Month: December 2009

Crafty Tuesday – time for a round up!

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Tuesday again…which usually means it’s time for another 15 minute craft here on the blog. Today I’m giving you a run down of what we’ve done so far. Maybe you’ll find an activity to keep the kids amused while you do the last of the Christmas wrapping. Maybe you need a homemade teacher or hostess gift? Have a look, set your timer for 15 minutes and get going! 😉

BOTTLE APRONS

CANDY CANE CRAZY

FESTIVE PLANTS

GARLANDS

HALLOWEEN 1 (Skeleton Hands and Ghost Cupcakes)

HALLOWEEN 2 (Ghost Lollies and Pumpkin Stones)

HALLOWEEN 3 (Spiders Webs and Snuggly Spiders)

HALLOWEEN 4 (Flying Ghosts)

HEARTS

NAPPY CAKE

(HAND AND FOOT) REINDEER

(DECORATE WITH) SERVIETTES

SHAKY CARDS

SILLY SNOWMEN (AND SNOWLADIES)

THINGUMYJIGS

Have fun! 🙂

Caf̩ Copenhagen (pamper time) Р14 December 2009

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Monday is the day I do my radio show on BlogTalkRadio. Why don’t you listen in? We’re going to be pampering for 15 minutes. Did you know that pampering is the Flylady habit for this month?

What’s that? You don’t have 15 minutes per day to recharge your batteries??? Well that’s just fine, because today I’ll be talking about ways to pamper for just  f-i-v-e  minutes! ;D

Click here to listen. Chat will be open.

Get ready to feel good! And just relax… 🙂

Christmas Planning – 13 December 2009

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First of all, happy 3rd Advent Sunday! We actually remembered to light our third candle this morning at breakfast – completely forgot last week! 😉

The best part of getting ready for Christmas with the Flylady is that I’m basically finished! 🙂 I’ve been doing the “Cruising for the Holidays” missions that Flylady sends out (reminders to get those Christmas cards written, buy your groceries well in advance etc) and made – and, perhaps more importantly, followed! 😉 – the Holiday Control Journal (a complete checklist of what needs doing). I’ve been using my HCJ for the last three years and just tweak it every time.

This week I finally got the last of the Christmas cards written and posted. Well, all bar one that still needs an address. But as the recipients never send us a card, I’m not too worried…

Picked up a few extra, small gifts last week. Worked on getting them wrapped yesterday, so the end is truly in sight 🙂

Most of the food and drink is in the house. I’ve already made a basic menu plan of what we’ll eat when my family come to stay (they’ll be here for 10 days – which is rather a lot of breakfast, lunch and dinners…) and I’m going to sit down tomorrow and make a detailed shopping list of the fresh vegetables, fruit etc that we’ll need. Must say that I’m feeling very pleased with myself that I’ve already booked my slot for a grocery delivery on the afternoon of 23 December (Christmas here is 24 December). We use yellowman, a Copenhagen company which only charges around 25 kroner ($4) per delivery. I’ve been using them once a week since the spring and all I can say is…brilliant!

The house is decorated, even the garden is looking good this year (all those 15 minute sessions have paid off) and we’re really enjoying our peaceful, candlelit evenings watching the Danish TV Advent Calendar for kids (24 episodes, this year the story is a bit like Lord of the Rings, but much more exciting!) while munching on clementines (which disappear just as fast as I fill up the dish).

Finally, don’t forgot to go and check what my ‘twisters’ have been doing: Candace, Krista and Pippa

Have a great week! 🙂

Dad’s Danish Donuts

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Once a year DH puts on his pinny, rolls up his sleeves and gets down to some serious work in the kitchen. Today was that day. And why? Æbleskiver (Danish Christmas donuts). His father always used to make them for us, even when he was well into his late 80s. And now DH is carrying on the tradition and using his father’s recipe.

Today was a little more dramatic than usual. DH discovered after he made up the batter that our donut pan (and the one he borrowed this morning from my bff) didn’t work on our new induction hob… So he had to make a quick trip down to the local shops…

I’m about to give you the family recipe. Though unless you have one of these dinky pans

the donuts will not technically be æbleskiver. But I’m thinking you could use the batter for waffles or pancakes. For 30 donuts you will need:

  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • a quarter litre of kærnemælk (buttermilk)
  • 2dl milk or cream (I’d go with cream, DH used milk – boo!)
  • 250g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½-1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Mix the first five ingredients in a large bowl until it’s fairly frothy. Easiest with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the flour, baking powder and ground cardamom. Make sure it’s well mixed, then leave to rest for about 15 minutes.

Heat up your donut pan, put a tiny bit of oil or butter in each of the holes and fill each hole about two-thirds of the way up (they will swell up). When there are lots of bubbles on the surface of each donut, flip over. In DH’s family the tradition is to use knitting needles… We used size 3 😉  But a skewer will do.

When the little donut balls are browned on both sides remove from the pan.

Serve warm with icing sugar (or granulated sugar) and jam. To eat them the Danish way:

  • each person takes a plate
  • put a spoonful of (icing) sugar and jam on to your plate
  • put two or three donuts on to your plate
  • dip the donuts into the sugar and jam on your plate
  • repeat as necessary

I’m not quite sure where in that recipe it states that DH can then abandon the sorry mess of a kitchen but, as he made a batch of over 90 donuts today, I’m saying nothing 😉

Happy Saturday and bon appétit!

A table fit for a King (or Queen)

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I was in town yesterday with my ‘mum’ running friends or “running chicks” as we like to call ourselves. Can you believe we’ve been running together since the start of this year? Neither can we! 😉 So we celebrated with a girly lunch at Café Dan Turelland a look around the shops.

I sometimes forgot how ‘quaint’ Copenhagen is… When I was paying for something in a shop we heard music blaring out on the pedestrian street. It was the Queen’s Royal Guard parading their way through the town – from Rosenborg Castle and down to Amalienborg Palace – for the changing of the guard. Happens every day 🙂

My friend V picked up a bag of her favourite tea (green tea with ginger and lemon) from Denmark’s finest – and Europe’s oldest – teashop, Perchs:

Our next stop was the Christmas tables at Royal Copenhagen, the porcelain makers. Every year they ask several famous Danes (this year it’s ballet dancers and actors) to decorate a Christmas dining table with the royal porcelain. Going to see the Christmas tables is a favourite tradition of old ladies around these parts. So we got ready to fight with the old dears for a prime view and dived in:

Yep, this ‘table’ is is a four-poster bed…

It’s worth having a look at Royal Copenhagen’s website, because there are much better photos there. But don’t even think about buying any of this stuff. A soup tureen will set you back about 50,000 Danish kroner (10,000 dollars).

After we looked at the Christmas tables we had coffee and cake in The Royal Café on the ground floor of the shop. (Unlike the shop, the coffee doesn’t cost an arm and a leg and the cake is served on royal porcelain.) This is the place where Oprah sat when she was filming “Oprah on Location in Denmark: the Happiest People in the World”.  You can tell Oprah it’s all true…we were three very happy Danish “running chicks” yesterday.

Happy Friday – enjoy the weekend! 🙂

Menu planning Thursday – 10 December 2009

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Things are really starting to hot up with Christmas parties – and chill down outside with hard frost every night…brrr!

Here’s what to expect at Casa Diane this week 🙂

Thursday

  • Chicken fajitas with lots of fresh veggies. DS9 is loving daikon (Japanese radish) at the moment. Fajitas were a huge hit with the kids when we had them last time, so back on the menu again 🙂

Friday

  • DH has his office Christmas party tonight, so we shall be having takeaway – yay! And maybe icecream… ðŸ˜‰

Saturday

  • didn’t make Forloren Hare (Danish meatlof, ‘mock hare’) as planned last Wednesday, so it’s making an appearance today. The recipe is here. I have a raw one in the freezer, that I made recently. Don’t you just love forward planning? Serving with boiled potatoes, gravy (made with LOTS of cream), peas and cubed beetroot. Did someone say comfort food??

Sunday

  • nice, fresh spinach salad topped with homemade croutons, goat’s cheese and roasted duck breast – yum!

Monday

  • DH is travelling so am going to cut myself a large piece of slack and take the kids out for dinner. Nothing fancy. If they get their way, it’ll be MacDos! 😉

Tuesday

  • time to let the crockpot work its magic…chili con carne (I have a bag of cooked mince in the freezer, all ready to go) and will serve with fluffy white basmati from the ricecooker. Normally always do brown rice, but as the kids don’t really appreciate chili, I might have to meet them halfway…

Wednesday

  • another Danish classic stand-by – biksemad – which to you would be a kind of hash: fried cubed potatoes, beef, onions, topped with a fried egg, served with ketchup or brown HP sauce and cubed beetroot.

Bon appétit! 🙂

Woozy Wednesday

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I have to admit that I’m a bit woozy today because I went to bed way too late last night. Or rather, I went to bed early, but got up at 1am when my alarm went off – on purpose! 😉

These days I’m pretty sensible about going to bed at a reasonable hour (normally before 10) and getting my much needed beauty sleep. But I didn’t want to miss a very special BlogTalkRadio show. My mentor – Marla Cilley, the Flylady – was celebrating her 10 year anniversary. 10 years of helping others to get their houses (and eventually their heads) out of chaos. One babystep at a time…and it all starts with shining your sink.

Go listen! It was worth getting out of bed for! 😉

Happy Wednesday! 🙂

PS: I had to laugh when I saw Kelly’s mission for today…

Just did mine!

Crafty Tuesday – Festive plants

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Time for another 15 minute craft and this time we’re making festive looking plants. In my part of the world, Christmas plants means julestjerner (poinsettias) and hyacinths. These pots can be used as a table decoration, brighten up a windowsill or maybe even as a teacher or hostess gift?

You’ll need:

  • a plant – hyacinths work really well for this and can survive all temperatures! 🙂
  • some moss (got mine from the garden)
  • glass jars or plant pots
  • glitterglue, glitter, bits n’ bobs
  • ribbon

Put your plant into the pot – I used an old glass jar.

Cover with moss. Add a bit of glitterglue to the tops of the leaves, or add a bit of glitter to the moss.

Tie a bow around the pot.

Voilà – we’re done – how quick was that?! I also did one with 3 hyacinth plants (from Ikea) and add red glitter, red ribbon that says God Jul (Merry Christmas) and two candy canes…

When I was in Sweden on Sunday, I picked up some really cute candle holders in silver and red…

so they naturally got added into the mix as well…

Enjoy and happy Tuesday! 🙂

Caf̩ Copenhagen Р7 December 2009

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The Flylady habit for this month is…pampering – hooray! 🙂

This has been one of the most difficult Flylady habits for me to embrace… How on earth could taking time for myself possibly help the state of the house? But, yet again, she is right. Just 15 minutes (or even just making a nice cup of coffee) helps me recharge my batteries and gives me the ‘oomph’ to get going again…

So if you haven’t taken 15 minutes for yourself today, or need some simple ideas on how to pamper, then come and join me for my live show – Café Copenhagen – on BlogTalkRadio. Why not give me a call and share your own ‘me’ time ideas?

And if you don’t manage to listen live, then go listen to the archive – click here! 😉

Christmas Planning – 6 December 2009

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It’s been a busy week with Christmas parties and school events…Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday! 🙂 And today, Sunday, I took a couple of girlfriends with me on a day trip to Sweden. A mere half hour by train and we were whisked away from Copenhagen over the bridge and under ‘the Sound’ to Malmö for a spot of shopping, lunch at café Gozzip then coffee and cake at the oldy-worldy Hollandia. And, being the nice mummies we are, we of course picked up a bag of godis (Swedish candy) for our kids (waiting patiently back in Denmark) from Gottelisa ðŸ™‚

I haven’t yet finished the Christmas cards, so that’s my first job this week.

But I have put a few meals in the freezer to keep us going over the next couple of weeks.

And the garden and house are decorated. I don’t put out too many ornaments in the living room. The tree (which we’ll buy around the 20th of December) is the main thing  but I do get out all our red cushions and giant red floor cushions – plus lots of candles and clementines (which disappear faster than snow off a dyke) – so it’s feeling very ‘Christmassy’ already.

Not long now til my family arrives from Scotland for a 10 day visit, so I’m also pushing on with the decluttering 😉

Don’t forget to go and see how Krista, Candace and Pippa are doing with their Christmas prep.

Happy Sunday! 🙂

Hot sausage rolls

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Here’s the recipe – or rather – here’s how to make sausage rolls – an essential part of a truly British Christmas  🙂

I make these every year for a get-together with my Danish girlfriends and all our kids. We meet in the afternoon about 3pm (school finishes at 2pm) and make Christmas decorations – an essential part of a truly Danish Christmas  🙂  We chat, eat various Christmas goodies like æbleskiver (Danish Christmas donuts), pebernødder (tiny, round, spicy cookies), vanillekranse (vanilla biscuits formed like wreaths). And drink lots of coffee, juice and gløgg (hot mulled wine).

You’ll need:

  • sausagemeat
  • salt n’ pepper
  • dried thyme, if you happen to have it
  • readymade puff pastry
  • egg yolk for glazing

Before you start, remember to put on some Christmas music!  😉  Mix the sausagemeat with salt, pepper and a bit of dried thyme if you happen to have some. You can also add in any other herbs you like. Roll out the puff pastry (ours come in small rectangular ‘sheets’, so no rolling required). Glaze the bottom edge with a bit of egg yolk. Spread a bit of sausagemeat one third of the way down. Fold over the pastry, so the meat is now hidden, and squeeze the edges together. Use a fork to make it look pretty 😉

Now glaze the whole of the top of the pastry. Cut into individual ‘rolls’ about 5cm (2 inches) wide and use a pair of scissors to make three small cuts in the top of each roll. Something to do with the Three Wise Men. Apparently…

Bake in a preheated hot oven – 225c or 425f – for about 20 minutes. They should come out all puffed up and golden brown. Leave to cool slightly then serve with…ketchup! 😉

Bon appétit and happy Saturday! 🙂

Jingle all the Way

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I wrote in Wednesday’s post that I was baking sausage rolls and listening to Christmas music. But I forgot to tell you about my Christmas CD collection! 🙂

If you see me at a party, I’ll be the one who has a large handbag – I like to take my own music with me, just in case…  I actually used to carry around a couple of bags of CDs. These days, thanks to the wonders of technology, I just carry my iPhone and some cords… 😉

Anyway. I have a small stack of Christmas CDs. If I’m in the house on my own and not trying to do the whole ‘crowd pleasing’ thing, then these are the two that you’ll always hear:

  • Ella Fitgerald “Wishes You a Swinging Christmas”
  • Phil Spector “A Christmas Gift from…”

And the joker in the pack? Hee hee…a CD I was lucky to find when I was working in Luxembourg in the 1990s. The ‘stars’ of a soap I used to watch (and parody with my friends) brought out a Christmas album. A real classic….

Happy Friday everyone.

And don’t forgot to be ‘bold’ and be ‘beautiful’! 😉

Menu planning Thursday – 3 December 2009

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Really pleased with this week’s menu because I’m looking forward to eating all of it! 😉 Nice warming food for cold, winter weather…

Also pleased with myself because I browned all the beef for Friday and Sunday (ground/minced beef and strips of steak) this morning and it’s now in the freezer, ready to use. Plus I have two extra bags of it in the freezer for next week. Is that being organised, or what? ðŸ™‚

Thursday

  • roasted chicken legs (the kids LOVE the crispy skin) and red pepper/courgettes (squash)/celery. Serving with bulgur prepared in my ricecooker

Friday

  • have two of my favourite kids (friends of DD7 and DS9) coming for a sleepover – so a cosy Friday night in is therefore guaranteed! 🙂 Making crockpot lasagne and veggie sticks. And maybe Danish risengrød (rice pudding) for dessert. They’ll get their weekly ration of sweets/candy while watching Disney Sjov on the telly.

Saturday

  • a real family treat tonight… Flæskesteg (Danish roast pork with crispy, crunchy crackling). Served with baby potatoes, plenty of sovs (gravy) and Danish red cabbage (from a jar).

Sunday

  • I’m going to Sweden for the morning/afternoon and taking some girlfriends with me. Lunch and shopping are on the cards 🙂 So will put a beef/goulash/paprika/kind of thing in the crockpot before I leave. Will serve with noodles and – just for me – suet dumplings – yum! 😉

Monday

  • Breaded pork chops, gratin dauphinois and peas. Didn’t make this as planned a couple of weeks ago, so it’s back on the menu 😉

Tuesday

  • we have a Scout party – where we will be fed and watered – so if we’re still hungry when we get home, we’ll have minestrone soup (from the crockpot) and egg/mayo rye sandwiches.

Wednesday

  • Forloren Hare (Danish meatloaf or ‘mock hare’). I made four of them for the freezer last Friday, the recipe is here.

Bon appétit! 🙂

Holiday Cheer

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I baked sausage rolls (trademark of a British Christmas) this morning at 8.30am as we’re going to a Christmas party over at my bff (best female friend) later today. Listened to ‘Now Xmas’ (Wizzard, Slade, The Waitresses etc) on my CD player and was transported back to Christmases past. Lots of candles burning. The scene was set.

Looked out the new large window into our back garden – I couldn’t do that in our old kitchen – and saw that this morning’s hard frost in Copenhagen had made everything twinkly and bright. Maximum temperature today will be 3c (38f).

Had one of those ‘aww’ moments. Yep, the very best pleasures are truly free 🙂

Happy 2nd December!

Crafty Tuesday – Candy Cane Crazy

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I wish computers came with ‘smellyvision’ because my kitchen today smells of chocolate and peppermint – a fantastic combo 🙂

Today it’s Tuesday which means another 15 minute craft here on the blog. Two for you to choose from, both featuring candy canes, both good for little Christmas gifts. So let’s get snappy!

CHOCOLATE CANDY CANES

Gently melt some chocolate. I put mine in a mug and used the microwave. Unwrap the candy canes. Chop one candy cane very finely – be warned, it will fly everywhere! 🙂 Dip the canes, one at a time, in the melted chocolate. Shake or scrape off the excess chocolate and then sprinkle over tiny shards of the too-cute red and white chopped candy. Leave to dry on a piece of baking/parchment paper.

You can tie with a bow, put in a cellophane bag and tie with a bow, add it to Christmas or plain red mug filled with ‘snowman soup ingredients (sachet of hot chocolate, marshmallows, candy cane for stirring). Or whatever you fancy! 😉

[  I’ll post a photo of these ones all wrapped up later…they just need to dry first 😉  ]

And for my next trick…

CANDY CANE HEARTS

Take a couple of canes (leave the plastic wrapping on) and hot glue them together in the shape of a heart. You could use ordinary white glue, but you’ll need plenty of it, and plenty of layers. When the heart is dry, add a bow or a bell – or both – and hang on your tree, add to a table decoration, give to a friend, whatever you like…

I’ve added some ribbon and a sign (I stamped letters on a leftover piece of red card) that says God Jul which is Danish for Merry Christmas (literally Good Christmas). The other one ‘has bells on’! 😉

Have fun! 🙂