happy fastelavn!

today is fastelavn, what started as a roman catholic tradition of celebrating the days before lent and is now a nordic halloween. all the children dress up in costumes and gather treats for the feast, where they have to "hit the cat out of the barrel." they fill a wooden barrel with candy and beat it with a bat until the candy pours out (essentially a pinata) and the one who breaks it is crowned "queen of cats" and the one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel is crowned "king of cats." this year, it coincidentally falls on the same day as valentine's day but valentine's day is not as popular here because danes consider it to be an american holiday that businesses advertise in order to benefit their revenue. we always joke that soon danes will be celebrating thanksgiving as well as our independence day :)

in light of the holiday, my host dad, knud, made fastelavnsboller. it is a round baked bun filled with cream. IT IS HEAVEN! it is absolutely my favorite danish pastry so far. 


i also had my first real danish meal. i had smørrebrød (open sandwich) before but this was the legit way to eat it. first of all, there are so many rules! you have to hold the rye bread on the short end with your thumb and middle finger with your index finger sticking up in the air. and you must always eat from the short end. you HAVE to eat herring first, then other fish, then meat, then cheese. there are also certain toppings that don't go with other toppings. it's ridiculous. so now i have tried herring! i really really like it and it comes in so many ways... smoked, pickled, curried. i also tried leverpostej, which is pork liver paste. ugh... i did not like that nor the pickled beets that went with it.

another thing that danes love: marzipan. i have never heard of it in the states, but it is a confection consisting of sugar and crushed sweet almonds. it has the consistency of the coconut filling in almond joy. i definitely think it's an acquired taste because i did not like it at all and they looked at me in utter disbelief. but i do the same when they say they don't like peanut butter nor dunking cookies in a glass of milk. lol

on another note, here is my house...

my name on the door... lol. handwritten on paper and taped :)