Copenhagen…

I have to admit that most of my trip centered around food; looking for it, cooking it, learning about it and finally eating it!

I was lucky enough to take part in a weekend cooking class upon my arrival. It was taught by Sarah B. of My New Roots! This particular cooking class was at a yoga studio and was about Ayurvedic Sattvic cooking. Essentially food is prepared without garlic, onions or mushrooms as they are too stimulating to the body for a yogi. Since I was somewhat familiar with Ayurvedic principles I thought this would be a great learning experience to cook in a new way and learn about food along the way.

If it wasn’t for my disorientation and jet lag I would have taken more photos or rather a photo of the class! Hopefully I will be able to share some of the recipes and tips in the coming weeks as I recreate them.

I was able to cook in this beautiful apartment we rented. It made me feel like I was at home (In Copenhagen that is). I have never rented an apartment in a city I have visited but having one makes you feel like you know the city already without that ‘tourist’ cloud hanging over you. This gave us the opportunity to buy fresh produce and enjoy our green drinks in the morning. I even bought a cheap blender. I trekked out to the suburbs to get one from what seemed like a Danish Wal-Mart!

Having the apartment made us feel like locals, thus we didn’t do much in terms of visiting museums. We basically walked around, people watched, building watched, took the train (to Malmo!) and went to the gym! I have never gone to the gym while traveling but what a difference it makes! It makes you feel amazing…really I wish I had discovered this years ago :S

On our many walks we tried to visit places we found on the site www.spottedbylocals.com/copenhagen/. As I travel more and more I want to see how the everyday man lives. I feel like the museums and tourist attractions are not a true representation of a culture even though they do have their place.

One of the places we visited that I took photos of was this raw restaurant, Raw 41. It is the first raw restaurant in Copenhagen. In a country that doesn’t legally allow the sale of digestive enzymes, maca or chia seeds (unless it is sold under the guise of a bread ingredient-yes the chia labels have a bread recipe on them!) it was nice to see a movement towards more fresh whole foods.

The food at Raw 41 was great and we were able to enjoy a fresh juice and raw cookie too. My fiancé had the raw lasagna and I had the raw Thai curry. Clearly the lasagna was too good for my fiancé to wait. I opted to wait 20 minutes after drinking my juice to enjoy my meal. Why? Well liquids dilute your digestive enzymes so waiting 20 minutes to empty your stomach will make digestion more optimal. Also you don’t want to interrupt the absorption of the juice enzymes by adding food.

The only thing I would improve about this restaurant was the price. We spent an arm and a leg for our meals. I must remember that Denmark has a 25% tax rate. I guess the government takes pretty good care of their people. No wonder Denmark is the happiest country according to Forbes .

My fiancé and I also had the opportunity to drink lots of tea since the weather was quite cold and become more so throughout our trip. This gave us the opportunity to try tea all over the city. Our favorite was by Joe and the Juice. This is a Copenhagen based chain of juicers and coffee shops.

We had a few of their juices which are more fruit rather than veggie based. They do seem to add a sweetener so if you ever stop by opt out of it! Their rooibos tea however was insane. Yes INSANE. They make it like an espresso and the tea comes out thick and creamy like one. Since my fiancé gave up coffee for a recent detox this was the closest thing to an espresso he has gotten with tea. Definitely worth a try. Rooibos tea is caffeine free and loaded with antioxidants. YUM.

So that seems to be the most prominent highlights from our stay in Copenhagen. Next up is London. Stay tuned!