Failure, Relaunch, Resolution

Failure
Well guys, I failed, miserably, at keeping up the blog last year. Outside of one month of productive posting, which, WTH?, didn't include any picture or mention of our adventures in Scandinavia and dinner at NoMa (yea we did!) it was a slow year on the blog.

Resolution

This year I also intend it to be a slow year on the blog, but I intend to post once a month. That shouldn't be that hard, but look what happened last year... That said, it's a manageable goal that wont overwhelm, so I think there are some real possibilities here.

Relaunch

That being said, this blog has been inspired by books from day 1, hence the name, "In the Night Kitchen." This year, with purpose, my resolution-ed monthly posts will be inspired by books too. They will still be about food, and most of the time baking, but I read SO MUCH and I might as well start weaving that in too. That said, the rest of this blog post will have nothing to do with books (or only a little).

Vacationing
Without putting enough thought into it, our yearly February trip was to Scandinavia last year. We spent most of our time in Stockholm, with an overnight in Copenhagen and a stopover in Iceland.

A few things to try in Stockholm. First, this is a Semla. It is all the rage, you must have one. It took us several days to finally sit down and order one. Other pastries, especially those with cardamom are delicious.

Second, fish in tubes. I think Sweden is the biggest consumer of fish in tubes. All kinds of fish, all sizes of tubes. Also, smoked, pickled or dilled fish. If you've been eating pickled herring since childhood, breakfast in Stockholm is fun. If you haven't, there's a first time for everything.

We went to Nybrogatan 38. We kind of stumbled upon it looking for a dinner near our hotel on one of our last evening's in the city. We sat at the bar as the place was super crowded and were started off with this delicious bread basket. The remaining food was also really good - and the drinks were fun - note you can order the Pensatucky.  

This is just a picture of a latte.

And finally, we went to lunch with my friend Alex. Sweden is a very family-centric place, and there were lots of families lunching in this little restaurant. Strollers are left outside, and apparently sad pugs too. This may be my favorite photo from the whole trip.

From Stockholm, we went south to Copenhagen, primarily because we managed to get a reservation at NoMa, but also because flights were cheap and it was easy to get to. Copenhagen was a short trip, but here are some NoMa dinner photos: 

 

    

 

This is a cappuccino. I was confused - is everyone really drinking iced coffee, outside bundled up at cafes and smoking their cigarettes? No. That is a cappuccino in a glass. Aha. Isn't it beautiful though? This was at The Coffee Collective in Torvehallerne - a food market with lots of interesting treats.

Finally, we went through Iceland, and did a short trip, also with good food and interesting sightseeing.  For instance, there are all these boats: 

If you go to Iceland, you should definitely check out Lebowski Bar. The dude abides here. You should also have brunch at The Laundromat, which we did maybe every morning we were there.