a family celebration

This summer my parents decided to celebrate that my younger brother and sister finished both their educations, and since we were all very busy it ended up becoming a fall party instead :) If you know anything about the danish weather, you'll know that your lucky if the sun shines the day you choose to invite 16 people, but we were lucky. And even though it started with rain, it ended up being a beautiful and sunny day. All the guests arrived at one, and then we had a big and long lunch, and since my parents live in a big forest, we all went for a long walk, enjoying the sun, fresh air and fall colours and smells...oh how I love fall, when the sun shines, the sky is blue and clear and all the senses is activated. When we got back we had the best lime cake, cranberry-liquorish biscuits with coffee and later we had a little leftover feast. It was nothing less than a wonderful day with the family.

And it was even better cos I got to be in charge of all the preparation and cooking. My siblings and I decided on a buffet menu, and then I calculated how much we needed and when to buy it and what to perpare when. And thursday night my sister and I did most of the shopping, having a lot of fun with it. And then we spend most of friday in the kitchen, but we also went to pick up all  the tables and chairs needed and cleaned the house. Saturday was started with a early breakfast, and then the whole team started cooking.. we just managed to finish when the guests arrived.
We ended up buying a long piece of fabric and used it as tablecloth, which now is being turned into a shorter version, and a lot of scarfs. The table ended up being so beautiful, it was like it changed colour after how the light was, and it underlined the colours my parents allready uses in their livingroom. But tried to capture it in the pics below, which also shows the buffet and stunning nature :) In time I'll try to post some of the recipies, cos this food is ment to be shared, so please try it out.

brunch the next morning :)

the first Christmas party .... this year

That was it, a blazing success with wonderful food and friends. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed myself that much in a kitchen :) And now I've successfully made ​​all the stuff you need for a danish Julefrokost; patty with chicken and asparagus, marinated herring, bread, pate, fried meatballs, pork roast with sprinkles and instead of the mandatory white and brown/sugar potatoes, pickled red cabbage and gravy we made three fantastic crispy salads. You should try them out :)

Beetroot Salad

- Beets, very thin slices, like cut on mandolin iron.
- Coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Feta cheese, preferably a block of feta broken / cut into pieces
- Balsamic vinegar or fruit vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Elderberry syrup
      - 2 dl concentrated elderberry juice
      - ½ dl sugar

Mix the beetroot slices with a little vinegar, salt, pepper, the parsley and about 2 tablespoons elderberry syrup. Taste the beets, if they are really sweet, don't use too much syrup.
Let the salad rest for about 30 min., it should still be crisp.
Just before serving sprinkle with a little extra parsley and feta placed either on top (takes much colour from the beets) or served on the side.

Elderberry syrup: Pour elderberry and sugar into a pot and boil until is gets like a syrup. Be careful that it doesn't burn or get too thick.

This salad is a variation from here: http://saesonforgodsmag.dk/opskrifter/hyldebærsyltet-rødbedesalat

The best Green Cabbage Salad

300 g green cabbage
3 apples
hazelnuts (we also used some pecan nuts) you choose how many, I like a lot of crunch
8-10 dried dates
dries cranberries, about a handful

juice from one lemon
juice from one orange
1 ½ dl cream
salt
pepper

Finely chop the cabbage, the pieces need to be small otherwise some might struggle to chew it ;) Chop the apples into squares about 1x1cm. Also chop the nuts and dried fruits, and mix all of the stuff together.


Whip the cream, not to be too hard, and squeeze the lemon and orange into the whipped cream and add salt and pepper before stirring. Afterwards pour it over the salad, all of it needs to be coated.

Dress with a little extra nuts and berries.

This salad is also very nice the next day :) and if you don't want to use cream you can replace it with sour cream, but the taste won't be as rich then.

this recipe is made with a lot of inspiration from Suveræne succeser, which is a fantastic danish cookbook


Red cabbage salad

red cabbage
pomegranate
oranges

oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
lemon

Slice the cabbage very finely and chop the orange (without peel) in eating size chunks. Mix all the the ingredients for the dressing and pour it over the cabbage, pomegranate and oranges.

summer in Denmark

 Yes the summer is back and I like it. Vacation, summer, the best friends, beer and wine, blue sky and music - does it get any better.

Went to my friends place to help out in their garden, and they had the roses in this wonderful color, it just makes you happy J

Also went to see a camp with around 35.000 scouts, and later the same day we had a small bbq with this fine view, we even had marshmallows and when we left we saw an amazing sight..even though I’ve seen it so often it still takes my breath away - all those beautiful animals.

Stunning right..?

the first one

Yeah my first post..

this blog is gonna be a bit of everything, but probably most about stuff that inspires me and makes me wonder. Hopefully there'll also be a lot of creativity and cooking, cos that's really what I like to do..actually just made this dish the other day, so simple and packed with flavour:) I love experimenting with salads, so you are probably gonna see a lot of this

green lentils, bulgur, peach, cucumber, green chili and parsley