Motherland

What would an international staycation be without a trip to one of our motherlands? My grandma on my mom's side is 100% Danish. She has a magnet on her fridge that says something to the effect of "I may not be perfect, but at least I'm Danish." Therefore, I grew up with a strong tie to my (by that point watered down to 1/4) Danish heritage. We have a few Danish family recipes, most notably Ebleskivers, apple cake, and Danish hotcakes. Depending where you are in the world you may hear Danish hotcakes called Swedish pancakes, crepes, or German pancakes. Don't be fooled, they are Danish (according to our family). Denmark is a beautiful little peninsula where my ancestors probably worked on rented land. My grandma's parents came to America for more opportunities, but my great grandpa came very reluctantly, as he loved Denmark, but he loved my great grandma more. My kids were very familiar with Denmark since they're related to me and my grandma, and I've been known to put Danish flags in my Christmas tree, but I taught them about the history of the country, and the Lutheran religion which is dominant in the country. We also learned that international studies show that Denmark is rated the happiest country in the world. We think Ebleskivers and apple cake may have something to do with it.

We also went to Sweden the same week, and no visit to Sweden would be complete without a stop at Ikea.

Sweden is not rated the happiest country in the world, and while we were at Ikea, looking at the Swedish food, we decided it may be because they eat fish paste:

Okay, I'll be fair, they probably eat that in Denmark too. Also, Swedish cookies and chocolate are delicious, and they brought the world ABBA, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were the second happiest country in the world.