Danish frikadeller vs Norwegian 'meat cakes' vs Swedish meatballs

I've just got back from travelling in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and I thought that I would start telling you about my adventures by addressing this VERY important question- which is more tasty? The Danish frikadeller? The Norwegian 'meat cake'? or the Swedish meatball? Having tried all three in the last 10 days, I feel very qualified to try and answer this question.

The Danish frikadeller

This is a flatter 'meatball' which was handmade by my lovely Danish host and was made of beef. It was served with potato salad, tomato and cucumber. It was the perfect light summer meal for a warm sunny day in Copenhagen.

The Norwegian meat cake (kjøttkaker)

These beef meat cakes were served with potatoes, carrots, mashed peas, lingonberry jam and gravy! I think these were homemade, but were bought in a pub in Bergen. This was a very heavy meal, especially for lunch, but the gravy was spectacular. The company of my Norwegian host was also delightful.

The Swedish Meatball (köttbullar)

The Swedish meatball is probably the most famous (thanks IKEA) of the three types of meatballs. These were pork, I think, and were served on a bed of pureed potato and a heavenly creamy sauce. There was also lingonberry sauce and some garnish of cucumber. These meatballs were light and the potato was amazing. They were again homemade, but bought in a cafe in Stockholm.

The verdict:

After sampling these three different meals, I have come to a conclusion about which is the best. Before I give you my answer though, I must say that the scientist in me is a bit annoyed. Due to the fact that I only tried one sampling of each from only the one restaurant, it's not exactly scientific. Also it's only based on my opinion and what I find tasty. So disclaimers over, although I found them all enjoyable, my favourite was....the Swedish meatball!! They were just so light and tasty, as was the potato and the creamy sauce. Delicious!

the Phenomenon that is Queen's Day

Today, the 30th April, is Koninginedag, or Queen's Day. Let's start with a bit of history. The Netherlands has a monarchy and since 1890 this monarchy has had a Queen as the head. For the last 33 years Queen Beatrix has been at the helm of this small country. Queen's Day is the yearly day of celebration of the Queen, and is pretty much the biggest day in NL. Although the 30th April is really the old queen, Juliana's, birthday, they've stuck to that day, because Betrix's birthday is in the middle of winter, and therefore not the best time to party. Anyway, for Queen's Day the Dutch (and many international visitors) dress up in the national colour- orange. So the whole day you can see people walking around in orange in every form. Sunglasses, hats, fake hair, leis, pants, stockings, t-shirts, scarves, earrings, feather boas.

Just an example!

Now, onto what makes this year's Queen's Day a very special one. Today Beatrix abdicated and her son, Willem-Alexander, became the king of the Netherlands. This is the first king in over 100 years! This means that it is the last Queen's Day!! Well at least for a while. Next year will be the first Koningsdag or King's Day and it will be on the 27th April, which is the new king's birthday. I find this change a bit crazy. I mean after a century of women on the throne and about 60 years of celebrating on the same day, things just change. That said, it's also an exciting time as it ushers in a new era in the life of the Netherlands. Here's some photos of how I spent Queen's Day. Happy last Queen's Day!!

Lunch with friends

Drinks in the Grote Markt with the TV coverage of the offical Queen's Day stuff on the big screen

New ministry opportunities

Since the beginning of the year, we've began a few new ministry events/opportunities for International Students here in Den Haag. I want to tell you a bit about them now.

FAT (Fellowship and Training)
FAT is a monthly training event for students. We get togther for dinner and fellowship and then have training on a topic. The topics range from theological topics (such as looking at 'Justification') to practical training (such as personal evangelism). It's been so good to go deeper into some of these subjects and to see the enthusiasm that the students are showing for God's word. We have around 7-8 students who are coming along from different schools in Den Haag, and even a student from Eindhoven (about 2hrs travel away by public transport). We started FAT in January, which means we've only had two meetings, but it's such an encouraging start and I can't wait to see what happens for the rest of the academic year.

Dessert at FAT

iCafe Den Haag
At the start of March we had our iCafe launch. This is a monthly cafe style event for international students. Basically we just have time for tea/coffe and snacks whilst talking, then finish off with an activity for about 30-40mins. This time we had one of the Dutch helpers tell us about the Dutch national anthem, called Het Wilhelmus, and some of the history behind it. We then looked up on YouTube some national anthems from the countries that the students come from and had a listen. It was really great to see students bringing their friends along and meeting students from other schools. 

Hanging out at the iCafe!

I'm so excited about both of these new ministries and am keen to see how they go over the coming months. Please pray for us as we plan and organise these events.

Culture

I've had a few conversations with people lately about the differences in culture between Australia and the Netherlands. I think it's a hard question. I've been here now for just over 2 months, so you would think that I've had enough time to know what some of the differences are. But for the life of me I can't seem to work them out. There may be a couple of reasons for this:

1. I'm not an observant person. I'm not very good at observing people and analysing what they're saying. I don't think I can distil out the culture behind what people say and do.

2. I've lived here before, so I find it 'normal'. I think this may be a big factor. I feel very at home here, and I think it's because I've had more than these last 2 months to get to know how things work in the Netherlands.

3. There's not much difference in the cultures. This may be true, but I'm not really sure. I think Australian and Dutch culture are more similar than many other cultures though.

I think I will have to try harder to discover the culture...