love...

It's true.  I followed a man to Denmark.  

From the moment I met him, I was smitten, head-over-heels, crazy in love.  My heart pounded when I read his letters.  He wrote of love—the real kind—and made me swoon.  And when listening to him, all I could do was nod my head and agree with everything he said—he was so incredibly brilliant!  He also caused me to see the world in a completely different light, as love will often do, and I gazed at the world in utter fascination.  My friend Nick recognized it and said we were probably made for one another.  So, really, there was nothing else to do but get a ticket to Copenhagen to immerse myself in his culture, his town, his country, his world.

So, here I am, wandering Copenhagen.  And the man with whom I am so very smitten is Soren Kierkegaard, a 19^th century Danish existential philosopher.  And this is the book that sent me into orbit:  Works of Love 

eight first impressions of denmark

1. Converse all-star shoes—both high- and low-tops in all different colors—are quite popular.  I should have brought my red ones.
2. Danes are ridiculously friendly.  They may not look it off-hand, but so far, if I ask anyone directions, or what something means in English, and they become immediately helpful and kind.  In fact, I asked a Dane for help in the grocery store, and by the end of it, I had an invitation to Sunday brunch, and then we’re going to see some museums.
3. There are a lot of tall, blonde people here.  Like, seriously tall and seriously blonde. 
4. Danes are bicycle crazy.  My bicycle is currently out of order, but Gunner, my landlady’s boyfriend, is in the process of fixing it for me.  He didn’t want me to be riding a bicycle without good tires.  It’ll be ready on Monday—but frankly, I’m terrified!  These people are hard-core. Did you know you can get a bicycle traffic ticket?!?
5. Danish is HARD to speak.  I used to be near-fluent in Spanish, speak a good bit of French, understand some German, learned to speak and understand a little bit of Choctaw and Cherokee, and got by with bits and pieces of Luganda and Acholi when I was in Uganda.  But this Scandanavian stuff had me flummoxed.  In fact, when I tried to learn Danish using a language CD set I borrowed from the library, I just laughed and laughed, and realized I was hopeless.  It’s no better now that I’m here.  I can’t even say the street I live on: Nordborrgade.  We’ll see what a month can do, but I’m not very hopeful…
6. I’ve been in several homes, and they really do look like Ikea!
7. Stuff here is EXPENSIVE!  A meal in a restaurant will run about $40 (USA).  A beer is about $7 (USA).  I got a small jar of organic peanut butter for about $8.50 (USA), and tomatoes at $3.00 a ½ kilo.  
8. Danes LOVE their beer.  And licorice.  I've never seen so much and so many kinds licorice in all my life.  Too bad I don't like licorice—or beer...

eight reasons to love the amsterdam airport

1. Fish pedicures and an oxygen bar.
2. A grand piano that the public can play at will.
3. The seating is super awesome, and some of it is arranged in cozy configurations.  It’s perfect for napping.
4. Fresh organic juices at reasonable prices.
5. Gift shops are fully stocked with cheeses.
6. And meats, herrings, smoked eel, and caviar…
7. Just about everyone speaks English, so I’m able to get along.
8. The music on the digital airport library: Alain Clark, Anouk, Within Temptation.

tulips.  because it's holland!

this city sure is proud of its...errr...ummm...flora...

what the heck is this doing in amsterdam?!?

meat, meat, and more meat!

smoked eel, anyone?  they had herring, too, packed into little styrofoam coolers...

lovely cheese selection in an airport giftshop...

this was cool...

seems like the netherlands has some good music!

my very first blog post

For the last several months or so—okay, more like the last nine months or so—my upstairs neighbors have been pestering me to write a cookbook.  See, I invite them down to try my cooking and my raw-foods “un-cooking,” and they repay me by aggravating me and hounding me to write the recipes down so I can share with the world what they obviously consider to be delicious food.  When I complained about this to my mother and several other friends, it backfired, and then I had more people aggravating me and hounding me to share my recipes. 

So, I decided to start a blog whose main focus will be food.  Like, maybe 70% food.  The other 30% will be about whatever else strikes my fancy.  Everyone needs a space/place to ponder, and to soapbox, and to wax poetic, right?  Well, I suppose I’m making my own (s)p(l)ace.  Now, because I’m starting this whole blogging endeavor while I’m out of the country, and many of my other friends—and some of the ones mentioned above—are pestering me to post travel photos and updates, things will be a bit travel-heavy to begin with.  But fear not!  I’ve already started preparing some food posts for when I am stateside again. 

So, welcome to feisty living!