Easter Holidays

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter.  We escaped Denmark to go to Istanbul, Turkey.  We had a fantastic time and we'll post some pics soon.  In the interim check out this lovely Aussie blog with some cute Easter recipes: http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/

Danish design

We are really beginning to appreciated Danish design, and have started to collect a number of pieces, including this beautiful Georg Jensen pitcher which was given to us a wedding gift from friends.  This is a 1952 Henning Koppel design, and it absolutely makes my heart sing!

Source: Georg Jensen

How to piss off a Dane

This article made me laugh: How to piss off a Dane

Ballet and Cocktails

I had a fantastic evening the other week at the ballet with girlfriends.  We saw Dans2Go at the  Old Theatre, which was three separate (and very different) ballet performances.  The performances were great and the theatre itself beautiful. 

We ended the evening with a cocktail at Ruby's - such a fab venue and way to end a lovely evening with the ladies.

Back to the blog...

Back to the blog (and the daily grind) following a lovely trip home for my sister's country wedding (congratulations KMW).  Travelled with Emirates this time which was great (just two flights CPH - Sydney). 

So lovely to see family and friends again and experience some warm weather.  I was only home a short time but as usual there was never a dull moment trying to cram in as much as possible, including a wedding, birthday (Dorothy snr) and christening (Dorothy jnr)!

Fastelavn Party

Today our lovely neighbours organised a Fastelavn Party.  Fastelvan is an old Danish tradition which occurs seven weeks before Easter Sunday. Originally a religious celebration, nowadays it is more like a Nordic Halloween with children dressing up and gathering treats for the Fastelvan feast.


The main even was the slå katten af tønden or 'hit the cat out of the barrel'.  This involves children lining up and hitting a wooden barrel full of candy with the image of a black cat on it. Historically (and as recently as 100 years ago) there was a real black cat in the barrel, as beating the barrel was superstitiously considered a safeguard against evil.  


After the barrel is broken, the game continues until the last piece of the barrel falls down.  The one who breaks the barrel first causing the candy to pour out becomes kattedronning or "queen of cats", and the one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattekonge or "king of cats".


To enable the very young kids to participate a second barrel was made of cardboard. See some pics below.  


While the kids were battling it out the adults were enjoying hot drinks and cake, including the traditional fastelavns bun or shrovetide bun, a round sweet roll covered with icing.  It was a lovely afternoon!

Northern Exposure Part 3