tirsdag den 31. august 2010

it's good to be a blogger


this past weekend i was privileged enough to become the last person on the list for the danish foodblogger symposium. i've been to a couple conventions in my life but this one didn't involve college kids dressed up as storm troopers or the sale of risque comics. the big surprise was seeing so many attendees! i have only seen a handful of food blogs in danish so where have all these ladies (and several guys) been hiding?


after a few speakers we started with (get this) danish white wine. here jennie is demonstrating how to aerate it; shake the glass with your hand over the top. from what i gathered, the grapes are grown in lillø, denmark and taken to germany to be turned into wine since winemaker anders selmer does not yet have the means to do it himself. for now. but after tasting four of these wines and knowing the danes' pride in their land and own products, i can see this taking off. do i need to spell it out? these wines are GOOD.


lunch came immediately after the wine tasting. i quietly thanked god for that, since i was feeling the buzz from about 3 sips x 4 glasses of wine at 11am. a legefrokost (play lunch) was given to each of us and the chef, mads nybro, instructed us how to eat it via skype. i love playful/surprising dishes and this was no exception! this can looks exactly like the ones that house the poorman's lunch of mackerel in tomato sauce. we heated the cans in a tub of hot water and after 15 minutes we opened them to realize that they contained a really deep, flavorful broth with one big, fat noodle. while we waited for the soup, we ate salad with rygeost (smoked cheese) foam and breadrolls with foie gras from the tube. oh, those scandinavians and their tubes. it was really good. so good that i'm adding a new tag to my blog, MEAT. sorry to any vegans that have taken the time to read my blog. ;_;

there was a marzipan mix covered in white chocolate to finish. marzipan has not yet become my best friend but this was a fine dessert. at the bottom of the bag, we found vanilla popcorn dust to cleanse our palates before the chocolate tasting. this was a very thoughtful and well-presented lunch which was just the right size.


i was in heaven. these chocolates were unbelievably good; dark yet creamy, sweet and bitter and one was even a little sour. the only time i can remember tastes like this was with valrhona and scharffen berger. so it's no surprise that chocolate man mikkel friis-holm has worked with the latter for years. the beans are grown in the usual faraway lands and turned into chocolate in germany. hopefully mikkel can also soon find the means to produce his wonderful chocolate here in denmark.

after the fooding came more speakers. claus meyer and charlotte mithril gave a great introduction of the new idea: new nordic everyday food. even though there were workshops afterward on how to get more readers and write better recipes/posts, i was most inspired by claus and charlotte's presentation. here are the roughly translated principles and ingredients that will shape new nordic everyday food:
  • danish fruits; apples, pears, plums, quince, cherries
  • more berries; blackcurrant, raspberries, redcurrant, strawberries but also the wild berries.
  • danish vegetables in general; leafy vegetables, beets, and squash.
  • more cabbage year-round; (pointy?) cabbage, summer cabbage, (palm?) cabbage, kale, etc.
  • root vegetables; jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, celery root, and carrots.
  • legumes; more protein from plants, split peas, broad beans, etc.
  • more herbs and spices in food
  • potatoes
  • plants and mushrooms from the wild landscape; ground-elder (wtf?), stinging nettle, wild garlic.
  • whole grains; especially oats, rye, and barley.
  • nuts; hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
  • fish and shellfish; abundant species and bottom-feeders
  • seaweed
  • meat of higher quality, but less of it; animals that graze.
  • wild game; deer, ducks and pheasants.
  • organic; at least 75% - grains, vegetables, and dairy products.
after the meeting i felt... honestly quite ashamed of my blog. i have decided to put more effort into writing, not be afraid to take photos of my food (even when my husband is telling me how embarrassed he is), and, above all, be adventurous! after all, what is the point of doing something like this if you don't put your back into it? so now this blog has reached a turning point. it will no longer be all whining about having moved to denmark and missing food and friends in bountiful california (well, maybe once in a while), but now i will set the spotlight on ny nordisk hverdags mad. all of the points i can whole-heartedly agree with, so why not make it the focus of my little blog in this little country? i will try to learn new things everyday and step outside of my comfort zone. hmm... should i change the name of my blog now? ^^;

5 kommentarer:

Cerebrum sagde ...

I'm envoius. You have focus? How are the rest of us supposed to keep up with that? ;) Just kidding. Will look forward to see your interpretation of Ny Nordisk Hverdagsmad - that was definitely one of the presentations I found most exciting, too.

Anonym sagde ...

What a great post! Much more heartfelt than mine. But I feel the same way about my blog as yours - let's see if I find the time to do something about it. Also - ladies, my MIL gave me a great idea for a "Danish" cookbook. I could use your help....Game?

mina sagde ...

yay! thanks, ladies. (:
uh, yes? depends what it is. i don't want to destroy your/your mil's idea. ;_;

Kerry sagde ...

Hi Mina,
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you on Saturday. I think you might have been sitting behind me (well I heard English being spoken there). I really liked those Danish wines too and was so surprised at how good they tasted. Re the groundelder, that's 'skvalderkål' - seems to be every Danish gardner's nightmare weed. I made a pesto with it this spring though and it was awesome! I'll send you the recipe if you like ;-)

Bri sagde ...

I'd like to think that I've been working towards (vegetarisk, selvfølgelig!) nynordisk mad ideals for awhile... I'm going to have to try harder! :D

In regards to writing a 'Danish' foodblog in English. My FIL asked me why and it's not just because my Danish sucks, but because it reaches a far wider audience being in English.