Saturday morning

Maybe?

Since there are no other clouds around, this might be the ash cloud. I've checked some good sites and the cloud matches the direction the ash is traveling so that may be it. It looks like we're under cover for at least another day. With the blue sky it's deceiving, as I learned the glass particles in the ash cannot be seen, even on radar, and they really wreak havoc on jet engines. Here's a good site from the UK with updated ash maps: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/volcano.html for other amateur meteorologist geeks out there.

Under the ash cloud

We are under the Icelandic volcano ash cloud still, I think, though we've been under normal clouds with rain most of the time so it hasn't been noticeable. But we did think our sunset this evening was rather diffuse - for the moment when it peered out from the rain clouds. Maybe an effect but we're not sure. We haven't had any air travel plans thankfully so we're not in the midst of the big hassles in the region. If there are any other natural phenomena to share with this ash cloud, I'll try to catch them, if the run-of-the-mill clouds dissipate.

Next stop

Soon it will be hei hei (goodbye) to Helsinki as Gerald and I closed on our new Las Cruces house two weeks ago. We immediately felt at home even without furniture, and we had a bed delivered within a day.

The first evening we stayed there Gerald built a beautiful fire, and the next morning a pair of coyotes roamed through the yard. The next days we saw lots of rabbits. Can you find the well-camouflaged coyote & bunny? (click on them to enlarge)



The Easter witches did return this year, but just the day after we got back to Finland and in the midst of the worst case of jet lag I've ever endured - multiple time zones do that to you. I had misremembered and expected them a week later, but luckily Gerald had some good candy from our flight I could share with them. But no pic this year, which is a shame because they are growing bigger each year and I'd like to have documented it, but they did sing the song/spell which I will pass along here, so all is well.

Virvon, varvon tuoreeks, terveeks, 
Sinuelle vihta, minuelle lahja.

Happy Easter!

Noma - a pilgrimage

In our first year in Finland, I discovered a re-run cooking series on TV, called New Scandinavian Cooking and became a devotee. The chefs are really innovative with local and traditional cuisine from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Claus Meyer, the Dane, has a restaurant in Copenhagen called Noma, in partnership with the chief cook (so they call him), Rene Redzepi. When I learned I would be visiting, I immediately got on their website and found one time slot open so I grabbed it for a solo lunch. It was an amazing experience for all the senses - a huge extravagance but one I couldn't resist. Each bite gave a medley of flavors and the presentation was so special that they brought each item one by one, on simple felt chargers usually so one could concentrate on that particular dish. Here are just a few of the several courses I had: a smoked, pickled quail's egg on a bed of smoking hay in a decorative wooden egg opened before you so the sweet aroma met you first; radishes transplanted from a fertile spot in Denmark, I had to pick to eat - everything edible except the pot, though I only ate the veggies; a cracker bridge with roe mayonnaise, fresh herbs and vinegar powder, and the main course was a small cut of ox cheek, such a tender morsel. I got a set menu - that was costly enough, but if price were no object, you can order a 12-course meal that the chef chooses - all of it a surprise and I really think that would be fabulous. The service was sublime, really, not overboard, and I was not shunted off in a corner either, as a solo diner. Everyone serves you, the chefs, maître d’, waiters, and they all know the cuisine thoroughly. They took very good care of me. It was so worth it. I found out afterward that Noma was awarded two Michelin stars and I am not surprised. This few hours on a Tuesday in March now forms a significant part of my farewell to Europe. More on that in the next post...

It's smorrebrod in Denmark (imagine lines through my 'o's) and it is as good as it looks. I stopped in a little cafe and had a herring smorrebrod plate with dark rye and beets, and some hot tea as it stayed chilly the whole visit. Apple cake for dessert. When Gerald was off to a country inn I had two days by myself to explore. I had walked all morning so I really earned & enjoyed this lunch on Monday. The other picture is a Christianshavn bakery I went into but after lunch so I didn't try a single thing. I must go back. This is a beautiful canal neighborhood with an awesome church with a huge organ that was being played as I took its picture.

Copenhagen

A busy few months since I last posted, and it began with a visit to Denmark, my first, as I tagged along on Gerald's work trip and we took advantage of the weekend prior to explore Copenhagen. Though he'd been to the country twice before, he'd never had a chance to see the town. It's lovely - like a combination of Amsterdam and Stockholm. Our hotel (thanks again, K!) had a tour bus leave from its front door so we started with that as it was unusually cold. We then saw the changing of the guard at the royal palace by chance - it was not on my list. I have to say that, unfortunately, their bear-fur hats reminded me of the Wizard of Oz witch's castle guards, so it was hard to take them as seriously as they took themselves. No disrespect intended. This royal pomp is just rather foreign to me, and I do wonder - why? - in these economic times. But such is tradition in these older lands. Not Finland though. They chose not to have a king. As we've traveled around Europe, it's astounding how much money has been sunk into nobility, and the disparity would have been so much worse in centuries past. Still intriguing, nonetheless. I'm such a peasant. That and the Danny Kaye song "Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen" was looping in my head the whole visit. That's because it is wonderful.

Big news in Copenhagen is the first journey of the Little Mermaid. We managed to catch her prior to her trip to China a week later, where she is featured in the Danish Pavilion of the World Expo for six months. For those of you trying to lose weight, go ahead and grab a few of those chocolate eggs. That svelte little sea nymph actually weighs 385lbs! As an April Fool's Day joke, a museum put a skeleton of her on the rock and made the following statement: "...it was the only remaining complete skeleton of a "Hydronymphus pesci", a species said to be extinct since the end of the 17th century. It claimed to have acquired the remains at the beginning of the 18th century, and that the only other skeleton of the specimen, in Saint Petersburg's Hermitage museum, was "not as complete as Copenhagen's" because of its missing tail." Love that wry humor!