December 12

Gløg and “apple slices”. Usually server together and only at Christmas time, you´ll never find it at a restaurant any other time of the year. (Probably because people had too much of it in December. 🙂  ) We went to a little restaurant in the wood, to enjoy the taste of Christmas.

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December 6

I promised Mrs. Uhdd to post the recipe for RISENGRØD, a kind of ricepudding, the favorite dish for all Nisser. Long time ago, rice was very exclusive food, and therefor the best thing to give the farm-Nisse in December, to prevent him from being mad, to tease – or in worst case to leave the farm and take all happiness away.

In December you can find many families place a little bowl with ricepudding at the ceiling, to please the nisse. The interesting part of this action is when the children later want to see how much the nisse has eaten. There is a lot “sneaking around at ceilings” in December, after childrens bedtime.

Now to the recipe. This rice is the type we call porridge-rice, not ordinary white rice. It takes about an hour to make the food, and about an hour to clean the pot, if you forget to look after the boiling milk.
190 gram rice
2 -3 dl. water
1 liter Milk
1 teaspoon salt

Served with sugar, cinnamon and butter. And of course a Nisse-beer.

Boil the water. Add rice into boiling water . Boil for 2 minutes. Add milk and salt. Boil about 35 minutes. That´s all.

The best part is adding sugar with cinnamon and butter…very tasty! No wonder that both nisser and almost all children love risengrød. Im nor sure about the sneaking folks.

From Wikipedia:

Nisseøl

Nisseøl (literally elf beer) is a dark, sweet hvidtøl (white beer) which is sold around Christmas time in Denmark. The name come from the nisser (mythical creatures of Scandinavian folklore) who are often depicted on the beer labels. It is not to be confused with julebryg, which is a much stronger Danish Christmas beer.

December 4

The tradition of buying Danish Christmas seals, and by that give money to help sick children, is more than 100 years old. Every year they have a new illustration,  this year is a collection of some of the best known old “kravlenisser” “climbing nisser” made by Frederik Bramming, the father of these famous nisser.

https://www.julemaerket.dk/default.asp?Action=Details&Item=539

Time for lunch: Danish open sandwich

Traditionel Danish open sandwich Smørrebrød, everyone has a favorite or two. The usual starter is Herring, (sild), and snaps. Then comes the warm variants like meatballs with beetroots, fish with “remoulade” (tartar sauce), roasted pork with bacon rind and red cabbage, .. this listing of smørrebrød is becomming a bigger job than intended, i suggest that you  take a look at the menu from the famous Danish chef Ida Davidsen, owner of the famous restaurant of the same name.

Light

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My contribution to Scott Thomas´assignment 16, Best photos of 2011, are examples of what I consider as the most important factor while trying to make good photos, light. Being aware of light of shadows is both fun and very interesting. Slowly one finds pattern and contrast in every corner.

I can´t say these are my best photos, (that would no doubt be my portraits, which I unfortunately can´t show here) choosing them would depend on more demands, but these photos have one thing in common, they all are a result of playing with light. Thank you once again Scott, for making your assignments, this was a good exercise.

Autumn collage

Walnut tree

Years ago, a gardening day, I suddenly got a walnut with a tiny sprout in my hand. Probably a result of forgotten winter supplies, made by a squirrel. A little fragile green sprout with an enormous power and will to be big and tall one day. Very big and tall. What to do with that little sprout? Place it somewhere, and make a plan of where to have a walnut tree in the garden. I like plans. It wasn’t difficult to find a temporary place for a 1 inch walnut tree. Check, this part done.

The garden plan, though, had to be very good, if possible perfect, and that would take time to finish. After some years, I realized that it probably was necessary to speed up my decision a bit.  Time is a cheater, suddenly it runs faster than one ever had imagined. Or more correctly, what I ever had imagined, – because my neighbour apparently has a very good imagination, when it comes to walnut trees. I know because he has informed me about this several times.

One day the little tree began to produce walnuts, and I got curious to see how that would develop. A few more years passed, the amount of walnuts increased and the squirrels began to come and go along its branches to get nuts, as if it had become a squirrel seven eleven.

Perhaps this old squirrel didn’t forget the walnut back then, perhaps it had a long term plan. Though it didn’t live long enough to enjoy the sight and especially the taste of the walnuts, it made sure that a new generation would benefit from it. And as their ancestor did, they continue to dig nuts as winter storage – and to forget some. A perfect coordinated plan.

Any thoughts about eventually cutting the tree down have been disabled.  I am beginning to see my role in all this, as being a person who doesn’t spoil a long-time plan made by a squirrel. Perhaps I should try to convince my neighbour about the positive in that angle of the case. I have to mention to you, that the tree is placed in the far end of the garden, and that no human has been harmed by it’s shadow.

Never the less, I had a good time standing under the tree, waiting for the squirrel to come. As I stood there,  my eyes suddenly focused on a branch;  – a heart! – and one more, – and one more – hearts everywhere. I´ve never noticed that before, but I think I will take it personally.

Autumn leaves

 

 

Autumn leave

A bit too early, if you ask me.