Copenhagen

Last Saturday was a really nice day. It was the first spring like day we'd had yet. It was sunny and 60 degrees. A friend of ours was having a house warming party. She just moved into a flat in Copenhagen. Since it was such a nice day we went early to hang out. As we were walking to Alex's place we realized we had been past that area before when we were with Toby and Christine. After we dropped off some black bean hummus and brownies at her place, we headed around the corner to see if we could find the restaurant we had eaten at with them. Sure enough we did! Mother, a pizza restaurant. It looked completely different to me this day, since it was rainy and high 40's when we were there before, not to mention the early sunset so it was night. Today it looked full to bursting!

 

It's been a long cloudy winter and everyone was happy to be outside. We had only 4 hours of sunlight in November and the rest of the months were not much better. People were finding anywhere there was sun, and being happy to be in it!

 

We found a street food festival and got a few choices: chorizo dog, fish and chips, and a Danish egg sandwich.

 

 

We squeezed in between two groups at one of these picnic tables.

 

 

Even though their peoples' history is very intertwined, there are a lot of differences between Danes and Swedes. One of them is that in general Danes are a friendly people and Swedes are not. Swedes are not interested in social interactions with strange people, and Danes are all about it. As we sat there, a lady next to us asked if we had visited the other food festival around the way. Then we had a great conversation with her!

A friend of ours who was also headed to the house warming texted and said they were a couple of blocks over, so we finished up and headed that way, via the other food festival. It was like a farmer's market back home. It was super cozy and hopping. There was even a DJ!

 

 

After we met up with our friends we decided we needed to have some dinner before we hit the house warming party. We just happen to find an American BBQ joint called Warpigs! The menu was even in English. There were hushpuppies with pimento cheese, brisket, mac & cheese, and homemade pork rinds! It was super delish and we were happy to explain to the Swedes what brisket and hush puppies were.

 

 

 

The hushpuppies were excellent and I was super happy.

 

Then it was on to the house warming. Alex wanted it to be a Where's Waldo theme. Although Chris and I didn't have red and white stripes, we did have stripes. Chris likes to take fun props to parties, and this time it was mustaches.

 

 

The night ended with a mad dash to the train, missing the right train by seconds, freezing wind, and a taxi ride to avoid waiting in said freezing wind. All in all, it was a great day outside...finally!

 

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Broccoli chicken casserole

I was texting with Nicole last night while I was cooking dinner. One dish that I've been making for Chris for many years is broccoli chicken casserole. Nicole asked if I had ever given her the recipe to it. I was pretty sure I hadn't, because it tends to change based on what I have available. It gave me the idea to blog it. So here's my broccoli chicken casserole.

 

Coat a chicken breast with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Sear it in butter or olive oil or some greasy come thing of your choice.

Let it sit five minutes or so before you cut it up. Meanwhile, dice onions, maybe a half cup, dice 1 jalapeño, a garlic clove, and a handful of mushrooms. I like baby bellas, but you can certainly use buttons.

Sautée these up, onions first, then soon after peppers, garlic, and finally mushrooms. I just use the chicken pan so I don't have to wash an extra dish, but you can use any sort of butter or olive oil you want.

 

Chop and blanch some broccoli, hmmmm, I have no idea how much, maybe a medium sized head.

 

Then you'll need some goo to make it bind. This could be any number of things. Last night I used about a 1/3 cup of mayo and a 1/4 cup of sour cream, with a splash of Caesar dressing and two eggs. Two eggs is always good for binding. You could also use cream of mushroom soup, or cream of chicken, even Greek yogurt would work.

 

Whatever you use, be sure to put plenty of salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder in it. It needs flavor. Then add a 1/2 to 1 cup of shredded cheddar.

 

Now, mix it all up and put it in a greased casserole dish. We made cobblers in these dishes at the Cricket and because of that, I will always call them cobbler dishes.

On top, put something crunchy. Funyuns, Cheetos, potato chips, Munchos, crackers, Chez-its, whatever you have. I used sour cream and onion "Xtra" Pringles (they were a little spicy).

Crush them up, but don't get too many or too much, it will make the casserole dry, and taste like chips instead of creamy, cheesy broccoli goodness.

Bake on 350 till the top is brown and sides are bubbly. If you've just made it, maybe 25 minutes, but if you made it the day before and put it in the fridge, more like 45.

 

It was super tasty!!

 

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