An ode and a goodbye to the wedding cake

Oh wedding cake, how beautiful you are. So many shapes, sizes and colors you come in.

(source: left; left-middle; right-middle & right)

I find you oh so elegant, and I have considered many variations of you:

(source: left; left-middle; right-middle; right)

Or this beauty:

(source)

But unfortunately for you, I'm a very indecisive person, so it would be way to difficult to choose just 1 flavor and look. So I have chosen not to invite you to our wedding. I know it's sad, but other cakes will make up for you, beautifully staged in a dessert buffet. So adieu wedding cake, may you decorate other people's weddings. 

Happy Holidays!

So I hope that you all had a great Christmas Eve with lots of relaxing down time, candle-coziness, beautiful gifts and good food? Cause I did. For you out there that are not familiar with a typical Danish Christmas Eve, let me share.

First of all, let me say that Danes have kept a lot more traditions than any other nationality I have ever met. And Christmas is no exception. December is always full packed with "Christmas lunches" (in Danish: Julefrokost; Jule = Christmas; frokost = lunch). We have those at work, with friends, families, etc. But don't be fooled by the name because usually these are not "lunches" but dinners. And they continue until the wee hours of the morning.... and they usually involve a lot of snaps.... eeerrr alcohol that it!

The Julefrokost food is traditionally served as a buffet and doesn't vary much. It usually looks something like this:

Image from Hotel Klithjem (source)

Starters: Breaded fish filets with a sweet/sour dressing ("remoulade"), different types of marinated herring, warm paté with crispy bacon and sautéed mushrooms,  all served on very dark and slightly sour rye bread ("rugbrød"). Depending on the size of the buffet, you can also enjoy smoked salmon, cooked shrimps with mayo and eggs on white bread.
Entrée: a selection of pork filet in a mushroom and onion brown sauce, a special pork roast ("flæskesteg"), pork meat balls ("frikadeller") together with "white" (cooked) potatoes, "brown" potatoes (which are caramelized cooked potatoes) and sweet cooked red cabbage. And let's not forget the brown sauce!
Dessert (my favorite!): riz à l'amande - sweet milk rice with vanilla, chopped peeled almonds and whipped cream, served with a cherry sauce. Despite its elegant French name, it has nothing to do with French desserts, but it's delicious nonetheless IF made well. There is also a funny game following the dessert: a whole almond is hidden in the bowl of riz à l'amande and the one who gets the almond wins a gift. Cute, right?
I have received lots of compliments on my riz à l'amande and I take great pride in making one of the best known to Danes, and being a foreigner and all, that must mean that I'm pretty well integrated, don't you think ;)

Now for Christmas Eve, the menu is the following:
Roasted duck or pork (or both) served with white and brown potatoes, cooked sweet red cabbage and brown sauce. Riz à l'amande for dessert.

A lot of the traditional Christmas food is quite sweet, which I am still struggling with at times (I usually only have sweet food at breakfast or as dessert). Also, being a vegetarian now, all these meat-based feasts are quite challenging. I do eat fish occasionally, which is fine for the Christmas lunches, but on Christmas Eve, I don't have much of a choice. To my great surprise, my FI's family prepared some delicious salads for me this year, so that I wouldn't have to feast on potatoes and red cabbage alone, yeahy! Oh, and another few funny Danish Christmas traditions are to dance around the Christmas tree while singing Christmas carols and decorating with cute little Christmas hobbits ("Nisser") like these:

Ljungström nisser (source)

Do you have a specific Christmas dinner tradition in your country/family?

Happy holidays everyone!

A lazy day

This morning when I got up, this is what I saw from my window:

Pretty darn grey, eh? 

Ya, and friggin' cold! Actually, they predicted snow later in the day! So after having walked our dog, let's call him Little Louis shall we, I sank into the sofa. Even Little Louis didn't feel like doing much:

Since I now am unemployed, I was pretty happy not having to get dressed and get out in that weather again. Instead, I prepared a nice smoothie (banana, frozen strawberries and blueberries), a hot cup of coffee and whole wheat Ciabatta bread with black olive tapenade (my new obsession!).

 

Doesn't it look nice and healthy?

Actually, this is part of my new, healthier lifestyle. A few months ago, I vowed to start every day with a big glass of water and a dairy-free smoothie. And surprisingly, I actually stuck with that ever since! Usually, my morning smoothie consists of:

1 banana

4-5 frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons of frozen blueberries

1 glass of water

In summer time, I used fresh berries and varied them a lot. I also LOVE mango in the smoothie! And mint! Although not at the same time.... or? I also like to add 1 tablespoon of almond butter to the smoothie, it gives it a creamier texture. A little bit of coconut milk is also delicious. Sometimes I blend in a peeled apple as well, or a handful of fresh baby spinach (yo, don't make that scrunchy face! It's really good.... well you don't actually taste the spinach when served this way!).

Another big decision that I took New Year's Eve last year, is to go vegetarian. I have also honored that commitment ever since! More power to me ;)  I feel great and haven't missed meat or poultry at all, quite surprisingly, but I admit that I have really missed fish and seafood, so I'll have that about 2-3 times a month, until I'm ready to phase it out completely. Also at some point, after learning about the life of milk cows, I also avoided all dairy, but I couldn't hold it on the long term. What I missed most? CHEESE! I. love. cheese. Since I'm originally Swiss, I guess it's in my genes! So I now allow myself a good, organic cheese once in a while, and I buy organic milk (which I only use in my coffee). Maybe one day I'll have the strength to completely give up milk and cheese....

Since the weather calls for a lazy day, I'm getting all cozy in the sofa, with Little Louis, and I'll surf for wedding dresses on the net. I probably should work out later.... we'll see how that goes with all that laziness....