Saturday, September 15, 2007

Danish pastry

There seems an issue in Europe about who wants to take national responsibility for pastry. There is a pastry known in the U.S. as Danish. The Danes call it wienerbrød, Viennese bread. The Viennese, on the other hand, seem very happy to claim their own pastries.

This is Sandy, Chris (our son, who was studying German in Vienna over the summer) and me (taking the picture) in a Viennese coffeehouse around the corner from the Hotel Sacher, where pastry is a major national resource. We went there for Sacher torte, of which I have very reverential memories from my own study abroad in Vienna, back in 1970-71. In a major show of spousal thoughtfulness, Sandy ordered one from Austria for my birthday a few years ago.

I think I have a new favorite, however. Although it may just have been being really hungry.

Today we went walking in the woods near our apartment. It is pretty amazing, about 20 hectares that was given to the city of Aarhus by the first Queen Margrethe (the One'th) back in 1400. First it was common land to let pigs graze in and gather firewood in. Eventually it became more of a park to walk in. People used to take boats or hired horse carriages from downtown to get to the woods. Now it is heavily jogged in and dog walked in.

Eventually, after a few miles of winding around in the woods, we worked our way back closer to home. We decide to make lunch out of Middle East take out, combined with some pastry from the local branch of Huusom Bageri, a bakery in the complex with our closest supermarket, Løvbjerg.

The thing we ended up eating was a mazarin, an almond pastry. I liked mine, flavored with pistachio paste, so much that I went back to the counter and took a picture of them, which really amused the women working the counter.

Which makes me wonder, to update a phrase, if the unphotographed, unblogged life is worth living?

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