Here is a Brazilian one I added there, which many people like: Salmon in tomato and coconut sauce

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At ForeignersinDenmark.dk we have been debating this issue since it began in 2005 and although there is no consensus, there are very interesting point of views!

The latest forum topic about this issue is: Danish cartoonist attacked

Overall I thought the show was good, a little too “cinderella like”, but good – although Oprah did not mention that daycare is not free, it is a subsidized service and most of my friends with children are very happy with the quality of care their children receive, but not with the price, which is about 2300 kr (460 dollars) per month.

We are having a very good discussion on the forum about the show, check it out: Oprah Winfrey’s views on Denmark

Please leave a comment on this blog post about your thoughts of the Danish system, as shown by the women in the show.

Denmark, in my eyes, the land of “ok” customer service and overpaid employees have a lot to learn from how customer service should be handled –  the “Mc Donald’s smiley employees”, which is a reflection of one of the company’s core values (great customer service) does indeed pay off. But Trustpilot ratings can still help us decide what shops don’t deserve our business and which do.

The portal is available for the American, British, Romanian, Danish, Russian and German markets. It has also a resouceful tool, called Trustpilot Guard, which a person can download and then be able to see the “rating” of the shops shown on the search engine results.

Cultivating tomatoes in its original bag

Right now is the perfect time of the year to teach your children about plants – with the focus of environmental issues in the past few years, children in most countries certainly learn the basics about how important it is to preserve nature and many schools actually have gardens where children learn to plant fruits and vegetables.

So, if the schools are already doing it, why is it important that you do it with them? Well, besides having fresh vegetables and fruits without chemicals, this is an opportunity to teach your children how to nurture life and to set a good example for them. Your children will take pride that what they are learning in school is being put into practice at home and that they are eating the results!

So, if you have a garden, get the little ones away from the computer and enjoy a beautiful summer day, while teaching them precious life lessons!

My pick is tomato because they are easy to grow and cultivate, are very nutritious and are ideal for this time of the year.

If you are new to gardening, I recommend you start with grown plants instead of seeds – imagine the frustration of your child if the seeds never grow or die shortly after! Growing plants from seed is an exciting experience for children (and adults), so you should definitely save this idea for next summer.

Step by step instructions on how to cultivate tomato from grown plants:

1. Buy tomato plants in a bag: for a first timer, buying plants that come in a bag with fertilizer is best because the soil is prepared with what’s ideal for the plant and because it keeps the plants “higher” from the ground and away from parasites. These bags are illustrated on the picture to the right.
2. Keep them in the original bag.
3. Ask the shop if the plant is used to being outside during the night. If they are, you can just put them outside and leave them there. If they are not used to that, they need to gradually get used to the change of temperature. In this case, leave them outside during the day and put them in a shed during the night for a few days. Each day prolonging their “stay”outside. To save all this trouble, try purchasing a plant that is already used to that.


Tomato plant

4. Place a stake on each tomato plant and tie the plant to it (loosely). That will make sure the plant grows straight up.
5. Place the plants in a location where there is plenty of sun. If you have a greenhouse, even better – the plants will grow faster and the tomatoes will be sweeter.
6. Water daily. Tomato plants can die quickly if the soil is dry.
7. If there are too many birds around, place a tulle or a plastic bag around the plant (in this case, make small holes on the plastic. Birds also need their food and are an enchantment on any garden, so leaving a tomato plant uncovered just for them is appreciated and is another way to teach children about responsibility with people and animals around us.
8. Pruning: when you can see yellow flowers and/or a few tomatoes, cut of branches of the plant that doesn’t have any flowers or tomatoes. That will allow the plant to concentrate its energy on the tomatoes that will grow – each flower means one tomato, that’s why you should not cut any out.
9. Enjoy them!

Make sure you do each step with your children, explaining the “whys” of each step.

Even if you don’t have children, the nutritious value of tomatoes should be enough reason to cultivate them. Tomato is the best source of lycopene, an antioxidant that helps to prevent several types of cancers, by protecting the cells from oxygen damage. They are also a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber.

If space is an issue, you can try to plant strawberry plants in a container. I think this could be an option for an apartment, but I haven’t tried it. One tip with strawberries: don’t over water the plants, because the strawberries will grow too fast, but will lack flavor.

Here is a video I found that shows in details how to plant strawberries in a container

Source: Whfoods.com

Do all mothers in Denmark do this? NOPE, but plenty do.

Is it socially acceptable to smoke in front of small children (not just in outside areas) in Denmark? Well, THAT I would like to ask Danes. My impression is that it is, since I don’t see people staring at such parents or behaving any different around them.

This behavior does surprise me. In a society that all get a good education and the effects of cigarettes are widely known, how can this still happen so often?

Jelling is a small town north of Vejle, in Jutland, with a population of just 3200. The history goes all the way back to the Viking age, where it was home to some of the first kings of Denmark.

Here is a picture of the church, which is in the center of the city, right in front of the museum and next to the Runesten:

The only museum in Jelling, Kongernes Jelling, where information about the king’s stones are:

Ya, I know it must seem creepy to take pictures of graves, but in Denmark, graves around churches are so well keep and beautiful, that I just can’t resist:

I think these are about the kings? 

A picture of where the king and queen, Gorm and Thyra, were buried. Thyra was buried before her husband, but the date is unknown. Gornm was burried in 958:

Here is me, in front of the Jelling stones. The stones are a tribute to the deceased and were a common tribute paid to kings in the past:

More pictures of the church:

A ladybug that was asking to be photographed  

A beautiful flower bed right in front of the museum and church:

After several messages, we decided that it will be in Århus.

To follow up on this event, check out the post at: planning our annual gathering .

I thought I would share a tip with those of you who enjoy photography (and are not professional photographers),  and can make some money with it. Do you ever wonder where blogs, small publications and magazines (online and off) and small businesses buy their pictures from? They most often than not, buy from a stock photo website. These websites work like an agency: they connect photographers who want to sell their photos with people who want to buy them. There are many levels ($) of stock photography websites and the main difference between them are the quality and exclusivity of the pictures. It makes sense that if you are able to get a perfect shot of Madonna, that you are in the high end of this business.

How does it work? They change slightly, but basically it works like this:

1. Open an account
2. Sign up as a photographer
3. Upload images
4. Wait for the approval of your images
5. Add titles and descriptions for the images
6. Get a commission for each picture that is downloaded

You can sell all sorts of photos: feet, beach, flag, people, animals, children, garden – ANYTHING really.

Here is my list of stock photography agencies:

• Dreamstime – this is the one I use when I purchase pictures for my businesses. The banner on this blog is made by 3 pictures from that website.
• Fotolia
• Shutterstock
• Istockphoto
• Picturesque – pictures for travel and tourism (windmill counts )

Well, you won’t get rich by selling photos to these places, but if you are good and devote a few hours every day to taking and uploading photos, it could become a part-time income with time – because as your portfolio grows, more of your images gets downloaded and each image can be downloaded by several users.

If you are a professional photographer, you can make a lot more money by selling to agencies from A Photo Editor’s list