she said shut up and dance with me

   

nearly two weeks in copenhagen and I’m in love. this city is exactly what I thought it would be; lots of coffee, incredible food, delicious wine, friendly people, attractive men, charming landscapes. it’s a dream. 

except that everyone wears jeans and runners. well, not everywhere can be perfect.

my time here has involved a lot of exceptional food and a lot of wine. there has been only two days where I haven’t had at least a good handful of glasses of some sort of wine. sorry liver, but this kind of extravagant holiday happens once in a lifetime – so I’m doing it properly. in 12 days, I have been to: studio, radio, manfreds og vin (4 times), amass, brør, noma, geist (twice), AOC, bæst, kadeau – there will be seven michelin stars in total, after last nights adventure to relæ. I’ve also had coffee at coffee collective, market shopped and ate at torvhallerne (twice), ate baked goods from meyers bageri, had breakfast at grød (a place that makes only porridge for breakfast and then only risotto for lunch), had coffee at lillebrør (twice) and I’ve done it all by walking. I know, I know… when in rome, do as the romans do – I wanted to hire a bike and ride around with shit in the attached basket but I come from a country where cyclists basically play russian roulette with their lives as idiot drivers swerve around them, we also drive on the other side of the road… I still cross the street looking in the wrong direction, so I think riding a bike would be a death wish (for me). though I still have two days, maybe there’s hope for me yet.

anyway I could very easy write about every restaurant I’ve been to, but I’m not a food critic and I don’t like spoiling the surprise for people who might make it to this unbelievable city to do a similar thing to what I’ve been doing.

but noma will be my exception. I’m not about to write a review, god knows I’m not qualified to be impartial or critical of the world’s best restaurant. but I will write about the four and a half hour lunch I had on thursday 9th april; because I want to be able to re-read it myself in days/months to come and remind myself of how happy that day was (and how much my cheeks hurt that night because I smiled so much). it was the same happy I feel when I go back to little ray of hope; the kind of happy where “walking on sunshine” would be playing if you were in a movie. 

I had originally organised my annual leave a month earlier than what I currently have, but I then realised noma would still be in japan doing their pop-up. so I frantically changed my annual leave, and my flights, to have the chance to get a booking. but in typical shift worker fashion, I was working the night the reservations opened. and to make it even worse, I couldn’t even take my dinner break to make the reservation (it was about 8pm aus time) because I had to pick up my patient from recovery after surgery. I quickly called my sister and rudely interrupted her study to get her to go online and try and make me a reservation – any date, any time – between the 3rd and 16th of april. unsurprisingly, I found myself a spot on the inevitable “waiting list”. regardless, I was coming to copenhagen to eat. I knew I didn’t have a reservation, but that wasn’t going to stop me having the best food eating trip ever!

anyway, I left kenya and made it to copenhagen (after that life changing business flight) and had my first food experience at studio – which has been one of my favourite experiences thus far and spoke to the chefs/waiters/sommeliers quite a lot throughout the meal – it must be because I am eating at a restaurant alone; I’ve learned that people are extremely interested when I tell them I’m in copenhagen to eat. I swear some people assume I’m a critic. one of the guys asked where I was going, I replied, “everywhere but noma!” (which is no word of a lie, I literally went to every place I could). and he told me a cheeky little secret and said to call each morning at 10am when the lines open (and when you can get through) to see if there have been many cancellations. 

well, mate, you completely changed my life with that little nugget of wisdom. 

tuesday was the first day I called, and after perhaps only 10 attempts to get through, the lovely guy I spoke to told me that according to the system, all reservations between then and when I leave have been confirmed – however, he told me to just keep calling each morning because “you never know”. I won’t lie, I felt a little defeated – so I went to manfreds in jægersborggade (the coolest street in copenhagen) and had a very nice and potentially unhealthy amount of wine and food, and headed off to amass for dinner. (both are incredible places)

wednesday morning rolled around and I tried calling again – 20 calls this time until I got through, and somehow the universes aligned, all was right in the world when she checked the system and she told me there was a place available on a shared table the following day for lunch. I may have stopped breathing, I may have squealed when I got off the phone. I know for a fact I burst into tears and was sobbing when I called my sister. unless you have the same love for incredible restaurants and memorable food, you won’t understand my reaction. this is something I’ve wanted to do for years… and I was finally going to get the chance to do it. I mean, I came to denmark knowing I didn’t have a reservation, and I wouldn’t have called if I wasn’t told to, so I would likely have never got in – and I was perfectly okay with that. but now that I was going? well, that puts a whole different spin on this already incredible fortnight. 

thursday morning arrives and I’m so excited I don’t want to eat. partially because of the excitement and partially because I don’t want to not be able to eat every, single, thing I would be served. I was also really nervous: at least eight years I’ve been desperate to visit denmark because of this restaurant, and what if it was horrible? what if it didn’t live up to the hype? what if it wasn’t worth the money?

well, it was’t horrible. it totally lived up to the hype and was completely and utterly worth the money.

  

grilled onion with shoots and capers

  

sweet shrimps in ramsons with rhubarb/grasshopper broth

  

100 year old mahogany clam and grains

  

shaved monkfish liver

  

langoustine and flavours of the ocean part 1

    

langoustine and flavours of the ocean part 2

  

male and female lumpfish in cheese, whole milk

 

 

black garlic flower

 

    

roasted bone marrow, this dish needs to be memorialised somehow. that much bone marrow for one person makes all your problems go away!

  

aerated icecream with bitters and hazelnut oil

  

chocolate and forest flavours

  

   

white chocolate, sour cream, sea buckthorn jam, elderflower salt

  

so, the incredible reason I got in on a cancellation is because an american woman named ainsley made a reservation for 4 people in the hopes it would make her chances of getting a table higher. and it did, she got the table but at the last minute (when the restaurant needed table confirmation) two of her friends weren’t able to attend. not wanting to lose her booking, she called the restaurant and told them to fill it with people on the waiting list. then about 10 minutes later, I finally got through with my twenty calls and got myself a spot in this ‘makeshift’ shared table; alongside ainsley and her friend denise, and a solo american, brittany.  thank god for ainsley’s flaky mates!!

 

after an incredible 20 or so courses, we had a tour of the service kitchen, the outdoor fermentation area, the test kitchen, the outdoor grill kitchen, the production kitchen… pretty much everywhere we could visit, we did. At his part made it even more special, because you see how many different stages a dish has to get through to finally be served to guests. it’s not just some quick conjuring of ideas, thrown together and out they go. it’s months of testing, trialling, tasting. seeing that kind of dedication to serving food of such a high calibre makes it even more special. I mean, crazy things like 100 year old mahogany clam isn’t just something you see at your local decent restaurant, same with the black garlic thing – that was out of this world. a chewy garlic lolly. pure innovative genius this place, and a lot of it has to do with rene redzepi. you know you’re in copenhagen and eat at three different restaurants three days in a row and have three different types of cured/slow cooked egg yolk. this city is riddled with chefs who have worked with or under rene’s direction and have then gone off to open their own place or work elsewhere – subsequently spreading the endless knowledge they learned/practised at noma. 

even with the service/front of house staff, you can tell this place is the world best restaurant. this is their life. nothing is too much, but it wasn’t stuck up service, it was relaxed and normal. like katherine, our waitress from sydney, said, there’s no point serving from one side and clearing from another side if it feels awkward or interferes with how customers are sitting. if it makes more sense to lean a little over someone’s arm, then so be it. 

I mean, restarts often offer still or sparkling water to go with a meal – not noma. we drank birch tree water that was tapped from the forests on the outskirts of copenhagen that morning. as you do. it wasn’t overly powerful in taste, but was slightly sweeter and maybe a little thicker than regular water. see, that? that is why this place is the world’s best restaurant. the incredible attention to every, single, detail. no wonder my cheeks hurt from all the grinnin I did throughout the entire lunch!! 

 

and sometimes, dreams do come true! I can’t thank the waiter at studio for telling me his secret, I can’t thank ainsley’s friends enough for not being able to come, I can’t thank the staff at noma enough for their outstanding dedication to food and wine that allows just 45 people per lunch or dinner to enjoy such an exciting venture in food, and I can’t thank my parents enough for raising me to be a person who appreciates the good things in life. an experience like this – in my opinion – shits all over a new pair of shoes, doing post grad study or  buying an apartment. life is too short and you only live once! 

everybody’s been here at least once before

so, the most amazing thing happened when I sat down on my emirates flight from dubai to copenhagen.

I had chosen an isle seat down the back of the plane for this part of my trip. I can’t decide if sitting by the window and being undisturbed is more enticing than being up to get up easily and walk around without climbing over two other passengers who are probably angry and or half asleep. as it turns out, I was sitting next to a mother and her young son was seated next to the window. I said hi and told them if they need to get up, just wake me if I fall asleep. she emailed and responded with ‘tak’ – danish for thanks. I had my ipad it, ready to read some books, and my ear plugs, to drown out the inevitable engine noise that always interrupts a decent rest. 

just as I mad myself comfortable, and as other passengers were still boarding, a very danish looking man (tanned, blonde hair, very blue eyes) made a beeline straight for me, and when he reached me, asked if my name was miss johnson. um yes, I replied but my voice was so hoarse I had to clear my throat and repeat myself. damn being sick. he then says, “I don’t mean to interrupt you, howeve you are sitting by my family for this flight and I wonder if you would consider changing seats with me?” I told him of course I don’t mind, it was unfair he was separated from his family so I would definitely swap. then, he drops the bombshell and tells me it would be very worth my while as his seat is in business class. I think I squeaked as my jaw hit the floor. I may have said, are you serious, a few times, and then I asked if that was even allowed. he told me he’d already cleared it with the head of the cabin crew – that’s how he knew my name, he’d asked the name of the passenger sitting next to his family. insane, this shit never happens. he carried my bag for me up to the front of the plane, introduced me to the staff (I reckon he was either a seriously frequent flyer or maybe some sort of famous viking) and then showed me to my seat. I felt like a member of the bloody royal family being escorted through the aircraft until I landed in my ‘throne’ right at the front of the plane. never in my life have I been more pleased to at least have been dressed as though I semi-belonged to sit in that class. I had changed into jeans before I left kenya, thankfully I decided not to wear my crutch-as-low-as-the-floor african pants and a grotty tshirt that I only washed once. 

then came the giggles. I was giggling to myself like a little school girl; when they handed me a menu and a wine list, when they brought around drinks as I sat down, when I put the noise cancellation headphones on, when I made my seat recline into a bed and avoided getting a DVT, when I went to the toilet and dried my hands on an actual towel – not a paper towel, when it was time to eat and they set up my table with a tablecloth… basically the whole 8 and a bit hours I was chuckling and smiling to myself like a freak. 

so, as it turns out, I flew to copenhagen in business class, seat 1F on a boeing 777-300. like a fucking queen. I drank veuve cliquot champagne and red wine from bordeaux and ate food so tasty, you’d never imagine it came from a plane kitchenette.

what an incredible start to a very luxurious two weeks I have ahead. I think I’m permanently ruined for economy now.

you don’t need no baggage, just get on board

last weekend I developed a decent sore throat, and a pretty disgusting cough but I hate taking antibiotics so I avoided seeing a doctor for a few days. I knew I had some sort of infection, but it wasn’t until I couldn’t really breathe at night and had chest pain that it was probably time to get some treatment. so tuesday afternoon, I went to the clinic under the school and had a decent medical checkup. for 800ksh, about au$11, I found out I was hypotensive, didn’t have asthma, had an upper respiratory tract infection, had tonsillitis and was sent home with 5 days worth of amoxicillin, ibuprofen and cough syrup. despite this, I still have a very husky voice (no it’s not sexy) and I’m still snotty and have a cough, but thank god it’s much much better. 

  

my last few days at school were thankfully not sad ones, but very happy and cheerful ones. lots of laughter and smiles from me and the kids, as well as anna, morton, shelby, masika and braelyn who all came along for my last day. I had made each kid a little lolly bag to take home and enjoy over the easter weekend, and anna’s grandfather gave money so she could purchase an easter egg for each kid too. inevitably, the kids will be sugared out this weekend! however, it is very bloody hard to control 75 noisy and excited kids without a voice! despite this, we still sang songs, danced, and had a great day. 

   

beautiful evelyn. noone works as hard, as selflessly or as tirelessly as she does. a wonder woman, who I very much admire and respect

   

evelyn, agnetta (cook), me, ruth (teaching assistant), gladys (cleaner) and anna

 

I left school at about 3:30pm and had organised a taxi to pick me up at 5pm for my 10:50pm flight. I know that might seem crazy to some of you, but considering taxis are notoriously late and traffic is notoriously bad, I didn’t want to risk it. and I’m very bloody glad I did. taxi didn’t come until 5:30, then it started raining, which freaks kenyans out, and the traffic was horrible. it took almost 3 hours to drive from kawangware to the airport – a 24km journey. at one point, we sat still for almost 30minutes. to say I was freaking out would be an understatement. I’m not usually an anxious person, but when it comes to flying and being at airports, I’m practically obsessive compulsive. the earlier I’m there, the better. 

before I left, I was verrrry happy to have a final tusker beer, chips and kachumbari at my favourite place – volcano, with the beautiful humans who spent my last day at school with me. yes I was sad to leave, yet so happy because I know I’ll be back… again and again.

kwaheri for now, kenya. see you next year. x

  

 

I don’t have many and I don’t have much

thanks to so many of you wonderful humans, I fundraised quite a substantial amount of money for little ray of hope before I arrived here. I had an idea of how the money was going to be spent; new shoes, uniforms, stationary etc and that’s exactly how it’s been spent.

28 kids out of 75 desperately needed new shoes as theirs were falling apart, had holes or were inappropriate to walk to school in (think ballet slipper style shoe). there are a lot of nasty things on kenyan streets and roads, so covering up the kids feet as much as possible ensures their safety and less likely to step on something that could go straight through the shoe. so we had two men from the shoe company bata come to school and measure all the children’s shoe sizes and order accordingly as to who needed the shoes. for brand new leather and reinforced sole school shoes, it cost au$520, approximately $18 per pair of shoes. not bad considering how much parents at home spend on school shoes. 

 

   

   

similarly, many of the kids needed new sweaters because theirs are frayed, have holes or simply because they don’t fit anymore. it’s kind of important for every kid to have at least some form of sweater, particularly because kenyans, infact probably all africans, feel the cold, even when it’s not cold. it’s not uncommon for me to arrive at school on a lovely 28 degrees celcius day and see the kids wrapped up in at least 4 layers: tshirt, school dress/shirt, sweater and jacket. it astounds me that so many layers are needed. so I went to the biggest uniform supplier shop in yaya shopping centre and purchased 25 brand new navy sweaters in three different sizes, as a starting point. that cost about au$240, and infact if I find that more children need them, I will purchase more. 

  

stationary is always in need of a top up, and thanks to some wonderful people from home, I already had some colouring pencils and crayons to donate, but there’s always more to purchase, especially when buying for seventy five kids. chalk, modelling clay, grey lead pencils, sharpeners, erasers, masking tape, pens for teachers, learning posters for the walls… the list is often endless but it’s because everything gets used so often. and it is used right down the the very end. absolutely no wastage.

 

  

these photos can’t give justice to just how much new shoes, jumpers, stationary etc will assist the little rays of hope in school this year. and your continued support is amazing and will carry us through. even though so many of these kids are too young for school, their being here means they aren’t on the street trying to make an income. it means they get a head start at their schooling. it means they aren’t left at home to cook and clean while mum/dad/carer is out looking for work. it means that they get a chance to become whoever or whatever they want to be; that they aren’t just forced to merely survive. that they get the same chance you and I had when we grew up to choose what we wanted to be. that’s why I’m doing this.

anything that is not spent on this trip will be used to continue supporting the school: purchasing food for the kids throughout the year, school supplies, teachers upkeep and office items, as well as placed in savings for our ultimate goal of buying a block of land and building a school – somewhere where the kids than play and not be crowded. 

that’s a dream which will take some time, but we will continue working towards until it comes true. x