Gravy Training: Isn't It Nice When Someone Else Foots The Bill?

After a lovely summer in Geneva that was sadly marred by my lack of a oven or most kitchen basics, I jumped right back on the horse last night. I should explain, I finished my WHO-internship last week and am currently in Hamburg before heading to London tomorrow! I'm incredibly excited to start my Master's (in Political Science/European Studies, if anyone's interested), but I am more excited about my new apartment, smack in the middle of Camden Town! You're all invited to come and stay and visit, and I promise I will make you lovely food. Mmmmh, food. Back to the food.

So last night we had a full table, nine people. There's an industry exhibition going on in Hamburg at the moment, so my Father invited a bunch of his engineering/business friends. Naturally, I decided to go overboard and cook a five-course meal. It's so nice when someone else pays for ingredients! And this time, I put my mother in charge of taking pictures, so there's a photographic record for once! Well, except for the potatoes, which were literally gone before we could snap them, but I prefer to see this as a triumph of my cooking skills. Voila, a meal, Gitte-style.

Amuse-Bouche: Foie Gras with Apricot Compotte

I got the idea for this from Phil's mom, who served it crackerless on these great silver spoons whose handles curved around so they could stand on their own. My mother was pissy that I bought foie gras, one small tin of which cost more than pork tenderloin for nine. But, BUT! I was very frugal at the supermarket and figured I could splurge.. and it was so good!


Fish Course: Rum-Roasted Shrimp, Mango and Pineapple

I did a bad, bad thing. I got this recipe from the cookbook that my mother is giving Majken and Cam for their wedding (congrats, you crazy kids!). I was so paranoid that I'd splash the book (which Mum brought over from Canada) that I ended up memorizing the page number as well as most of the directions. The rum-lime glaze was lovely, but I think I'll marinade the stuff in it as well next time to hold on to the flavour.


Soup Course: Carrot Hokkaido Pumpkin Curry Soup

Aaaaah, Pioneer Woman. How do I love thee? Yet another one of Ree's amazing recipes. She cleaarly has a knack for soups as the other one I've made (Sherried Tomato) is dynamite as well. This is actually supposed to be made with summer squash, but all the supermarket had was Hokkaido pumpkins. A bitch to chop, I'll tell ya! I think I prefer the squash; the pumpkins were good but the resulting soup was a little denser and darker because of it, more of a main than a starter.


Main: Pork Tenderloin on Plum and Apple Compotte with Roasted Garlic Potatoes
Thank god the potato recipe is from Ree, or I wouldn't have has a stand-in shot. They were so good! A little more roasted than in the picture, but in a flavourful way. The meat was great too - I luurve cooking with fruit. The recipe book informs me that the dish is Danish, so I guess my enthusiasm is understandable. I was so pleased this turned out well - and six guests had seconds! After three courses preceding! High five!







Selection of Cheeses

You can see these are already half-eaten; I apologize for my inability to stop and think before eating. I can't help it. Also, I drunkenly threw away the list with the cheese names and so can't give you an exact rundown of what all this was. Clockwise from top right: a Rochebaron, which melted immediately. Some form of Brie that had this amazing truffle cream stuff in the middle. Pecorino Tartufo, which means marbled with truffles (yes, I like truffles. Shut up). Some type of hard cheese called Herzchachhmumblemumble, and a Blue Stilton. Additionally, I decorated the platter with swirls of walnuts and cranberries - totally wrecked by now, of course.

I should also tell you that while cleaning up this morning, I did a bottle count. We went throught nine bottles last night, with seven people drinking. Ooopsies.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Let me know if any of the recipes appeal to you, I'd be very happy to share them. And please please call me if you're passing by London so I can have an excuse to cook again! Maybe not with foie gras and truffles, though. Unless you're paying. Hey! I'm a starving student!

Cheers,
Gitte

Les Corsaires

Part of the perks of spending the summer in Geneva is the proximity to Lac Leman. Below are some pictures of the sail I did yesterday, on an Yngling-class boat. I'm putting these up for the benefit of my parents, who are doing some sailing of their own in Scotland and can't open large email attachments.

Me on the foredeck - notice how calm it is! Also, do the sails look familiar?

My crew - Thomas, Amy and Melissa.

It was really fun once the wind picked up - lots of maneuvering!

It was a really lovely boat.

Back on dry land and ready to cheer on Germany!

Gravy Training: Dinner for Six

As many of you know, I love to have dinner parties. There's something incredibly satisfying about sitting in front of a whole table of people scarfing down food you've made yourself. Of course, coming from Denmark I tend to have rather grandiose conceptions of what constitutes a dinner party menu - But I can't just have two courses! There's no starch on this plate!
Another thing I do is test out recipes on unsuspecting guests. As I was reminded recently, Emily Post said never to test-run a recipe on people you're not related to by blood (and even then, be cautious), but honestly, given how much good ingredients cost, who's going to cook beef stew for one? So I generally cook on the fly and trust the source.

Anyway, last Friday I held a dinner party with four courses, the most I've attempted outside of my Mom's kitchen. I got started a little late (hello, grocery shopping at 4.30!) so thank god I had a willing sous-chef in the form of my friend Dave. Dave, who's recently gotten into cooking had specifically requested some form of fowl (my specialty and my weakness), so I told him he was welcome to come over and watch/help out.

The menu was as follows:

Grilled Salmon with Whiskey Carrots
So I recently found the best way in the world to do fish. For this, I rubbed the raw salmon with olive oil, red wine vinegar, cracked pepper and kosher salt, and then placed it directly on the oven rack (place a shallow baking dish below to catch any drippings). This is easier if the fish has skin, which mine didn't.
The carrots are sliced and then caramelised in a pan with brown sugar and a generous helping of whiskey. Even better than it sounds, actually!


Sliced Roasted Duck Breast on a Bed of Stuffing

This was a new recipe to me. First, make stuffing - homemade is better but the box stuff will do just fine in a pinch. Then roll duck breasts in salt, pepper and flour and brown them in a hot pan for a few moments. Then make a nest for the stuffing using aluminium foil place the duck breasts on top, seal it tightly and pop in the oven.


Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary Potatoes and Baby Spinach
Salad with Lime Dressing

I forgot to take a picture of the last two courses, so I'm including Pioneer Woman's picture of the braised beef short ribs from her recipe. Almost melted off the bone, it was so divine! The rosemary potatoes were small new potatoes, boiled and then fried whole in oil with rosemary, and the lime dressing had olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, a dash of mustard and lime juice.


Roasted Rum-Caramelised Pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream.
Another one I forgot to take pictures of.. It went super-fast. This is a recipe Katie's Mom gave me way back when, and is my go-to idiot's dessert because it's so fast and easy yet tastes divine. Basically you slice up the pineapple, sprinkle it with butter and brown sugar, pour rum over top and stick it in the oven. Heaven!

I've never posted food-related stuff before, but I might start doing it more often. Yea or nay?

Cheers,
Gitte

New Internship!!

It's that time of year again! I have just been tentatively confirmed for an internship at a UN special agency in Geneva! More information once everything's been confirmed, but my tentative start date is May 12th and then on until I know where I'm going to grad school.
So if you're in Europe this summer, hit me up!

Geneva Baby!!
Cheers,
Gitte

Okay, So, the War of 1812, Yeah?

From what I can tell by my lightning-fast internetting is that the Brits didn't want the US trading with Napoleanic French during the wars in Europe, so the US invaded Upper Canada. They were not only repulsed but the Canadians drove them back across the border, marched to Washington DC and burned down the White House. They then retreated but managed to capture some outposts in Maine and other areas. Then the war in Europe came to an end, there was no more reason for the US-Canada war, so Canada gave back the captured territory.
Right?

So, how did THAT become THIS?


From a seemingly disastrous decision to declare war to the glory of the stars and stripes, THE HISTORY CHANNEL® PRESENTS: THE WAR OF 1812 chronicles of one of america's most defining moments. Only 30 years after gaining independence, the upstart United States found itself once again battling Great Britain. At stake were the future of emocracy (sic) and America's Manifest Destiny. Pitted against the world's most powerful nation, victory seemed unlikely. But then Andrew Jackson's brilliant leadership, a lone sniper, and one of the most lopsided victories in military history turned the tide of the war.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Implementing a "Community-Based Approach" - But For Real

'Tis the season, fa la la.. No, not Christmas season, Internship Hunting Season! Once again it's time to start panicking about (or, if you're not a member of the Witt family, to start vaguely contemplating) one's summer internship plans. I'm a little calmer this time around partially because I've done it before and partially because the majority of my worrying is allocated to grad school.

Anyway, the search has led me to start looking around various sectors for possibilities, in the course of which I've been reading a lot about different agencies, NGOs, and approaches. After last summer's NGO, which lacked the most basic oversight or accountability and was deadlocked by personality clashes, I now realise that I've got a real soft spot if I find an organisation that stresses an open and cooperative approach to whatever their area. It's because of this that one particular NGO, Partners in Health, stuck in my head.

Partners in Health is an NGO that provides medical aid and health care to poor areas of the world using a community-based approach that goes beyond the bare bones of providing materials. They provide both medical treatment and health information and coordinate with the surrounding community - employing special "community health workers" to get out the word - in order to effectively reach the largest number of people. They also invest in the community themselves This also means that they can be very reactive to a given community's needs. After a whole semester studying social capital I've become very aware of the huge effect communities have on how available services are used and how effective they can be, and it's really great to see that knowledge filter through to provision of medical care to the poor.

Anyway, they're sending updates on their work in Haiti (they're running the hospitals in Port-Au-Prince in the name of the WHO there as well) to their network every few days. Today's was so great, I thought I'd share it with you. The update describes PIH's recent emotional support services in Haiti. It illustrates so nicely how you can incorporate a community-based approach in an aid situation without, as people argue, diverting away resources from the more necessary practical work.

In the midst of all of the distress the earthquake brought in its initial days, the immediate response of many in the countryside was to rush to Port-au-Prince to look for family and friends—a very natural response given the circumstances.
For our patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) at one of two treatment centers in the Central Plateau, this was not an option. Their illness requires a two-year treatment regimen, the first of which is administered as an inpatient. For them, leaving in search of their families was out of the question. Without communication capabilities and only listening to radio reports explaining the extent of the destruction, one can only imagine how distressing these first few days were for them.
In the days since, as cell phone service improved and patients were able to reach their families, many learned of the sudden and untimely death of their family and friends. One of our patients, Benjamin, who has been battling tuberculosis off and on for 18 years, learned that he lost 10 family members. Others lost siblings, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, cousins, friends. In their grief, they immediately started asking themselves why were they saved from this tragedy and not others? How would they continue to live? Why did some people have to die in an instant while they have been able to receive life-saving treatment for their deadly illness? Should they abandon treatment and give up on life?
The Zanmi Lasante staff at the Monseigneur Decoste Infectious Disease Pavilion at the St. Therese Hospital in Hinche immediately recognized their patients' anguish and called on the support of Zanmi Lasante's head psychologist and Director of Psychosocial Support Services, Father Eddy Eustache, to help work with their patients.
Drawing on a technique he has used at PIH's Rwanda project working with genocide survivors, Father Eddy led us in a memorial service remembering the lives of all those we had lost in this unthinkable disaster. Patients and staff alike sang songs, read scripture, shared stories of their memories of their loved ones, and in arguably the most moving part of the service, lit candles for each of the people we had lost while reading their names out loud. To conclude, staff provided words of encouragement and advice for patients on continuing to adhere to treatment and find support in each other.
Efforts such as these are part of a more comprehensive psychosocial support plan for Zanmi Lasante staff, patients, and their families as we work together to address the psychological impact that the earthquake has had on everyone in Haiti.

Cate Oswald
Program Manager for Psychosocial Support and Mental Health, Haiti

Thumbs up to PIH for recognising that small things like organising a memorial service not only help the individuals that directly benefit, but smooth the way towards an eventual reconstruction of Haiti by strengthening the local community, which in the long run is the only "actor" that can guarantee that Haiti not only climbs back from this disaster but uses it as a jumping board for improving society as a whole in a lasting way.

I.. I don't know how I feel about this.

...
Nope, still speechless.