An Amazingly Versatile Bread Recipe

I think I've shared with you that the fiance and I do not buy bread on a regular basis. We will buy a loaf at Emmery's or Meyer's from time to time if we are having soup for dinner or if we're having guests over. But really, we don't have bread at home very much. I mean, we live in Denmark and we don't even eat rye bread at home! How un-Danish of us!

But if you've been following me on Instagram, you will have seen that I have been baking bread, cinnamon rolls, and making pizza. And the amazing thing is that it all comes from the same dough! Our pizzas have been thin but still doughy, the cinnamon rolls have a great soft texture, and the bread is perfect. It is so easy and I am still so amazed at how versatile it is!

I learnt how to make this wonderful dough at October's Craftenhagen which was taught by the lovely Rochelle of Danish Exchange. For Rochelle's Easy Durum Loaf recipe, head over to her blog and get baking!

Let's just say our carb intake in the form of bread has risen in the past few weeks! Ah!

Happy Sunday everyone! The sun is shining here in Copenhagen and I'm about to check out the loppemarked on Ravnsborggade. What are you up to today?

Lunch at Greasy Spoon

On Saturday afternoon the fiance, E, and I went to have lunch at Greasy Spoon on Studiestræde. Greasy Spoon is based off of the idea of an American diner. The interior of Greasy Spoon does give off the American diner vibe in a simpler more toned down way which was nice. I wanted to try this place out because it got great reviews on Politiken and they were serving macaroni and cheese!

The guys had burgers and the fiance had a traditional Danish beef sandwich as well which was totally covered in gravy while I had a strawberry milkshake and a huge bowl of mac and cheese. It wasn't my favorite mac and cheese. The sauce wasn't as creamy and smooth as I would have preferred but it had a little spicy kick to it which was nice. The guys enjoyed their burgers and sandwiches and so next time I go there I might try their more breakfast-y menu or their burgers instead.

It is pretty busy at Greasy Spoon right now because of the buzz they've been getting in the media and they've only been open a month and a half! They don't take reservations right now so you really need to walk in there at the right time. We met at the diner at 2pm and still had to sit at the bar for about 20 minutes before we got a table at a booth. So do plan ahead or make sure you're not in a rush if you're going there on the weekend!

If you're missing some good ol' (North) American food, give Greasy Spoon a try!

Greasy Spoon
Studiestræde 14
1455 Copenhagen K

I Couldn't Help Myself

I started decorating for Christmas pretty early last year and it was totally my intention to at least wait until the end of November or after my birthday on December 1st to start pulling out the Christmas decorations.

But then I went to Søstrene Grene last Thursday and we dropped by Magasin on Sunday afternoon and of course the stores are filling up with lots of Christmas goodies now! I bought some miniature Christmas trees at Søstrene Grene and they are now sitting in the window with my scented candle from Rituals. I think they're pretty subtle so they don't scream Christmas...right?!

I have also been keeping my eye out for a nice advent or calendar candle. They sell tons of them at the grocery stores but I like a really simple candle. There are some in red, or some with stars and different patterns on them but I just wanted a simple white one with nice clean numbers. I really like the one they sell at Granit and was going to wait to get one when I go to Lund later on this month but then we saw this candle from Broste Copenhagen at Magasin. I like the handwritten look of the numbers and it is white and simple, exactly what I was looking for.

We are also working on our advent gifts although that is not complete yet. Last year we traded little gifts on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas but this year we are doing all twenty four days. So once we finish that up I'll put up some pictures of how we've wrapped them and how we're displaying them at home.

To add to the wintery feeling we turned on the fireplace this weekend! The warmth that comes from a fireplace is just so lovely. It definitely makes me want to stay in rather than face the cold windy streets of Copenhagen! As long as the winters are here, they can be really cozy!

Whoa

It's still pretty crazy to think that the boyfriend/fiance and I will be getting married in about eight months. We've known each other for over four years, been dating for almost three years, and have been living together for almost a year and a half now. When I write it all down like that it doesn't seem like we have been together for that long, but I always had the feeling we could be something special from the time we met, and well a few years later, we're engaged!

When I was in high school I wanted to be a fashion designer. I loved evening gowns and wedding dresses and would rip out pages out of old wedding magazines at school with my friends and save them all in my sketch book. I gave up my fashion designer dreams before high school ended and thought I could study communication and work in PR for a designer instead. Clearly that didn't happen either because then I did my master's in ethnography. What?! Anyways, while I was in high school. I imagined that I would wear a Monique Lhuillier dress with a slight princess ball gown feel to it at my wedding and I would have had a banquet style dinner at a hotel downtown or at Brock House (for those of you in Vancouver). Well, the things I thought I wanted for my wedding ten years ago definitely aren't what I want anymore.

I'm sure I'll share more about our wedding when it starts to come together a bit more. The fiance and I have not made it very far with wedding planning yet. We have set a date, we know how much we would like to spend on the wedding, and we have a color scheme and a general style in mind. I feel like we haven't been able to plan very much yet because we don't have a reception location yet. As we will have guests coming from abroad, we would like to keep the party location in and around Copenhagen but we are also open to having a outdoor party at a summer house north of the city as well. If you know of any cool garden party feeling or industrial/raw feeling spaces to rent for parties/meetings/functions in Copenhagen, please do let me know!

So! We're at the beginning stages of wedding planning. There is so much wedding stuff everywhere, blogs, magazines, Say Yes to the Dress episodes, ah! If you have any tips or advice or any good recommendations for vendors in Copenhagen, I would love to hear them! And if you want to see some of my wedding inspiration and what not, check out my pinterest!

Photo credits: dresses, location

What We Ate in Cinque Terre

It is no secret that I love ice cream. The days leading up to our trip to Cinque Terre, I told the fiance that we had to have gelato every single day (not that many since we were only there for 3 days really). Since we got to Vernazza in the evening on Friday, we had no gelato. That meant that we had to eat two on Saturday and of course we ate one on Sunday as well. We tried a gelato place in Monterosso, in Vernazza, and in Corniglia. They were all good, but the best gelato we had came from Gelateria da Stalin. Not the best name for a shop but their pistachio gelato was amazing. So creamy and so nutty. Delicious! We also had the richest chocolate gelato at Un Mare di Yogurt in Corniglia and they had a cute little back patio where you could sit and rest for a bit after hiking to get there!

But even better than the gelato we had in Cinque Terre was the seafood. Oh. My. Goodness. Mussels galore! I had seafood pasta twice, I had calamari twice, and they were all delicious (which is why I had to eat the same things again and again) but the best thing I ate by far were the stuffed mussels. We had dinner at Trattoria de Sandro in Vernazza on Saturday evening. It is a cozy little restaurant on the main street really close to the train station. Like I said, I had stuffed mussels and they were amazing. The boyfriend also had a really nice fish dish but you will have to ask him about that! The mussels were stuffed with a breadcrumb filling and the mussels were baked in a delicious and simple tomato sauce. We asked one of the servers how they made the mussels and she said that they open up the mussels while they are alive, put the breadcrumb filling in and close them back up. Amazing! I mean, how do you even pry open a live mussel? That was my most memorable, and the most delicious dish I had while we were in Cinque Terre. The seafood pasta that I just had to eat twice was from Antica Osteria il Baretto, also in Vernazza. The mussels, clams and shrimps were fresh and it was cooked simply so that the seafood and the salty sea flavor really shone in the pasta. I loved it. Antica Osteria il Baretto is not a fancy place, instead it felt like a really homey restaurant where the chefs were cooking in the same way they would at home. Simple, fresh, and delicious.

Eating in Cinque Terre was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed everything that we had. Italy is just full of so much good food that I can't wait to visit another part of the country! Maybe Tuscany next time?