Summer! Well, kind of...

Summer has finally arrived in Copenhagen! Well, kind of, sort of... Though June was the coldest June in the last 20 or 30 years, July started out promising. The sun was shining, the temperature was a perfect 25 C/75 F, and it seemed as though the entire city was outdoors, enjoying the tardy summer days. Copenhagen is a lovely place in the summer; everything is so green, like our courtyard.

We enjoyed the warm days eating outside, playing ping pong and backgammon in the courtyard, and attending some of the local jazz concerts. It's hard to beat sitting with a glass of cold chardonnay, enjoying a free jazz concert just feet away from our home.

Summer weather, of course, calls for summer food! Grilled meats, grilled vegetables, and cool dips and the things summers are made of. We enjoyed this Middle Eastern feast: pita was dipped into baba ganoush, tzatziki, hummus, and feta and artichoke dip, while the grilled mititei (spicy, garlicky home-made sausages) were accompanied by fresh salad and red wine.

But, Denmark will do as Denmark does, and the lovely summer days didn't last before the skies darkened and the rain fell. Now we have cooler temperatures and random rain showers, but we at least get some sunshine every now and then. In the meantime, Bobby and I continue to make improvements to the apartment. We recently painted the entrance/hallway. It used to be the yellow color that the entire apartment was originally painted.

And now it's this nice, crisp white. The white has a lot of green and blue in it, so it seems to change color with the time of day/weather conditions. I rather like it. It's nice and clean.

And here is my newest baby, a beautiful oval Le Creuset cast-iron Dutch oven. I am trying to collect all the colors! I can add this light green beauty to my dark green circular Dutch oven, the dark blue bouillabaisse pot, deep red grill pan, blue stock pot, brown mugs, yellow butter dish, and numerous serving dishes in yellow, red, and cream. Now you know what to get me for Christmas!

Last week in London

After nearly 3 months, Bobby time in England is finally at a close. He flies home tonight, I can't wait to have him home! I'm sure our tandem bikes have also missed us. I am going to miss spending time in London, though. We've had a wonderful time exploring the city and eating all the lovely ethnic food that we can't get in Copenhagen. We did get to venture outside of the city. We visited our friends Nick and Clare in their home in the lovely southern town of Lewes.


 

Just north of University of Sussex, Lewes was only 1 1/2 hours from London via the train. Nick was kind enough to introduce us to his town. Lewes is in the middle of the South Downs, and there were many chalk cliffs in the area, like the one in this photo.









There is even a castle in Lewes! Built in 1069 by the First Earl of Surrey, the castle saw action during the 1264 Battle of Lewes. The battle was between the English barons and the royalists. The result of the battle eventually led to the confirmation of the magna carta!

Lewes also had some other lovely sights, including the 1839 Church of St. John sub Castro (quite a name, I know!).

Here, Bobby and Nick walk along one of the beautiful alleys near the castle.

Lewes is not a large town and is quite rural. We took a walk along one of the downs and were accompanied by many grazing sheep. These sheep had some crazy fleece, and many of the sheep were rubbing against trees and fences to rid themselves of the excess fleece. Luckily, none of them attacked us, even though Bobby was provoking them. You know Bobby, he just can't help himself.


It was an incredibly windy day, and the wind was all the more powerful going over the downs. Here, Nick and I attempt to fly away! We all had a lot of fun running and jumping into the wind. It felt like walking on the moon.

After our fun weekend with Nick and Clare, Bobby and I headed back to London. We arrived back on campus to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds (possibly even thousands) of Vespas! The Vespa World Days 2012 was taking place in London during that weekend, and all of the riders were staying at Queen Mary University with us. We saw riders who had ridden all the way from Austria, Germany, and Italy.

We did a few touristy things during our last weekend. We spent several hours in Harrod's, goggling over the caviar (some small bottles cost over 1000 pounds!), chocolate, cookware, and china. Somehow, we managed to leave the store without having spend a single pence. Now that is what I call self control.

I also went to the original Twinings tea store. I was expecting something more similar to a museum, but it was in fact just a store, selling the same tea you can find in the grocery store. The location was pretty fantastic, though. The store, opened in 1706, is right across the street from the Royal Courts of Justice.


Now that Bobby's time in London is over, we can start enjoying the Danish summer. That is, if the summer ever comes to Denmark...

Blog post by Bob

Blog Post by Bob

I saw this the other day and laughed out loud.

London with friends and Carla's trip to the States

Before you begin reading this post, I should warn you that it's not very good! During the entire three weeks in which the below events took place, our camera battery was on low. We were thus quite stingy with taking photos, and it's just no fun writing a long post without accompanying photos! Ok, you've been warned :)

Several weekends ago our good Danish friends Thomas and Thomas spent a long weekend with Bobby me in London. Our weekend was filled with lots of laughs, lots of walking, and lots of great food. Thomas and Thomas are quite the foodies (they have been to a number of Michelin-starred restaurants around Europe, including Copenhagen's two star restaurant Noma, which for the third year in a row has been voted the best restaurant in the world) and we always enjoy trying new restaurants with them. While in London, we enjoyed a 9-course dinner at The Ledbury, recently voted number 14 in the world and recipient of two Michelin stars. While the restaurant was pretty good, it wasn't the best meal any of us has had, which was a bit disappointing.

Another restaurant we tried was NOPI, which was pretty good. But, believe it or not, we also managed to do some sightseeing in between our meals! We went to London Towers, where the Beefeaters work and the royal jewels are housed.

And, of course, Tower Bridge.

We saw a lot more of London with Thomas and Thomas (or, as we like to call them, T&T), but in the interest of time/not boring you to death, I'll move on to the next trip. After our long weekend with T&T, I flew to Los Angeles, where I got to spend a few days with my Dad and the lovely Gloria (we ate lots of seafood and had a fun BBQ) before heading over to my Mom's. The reason I went to LA was for my Mom's graduation. She received her Master's in Public Administration and I am very, very proud of her! Here is the graduation girl with my brother and me.

After Mom's graduation ceremony, we enjoyed breakfast with my grandparents, Aunt Gwen (pictured here with Mom and me), Joseph, and Jordan. After breakfast, Mom and I were off to the airport!

In order to properly celebrate Mom's graduation, she and I took a girls' trip to the Hawai'ian island of Kaua'i. We had a great time there: we enjoyed plenty of Mai Tais,

beautiful sunsets,

stunning views

gorgeous tropical flowers and plants,

awesome natural wonders like this blowhole,

and wild chickens. Yep, chickens. They were everywhere.

After getting sun, fun, and family time in the States, I flew back to London, where Bobby and I, along with millions of others in the city, celebrated the Queen's Diamond (60th) Jubilee. If you squint really hard, you can see the Queen's blue hat in this photo!

At least the flyover was easier to see.

What trip to London would be complete without tea and scones?

Weekends in London and a Birthday

On April 16, Bobby left for an extended research trip to London. While my (Carla) weekdays have been lonely in Copenhagen, I've been fortunate enough to visit Bobby twice. Our first weekend in London, we did a bit of sightseeing downtown. We had unusually decent weather! Though the skies may be drearier than Copenhagen's, the spring started earlier in London. The trees were already turning green and the flowers were budding in mid-April.

Aside from a lot of walking, Bobby and I also attended two great concerts. There was a conference during that week about the music of Conlon Nancarrow, an American ex-pat who spent the majority of his life in Mexico. He was a life-long Communist, which is why he left (or was forced to leave) the US. The majority of his music is written for the player piano, but he also wrote some works for other instruments and ensembles. I was amazed at how many people were in attendance at both concerts. After speaking with one of our English friends, we came to learn that the London music scene is not only huge, it's also quite well supported. What a great place!

During my second weekend in London, Bobby and I went to the UK premier of the 1970s minimalist opera Einstein on the Beach. Composed by one of Bobby's favorite composers, Philip Glass, and co-created with the fantastic avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson, it was a dream come true for Bobby to see this!

And to make it even more exciting, both Philip Glass and Robert Wilson were in attendance at the performance! In fact, Philip Glass sat just three rows behind us! We should have asked for his autograph...

Back to the sightseeing... While our first weekend was spent sightseeing around downtown London, our second weekend together was spend getting to know the East End better. We came across the Columbia Road Flower Market on our long Sunday walk. The market was packed with people buying flowers, plants, and all other gardening goods.

As I mentioned above, Bobby is staying in East London. He is in London for 11 weeks to do research at Queen Mary University, London. He is staying in faculty housing right on the Mile End campus. In the middle of the campus is an old Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was open from 1733 to the early 20th century. Customary of Sephardi cemeteries, all of the tombstones lay flat. This is suppose to symbolize that all are equal in death - old and young, rich and poor.

Mile End, and East London in general, has a reputation of being a rough part of town. Either our time in East LA has affected us, or the reputation of East London is greatly exaggerated, because we have only experienced a hip, multi-cultural, lovely area. There are even amazing bakeries! We walked over a hour to reach the Violet Cakes bakery, and it was worth the walk. Here I sit with a violet-flavored cupcake, which was very tasty if not lacking a bit in the violet flavor, and a fresh cinnamon roll, which was also quite good. We will definitely be re-visiting this bakery. I want to try the salted caramel cupcake, and Bobby is dreaming of the sponge cake with Jersey cream.

During the week days, both Bobby and I have to fend for ourselves. Bobby has been visiting many of the local pubs, where he gets a pint while reading journal articles before dinner. He made this meal for himself one evening. He calls it 'Bobby's Grapes Of Wrath'. Yes, he wants the o in of capitalized.

I, on the other hand, stick to my comfort zone: quiche, salad, and white wine.

Last but not least, I had a birthday yesterday! I celebrated in typical Danish style, which means you have to make and bring your own cake to work. In typical Carla fashion, I made a 3 layer lavender cake, with a forest berry whipped cream filling, and an Italian meringue frosting. It was quite yummy, if I say so myself. No one at work complained; then again, I don't supposed they would do so to my face. One way or the other, I was happy. Happy birthday to me!

Minor Miracles

Today I (Carla) experienced two minor miracle. Number one: the scaffolding has finally been taken down from the front of our apartment building! We now finally have access to our balcony. Granted, it's not the best balcony in the world and we probably won't use it much, but I am really looking forward to using the south-facing space for growing some herbs!




Minor miracle number two: our key to the bicycle storage room (cykel kælder) has finally been delivered! Mind you, we first requested this key in the middle of December. Four months, many angry phone calls, and one funny angry-letter-written-in-Danish-by-Bobby, later, we finally have received the key. I cant wait to put all of our bikes in the basement tomorrow. The poor things have had to stand outside during the entire winter. Rust, frozen gears, and soaking seats have been the bane of our bike existence for the last 4 months.

In other news, Bobby left on Monday for her 10 week stay in London. He's doing research at Queen Mary University and is so far enjoying his time. My weekdays are quiet and lonely, but fortunately I'll be able to see Bobby most weekends (it's especially nice because April-June is when all of the long weekends/state holidays occur in Denmark). I fly to London tomorrow night and can't wait to explore the city with Bobby.

Easter Visit (and snow)

Bobby and I have spent the past three Easters in Paris with our dear friends Kate and Olivier. Three years ago, we had recently moved to Paris. Two years ago, we flew back to Paris from Copenhagen to visit the newly born Iris (she was just three days old when we arrived!). Last year, we went back to France and spend the holiday in Lille (Northern France) with Olivier's family. This year, though, we broke with tradition. Kate and Iris visited us in Copenhagen and spent the Easter holiday enjoying the lovely Danish weather (a lot of sarcasm here, but we'll get to that later in the post). As usual when we get together with our best friend Kate and the lovely 2 year old Iris, we spent much of the long weekend eating, drinking, and having a great time. Iris is old enough now to help Auntie Carlita in the kitchen. Here Iris is whisking the eggs for our breakfast.


So, lovely Danish weather, eh? On Saturday morning, it snowed pretty hard for 4 solid hours! We haven't had any snow since February and it decides to snow in April?













After the 4 hour snowfall, the weather decided to clear. We took a walk around downtown Copenhagen, where the sky was beautiful, but the wind was arctic (literally).





We finally saw the Little Mermaid (lille havfrue in Danish) statue. Sorry to say, it was as disappointing as we were expecting.













Oh well, at least we've seen it, and Kate and Iris got to see a new part of Copenhagen.








After visiting the Little Mermaid, we took Iris to a park. The entire trip she kept asking to go down slides. She finally got her chance! Uncle Bobby, in true uncle fashion, showed her how to make it more fun by going down the slide head first. Of course Iris, who absolutely loves her Uncle Bobby, had to try it.









It didn't go well. The adults had a good laugh, but the crying that ensued after this photo was taken (by the mean Auntie Carlita, who laughs at every fall) was the end of the fun in the park.









When Easter day finally arrived, Iris got to go Easter egg hunting in the apartment! She had a lot of fun finding all the chocolate Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny (aka Uncle Bobby) hid. After her nap, she awoke to discover that the Easter Bunny had come back and re-hid all of her eggs!











After re-finding all of her eggs, we all went to outside to play on the play-set in our common yard.






Iris even found a few little flowers to pick and give to us. We last saw Iris in early December, when she and Kate visited us for a mini-Christmas. Seeing the developmental difference in Iris from just four months ago was amazing! In December, she was talking a bit, but it seems like she was just repeating sounds. This trip, she was actually communicating! She was playing in a very different way, she could better understand the things we said to her, her memory was 1000 times better (after showing her where the trash can was on the first day of the trip, she knew where it was and would put trash in it throughout the weekend!), and you could actually see her sitting and thinking. It's such a fantastic experience to see her grow, both physically and mentally, and to continue to be a part of her life.