Friendbook Page Tag

An old fellow student of mine – we both attended Brandbjerg Folk High School – and someone I also consider to be a friend by now tagged me to fill out a friendbook page online, and I am about to post it.

I didn’t tag anyone at this point, but I thought I would post the questions before posting my “page” – and you’re welcome to fill them out!

It goes like this: You stick in a picture of yourself and answer a bunch of questions. I remember that those who had it would stick in a passport or school photo, but those who didn’t would make a drawing of themselves, something they liked, or something we had in common where the photo was supposed to go. You’re welcome to do so yourself – you could do a small drawing in Paint or another drawing program on your computer and put it up there.

Click here to see my friend’s entry!

My name is…
But people call me …
I am _______ years old
If I was the king everybody should …
My favorite subject in school:
My least favorite subject in school:
In my free time I like to…
My favorite color:
My favorite animal:
My favorite sport:
My favorite actor/actress:
My favorite singer/band:
The best book I have read:
The best movie I have seen:
I really don’t like…
I really like…
I would like to travel to …
I dream about …
When I grow up I would like to be …

RE-BLOG: I speak Disney (via Ana Naddoush)

Well, Hakuna Matata, I suppose.

Kenyan observations #9 So I had to come to Kenya to realize that I have been deceived throughout my childhood. There I was, a little naive girl who loved Disney movies (and now I am a big naive girl who loves Disney movies – but that is beside the point) – and who more than anything else loved the characters of The Lion King. I absolutely loved Simba and his pals Timon and Pumba and I was amazed by Hakuna Matata (and had the song and lyrics laser … Read More

via Ana Naddoush

Happy St. John’s!

John the Baptist – in Danish: Johannes Døberen; the name Hans is derived from Johannes – is said to be born six months before Jesus (according to Luke 1), which is right around now (according to the date of Jesus’ birth set by… Who??… Oh well).

I’d love to explain to you the traditions of Denmark in my own words, but for once I think that another source is actually doing a better job:

It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings by visiting healing water wells and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water well tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.) In the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth (probably made by the elder women of the family) on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church’s witch burnings from 1540 to 1693. This burning sends the “witch” away to Bloksbjerg, the mountain ‘Brocken’ in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day.

Holger Drachmann and P. E. Lange-Müller wrote a midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) in 1885 called “Vi elsker vort land…” (“We Love Our Country”) that is sung at every bonfire on this evening.

Source: Wikipedia: Midsummer –> Denmark (as of June 24th 2010 @ 2:50 AM)

Additionally, I remember many a midsummer bonfire where a firecracker has been put in the witch, making her scream as she was burned.

Bonfire at Blågårds Plads, Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

Happy St. John's!

Last Brock of the season – catching up on Brocktour 2010

If you want to cut the latest and go straight to the last of the Brocktour, click here.

On Friday, we had the last Rock Service of the season in Brorson’s Church. The band was Turnip Greens, playing a very Southern kind of rock; very bluesy. They were, IMHO, one of the few bands that have been radically different from the rest of the lot I have heard live at the Services. Sure, I can tell the bands apart when I have to, but most of them are ususally one big blur.

This was also the first time I have ever worn a portable mic in my life. I think this came from having to deal with a presentation with two exercise bikes in front of everything, the two guys exercising having to use the portable mics anyway. So instead of having to deal with the extra cords/wires/jacks for the usual prayer mics when pulling the (heavy!!!) bikes aside, we (who read the prayers) just took over the mics as soon as the presentation was over. And just so we’re clear – using portable mics for the two individuals reading the prayers is GENIUS; no having to think of how to hold up the prayers and tilt your head in order to be able to READ the prayers AND having the mic catching the sound properly. Just attach the mic as you did when it worked through dress rehearsal, unmute it (it would be stupid and highly disturbing to the rest of the crowd NOT to mute it throughout the rest of the Service), and wham-bam-boogie – vi kører.

Having Per the Reverend back as the preacher was a true gift. In spite of him being the preacher through Easter, I had almost forgotten how he looked in his cassock and ruff; he’s been off duty for the Rock Services of March and April, plus the monthly morning service in May – and I haven’t been able to attend the very few services there has been in between (there are few enough for me to actually spend a lot of time in Jerusalemskirken in between without missing out on much in Brorson’s; most of Brorson’s services are at the most monthly or annual, depending on the occasion, not weekly). Seeing that Jerusalemskirken is a Methodist church (where the ministers either look like smurfs when dressed in their blue cassock and white stole for their regular morning service or are dressed slightly more informal for their second Sunday service), Per in his black cassock and white ruff was a divine sight!

We had visitors from Herning, a town in Jutland, who left us this wonderful message:

Super good service!! We enjoyed it! You rule! And keep doing that! God be with you! With love Herning ❤ P.S. Hope you see this

Catching up on the last of the Brocktour, we had our last Service in Skt. Nikolai Church in Holbæk. In my opinion, it was one of the greatest Services of that tour. You could argue that it was because it was the last one, that it was the only one on Zealand (the rest being in Jutland), and the worst had already happened (you may remember me cursing over the confirmands in Løgumkloster over Facebook). But I don’t think those are the actual reasons why.

I remember a description given by one of the others; that the last couple of back rows in the church were confirmands with their usual hormones – topped off with Red Bull. Yup, you can only imagine the noise they were trying to make; you might think it would be Løgumkloster all over again. But first of all, Skt. Nikolai isn’t as huge as Løgumkloser. Second of all – as soon as they started making noise, the rest of the congregation (including confirmands, I believe) litterally hushed loudly at them – every time! – and they stopped. I LOVE them for doing that, hushing down the rascals! Love. love. love!

Besides that, we had the same arrangement with the Sacrament/Holy Communion as we did in Løgumkloster; seeing that at least Løgumkloster is one of the biggest churches around (Skt. Nikolai isn’t the biggest, but it isn’t small, either), we had two stations with two reverends each serving bread and wine. Besides our own Reverend (Per), we had three other Reverends coming in from the local and neighboring perishes. In Skt. Nikolai, I remember receiving it from at least one Reverend (if not the two of them) from the neighboring perish (Tveje Merløse Church/Perish) – and I was surprised by how sincere he was. Not saying that other Reverends aren’t sincere, but I think it can quickly become a habit when having to say “This is the Body/Blood of Christ(, shed for you)” a humongous number of times every so often – and this Rev was jawdroppingly sincere and convincing, not just repeating a line. That gave me a great, positive energy to go up and read out the prayers shortly after, and that was the best read of prayers of the entire tour, no question about it.

I think no matter how sick and tired I become of dragging things back and forth from different churches, setting up, taking down, etc., I’ll always end up going back on tour again – just because I end up remember the good things. If I get another chance of touring, I may just take it.

Mmmmm! – Smell the wonder of cookies!

There was just enough dough for one batch. Served with Sweet Chai. Yum!

And thus, my very first piece of Royal Copenhagen was taken into use. (it's the bowl!)

Brocktour: Løgumkloster

Tuesday presented us with a gorgeous piece of church – Løgumkloster Kirke; an old monastery church in the south of Jutland (kloster = monastery). It’s one of those churches I can walk into and feel the calm, no matter the denomination – just like Catholic churches of Southern Europe (just a note: Løgumkloster Church was converted to Church of Denmark after the Reformation back in the 1500s – Church of Denmark is Lutheran-Evangelical).

That being said, it seems that a tour can’t go by without a bunch of unmanagable confirmands. I know it’s just my second tour, but both tours have presented just that. The Reverend usually makes clear that we don’t applaud during the service itself, but the days the band plays encores, we can applaud the band during the encores. But the youngsters in Løgumkloster went contra – and applauded LOUDLY after just about every action during the service. Even when I said “Let’s be silent together” after the prayer, they could do nothing but yell… And applaud. *sigh*
I could bitch about spoiled brats and decent behavior, especially in a church, but I won’t. Well, maybe later, but not now. It’s just a waste of energy right now. The service went exceptionally well in spite of the unmanagables.

Afterwards, we drove to the hut we spent the night in, evaluated over a night cab, and I went to bed shortly after – and had surprisingly many hours of sleep, all things considered.

Apparently, I'm the only one going on caffeine. I honestly don't mean to decline alcohol. I blame my body and its cravings.

Tourbus view, Wednesday. Somewhere in Southern Jutland.

Brocktour: Checking back in.

So, yes.

Monday went by in remarkable silence. I know I spoke of a special Music Monday that didn’t happen, but there are still mondays to come.

Coming to photos, I can see that my Flickr account is slowly crawling towards the 100 % usage (95 % so far). What I’m planning to do is to use my account on Photobucket instead – I’ll let you know when I do so; I promise to post links.

Last night, we were in Hove Church. We’re starting to remember what to do with things – routine is nice, things run smoother, and faster. Certainty and time to check up on more are bonuses of this. The backside is just that I, personally, feel like I should be doing something when there seems to be nothing left. Then of course, I pull out my phone and start taking pictures (thus all the pics of churches – there are more than the ones I uploaded), or just sit down and chill until someone asks for help.

What I (and others of the group) found amusing yeaterday is that we were referred to as “the Copenhageners” in the written schedule of the locals. Yes, we do come from a church in Copenhagen, but the irony is that the majority of us are actually from Jutland (where Hove Church is located).

Something else I noticed was the smell in the air. Now that we had thaw, the frost wasn’t present to hide the smell of fertilizer. I think that many urban individuals find the smell disgusting – and I don’t know why I actually like it. My theory is that I’ve spent just enough time in the countryside (incl. a year in a folk high school) to have it growing on me, to grow adjusted to its “face”; be it because I have good memories of the countryside, or because I became used to it (ya know, now that it was there anyway). I like it.

I turned in early (even before any Porto Cálem was in sight). I hoped to be up in time to be up in time to pack my shit in time for breakfast – but somehow I managed to snooze and ignore my phone’s alarmclock for about an hour and a half, and woke up hearing the activity coordinator of Brorson’s telling someone else that the bus was leaving in 20 minutes. Yikes! The policy is that we’re responsible of waking up ourselves, so I think it’s natural that noone woke me up.

now it’s late – I wrote the above before setting up in Løgumkloster, which was today – I’ll write the last notes now, and continue tomorrow.

Luckily, I managed to throw some clothes on my back and the rest in my bag and in my pockets, and make a couple of sarnies before hurrying out the door. Now I’m just looking forward to evaluate, mayhaps have a nightcab, brush my teeth, and turn in.

Rock'n'roll in the bus, Guitar Hero/caffeine style, on Tuesday night.

Godt Nytår – Gott Nytt År – Happy New Year – Prost Neujahr – Feliz Año Nuevo – Gelukkig Niewjaar!

Recipe: That Ham!

This is something that I pull out for special occations – like holidays or special dinners where a roast is absolutely necessary. Like the family julefrokost. Although it’s a bit odd, cooked in cola and all, everybody love it and ask for it, and have been doing so since the first time I cooked it.

It used to be my mother cooking the ham back in the days, but she cooked it in some way that made the entire house stink. When I then found a special (or should we continue with calling it odd?) recipe I wanted to try a few years back, I took my chance to suggest that I cooked the ham that year. And I’ve been cooking the ham for the annual family julefrokost ever since.

Now, it’s no big secret that I got the recipe from Nigella Lawson. Then it’s said. But I *did* make some adjustments.

I know Nigella has talked of making soup from the cooking liquid – now I can’t remember which one, but I will post it if I find it.

Now, here’s what happened this year:

Colaham
Although I think I got all the good tips on timing worked into this recipe, I think it’s a good idea to read Nigella’s recipe, too, as I may not get all of the goodies on cooking and roasting into my version of the recipe.

Ingredients
1 678 g gammon (US: ham)
1 1½ liter bottle of Coca-Cola
1 onion, peeled and cut in halves

For the glazing
1 tablespoon organic dijon mustard
1 tablespoon organic maple syrup
1 small handful (or 1 unit) of cloves.

For the leftover Coke
A large glass.
A slice of lemon.
Ice cubes if desired.

To-do

• Put your gammon into a pot, fat side down (if possible). Add the onion and cover ham and onion in Coca-Cola. Cook for 45 min. (add 15 min. if the gammon comes straight from the fridge).
• Put possible ice cubes into the large glass, pour the rest of the Coke over the ice/into the glass, squeeze lemon juice into it, and enjoy while cooking.
• Mix mustard and syrup in a small bowl.
• Preheat oven to 240º C.
• When the gammon has been cooked (and is now officially a ham, I suppose), take it out of the liquid and put it on a chopping board.
• Slice off the fat, leaving a thin layer, score the thin layer with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove.
• Place the ham in a roasting pan. Cover the “diamonds” with glaze, and pour the rest of the graze over the rest of the ham.
• Put it in the oven – the original recipe says it should be there for 10 minutes, but my nose could tell me different before the 10 minutes had gone, so keep an eye (and nose!) on it. Take it out (before it burns!) and let it rest.

Enjoy!