Hi everyone. It’s been really nice out lately (except today, when it was grey and rainy), so I spent my weekend outside. It was great! I don’t have any interesting stories from my past week though, so I thought I’d share the recipe for the French Toast Stackers.
One morning my boyfriend and I went to Manory’s, one of the best breakfast places in Troy, NY. I complained that I couldn’t decide whether to order eggs or French toast. It’s always a conundrum for me. My date pointed out the French Toast Stacker on the Specials menu, and it has been one of my favorite meals ever since. I wanted to share it with my family and friends who don’t live in Troy, so I figured out how to make it for them. It’s very simple, as it is basically a breakfast sandwich on French toast.
The French toast recipe I use is based on one I found on All Recipes. Here’s the link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fluffy-french-toast/detail.aspx. After using that recipe a couple of times, I updated it by adding more eggs. Combine that with the basic bacon, scrambled eggs, and a slice of cheese, and you’re set.
This recipe requires you to be cooking three things at once. The first time I made it, I was a little overwhelmed, but the second time, I had it down. It really helps to have everything out and ready before you start. It’s also great to have a helper, just to keep an eye on things and make sure they don’t burn. Otherwise, I would make sure everyone stays out of your way in the kitchen. Also, if you’re in NY’s Capital District, I would stop by Manory’s in Troy to get the real deal!
French Toast Stacker with pan potatoes on the side.
French Toast Stackers
This recipe is for one stacker. That way you can scale for any number of people!
Ingredients:
3 eggs (divided)
2 teaspoons of flour
3 tablespoons of milk (divided)
A pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon (To taste. I always add more, because I love cinnamon.)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon sugar (brown or white)
2 thick slices of bread
1 or 2 slices of bacon (optional)
1 slice of smoked Gouda cheese (Feel free to replace with whichever type you prefer.)
Butter or coconut oil to grease the egg and toast pans
Pure maple syrup (none of that fake stuff!)
(Almost) everything you’ll need!
1. Start by mixing the flour and 2 tablespoons of the milk together in a large mixing bowl. If you have one with a flat bottom, I would use that. Otherwise you will have to transfer the mixture into a flat bottomed pan before you dip the bread into it.
2. Whisk in the salt, one of the eggs, the cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar.
3. Meanwhile, in a pan, place a slice or two of bacon. Cook until crispy, turning over once.
4. Beat the remaining two eggs with the last tablespoon of milk in a small bowl.
Eggs and French toast dip
5. Heat a second pan over medium high heat. Put a pat of butter or oil on it. I normally have to re-oil the pan after every slice of bread.
6. Soak both sides of the slice of bread in the egg and flour mixture. Place on the heated pan and cook until golden brown on each side.
7. While the bread is cooking, heat a small, lightly oiled pan over medium heat.
8. Pour egg mixture into pan, and stir with a spatula often enough to keep the eggs from sticking to the pan.
Scramblin’ Eggs
9. TIP: If the toast is done before the other parts, cover it so it stays warm.
10. Assemble the stacker by putting the scrambled eggs on one of the pieces of toast. Place the slice of cheese on top of the eggs, and the bacon on top of the cheese. Top it off with the second slice of toast. Finish by slicing the stacker and drizzling maple syrup generously on top.
Hello everyone, hope you’re enjoying the spring! We finally are here in Denmark. It feels like summer today. It’s great.
Yesterday marked the two months mark for me. Not two months since I’ve gotten here, but two months until I leave! It’s a weird feeling. When I first got here, I (unfortunately) was really looking forward to going home, but it felt like I never would. My brain knew I would, but the time left was too long for me to feel like I would be going back soon. Now that there are only two months left (59 days to be exact), I’ve finally internalized that my time here is fleeting and I need to make the most of it! While I still am looking forward to going home and seeing my family and friends, I am also sad that my time here is slowly coming to an end. I’m conflicted, I suppose. I feel like I can’t possibly take advantage of everything Denmark and study abroad has to offer with the remaining 8 weeks I will have here. I don’t know where to start. I wish I had come here with a close friend, because I have found it hard to get involved when I have to do everything alone.
This past weekend I took part in some local culture by attending the Marathon Bar at Saxen, the Kampsax bar. (I just learned this weekend that the bar has a name.) What is the Marathon Bar, you ask? It is a three-day-long party. The bar opens at nine, as usual, on Thursday night, and instead of closing around three the next morning, it stays open until noon on Sunday. There is a DJ, a dinner offered on Saturday, and strippers. Yes, they hired a stripper on both Friday and Saturday night. My kitchen took part by partying a lot this weekend, both at the bar and in our kitchen. While I did not join them for all of it, it was great to have so much socialization in the hall. I always like going in to a full, rather than empty, kitchen.
I attended the bar on both Thursday and Saturday night. I was present for the stripper. I found out that, unlike strippers in media, they actually get naked. It was really weird to see. What was more interesting to me was watching all the guys’ faces as she rolled around and stuff. They were entranced by a small, naked, Snooki look-alike! Some other funny things I saw while at the bar included a man so drunk that he put his coat on upside down and spent a full ten minutes trying to figure out why it fit weirdly, why he couldn’t zip it, and why things were falling out of his pockets. I also saw a man who was so drunk he decided he had no need for pants, or underpants, anymore. When I say these things are funny, they did make me laugh, but they also made me a little sad. I hope I never have a reason to drink that much.
That night did not end up being one of great fun. Being alone (as in without a boyfriend) at a bar apparently gives drunk men the impression that they can grab me. I am not going to rant about it here, but I will post this link that my friend shared with me. It is a well written commentary on the things women have to deal with when we go anywhere unaccompanied. http://jhruoftmag.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/the-invisible-fiance/. I recommend reading it, if you have a moment.
If you are wondering about the title to my post today, it’s a reference to Friends. I have been watching it since I’ve gotten here, since I found a website that hosts free episodes of it. I promised my friend I would share what I’ve been cooking for myself since I got here, so here are some pictures:
Basic scrambled eggs with toast and butter
Scrambled eggs with peppers, and tea 🙂
Banana, peanut butter, corn flake, and yogurt parfait. Danish rye bread on the side. That bread by itself could be a small meal!
French Toast Stacker with pan potatoes on the side.
Grilled peanut butter and jelly with a honey drizzle. Was for lunch, should have been a dessert!
Fresh Salad
Fried Rice with chicken, egg, peas, and carrots. I made this a few times.
Macaroni and Cheese with ready-made Danish meatballs (a.k.a. Frikadeller)
Cornflake encrusted chicken with pasta and broccoli
Fajita with chicken, cheese, tomato, peppers, and coconut water on the side
Spaghetti with meat sauce. It was supposed to be meatballs, but I messed it up! It still tasted fantastic.
Brownie with vanilla ice cream and homemade raspberry sauce. Yum!
I have also been eating a lot of egg salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken quesadillas, mac and cheese casseroles, and other chicken dishes. I love trying new recipes, so send them over. The less expensive the ingredients, the better 😉
Hi all. I’ve had a busy first week back in class after Easter break. Nothing super exciting happened this week, just business as usual. Which means I have a chance to tell you about the second half of my break!
On Wednesday, we left early and took the train to Malmö. It was a sunny day, but still quite windy. We started out walking from the central station to the Turning Torso, a skyscraper I mentioned in my earlier post, Malmö for the weekend. It’s the tallest building in the Nordic countries. To be honest, I thought it was ugly; it sticks out like a sore thumb. Up close, however, I found it remarkable. Standing beneath it, staring up at it, with nothing else even close in height to it, gave the impression that it was swaying.
Turning Torso
It’s in a great area in the city. It seems like the neighborhood is up-and-coming. It used to be an industrial area, but a bunch of new apartment buildings are going in, as well as a huge park. It’s also right by the ocean, so it’s probably a great place to hang out during the summer.
We couldn’t go into the building, because it was residential, but we did get a view of a couple of window cleaners. Boy, I would not want their job. I was terrified just looking at them up there!
Window cleaners high on the Turning Torso.
After a brief visit to the Torso, we walked back in the direction of the train station and headed to the Lille Torg, or little square. It’s a cute square situated adjacent to the pedestrian “stroll”, where numerous cafes spread across with outdoor seating. We had lunch at the Expresso House, the Swedish version of Starbucks. (Really, I saw one around every corner there).
From the Expresso House I navigated our way to St. Peter’s church (St. Petri). Reading the map in Malmö was funny. Normally when looking at a map, everything seems closer than it really is. Not in Malmö. We were always surprised how quickly we would come upon things that looked like they were all the way across the city. I guess they were across the city, but it’s just a tiny city! St. Peter’s church was charming. Upon entering we were struck with the lovely scent of beeswax candles, and wondrous organ music was coming out of the speakers located on the walls along the pews. We were lucky, and visited when the organist was practicing.
The center aisle of St. Petri
From there, we walked toward the Modern Art Museum. My aunt and I noticed a tiny house squished between two apartment buildings. She went up to it and discovered that it is the smallest museum in Malmö. It was free to enter, so we walked in and were told that this museum “Ebba’s House,” was the home of an elderly woman who lived there from the early 1900s until the 1980s. When she moved out, she donated her home to the National Museum, because the interior was the same as it had been since 1910. It was a tiny home, with only one bedroom. Apparently, at some point 6 people lived there! What’s even more mind blowing is that this house was not a lower class home, it was actually the home of an upper middle class family.
After Ebba’s house, we made it to the Modern Art Museum. It was rather odd. It was pretty small, and the exhibit was very political. It was not our cup of tea, but it was briefly interesting. After a short visit there, we found our way to the Mazetti chocolate factory. We were under the impression that this would be a factory tour with a chocolate museum. When we got there we found that it was really just a small cafe with some old chocolate artifacts in it. While I was disappointed (I love both chocolate and factory tours), I was appeased by the numerous chocolate samples.
On our walk back to the train station, we passed a second-hand shop, and my aunt wanted to go in. I ended up getting two summer dresses and a pair of sunglasses, all for about $25! I was happy to start thinking about the summer. Unfortunately, the weather only got worse after Wednesday.
Thursday we woke up quite early for our trek to Legoland! We had bought train tickets already, and even reserved seats because we were told that the trains to Jutland (the mainland, peninsular part of Denmark) are always overwhelmingly crowded before Easter. I was glad we did! It was a three hour train ride to Vejle, and people were standing, filling the aisles of the train. At Vejle station we caught a bus to Legoland. It was only about a half an hour from the station.
Hotel Legoland
Unfortunately, it was a cloudy, gray day, but it wasn’t too cold. After dropping our bags off in the hotel, we headed out to the original Legoland! How exciting! I took about 150 photos during my one day there.
Me and Lego Darth Vader!
When we got into the park, we weren’t sure where to start. From the map, it looked like it was a big place. We started on a little tram ride around Duplo Village. It looked just like all the little toys I used to play with when I was a toddler, except life-size!
Duplo Village
There was also the Lego driving school, which brings back memories of my trip to Legoland, California. I was probably about 7 years old. This was where I got my first driver’s license. It started out with a short video on safe driving, and then we were let loose onto the driving course! The first think I did when I got into my car was try to pull a U-ie and get stuck. A Legoland employee had to turn my car back around. After that I was fine, driving around, stopping at stop signs and red lights, and signaling when I turned.
“Toyota Trafikskole”
Unfortunately, I was a little too big to participate in Traffic School this time. From the monorail, we headed to Miniland, a collection of famous buildings, neighborhoods, and even boats, made up in miniature out of over 20 million Legos!
Miniland
There was also an area of Miniland with recreations of scenes from Star Wars. I recently watched the three old Star Wars movies, and I didn’t recognize any of the scenes, so they must be from the new movies.
Lego Star Wars
Remember that you can click on these photos to see a bigger version of them. You can barely tell they are made from Legos at this size!
We hopped on the Lego Train, which took us a in a little loop around the Lego Safari, Lego Miniland, Duplo village, as well as some other Lego figures. The Lego Safari was only for little kids as well, but I still got some pictures of the wild (Lego) animals.
Lego lion
Lego elephants
After the train completed its loop, we continued our exploration of the park. We came upon pirates and Vikings. We went on some fun little rides: a pirate ship that swung and spun us around, as well as the pirate equivalent of Disney’s spinning teacups. The park employees really got into their roles as pirates, interacting with the little kids a lot. It was great. We walked into a couple of shops. In one, I saw the cashier struggling with some juggling balls. It was painful to watch, so I gave him some tips on juggling pattern.
Pirate banjo player. He even has hair, made of Lego “antennas.”
We made a loop through the park in just about an hour and a half, and we were worried that that was it, that we had already seen all there was to be seen. We went to a “4D” cinema, and watched Lego racers. It was odd, because unlike most Lego movies or games, it was not made up of Lego figures. It was a short movie about a car race through different climates. There was no dialogue, so it didn’t matter what language the audience spoke. There were 3D effects (we wore 3D glasses) as well as smoke, as well as a “snow storm” in the theater.
Once the movie ended it was late enough for us to check into our room. We were staying on Castle Street.
The Wizard on Castle Street
After some cocoa, we headed out for another 4D movie. This time it was about Chima. I was really confused, I thought Chima was the Danish spelling of China, but it’s actually a fairy tale world where Lego animals live. The movie was in English; this time it had dialogue. It was really cute, but it also involved some fighting between the evil crocodile and the good lion prince.
When we emerged from the theater this time, we realized that there was an aquarium right next to it. My aunt loves fish, and has quite a few at home, so of course we made a beeline for Atlantis.
Lego Atlantis
It started out with a little video that was in three languages: Danish, German, and English. It followed a diver in submarine who was traveling to find Atlantis. Following the movie, we were released to a viewing area of a huge tank. The tank had Lego submarines, divers, and treasure, as well as numerous and diverse fish. There were rays and even some small to medium sized sharks! There was a glass tunnel though the tank, and a shark seemed to be resting on top of it. From our angle, you couldn’t see the glass ceiling and it gave the illusion that we could reach our hands out and touch it. It was a bit disconcerting!
Lego Skeleton
There were a couple more tanks of crabs and seahorses, and a small “petting zoo” of marine life. I touched some jiggly sticky animal.
Me, in the crab tank!
When we left the aquarium, I pulled out my map of Legoland and discovered that there was a whole section we had missed our first time around. We discovered a cool Medieval roller coaster that gave us a tour of a Medieval castle before plunging down in a thrilling ride.
We went on another, scarier roller coaster, and then found an Egyptian themed interactive ride where we went through a tomb and shot at skeletons, snakes, and other scary tomb things. It was nice to have the interactivity, but I almost wish that we had gone through again just to look at the amazing Lego construction.
Lego Egyptian Tomb
The last ride we went on was called Ice Pilots School. We were given a card when we walked in and directed to put it into a computer. Then there was a touch screen where I picked out five movements. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I kind of picked randomly. Then we waited for a couple minutes and saw what we were in for! The movements I had chosen would be acted out by a robotic arm holding two seats! When my aunt and I got onto the ride, it was so exciting. The arm shook us this way and that, twisted us upside down and hung us sideways. It was exhilarating. I was glad it was short though, any longer and I probably would have gotten a bit sick.
By the time we were done with that ride, the park was almost closing. We walked past a penguin exhibit with some very playful penguins, then moseyed through some more shops before retiring to our room before dinner. I was ravenous, and ate a lot at the dinner buffet that night.
Lego Tourist
The next morning we returned to Lyngby via train. We hadn’t gotten reserved seats, and were surprised when we had to push thorough to find a tiny spot just to stand on the train. After we passed the Billund airport, however, it cleared out and were were able to have seats for most of the ride back to Copenhagen. That night we wandered around DTU and I showed my aunt the Netto I use for shopping, though it was closed for Good Friday.
The next day I said goodbye to her at the airport and returned to my room to catch up on homework.
It was a really interesting week for me. I learned more about my surroundings and discovered that I can find my way around better than I thought I could. I found some interesting places I’d love to go back to now that the weather is starting to resemble spring. I also did some “important research” while at Legoland, because I just accepted an offer to work a co-op at Hasbro! I’m working with Kre-O, which is a building block toy similar to Legos. I’m really excited, and the trip inspired me to get even more excited about my new job.
Spring break, or Easter break as they call it here, is coming to a close for me today. Instead of me going anywhere, my aunt came to visit me here, and we did all the touristy things that we could do in and around Copenhagen! Since we managed to do so much this week, I’m not going to try to stuff it all into one post. This post will be about the first half.
Saturday, I picked my aunt up from the Copenhagen airport. Unfortunately, she was about an hour late because her luggage had been lost. The upside of this was that we were able to go straight into the center of Copenhagen for dinner, and she didn’t have to worry about lugging her bags around behind her. We took the train from the airport to Norreport station, then walked to the Strøget (the main pedestrian street in Copenhagen). As we were walking back to the station, I found a restaurant that I recognized from the trip my mother and I took to Copenhagen about five years ago. We had gone there for lunch a few times. It was open late for dinner. I had a falafel and my aunt had various salads from the salad bar. Then we took the bus back to Lyngby.
Remember this place, mom?
Sunday, we took the train from Lyngby to Copenhagen Central Station. We went to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum which is free on Sundays. The collection is based on that of the son of the founder of the Carlsberg beer brewery, Carl Jacobsen.
“Water Mother” in the Winter Garden at the Glyptotek
After a couple hours there, we walked to the Danish Jewish Museum. It’s on Castle Island, home of Christiansborg Castle, The Royal Library, and many other museums. The Danish Jewish Museum is in the old Royal Boat House. The architecture is quite interesting. The interior was designed by Daniel Libeskind to make visitors feel like they must constantly reorient themselves. The walls and floors are curved and slanted at odd angles to each other. It is supposed to evoke the feeling of an immigrant or refugee arriving in a new country. I have to say that while the architecture was quite interesting, it did what it was meant to do. I felt quite uncomfortable in the museum at times because I felt like I was falling over even when I was standing up!
There were no cameras allowed inside; this is a photo of a postcard from the Danish Jewish Museum.
After the museum we walked over a bridge and went to Christiania, the hippie commune of Copenhagen. It has an intriguing history. The residents claim to be separate from the government of Denmark, and engage freely in smoking marijuana and selling it on the street (pusher street). The government of Denmark and Christiania have had many arguments about paying taxes, police engagement, and utility bills, among other things, over the years. I’m not sure what the current state of affairs is between Denmark and Christiania, but when we visited, pusher street was quite active. We walked through and the smell of pot was potent. We didn’t stay long, because the smoke was really getting to us. It might be an interesting place to explore again, however. I have read that there is more to see past the touristy “green light district.”
Outside Freetown Christiania
As we headed back to Norreport, we decided to stop at one of the many hot-dog stands and get some pølser, or Danish hot dogs. They were nothing spectacular. Then, as it was really cold out and we didn’t know where to go next, we stopped in a coffee house and got dark chocolate hot cocoa. The way they served it was wonderful. We were given a mug of hot sugared milk and a stick with a lump of bitter dark chocolate on it. We were told to mix it until it melted into the milk. It was delicious. I’d like to make hot chocolate like that again. It was luxurious.
On Monday morning we took a nice long walk in the deer park, Jægersborg Dyrehave. This park is a twenty minute walk from my room. It is a forest park where many herds of deer roam about. We walked through the beautiful park right up to the Eremitageslottet, or Eremitage Castle, a manor house which is currently under restoration. It has some exquisite statues and molding on its roof.
Eremitageslottet
French Sphinx
From the castle we could just spot the ocean, so we decided to walk to the sea. It was a beautiful sunny day, albeit a bit windy. From the water’s edge we could just make out the outline of Sweden in the distance. We walked along the street a little, and saw some beautiful waterfront homes.
Waterfront boat inspired home.
After our walk, we took the bus to Norreport and walked to Nyhavn for lunch. Nyhavn is an adorable strip of restaurants along a canal where sailboats are anchored. We had a typical Danish smørrebrød for lunch, which consisted of two types of bread, salmon, shrimp, roast beef with onions and bacon, and chicken salad. We put our own open faced sandwiches together. We shared one plate, and it was plenty!
Nyhavn
From Nyhavn, we had a lovely walk along the water to visit The Little Mermaid, the “mascot” of Copenhagen. A life size statue, The Little Mermaid often disappoints tourists who are expecting something akin to The Statue of Liberty. It was commissioned to be made by Carl Jacobsen, the same gent whose collection provided the base for the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. The statue is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Little Mermaid. Most of us are familiar with the story due to the animated Disney movie. However, the story Andersen wrote is much more depressing than the Disney version, as the mermaid sacrifices her life to be with the prince on land, only to have him marry someone else. The mermaid in the statue is unhappy, as the mermaid in the story would have been.
The Little Mermaid
Tuesday was a busy day. We left early in the morning and took the train from Lyngby Station to Hillerød, and then took a bus from the station to Fredericksborg castle.
Fredericksborg Castle
The castle was exquisite, and it was decorated as it would have been at different periods of time during its use. There were magnificent paintings and tapestries that decorated the walls. The ceilings were ornately carved and painted, and the floors were tiled.
Chapel
From Frederiksborg Castle, we walked back to the train station as we were enjoying another sunny day, and took the train to Helsingør. There we saw Kronborg Castle. Kronborg Castle is the castle that is referenced in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Kronborg was more of a museum than a reconstruction of history. The interior had been destroyed in a fire in 1629 and was never remade to quite the same grandeur as it once was.
View from the courtyard of Kronborg Castle
View from the tower overlooking the castle
The final stop on our journey was the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. We took the train from Helsingør to Humlebæk and walked from the station to the museum. It was in the middle of a residential community, overlooking the ocean. They currently have a special pop-art exhibit, which was really awesome. I love pop art. I wish I could have taken pictures to share, but there was no photography allowed in the museum. They also had a outdoor sculpture garden. If you ever visit Denmark and have any interest in modern art, I would highly recommend giving the Louisiana museum a visit.
I named the one on the right “The Juggler.” I don’t know what it is actually called.
After our visit, we took the train back to Lyngby, and a bus from Lyngby to DTU. After such a busy day, it was really nice to relax that evening.
After navigating the city for a couple days, I came to realize that I knew the city and the transportation system better than I thought I did. I learned that the maps are actually quite simple to read, and it gave me a lot of confidence in myself to be able to figure out how to get everywhere. Sometimes you just need to do something to show yourself that you are capable of doing it.
Rose Drops 