Når solen skinner

I’ve mysteriously busted my ankle sometime in the last few weeks, so I’ve been stuck in the house more than I’d like lately. On the plus side, there is no better time to be on forced bed-rest than when the Olympics are on. I’m doing some high level multitasking right now – writing this post while also trying to understand the complexities of women’s handball. We only have Danish commentary, so my grasp of the sport remains flimsy. Despite my ignorance, I am very on board with the power and brutality of it – it is, as the Danish commentators would say, fantastisk. If I had less sense of self preservation I would be trying to find a club to join right now.

Instead, seeing as I am already broken, I am sifting through photos from the last few weekends. I am pretty sure we just had Denmark’s one week of proper summer, where temps hit the mid-20s and everyone wilted in the heatwave. We tried hard to make the most of it, knowing that the days are already getting shorter again.

Amass fried chicken – AFC – is a bit of a summer institution in Copenhagen that had been on our radar to try for a while. Amass is a restaurant located out in the boondocks of Refshaleøen, an industrial area north of Christianshavn.

Usually Amass is all about fine new Nordic degustation kind of dining, but for a few weeks over summer they also serve takeaway fried chicken with biscuits and pickled veggie coleslaw out in the garden.

The benefit of the out of the way location is that there is lots of space to grow produce, and it’s fun poking around the garden beds seeing what they are growing. There are tables and a bonfire and it is all very hip and hyggeligt.

The AFC itself was pretty interesting, especially the vinegary powder that it’s covered in. It also had the bonus effect of sparking a burning desire within Ant to make his own luxury version at home. It took hours and hours but was time well spent. The Serious Eats biscuits and gravy recipes were a revelation.

Post-AFC we rode north to the Halvandet harbour bath to wash all the chicken grease off. We are slowly chipping away at the list of harbour baths – this one is pretty close to one of the climbing gyms, so looking forward to de-chalking in the sea after climbing sometime soon. We need to up our training now that sport climbing will be in the Olympics in 2020…

The following evening we hung out at Islands Brygge and swam in the cordoned-off swimming area near Halfdansgade.

Ha, so I just had to swap the first photo when I noticed that the one I had chosen had a tiny person in the distance mooning the camera while getting changed. Danish public nudity strikes again. Maybe I should have left it in for eagle eyed readers.

As you can see, the harbour baths don’t really have the same sense of beach/non-beach divide that I’m used to when swimming. You just end up in your swimmers in what feels like the middle of the CBD. No-one else seems bothered though, so we’re just going along with it.

At some point that weekend we also used the good weather to revisit Amager Strand and try out our engangsgrill (one-time grill) skills. Engangsgrills are those disposable foil BBQs that are ubiquitous in Europe but can never prosper in Australia because they would be a one way ticket to instant bushfires.

I’m pleased to report nothing caught fire and only one sausage ended up in the sand – I think that’s an acceptable attrition rate for our first attempt.