bit of stress :)

So the past week has been a little stressful.  Sometimes living in a foreign country isn't all sunshine and lollypops.  However, there are pretty flowers here!

But no, basically we found out we have a mold problem in our little old house and that it's really not safe to be living here.  Christian is out flying so bahhh... just a bit of stress.  We have been talking about moving this summer for awhile now anyway but now there is just a sense of urgency.

Apartment hunting in Copenhagen is really not anything like I would expect.  Here is just one of those culture shock things.  To rent an apartment is very competitive and tricky.  Most people buy or buy into co-ops but now that there are many people unable to loan money it makes the renters market even more competitive.  

Firstly, there is no such thing as a realtor for rentals here.  God I hated paying realtor fees back in Boston but at least they did the leg work for you and well with a bit of money you could find a place fairly easily.  So it's a lot of website cruising on our end.  Then you usually have to pay to get the contact information on these apartment listings.  Which is fine, I guess.  Apartments usually go within 1-2 days of being listed... so with Christian gone I can't act fast enough.

The other biggie that we're facing is my stupid residency Visa extension.  I have to be on lease with 3 years minimum from when we apply for my extension (Nov/Dec this year).  These leases are VERY hard to come by.  So yeah bum bum bum what to do what to do.

So just feeling like I'm facing a bit of adversity plus a bit of culture shock at the same time.  Just not able to grab the reins and take control (we know I like control...).

I've calmed down a lot but would still like to get this sorted asap.  Keep you all posted.  I can't wait to be a city girl again!

Last Sunday I made brunch for the family as a Mother's day gift to Christian's mom and grandmother, great success.  At least it received good reviews :)

Menu:

Fruit Salad: blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and pears in vanilla yogurt

Scrammbled Egg Bake: 8 large eggs, 6 slices white bread, a bunch of bacon, chopped peppers and onions, bunch of cheddar cheese > sit over night> into the oven at 325F for 45 min

French Toast Bake: 3/4 loaf white bread, 8 large eggs, apple slices, 2 cups milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar > sit over night> make topping with brown sugar, 2 sticks butter, 2 tbsp corn syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg> into the oven at 325 for 45 min

Breads & Cheese spread

Champagne and strawberries

Delicious food, good company, great weather!

Just really hoping this weather holds out for when my grandparents get here.  It got a little chillier this weekend so fingers crossed!

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weekend on a budget

Christian and I are trying to minimize expenses these days.  Christian starts work again at the end of this month and let's just say... thank god. Anyway, what better budget meal than Taco Night?!

To make Taco Night interesting I used some of the fun TripTrap things we got for our wedding and Christmas.  Hey, we're classy.

See that delicious guacamole?  That is my friend Kayte's kick-a$$ guacamole.  It's seriously delicious.  I think in this batch I was too generous with the dollop of sour cream but it was still scrumptious as ever.  My lovely LIBBY made us a recipe book as a wedding present and this page (while it's still Kayte's recipe) gets a lot of use in our house!

Saturday I went to school and learned that I successfully passed "Module 3" and am now starting Module 4 of 5.  I should be all finished up and to the final big exam this November/December.  Hooray.  How to celebrate?

We had a dinner party at my favorite colleague's house and he made the most amazing food.  It's one way to eat really well on a budget - find yourself some dinner invitations! ;)  No but Thomas made asparagus with hollandaise sauce and poached quail eggs as a starter. (Yes, I Jillian Michelle ate quail eggs)  Delicious!  For dinner we had a roast beef from the grill and homemade french fries.  For desert some gourmet vanilla ice cream with a homemade strawberry puree and chocolate.  All accompanied by delicious cocktails and wine.

Wine, asparagus, steak,  french fries and ice cream - I was in HEAVEN! Well done Thomas, WELL DONE! Only wish I took pictures!

Today, my husband actually agreed to let me cut his hair.  I've offered it jokingly for over a month now as the situation has become out of control.  Now, I'm not going to lie to you... I am not a professional and there were a few "oops" but all in all he doesn't look like a total frankenstein and he did not resolve to shaving his head completely afterwards.  

I'm pretty proud of it and I think it has what I would call... character. HAHA.

What ever will we occupy ourselves with next weekend? ;)

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bella went to rome

Rome was really great.  It was a lot of work during the week at the office but I was really happy to meet my whole team in person.  We're 3 in Denmark, 3 in Italy, 2 in Greece and one in Spain on our team.  Quite the group!

So it was the weekend that I did all things touristy Rome.  Friday I left the office at 4ish and basically just set down my things at the hotel and hit the streets for what turned out to be some serious walking.

I romed (hehe) all over the city for five hours before it got too dark for me to really be wandering around a foreign city at night by myself.  I even ate dinner at a restaurant by myself for the first time in my life.  Brought a book and in no time there was so much food I didn't even care.

With no real objective or map I got to see tons of stuff.  I saw several famous piazza's including Piazza Napoli (featured above as well) for a glass of wine and Campo de Fiori for another glass of wine.  

I saw the Fontana di Trevi and threw in 1 euro - so my return to Rome is set.  

 

Also saw the Pantheon...

I saw National Monument like 8 times, it was close to my hotel so I just always looked for it to find my way around.

Palazzo Venezia...

 By the time dusk hit I was walking along the Tiber and saw this island thing (erhm probably a church or something seeing as it is Rome) and Teatro Marcello.  I finally took a map when I got home to make an official walking plan for Saturday.

Saturday I wandered even more, but this time on a path.  You'll start to notice pictures with my hand in front - this was to show my ring and pretend Christian was with me.  You start to get weird when you travel alone!

I first went to Santa Maria Maggiore, then over to Piazza della Republica.  

Then I walked down to San Carlo Quattro Fontane and took Via Sistina down to the top of the Spanish Steps. 

The Spanish steps along with every other place in Rome were hugely crowed with tourists, of course myself included.  

Wasting no time I headed over to Piazza del Pappolo.

A shourt walk down to the river again and walked down to Piazza del Tribunali.

Next few blocks over was Castel Sant Angelo which is the home to the National Museum.  I would like to go in there next time, I think!

And finally arrived at Vatican city.  I was tired so I stopped for water and fruit and met a nice Italian waiter who called me Bella.

I walked to St. Peters, stood in line for 40 mins, only to be told I was not dressed appropriately enough to get into the actual church.  I was pissed.  I had a thick strapped dress on but apparently that's too slutty for the Vatican.  I'm sorry but I found the woman in front of me who didn't quite fit in her pants to be more offensive than my bare shoulders but hey...

So I walked over to the Vatican Museum because I've been told it's highly recommendable.  Another 40 minute wait and they tried to deny me again.  This time I was able to negotiate by pointing out another woman they let in with similar shoulder barrings (?) as mine.

There were so many people in there I immediately had anxiety.  I also felt like all the guards all over the place were staring at my shoulders, then I was pretty sure several paintings of Jesus were staring at my shoulders.  All in all I felt dirty so I saw the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo (no pics allowed) and got the flip out of there. 

I stopped back in my little spot to wait out a rain shower with my Italian waiter friend.  He told me I breaka his heartaaa when I told him I was married. :)

Back to the hotel and then quickly turned around to meet my colleague Thomas (who also stayed the weekend in Rome) for gellato, dinner and drinks, all of which were delicious.  

The next morning I took a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and set out for the Colosseum, finally.  I could see it from my hotel block but saved it for the last day.  It was hot sunny weather and I didn't quite feel I had the time to dedicate to buying the tickets into the Colesseum and Forum to really enjoy it so I snapped a few shots and vowed to take the proper entrance next time.

Many of the major roads are closed to vehicle traffic on Sundays and to our delight we got to witness some kind of battle of the bands in the streets.  It was all Italian military dressed men (and some women) in funny hats in mini marching bands.  They sang and played brass instruments.  I got a kick out of it!

Took some more walking with Thomas and got a bite to eat and then headed for the Airport.  All in all a good trip!  I'm still recovering from all the walking and lack of proper sleeping but it was worth it in the good food alone! :)

I highly recommend Rome but never when it's hot and at the height of tourist season, I couldn't imagine.  I was overwhelmed in mid September!  But I want to go back and explore more bits closely and actually go into some other museums and such.

My souvenirs included proper olive oil and pesto.  So good.  And an Italian lottery ticket for Christian (pot is at 130m Euros) upon his request, haha.

Just in case you go, and your guide book doesn't mention it, if you go the vatican COVER UP... haha.

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summer has arrived

My friends and family love us so much they sent us their east-coast heat wave.  :P Only problem is that we don’t have those fancy, new-fangled things called air conditioners here! Or outdoor public pools.  Plenty of beach, though!  Danish summer is here!

Christian and I went to the beach last week and it was awesome.  There weren’t waves but the water was not atrociously cold and I could see through it (and we know this is important) so I had a blast just slashing around so to speak. 

Before it gets too far gone I should talk about last weekend.  There was a lot going on!

Friday we helped Christian’s uncle with some floral arrangement delivery and decorations for a horse show in Sweden.  The customer was a bit off her rocker and we moved everything like 400x for her but I think it turned out well!

(yes, that is in a horse stable)

Saturday we went back to Sweden for Christian’s grandma’s sister’s 75^th birthday.  Did you follow that?  Christian’s grandma (Farmor – the little one who lives across the terrace) is Swedish and is one of something like 7 or 8 children, no one can really answer that question for me.   So there is a lot of Swedish family.

Lots of Swedish family that no one really knows through whom they’re related.  I thought I was struggling to understand Danish… you should hear Swedish – it makes me laugh mostly.  It’s definitely a whole different intonation than Danish, yauh.

Apparently birthdays aren’t a big gift giving ordeal but everyone comes and brings maybe a small gift and sits down for coffee and 3 courses of cakes, cookies and other delicious desserts (see picture of dessert table below).   I see where Christian developed his sweet tooth!

Sunday we had the brunch for Emilie’s graduation and it was also the 4^th of July and so obviously we had to celebrate!  We hosted a barbeque at our house in the garden (ok backyard ugh where is this proper English coming from already?!) and invited friends and family.

Apparently evite is not commonly used in Denmark and hit half of our friends spam folders instead of inboxes. Whoops! So our brave and handicapped friend, Sillas, made the trip out to grannytown from Copenhagen to spend the 4^th with us and Christian’s family.

We made so much food.  I made Kayte’s guacamole recipe and some fresh pico de gallo and served with tortilla chips as an appetizer. Ok so not American but hello, every American loves Mexican food.  Or it’s just me. Either way YUM. 

We grilled all kinds of meats and corn on the cob. I made potatoes and a salad to serve as side dishes.  I was particularly proud of my salad – mixed leafy greens, cucumbers, red onion, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts and feta cheese with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  Delicious! I also made the cake shown above. Cake mix from a box does exist here but it's just not the same! ;)

We drank a few cocktails and played a Danish yard game.  It’s called I forget… Købclub or something.  Haha I totally forget what it’s called but it was super fun.  I played on the winning team the whole day until the very last round. 

It would take me forever to explain the game so maybe you should just come over and play it with us sometime instead!

It’s been sunny and warm, if not hot, every day for a long time, I almost don’t want to jinx it!  I am loving it! Hope all is well with my loyal readers!

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Me gustan las tapas

I am watching the typical Wednesday night marathon of Top Chef Las Vegas - love this season!  It has me thinking of one of my favorite things in life, food of course!  Here's a diddy on food from Gail's birthday celebration!

I can't think of too many people I know that don't like tapas, in some variation. And if you ever tell anyone you're going to a tapas bar or better yet invite someone... well say it fast and see if the person raises an eyebrow or says "wait, what?"  Minds out of the gutter fools, we have some tortilla to eat!

For Gail's birthday a big group of us went to Bar Lola on Comm Ave in Back Bay for dinner.  It was delicious and hugely inexpensive for tapas. Their red sangria rocked my socks.  Between seven of us there was plenty of variety, yum!

There were plenty of traditional Spanish plates available but Bar Lola did well to cater to the typical American as well. Would be lying if I told you I didn't order mini hamburguesas! ;) Service was good and food came out as it was ready.

I've been to two other tapa bars in the city and Bar Lola fits securely in the "just right" category.

Toro in the South End wins in the "worth the splurge" category.  I still dream of their corn dish (left) and delicious cocktails and red wine. Highly recommend you make that trip but they don't take reservations so be sure to get their early or just plan on having drinks at the bar, first.

Tapeo on Newbury St in Back Bay is the other restaurant.  I honestly didn't love Tapeo.  Every dish I had was greasy but it could have just been what was ordered.  

Anyway - Bar Lola & Toro - can't go wrong!!  Are you hungry yet?  Serrano ham... Tortilla... YUM!

Who's going home on Top Chef tonight? 

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