I just came back to Aarhus from the semester break. The Danish and all our different cultures and mentalities once more plunging back into one big pot of six-hour-lectures and welcome-back parties. 
These lectures and parties gave me a hard time cooking anything that was "too much of an effort". It turned out to be okay: Inspired by a Portugese potato-cabbage soup I made this grand delicious winter soup: 

fry 1 onion and 1 clove garlic
add 1 chopped potato and
1 chopped carrot; add 3 cups water.

When the potato is almost cooked, boil 1 egg in a separate pan. Add sliced cabbage (however much you want really), salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar to the soup. 
Once the egg is boiled, cut it up and mix it with the soup. Serve with fresh parmesan cheese. 

So you see. I haven't come to terms yet with my cooking style this year, but the mix did very well for me. And the soup went perfect with the cold and the snow that is finally beginning to fall. 

So it's 2012, and I've spend the last few weeks with my family: We had gigantic christmas dinners, lunches and breakfasts, and then another gigantic New Year's Eve dinner, and in between, we ate cookies, drank hot chocolate and decorated/re-decorated the living room at my sister's house. 

A few days ago, one of my nephews found a paperclip in the house, and asked what they're used for. That reminds me, I still have to show him. My sister was puzzling where it came from, because she remembered not having any. 


The paperclip sneaked its way down here from Denmark. Not that I'm nerdy and take clips on journeys. 
It was our last day in Aarhus before the holidays, and we were all getting sentimental and joyful (it was the end of the term, too) at the same time and had so decided to have another house dinner. Kieran and Søren were leaving for good, and thus there were bottles and wine boxes to empty. I took care of dinner and made one of my favorite dishes: Spaghetti Bolognese. While cooking, the remaining housemates swirled in and out of the kitchen, bringing left over foods, setting the table, going to the store, bringing music, talking, laughing, and so on. Sanna walked in and attached a paperclip to my sweater "for you"!
Thus we ate and we drank and we danced and we watched Kieran clean the bathroom one last time and then all went out. The next day I was packing and decided it was smart to take all my dirty laundry.

When I unpacked my bag again, I noticed that I had never taken off the paperclip from the sweater. So there I was, being torn between the people who became something like your family over the past months and those who are your family but it takes time to get used to.

By now, I've arrived. I'm home. We even eat like home. We had those Spaghetti I spoke of, and my sister made a whole array of the dishes our mother used to make for us and those that she introduced to her own family. Drumsticks in tomato sauce, lasagna, a sweet grit casserole, pasta casseroles and chicken soup. 

So tomorrow, I'll show my nephew how to use a paperclip. 

It’s exam period (still) and we’re approaching the Christmas holidays (also, still). That means, in essence, that I refuse to do my groceries in an attempt to empty my fridge one meal at a time. By now, I’ve certainly arrived at the point where my fridge is shockingly empty and my meals are largely rice with whatever I can dig up (“Reismitscheiß” seems to become a Mundus-wide specialty).

A few days back I decided I needed to eat nachos. Desperately. There comes the point in my writing essays that I am convinced I can’t think without chewing. Because nachos are not exactly a staple in our kitchen, I had to improvise. Maybe, possibly, this Knäckebrot/Knækbrød version is healthier than actual corn nachos but who knows, really. In any case, those who tried them approved and those who didn’t were jealous/curious/amused, which I find enough reason to make you guys try it yourselves!

Nordic Nachos (for two)

- 4 pieces of Knäckebrot/Knækbrød/Crisp bread
- Tomato pesto or something of the like
- Sliced olives
-Chopped pickled jalapenos
-Cheddar cheese
-Parmesan cheese
-Salt
-Pepper

The rest is simple: you cut or break the bread into smaller chunks (I tried triangles for nacho-feeling) and pile them in an oven-safe dish. Spread the pesto on some, half, or all the pieces. Sprinkle olives and jalapenos, salt and pepper, then add the cheese to cover up the pile with however much of everything you want.

Once it’s in the oven, it will take about 20 minutes to melt and brown the cheese. Afterwards, I assume the nachos will taste best if you eat them immediately. But we didn’t leave them the time to cool off anyways because they smelled, looked and tasted fantastic.

It is exam period here in Aarhus, which for us Mundusians means back to back essay writing. It also means the countdown is running. In four hours and one week, I'll be sitting on a train. Tick tock. 

Anyways, since it's exam period and one cannot study ALL the time, I also picked up excessive cooking once again. But then forgot to take pictures. It was so good I'll share anyways.

I found a recipe for shrimp-avocado tacos somewhere online and began craving. I substituted chicken because it's cheaper and they were still fantastic. 
Chicken-Tacos with Avocado-Salsa
cube the chicken and marinate in a mix of garlic, pickled jalapenos, a fresh chili pepper, vinegar, salt, pepper and lots of honey for a few hours. 

for the Salsa, cube tomatoes, garlic, another chili pepper (maybe it would be smarter to skip that if spicy isn't your thing), salt, pepper, fresh lemon juice, parsley and whatever other spices you fancy. Add the cubed avocado only briefly before serving. 

stir fry the chicken, adding all the marinating liquid until the chicken is done and the liquid cooked away. 

Serve with corn taco shells.

_____

The next day, I had so much left over parsley (you can only buy it in huge amounts here in Denmark) and I was wondering what to do with it. Turns out that parsley pesto with almonds is fantastic. 
In a blender, mix loads of parsley (two cups, without the stems), two cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt and roasted almonds (I had leftovers from the cookies I made for our Christmas dinner) and grated parmesan cheese until everything turns into a very bright green, funky looking paste. While waiting for your pasta to cook, cool the paste. Drain pasta, add pesto, smile.

Ah, exam period. I should get back to that essay.