Train-induced excitement

Mine: limit exceeded :)

Recipe:

Take two sixty-something year old train geeks enthusiasts.
Pour into a Dodge RAM.
Add a thirty-something year old who is exceedingly fond of waving at trains.
Sprinkle with a liberal dose of highways, byways, and railroad tracks.
Chuck in as many trains as you possibly can.
Stir.

That, in short, is how you cook up an awesome road trip.

Rewind to September 2015:

Have passport,

will travel

Sometimes you hit the jackpot. And make friends with a person who has a "drivers license" to this beauty.

And you get to see a railway bridge from this angle:

I'm not saying I wasn't totally cool about it. Of course I was.  Cool af. 

Merely suggesting that I sort of melted into a little puddle of giddy happiness.

One of the old cars from "my"

Empire Builder

Ladies and Gentlemen:

THE HUSTLE MUSCLE 

I think we can safely agree that I reached my excitation limit several times. And this was only the second day of my vacation.

The next day we visited the Minnesota State Fair - and the day after that, we climbed into the car and headed WEST.


And my, oh my.  The West is big place.  I remember when I went from Portland to Chicago on the Empire Builder. It took most the better part of a day just to cross Montana - which was the Rockies, open country, fields, fields, fields, a town, fields, a dirt track, fields, fields, and more open country. It was, in short, awesome.

On this trip we drove through North Dakota, most of Montana, turned around near the Rockies, and came back via Wyoming and South Dakota. 

I'm currently thinking about going to see a

rodeo in Colorado next year. But they are

nowhere near as good at planning ahead

as the good people of the

Testicle Festival in Montana,

so all the 2017 dates are "yet to be announced".

(dear cowboys of Colorado, you may consider

this an open letter. My friend and I would like

to go dancing with you next spring; when should

we book our flights for? :)

Speaking of cowboys,

how many ways can you interpret

Anaconda Opportunity?

(oh ye of pure minds,

how I envy you)

My traveling companions knew all the good places. In the middle of nowhere, they would tell me to take the next exit (not the Anaconda one) and point me in the direction of a loooong, unpaved country road. 

Awesome

Though not always with

good visibility

You might think this was a dead end, and nothing to see...

But you would be entirely wrong:

Yay!!!! Train!!!

There's a special breed of people who take great delight in waving at trains. I proudly count myself among them ;)

One day we met the same train four times (because of signals, road/railroad layout, and driving like ze clappers) and it was glorious.  The train drivers are pretty good at waving back; the fourth time we met the train they went all in with lights, whistles, and what have you.

I'm pretty sure this is the equivalent of getting the guy's phone number (should have practised the Morse Code....)

I've tried counting the number of train pics I took that week.  I stopped when I got close to a hundred....

So yeah. That is one way to have an awesome road trip. Surround yourself with interesting people, keep your eyes open, talk to friendly strangers, and remember to wave at trains.

In fact, always wave at trains.

It's for luck.

#fridayreads

Forlaget Gyldendal har et ualmindeligt charmerende social media team, som hver eneste fredag tweeter noget i retning af "tid til #fredagsbog  -  hvad læser du i dag, og hvorfor er det så godt, så godt?"  - og så byder temmelig mange mennesker ind med hvad de læser i øjeblikket, så man kan blive lidt inspireret.

For mig er ikke alene #fredagsbog men i det hele taget #togbog en meget vigtig ting, eftersom jeg jo tilbringer lidt under en time på diverse perroner og i tog 2 gange om dagen, 5 dage om ugen. Så jeg slæber en del litteratur op og ned ad den østjyske længdebane i løbet af en arbejdsuge.

Jeg er ikke den eneste.  Således var jeg i fredags i selskab med

- Sådan bliver du rig på aktiemarkedet (mon der er et afsnit om Karma?)
- en kæmpe bog om bakterievækster, komplet med virkelig uappetitlige billeder (det var desværre min sidemand der læste den - visse ting har det med at ætse sig fast på den indre nethinde)
- samt Jumbobog 380 (hold op, er der virkelig kommet så mange??)

Billedet nederst er taget tidligere i år. Jeg blev mere end en lille smule forelsket i dette par, som læste Vinden i Piletræerne op for hinanden. Desværre skulle jeg af på næste station :-(

@ N ~ one of the Danish publishing houses, Gyldendal, has a weekly hashtag on Twitter called #fredagsbog - in the English speaking world known as #fridayreads. What's not to love :-)

For me, not just #fridayreads but #trainreads is a major thing. If I don't have a book with me on the train I am not a happy commuter (instead I manically stalk all my friends on facebook, annoyed at how few updates there are at 630AM...)

On the train, most people either sleep, work on their laptops, or are glued to their smartphones. But there are quite a few readers as well.

Last Friday I found myself in good company. In my little group of four seats, I was in the distinguished company of:

- "How to get rich on the stock market" (I hope it has a chapter on Karma)
- a huge book about, judging by the unsavoury illustrations, the growth of bacteria (unfortunately it was the guy sitting right next to me who was reading that one. Some things just can't be un-seen....)
- and "Jumbobog" number 380 ("Jumbo books" are pocket books with Donald Duck and other Disney cartoons. They're not published in England or America as far as I know. I think I stopped reading around the time number 100 was published (had most of them for a while - the first ones are probably collectors' items if they're in good condition, but needless to say, mine aren't))

The picture below was taken on the sly earlier this year. I fell a little bit in love with this couple who was reading "The Wind in the Willows" aloud to each other - sadly, I had to get off at the next station :-(

2014 -un point for sløveste start, ever - douze points for topnørderi

Så - nu må selv de heldigste af jer da være vendt tilbage fra ferie, ikke?

Jeg ved ikke med jer, men for mig er 2014 - som jeg fortsat har store forventninger til - startet sådan lidt mat. Først hostede og rallede jeg mig igennem Nytårsaften og de første dage af året. Dét er jeg næsten færdig med - til gengæld ragede jeg mig et maveonde til i fredags, som udløste et abnormt ...søvnbehov.  Jeg sov som en gris fra fredag kl. 2100 til lørdag kl. 0900 - så var jeg relativt vågen et par timer, tog en middagslur fra ca. 1200-1700 og gik i seng ved 2130-tiden og visselullede frem til kl. 6 søndag morgen. Herefter var jeg en slags vågen; dog ikke mere end at jeg lige kunne klemme 3 timers formiddagslur ind. 

Sær vægtløs fornemmelse, når 2 hele dage nærmest er verschwunden, pist. Som om nogen har stjålet dem.

Men det var jo rart at få sovet ud, kan man sige.  Og så kunne jeg i hvert fald holde mig vågen til den med længsel imødesete sæsonstart på Sherlock.

Således afsluttede jeg min ikke-eksisterende weekend med skiftevis at sukke "oh, Mr Cummmmberbatch", og råbe "HOV!" når jeg syntes, producenterne havde været lige lovlig lemfældige med scenerne i the London Underground.

I bemærkede det også, ikke?  I tog jo noter, da jeg gik en anelse i selvsving i foråret og underviste jer i de to typer af tog man kan møde i Underground-systemet.

Fx helt i starten, da John Watson og hans sørgelige moustache tager med undergrunden: Det tog han sidder i, og de togstrækninger der filmes, stemmer ikke overens (indsæt selv forskrækket gisp)

                                      ^ John gets on what is clearly

                                      a "deep level" tube train

                                                                                But the tunnels it goes ^

                                                                                through are definitely on

                                                                                the "surface" lines (Circle

                                                                                or District line)

Eller da de kigger på billederne fra overvågningskameraet, hvor en mystisk passager stiger ind i den sidste vogn - det skulle være et District Line tog, men tøhø, det er det i hvert fald slet ikke.  Det er igen den falske slags tog  (æijh manner).

Inner Helga vould like ze record to

show zat zis is, in fact, not a District Line train ...

Hm.  Som sagt var jeg ikke rigtig rask i weekenden. Jeg mente egentlig, det havde fortaget sig, men muligvis trækker det lidt ud ....

KH Nørd.

PS - men derfor kan I jo godt lige nyde synet alligvel:

@ N ~ sorry. this blogpost will make zero sense if you haven't seen series 3/episode 1 of BBC's Sherlock.  I watched it yesterday while I was recovering from a weekend mostly spent snoozing (seriously - I slept from Friday 9PM-Saturday 9AM, again 12noon-5PM, then Saturday 930PM-Sunday 6AM, and again 9AM-12noon.  I had a tummy bug, but it wasn't that bad, honestly. It's as if a thief stole my weekend)

A-NY-WAYS. Sunday evening I watched Sherlock and the producers had been a bit sloppy with the scenes that took place on the London Underground - wrong type of train in wrong type of tunnel, etc. etc.  - not that I'm a nerd at all, I just happened (*cough*) to notice...  

Yes, I do need to get a life, and no, perhaps I'm not fully recovered.

We apologize for the disruption. Normal service will resume shortly :-)

Gid du var i Skanderborg

Der er folk i min vennekreds, som af og til begræder, at de ikke har mand/kone/barn/familie osv.  Af og til tænker jeg også, at det ville være rart at have Nogen (totally available for dates, hej-hej). Men der er som bekendt fordele og ulemper ved alting.

En af de meget store fordele ved at der ikke er Nogen, som venter derhjemme (eller skal afhentes) er, at man er fri til at tage imod middagsinvitationer af den mere spontane slags.

Min aftensmad i dag bestod således af 2 røde med brød (og en cocio, naturligvis), indtaget ved pølsevognen ved Skanderborg station i selskab med min nye ven signalmanden. Ham plejer jeg ellers mest at møde, når jeg skifter tog om morgenen - han står gerne og ryger ud af vinduet til signalrummet, når han er ved at afslutte en nattevagt - men nu rendte jeg lige inde i ham da vi begge var på vej hjem. Og hvorfor så ikke?

Der findes som sagt fordele ved alt - og nye venner alle mulige steder (dette blogindlæg er således dedikeret til Bent, Dennis og Karin fra mit nye stamsted i Kbh - de læser nu garanteret ikke med her)  - og med lidt held får jeg nu ekstra god tog-karma og kommer aldrig mere for sent på arbejde :-)

@ N ~ just a quick "peep" to say hi.  I haven't been writing much lately (drained), and the letter I promised you has been sitting on my desk for a week before I finally got round to posting it. But, you know, things are picking up and my summer holidays are but 9 working days away.

Today, I had an impromptu "dinner" invitation.  In the mornings, when I change trains, I sometimes chat to one of the signal men (that's what I call the guys working in the signal room; they definitely have a fancier job title than that but I'm not sure what it is. Signal man - the meaning is clear).  When he is finishing his night shift, he usually stands by an open window smoking a cigarette around the time my train comes in, so we've said hi a few times, talked summer holiday plans, etc.

I rarely see him in the afternoon, but today he finished a shift just as I was changing trains on my way home.  So we made a quick decision and went over to the hotdog stand next to the station :-)  Excellent fun. I am quite sure this will do my "train karma" no end of good. 

Mere nørderi (ja, jeg kan sagtens blive ved)

Da jeg lagde linket til indlægget om IoW på facebook i går, skrev min ven Jens i en kommentar "er med i vognen, men en anelse bekymret".

Det er min mentale tilstand han hentyder til, går jeg ud fra, og den skal han naturligvis ikke gå og bekymre sig om helt uden grund, så jeg haster med at bringe endnu et indlæg, som kan skubbe mig langt ind i rækkerne af Håbløse Tilfælde.

I dag skal vi nemlig besøge Leinster Gardens i Bayswater, London.  En rimelig kedelig gade - med et særligt herligt fænomen ...

@ N ~ aye, we continue down the old railway tracks. One of my friends (only the one friend. I swear ...) thinks I may be a little nuts, and I don't want him to think that for no reason. So, here is a(nother) reason.

Today, we're on a little excursion to Leinster Gardens in Bayswater, London.  It looks an awful lot like most other streets in that part of the city, except for the houses at number 23 and 24 ...  Notice anything special?

Dette er nr. 23 & 24 Leinster Gardens.

Kan du se noget særligt, hva'-hva'-hva'?

Det er bare en facade - vinduerne er

malet på!

They're "dummy houses"!

Scroll down for an incredibly

fascinating explanation.

Hvad er nu det for noget sært noget, tænker du nok. Da især hvis du kender kvadratmeterprisen i London. Hvis du kender den, sidder du faktisk nok og dåner lidt lige nu, for TÆNK hvad en bygning kunne generere af lejeindkomster i det område - og så står der bare en pap-facade. Well, pap og pap. Jeg tror muren er over en meter tyk. Men ikke desto mindre en facade.

Det skyldes - og her giver vi så fri luft til begejstringen igen - at undergrundsbanen kører lige nedenunder!!!

Og her taler jeg ikke om de små tog, som kører i ægte "tubes" meget langt under jorden. Jeg taler om en af de første linier, som køres med det, der kaldes surface stock. Vi afbryder lige med en meget kort teknisk forklaring. Kig på toget til venstre herunder - noget større end det til højre, bemærker den kvikke læser straks. Det tog kører på en af de første linier, hvor konstruktionsmetoden i grove træk gik ud på, at man gravede gaden op, lagde jernbanespor ned i en "grøft", byggede tag henover, og gen-anlagde gaden ovenpå dét.  Og i starten - tager I noter, drenge og piger? - var det damplokomotiver, der trak hele herligheden.

(from wikipedia)

On the left: SURFACE STOCK.

The first underground lines were built

using the "cut and cover" method. They dug

up a street, put down railway tracks, roofed

it over, and re-paved the street.

Originally - and this is important - the

trains were pulled with steam locomotives.

Like this one:

Picture borrowed with kind permission

from Going Underground

(the best blog about the London Underground)

Damplokomotiverne var udstyret med noget kondensator af en art, men af og til skulle de af med dampen, og derfor har undergrundsbanen (the surface lines) kig til himlen hist og pist.  Og altså blandt andet bag den falske facade i Leinster Gardens.

Men pænt skulle det jo se ud, så derfor byggede man de nydelige dummy houses som falder smukt i med bygningerne ved siden af.

Og nu tænker du nok: og hvad så??? (eller også er du allerede gået).  Og jeg kan ikke helt forklare, hvorfor det gør mig så begejstret. Men jeg kan bare så utrolig godt li' at vide, at de er der. Og vide hvorfor de er der.  Baggrundsviden er meget sexet, i min bog.

Hvis man går om i gaden bag ved, kan man faktisk godt se ned til togene. Hvis altså man har en lille trappestige med eller er en hel del højere end din ærede blogger, for der er en mur langs fortovet (højst generende hvis du spørger mig).  Så jeg stillede mig på tæer, straaaakte mine korte arme alt hvad jeg kunne, og knipsede løs når jeg kunne høre at toget kom.

@ N ~ so, the thing about Leinster Gardens is that the Underground passes directly underneath! Needless to say, this thrills me to bits.

The first Underground trains were, as mentioned above, pulled by steam locomotives. They did have condensers to reduce fumes in the tunnels, but there had to be open-air sections to allow the trains to let off the steam, and behind Leinster Gardens is one such section.  (There is another reason and that is that people generally weren't keen on living right on top of the railway lines - hence the cut-and-cover method, where the lines generally followed the roads on the surface. The London Underground has some incredibly interesting curves in places, I can tell you)

And to keep things looking neat, they built the facades to match the buildings to the left and right.

I walked over to the street behind Leinster Gardens, and had I been a lot taller than I am (or thought to bring a step ladder) I could have peeked directly down on the tracks. As it happens, they've put a wall there to block my view, so I had to stand on my toes and just point my camera when I could hear a train.

It worked sort of okay - you can just see a train disappearing into the tunnel on the left-hand track :-)

I'm not 100% sure why I find this so incredibly exciting. I think it must be something to do with my love for trivia - I just *heart* knowing that this exists, and knowing why it's there.

Also, it's one of the countless, charming little quirks that make London, well,  London.

Kan I se toget, der lige forsvinder ind i 

tunnellen i det venstre spor? :-)

Jeg kan i øvrigt berette, at huset til højre har ét vindue, der vender ind mod åbningen. Jeg forestiller mig, at der sidder en støvet gammel mand deroppe og kigger ned, mens han på sit lommeur holder øje med, om togene nu går til tiden ...

Så, Jens - er du nu for alvor bekymret? :-)

@ N ~PS: I cannot make up my mind about what works best - having the Danish text + pictures first, and then the translation (or rather; your custom made version) at the bottom, or mixing it all up like this.  I imagine it must be a bit tedious to look at the photos and then having to scroll down to see what it was all about   -  but doing it this way does make for rather a schizo reading experience.  What to do, what to dooooooooo?

Begejstret selvsving

Kan I huske, hvad jeg skrev for nylig - at hvis jeg bliver begejstret for et eller andet, skal I partout også udsættes for det, for sådan er Reglerne?

.

Det er noget med tog.  Folk uden nørde-tendenser må gerne stige af hér og komme tilbage en anden dag.  Jeg lover, jeg vil ikke bære (ret meget) nag.

Fik jeg fortalt, at jeg var i England for nylig?  Rent bortset fra, at de som os er en anelse tilbagestående hvad angår implementeringen af forår, version 2013, var der dejligt. Det var flere år siden min sidste visit, så der var meget at indhente.

Fish & chips, a pint, and all the ketchup,

tartare sauce, HP sauce, etc. etc.

etc. etc. etc. your little heart desires

And a cooked breakfast.

YES, the tea is supposed to be that milky.

Det var naturligvis ikke kun dét, jeg skulle have indhentet.

Første stop på turen var Isle of Wight, som ligger nede ved sydkysten. Om IoW er der meget godt at sige (så meget, at jeg vender tilbage en anden gang, når vejret er godt), men i dag vil jeg nøjes med at sige dette:

DE KØRER MED GAMLE UNDERGRUNDSTOG DERNEDE!!!

Vi lader den lige stå et øjeblik, så I rigtigt kan sunde jer. 

Der er én tilbageværende togbane, Shanklin-Ryde, og materiellet på den er tog fra London Underground, fabriksnye i 1938.  Yep, '38.  Fra før 2. Verdenskrig.  

Det siger sig selv, at det var en omvej værd. Og jeg blev ikke skuffet.

Kom med - først skal vi på bustur tværs over øen.  Jeg skal beklage tvivlsom billedkvalitet - de er ikke gode til at pudse vinduerne på øverste etage. Og som en ægte britisk dobbeltdækker rystede og bragede køretøjet så det var en fryd - men det er ikke godt for skarpheden...

@ N ~ you've always wanted to see the Isle of Wight, right?

I am here to fulfil your wish.  Join me on a tour of the English country side, by double decker bus and - joy of joys - ancient old rattler from the London Underground marvellous piece of 20th century railway engineering feat.

I should probably tell you that the Island Line which runs from Shanklin to Ryde on the Isle of Wight is operated with 1938 London Underground trains, and yes, I did write 1938, and yes, they're still running.

And yes, I do (as you may recall :-) have this love affair with trains, so of course I made a little detour to include this in my itinerary. 

I love English country lanes, 

especially when I'm not

the one driving ...

DUNG SALE - what's not to love?

Dung suppliers?

Godshill.

Ye shall look no further,

for I have located Him,

and He lives right here

on Ye Olde Isle of Wyghte

At long last, Shanklin.

At this point, I was very nearly beside

myself with excitement.

Yes, I live a sad life indeed.

(no, not really. Mine is the

most thrilling of existences, as this

blog post testifies)

Ah, here she comes.

I'd like the record to show

that I did not wet myself.

But I did squeal.

Go ahead, judge me (but be kind)

I post this picture to show just

how cool, calm and collected I was.

(in every.other.photo I look goofy. but ecstatic.)

Ohmygosh! A train depot! A whole

family of these (rattling, cranky) beauties!

The other terminus is Ryde Pier - you step

right off the train and onto the 

Portsmouth ferry

Go on, admit it. You're glad I posted

another picture of this glorious,

magnificent train.

Hva' så - er I ikke bare lykkelige for, at I var med så langt?

Hallo?





... er der nogen???

For it's a jolly good fella

My beloved LONDON UNDERGROUND turns 150!

Yes, the very transport system that unleashed my Inner Nerd celebrates a very significant birthday - the first passengers boarded an underground train (minding the gap, of course) in 1863.

When I lived in London, not only did I commute on the London Underground, I worked under the London Underground. No, it was not in a dungeon - exciting though that might have been - it was in a railway arch, because at that location the Underground is actually running overground.  Every few minutes, the trains would pass directly over my head.  The noise was loud, but it only took half a day to get used to it.  I remember a few days, when there was a tube strike - it was so eerily silent in the office.  

On weekends, I travelled the entire network - and alighted at stations with weird and wonderful names,  like ANGEL and COCKFOSTERS and BARKING. My nose was pressed against the window when I travelled north of Baker Street on the Metropolitan Line, because I liked to spot the remains of the abandoned "ghost" stations there. I visited the London Transport Museum (you should go, too), and bought books about the history of the Tube Map.

I should go to London again. Soon. It has been much, much too long.

Anyways: Happy Birthday LU!

Pendlerglæder, guerillajulepynt og en småkageopskrift

Er det bare mig, eller fiser December også af sted hjemme hos jer?  Der er under 2 uger til Jul!!  Folk er begyndt på de der "hurra-har-købt-alle-gaverne" status updates på Facebook. Jeg har købt lige præcis 0, eller rettere sagt, jeg har købt 1 og kan ikke huske, hvor den er. Håber-håber-håber den ligger hjemme hos Mor. Ellers har jeg et problem...

Nåmn, det er da meget godt, jeg har indstillet datingen. Ellers nåede jeg da SLET ikke at nyde december. Nu har jeg rent faktisk fri-aftener herhjemme. Og mit fjernsyn, som generelt er slukket på kontakten og kun bliver tændt lørdag aften i Matador-tiden, viser nu sin eksistensberettigelse. Julefilmene kører på repeat (lige nu vises ELF, hvis nogen vil kigge forbi?).  Da jeg flyttede under eget tag overvejede jeg faktisk, om jeg overhovedet skulle have fjernsyn - og så kom jeg i tanker om December, og så købte jeg et, og Julestemningen breder sig hver aften jeg er hjemme :-)

Julepynt har jeg til gengæld ikke fået hængt så sindssygt meget op af; ikke efter de vanlige Indre Erna-standarder i hvert fald. Jeg når heller ikke at bage peberkagehus i år, men det gør ingenting. Det vigtigste er JULEHYGGE, og hygge mig, det gør jeg.

Her til aften bagte jeg Julesmåkager (opskrift følger), og bagefter tog jeg ud på Vejle Banegård og hang Julehjerter op på den nordgående perron, hvor jeg hænger ud hver morgen klokken alt for tidligt. Guerilla-Julepynt!!

Og jeg ville gerne have taget flere billeder til jer, men hold nu kæft hvor frøs jeg bare mine fingre! Misforstå mig endelig ikke; jeg synes sne og minusgrader er perfekt December-vejr, men altså: de der handsker, hvor fingerspidserne er "nøgne", ikke? Dem kommer jeg never-ever til at bruge penge på. Fingerspidserne er jo det, man fryser allermest! Brrrrr!

Jeg håber, de stadig hænger der i morgen, når jeg skal på arbejde. Og at folk vil synes, det er hyggeligt med Julestemning når de står og fryser.

Julestemning er der også i togene. Arriva har ikke den højeste stjerne hos mig lige i denne uge, vil jeg gerne indrømme. Men så meget desto større er lykken, når man fra aflyste/forsinkede/propfyldte Arriva-tog foretager omstigning til et hyggeligt, forbløffende rettidigt DSB, og endda er så svineheldig at dumpe ned i sædet ved siden af to grækere, som får tiden til at gå med at spille kort, og er flinke og rare.  Ham, der sad ved siden af mig, fik grundigt tæv, og da jeg vågnede lige før Vejle (for naturligvis faldt jeg i søvn; jeg er lidt en sovegris for tiden) sagde han, "It was a good thing you closed your eyes; you would have witnessed a slaughtering here" :-)

Det var gårsdagens pendlervenner; i dag delte jeg bord med 3 hollandske naturvidenskabs-nørder. Man kan ikke undgå at blive lidt glad, når man overhører entusiastisk nørderi på hollandsk; det er ganske umuligt!

I weekenden var jeg til den årlige Julefrokost hos Hitteniecens mor. Det er sådan en hyggelig tradition, og de senere år har vi udvidet den til at vi laver Julesmåkager og konfekt om søndagen. (Det er blevet muliggjort i takt med, at selve Julefrokosten er blevet lidt mindre "våd". Den slags er en naturlig konsekvens, når stambordet består af 8 piger som har den alder, hvor de dels begynder at lægge sig børn til, og dels begynder at få mormor-agtige tendenser hvad angår en bette lur osv.)   Der skal altid, altid laves Havregrynskugler, thi uden dem bliver det ikke rigtig Jul for Hitteniecens far.  Konfekt er også helt sikkert. Og så plejer jeg at lave en eller anden slags småkager; det er lidt forskelligt hvad det er.

I år var det fedtebrød, og nææææææh de er gode. Dem kan I også prøve at lave.  Her får I opskriften, for den er dejlig nem:

TINA'S FEDTEBRØD

(ikke en stavefejl - det er ikke min, men trofast bloglæser og Julefrokostgæst Tinas opskrift)

250 gram mel
½ tsk hjortetaksalt
250 gram smør (eller margarine, hvis man foretrækker det) - stuetemperatur
130 gram sukker
130 gram kokosmel

Det hele blandes sammen - kan med fordel gøres i sofaen, mens man ser Julefilm. Ælte-ælte-ælte med fingrene, til smørret og de tørre ting er samlet til en rigtig dej.

Dejen rulles ud i stænger, ca. 4-5 cm i diameter, som lægges på bagepapir og trykkes flade. Så de ser ud som her:

De bages ved 200 grader i ca. 10 minutter. I mellemtiden rører man en glasur af 150 gram flormelis, lidt vand, og meget gerne noget rom-essens hvis du spørger mig.

Glasuren hældes over kagerne med det samme, de kommer ud af ovnen, og de skæres i smalle stykker mens de stadig er varme.

Smager gååååååååååådt! :-)

@ N ~ hmmm. I think Santa delivered the wrong Christmas present for you :-/  Also, it's a bit early. I think the North Pole may have been infiltrated. Hope they fix it within the next two weeks.

I've been a bit tired lately. Very glad I cancelled all dating plans for December - you have no idea how much my sofa missed me!  And I am now actually using my TV which I bought for one reason alone: so I could watch back-to-back Christmas movies all December long. ("Elf" is on tonight, if you're interested)

Tonight, I abandoned the sofa for a while, though. I went to the train station and put up some decorations (this is what I call guerilla X-mas decorating :-)    It was freezing so I couldn't take too many pics - by the time I'd finished, my hands were so cold I could barely press the button on my camera.  

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend M.  Girl's X-mas party on Saturday, and baking on Sunday. A few years ago, Sunday was strictly for sleeping it off, but now we've reached the age where there's always someone who is either pregnant or breastfeeding, and others (who shall remain anonymous....) have developed a certain fondness for mid-party naps.   Both things result in Sunday being freed up for other activities - baking!!

This year, I got a recipe from my friend Tina, and if you're in the mood for a bit of comfort eating, these are perfect.  You'll need:

250 grams (=2 cups) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder (and a tiny snip of baking soda, if you have). the Danish recipe calls for "salt of hartshorn" but I'm not sure you can get that)
130 grams (= between ½ and 3/4 cup) sugar
130 grams (= between 3/4 and 1 cup) desiccated coconut
250 grams (=2.2 sticks) of butter

Mix everything together - I do it by hand in front of the telly; just keep kneading until all the dry ingredients have been "absorbed" by the butter. Try not to eat raw (I fail at this)

Divide dough into 4 parts. Shape each part into a roll with a diameter of approx. 2 inches. Place on baking sheet and flatten it with your fingers, see photo above.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.

While they're baking, mix approx. 3/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar?) with a few teaspoons of water and a few drops of rum essence (to taste - you can leave it out, or just use rum instead of the water, depending on how alcoholic you're feeling :-)

Pour glaze over cakes while still warm and cut them immediately. Leave to cool. And eat...

PS - Christmas decorations at the station are still there. And people seemed to like them :-)

Nye tider, stadig samme nørd

Nye køreplan fra DSB pr 9. december - har I fået den med? Ellers er dette en service fra jeres yndlingspendler.  Klik her: http://www.dsb.dk/find-og-kob/indland/koreplaner/nye-koreplaner/nye-koreplaner-fjern-og-regionaltog/

Nyt for århusianere er, at Odderbanen og Grenåbanen bliver slået sammen, så det er samme tog, der går hele vejen igennem. Og det betyder farvel til Oddergrisen - så jeg har naturligvis været ude og tage bedler. Man er vel nostalgiker :-)

@ N ~ old trains on a local line near Aarhus are being replaced by new ones.

Tine the nostalgic is, of course, snapping pictures of the old ones.

(They actually remind me a bit of the old London Underground trains. They don't look like the underground trains, except for the fact that they're smaller than the intercity trains. But I think the undercarriage must have the same sort of construction, because they shake and rattle in the same way when they're running across the tracks. So sometimes, I close my eyes and pretend I'm on the Metropolitan line :-)

Isambard

Her hvor jeg arbejder, kigger jeg direkte ud på togene. For en lille nørd som mig er det virkelig skønt; jeg kan ikke sige mig fri for at komme med et lille gisp af begejstring, når et særlig fint lokomotiv kører forbi.

Dagens foto er ikke taget fra mit vindue, desværre - det er fra en smuk forårsdag i 1982, og til de interesserede kan jeg fortælle, at det er taget på strækningen mellem Laurbjerg og Lerbjerg (hvis andre nogen skulle være i tvivl, er det mellem Langå og Hadsten). Fotografen er en af mine bedste venner, med hvem jeg (alt for sjældent) afholder sagnomspundne Isambard-parties. Oh yes.

Billedet er bragt med tilladelse, og må ikke kopieres herfra

~ copy/use of this photo is not permitted ~

Hvis jeg nogensinde forvilder mig ind på Jernbanemuseet i Odense (og guderne må vide hvorfor jeg ikke har været der endnu - som en af de højt skattede pendlere får jeg endog rabat på indgangen), så kan I bare vente jer. Det bliver et billedspam af en anden verden.

Foreløbig må I nøjes med dette MY. Er det ikke en fryd for øjet?

PS - hvis nogen kan gætte, hvorfor det hedder Isambard party, så får I en præmie.

@ N ~ I do have "goodies" for you, in the form of "tales from the frontier". However, it does need careful writing, revision, and re-wording before I can publish it without risking anyone recognizing themselves (one never knows with this interwebz).

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of a typical Danish train, anno domini 1982. Taken by one of my best friends - I am very fortunate in that I have lots of different friends with different backgrounds/ages/etc.; this particular one is a gold mine of trivia (especially train related facts, but also history, geography and etymology - a word I learned from him, by the way).  I don't see him often enough but when we do get together over a pizza and a beer, it's never ever boring. We call these little get-togethers "Isambard parties". And if you, or any other reader for that matter, can guess why it's called an Isambard party, there's a prize :-)

You know what I could eat right now?

~ an AMTRAK breakfast!

~ while enjoying this view:

it is an indisputable fact that being on a train that

is going round a curve so you can see the other

carriages is an instant HAPPY MAKER.

True dat.