Christmas time is upon us, and this is really the only time where I get a bit homesick. Not in the sense that I want to go home, no, then I'd probably just leave for home on Friday. My problem is the christmas food! Granted a turkey is nice, and I'd probably get that in Denmark as well, but what about the "brown'ed" potatoes, the special pickled "asier" and the red cabbage dish that follow it. Also afterwards the rise pudding ("ris a la mande") with the almond competition is missing. The dish has an almond in it and the person who gets it wins a present, funny enough somehow it is usually one of the kids that wins. After that we have marzipan sweets and speciality cakes, of which I luckily can get some in Ikea. But the night snack, pickled herring, is impossible to find.
I also find it strange why people have a christmas trees here!! Why!! Is it only there to be looked at? They don't even dance around it like we would do in Denmark. Oh, and christmas is on the 24th of December in the evening as well!
Hmn, I better stop now, or else I'll get too hungry and homesick for my own good…
Christmas celebration and food do vary from household to household and across the country. They also seem to change across the years. For example:
Christmas puddings use to have silver threepenny bits in them, later replaced by sixpenny bits when threepenny bits became those funny 12 sided things. The coins were often found by the children, unfortunately some of the children choked on them and the idea went out of fashion.
Those browned potatoes look…. err…. interesting.
Christmas food is alright, it's the one time of year I can get away with enjoying Brussels sprouts without people thinking I'm wierd. Also pickled walnuts – mmmm.
How about pickling your own herring? I think Karsten should host a Danish Xmas next year…. it all sounds like stuff I'd like to try.
Pickeling hHerring is a very delicate procedure, and I'm not sure I dare do it – I could easily end up with contamination of some sorts.
The browned potatoes are actually one of my christmas favorites, cuz they are caramelised potatoes, and it gives the potatoes a bitter sweet taste, which really goes well with meat and drinks (especially xmas lager and snaps!)
Hmn, me hosting a xmas party, scary thought… I think finding some conference in Denmark in December would be a better choice 😉 And then a tivoli trip would be the added bonus…
Both the party and the trip to Copenhagen sound good, ECEL is in Copenhagen but not in December.