when imagining yourself in france...

a view from the harbor

so greg realized that today made 10 years since we'd gone on our first date. we imagined going to paris to celebrate, and i even thought i'd tell you that we did, but i'd have to fess up about three sentences into it, and besides, you'd know i was making it all up anyway.

no, what we did instead was a distinctly american activity. so american we had to come to denmark to do it:

we hung out at the mall.

the thinking that brought us to the mall was wanting to go somewhere in the direction of town. but given that it's sunday, we figured most places would be semi-deserted. but we'd driven past a shopping center the first day we were here and had a vague idea that maybe we'd pick up affordable rain boots there (our previous boots being one of many casualties in the couple of days before leaving town). we thought today would be a fine day to see what it had to offer.

we were incorrect in thinking the stores would be open. the consumer culture is so ingrained in us i guess. can you imagine if they closed stores on sundays in the u.s.? that would garner some attention.

but restaurants in the mall were open. bustling was a 'rustic cafe' and an irish pub. i saw danes eating leisurely meals in leather armchairs and i knew, somehow, our children would ruin their rustic and sophisticated dining experience, so we had our first meal out in denmark at "nachos." because we were the only ones in the restaurant (when we left, three other tables were filled), we chose their buffet, because it was large and already sitting there for a non-existent lunch rush. the paintings of saguaro cactuses and the fake saguaros placed throughout the restaurant, along with the restaurant's name, (but not the concurrent ancient greek motif running throughout the place or the italian wine on the tables) would have us believe it was mexican, but honestly, i'd say it had more of an indian flavor. though there were plenty of nacho chips to be had. despite the ambiguity, it was good food. the entire meal cost somewhere between $50-$60. (!)

henry sat still for about 1/3 of the dining experience and, as is the case in our own house, the high chair he was in did not include a way to strap him in place. so, he spent most of the time running toward the escalators. finally i walked with him in the opposite direction which seemed to have some activity emanating from it. open for business was a workout center, a movie theater (well, it was unclear if that was open or not) and... Capella Play.

i was pretty sure i regretted having found it. it was basically a costly indoor playground which william roped us into going into. but... in reality it was not so bad. william had a ton of fun, as did henry and it got out some of william's energy from the ice cream he'd roped us into getting him after lunch. and-- the adults got a free kaffe (coffee of course). and it was good coffee. i would never expect such good coffee from an indoor mall playground. the danes know how to outdo themselves sometimes.

after leaving we rode to the harbor. henry was asleep by this point, but william enjoyed walking around the docks and looking at boats and ducks.

it had started out a sunny day, but by this point it was cold and getting windier, so we got going. we pedaled along the fjord and onto the veddelev peninsula (pronounced something like villa-loo). but then william fell asleep. we were not ready for another night like last night, so we cut our tour short and headed back home. up vestre kirkevej (i am proud to say i was able to propel myself forward on my bike the entire ascent) and onto østre kirkevej.

to celebrate our imagined 10th-year-together trip to paris, we made crepes. okay, even this is not true. it's true that we made crepes but it is only because we did not have all of the ingredients on hand for our other planned meals for the week because the grocery stores we went to yesterday were ho-hum and the grocery stores today were closed. crepes were supposed to be this friday's dinner. but oh were they delicious. we happened upon a recipe in one of our cookbooks for rye flour crepes-- which worked! after making them we (i say we, but really it was greg) beat an egg, poured it in the pan and threw a crepe on top while the egg cooked. after the egg was cooked we filled it with pan fried potatoes, broccoli, cheese and greek yogurt. yum! and for dessert-- a thin layer of chocolate and (optional) peanut butter in the crepes.

okay, are you convinced? now go! make yourself some crepes!

but first... some cute photos from yesterday: