Day 5 - Hello Norway

     Shawn had an early flight back to the States and the boys and I left for the airport via the M2 Train around 7:30.  Our one hour flight from Copenhagen to Oslo was quick.  While at the Oslo airport, we had lunch before catching our next flight to Hartsad/Narvik, above the Arctic circle at 1:00.  Again, the flight was quick.  When we arrived in Harstad/Narvik, Paul went over to Hertz to pick up our car.  It was raining and a drag!!  We stopped at the grocery store before trekking up the mountain to Svein’s. The boys had learned from last time that there are no grocery stores near Sveion’s, so if you want to eat, get it in town.

     Well the drive to Svein’s was a nail bitter.  It rained and sleeted the whole way, about 4 hours.  We rented a tank for a car, Volvo, with snow traction tires!  Safe care, but roads were NARROW!!  I was relegated to to the back seat and I do not do well in the back seat when traveling through the mountains.  Opening the window for fresh air and talking myself out of puking for 4 hours, was exhausting!  But we got there and fell into bed.  

     

NOMA, fish cuisine dinning

     This is what the trip to Europe was all about, Noma.  Noma is a Michelin resturant that was rated the #1 resturant in the world four years in a row.  Drew and Paul have been looking forward to this for 6 months.  Drew secured reservations back in October.  Shaken Stender, a good friend of Drew’s, also a foodie, would be joining us.
     Noma is located in Copenhagen on the outskirts of downtown.  We took a taxi and when we were dropped off,we were welcomed by a whole host of people that want you be feel welcome.  The building is new since the fire several years ago in downtown.  It is fresh and clean looking with prairie grass along with vegetables growing along the sidewalk.  Prestige is a good word.  We were escorted into a greenhouse for some herbal drink and them guided to another building for seating.  It was cool how they seated people by times so that the food was timed for your table to be fresh,
     The wine pairings were extra from the $450 dinner.  I am not a big advocate of pairing wine with a meal, however, in this case, Ihave to eat my words.  It was outstanding and never understood how important wine pairings were before....these folks had made the pairings dead-on.  Of course they had 50 people making the decision, but goodness sakes, was it unbelievable.  Not only did the wine enhance the food, but the food enhanced the wine.
     There were 16 courses.  I will attach pictures of each dish made with the utmost care, precision and freshest ingredients.  Scallops, cod, cod tongues, king crab, mussels, caviar...and much more. Dessert was pine cones, green strawberries in a yogurt with star cookies.  the whole evening was unbelievable!  Check out these pictures.

Day 4 Flowers and Noma Part #1

     Awe, beautiful morning.  The weather in Copenhagen has been fantastic!  Sunny and 40.  Perfect walking and exploring weather.  First place this morning was coffee and the Corner of 108 Bakery.  The boys trekked on over to the M2 train and went into the center of the city and ordered up a few bakery items, most they ate, but the rest they brought home to momma!  :)
     Next we all showered and made our way via train to Noroport, one stop north of City Center.  We wanted to check out the glass farmer market and flowers.  Also looking for a good open face Norwegian sandwich.   This place was recommended by two other bakers from our class.  It is called Torvehallerne.
     Oh my goodness the flowers and bulbs brought Spring early for me.  Indulged myself and my camera right in the middle of every bunch of flowers I could find.  Wow, the tulips were fabulous!!!  Love flowers, always brings a fresh smile and love of Spring!!  Can’t wait to garden, but I am a few months off from that!
     Speaking of gardening, we have had a tremendous amount of items made from rhubarb.  I know have a bigger appreciation for it and won’t let one stock on the plant go to waist.  Jelly, chutney, pastries, sorbet!  ON MY GOODNESS!  Fabulous!!
     The fresh fruits and pastries, with breads and sandwiches were mind boggling!! The pictures don’t do it justice. Lots of fish counters.  Since we are going to NOMA tonight for an 18 course meal, we decided not to eat and prepare for our feast.  But looking was just as enjoyable as eating it!!
     After the market we went to a beautiful park and watched the dogs and children play in this beautiful winter.  Like being at Lake Harriet!

Day 3 pictures

Day 3 - Baking School and Pizza

     We all had a good night sleep, pretty much back to normal.  But the morning scramble came quick.  We had Baking School, a Danish baking class!  A M2 metro ride away, stopping for coffee first!
     Class was in English and I found it it on an Airbnb advertisement.  Class was from 9-1 and there we three others with us.  Turned out to be a fun group and the kok (chef in Danish) was great!!  Today we were baking pastries....my favorite!  Cinnamon roll, brioche, roll and these twisted sweet strips with marscapone...plus homemade butter.  After baking all morning we sat down to eat our delights and had breakfast,  Fresh squeeze carrot juice and strawberry juice,  soft boiled egg with cheese.  Yum!  Great morning. Fun class, highly recommended!!  Copenhagen Cooking Class (CPH) it also does dinner classes too.  In reflection, it was truly a neat idea and neat class.
     After class we headed home for a rest.  Drew and Shawn headed to Christiana to see what the famous commune was all about,  No pics, no weed and no partying was the theme.  They said it was interesting.  Lots of young communal people.
     About four O’clock we took off for a a visit to the oldest candy store (Somods Boucher) and brewery (Brus) before our 7:00 Pizza dinner.  The candy store was delightful and we picked up a couple of bags for friends and relatives.  Licorice for mom!!  The boys enjoyed the brews and then we headed off to Baest for quality meats and pizza.  Very very good.  We ordered a tray of accoutrements, cheese, meats and pickled vegetables, with some spreads.  They had a lot of hanging meats and rolls of cheese.  The pizza we ordered were unusua, except for the margaraitta. We ordered a pork and Brussels sprout pizza and today’s special pizza - leeks, cheese and pork.  The pizza’s were all wood fired and outstanding. We topped off the evening with olive oil and sea salt gelato.  Fantastic.  A brisk walk to the metro and we were home in no time.  Good day.  Everyone is anxious for NOMA tomorrow night!!

Day #2 Picture Posts

Day #2, Brunch, Museum of Design, Nyhaven and Lego

     Up with the moon and the stars last night.  Have my nights and days a little mixed up!  I was awake from 4:30-6:30 and then fell back asleep.  Not the boys.  They decided before they went to bed that they were hungry and up for the famous (Anthony Bourdain) hotdogs at Johns.  They walked to the Metro at 10:30 and went to the center of the city for the best hotdogs in Copenhagen.  Two dogs and French fries (dipped in mayo) later, they decided to stop in for a night cap-beer, at Warpigs.  Don’t know when they got home, but they raved about the dogs and asked for the Tums this morning!

     We all hurried to get dressed to catch the bus for Sanchez, our brunch reservation Shawn made.  Absolutely beautiful day!  A sun was bright and our bodies were craving the victim D beaming from it.  Fabulous weather!!  We got to the restaurant, right on time.  First off, we ordered Mexican style Bloody Mary’s, which had jalapeños and habaneros....the drink was spicy!! And green!!!  All of us had coffee that I think they had just picked the beans, roasted them, and ground them up!  Freshest and most flavorful coffee ever!!

     Each of us ordered and it was four different items.  Paul had two oysters with habanero and sea buckthorn, and corn tortillas filled with black bean salsa and avocado.  Drew had Tuna Tostado, raw tuna marinated in charred habanero salsa and two breakfast tacos which included pork carnita with cured egg yolk.  Shane had Flautas and chilaquiles and I had flautas and huevos rancheros.  We were all pleased with our choices and enjoyed trying each other’s dishes.  Dessert was a Churro with Goat’s milk cajeta. Fabulous meal!!

     We waddled out of there and started our trek to the Museum of Design, about 2.5 miles down the road, with a beautiful park halfway there.  Gorgeous gorgeous day!  Lots of dogs out chasing and wresting with each other in the park...just like they had just seen daylight for the first time in 2019!  Full of energy and cutness!!

     The Museum of design was awesome and enlightening.  Chairs, pottery and textiles.  Really enjoyed the arts, almost a mid-century feel.  The Danes certainly claim the chair designs of the world.  

     Next was another 2 mile hike to Nyhaven for coffee and Fikka, and the beautiful colorful buildings.  Everyone was out on the boulevard today.  Sitting outside drinking cuppacino and rhubarb essential, what a day!!  After people watching and relaxing, we made the mile trek to the Lego Store and got a lot of laughs!  The shopping district was cool and pretty packed with people!  Pauly bought a couple of lego keychains...uffda, made it out without a huge bag of goodies!!  Might have to go back for the VW Camper bus for my dad!!  hahaha

     Good day.  Relaxing tonight and ready for bed!!  Tomorrow, baking class 9:00-1:00 and infamous pizza joint.  Now off to some zzzzzzzzzz’s.

Pictures From Day #1 Dinner at BARR

Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen-day #1

     Paul and I are so excited to hook up with Drew!!  We last saw him at Christmas.  Usually our trips with Drew are just one of us, however, this time both Paul and I decided to go.  They are so excited to show me northern Norway and the Lofoton Islands.  Should be an epic trip with my boys!!
     Drew’s good friend, Shawn Stender, is joining us for the first half of the trip, the foodie leg.  When I say foodie leg, these boys have researched all of the notable resturant’s in Copenhagen and we have  reservations at most.  Several of them are Michelin resturants and the boys are so excited, you would think it is Christmas when you are 5 years old.  Our original reason for going to Copenhagen is because Drew got a reservation several months ago at NOMA, one of ther top resturants in the world.  ...serving 21 courses of fish...should be interesting.
     We took off from Minnesota, about 30 degrees with 3 feet of snow, around three o’clock in the afternoon on Friday 2/22/2019.  Flight, via Delta, was a very easy.  7 hours time difference.  Landed in Amsterdam around 6:15 a.m.  We had a hour layover and had to rush through customs.  Made it through customs, extremely hot waiting area, so now we are all sweaty,  and flew Transvani, the low end airline sister of  Delta.  We were served a chicken sandwich on the flight, not too bad.  No customs in Copenhagen, thank goodness!!
     Copenhagen was beautiful, sunny and bout 40 degrees!  Best of all, no SNOW!!  Instead of taking the train, we grabbed a taxi, 208 Krone, about $38 US Dollars.  None of us slept on the flight and were dragging a tiny bit, cuz it was only 11 p.m.  in Minnesota.
     Our Airbnb was great!  Centrally located sleeping 4 very comfortably and a flat on the fourth floor.  The flat is only 5 blocks to the metro and across the street a coffee house with PASTRIES!!  We decided to break one of Drew’s rules and not stay up until Copenhagen bedtime and took a nappy.  Drew was due to arrive around noon, however, his flight was delayed in London due to fog (imagine that).  He arrived around 2:30.  Shawn, Paul and I got in a good nap before he arrived and were ready to go when he got here.
     Shawn had made reservations at a well known foodie joint called BARR.  We walked to the Metro and took a ride.  Our exit was Christianhaven, one of the more upscale neighborhoods in Copenhagen.  From the exit, we walked for the next half hour around the area, beautiful area, until our reservation at 5:15.  This is the ex-NOMA restaurant space.  Very cozy along the water front.
Large selection of craft beers.  I was chilly, so I started with a cuppachino and the boys had beer, several I may add.
     The menu selections were fun.  They stated us with two fresh breads in a basket.  Could have eaten those all night.  The first was a rye, bird seed kinda bread served with a lard spread.  Yes, you read it correctly, lard spread. The other bread was phenomenal!!  It was served slightly warm and was  fresh... with a hard crust and homemade butter you could have eaten with a spoon.
     Then our appetizers.  Bone marrow with a chutney that was my favorite for the evening.  We ordered plum pickeled herring and another one I could eat all night,  waffle with lumpfish.  OMG it was unbelievable!  Still enjoying the craft beers, next was the main course, glazed code, the house specialty.  Fresh, moist and just cooked, it was fabulous.  We were all satisfied!
      I enjoyed listening to the boys’ evening banter of all the chefs and food shows the boys watch.  The evening was very relaxing and very pleasant.  Love seeing Drew and watching him gear down from the week.  We all needed to gear down.  Instead of walking home several miles, we hopped in a taxi and rolled on back to the Airbnb.  We all stayed up and chatted about the next day, the morning coffee run and Copenhagen’s design museum before hitting our next infamous resturants for bunch.  Good night!

2019 NOMA, Northern Lights and Oslo