As a child I used to look forward to Fastelavn because it was a day filled with fun and goodies, similar to Halloween. But unlike Halloween, Fastelavn always falls on a Sunday, between February 1st and March 7^th, and always 7 weeks before Easter.

My friends and I, like most children in Denmark, would dress up in costumes, walk door to door in our neighborhood and sing a song when people opened their doors asking for treats or else…..

Fastelavn is traditionally marked with special pastries. They are called Fastelavnsboller. These are sweet rolls filled with jam or vanilla creme, or the current most popular filling: whipped cream!

This year Fastelavn was yesterday, Sunday, February 23. Some stores in Denmark already started selling these delicious sweet rolls in early January and I bet there are some who still offer them this week. They are just that good!

 

 

When I spoke to my mom on Saturday (June 15th), she reminded me that it was Valdemarsdag (Valdemar’s Day) in Denmark. She told me that people had their flags out and the entire country was celebrating because this year marked the 800th birthday of the Danish flag called Dannebrog, the oldest national flag in the world.

I had to ask for a reminder of the significance of Valdemarsdag. I didn’t remember what set June 15 as our flag’s birthday and why we call the day by that name.

Well, it’s all because of a legend, a good story we tell and celebrate. Legend has it that the Danish king Valdemar Sejr (Valdemar the Victorious) in 1219 led his army on a crusade in what is today Estonia. During the battle of Lyndanisse, on June 15, the Danes were on the defensive and struggling, when suddenly and miraculously, what later became known as Dannebrog fell from the sky! This sign gave the Danish army renewed hope and courage which ultimately led to their victory. And Denmark got its flag!

That’s the story….800 years old! A pretty good one, don’t you think?

When people tell me that they love to cook but don’t like to bake, the reason they give me is usually that they don’t like how baking involves such exact measurements. In cooking you can easily add a little of this and a little of that. Well I beg to differ….. at least in some cases.

Let’s take the Health Muffins that I sometimes make for my family on the weekends. I have a list of base ingredients but then I always add others, whatever I’m in the mood for. This weekend I made them with pumpkin puree, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Last time I made them with spinach and carrots. Often times I add some applesauce, cinnamon and cardamom.

I love to experiment. Having a sense of what goes well together and what the end result should taste like, it’s fun! Measurements become approximations. I take a little of this and a little of that.

With that in mind, it’s not easy to pass on such recipe but in case you would like to try these muffins, here goes….

Anne’s Health Muffins

Base Ingredients

1 cup oat bran

1 cup white whole wheat flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp sea salt

¼ cup vegetable oil (I use avocado oil)

¼ cup honey or a little more if you like it sweeter

1 cup yogurt or buttermilk

2 eggs

1 cup raisins (I often use golden raisins)

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping

½ cup old fashioned oats

¼ cup brown sugar

1-2 Tbs ghee (clarified butter) or melted butter

Added Ingredients

 Pumpkin version

1 can of pumpkin puree

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

dash of allspice

 

Veggie version

1 handful of spinach

2 carrots or 1 handful of mini carrots

½ cup chia seeds

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom (optional)

 

Instructions:

Turn oven to 380⁰. Add all dry ingredients, including the spices.

For the pumpkin version, mix vegetable oil, honey, yogurt or buttermilk, pumpkin puree and eggs in a separate bowl.

For the veggie version, add vegetable oil, honey, yogurt or buttermilk, eggs, chia seeds, carrots and spinach in a Vitamix or blender and puree.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix. Stir in raisins and nuts if using.  Pour mixture into a greased muffin pan.

Mix all topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

 

My family and I spent a week at Long Beach Island this summer. The house we rented with some friends was one block from the beach so it was an easy walk back and forth. I love being by the ocean. It makes me feel peaceful and it reminds me of my childhood and of my country.

You see, Denmark has more than 7,500 km (4,660 miles) of coastline and therefore lots of beaches. It is a small country, only 43,000 square kilometers (16,600 square miles), with hundreds of islands and a peninsula where my hometown, Århus, is located (green arrow below). Every summer on sunny days I used to ride my bike to the beach with my friends or my sister, after school or during summer break. It was only a 20-minute ride.

We had a summer house in a small town outside the town called Ebeltoft (red arrow above). I lovingly remember falling asleep at night with the windows open and listening to the sounds of the ocean and the smell of salt in the air. It was the best, most soothing way to go to sleep.

You see why I love the beach? But it wasn’t just the beach at Long Beach Island that reminded me of my childhood. Another fond memory came to me when the ice cream man stopped by the beach and rang his bell to announce his arrival. Not that we had ice cream trucks coming to our beaches in Denmark. No, we would walk to the ice cream kiosks to get us a treat. But it was the anticipation, the excitement and the joy that the ice cream man’s bell reminded me of. I clearly remember seeing the blue ice cream truck coming down my street and hearing the little song it would play. It was exciting every time it arrived which was maybe once every two weeks in the summer. Would we get ice cream today???

It was only boxes of ice cream that we could buy at the ice cream truck, not individual treats, and it wasn’t that we couldn’t get similar ice creams at the store, or that they were any less expensive of course. But to a child, it was such a novelty and oh so exciting. The funny thing is, I can’t even remember eating the ice cream!

I often times wonder what small moments like these my son will look back upon with similar fond memories when he grows up. Probably something that now seems insignificant but later in life will be recalled as precious moments.

My hope is that there will be many….

 

Last month I took a trip to Denmark by myself to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It felt like old times when my parents, sister and I all sat around the dinner table, discussing the day’s events. I was there only a short time and the days were filled with party preparations and lots of “hygge”. It was wonderful!

The day before I headed back to the States, I decided to take a walk on the path that goes around the lake near my parent’s house called Brabrandsø (“sø” is lake in Danish). The sky looked ominous but still I went. The path, approximately 10 km or 6.2 miles long, is called Brabrandstien (“sti” is path in Danish).  I have done the walk multiple times and biked around the lake more times than I can count, but somehow that day I observed my surroundings in a different light and found them surprisingly intriguing.

I stayed to the right of the path as walkers are supposed to. Accommodations are made for walkers and bikers with separated paths. At one part of the path, the bikers’ lane has even been marked for two lane traffic. There are always many bikers in their gear zipping around the lake, but there are also a lot of people, dressed in regular clothes, who take this route to town, work, or school. Case in point, as I approached the path from my parents’ house, I saw a group of school kids and their teachers on a little field trip, all on bikes.

If you are there to exercise, fitness equipment has been set up on each side of the lake. There is usually someone working out and certainly my son loves to do a few reps on the equipment when he’s with me.

Brabrandsøen to us today is precious because it provides a special place to be active and enjoy nature. But the lake area has been crucial to people for many, many years, dating all the way back to the Middle Ages when it was a vital food source. Artifacts dating back 6000 years have been found in the area and are at times still found by people working in their gardens. That’s pretty amazing!

The lake is only about 7 km (4.3 miles) from Aarhus which is Denmark’s second largest city, but still you will see cows, goats and horses grazing freely close to homes (not farms).  Simple electric fences are only there to keep the animals off the path and they seem to know that as they contently eat, nap and lazily watch people pass by. I think it’s quite charming how the rural mixes so nonchalantly with the suburban.

When I returned from my walk, I told my parents that I felt inspired to write about all my “new” observations along this old familiar route.  It’s very rewarding when you get a fresh look at things that are so familiar to you. And so here I am, writing and re-experiencing…