♥5♥

My sweet big girl is 5 years. It was her birthday Friday, and we have been celbrating her with our family this weekend. She was so excited and now, of course, she is quite exhausted.

For us birthdays and birthday parties means alot of cooking. For her birthday dinner Friday evening Frida Viola chose buckwheat pancakes. Since all of our family come from far away we always make a big lunch to welcome them. We have been baking the beetroot-goatcheese tart several times and it's so good served with salads (I use milk instead of cream, and this time I added lovage from the backyard instead of basil). This cucumber-cilantro salad is also a favourite - I am almost addicted to it - and we also tried out these walnut-ricotta-crostinis, good too.

Frida Viola wanted a "hindbærsnittepige" - a traditional Danish cake with a raspberry filling shaped like a girl, and I also finally tried out the thin oat crisps with ginger & cloves from Greenkitchenstories - and it's not the last time we are going to bake them.

days off

my mom has been here the last days and we have taken some days off with the girls. we started a little early this year and have been baking the first shrovetide buns. these ones - with whole grain flour, apple compote & marzipan. they always turn out good.
today my mom and i bought lots of wool in nice colours for sweaters for the girls. My mom, her sister and my grandmom are skilled knitters - i feel so lucky.
these days were good for all of us.

Nordisk Brødhus // Nordic Bread House

hi there all of you! we have had such a busy week with our sweet niece visiting us from Jutland staying all week, and my mom's 60-years birthday this weekend in the northern part of Denmark. We have a 5 hours car ride to reach her place and going back and forth in two days (with a broken exhaust pipe on the car!) is not too funny with the little kids. Today we are tired.

The photos are from Nordisk Brødhus (Nordic Bread House) in Rantzausgade. I sat there an hour or so last Thursday when I was in that part of the city, writing on my speech for my mom. It's such a lovely place. Very rustic - and Nordic - and the baked goods are the best, all baked in the big wood-fired oven. They make a good coffee too, and if it wasn't so far from our neighborhood it would soon become a daily spot for me.

Plum tart from Nordisk Brødhus.

painted leaves

Today's afternoon joy:
painting little creatures on leaves & beautiful plum tart from Nordisk Brødhus (that I can highly recommend!).

How did you spend your Sunday afternoon?

pretending it is still summer

It was like high summer again this weekend. It gave us the feeling of the neverending summer - and it was nice, although we know that very soon it will be over.

The muffins in photo 4 & 5 were good too. With rye, new Danish apples, dates and lots of cinnamon.

my home today

Some little glimpses from around here:

1.&4. Still working on the renovation & the bathroom.
2. Molly's bed. It's so empty and quiet without her here during day time.
3. Morning hair.
5. Beautiful onions from the harvest festival.
6. Pumpkin soup with beluga lentils, goat cheese & more. It was good.

harvest

aarstiderne's harvest festival this weekend was a blast in my opinion. They do such a good job every year but this year I had the feeling that it was even better - but don't I have this feeling each year...? The weather was unpredictable with heavy rain and warming sun interchanging, and it just made the scenery look even more beautiful with a dark lead blue sky. The food was so good, the organic vegetables plenty, the kids were happy and we were all tired and filled up in the good way when we drove back to the city late in the afternoon.

This is a family tradition for us - photos from last year and the year before.

in August...

... we love to eat plums, apricots, grapes & blueberries
... we love that it is still warm enough for bare suntanned legs
... we love that it is still season for salads. We have had 3191's Fresh Vegetable Slaw with Asian Dressing quite many times this summer in different variations. Today's we added whole wheat noodles for more fullness.

In August we want to go here - and I am also curious to visit either this or this place to stock up with fruits and berries for winter season.

summer food

We have enjoyed so many good meals this summer. Not sophisticated or complicated meals, but simple, fresh and summery food. Especially at my mom's place, where you just have to pick the veggies and potatoes you need for dinner in her garden. She lives near the sea so freshly caught local fish is everyday food. We had crab claws more than once when we stayed with her.

Last photo is a super simple summer dessert or afternoon snack that I have been making for years now. It started out as a smoothie, but I like to make it thicker in consistency so that it is more like a not too unhealthy ice cream. Needless to say that the girls love it as they are still convinced it is actually ice cream.

4 glasses or bowls:
200-250 g frozen raspberries or blueberries
2 bananas
vanilla
4-6 soft dried dates
a dab of soy milk, yoghurt, skyr or whatever you have

Mix it all in the blender and serve right away.
Before the girls were born I added juice from one orange to give some freshness, but the girls both have allergies to citrus fruits, so I skip this now and it tastes great without.

Last note on food: I need new inspiration for food that the girls (read: Frida Viola, 4 years) like. Any ideas for good cookbooks? It doesn't matter if it is in English. We eat vegetarian (except for fish). Molly eats everything, and it's a pleasure to see how happy she is with food. Frida Viola is very picky - as many 4-years-olds are - and I need inspiration to open her eyes to the fantastic variety of food as well as the pleasure and very social aspect of sharing a meal. Any good advice...?

weekend photos

1. Rhubarb jam with lots of vanilla, my sister's recipe.
2. Dinner.
3.+4. The girls.
5. A really nice soapbox car we passed on our bike ride today - made out of an old pram and a chair seat. Would be nice to make something similar for the kids when we go to our Swedish house during the summer vacation.
6. Tiny tarts with summer berries and skyr.

food

we like eating simple food during the summer months using as many locally grown vegetables as possible. We still have our weekly veggie box from aarstiderne - at this time of the year we choose "dogmekassen" with only Danish crops:

1. Sweet corn, caprese & parsley pesto.
2. Pizza with lovage pesto, new potatoes, new onions, new carrots, kohlrabi & Danish goat cheese.
3. Rye pie with broccoli, egg & manchego.
4. Just coffee.