food and drink

the snow in denmark is starting to feel as predictable as the rain.  every morning, it will be snowing.  but today it lasted beyond morning.  i went out around 1 p.m. to capture a little of our winter landscape.  

our own private landscape includes white plastic patio furniture that probably should have been put away weeks ago but is in such bad shape as it is, that there is not much motivation to spare it from what must be another winter outdoors...

i made a pumpkin pie today and did not screw it up horribly.  the worst bit was the crust disappearing under the filling, and i had worked at least four minutes to make the crust look nice, but that was it.  otherwise, it was a legit dessert that seemed to pass muster. i also had tea with my friend, sarah, at her new apartment.  and greg, william, and i went to henry's classroom for christmas coffee and cookies with other parents and siblings.  (william did not have any coffee, but you might not have known that through mere observation.)

here it is outside when we were leaving their school at 4:30...

and about two hours later, after we'd bought greg a pair of boots on the pedestrian street, and were playing hide-and-go-seek in this little park adjacent to the library, waiting to go inside with the pumpkin pie, for an 'expat dinner'...

inside, pre-crowd...

in line, waiting for food... so very much food.  the idea was to bring a 'traditional' holiday dish from your home country... another american dish we saw there-- macaroni and cheese.  other dishes-- sausages, potato salad from my german classmate, pickled beets, 'brown' potatoes (potatoes cooked with brown sugar-- a danish thing), lasagna, rice balls from ghana, a chinese herb soup from my singaporian classmate, mince pie, ris alamande (a danish dessert... almond rice pudding), æbleskiver (sort of like apple donut holes... also danish), and so much more.  william and henry ran around with other kids in the wide open space in front of the tables, so in that sense it was sort of like a wedding reception.  and there was more coffee, which is why i am able to stay up writing this blog.

a good time, and a late night.

tomorrow i take the writing, reading, and listening portion of my module 2 danish exam.  (there are, if i can recall, five or six modules to pass.) 

for that reason, i should probably go and tell my brain to forget about the caffeine and rest.  i wish you a happy thursday!  goodnight!