Torvehallerne

Torvehallerne is a new market that opened this fall in CPH. It is full of gourmet stalls selling a huge range of amazing things like organic vegetables, high quality chocolate, expensive knives, and sushi.

Me and my Palmar went there on Saturday to get food for the meal we were making that night. While we were walking around and checking out all the shops we were intrigued by a coffee bar called the Coffee Collective, which according to their website is a "a specialty coffee micro roastery and coffee consulting company" :P They sell fair trade coffees from around the globe. We tried the coffee of the day from Kenya. It was really unique and unlike any coffee I had ever tried before. It had a fruity taste and to me tasted more like tea than coffee.

they made the coffee by pouring boiling water directly over the grounds in the filter.

Palmar and I were inspired to buy sweet potatoes to use in our dinner but found the ones in the market too expensive so we bought them and a bunch of other fresh vegetables from a farmers market just a few steps away from Torvehallerne, which was still amazing and way cheaper.

yaahhh boyyy

For dinner Palmar made his specialty: mung dal - a stew made of lentils with curry sauce. That with roast vegetables and salad from the farmers market was the perfect dinner, and even better to eat when we woke up on Sunday.

The dal cooking :) I read that if your pot is about to boil over, putting a wooden spoon or fork across the pan, like this, will stop it.
I can tell you that this is untrue.

A Night at the Ballet

Another perk at my job is that sometimes when a class is scheuldled to see a ballet, there are extra tickets and they are passed onto the interns for free :) :) I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ticket for the high energy and very entertaining ballet : Broadway for en aften (Broadway for a night)
It was divided into 4 acts which were each their own miniature story ranging from a very traditional 2 person dance to a very modern one where the dancers were even rolling on the floor. The final act was a version of West Side Story and the dancers were even singing at some parts which was pretty funny because of their accents :P

Mission ITpossible

Last week, Joe and I got sent on an emegency mission. Students from our school had been living in a dorm for the last 3 months with pretty much no internet. They had had enough and called in reinforcements to make sure their cries were heard - aka - they had their parents call the school they were studying abroad at and have them complain. Well obviously DIS wanted to right this situation right away, but needed an expert opinion on what steps to take in. This is where Joe and I come in. We had to go out and visit the dorm and asses what the problem was and how we can solve it to make the stuends happy.

At first we felt really cool and important because we got to take a cab and put it on our work credit card, but then I soon realized our task would be far less glamorous than it had first seemed.
I won't bore everyone with the IT details of our mission :P but I'll just tell you it pretty much felt like a wild goose chase leading us into uncharted territories - aka asbestos filled / haunted basements.In the end we decided that the wireless provided at the dorm was basically useless and our school should provide the students with a solution we have control over ourselves, so we ordered USB sticks that provide wireless internet. In total we had to get 46 of them and guess how much they cost - 100,000 kr. which is equal to $20,000 !!! those students better be grateful for what we did for them !!

Sur plus les

Last Friday Sandra invited me to a party that some of her friends were hosting to celebrate the opening of their new design and advertising consulting firm. It was actually two firms joining together Surplus Wonder and Lundholm Experience Strategy . It was really cozy and we just hung out for a few hours, drank a bottle of wine and chatted with some of the other guests who were also graduates from the Danish Design School.


When we were leaving, Sandra knew about a candy store that was right down the street and obviously there was no way to resist stopping in.

like a kid in a candy store ;)

Update #3

Had breakfast and champagne in the office for my coworker, Joe's, birthday. We over did it with the pastries, bread, cheese, and champagne, so much that no one in the office even had lunch ! My boss, Mads, felt the need to hide the champagne bottle for the picture :P

Made a curry with Olivia with carrots, potatoe, mushooms, onions, coconut milk and cashews

Continued watching the Big Bang Theory (can highly recommend) with Olivia and our German friend, Alex, from our Danish class.

Alex made us a traditional German dish, Spätzle, made up of layers of small egg noodles, carmalized onions, cream and loads of cheese.

Started celebrating J-Dag (J-Day is the day where breweries release their special Christmas brew of beers for the season) in the office Friday afternoon.
Saw The Adventures of TinTin in the movie theatre with Palmar (again I would highly recommend!)

Caught up with the Julenissen (Christmas Elves) who were passing out free Christmas beers out of the back of a truck around the city.

Palmar was excited about getting free beers :)

Made a vegan rice and beans dish with tomatoes, broccoli, onions, and chili peppers

And tonight I passed my Module 1 Danish test :D I've been taking classes for 12 weeks now and am now moving onto level 2 ! woop woop !

Update #2

Made an æblekage (apple cake) for my office's weekly meeting / breakfast

Clearly Joe really liked it

Got free Halloween licorice flødeboller and sparking wine from Summerbird - an amazing gourmet chocolatier here in Copenhagen

Had a candy feast / movie night with Olivia. We ate chocolate, gummies, and malted milk balls while watching Clue (one of my favorite fall movies) and the Sex and the City movie in the film viewing room at our school. So hyggeligt ! Next time were bringing blankets and candles !

Co-hosted a party at my apartment where me and my roommate each invited all of our friends. It was such a cozy evening. The pumpkin seeds I saved and toasted were a huge success for a party snack.

Such a Danish thing to do putting the bike that is usually in our hallway in the bathtub to save space during the party

I was inspired by my dear friend Katrina to make this cute and festive decoration for the party

went to a leopard theme rave at bolsja fabriken

Update #1

I've been having too much fun and have been too busy to blog, but now I'm back ! I want to briefly catch up with everything I've been doing in the past month because its just been so great :D

I made vegan granola bars with nuts, oats, dates, figs, raisins, bananas, honey, and cinnamon

A pizza with a homemade whole wheat crust, roast garlic, purple onions, fresh rosemary, tomatoes, and goad cheese

went to a disco electro party in an old factory in Amager

assisted for the wine tasting club at my school where it is my job to slice bread, cheese, meats, and drink wine.

visited Rosenborg castle with Palmar

Kulturnatten

Kulturnatten - Culture night - is a night in October where all sorts of cultural institutions : museums, library, churches, concert halls, government buildings etc... open their doors and hold special events for guests to come see an exhibition, a concert, or what their organization is all about. It really gives such a great atmosphere with people of all ages getting out an about on a Friday night, enjoying everything the city has to offer.

I started with my friend Alyssa by meeting at a cafe near our work to devise a game plan. What we came up with was brilliant and set us on a path for a perfect night ! We started outside of the center seeing a bunch of different things while we worked our way back into town. The things we saw were :

a beautiful sunset in Holmen.

a submarine that is turned into a museum.

the opera house

an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Center about livable cities and new urban developments in Copenhagen and the surround areas.

a traditional nordic concert in Our Savior's Church - note these drunk ravers in the church were not part of the traditional performance

favorite : an acapella concert in the black diamond. i loved the setting, the singers were on a walkway in the huge atrium while people could still be walking around or taking escalator ramps up and down. my favorite songs they sang were black bird from the beatles and black or white from michael jackson

then i met up with Palmar and we went to the official afterparty at the old Carlsberg factory.

it was sooo much fun. we had a great time :) especially dancing to this song :


a chilled out version of chris isaak's wicked game

so in love with CPH and life on this night

Pintrest Dinner Fail

So there is no denying my newfound obsession with Pintrest. Think: your favorite food, craft, design, travel, and lifestyle blogs combined with twitter. People post cute and cool ideas they find from all over the web, and if you are a memeber you have the ability to 'repin' the things you like to your own pin boards. The themes of my boards are fall, cute animals, things I like, healthy foods, sinfully sweet foods etc...

Well after pinning non stop for the past 72 hours I decided I should definitely make something for dinner with my new found inspiration. I was actually over ambitious and decided to make 3 things ! I was thinking pizza, granola bars, and raw date truffles so that I could have this stuff to bring to work for lunch and snacks.

Well after leaving the grocery store, I started to think about what I was going to make first and how.... and then I realized I FORGOT THE MAIN INGREDIENT FOR EVERY RECIPE :P yeast for the pizza crust, rolled oats for the granola bars, and dates for the DATE truffles ! (well actually I knew I skipped the dates because I couldn't find them)

Anyways, I still had plenty of new ingredients to make dinner with so I ended up making a salad with spinach, tomato, feta cheese, and figs and it was still great. Mark my words : I will make all of the things I originally planned, before the end of the weekend !

Welcome to Jamrock !

I can't stop listening to this !

Sunday Brunch

Last night I happened to meet an Icelandic - yogi - raver - chef. He is the chef at the Laundromat Café, and invited me there for brunch this morning. The cafe is really cozy and has such a good vibe. Its really cool because there is an actual laundromat in there ! Its a great idea because you can do your laundry while you eat breakfast !

We started with an orange juice slush which is pretty much elixir for any hangover. Then we got lattes. I was surprised when I saw the waiter who delivered them was Kenneth Nyguyen - a photographer and blogger, who is pretty famous here in CPH.

Then we moved onto the main attraction - the food ! We both ordered 'the clean' brunch (vegetarian option). Everything on it was fantastic. We had greek yogurt with honey and homemade museli, eggs, roasted potatoes, grilled tomato, salad with humus, a piece of cheese (I forget what type), pancakes with chocolate sauce and fresh fruit ! I ate so much, but whatever ! it was mid afternoon by the time we finally ate !

the whole spread

close up !

Shopping Saturday

girls dress for Fall in Amagertorv on Strøget - the pedestrian shopping street in downtown CPH

Such a lovely fall day ! I saw the movie Crazy Stupid Love last night with Olivia and Chalen and it was awesome ! Not a cheesy feel good movie because the main topic was all the horrible pain that comes as a product of being in love - young and seasoned love alike, but it was down to earth, funny, so cute. A great way to spend a Friday night, and even better because I felt so fresh this morning and ready to take full advantage of my Saturday.

I woke up early and cleaned my apartment - exciting I know :P but it really needed it. Then I met up with Chalen and Olivia at the Fredriksberg flea market. We had been one time before and found some great deals, and this time was no exception ! I bought a cool vintage blouse for only 15 DKK - $3. I'm going to wear it out tonight with the leather skirt I bought there a few weeks ago.

After shopping, we grabbed some coffee and sat outside at a near by cafe enjoying the sun and people watching.

I had plans to continue my shopping adventure with my friend Bryndis. We got brunch at a cafe, and the potato and leek omelet I ordered hit the spot.


When we moved onto shopping, I wanted to show her the Chelsea ankle boots I had found the day before and couldn't stop thinking about. She liked them as much as I did, and after trying on both boots, I knew that I had to have them. But because I am a smart shopper, I knew from doing some research that I could find them online for almost half the cost. Although it will be hard to wait the extra week or two for them to arrive, saving over 300 DKK ($60) is so worth it. They are so nice - black leather and very classic so I can wear them for years to come !

After walking and shopping around a bit more Bryndis had to go home to continue doing work for her own fashion brand Rosa Bryndis. I wanted to stop in H&M to find some earrings to wear out tonight and found these babies:

We shall see how the whole look comes together...