Sunday, July 27, 2008

They are Conspiring Against Me

I am a fast walker - I know this already. I am 5'8" and the mister is 6'4"...I need to keep up.

When guiding a group however I need to walk slower...much slower. Sometimes, it pains me to walk that slow. But I do it. For the money, yeah...but I do it.

There is a trick to it however. I can't walk as slow as they do. If I just walk little faster than they do, they will feel the need to keep up. This tour is different though. I speed up my pace just a tad and I swear to God - they slow down. I'll look back and they are all about 20 paces behind me. WTF? I caught one of them smirk at me on the walking tour today, and then I realized what was really going on. They are conspiring against me. They must have all gotten together and decided that they - not me - would determine the pace.

The tour isn't even halfway over. If they plot any other conspiracies I am totally screwed.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Dark Knight

I finally got to see The Dark Knight tonight - but a week later than the rest of yous, since I am in Europe. It opened in Copenhagen last night but I had to work (I could have seen the 12:02 am show, but let's get real).

Everything is more expensive here because of the weak dollar, so the movie ticket was about $17. Beers were only $6 though. That's right - beers at the movie theater. You gotta love that.

The Dark Knight was amazing - it was pretty fast-paced and complex and my brain is a little fried, so I will definitely need to see it again. Christian Bale is a total badass, even if he has a bad temper in real life. And Heath Ledger (RIP) is such a scarymuthafuckinjoker I may have nightmares. Regardless, I'll still pour some out for him.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Strawberry Season

The only thing better than red-ripe Washington strawberries are Norwegian strawberries. It must be the combination of clean mountain air and long summer days - but these are some of the sweetest most intense berries I have ever had.

The season is a little longer here too - there have been stands selling Norsk Jordbaer for the last 3 weeks of so. I usually miss strawberry season back home, but thankfully my mom makes enough jam to share with us.

Now - if only the price was a little more reasonable. The strawberries are good, but at $9 a box I have only allowed myself to enjoy them once in awhile.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Danish Pastries

The pastry we call a "Danish" in the US, is actually called "Viennese Bread" (weinerbrod) here in Denmark. It is said that Viennese bakers were brought to Denmark when the Danish bakers went on strike in the 1800s. The pastry the Viennese bakers made was later improved upon by the Danes...who say they perfected it.
The bakeries here are called Konditori, but you can also spot them by looking for the golden pretzel hanging over the doorway. This is said to be a carry-over from the Viennese bakers too. It is evidently the crescent moon from the Turkish flag. It was twisted into a pretzel shape to kind of give the finger to the Ottoman Turks who battled the Austrians a few hundred years ago.

So...about these pastries. There are about a dozen shapes and flavors at any given bakery. Many are filled with almond paste or vanilla cream. Some are filled with jam or covered with chocolate. Many are round, some are large pretzel shaped kringler, but all of them are made with this incredible buttery, rich and flaky dough. The dough is a little sweeter than a croissant dough - making these total sugar bombs but oh, so worth it. YUM!