Mom and me with Michelangelo’s David
Day Three was a Sunday – the first Sunday of November, sooo all the museums were free! After a bit of discussing, Koen, Tamar, my mom and I decided on Galleria dell’Accademia, most famous for housing Michelangelo’s David. We left early in the morning and luckily the line wasn’t too bad!
Starting the day off great! Fresh ciabatta with grilled tomatoes, eggs sunny side up, and pancetta!
Day Two was my first day waking up in Florence. Koen and I woke up to an empty apartment (my parents left to meet Grayson, Tamar, and Edward at the airport), so we decided to spoil ourselves with brunch. Luckily right across the street is a supermarket, so we bought a few Italian staples like ciabatta and pancetta and other breakfast essentials. I don’t think I mentioned it in my last post, but the weather was in the high 60s, low 70s the whole time so we ate every meal outside on the terrace!
Plantin-Moretus Museum
Koen and I just celebrated 7 years of being married! We decided to spend our long weekend off together exploring Antwerp a bit more. Tourists in our own city!
Eating every last crumb of my Danish!
Day Six was our last full day in Copenhagen. So much pressure to make the most of it! The night before (Day Five) we looked through all of our notes and maps to see what we hadn’t done yet and make our final selections.
Kalaset for brunch
Day Five was our second to last full day in Copenhagen, so we needed to narrow down what we would still like to do. We decided to start the morning with brunch at Kalaset. Koen and I had looked up a lot of restaurants for brunch and Kalaset was always high up on the list. The menu isn’t typically Danish – it’s very continental, so pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. I guess I should have known that because it’s located in Indre By, there wouldn’t be many locals. Honestly, I think Koen was the only non-American in the packed restaurant and only one of two guys. It was literally filled with American girls doing brunch with friends. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I thought it was really funny. I just pretended to be Dutch and Koen and I had our own conversation while eavesdropping all the conversations around us. Who knew that studying abroad in Copenhagen is really great except for the lack of boys and is almost impossible to find a Danish boyfriend?
Starting the morning with a bowl of grød!
Day four in Copenhagen, we decided to spend some more time exploring the shops on the Jægersborggade. We were lucky that we chose to do this on a Saturday because some of the shops are only open a few days a week. The morning started again at Grød for breakfast, followed by visiting Kaktus, a store that sells – you guess it – only cacti. We couldn’t help revisiting Karamelleriet, where the caramels are made by hand and were so delicious that we ate all of ours before we even were back in Belgium. After a few caramel tastings – they let you sample the fresh made goodies – we visited Habengut, a traditional woodwork shop, by Søren Ulrich. All of the pieces are made by hand and we bought two tealight holders and a salt dish to bring back home. Our last stop was at Crate, a store specializing in beer and vinyl. We purchased a few Danish beers to try that evening.
Danish breakfast! The big breakfast on the left and the small on the right.
Day three began with another delicious breakfast at Brødflov on the Falkoner Allé in Frederiksberg. We were the only none Danish people in the crowded organic bakery, so we felt like we made a great choice. The staff was super friendly and helpful. Koen ordered the big breakfast that came with your choice of two types of bread – in Koen’s case a sourdough roll and a tebirke. Tebirkes are a sort of Danish poppy seed pastry that are flaky and a little sweet and sticky thanks to the butter and marizipan. In addition to the two types of bread, Koen received three types of Danish sausage, two types of Danish cheese, and a portion of skyr (Icelandic yoghurt).
I ordered the smaller version which also includes two types of bread and chose the spelt sourdough and kanelmonster (giant cinnamon roll). With our breakfasts you’ll see a portion of homemade raspberry jam. As an American I thought it was just to eat on my bread. But then I looked at the girl next to me and realized I was eating my breakfast completely wrong. First of all the bread comes sliced in half and you receive two slices of cheese. So you put one piece of cheese on each slice. Then you put the jam on top of the cheese. Yum! Luckily it wasn’t too late and I enjoyed the rest of my meal the correct way. Both the big and small breakfasts came with a cup of coffee and the fresh juice of the day, which was carrot, apple, and ginger.
Birthday Breakfast – kanelsnurre and a double latte!
Koen and I are just back from a week long vacation in Copenhagen, Denmark. I can’t say enough how much fun we had! Exploring, eating, drinking…just relaxing.
Koen and me excited for dinner!
Before we leave for Copenhagen, Koen and I celebrated my birthday Little Butcher’s Summer Grill with his parents, aunt, and uncle. Such a great present from my in-laws! LBSG is a pop-up restaurant at Park Spoor Noord. Where better to house a grill restaurant than outside at a park surrounded by green grass, trees, and playgrounds?
Yannick Van Aeken was the guest cook at LBSG for two nights only! Luckily we found out early enough to book our table. Van Aeken is a former Noma sous-chef. Yes that Noma in Copenhagen, the best restaurant in the world. So perfect preparation for our trip! To accompany the food, Paul Morel was the guest mixologist for one night only. He is the former head-bartender of The Jane in Antwerp. It was difficult to chose which cocktail to take, and we wound up just sampling a little from everything.
The menu was divided into 4 categories: Snacks, Veggies, Carnivore, and Sweets. We all ordered the “Treat Me Nice”, which is chef’s choice combination from the categories. Yum! Koen and I also received compliments from Van Aeken because we were the only people in the entire place eating with our hands! He said at Noma they always like to see people getting a little messy haha.
Back together!
I’ve said it before, but I’m so happy my best friend is also married to a Dutch guy! This means that from now on she will be headed this way on a fairly regular basis to visit Rafaël’s family. The first being now to celebrate the wedding in the Netherlands with Dutch family and friends.
An American in Antwerp 