When the McGuire's Come to Town

Pictures are worth 1000 words. Here are some of the photos we took during my parents week long visit to Copenhagen.

 

Happy and hungry on our way to Noma! 

Chistiania

 

Tivoli

Saunagus

StrEAT Helsinki

The weekend after my trip to Norway I got on a plane with 2 of my colleagues, Guillemette and Edith, headed for Helsinki. Our trip was sponsored by the Lab because were were about to embark of a food filed weekend at Helsinki's first street food festival and talks.

The festivites started on Friday with a ticketed event at a huge conference center. Somewhere between 8-10 speakers from all across Europe, the United States, and even South Africa were there to give a talk on street food, alternative food movements, and food trucks. 

Some of the speakers included:
Chris Ying/ Lucky Peach Magazine (USA)

Geetika Agrawal & Caleb Zigas/ La Cocina (USA)

Lucas Castiglione/ CapeTown Food Trucks (South Africa) 

Cynthia Shanmugalingam/ Kitchenette (UK)

Eric Demby/ Brooklyn Flea & Smorgasburg (USA)

Lunch was provided by several food trucks parked in the conference hall. There was a sampling of cuisines- tacos, fish sliders, and curry-wursts. The tacos were by far the best!

Since out time is Helsinki was short, Guio and I decided to forgo the second half of the lectures and ventured into the city instead.

Helsinki is not particularly beautiful but it was still quite nice. The city definitely felt more eastern European than any other Scandinavian city I have been to. There were lingering remains to the soviet era interspersed with the slightly more typical Scandinavia architecture.

Friday evening there was a dinner party in what used to be the meat packing district. The space was beautifully renovated into a hip restaurant space.

A friend of the Lab, and Ediths former Chef (an now the bearer of a Michelin star) Sasu catered the event. Two delicious courses and dessert.

First we has a deconstructed tostada- a crisp beet tortilla, fermented pea 'guacamole', coleslaw, red cabbage, and a piece of lightly smoked haddock. 

The second dish was a pulled reindeer sandwich with lingon berry ketchup, garlic mayo, and crispy root fruit chips on a gluten free bun. The vegetarian version had a delicious mushroom seitan instead of reindeer meat.

Dessert was juniper ice cream with crushed blueberry meringue.

~

Day 2

Saturday morning Guio, Edith and I went back into the city for the street festival portion of the event. There were around 40 food trucks in the center of Helisinki cranking out a wide variety of delicious delicasies- from BBQ to cupcake to raw oysters to some traditional Finish pastries- they had something for everyone. The streets were packed with people, queues stretching around corners, close to an hour wait. 

Since Guio and I had sampled some of the food trucks the previous day, we decided to skip the lines and experience real Helsinki. We went to Hakaniemi Kauppahalli, a traditional Finnish food market full of fresh and prepared foods. It was an incredible place. So many new foods, real people, and a place that looks like it hasn't change a bit over the last 40 years.

After wandering the aisles several times, Guio and I decided to have a smoked/cured salmon degustation, tasting one of each kind (6 in total). We also got some blinis and got a piece of traditional potato flat bread. As we were making out way to the exit, hands full of food, we couldn't resist picking up a bag of homemade sauerkraut and two fermented pickles. We found a sunny spot and enjoyed our odd assortment of extremely delicious food al fresco. That meal totally hit the spot. 

After lunch we went to the event Edith organized called Dealicious. It was a food swap- no money involved- as a way to get people to think about the value of food. 

We brought some grasshopper gaurm and walked away with chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and some red beet salad. 

Later that afternoon Edith's dad picked us up and drove us out to her house in the countryside. 

Guio and I got to stay in this adorable little guest house which also houses their wood burning sauna!!

It was a lovely evening of traditional Finnish sauna and a delicious and relaxing dinner.

~

 The next morning Edith had to do some packing so her dad to Guio and I on a tour of her town which is the second oldest town in Finland.

After our tour we picked up Edith and went to visit Malmgård, a beautiful organic grain farm. After talking with the owners about their heritage wheat's, barley's and rye's we got some samples to take back to the lab for further experimentation.

It was then back in the car and off to the airport, but first a quick stop at a truck stop for some lunch.

I had some viili- a Finnish fermented ropy dairy product similar to yogurt but much more slimy in texture. I also had an odd assortment of things I could find inducing a roll, an apple, and some carrots.

Guio and Edith dad decided they could not resist getting a hamburger. Look how happy they are!

To continue with our junk food trend, Guio and I just had to sample this finish jelly donut with pepto bismal pink icing.

Helsinki was great- real people, good food, and EXCELLENT sauna.

Norway

Wow, it seems like the last time I posted was exactly 1 month ago. Sorry about that guys!

 A lot has been going on at the Lab, here in Copenhagen and beyond but I have had little motivation to post about it...

...until now. 

So here begins a catch-up of some events of the last month. 

This month began with a trip to Norway. I was asked to give a talk to at a Hospitality and Tourism conference in Stvanger Norway. The conference was about the y-generation and my talk specifically was on how to attract the y-generation to Norway through food. 

Flying in over Norway was impressive. The landscape was breath takingly beautiful- snow cover mountains, rocky cliffs, fjords, vast farmland, and meandering rivers. But, I have to say, that is where my good impressions of Norway ended. I spent a day and a half is Stavanger and was quite let down by the scenery and the food.

Anyway, the event consisted of a series of talks (mostly in Norwegian), snacks and a y-generation themed lunch of sushi, green smoothies, and kebabs. Oh, and we got a goodie bag with more snacks and a reuable mug.

Later that afternoon, after the conference had ended, I was driven to the hotel. Hell yes! A hotel room to myself. I think this was the first time I have ever stayed in a hotel room alone and it was quite fun. I may have jumped on the beds, and taken home all of the products (including the teas, hot chocolate and coffees) :)

I was informed there was a banquet dinner for the hotel school that evening in the hotel. I was told their would be champagne at 6 and dinner was to start at 7. I casually strolled down to the lobby in a causal dress, a baggy sweater, tights and my everyday boots (the outfit I wore for my presentation). But as soon as the elevator doors opened at the ground floor, I immediately pushed the button to go back up to my room. Everyone was in a ballgown, high heals, their hair in an up-do and tons of makeup on. I had no other clothes or shoes so I took off my sweater and wrapped my pashmina scarf around my shoulders like a shall, put my hair into a lovely loose braid, put on some eyeliner and blush, and headed back down. Luckily it wasn't long before we were let into the dining room.

I sat with a very nice English gentleman who had given a presentation on cycle tourism. I have to say if it wasn't for his company that evening I am not sure I would have made it though the event. The food was terrible, the service was incredibly slow, and the whole event was in Norwegian so we had no clue what was going on. 

1st course- cured salmon and white fish on a cold potato waffle with funky gels and emulsions. It was as if the new culinary students were testing out all their new techniques without much consideration for taste.

2nd course- Fluffy and mushy fish fingers on a bed of mashed peas. I was told this is a traditional Norwegian dish to make with leftovers from the previews nights fish and potatoes.

3rd course- MORE plain flavorless white fish with some sort of cream sauce, a single leaf of lettuce and half a semi-steamed carrot filled with carrot puree. Since I told them I don't eat meat but I do eat fish, I was given more fish that I could handle. 

Dinner was long! There was over an hour of waiting in between each course and since I was a 'vegetarian' my plate would come a good 10 minutes before everyone else at the table so I either had to awkwardly eat alone or wait until it got cold. By the time 11:00pm rolled around and dessert still had not arrived, Richard (the Englishman) and I decided it was time to leave. We each went off to our rooms and made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning and then spend the day exploring the city together.

The next morning after refueling with standard breakfast fare, we ventured out into the city only to find an empty town with little to do. To make matters worse it was gray and pouring rain. Our flights were not until later that evening but by 2:30, after having walked the 3 streets in the city, having a cup of tea, and looking around the oil museum gift shop, we decided we had had enough and headed to the airport where we would at least be warm and dry.

All in all it was not the best trip I have taken. I am sure there are many great things to be found in Norway and I hope to find them someday. 

Sorry for such a negative post. I promise my next post about my trip to Helsinki will be full of fun and excitement.

Just another reason...

...why I love what I do and where I work.

 

As I was approaching one of the traffic lights on my way into work this morning, I felt the corners of my lips curl up and soon realized there was a goofy smile plastered across my face. There stopped at the light was a man who looked like he had just crawled out of the forest after having been in a battle with mother nature. His green sweatpants with cinching at the ankle were ridding up over his calves exposing his thick wool sock and heavy hiking boot. His scraggly blond hair was peaking out from under his hand-knit wool cap, which had clearly been stitched and re-stitched with various colors of yarn. One hand gripped the handlebar while the other clutched a wild and untamed branch; another sprouted from his half zipped backpack.

I laughed a little and thought this crazy man must be heading to Christiania. But then, no sooner than that thought left my mind I realized- wait a minute I know this guy! It was Tomas from the noma test kitchen. I biked up next to him and offered my basket for his gnarly branches. He kindly declined- he well balanced and on a roll, there was no stopping this mad man.