Valentine’s Day: Hearts

Good morning! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Today I decided to pin and share a bunch of Valentine’s Day themed posts on Lamb411.  You know, to get into the “holiday spirit.”

So to kick it all off, I am sharing a selection of lovely pictures of hearts.  I hope you have a sweet day.

Finally! A macaron worth blogging about

Finally! A macaron worth blogging about.  I used to blog about macarons all the time.  I think macarons, done well, are blog worthy.  A lot of my earlier material centered on where to eat macarons around the world (here, here, and here  as an example).  Then it sort of just petered out.  Maybe I haven’t found an inspiring macaron lately.

I am proud to say, macarons are back on Lamb411 and boy did I unearth the mother load today!  I had four superb macarons at Strangas Dessert boutique in Copenhagen.

Not only were the macarons superb, I think they might go down in my books as some of the best macarons that I’ve ever eaten.  These were better than Laduree, which has not been very impressive my past two visits to Paris.

I chose four flavours to taste: Basil + something, lemon and violet, salted caramel and mocha. The meringue possessed the right balance of crunchy and chewy and the flavour combinations were intense and bold (especially the basil).

The Strangas Dessert boutique is cosy (it’s Copenhagen after all ) with its white brick walls, three candle lit wooden tables and pots of sugar.  But you don’t just come here for the macarons- although for me, that was the main draw.  Nikolaos Strangas, the head pastry chef and owner of Strangas, is a master and artist when it comes to making delicate, French inspired desserts.  I had a chance to meet and briefly speak to Nikolaos this afternoon and not only was he very personable and charming, it sounds like there are a lot of exciting projects on his pastry table.  I added him to Instagram to keep track!

I have to return and sample what was in the adjacent display-I saw a nice looking cheese cake for starters…

Strangas Dessert Boutique · Åboulevard 7  Copenhagen

Date Night #6 Rakultur (Stockholm)

The good thing about date night is that it is portable. So when date night falls on a travel weekend, date night shifts from Copenhagen to a new city.

My husband and I dined at Rakultur, one of Stockholm’s best sushi restaurant (so said a friend of a friend (who is a chef in the city)).

This was my first and only sushi meal in Stockholm so I can’t comment on “bests” but it was serious sushi and up there in my all time sushi meals.

Rakultur does not take reservations (I called ahead), and when we showed up we were faced with a 40 minute wait.  Our luck, two large parties just arrived before us. Fortunately 40 minutes turned into 15 when the waitress cleared two seats at the bar.  Perfect for us.

The kitchen closes at 9:30 so we were informed if we wanted a chef’s table tasting menu, to hurry up and place the order.  I wasn’t starving so I ordered two rolls (a saute autumn mushroom roll and a Korean steak tartar and pear salad roll).  My husband decided on the small chef’s table tasting menu which included a roll that pays tribute to Momofuku in New York – the pork knuckle roll- in addition to several other artful rolls.

On the menu, I noticed Rakultur even had a selection of sushi made from Scandinavian fish, which I thought was neat.  This is not a “California roll or spicy tuna” type sushi restaurant.  Here you get creative ingredient combinations and simple, clean, delicately presented sushi.  I appreciated the little added touches sprinkled on top of some of the rolls or the bottle of soy sauce with a paint brush to lightly dab and brush soy to your fish.

For some reason, while I was sitting at the chef’s table, I thought of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, if you’ve seen it.  The dining experience was not as formal as Jiro but there was some serious sushi design work and assemblage going on behind the glass separating us from the three chefs.

We left very full and very satisfied.  Highly recommended.

Restaurant Råkultur- Kungstensgatan 2 114 25 Stockholm

Telephone: 08-696 23 25

Stockholm 01 + Meet the Blogger

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I spent last weekend in Stockholm attending Meet The Blogger– a conference where bloggers get together to meet and learn from other bloggers and talk about blogger things.  You might think I’m joking here, but it was really nice to be in a room with so many like minded people from in and around Europe.

Let’s get personal for a second:  I”ve been blogging since 2008.  Blogging is a creative outlet and a window into a person’s head.  I absolutely love sharing what I find, what I like, and where I travel.

While there is a virtual community around blogging, for the most part it is a rather solitary endeavour.  In reality, most of the people in my life do not blog.  I could probably count on one hand how many bloggers I know in person.

Attending Meet the Blogger in Stockholm turned my virtual community of bloggers into reality. I put faces to  “words,” “images,” and “recipes” of the blogs I read and I also got to meet a slew of new people.   It was a really cool experience (a first for me).

I took a lot of pictures over the weekend (too many to process all at once) so I will break them up into smaller, more digestible themes in future posts.

Here is a birds eye view of my 48 hour adventure.

{The architecture in Stockholm was quite diverse and different to Copenhagen}  Next time I return, I want to go on an architecture tour to learn more about the time periods and design in which the buildings were constructed.

{There are a lot of sweets in Stockholm- From candy, and chocolate covered things to cinnamon buns, you don’t have to walk very far to find sugar!!}

{This is a city is cold- but beautiful in February!  Particularly with all the water running throughout the islands.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr}

{These pictures were taken at the conference on Saturday- you’ll see the welcome screen, Will from Bright Bazaar and Toni and Thea from Sister Mag}

{This was one of the washroom interiors in my hotel (Scandic Hotel Grand Central, which I thought was neat as well as a shot of some of the wall art on our floor}

{Lots of awesome design stores to discover in Stockholm- you definitely need more than 48 hours to walk around and explore}

More to come on the design and the food but for now- it was a pleasure to meet: Joelix, Stylizimo, Kickcan & Conkers, Vosges Paris, IDA Interior Lifestyle, Bloesem, Sister Mag. ElceStockholm, Arianna Interiors, Swoon Worthy, Eclectic Trends, Haus Stylish, It’s a House, and Just Kirsten (so many others……)

Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing.

Oh yeah- I forgot to mention, if you aren’t following over on Countlan magazine– Issue 03 is well underway and due out in April!  I am very excited and happy to work with so many enthusiastic new contributors.

Date Night #5 Che Fe 90-100% Bio Trattoria

Nothing like a bit of “organic” positioning to catch your eye and move you to a decision.  This was the case for Che Fe, a 90-100% Bio Italian Trattoria in my neighbourhood.

Photo Source: 10Best

Why 90-100% you ask?  Good question!  My husband and I asked the waiter the same question too.

But before I tell you the answer, I will tell you why I chose this restaurant.  It was a dark and stormy night in Copenhagen, minus the stormy.  Rather, it was a cold and dark night.  We were committed to date night but did not feel like travelling very far.  Solution:  Our complex of apartments contains a handful of restaurants.  Che Fe is one of them.  For us, a meal at Che Fe involved exiting our flat and walking across the street into a warm, cosy restaurant.  Score!  And, I guess you could say I was curious why the window of the restaurant says 90-100% organic.  Why not just say 90% or 100%???  Why the range?

Like many of the restaurants in Copenhagen, Che Fe operates on a seasonal menu which switches up every two to three months.  When we visited, we caught the end of the “winter” menu, which means the next time we visit, we will get to taste test something new.  In fact, just last week I received an email with their February-pre-spring menu that will feature venison.

“We are in our February menu inspired by winter venison and early spring, which is spreading across the fields in Sicily.” (Gotta love Google Translate)

Che Fe is a Sicilian restaurant and to be accurate, they are 93% organic.  This means all ingredients used in the menu come from organic Italian producers with the exception of the spirits (however they did find an organic Limoncello producer) and the fish.  They shared with us they would rather serve fresh fish from the seas around Denmark but they could not guarantee the sea fish stuck to an organic diet :).  We’ll let that one fly.

This little, warmly lit restaurant was packed.  We snagged the last table on a Friday night at 8pm.  We weren’t starving so we started with some olives, my husband tried the soup (above) and we each got a main (him the venison papardelle and me a crepe like vegetarian dish with swiss chard, lentils and cheese, in a tomato sauce).

Our personable waiter was chatty and helpful guiding us through the dining experience.  Earlier on in the meal, we shared with him that we were new to the hood and Che Fe’s new next door neighbours.  After the last sip of organic limoncello and piece of tiramisu, the waiter approached our table with a small white gift bag.  How thoughtful! We received a small parting gift for being their new neighbours- a bottle of olive oil and some nice pasta.

The other cool thing about this restaurant is that they also have a mini organic Italian food boutique and are sister companies with the Italian bakery Il Fornaio, which is located in Torvehallerne market.

Che Fe- you’re going on the rotation!  It’s nice to have you as neighbours.

Address:  BORGERGADE 17A · 1300 KØBENHAVN K