The Adventures of An American Dane.: Julefrokost 2010

Let the bombarding begin....!

Backtracking to that fair December-day when I handed in that very last finals paper: The scene is Los Angeles, the weather is chilly, the mood is one of relief and merriment and the plans for the night: JULEFROKOST! (Or "Christmas Lunch" --> For those of you who are unacquainted with the concept, it is basically a Danish tradition where you, practically every weekend of December, drink (a lot of) schnaps, eat (weird) traditional Danish food (like pickled herring and meatballs and red cabbage and rye bread and raw salmon and, well, you get it...weird, but immensely awesome, Scandinavian delicacies) and play games such as the epic 'pakkeleg' (everybody brings one or two $2-gifts and then you play dice to win them and then you steal from each other and my oh my, what a jolly time it was!). Eh, I've lost track of how many parenthesis I have in play, but for good measure, I better add another: )

Anyway: Julefrokst. After handing in my paper on reality vs. artifice (for which you'll be delighted to know, I received a big fat A), I ventured over to Pelle's place to get this julefrokost-business on the road:

The host, Pelle, sporting a very lovely moustache I'd brought him as a big fat 'thank you'-present for being so swell and for hosting the party.

One of the serving dishes - did YOU know that bees have two stomachs!? I was amazed! Oh, how I love random facts on random items.

Vodka/Cranberry ftw.

I put on my finest stockings for the occasion! For some reason, both my own and Pelle's outfit generated fits of laughter amongst the American part of our little gathering. Comments such as "I didn't know we were supposed to wear costumes!" were allegedly heard whispered in the corners. Pelle and I both thought we looked awesome. Or come to think of it, at least I thought that both he and I looked awesome. I guess, I don't know if Pelle was pro-stocking or not. Oh well. No matter. Their chic-factor should be apparent to anyone who doesn't think that flip-flops is acceptable footwear for every occasion.

Food's on the table, everybody's arrived - let the party begin!

I swear, the green theme was not planned! I guess people just felt very, well...green that day.

Non-nom-nom-nom!

SCHNAPS!

(and from my hometown, Aalborg, too. And that is, by the way, the first and last time you'll ever hear me own up to Aalborg being my hometown...which is actually also a stretch. I mean, I was born there and I did grow up there, but 'home'...? Naaa...)

See, how marvelously Danish it all looks! Potatoes, onions, tomatoes. Yum!

(yeah yeah, you might object to the exclusive Danishness of those particular items, but if I say it's Danish, it's Danish, got it!?)

My favorite Christmas decoration: The sparkly peace-sign on Pelle's toilet.

The Pelster and the lovely Sofie

The improvised Christmas tree which generated a heated discussion on hams and penises, like Christmas trees so often do.

Pelle, Nick and Cassie and their winnings after the pakkeleg. Among other things, Pelle was the lucky winner of a half-eaten marshmellow-cookie-thing. Lucky bastard.