One thing I enjoy about living in the United States is all of international festivals celebrating the culture and cuisine of different countries. I never thought of Rockville as a hotbed of Danish-American citizens, but they sure enough have a Danish Christmas festival! It was held at the St. Elisabeth Catholic School.
At the Danish Christmas Festival in Rockville, Rachelle and I and enjoyed a lunch of Smørrebrød, or Danish open-faced sandwiches. They’re always artfully presented and are based on Denmark’s dense dark rye bread (which they rightfully consider far healthier than our puffy American bread). That’s a smoked salmon sandwich on the left and a roast pork sandwich topped with beet crumbles on the right. The item in the cup was supposed to be apfellkage (apple cake) but it was more like apple batter. Don’t know what happened there. We actually heard a fair amount of Danish being spoken!
We loved this woman’s t-shirt. When Rachelle was studying in Copenhagen, RØDGRØD MED FLØDE was the phrase that stumped foreigners’ attempts at Danish pronunciation. It merely means a dessert of red berries in cream, but this tongue-twister has become something of a joke and a challenge for non-Danes. I can’t even come close to the correct pronunciation.
The Danish Club of Washington DC holds its Danish Christmas Bazaar (AKA Danske Julebasar) in mid-November each year at the St. Elisabeth’s Church, located at 917 Montrose Road in Rockville, Maryland. Enjoy Danish food, pastries, and shop for Danish-related merchandise. Make sure to sample some æbleskiver!