This speaks for itself.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday, Sleeping Babes and a Reuben
So now we're down to one day before my last exam, and after tomorrow I'll have a couple of weeks of R&R before hitting the books again. I've got the stuff down pat (at least I think I do...) so later I'll be doing a few hours of studying, just for fun, before the showdown.
So far, it's been a lazy weekend really. I have just done a serious assessment of our pillow situation here at home and decided that my twenty year old down pillows had to go. Mikael's pillows suffered the same fate, and yesterday I splurged on four, count 'em, four new down pillows. Not cheap, but they're light and airy, we'll be doing our sleepover guests a favor, and we won't be waking up with feathers in our hair any more, however eclectic that might have been.
Dante and I ate over at Louise's place last night. Alex, Niller, Ane and of course Jens and Lauge were there too, for roast duck, sweet potatos, coriander/pomegranate salad and panna cotta for dessert. Mikael had a previous engagement, which I won't embellish, but it did entail a bit of slurred speech as the night wore on. I wouldn't mind a night out with the girls with a handfull of cocktails myself, but the midwives keep telling me that fetuses just don't like Gin and Tonic. Hrumff.
So today Dante took a nap on the sofa, we hurried up and did nothing while there still was peace and quiet. Actually, we have both updated our blogs, measured stuff (my new favorite past-time) and eaten a Reuben. This may possibly be my foray into food blogging. I've been following a few food blogs lately (see links at left). The pictures and recipes have driven me into a culinary frenzy, making new dishes and baking stuff almost everyday.
I've especially had a hankering for old American classics that for some reason haven't caught on here. That's especially amazing, since Americana has been spreading like wildfire in the form of McDs, Blockbuster, "brunch", 7-11, yada yada yada.
But where are the Eggs Benedict, French Toast and the BLTs?! The "American" Pancakes here are a disgrace, they put curry dressing in club sandwiches, and no where can a Reuben sandwich be found!! My favorite. I did fall over a Reuben bagel once downtown. Pastrami: check, Swiss cheese: check, things were looking good, but...Sauerkraut: ??? No check. Excuse me, but that's what makes the sandwich!
What do you do? You make it yourself. Somehow that feels oddly un-American. So here's the result of my yearning for a hot, sour, cheesy mess of a sandwich. Second day in a row, and it'll be a while before we've had our fill here...
So far, it's been a lazy weekend really. I have just done a serious assessment of our pillow situation here at home and decided that my twenty year old down pillows had to go. Mikael's pillows suffered the same fate, and yesterday I splurged on four, count 'em, four new down pillows. Not cheap, but they're light and airy, we'll be doing our sleepover guests a favor, and we won't be waking up with feathers in our hair any more, however eclectic that might have been.
Dante and I ate over at Louise's place last night. Alex, Niller, Ane and of course Jens and Lauge were there too, for roast duck, sweet potatos, coriander/pomegranate salad and panna cotta for dessert. Mikael had a previous engagement, which I won't embellish, but it did entail a bit of slurred speech as the night wore on. I wouldn't mind a night out with the girls with a handfull of cocktails myself, but the midwives keep telling me that fetuses just don't like Gin and Tonic. Hrumff.
So today Dante took a nap on the sofa, we hurried up and did nothing while there still was peace and quiet. Actually, we have both updated our blogs, measured stuff (my new favorite past-time) and eaten a Reuben. This may possibly be my foray into food blogging. I've been following a few food blogs lately (see links at left). The pictures and recipes have driven me into a culinary frenzy, making new dishes and baking stuff almost everyday.
I've especially had a hankering for old American classics that for some reason haven't caught on here. That's especially amazing, since Americana has been spreading like wildfire in the form of McDs, Blockbuster, "brunch", 7-11, yada yada yada.
But where are the Eggs Benedict, French Toast and the BLTs?! The "American" Pancakes here are a disgrace, they put curry dressing in club sandwiches, and no where can a Reuben sandwich be found!! My favorite. I did fall over a Reuben bagel once downtown. Pastrami: check, Swiss cheese: check, things were looking good, but...Sauerkraut: ??? No check. Excuse me, but that's what makes the sandwich!
What do you do? You make it yourself. Somehow that feels oddly un-American. So here's the result of my yearning for a hot, sour, cheesy mess of a sandwich. Second day in a row, and it'll be a while before we've had our fill here...
Saturday, January 20, 2007
New Kitchen
And now to something completely different...
From discussing the ills of the world, I will indulge myself and my faithful readers on the materialistic front.
The following picture is how our kitchen used to look. Yep, that's where we actually made food for human consumption. I still can't believe we lived in that dump for almost a year!
Now compare that with what you see now. It's the same place, I'm not pulling your leg. Use the windows for orientation. Otherwise, the lamp in the picture is approx. where Dante is sitting in the video. I took this clip just now, while we were eating BLTs and listening to Danish Radio's program about the new inheritance laws. Amazing how quickly we have taken such luxury for granted! Enjoy, I've got bread to bake since our hippie goldsmith friends are dropping by with their kid and soup.
From discussing the ills of the world, I will indulge myself and my faithful readers on the materialistic front.
The following picture is how our kitchen used to look. Yep, that's where we actually made food for human consumption. I still can't believe we lived in that dump for almost a year!
Now compare that with what you see now. It's the same place, I'm not pulling your leg. Use the windows for orientation. Otherwise, the lamp in the picture is approx. where Dante is sitting in the video. I took this clip just now, while we were eating BLTs and listening to Danish Radio's program about the new inheritance laws. Amazing how quickly we have taken such luxury for granted! Enjoy, I've got bread to bake since our hippie goldsmith friends are dropping by with their kid and soup.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Oh, The Irony
As you've probably noticed, oil prices are tumbling. The reason? According to CNN it's due to the warm weather the northern hemisphere has been experiencing lately.(I'm not sure my brother in Colorado has noticed) It's so warm that the need for heating is down by a third, thus pressing the oil price down. The reason it's so warm? Something to due with our co-dependence on...oil.
It's been unusually warm in Denmark too. Lot's of rain, no snow, and it's far from freezing. It may carry on this way for the rest of the season. Yes, it's nice that we're not freezing our asses off, but it's just not right. Walking or biking outside in the mild weather has actually been depressing me lately. It's just a reminder that polar bears will probably be extinct by the time my children are grown. Thousands of people will have died, either by flood or draught, leaving thousands having fled their uninhabitable homes. Denmark will be the new Riviera, according to a Danish newspaper. However enticing that sounds, it's absolutely terrifying.
The cause of this process is obviously not new. It started actually long before Industrialisation. The Iron Age was actually a pollution factor: traces of it can be found in Greenlandic tundra. Now, with a world population of 6 billion, who all have a growing standard of life due in part to oil, it's worse than ever. I mean everything we do from turning on a reading light, using air-conditioning, using our oven and of course transport, uses oil. Imagine everyone of China's 1 billion people can afford a car all of a sudden: an environmental catastrophe.
The Danish daily Politiken interviewed a philosopher on the subject, who cited every single person as responsible for what happens from now on. Obviously he's right. And honestly, I cannot see the point of someone who lives in the city and works in city having a car. Not to bash my home country (US), but people actually drive from store to store some places, instead of walking small distances. But it's not wrong to own a car. It's not wrong to have a luxury you can afford. Heck, I have travelled so much by plane over the span of my life (planes are HUGE polluters) that I could ride a train continuously for the rest of my life for the same amount of energy. So how should we take responsibility? By never going anywhere? That would obviously bring our quality of life down a notch, which is the anti-thesis of this thought experiment.
What about alternative energy? Busses in Stockholm have been hydrogen driven for years now. Madrid, Barcelona and London are right behind. Instead of exhaust, the bi-product is WATER. I mean, it's genius. Apparently it takes only a matter of days to convert an oil-engine to a hydrogen engine. But it's still really expensive. Of course there's solar and windmill power, but this is only enough to light our homes and keep them warm, if that.
I'd like to formulate some intelligent questions about this. Because I'd love to know what politicians are planning to do. Yes, as the aforementioned philosopher said, we are all individually responsible. But even so, there is still legislation that forces us to wear seat belts, stop for red lights, forbids us to bear arms (in Denmark anyway) etc., because, it's really the sane thing to do. Normally, I really just try to ignore all this environmental business, due to the gloomy shadow it casts over my day. I mean, I may well be dead and gone in 50 years, so I won't see the worst of it. But my children will. It makes you almost regret having them. Not because they're not wonderful, but because of the world they'll be old in.
Feel free to comment on this. Actually, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I think in some way, I need to gather courage to get politically active on this subject. If I actually have a New Years resolution, this must be it. And I promise the next post will be less text and more kid :-)
It's been unusually warm in Denmark too. Lot's of rain, no snow, and it's far from freezing. It may carry on this way for the rest of the season. Yes, it's nice that we're not freezing our asses off, but it's just not right. Walking or biking outside in the mild weather has actually been depressing me lately. It's just a reminder that polar bears will probably be extinct by the time my children are grown. Thousands of people will have died, either by flood or draught, leaving thousands having fled their uninhabitable homes. Denmark will be the new Riviera, according to a Danish newspaper. However enticing that sounds, it's absolutely terrifying.
The cause of this process is obviously not new. It started actually long before Industrialisation. The Iron Age was actually a pollution factor: traces of it can be found in Greenlandic tundra. Now, with a world population of 6 billion, who all have a growing standard of life due in part to oil, it's worse than ever. I mean everything we do from turning on a reading light, using air-conditioning, using our oven and of course transport, uses oil. Imagine everyone of China's 1 billion people can afford a car all of a sudden: an environmental catastrophe.
The Danish daily Politiken interviewed a philosopher on the subject, who cited every single person as responsible for what happens from now on. Obviously he's right. And honestly, I cannot see the point of someone who lives in the city and works in city having a car. Not to bash my home country (US), but people actually drive from store to store some places, instead of walking small distances. But it's not wrong to own a car. It's not wrong to have a luxury you can afford. Heck, I have travelled so much by plane over the span of my life (planes are HUGE polluters) that I could ride a train continuously for the rest of my life for the same amount of energy. So how should we take responsibility? By never going anywhere? That would obviously bring our quality of life down a notch, which is the anti-thesis of this thought experiment.
What about alternative energy? Busses in Stockholm have been hydrogen driven for years now. Madrid, Barcelona and London are right behind. Instead of exhaust, the bi-product is WATER. I mean, it's genius. Apparently it takes only a matter of days to convert an oil-engine to a hydrogen engine. But it's still really expensive. Of course there's solar and windmill power, but this is only enough to light our homes and keep them warm, if that.
I'd like to formulate some intelligent questions about this. Because I'd love to know what politicians are planning to do. Yes, as the aforementioned philosopher said, we are all individually responsible. But even so, there is still legislation that forces us to wear seat belts, stop for red lights, forbids us to bear arms (in Denmark anyway) etc., because, it's really the sane thing to do. Normally, I really just try to ignore all this environmental business, due to the gloomy shadow it casts over my day. I mean, I may well be dead and gone in 50 years, so I won't see the worst of it. But my children will. It makes you almost regret having them. Not because they're not wonderful, but because of the world they'll be old in.
Feel free to comment on this. Actually, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I think in some way, I need to gather courage to get politically active on this subject. If I actually have a New Years resolution, this must be it. And I promise the next post will be less text and more kid :-)
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