Danish Christmas Part 2: Let the Feast Begin

We are now on the home stretch for Christmas and it's time to start thinking food. Unlike at home in Australia, where we enjoy a long lazy lunch in the sun, here in Copenhagen we will celebrating on Christmas Eve.

Danish Christmas dinner is a ritual heavy with traditions. As Christmas approaches there is no discussion of whether the dinner will consist of lamb or beef, who will bring the salads and whether it is worth bothering with a hot pudding. Oh no no, dinner consists of three, prescribed and inflexible elements. Cookies, meat and rice pudding.

My boyfriend's mother has already begun preparations for this Danish Christmas feast with a round of baking that  can only be described as Martha Stewartesque. The resulting Christmas cookies with marzipan and vanilla squares will make for scrumptious pre (and post) dinner snacking.

When it's time to dig in to the main course two types of meat will be served. Slow roasted pork and  duck will be accompanied by potatoes. For those who are feeling particularly Nordic there will be some pickled herring- although I may leave that small element to the natives!

You may have noticed that this menu is primarily a meat lover delight. My boyfriend's mother insists that the Christmas meal excludes such decorative features because the people of Denmark are traditionally farmers who do not indulge in such light fare when celebrating feasts. Lucky for us modern office goers it is just the one day per year... 

The meal is crowned by a large serving of a curiously French named, but wholly Danish dessert tradition: Ris a la Mande (almond rice). Only served at Christmas time, Ris a la Mande is a cold rice pudding made almost entirely with whipped cream and glutinous rice. Flaked almonds are added and then the sumptuous pudding is topped with a rich cherry sauce.

It is truly delicious, which is probably why some canny Danish mum invented the tradition of sticking a whole almond in the pud. Whoever is lucky enough to find the unscathed almond gets a small gift. This little coup has the effect of making everyone eat extremely slowly for fear of smashing the precious almond with an overzealous bite.

It also prevents the tummy aches that would no doubt result from consuming too much whipped cream too quickly...

Merry Christmas (or Festive Season) to all!

Claire. 

Counting Down to Christmas…Sleigh Bells and Snow Bells….

We’re only just over a week away from Christmas now. Here in Copenhagen the ground is covered with a thick carpet of snow and the skyline is lit by a range of Christmas lights that shine all the way to the North Pole.

This is my second northern Christmas. Whilst I miss the lazy summer afternoons and ice cream Christmas pud that I associate so closely with Christmas at home, there are elements of ye olde school Christmas time (or Jule, pronounced Yule, as it is referred to here) that make it slightly more cosey than Southern Christmas. 

It’s not just about the snow outside or the Christmas tree lasting more than two days before drooping in the heat. It’s about the firm upkeep of traditions which just don’t translate to the Southern summer.

Sure, we have our own great traditions in Australia. And I think that one of the best things about Christmas in home is the multiculturalism. If you celebrate Christmas in Australia you probably have your own unique family traditions. Some stay up for midnight mass, but for others Christmas is more about family than religion. Some eat beef, others lamb or seafood. Some people have a big lunch; others wait to tuck into a large dinner. Some people are bound to purchase a gift for everyone in their family and other families decide to run a Kris Kringle instead.  It speaks volumes about the ability of Australians to forge their own cultures and traditions.

But no matter where your family hails from, chances are that somewhere along the line you have had to modify your Christmas traditions in order to make them work in the heat. Or maybe they have simply changed over a couple of generations to fit into a more relaxed lifestyle.

In contrast, the anchoring thing about a Christmas celebrated so far from home is that the traditions in Denmark are so strong. There are a lot of them, but this year I’ll just cover the countdown to Christmas…

First on the countdown list is a Christmas candle. This is a must for every Danish home to burn in the window each evening.  The Christmas candle is slightly different from a standard candle in that it has the numbers one to twenty four carved along the side.  Every evening you light the candle and wait for it to burn down to the next number before blowing it out and waiting for the next day to burn the next stage. For me the charming thing about the candles is watching them disappear day by day and knowing that the big event is getting closer and closer. It is a visual reminder of the anticipation we all feel for the coming celebrations.

Obviously playing with flames and candle wax in anticipation of is enough to delight any sensible child. But Danish children have the extra privilege of being on the receiving end of a beautiful tradition of advent calendars. Now when I was young, an advent calendar evolved some dodgy illustrations of Santa hiding some molded chocolate behind cardboard windows. There is none of that here.  

Here dedicated parents pick and individually wrap twenty four small, but personalized gifts. For example, one friend (although now an adult) always receives several batches of her favourite sweet- Danish salty liquorice. But it’s not all about sweets. It might be something like a skipping rope, or even a lottery ticket.  But it’s not really about what’s in the packages, it’s about the thought and attention that goes into creating something special and individual…building anticipation for a family event.

And you can get creative with this too. Even if you don’t have the time to invest in twenty four separate gifts you can easily do better than the old Cadbury calendar by creating the packaging. Check out these different themes to get you inspired for next year!

So cheers for now.

Next week- Christmas dinner!

Claire.

Jean-ius style

So last week was all about girls and their tights. I felt a bit bad about being so girl focused, so this week I'm going to take on something a bit more boyish, or at least unisex.

The inspiration for this post goes like this. The other day I was walking home from a lunch meeting through some parkland quite close to our apartment. The canal was frozen over and covered with snow, like icing on a big cake. The trees were completely bare of leaves and the sky was a steely gray - creating the impression of a rather naff Christmas card. As I came over the final hill- thanking the lord for my gumboots and anticipating a nice warm cocoa- I almost fell upon a group of boys using the slope for some afternoon sledding! 

All bundled up with their mittens and scarves the children were tossing themselves down the hill with the energy of small, pink faced bolts of lightening and then running back up with little breaths choofing out of them like steam trains. It was a truly exhausting sight. And yet I was also more than a little jealous. (PS I am going to find my own sled this week.)

Needless to say, no one was wearing tights. For sledding you need something much sturdier. Something like jeans. They don't tear, they're nice and warm and they don't absorb water (too) quickly.

 Ok, I know that last week I was all down on jeans, but sometimes there is nothing better than a good pair of jeans to get you through an afternoon of raucous outdoor fun. And even though they can feel a bit like a uniform in winter, the wonderful thing about jeans is that they are so darn versatile. They can be for slopping around the house, or getting good and dirty outside or even making a high fashion statement.

And if you do it right then your little sledding monsters can look stylish as well. But remember, we're after comfort and style, not K-Fed.

To illustrate my point you can start with the basics from somewhere like H&M Kids. In Australia Cotton On Kids is a good equivalent, they produce all the latest styles cheap as chips for the kids to run, in, sled in and in not such a long time from now, grow out of.

But jeans can also make a statement if you want to have fun with them. Check out these pimped up Levi's with acid wash that looks like something from The Wedding Singer. Warning: these are only for people 14 and under. If you're conceivably old enough to have worn acid wash jeans on the first trip around the fashion merry go round then they are not for you. They are also not for taking your child to lunch with grandma in, or meetings with prospective schools etc etc. These are the birthday party and disco material.

Finally, we have the classy jeans. The investment piece, if you will. There are no trends or tricks with these. They're just nicely cut and finished with no embellishment. You know you can bring your little man out to dinner wearing these ones from Stella McCartney and, if he does not drop spaghetti sauce on them, he will look just like one of Brangelina's brood. 

If you're lucky and your kids don't grow too fast they may last a couple of years before you need to invest in a new pair...

Next week... Some Danish Christmas cheer!

Take care,
Claire

Tight fit

Snow snow snow, we have had a lot of it here in Copenhagen this week. In fact as I write it is -3 degrees celsius and big fat flakes are falling outside, it is 3pm and almost dark.

Needless to say the best course of action when faced with such frostiness is to stay tucked up in bed. This way you can have the sensation of living inside a snow dome without actually having to deal with the snow. The grand secret of snow being that whilst it makes everything look very soft and pristine white, it is extremely cold.

Alas, sometimes leaving the warm confines of the apartment cannot be avoided. Going outside these days involves several layers of clothing, beginning with thermal underwear and ending with a fluffy hat. How to make oneself look respectable in such a gettup is almost beyond my powers. Simple jeans and boots are the best solution. But there are only so many days that you can wear jeans before you begin to crave a little femininity in the form of a skirt (and also jeans do start to smell weird after a while, I mean, you have to wash them at some point right?).

Luckily some genius person invented tights for occasions such as these. After days or weeks of jeans there can be nothing more glorious than slipping into a pair of thick woolen tights (or two for extra thermal layers) and getting all girled up in a nice skirt. 

Sadly, unless you have the legs of a baby giraffe you have probably not ventured into the realms of the boldly coloured tights featured so heavily in the last few seasons. But you need not discount them completely, because they do look fabulous on little girls...in fact  there is also nothing cuter than little girls in skirts and tights.

This winter there has been an explosion of adorably colourful ruffle skirts and cute smock dresses colour blocked with bold tights. Ribbing has been popular (as seen in these efforts from Wheat). 

If you want something a bit more fun Petite Bateau make polka dots look more stylish than you would have thought possible. 

If there was ever a less harmful way to live vicariously through your daughter it is surely with a colourful selection of tights, what girl doesn't want bright (insert favourite colour here) legs? 

Wanna swap legs?

After all, unless a herd of baby giraffes wanting to trade legs comes along, the rest of us aren't going to be able to pull them off quite so easily any time soon. 

Wish as we might.

Take care, 

Claire.

Lakage Drømme aka Layer Cake Dreams

When I was small the layer cake was an object of mystery and wonder for me.  The most appealing thing about layer cake, in my opinion, is the naughty extra layer of icing. It is cakeish, but not dry, soft but more wet than spongy… Ideal for little taste buds really.

Of course the other reason that the layer cake was so interesting to me was that until recently, I had never actually seen one of these elusive cakes produced - my mother’s own baking efforts running more along the lines of oatmeal slices and rarely involving chocolate. 

The obvious question dogged me- how do they bake it with the filling inside?

Eventually I figured out that the layer cake actually consists of two cakes (or one cut in half), with the filling piped in post baking.  Probably you have also realized this and figured, as did I, that it was all just far too much bother to actually make one when you can purchase a very good cake, prelayered, from the local bakery.

cake image via I am Baker

As it turns out a layer cake of some description is virtually mandatory for all birthday’s (especially childrens’ birthdays) taking place on Danish soil. And this year I was called upon to make one. Like most tasks that seem insurmountable, the layer cake actually turned out to be quite easy. Yes, that’s right; you do not need to be a domestic goddess to pull this off.  

Needless to say we had a few wobbles (e.g. I would not recommend attempting to divide or ice the cake before it is thoroughly cooled), but the point is that it tasted delicious. Last week I had a second go and the aesthetics were considerably better.

Anyway, it seems a shame for all children to grow up knowing so little of the secrets of layer cake (i.e. it is actually two cakes and they do not bake it with the filling inside). And it strikes me that spending an afternoon tackling a layer cake with your kids in the run up to the next birthday party could be well worthwhile. 

The beautiful thing about it is that not only will the kids have heaps of fun, but you needn’t worry about ruining the birthday cake. As my stepmother said to me on the phone from Australia as I frantically attempted to recover my first effort- chocolate icing will cover a myriad of sins…

I would recommend this Jamie Oliver adaption. Or if you’re feeling a bit chocolately ambitious and want to really mess up the kitchen this Nigella Lawson creation is perfect. 

Cake via Jamie Oliver

So, no excuses; get your kids into the kitchen and get layering people!

Take care,

Claire 

Euro Style - Perambulation

In my first contribution to the Inspired Occasion I discussion getting the kids around using bikes, now it's time to talk prams...

Choosing a pram for your bundle of joy seems to be as much about style these days as it is about safety, comfort and maneuverability. Where once prams were simply a way to get your children from A to B without breaking your back, they're now more like a large handbag on wheels...

 

As with handbags some women will opt for sheer practicality when choosing a pram and end up with the pram equivalent of a hessian sack. Some will opt for sheer style perfection- as the women in London do with the extremely popular Maclaren prams (in a variety of colours, but always, always the same shape).  

It's lovely to look at, but not terribly practical in rough terrain or bad weather conditions and it doesn't have much in the way of storage. It is the Louise Vuitton luggage collection of prams, if you will.

The Danes, on the other hand, prefer a more classic model. More akin to something that I would refer to as a baby carriage rather than a pram, the prams wheeled around by the mothers of Copenhagen are once again a stylish twist on an old favourite. Make no mistake - these prams are large and sturdy. But not large and sturdy like a tuck shop lady's arms, more like an environmentally friendly BMW 4WD.

Danish brand, Trille (pictured above) makes a number of models frequently sighted in my neighbourhood- complete with snowsuit wearing babies inside. They keep baby warm as toast in winter and guarantee shade in summer. 

Plus, the storage room is incomparable with any lower riding model. The downside of this extra room is that they can be quite difficult to maneuver around the supermarket, but with style oozing from  every spoke of your pram, no doubt the crowds will simply part for you...!

And what do you do when baby gets to big for the pram? Why you make them ride a bike of course! 

Claire

Euro Style - To scarf or not to scarf?

One of the most vexing questions as a parent, surely (?), is how, if at all to best accessorise your child. As the weather gets colder here adults throw on layers of clothing to keep our extremities warm. Hats, scarves and gloves are plentiful in the stores and are increasingly spotted in all of their stylish manifestations on the streets.

Yet despite this explosion of adult accessories, child sized equivalents are rarely seen. Instead, parents here prefer to put the very young in snowsuits which make them look like tiny versions of the Michelin Man swaddled in a pram with just a tiny red nose peeking out.

source unknown

It seems that there is one reason for this - kids will do just about anything to get themselves out of clothing, no matter how attractive it is. And despite the chilling wind (just 4 degrees celcius here today), Danish toddlers are no exception.

On the other side of the world, as you enter the warmer weather, parents are no doubt preparing for battle in the war to keep sun hats on tiny heads, sandals on tiny feet and sun shirts on tiny tummies. Stylish as many of these items are the temptation must be strong to just keep the kids in the shade...

All this is not for want of trying by canny kids designers who have created some beautiful accessories for both summer and winter. Danish brand Wheat (supported by no other than Crown Princess Mary) has some delicious creations which are enough to make me jealous. You must check out the groovy waist-coats in both the summer and winter collections. The scarves tap into the well worn adult layering trend.

Wheat

Wheat

Similarly Danish brand Escentia uses pure Alpaca wool (luxurious) to create soft cuddly items, which with a bit of luck your child will want to keep on. Mittens, mittens, mittens - but could you keep them on little fingers?

Escentia

Escentia

That's all for now,

Claire. 

Couture for Kids - worth the cost?

This weekend just passed my brilliant boyfriend organised a surprise trip from Copenhagen to Berlin. After five hours of hurtling along the German autobahn at 160km/ph, a confusing encounter with a Burger King employee called Boheme and almost making schnitzel of ourselves and an unfortunate deer, we finally arrived in one of the hippest districts of the former GDR, Friedrichshain.

Berlin has one of the youngest and most dynamic populations in all of Europe. The relatively low rent and the city's reputation as an arts and culture hub keep new inhabitants streaming in constantly, whilst the old ones grow up, get responsible and move to Munich or some such. 

Dolce & Gabbana

So it is perhaps counter intuitive that über cool Friedrichshain would also count amongst the most fertile places in Europe. The birth rate in this small area of Berlin is the highest in Europe due to the extremely high proportion of the population that is young and female (not because Berliners are more loving than everyone else).

At a local market the next morning we observed all sorts of kinder running around in the fresh autumn air. And Berlin struck me as a place where a dilemma faced by parents all over the world is being played out, highlighted by the historical contrasts of East and West. That is between an older GDR attitude based on local producers, hand me down clothes and crafty cool and a newer, flashier style more reminiscent of Parisian fashion shows. Basically, how much money is it worth splashing on the kids' wardrobe to get them in some labels?

Gucci

 All parents want to do the best for their kids and make sure they are warm, comfortable and stylishly equipped to meet the world. As they get older, obviously a child's own perceptions of chic will start to play a role in the selection of clothes as well. 

At the markets we encountered lots of local producers making good quality kids clothing. Not just knick nacks like scarves and mittens, but dresses, pants and shirts. All were beautifully sewn or recovered elsewhere and lovingly repaired or updated. Certainly there was something about these clothes (perhaps a lack of sleekness?) which suggested that they were not designed by Chloe. And yet if we consider how fast children grow and how hard they wear their clothes – does the significantly lower price tag justify the loss of the couture factor?

Galliano

A few blocks away from the market we stopped for breakfast at a trendy little cafe and whilst waiting on my muesli I flicked though a copy of German childrens' fashion mag, Luna. Unfortunately this page is only in German, but it is easy enough to navigate the different fashion features by picture.  Luna features some of the best childrens' fashion from top designers around the world. I oogled the designs of Ralph Lauren, Gucci and D & G worn by models toddling down the runway.

Il Gufo

Roberto Cavalli

There can be no doubt that the children looked gorgeous and the quality of design and fabrics is evident. But, like the inhabitants of the GDR suddenly faced with packed supermarket shelves of imported goods after the fall of the wall, I started to wonder if it was all just a bit too much. 

My question is, do kids really belong in designer duds? Maybe a nice party dress and a shiny new pair of shoes are all they need to keep them happy, at least until they hit the teen years. 

Perhaps we should be looking for inspiration in these designs rather than an actual purchase. What do you think? Are designer childrens' clothes worth the investment?

Claire. 

Getting gumboots right

They are not the classic style item, but we have seen a resurgence in the popularity of the gumboot over the last few years. You might even say we have witnessed the birth of the fashion gumboot. This is, of course, largely thanks to the terribly chic, supermodel/rockstar type crowd at Glastonbury and such.

But why would I be writing about gumboots now? I am not a rockstar, nor am I terribly chic. But the thing is that ever since I have arrived in Copenhagen I have been struck by the comfort and practicality of the old (or rather new, and dare I hope for it, cool) wellies. And like last weeks bikes, they are an item to be enjoyed by adults and children alike- although perhaps in slight differing colour schemes...

Admittedly they won't get us big people far in summer- not being particularly breathable. But, like when I was tiny, they still make great slip on to run around in the backyard shoes for kids at any time of the year. Unlike their no laces companions, thongs, they are unlikely to cause little feet blisters and they stay on rather more easily. Gumboots are good for all weather conditions, are tough as nails and come in a range of fantastically fun colours and patterns (like these little pink delicacies from Hunter).

But here in Copenhagen I have witnessed a whole new world of wellington possibilities. Gumboots are the stylish, practical alternative to the ugg boot. Chose the correct boots and you could say goodbye to your dilemmas about which shoes to wear down to the shops over your leggings, what to wear with jeans to collect the kids from school and even how to casually pull off the dress and tights look!

The key is in the boot selection. The ladies here get it right because they choose long boots in classical colours that will go with everything ie black, navy or dark green. I would strongly recommend Hunter- the British boot maker. But if you can't get your mits on a pair of those, then any good thick, stiff rubber will do. To achieve a sleek look, keep away from machine moulding patterns on the outside.

Remember, gumboots are not for all occasions, but with a bit of savvy you can get them right for yourself and the kids.

 The Inspired Occasion