Dansk and Chili on a Chili Day

It is now in the thirties.  The temperatures have been in the 40's day and night for weeks, and before that the 50's.  I think it will be winter coat and gloves and boots weather now for some time.  People keep saying, "Just wait til it gets to 0 (Centigrade)  .  Burrrr, I'm waiting!

Today was our first day in Danish Class.  It lasted 3 hours.  There were 15 of us in there, and we looked like a mini United Nations meeting.  There were people there from the Philipines, Peru, Iberia, Italy, Australia, Ghana,India, Greece and a few I don't remember.  It was quite amazing and SK even learned something.  I think they will kick him out of class soon though, since he seems to be able to speak the language rather well.

The teacher was patient with the rest of us and was willing to repeat and repeat.  It must be quite a challenge to teach so many people of different backgrounds.  One other man was from the U.S.  and he told us he has lived here for 8 years.  Isn't that interesting?  Here he is in a beginning class with us.  I hope to find out why he is here.  He hasn't been back to the U.S. in the 8 years he has been in Denmark.  As you might have guessed, we were oldest by a few decades.  We were items of interest with our badges on.

The Italian speaks English, French, German and one or two other languages, so I guess she might as well add Danish!  The teacher taught us how to say "I am from...." and I speak the_____ language, and then we had to say it for the class, telling what languages we speak.  Everyone there spoke their native language plus English.  So I was quite the standout - speaking only English.  The teacher taught the class in English!  But she said pretty soon it would all be in Danish.

Learning how to make the sounds of Danish was interesting, and I was grateful I wasn't the worst!  The teacher said that we will probably never sound like Danes so don't be too hard on ourselves.

After class, we went immediately to the Center where we added the awesome Penzey's Chicken Soup Base....and joy of joys!  That was exactly what it needed!  I figured we made about 3 gallons.  I also made some Texas Sheet Cakes this morning.

There is a YSA get together this weekend in Stockholm.  Several of the stalwarts were going....7 hours by car, more by bus and a lot of money by plane.  Attendance was light tonight...possibly 25 or so.  When I realized our attendance was down, I began planning what to do with all that soup.  Pointless as it turned out, because they ate nearly every last bit of it!  They seemed to really enjoy it.  Very few put the chips IN the soup, preferring to eat them on the side, but the sour cream and cheese were popular toppings.  The cake too was a hit.  Phew!  We (with a whole lot of help) did it again...another moderate success.

But don't worry....we won't let it go to our heads...and don't look for us on "Chopped" anytime soon.

This is the largest pot I have ever used, much larger than it looks here.

Sometimes you feel like nuts...sometimes you don't!