At least every other day, if not every day, I make my way to the bakery a few miles down the road from us. Europe is the winner when it comes to baked goods. No question about it. I love good bread. I love to make it, and I go out of my way to buy it when back home. Here, it's always easily within reach, no matter where I am shopping. But the bakeries on every corner, the way Starbucks is found on every corner back home, are just the best. I'm going to be pretty spoiled when we get back.
This particular bakery near our house is conveniently the closest one to our house, and I do really love it. Their best selling item is their chocolate chip bun. I was surprised to hear this, because I had not really been tempted to try it. When there are freshly made chocolate croissants to be had, why on earth would you ever get what is essentially bread dough with chocolate chips mixed in, baked into the shape of a roll? How very strange. But they seem to hold the same appeal to my kids as they do to the Danish kids, because my kids are wild about them. They beg me every day to go back and buy more. Let me tell you, a family of nine, seven of them children, goes through a lot of baked goods. So I often come pretty close to cleaning the bakery out when I stop in.
"Twenty chocolate chip rolls, please," I said one morning. "And, five chocolate croissants, and two loaves of Midsommer brød." The lady who is normally there seems to be used to my strange orders. I occasionally bring one of the children with me when I go, but I don't think she knows how many children I actually have. Maybe she thinks I work at a school. Or maybe she thinks I'm even greedier than I actually am. After leaving that day, I wondered if 20 buns for two days was excessive, but they were gone by the end of the second day. Nevertheless, I went back the next time and asked for just a dozen. And the sweet lady asked me kindly to remind her how much a dozen was.
I'm so impressed with how well English is spoken by almost everyone I have met over here. I am so appreciative of it, too, because even though I am getting pretty good at deciphering written Danish, I have yet to correctly guess at the pronunciation of any word or phrase. It sounds so different to my ear than what it looks written. When someone greets me with "Hej!" which sounds and means exactly like "Hi," and I return the greeting, it feels like I'm off to a good start, but immediately my feeble attempt at "Taler du Englesk?" which means "Do you speak English?" is not understood very well. So then I ask it in English and they immediately switch to my language without a moment's pause. How amazing to be able to speak another language so well.
I will miss this bakery when I leave. I think I will have try to make the chocolate chip buns when I get home. There are some other food items I will really miss. Bacon, already diced. Even the smallest of the small grocery stores carries this item, as far as I have been able to see. Why? Because it's the most logical item for a convenience store to carry. Pre-diced bacon, America. Please find a way to put this on your grocery store shelves, ASAP. Thanks. Also, the chicken. I don't know what type of chicken it is they sell here, and what it is that makes it taste so different, but it's great. I have spent way too much money before at home buying organic or free range chicken and it just doesn't even come close to this. What else? Smoked Salmon. Crepes/Swedish pancakes, already cooked, in the package, just needing to be reheated. Brilliant! Butter, cheese, and of course, I already mentioned the bread and baked items. So easy to access good bread here. Artichokes, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, mushrooms, so much of the produce here is great. These are some of the foods I will really miss when I get back home. Especially that diced bacon.
I can't believe that we only have a little over a month left to our trip. In some ways the time has gone quickly; at other times, I miss home so much my heart aches a little. In years to come, I'll be grateful for our memories of living for an extended period of time in another country. I can't wait to thumb through that photo album of our trip someday in the future on our couch...in Colorado.
