over 2.5 years now. we have had 1 major crash together due to too many cocktails at the ice bar and the fact that i forgot to eat dinner (a lesson i learned the hard way). my second crash with the skeeter was last summer after i decided to "press the eject button" and tuck & roll across the pavement. don't worry -- no injuries that time :) but she has endured it all, including being knocked over by a man with a cello outside my window as i write this (thank you, sir, for at least picking her back up again).

i will miss her trustworthiness, her ability to get me to work on time, and the sound of the spokes when riding in 3rd gear across the lakes. however, i will not miss the hole in the seat that soaks up rainwater and leaves wet circles on my butt. it definitely gives the wrong impression...

so skeeter, this one's for you (this is when you raise your glass for her). thanks for all the good times, the scary times, the brake short times, the flat tires, the broken chains, the bike gang times, the "broke my tights times", and all that was in between. may you be as loyal to your next owner as you were to me, and may you go for a decent price when i put you on the market. skål and tak for det hele!

time time ticking

in exactly 1 month, i will have my last day at dis. wow. words can't really explain the feeling at all. one minute i am sad because it has become such a big part of my life, and then the next minute it feels like my last day will never come. i guess that's what happens when you love your colleagues, but are burnt out on your job. needless to say, the past week or so has felt like a rollercoaster of emotions, and i feel like my body is taking the toll. there is just so much that needs to be done to wrap things up and move across the ocean and it is so overwhelming. i worry about everything, if i will be happy in atlanta, if morten will be happy in atlanta, how can we afford to do this, will it hurt our relationship, why would he give up everything to come with me to a place he knows so little about, how are we going to get our stuff over, when are we going to pack, what if it all doesn't fit in our bags, how will we afford furniture and rent when we both won't have jobs, will our financial situation damage our relationship?

so many thoughts, stresses, questions, and worries. i think i spend most of my time worried about this change and less time doing something about it. the schizophrenic nature of the weather here in copenhagen really isn't helping either. one week it is warm, sunny, summer weather, and the next week i am digging through my remaining clothing looking for anything i might have left behind that resembles fall wear.

anyway, i guess all i can do is focus on the positive, try to stay healthy, and focus on the summer fun that is ahead. music festival from wednesday afternoon until sunday night. family trip to the fjords in norway in 2 weeks. there is a lot to look forward to, and a lot to prepare for..

it's-a-ravioli-time

so this is definitely the post i set out to write today, but wrote the other one instead. and i know if i don't do this now, i will probably forget and try again in another 2 weeks. so lets just rewind back a few weeks to the month of may, when things were a bit chillier in copenhagen.

it shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone, who either reads this blog or sees our photos on facebook, that morten and i love food. we love being creative in the kitchen, trying crazy recipes, and really just having fun with the whole idea of cooking together. most sundays result in homemade pizza night with toppings differing each week. during the week we are a bit more adventurous, and are currently really loving rhubarb. we have put it in our salads and in our meatballs. if you don't really eat, cook, or use rhubarb that often, i highly recommend it!

well, anyway, after our adventures in homemade pasta, we decided to take it up a notch and give ravioli a go. yes, we know it isn't difficult, but it sure does take a lot longer to make your own pasta and filling then it does to just rip open a bag of pre-made ravioli and call it dinner. we knew we wanted to finally take the time to make ravioli, and it was so much fun.

we decided to go with a porcini mushroom & ricotta cheese filling. however, it being denmark and grocery stores being unpredictable, they were sold out of ricotta, so we subbed with cottage cheese, and that worked perfectly. mixed in with this filling was some finely chopped parsley. it's a good thing that the recipe made more filling than we needed for the pasta, because we definitely could have eaten that all night on some crackers!

the pasta was basic. egg. flour. salt. knead. last time we did homemade pasta, i started the rolling out process, but couldn't finish it because it was so difficult and needed so much strength. this time, however, i was bound and determined to roll that baby out and to get it as thin as possible.

rollin'... rollin'...

i'z is proud, iz you?

then came the fun part. cutting out little circles. i swear, morten was a pro at putting the filling on the dough and folding it over to seal it. you may laugh now, but it required a bit more precision than you might think!

neatly pressing...

it's-a-great-success! *italian accent*

all of our little raviolis

final product... voila! (served with chicken breast & zesty tomato sauce)

so that sums up our latest "back to basics" kitchen adventure. it was tons of fun and i can't wait to try it again with another type of filling. actually, next time, i'm thinking chinese dumplings! nom nom!

sunny summer days

so summer has finally arrived and boy is it nice. i always forget how amazing a danish summer is -- blue blue sky, 17 hours of daylight, light breezes, and smiling faces. since morten and i know that this will be our last real danish summer for a while, we are doing our best to really enjoy it. knowing that your time is limited really lights a fire under your ass to get out there and do things. last weekend, we went to louisiana museum for modern art. this was a place i had been wanting to go for so long, but just kept putting it off. we went on the last day of the picasso exhibit, and i am so glad we made it for that! in between exhibition viewings, we took a nice little rest outside of the cafe to enjoy some elderflower juice and a cinnamon roll.

at louisiana, overlooking the øresund, sweden is in the distance

light exhibit at louisiana

this past week of work has been pretty lax. we had a public holiday that fell on a thursday, in the middle of a 5 day street festival throughout the city. so lets just say things weren't very productive! after three days of drinking in the sun every afternoon and evening, morten and i were ready for some "healthy time". i have always wanted to go up to dyrehaven, a large park that used to be royal hunting grounds, for a picnic. we decided saturday was the day, so we made some salads, pick up some paté, cheese, bread, fruit, and wine, and started our 12 km bike ride. well, it was totally worth it! within 10 minutes of stepping in the park, we saw a large flock of deer walking around on the paths. it was so cool to be so close to them. after our little feast, we jumped on our bikes and headed up to the royal hunting lodge and in the fields in front of it, there must have been hundreds of deer. again, it doesn't get much cooler than that :)

our picnic spread!

enjoying the sun in dyrehaven

eremitageslottet, the old royal hunting lodge

and to end a fantastic weekend, we spent all day today enjoying one of our wedding presents from a group of my friends from work. they were so sweet to get us this lovely package deal where we start with a delicious brunch and then head over to a spa to have massages and quality time in the spa. it was so wonderful! brunch was delicious with all kinds of treats and coffees and juices. nom nom nom! then we headed over to the spa to just relax before the massage. it was so fun to have our own little robes and slippers to walk around in. we almost had the place to ourselves, which made it even more special. and, yes, the massage was awesome. i was so sad when she said it was over. but at least we still had as much time as we wanted in the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and pool :)

so now morten is out playing football with his guy friends before having their last mandate before we leave for the states. crazy to think that in less than two months, we will be in our new apartment in atlanta! time is flying by!

has it really been over a month??

wow, time sure does fly! what a super busy month april has been, and may is basically halfway over already! april was filled with a housewarming, 30th birthday party, and family hygge time. because easter vacation is 2 days longer in denmark, morten and i decided to take that opportunity to journey over the usa for a 2 1/2 week visit. i had a childhood friend getting married in the beginning of may, so this was the perfect opportunity to get some extra vacation time without it really taking away from my vacation days.

what a busy vacation it was! it completely flew by, but it was filled with so much fun and great memories, that i couldnt have asked for a better time! it was so nice to have morten meet most of my moms side of the family, along with some of my friends that were able to take time out of their busy schedules to either have dinner with us, or host us in their apartments while we travelled around the south. a big shout out to them for their wonderful hospitality! we promise to return the favor once we are settled into our new apartment in atlanta. we will entertain you with a home-cooked meal, wine, and a free place to stay :)

during our trip we got to squeeze in a quick trip to atlanta in order to see an apartment that we had our eye on for a while. we both got a great impression of the complex, the staff, the facilities, etc. and we went ahead and put in our application to reserve an apartment with the floorplan that we are interested in. so all we have to do is hope that an apartment on a higher floor opens up so that we can get off of the ground floor. fingers crossed!

we also got to spend 3 full days helping shear alpacas on the double o good farm. what an experience for morten! i think he was a bit overwhelmed at first, but he was such a great help that even the professional shearer & his assistant said that they were very impressed with him, especially since he had never seen an alpaca in his life until we got to the states! it was definitely a hard few days of work (probably the hardest manual labor either of us have ever done), but it was still great fun, even if we both still have the bumps and bruises to show for it.

the wedding we went to was absolutely gorgeous and also gave me the opportunity to show morten one of the prettiest places in north carolina -- beaufort! it's such a charming town with its architecture, marina, wild horses, and small town feel. the ceremony was located on this small piece of property that overlooked the water and everything about it was just stunning! the flower arrangements, the catering, the lanterns in the tent, the dresses, the weather, it was all just perfect, and couldnt have been better!

i know that this is a whirlwind update of our vacation, but i dont want to bog anyone down with details. photos are more fun, so here is a little update through the eyes of my mobile phone :)

wedding cake for the newlyweds!

sweet little mandy-kins

morten and an ewok. i mean, alpaca.

kiki!

baby being born on the farm

danish jam in a store in VA

mortens signature salad for easter

sweet little pooh-bear!

mortens first cinco de mayo!

wild horse on carrot island across from beaufort

morten sitting on the dock in beaufort

all in all, it was a great trip and i cant wait to show morten more of the states, and have him meet more people! :)