One Danish Teacher

This is a story about Danish class last week, between the earthquake and the hurricane. 

We have several Danish teachers at our school, who rotate around among the students.  Alistair and I aren't the only ones learning Danish!  

Our book - from 1959

One of the teachers is an older woman, who remembers a more formal Denmark with correct patterns of speech that sound a little bit like this:  May I inquire as to health of your cousin, Miss Bennett? 

She also feels much less constrained to be politically correct....so, she'll give us straight shot opinions about modern youth behaving badly along with regular injections of steel-edged gossip about the royal family :-)

She is delicious.

One thing that is kind of a big deal in the Nordic countries is Schnapps;  specifically Aquavit.  In Norway, I found a spice mixture I liked a lot which was for making Aquavit at home.

Norwegian label from a mixture for homemade schnapps

I saved the label, and glued it inside a small Norwegian recipe book I have for schnapps.  I told my teacher that I had found a spice mixture from western Denmark, but wasn't sure I had understood the instructions. 

Danish blend for homemade schnapps

It doesn't SEEM like steeping spices in vodka could be that complicated, but apparently in Denmark they mix a sort of "essence" into clear schnapps at the table, or....something? 

Anyway, her answer to me was to just bring the whole thing into class so we could take a look together.  :-)

So we did. 

I strained out what I had so far with my homespun spice mix -- the Danish mixture along with a few juniper berries and star anise bits added in.  We took a taste right there in class.....

....which gave us a warm and fuzzy break from talking about international politics (the favorite subject of  the two other teachers) .....and who wouldn't want a little sip of Aquavit after struggling through THAT in a foreign language?

She also told me I should ask as many Danish guests in my home as possible to not only try my Aquavit, but to give me their ideas on what mixtures to use, and what kind of open-faced sandwiches would go best with which taste.  

:-)

This is why I love her.  I strained out half my bottle into an empty one and sent it home with her, in fact.  :-)