Hygge ligt

What is that you say? Well its a Danish term that has no literal translation but is close to a combination of "cozy" "warm" "social". Basically its how Danes describe nice long dinners with good conversation, or just being together discussing the world. I've become accustomed to it at the dinner table at home, or at big circle tables at Proctor dining hall at Middlebury, and I believe its a great term. Pronounced "hue-guh-lee" (remember that Danes like extra vowels and consonants), hygge ligt is something that I've really come to appreciate over here. Living by myself, my weekly installment of hygge ligt comes Tuesday Night family dinners that I have with Eric and Lily (thats us in the picture, on the train, sadly, no pics from Tuesday nights) who go to Middlebury and my new friend Nate. Usually we get a random guest as well. Regardless of what we're cooking we get the chance to relax for a couple of hours and sample all sorts of red wine: be it Chilean, Californian, French, Italian or usually... Boxed. Sometimes our dinners are works of culinary art; like this week's installment of teriyaki chicken salad with honey mustard and twice baked potatoes (Eric's girlfriend visiting from Italy is to thank for that).... and sometimes they're just made with lots of love; like last week's chili concoction that lacked the key component, chili powder. Once Nate made Chicken Parmesan with real mozzerella, very delicious; however I made some five alarm Garlic bread to go with it, I was a little liberal in the addition of my namesake. The time over here is going fast, but Tuesday Night family dinners is not something that I will forget.

Something else I've come to appreciate here is cooking for myself. Often I will sit down and google something as simple as "Mashed Potatoes" or "Scrambled Eggs" because even though I've been enjoying these dishes as staples of my diet for years, I never actually took the time to make them from scratch. So making sure all the ingredients and timing works out is a challenge the first time, and as you can imagine, trial and error is the only way to really learn.

Not that I'm any sort of expert, but here are a few suggestions for you aspiring chefs out there:

• In terms of cooking meat, this one comes from Dave Mosher up at Magic Falls Rafting Co. in Maine: "I don't care how you cook the chicken, just make sure its not undercooked, and don't burn it." (Easier said than done when cooking 135 chickens simultaneously for a lot of very hungry rafters. But its possible, and as I later found, expected.)
• Another piece of wisdom, this one I picked from Steve, my instructor on Outward Bound down in Patagonia (he was one of the baddest dudes I ever met). "The true master chef is the man that can have dinner ready and the kitchen already cleaned by the time everyone's ready to eat."
  
• No matter what you're making, if you add 3 oz. of starvation anything will taste good.
• I've yet to find a meal that canned corn can't contribute to. Canned corn is the Lou Merloni of my diet.
• If you have to pan fry hamburgers, use low heat.
• Mashed potatoes take longer than you'd think. (I prefer them with garlic and the skin left on for a little bit more texture)
• Being "cooked" is a relative term. Remember this.
• The key is more butter and a little salt. (If right now you're asking "The key to what?" go offer to clean the dishes and have someone else cook for you.)

One thing that I really don't enjoy is cooking for myself. It throws all the proportions off and there's no one to do the dishes. My only suggestion for this scenario is a pre-made dessert, you're too spent to think about dessert at the end. So that's it for cooking. Remember every one, hygge ligt!

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Anyways, this has just been a beautiful week for weather in Copenhagen, and it has it made life so much better. Everything-- riding my bike to school and home, celebrating a friend's birthday in a Copenhagen square with the village drunks, zoning out during class-- is more enjoyable when the sun is shining. I can't believe I'm going to be leaving here just when the weather turns, but after my travel break I'm sure it will be gorgeous for my last month or so.

Speaking of my travel break, I can't wait to get there. I've been busy as can be this week turning in papers, writing paper proposals (more work than you think, the way I do it includes reading the introduction to any book that looks relevant and spending lots of time on J-STOR), and taking four mid terms today and tomorrow. But so far so good-- I've been adequately prepared for everything, and still have my wits about me. I just need to get through tomorrow.

So here's the quick itenerary, just in case I go out of radio contact for a couple of days.

Sunday: All day bus to Luxembourg
Monday-Friday afternoon: Luxembourg and Brussels on my school field trip.
Friday night: Train to Paris or London.
(My friend Cormac is in London and I know a couple friends in Paris, so I'm not sure how I'm going to spend these days, but it should be fun.)
Wednesday (March 28th) - Flying back to Copenhagen from London on RyanAir.
Thursday: BACK TO MASSSSACHHUUUUSETTS!!! Wooo!

In terms of blogging, if I get a minute at an internet cafe I'll try to keep you guys in the loop; however, probably no pictures or long winded accounts. You can wait for those. So I'm not sure when the next blog will be, but if I don't... if you wish me luck on my travels (and my last couple midterms) I'll wish you some authentic Danish hygge ligt.