Greetings from Vesterbro, Copenhagen! We landed yesterday morning, it´s been drizzling ever since and the grey skies invite you to hibernate. Fortunately, we´ve rented a lovely apartment with airbnb and we can do just that. We took an early flight yesterday morning (and the only person who hates early flights more than me is V!) and we spent the afternoon in the neighbourhood, ate some yummy smørrebrød at Dyrehaven, had a coffee at Enghave Kafé and bought some wine at a local winery. I had me a nap while V watched Netflix and then we paid our friends a visit in Østerbro, where we shared some champagne and V helped with peeling root veggies. I was being a diva on the couch with an electric blanket on my belly since “that time of the month” renders me totally helpless.
fall
American Pancakes and a Stroll in the Park
Sunday equals brunch and what better way to start your day than with an all American feast? We met my friend Kristin, her American husband and their two kids at Café Fedora in Frogner and had one of the yummiest brunches of all times! The long way there with an over-excited Sammy toggling along was worth it, even though the café itself is no big deal in terms of decor or cosiness (which score a lot of points with me). The service is friendly (Sam even got some bacon!), the coffee is good and the food is authentic, or so they say since I haven´t been to the US yet. 😉
Garlic buns
Hi again! Yesterday we had the very Norwegian “dugnad” – community (somewhat) voluntary work. For the record I can´t stand anything that reminds me of communism, but it was about time I showed up since I had only participated once before in 4 years and people tend to notice. 😉 I took Sam with me and we rolled up our sleeves and did some gardening work in the back yard. We were a handful of people and in less than an hour I was done with my chores, so I could just drink some coffee and eat some soup to warm myself up. Throughout the whole seanse Sam was ecstatic, playing with some party flags, a football, then laying in the pile of leaves and sniffing everybody as soon as they arrived.
How to turn a bad day good ;-)
It´s been a full week and a pretty bad one and so I couldn´t tell you how thrilled I am the weekend is here! I´m having difficulties handling the injustices in my line of work these days without getting so angry that my whole body contracts into one bundle of muscles. So a couple of days ago my foot started aching without having done anything in particular. And today I had one hell of a headache, it felt like my eyes were going out of my orbits. Not to mention that made me quite unpleasant towards my colleagues, so I decided I should get a massage and a bottle of wine, to calm myself down, before I get a heart attack!
90 minutes of thai massage, a nice walk in the sun with Sammy, a glass of wine, two Valeriana pills and a small bag of macarons later, I feel much better! In the mean time I bought a medical dictionary, had a meaningless conversation with a horrible little lady who tried to work her superiority on me on account of her position and her age (that never turns old!) and now I´m about to start making dinner, feeling more zen than in ages. (read drugged)
Fall fashion
I´m still on a self-imposed shopping ban, but that doesn´t stop me from making wish lists as I used to do back when I was 16! My style is pretty classic, I try investing in key pieces, so I don´t need new stuff all the time, but I still feel the need to “reinvent” myself from time to time. This is what caught my eye lately:
- Max Mara camel coat
- Joseph- Charlie wool and cashmere-blend skirt
- 3. Iris and Ink- Thea cotton boyfriend shirt
4. Raoul- Chunky-knit cardigan
5. Jil Sander- Leather-trimmed suede boots
What do you think?
xxx, Alina
Source: maxmara.com, outnet.com
Apple jam
Fall is here, I watch it from my window, sneaking in, every day more present than the day before. I bought some new socks to match my outfits, I´m taking my shoes to the shoemaker for new soles, looking for a good sweater and for rubber boots, too. On sunny days I´m picking branches of white berries to decorate the house and apples from the neighbourhood trees to make jam out of. 
Pretty things I fancy
Fall is here and I´m getting cosy in our apartment again, digging up the wool blankets, lighting candles and making soup. I´m starting dinner early these days, a glass of red wine in my hand, and let the flavours work their magic as long as they need to- soups, curries and baked veggies all the way. Yesterday I even made some apple jam from fallen apples in the neighbourhood, I´ll be sure to post the recipe in a couple of days´ time.
Since most time is spent indoors nowadays, I feel the need to renew this and that while I dream about exotic holidays and good books. So I made a short list of the most beautiful things I´ve seen in stores lately! 
Saturday thoughts
This week has been a good one, both professionally and weather-wise. Sommer returned for a couple of days and brought a smile upon everybody´s face and a strong desire to live. We went to the Botanical Garden, had lunch and coffee breaks outdoors and a picnic in the park. Unfortunately V was stuck by a needle, so we ended up at the Emergency Room yesterday evening, to take a blood test. I tried to comfort him while he had a rant about drug addicts and how they ruin a perfectly good park where lots of children play all the time. The rest is not suitable for a public blog. We were advised not to dramatise the situation, since only an infinitesimal amount of people end up being infected. But it´s a horrible situation to be in none the less.
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Baked figs with brie and honey
Hi, peeps! How´s it going? We´ve been “suicidal” for a couple of days on account of the heavy rain, but now we´ve pulled ourselves together, the sun is out and the weekend is here. Summer is gone though, no doubt about it. And even though I love fall, I prefer it in the mother country, where the temperature is usually 25 and the quinces start ripening.
Nothing to do about it, though. Norway is my adoptive country and I need to make the evenings cosy so I can stand the cold during the day. The other day I invited some interpreter colleagues over for some wine, gossip and a bite. We were two Romanians, a Russian and a Tamil. Plus my Vietnamese husband. It was a lovely evening, we shared frustrations and stories, we laughed until our stomach hurt and we ate a lot of goodies.
This one was my favourite- baked figs with brie, drizzled with honey afterwards. 10 minutes in the oven and voilà, you have something impressive to serve as an appetiser or dessert.
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Pumpkin soup
I bought a big slice of pumpkin the other day and thought I´d make a pumpkin soup out of it for a chilli evening. But summer has returned, although only for a couple of weeks, so no chilly evenings, yet. Nothing a bottle of Prosecco can´t fix, however, the soup went fine along with the bubbles. I didn´t have all the ingredients listed below in the house, so my soup was a “cheaper” version than the one presented here. 😉 I hope you´ll give it a try none the less! 😉
life in a bubble 