A few days in Copenhagen

After seeing my family we spoiled ourselves with two days in Copenhagen. The weather was splendid and the smørrebrød as yummi as always (we ate at Cafe Sorgenfri and Kanal-cafeen). Femke sniffed out a number of design shops (and I a few bodegas). We also visited Christiania - Femke never been there before, and of course the beautiful neighbourhood of Christianshavn as well as art museum Glyptoteket.

The second day started much earlier than planned with a fire alarm and evacuation of the hotel. In the end it was nothing serious, just a chimney fire. But running barefooted in the fire stairs seven in the morning is quite a abrupt awakening I tell you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting my Mother

After the Christmas party we visited my Mother and stayed for a few days. It is nice to be home with your family and just meet, talk and hang around. One of the days we went to Helsingborg for a fika and a walk in the fresh winter weather. Another day we drove to Malmö for some shopping and Pytt i panna-lunch.

 

 

 

Christmas in Sweden

This year it was time to celebrate Christmas in Sweden with my family. Funny enough, there was more snow in Amsterdam than in Malmö the Christmas of 2009.
The Christmas party itself was at mys sister's place together with relatives of her husband Bo-Arne. And lots of food :-)

Snow in Amsterdam

The last couple of days it has been snowing here in Amsterdam. And unusually, the snow is still around!

 

My little boat, all snowed over

 

Snowy street outside our apartment

Work in Vienna

I had the pleasure to spend three days working in Vienna in mid December. Here are some photos from that trip.

 

 

 

Cheese tasting

This morning I had the pleasure to attend to a cheese tasting at Reypenaer in central Amsterdam. They produce a number of cheeses the old fashioned way, letting them slowly ripe in their riverside warehouse.

We tried six cheeses:
Chevre affiné (4 months, goat cheese)
Chevre Gris (10 months, goat cheese)
Wyngaard Affineur (6 months, made of summer milk from cows)
Reypenaer (matured 1 year, made of winter milk)
Reypenaer VSOP (2 years, winter milk)
Reypenaer XO Reserve (2,5 years, summer milk)

I liked them all, but Reypenaer topped my list, followed by VSOP, XO Reserve and Wyngaard Affineur.

Belgian beer tasting

While in Stockholm, I arranged a Belgian beer tasting for mostly friends and fellow paraglider pilots. It's always a pleasure to spread the Belgian Gospel and see how the guests start to discover this new splendid universe.

We tasted following beers (in this order):
St Feuillien blonde
Chimay Grand Reserve
Westmalle Tripel
Oud Beersel Geuze
Bios Kriek
Orval

I was busy talking people through the tasting, but Fredrik Angrimer snapped a few photos with his mobile:

Next Hypoxia on its way

Late yesterday night I uploaded the next issue of Hypoxia to the print shop. This is the last issue for this year, but I am very happy to say that I will produce the magazine also during 2010. Here is a peak on the front page.

Femke is off to London today, but only until tomorrow. And I am going shopping! Well, researching shopping in Amsterdam for a story that is.

Benin

Femke is back from Benin! I missed her. She had a both successful and interesting trip, as often is the case when she goes to West Africa. I took the liberty to select a few of her photos and post them here. Enjoy!