Childhood Memories Food

When I was a child Fridays often meant that we would have Yellow Peas Soup and Pancakes for dinner, eaten simultaneously. It may sound odd, but it's actually nice. I love the mix between the salty soup and the sweet pancakes. They also serve it in Sweden, but on Thursdays, and not simultaneously (soup first and then cream filled pancakes for dessert).

Yesterday
Although it's not a Friday I thought I'd prepare it for high tea today. So yesterday I went to the store, looked all around for the traditional yellow peas, but could not find them (found chickpeas though). I didn't give up, and after a while I found a package with yellow peas, allegedly pre-cooked, so they needed only five minutes. Happy, I returned home, thinking I didn't need to pre-soak them.


Looks perfect, doesn't? The package says: «The millers yellow peas. Boiling time 5 min. Peas for ten portions».

Today
So close to heaven, but a long way to go. After cutting all the vegetables, making the broth (alas only bouillon from the store), I opened the package of yellow peas. But, hey -.. what's this? No peas, just small yellow pellets. Shocked, not understanding what was wrong, I almost started believing that in Denmark, this is what they call peas.
Nevertheless, I added the pellets, and hoped for the best.


Weird pellets, looks like it's meant for a gold fish.

The Result
As a sceptic, you might understand why I felt cheated on, but the result looked quite nice. The soup turned yellow. Puh... at least they've added colour to this strange type of strange peas ... :-)


Not too bad, I think? I'm used to more texture, from the peas.

First thing Jan said was that he hadn't had Yellow Peas in ages. During dinner Jan told me that only people living in the countryside still eats old fashioned peas. In Copenhagen they make soup from these pellets. How convenient ... I'm a peasant ...

An afterthought: It may be that people in Copenhagen are like a friend of mine. He can't stand the peel texture of beans, lentils and peas. Clever they are, no more peeling, just use pellets. It's a perfect gift for my friend. :-)

July in Jutland

Jan's parents lives Holstebro, Denmarks 18th largest city. The city is not far from the western coast of Jutland and is renowned for it's art and culture.

We've been her for the first three days of our holidays, and been around a lot. Saturday we went out to the coast, to a little town called Lemvig. They have a Museum for Religious Art and this summer there is an exhibition with a Norwegian painter.


(Museum for Religious Art, Haunstrup brown coal mine, Jan blowin' in the wind)

Sunday we started the day with a service in the local church, but after that we went to a forest not far from the city Herning, just souteast of Holstebro, near a small village called Haunstrup. The area was formerly a place where they made brown coal (opens a pdf in Danish). After the trip to the forrest we drove to a place that is over 100 m above sea level, to look out on the flat Danish countryside.

Monday we drove a bit north to see an old castle, Spøttrup Castle. It is the best preserved Danish castle from the Middel Ages. It has a moat surrounding the castle, and there is also a thick wall protecting it from cannons. We had coffee in the castle gardens and also had a look at the herbal garden. After the sighseeing at the castle we drove south again to an area called Stubbergård Sø, a bog. We walked a short route ("mosestien") and got some fresh air.


(Inside Spøttrup Castle, a lake near Stubbergård sø)

All in all it's been a great weekend with Jan's "mor og far" in West Jutland. We've had a lot to eat and been well entertained.