BizzieFingers

Good, honest Bornholm food

2011-04-06T22:45:00.000+02:00

Image: riganmc/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My day job has taken me to local serviced facilities down the road. And lucky for me, a brand new café has just opened right under my office.
Gaia Madhuset is run by Ann and Mugen, and those girls sure do make a mean veggie tart and the most wonderfully fragrant soup. As I walk by their kitchen every morning, wafts of freshly baked bread and cookies follow me upstairs. Their food is tasty and healthy, and the surroundings are laid back and shabby chic: the perfect ingredients for a lunchbreak. Added to this, Ann and Mugen's ruling principle of sustainability ties in with everything that Bornholm's Bright Green Island concept supports. Delish!

Yak wool rules

2011-02-26T20:10:00.001+01:00

The Christmas presents I bought for my Danish family are going down a storm. Especially because we're into our fourth month of snow and sub-zero temperatures. My three very happy and cosily warm family members are the proud owners of Khunu sweaters, which are made from yak wool. This fine wool is lightweight, breathable, exceptionally warm and unbelievably soft.

It is collected by nomadic families in Tibet and Mongolia - not through shearing, but by hand combing. The people who keep the yaks benefit directly from Khunu, using the funds on education, medicine and extra food supplies during harsh winters.

OK, so the sweaters cost more than your average woolly jumper. But when you think about the work that goes into collecting the gorgeously soft wool, and how this partnership is helping to preserve these families' way of life - I think it's a worthwhile investment. In fact, Hans just said something that sums it up: "It warms you in two ways: it warms your body and your heart." Aw, bless him!

Pink sunrise

2010-12-05T22:32:00.002+01:00

I haven't worn a watch for over a year now. I use my mobile phone or computer to keep track of time. My alarm clock? The church bells from Bodilsker church next door.

Recently, as the bells announced another new day, I reluctantly pulled on the cord of my blind, expecting to unveil the dull glow from our previous snowfall. To my utter delight, I was immediately bathed in gorgeous pink sunshine.

But it wasn't just me, or my bedroom walls. Everything was pink. The sea. The snow. The sky. I jumped out of bed and scrambled to the office for the camera. I was so proud of this picture that I sent it to the local paper for the 'readers' winter gallery'. The colours changed from pink to orange and it was all over in under 10 minutes. It's the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen, and I'm glad I've managed to share it with other people.

Unadulterated bangers, no porkies!

2010-11-17T18:50:00.001+01:00

Photographer: Tom Curtis

Following my post about boycotting supermarket meat, I've discovered an award-winning farm shop called Hallegård not far from my home. The owner, Jørgen, makes specialist sausages from recipes that he has collected over the years from residents of the island and from his trips abroad. They are made from free-range Bornholm animals using traditional methods, and contain no articifical ingredients, preservatives or colourings.

When Jørgen goes on holiday, he finds the best restaurants and tells the chefs and owners about his little venture on Bornholm. They gladly give him new recipes to try so he can continue to expand his range of gourmet sausages. As well as being a favourite with the locals, Jørgen's produce can be found in delicatessens up and down Denmark (including the National Museum's café in Copenhagen as I found out at the weekend).

As he was wrapping up my kilo of Cumberland sausages in waxy paper, Jørgen told me he got the recipe by looking up Britain's best-loved sausage after a Brit living on the island told him he was missing his favourite banger. I told him that, like his friend, I too was missing my favourite banger: pork and bramley apple sausages. Like an alchemist in pursuit of the mother of all sausages, Jørgen's eyes lit up at the prospect of more experiments in the kitchen. He told me to find a recipe so that he can make some for me, and I will be his chief taster. Eating local produce doesn't get better than this!

A fruitful harvest

2010-11-08T16:20:00.006+01:00

My lack of posts last month is testament to the fact that I had so much to do on the farm. I managed to beat the birds and collect the remaining blackberries. Grubbing around in the dirt produced the last batch of my 'new' potatoes. Sleepy wasps were my main competitor as I swatted them away from the apples. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough cases to make cider this year. But we have plenty of æblemost (apple juice) to keep the flu at bay.

Lastly, I emptied all the elderberry trees of their purple gems to make elderberry juice. I have about 10 bottles of the stuff. That'll be used for mulled wine in the run up to Christmas, and will make up for us having to ration 2009's cider due to the lack of apples this year. While I was preparing the elderberries, I found the cutest little snails.

Stella - mousehunter extraordinaire!

2010-10-06T14:51:00.003+02:00

You done being mad with me?

Stella is one of the cutest dogs I've ever known. She displays more emotions than some people I know. We walk regularly in the woods and along the beach. She sniffs, digs and does all the other stuff dogs do.

However one of our recent walks ended in tragedy. I was looking at leaves. Stella was digging. Suddenly the frantic tugging of the dog lead (like the end of a fishing line, heavy with promise) made me look up. My gaze rested on two pairs of eyes: Stella's and a mouse's.

Unlike Stella, my instincts in life or death situations are 'to save' and 'to help'. As I lunged forward to try and rescue the little fella, who was trapped in a prison of teeth, Stella read my moves instantly and started to 'process' her catch even faster. So after one final squeak, the mouse perished and vanished right before my very eyes. I nearly puked.

I decided to curtail our morning walk, and as we headed back to the farm I tried to rationalise what had just happened. I realised that Stella needs to behave like a dog. I can put as many human faces on her character as I like. The simple fact is: she's a dog and a hunter - and a bloody good one. It's what she's built for. If we try and make her suppress that, she would feel incomplete and probably not very happy. Well done, girl.

Playing with fire

2010-09-21T16:47:00.003+02:00

Uh oh. Since the colder weather has set in, and Hans has been chopping firewood like a demon, I've discovered that I am a pyromaniac. This is the view from my sofa. And yes, I spend many hours here - transfixed. (Who needs TV?)

Burn, baby burn!

Having grown up in suburbia with single-glazed windows and astronomically high central heating bills, our fireplace is somewhat of a novelty to me. At first I was reluctant to use it because I thought it was a pollutant. But after having read up on the pros of wood burning, I've become a fire stove superfan.

But I'm resisting the temptation to throw in just any old thing so that multi-coloured flames devour the chemically-treated paper products that appear through our letterbox. Oh no, that would release harmful gases into the atmosphere. In addition, I wouldn't be able to use the biproduct (potash) in my compost heap.

The perfect raspberry

2010-09-17T11:32:00.002+02:00

It's like having a ray of sunshine in your gob

Have you ever picked the perfect raspberry? This is my perfect raspberry about 3 seconds before I popped it in my mouth. There's nothing quite like the taste of the freshest, sun-kissed berry. A complete contrast to ones that are force fed, picked way too early, rinsed with chemicals, packed in plastic and then refrigerated. That equals zero taste in my mind.

Tangy tomato relish

2010-09-07T16:05:00.001+02:00

Fresh from the vine

My first encounter with green tomato products was about 10 years ago when I bought Heinz green tomato sauce as a fun alternative for my ketchup-loving niece. Unfortunately she had more fun with it than I'd anticipated, and ended up smearing about quarter of a bottle of the florescent green goo all over my lovely homemade shepherd's pie. It made me feel quite ill.

Fast forward to 2008 when Christmas shopping in Copenhagen's Tivoli, I bought an orgasmic sandwich from Claus Meyer's food stand: pulled roast pork with salty crackling, sliced apple, and pickled red cabbage on a warm crusty roll - topped with his green tomato relish. I have bought a few jars of it since then, and have always wanted to have a go at making my own.

Lots of spicy goodness

Due to our exceptionally cold winter and lack of sunshine hours, I've finally got a good excuse. My beautiful tomatoes have no chance of turning red as temperatures are plummeting again with the onset of autumn. Due to the large volume (and there are more to follow as the plants are still in bloom), cooking and preserving was the obvious choice.

I looked to various places for inspiration and ended up making my own spicy version. I'm really pleased with the result. It's a great alternative to mango chutney (which can be too sickly sweet sometimes), and goes really well with strong cheddar on chunky bread. This recipe makes about three medium-sized jars.

Tangy tomato relish
1kg chopped green tomatoes
200g chopped apples (weight after they are peeled and cored)
175g sugar
120g raisins
1 chopped medium onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 chopped chili
400ml cider vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon
Seeds of 5 cardamom pods (press the pods to release the seeds)
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp ginger paste
Quarter tsp of cayenne pepper

Bung everything into a big pan (no lid needed) and bring to the boil. Then turn it down to a simmer and stir every couple of minutes for about an hour, making sure no bits stick to the bottom. It'll have a strong vinegar smell for a while, but that'll calm down as the hour passes. Adjust the sugar content to your own taste. Once the mixture has a thick 'jammy' consistency, it's ready to be decanted into sterilised jam jars. To do this, just pop the glass jars into an oven at 175 degrees celsius for 15 minutes and wash the lids thoroughly.

Today's harvest

2010-09-06T22:51:00.001+02:00

Lovely new tatties...and a bean

Ok, not a lot. But according to my organic gardening hero, Bob Flowerdew, you're only supposed to dig up what you need for that day. The rest are better left in the ground until needed.

There are still plenty more where they came from. I reckon I've got another two weeks' worth.

Green business cards

2010-09-02T17:27:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Jess at Jordt - Bogtryk & Offset - Nexø for providing me with such a fast and friendly service. The cards have been printed on recycled card using non-toxic ink.

Start making room in your wallet for one of these babies.

Rabbit stew

2010-09-01T09:55:00.006+02:00

Hans came home with five dead rabbits last night. Then his dad turned up to show him how to skin and gut them. All this was happening in our garage. Thankfully I kept a safe distance, busying myself in the kitchen. I don't do blood and guts.

Source: Destination Bornholm

We'd made a decision a couple of weeks ago to stop buying packet meat. The only meat we'll buy from supermarkets is organic Bornholm chicken. Its structure is so fine, you end up being full quicker and one breast will feed two adults, no problem.

If you read the labels on supermarket products like minced beef and frozen chicken, you'll see the water, the so-called binding 'fillers'. Their only purpose is to add more weight to the product, making you pay more money. It's daylight robbery.

So the rabbits are part of our campaign to reduce our reliance on supermarket meat products. And it's not just for economic or health reasons: transporting meat on our roads is having a devastating impact on CO2 emissions. According to Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday website, the livestock industry is responsible for between 13.5% and 18% of global greenhouse gases.

Anyone know any good rabbit recipes?

Tourists to be MyCar guinea pigs

2010-08-24T14:05:00.002+02:00

What a summer it's been: carnage in the veg patch, ups and downs at work, a dream holiday in France, and amazing walks around Bornholm.

The island's tourist season is continuing despite the financial crisis. Although it's seen better times, as one of my contacts in the industry explained glumly, "I've been in the hotel business for over 40 years and it's never been this bad".

But I'm seeing a lot of German, Swedish and Polish cars on the coastal roads, their passengers enjoying our dramatic scenery. And I've seen a few MyCar vehicles zipping around the island too. MyCar on Bornholm is a joint venture between Invest in Denmark and an electric car company from Hong Kong, called EuAuto. As part of the 'Bright Green Island' initiative, Bornholm is being used as a testbed for the cars, which run on a lithium battery. There are four available for tourists to use FOC in exchange for user feedback.

As part of my work for Bornholm Hotels recently, I had the pleasure of having a test drive of a MyCar. It was a bit like driving a dodgem car, but very easy once you got the hang of it. Apart from being a bit cramped and the boot being the size of a handbag, it was good fun. I hope it takes off.

The local car dealership on Bornholm is now offering the MyCar at a special introductory offer of 100K Danish Kroner (+ delivery), which equates to about $17K.

Lettuce be grateful!

2010-06-08T21:22:00.005+02:00

Apologies for the dodgy title of this post, but it's been a long day. Travels between Bornholm and Copenhagen have left me feeling a little drained. But I ventured out to the garden this evening to see how things were doing, and to offer a little sprinkle of water after a reasonably dry day, and I was delighted to see little tiny lettuce leaves!

My mother-in-law gave me a pot of lettuce leaf shoots that she'd started from seed. But I'm ashamed to say this was over a month ago. Bad weather and timing meant that they only went into the ground last week. After weeks of being squished up together in a plastic pot on a hot windowsill, I thought I'd killed them all. But no. Here are the little blighters in three lovely rows. Although not all of them are going to make it, I can see that lettuce will be on the menu at the Brünings-Hansen household in the next couple of weeks.

The smallest cafe ever!

2010-05-25T22:32:00.001+02:00

Whilst I was on the way back home from a meeting, I decided to stop off at the cutest little cafe on Bornholm. The 'island's smallest cafe' near Østerlars is the smallest cafe I've ever been to. (And I know my way round a few cafes!) There were just two tables. I occupied one for the rest of the afternoon, sipping on foamy lattes and devouring a piece of homemade fruit pie. The other table saw three sets of other thirsty and hungry guests during my time there. A busy and delightful little place!

Bornholm's Woodhenge

2010-05-09T22:39:00.001+02:00

My in-laws took me to Rispebjerg the other week so I could learn about the significance of this area. When the archeologists started to dig at this site eight years ago, they found that it was an area used for religious sacrifices and sun worship in the Stone Age, and it had the island's largest fortress in the Iron Age. The woodhenge at Rispebjerg has been compared to Stonehenge, in terms of the placement of the wooden posts in relation to the sun's movement. Work is continuing at the site to try to understand more about the people who lived here. Excavations have produced finds that are more than 5,000 years old.

As we were walking around, I happened to notice this little tree stump (not part of the woodhenge), with a gorgeous little heart. It's not a carving. That was the natural shape of the branch growing out of the tree.

White flowers and stones

2010-05-05T22:38:00.009+02:00

There is a path down to the beach at the bottom of my in-laws' garden. Hans, Anna Dorthea and I went for a stroll to see the pretty flowers, make sand angels and collect stones (some to use as a border for our vegetable garden, and some for Anna Dorthea to paint on).

I was struck by how much this area had changed in just one week. White anemone swept across the woodland floor like a fairytale blanket of flowers. I couldn't help wondering what Anna Dorthea made of this magical landscape as I watched her stop to pick up her fourth smooth, white stone and stuff it into her last-available pocket.

Photo: Anna Dorthea Brünings-Hansen

Seeds of change

2010-05-04T23:33:00.001+02:00

OK, things have changed slightly. I've got a new job.

This means that my focus will shift to my new employer, and my organic gardening project will continue on a smaller scale. The in-laws' ground needs more work than I can deliver in time for this year's growing season, so I have decided to sow my seeds in my own garden - but sow in stages so that I do not end up with 'gluts'. It's a shame, but I have to be realistic about what I can manage.

The previous owners of our house had a temporary building out the back. Its removal has left a convenient scar on the lawn - about the size of a small vegetable patch.

I have turned the soil now, and I have received my organic seeds in the post from Impecta - a Swedish company specialising in seeds for a cold climate. I just need a sunny afternoon with the radio playing soft rock through an open window.

A tasty beauty

2010-04-22T17:20:00.004+02:00

I just found this cute little film about Bornholm on YouTube. It was commissioned by Bornholm's ferry company, Bornholmstrafikken, and shows stunning views of the island's landscape. It also introduces you to the island's main export: food and drink! Bornholm is famous for its smoked herring, beer and wine, ice cream and its internationally acclaimed cheese!
Image source: Destination Bornholm

Spring clean uncovers antique gem

2010-04-20T15:07:00.000+02:00

With the weather brightening up and temperatures increasing, I thought it was about time to spring clean my in-laws' greenhouse. I'm borrowing it to house my seedlings before I transplant them into the ground later this season.

I started by taking out all the dead twigs and leaves, bits of string and other rubbish. Then I put some non-toxic brown soap in a bucket of warm water and went to town!

There's a gnarly old grapevine in the greenhouse that produces juicy purple grapes every year. I had to duck and dive around it (and its new shoots) as I cleaned the inside. After I'd removed the dead branches, I found a lovely ornate, antique thermometer - just hanging from a rusty nail. I took a closer look: the make is 'Three Star', it has no back, but it still works perfectly. It was 20 degrees in that hothouse! I gave the face a bit of a clean, then left it exactly where it was. Perfect!

Manure from one cow can cover your annual electricity

2010-04-16T18:04:00.002+02:00

Yep, that is the translated headline of an article about my group's 'Green Guide' course which took place last week. It really was a fantastic four-day programme. It covered the island's new brand as a 'test island' for new technologies, the strategy for the island's growth and what we'll be showing our international visitors when they come on 'Energy Tours'.

We had presentations from Bornholm's Business Center, BOFA (the waste disposal company), Bornholm's municipality, and Østkraft (Bornholm's electricity company). We were also taken on a bus tour to learn more about the island's projects, such as: the electric car programme, wood-chip central heating, wind turbines (33% of the island's electricity is generated from wind turbines), and of course Biokraft - sustainable energy from poo!

The cutest spring lamb

2010-04-14T23:42:00.004+02:00

My in-laws have kept Gotland sheep on their farm for some time now, but they decided to stop breeding last year. However, one cold night last winter the ram broke free out of his own field and spent a cozy night with his ladies. And this is the result!

He's a week old and has the cutest little 'baa' you ever heard. He's putting on about 100g every day. The image below clearly shows the Swedish breed's distinctive fur skin.

Carpets of wild garlic

2010-04-12T16:55:00.006+02:00

After completing my 'Green Guide' course at Bornholm's business school last week, I decided to learn as much as I can about the island before the 'guiding' season starts next month.

A local nature guide took me and two couples from Copenhagen up to 'Døndalen' - a 700m valley, home to Denmark's largest waterfall (20m high). With my in-laws living close by, I already knew this area from all the dogwalking I've been doing over the past year!

I didn't understand everything the guide said, but his enthusiasm was inspiring. His stories were full of fantasy and legend, and all five of us were hanging on his every word.

In addition to walking around the beautiful waterfall, we made our way through carpets of pungent 'ramsløg' (wild garlic). I was especially transfixed by the different textures of tree bark - spongy, flaky, full of knots and insects.

All in all it was a great tour. And I'm pleased with how the photos turned out. The colours in the images are very much true to how the trees appeared today.

Green fingers on a red light

2010-03-10T11:12:00.004+01:00

Brrrr...right, who's up for a cuppa?

With termperatures still below freezing, my garden project is experiencing delays. The plan is to turn 200 square metres of grass and weeds (with the odd bit of old garden machinery thrown in) into a beautiful organic vegetable garden.

The locals tell me that Bornholm (our Danish island in the middle of the Baltic Sea) hasn't seen this much snow since World War II.

This winter has been a steep learning curve for me - a stark contrast to my native Tasmania. My yearning for spring has gone into overdrive: I went to the local garden centre last week and stocked up on organic seeds, mini-greenhouses and soil. I'm good to go. But daytime temperatures need to stay above freezing before I can even think about getting my busy green fingers into action.