Inspiring culinary trip to Copenhagen

Denmark's capital is now famous in a modern culinary world with Noma and some other Michelin' spotted places. But this is not why I visited the city and my culinary inspirations didn't come from their best chefs. My visit was, say, more local. A weekend with my best friend who happens to be also a cooking savvy. First - I have learned something about salt. Yes, NaCl as simply as it is. So far I used to buy whatever cheapest I could find in a grocery store, usually iodized, either sea or rock and didn't think much of it. I couldn't understand recipes asking for some sophisticated strangely sounded names of particular salt like Fleur de Sel or Kosher Salt or Himalayan Salt or others. I used to fully ignore them and used my cheap stuff. Why not? Salt is quite important in our life and in our cooking. First: Different salts do have different taste - at least to some. At least if you just add it for serving the food, not for cooking itself. Artisan salts can have better quality, better taste, different structure. But also be careful - they are usually not fortified by iodine. And as we all know iodine is essential in our diet. So, although my friend promotes salts with no additives I would still be buying those with iodine. Why? Making my own research about salts I have read a lot about iodine deficiency disorder and how easy it is to prevent it by simply consuming iodized salt. Even mild deficiency can cause learning problems and lower IQ (think about your growing kids!). So, even if you'd prefer to pass the fancy artisan salt, try also so smuggle the regular iodized one for the sake of your and your kids well-being. Second - I have learned to make bread. My friend is a regular baker and she shared one of her basic recipes with me. I have made my own sourdough which I keep tightly closed in a fridge and feed it once a week or whenever I bake a new loaf. I've bought several different kinds of flours: rye, whole wheat, oat meal, spelt. I keep different seeds like sunflower or pumpkin. And I bake. And it is so simple and the final effect is so delicious you almost wait for a new fresh loaf. Like this one:

Third - I sort of changed my mind or maybe a way of thinking about hunting and eating game instead of meat from factory farms. Have you ever thought about that? You buy that cheap pork or beef sold in supermarket but you can't stand a thought about shooting a deer, right? For most of us unfortunately the answer is yes. As if pork would be grown on a tree and not coming from a poor treated pig, who never experienced any freedom in her life and was slotted in quite a horrible way. So yes, if you really mind, you should a) become a vegetarian b) buy only organic meet or meet from small traditional farms, where animals can have a decent life c) hunt and eat game. At least this deer enjoined free life in his natural environment. Fourth - some simple but delicious recipes for side dishes and how to smuggle vegetables into your family members plates. For ideas visit this tallerken blog, my Copenhagen' friend used to write.

My kiddos

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by them. Sometimes I loose my temper. Sometimes I do yell at them. But most of the time I spend with them I hug them, I give them kisses, I chat with them, I listen to what they want to tell me, I play with them, I read to them, I cook and bake with them. I love them. Every day I think how amazing they both are and how lucky I am to be their mother. Tomek started to say "auto". He is a big enthusiast of mobiles, vehicles, bulldozers. Basically all the tough guy stuff. He is screaming that "wow!!!" whenever he sees one of those trucks. In a sandbox he always plays with the trucks and bulldozers. At home crawls pushing a car. I'm always laughing to myself, because I am really not a kind of mother who gives a car to a boy and a doll to a girl. But this is something like his basic instinct or I don't know. But he loves to play with a baby doll too, he likes to feed the doll with a bottle and press her belly to make her cry, he loves to hug his teddybear. And he is totally into dogs. Now more and more he is also into his sister. Whatever she does, he wants to do the same. He repeats her with everything, what she eats, what kind of noises she makes or what she wants to play with. And they do play together time to time. Of course there is lots of fight and screaming and an adult has to be always around. And Wanda? Well, as I said before she writes a book. She is so creative. Recently she made a little boat from a piece of bark she found outside on the yard. She made a musical instrument. She loves to color and draw and cut. She mastered riding a bike. She's my girl. He's my boy. Happy and good feeling.