So in my longing for wide open spaces I went on a quest this week to find a place that fills my nature-y needs. Monday afternoon I set out to go to the Copenhagen Botanical Garden along with one of the girls (a Dane) that I live with. Unfortunately it's closed on Monday (shoulda guessed it would be, since most of the museums and such are closed on Mondays) so then it was on to Plan B: my friend showed me the lakes region of Copenhagen which is made up of a series of 3 or 4 (man-made) lakes. Currently the majority of the water is frozen over so there were ice skaters and people walking about. But in the parts that weren't frozen there were swans and ducks galore (side note: swans exist here in the abundance that Canadian geese do in PA... and they're much prettier). Even though we were still right in the middle of all the city busyness it did my soul good to walk slowly, enjoy the scenery, and feel dirt (not cement) under my feet.
After that my appetite was even more whetted to go experience the Botanical Garden. On Wednesday, off I went (it takes about 10 minutes to walk there which is great). When I walked in I couldn't help but stop and take in the scene. I finally found a place (and right in the middle of the city chaos nonetheless) that had a woodsy feel to it. Despite the cold, I took my time wandering around the paths, and I didn't even care that I could still hear the sounds of city transportation in the background. Then I moved from the outdoors part of the garden to the indoors part. By indoors I mean inside a giant greenhouse that houses a rainforest! It was so cool! Well, warm actually. The greenhouse was made by a king in [insert date from a long time ago] and houses plants from all over the world and from different climates (the rainforest section is just the biggest one). Everything in it is vibrant and green. Near the entrance I noticed these 2 old spiral staircases. At first I couldn't decide whether or not they were for employees or for the public. Then I saw a small child walk down the 2nd one and decided she was too young to work there... so then I ventured up the 1st one and onto a circular ledge that went around the circumference of the dome. Awaiting me was a unique view of the rainforest from the vantage point of the treetops. Eventually I left the greenhouse and the Botanical Garden - but only because I had to be somewhere else - and decided that it's my new favorite place in Copenhagen and that I'll by all means be back.
[Transition] Because nature and food (specifically vegetables) are related in my head, I'm going to jump to a new subject: cooking.
Despite all my resolutions over the past few years to learn how to cook, my skills have been contained in the area of "the basics" and, more recently, bread baking. Nor would I've said I was confident in my cooking abilities or that I really enjoyed it (now eating on the other hand...) But in this new life of mine I'm forced to cook whether I like it or not. And as convenient as it was to live off of PB&J and bananas my first week here, my taste buds demanded an alternative. So I've jumped in with both feet into the wide and - I would now add - wonderful world of cooking. Whadya know? I really like it!
The other night I was "on duty" for helping to cook our weekly house dinner. I was standing at the sink rinsing off vegetables. Since they're all freshly grown by area farmers from the veggie co-op we volunteer at, there was quite a lot of dirt on them. But there was something really nice about "interacting" with my food in that way, from start to finish. And, slightly tangential, since we get veggies from the co-op we end up with all sorts of things, some I've never heard of (ex: Jerusalem artichoke) or others I've never seen in their "straight out of the ground" form (ex: beet root). But it forces you to get creative, to discover new recipes, to try new things. And that's the part I've come to love about cooking. That, and having fresh and local vegetables around (with the dirt to prove it was just pulled out of the ground) coupled with the pressure to do something with so it doesn't go to waste. For both of these reasons I've spent several enjoyable afternoons in the kitchen chopping, cleaning, and cooking - again, mainly vegetables (I've only made one meat dish and it was salmon so that hardly counts).
Example 1: We'd gotten 2 GIANT heads of cabbage in our weekly veggie bag. And one of them was sitting in our fridge for several days when I decided that I wanted to make soup out of it. I looked up a recipe, added my own special touches to it, and ended up with a really yummy soup. Example 2: I love banana bread. I wanted to try out a baking substitute I just learned of - using avocado in place of butter. So between that and a couple of other additions like grated apple and chocolate, there was some delicious bread that was devoured by my housemates...
In sum: Dirt is good. Whether it's under your feet or on your food. (Before you wash it, that is.)
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