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I'm never going to write up a full travelogue -- I spend enough time working on the pictures for Flickr -- but here are some random thoughts about my trip.

  1. Denmark is expensive. We thought we were prepared for it -- we've been to Europe before, and based on the hotel rates we thought we had a feel for how expensive it would be. We were wrong. The food was insanely expensive, as was getting around by bus or train. (In Copenhagen we walked everywhere, but in Esbjerg we had to takes buses and trains to Ribe and Legoland.)

  2. Denmark is cold. Esbjerg is especially cold and damp, and the nicest it gets there is approximately the worst it gets in Santa Barbara.

  3. Danish food, with the fish and the mayo and the herring and the pork, is so not our thing. I did have some tasty fishcakes at one point, but we ended up eating lots of shwarma and falafel. You know you're in trouble when you're looking forward to London for the better prices, weather, and food.

  4. Legoland was awesome, though.

  5. We went to the British Museum, and wandered into their Africa galleries. We were sorely disappointed by the curation of it, though -- organized by type of object (masks, ceramics, textiles), with little to no discussion of culture or history. Boo.

  6. I sampled the eeee!'s beer in Denmark, and didn't particularly like any of it -- lagers are just not my thing. But I love English ales, and at a random pub he had a pint of Sharp's Doombar, which was the best beer I have ever tasted. Maybe it's just because I haven't really had any beer for the past five months, but it was amazing.


All in all, it was a great trip, and seeing my brother was wonderful. But I do not see myself going back to Scandinavia any time soon.

Back home!

Apr. 27th, 2009 09:37 am
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It's nice to be back home in California!

While we were traveling, we ate out every day for lunch and dinner (obviously). And while it was nice to get food that we can't get here -- specifically, Middle Eastern and Southern Indian -- I get so tired of eating out all the time. We felt like we had to detox, and I was never so happy to have lentils and rice as I was last night. The rest of our menu for the week is meatless and fairly low on dairy.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, after the defense we went to lunch with my parents. There were tons of graduation cards (and gifts) from them and from other family members. Aw! Then, we met them at our hotel before dinner, and they showed up with half a dozen gift bags full of baby stuff. OH MY GOD. Way back when I had told my mom I was pregnant she bought a ton of baby stuff. There were onesies and socks and washcloths and hooded towels and maternity shirts and a baby carrier. Then, while they were in Michigan, they hit up an M-Den and got Michigan shirts (including a onesie with a baby wolverine on it!) and socks and such! The best was a set of Steelers footie pajamas from my brother that had stars on it. Astronomy + Steelers = Win. Kudos, A. We were not expecting any of this, and we were totally blown away by all of it.

I'm now half-rethinking our desire to find out the sex of the child (May 11 is the u/s!). We're very impatient people. But unisex baby clothes with baby animal motifs are so freaking adorable -- much cuter than frilly pink GIRL stuff or butch blue BOY stuff. Well, we can still buy cute unisex clothes even after we know the sex.

We hadn't bought any baby stuff yet, so now it all seems much more real. Like, there's going to be a real live baby wearing these clothes, and we have to take care of it! Eeep!

In other news, I'm still dragging a bit after a week of antibiotics (although at least my ears are no longer bothering me). I hope it's not swine flu.
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I'm in Santa Barbara now, and here's what I've learned in the past few days:


  1. I can never again mock the eeee! for his California upbringing, as he did an awesome job driving in the snow this weekend.
  2. The Chevy HHR really does handle well in the snow.
  3. The spline tool in Supermongo is quite painless.
  4. If you fill a 12"x15"x17" box entirely with books, it will be too heavy for Media Mail.
  5. Empty U-Hauls do not handle well in the snow.
  6. The falafel at La Shish is terrible. All I ask is for my falafel to be freshly deep-fried! How hard is that?
  7. My hiking boots are not waterproof.
  8. Our family motto really is, "On your feet, you lose your seat." I had jokingly said this to the eeee! during the family Christmas party, and told him to ask my mother for verification. So he asked her what the family motto was, and completely unbidden, she replied, "On your feet, you lose your seat." Ha! This is what happens when you have more cousins than chairs.
  9. I love tape guns! Wait, I already knew that -- I guess I was just reminded of it.
  10. After we landed in L.A. and were waiting to disembark the plane, the two little girls behind me (aged 4-5ish and 6-7ish) started talking to me. After listing off her favorite colors, the younger one told me she liked my hair -- specifically, she liked "how it's all sticking up." Awesome. Kudos, young girl who likes "pink and yellow and red and orange and black."
  11. I bring bad weather with me wherever I go. It's raining! I was promised sunshine. I want my money back.

Falafel!

Apr. 14th, 2007 02:30 pm
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I just finished watching West Bank Story ($2 on iTunes!), and it was awesome. Singing! Dancing! Dueling falafel stands! What more do you need?

And meanwhile, the comments on Slacktivist's latest Left Behind Friday post have diverged into a yummy discussion of vegetarian Middle Eastern food. This is because someone mentioned a passage in one of the books where Buck, apparently a vegetarian, goes into an Israeli restaurant and can't figure out what to eat besides bread, butter, and apples. Have LaHaye and Jenkins never heard of falafel?

Mmmm, falafel.

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