Volunteering

Do you love to cook? 

Do you enjoy sharing your culture with others? 

Why not combine the two?

We are looking for volunteer cooks for our many Cook & Talk events year-round and we would love to have you join us.

Here are the guidelines:

Deadlines & Formalities -

·                     For each event we will start looking for volunteers at least 2 months in advance, and we need to have all 3 no later than 1 month in advance so we can put the countries on our flyers.

·                     All volunteer chefs must have attended at least 1 previous Cook & Talk, in order to be familiar with what to expect.

·                     Final recipes must be sent to info@holstebrointernational.com at least 2 weeks before the event.

·                     Each recipe submitted must include all ingredients and amounts (in metric), any cooking methods, and the number of servings or portions.

·                     Volunteer chefs are asked to arrive no later than 16:30 to set-up your cooking stations and familiarize yourselves with the converted recipes.

·                     Volunteer chefs are asked to be familiar with their recipes; do not submit dishes you have never cooked/eaten before, as this leads to confusion and results in poor execution and time management.

·                     The board will meet with each volunteer chef about a week prior to the event to do a test-run of the recipes.

Dishes -

·                     Each station will prepare one main course (this includes sides as needed) and one dessert. You are free to choose any recipes from your country, within budget limits and time constraints.

·                     The allotted budget is sufficient for most dishes, but we ask that you try to minimize or refrain from using expensive ingredients.

·                     In order to adhere to the budget, Holstebro International will purchase the ingredients needed and deliver them to the school kitchen.

·                     If your dishes have any ingredients that are difficult to find in Holstebro, we ask that you revise your recipe or provide the ingredients needed.

·                     If your recipes require any special kitchen tools/appliances, please provide them. If you are unsure of what is available, please ask and we will be happy to let you know.

·                     Keep in mind that we have children and vegetarians eating with us, please be prepared to make a few special portions for them. We will also inform you of any food allergies you need to be aware of.

Cooking -

·                     As a volunteer chef, you will be in charge of instructing your team on how to prepare your dishes. Please prepare brief cooking instructions for each of your dishes; we will print several copies for you and your team.

·                     Cooking starts at 17:30 and dinner will be served at 19:30, please make sure that all of your dishes can be prepared in that amount of time. You should expect to have 4 to 8 helpers at any given time.

All volunteers will receive free admission to the event they are volunteering for. 

(Limit 1 free admission per cooking station, per event.)

To sign up, email us at info@holstebrointernational.dk 

or contact one of our board members.

Cook & Talk May 2013

Holstebro International held it's 2nd Cook & Talk on Saturday, May 25th 2013 at Sønderlandsskolen. The event started at 5:15PM and lasted until around 10:00PM.

We had an amazing turnout for this event with 49 adults and children attending, including our youngest atendee, Paul.

This time around, we cooked dishes from Greece, Brazil, and Mexico and not a single person went home hungry. 

Team Greece led by Edward, worked diligently to prepare a Greek meatball soup with lemon sauce, Spanakopitas, and Greek Christmas cookies. Although the team struggled to finish all the dishes, they were well worth the wait! Edward's cookies were a HUGE success. When the evening was over, it seemed that everyone scrambled to get the last of the cookies to take home.

The Brazilian team headed up by Geisa prepared a somewhat simple main dish called Camarão na Moranga or Shrimp in the Pumpkin, a light and filling Brazilian soup. For dessert they made Cocada, a sweet coconut confection.

Rossany was in charge of Team Mexico. They whipped up several pans of Chicken Enchiladas, a few salads, and finished it off with Frutas al Horno, or baked fruit with chopped almonds, fresh lime juice, and cinnamon.

After all the dishes had been prepared, we moved upstairs to the dining area where each team leader presented their dishes before serving.

After the dishes had been presented, it was time for everyone to eat, talk, and eat some more. Following dinner, we had special guest, Ole Sonnichsen from VUC Holstebro to give us all an introduction into Danish politics and democracy here in Denmark. He spoke specifically about the history and structure of the Danish government, both locally and nationally. He also encouraged those of us who could, to vote at the local elections coming up in November.

Following Ole's presentation, we ate dessert, and worked together to clean up before heading home for the night. Thanks to everyone who helped out, our 2nd Cook & Talk was a big success. The food was amazing, and we are eagerly awaiting the next one on Saturday September 7th. 

Lea, who has mentioned volunteering to lead a Slovenian team, surprised us with her own strudel-like dessert. It too was a big hit, and we hope she will be making it for us in September!

Cook & Talk May 2013: Team Mexico

Enchiladas de Pollo

(Chicken Enchiladas)

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Ingredients for 4 persons

4 chicken breasts

3 onions

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can tomato puree

4 garlic cloves

Oil 

Salt

Pepper

2 chicken bouillon

½ bottle of lemon juice

1 bag mozzarella, shredded

1 package wholegrain tortillas

Cilantro for garnish

Creme fraiche to top

Boil the chicken in water, adding the bouillon for approx. 35 min. 

Add Salt and pepper as needed. When the chicken is well boiled, cut it in small parts.

Fry the onions together with garlic until is brown. Add the cans of tomato, concentrated tomato and 1 piece of bouillon, and salt and pepper. 

Cut the tortilla in half and fill it with the chicken and tomato sauce. 

Cover the top with rings of onion, salt, pepper and mozzarella. 

Place in a preheated oven at 180C for approx. 15 minutes or until the cheese is brown. 

Remove from the oven. 

Garnish with crème fraiche and coriander.

Vegetarian Option:

Replace chicken with mashed beans.

Frutas al horno

(Baked Fruit)

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Ingredients for 4 portions

Various fruits (bananas, apples, pears, oranges, etc…)

100g sugar

100g almonds

2 limes

Salt as needed

Ground cinnamon and butter as needed

Cut the fruit in small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients.

Place in a preheated oven at 180C for approx. 20 min.

Cook & Talk May 2013: Team Greece

Giouvarlakia with Avgolemono Sauce

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(Greek Meatball Soup with Lemon Sauce)

Ingredients for 20- 25 meatballs

500 grams ground beef, min 10% fat

1 onion

1 handful parsley

3 eggs

½ cup long grain rice (separated into 1/4)

Salt and pepper

¼ cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

1 tsp. cornstarch

Mix meat, onion, parsley, 1 egg, 1/4 cup rice, salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands. Roll into walnut-sized balls (about 20-24 pieces) and rest in fridge for at least half an hour. In large soup pot, add oil and heat to medium high. Gently add meatballs and cook lightly on all sides until holding together well. Add hot water and bouillon or stock enough to just cover the meatballs, and add the remaining 1/4 cup of rice to the soup as well. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or cooked though based on size of meatballs. Turn off heat and prepare the Avgolemono sauce, or if you prefer the soup alone mix 1 tsp. cornstarch to 1-2 ladles of soup and add back to soup to thicken broth.

Avgolemono sauce

In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining 2 eggs and add the lemon juice and cornstarch slowly until fully incorporated. The mixture should be light and somewhat foamy. Slowly, while continuously whisking, stream in 2 ladles of stock from the soup. You want to make sure the soup isn't too hot that it breaks or cooks the eggs, so add stock slowly and whisk vigorously. Once you have tempered the sauce, add slowly to the soup and stir well to incorporate.

Spanakopita

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Ingredients for 10 portions

115g plus 15g unsalted butter

454g baby spinach

227g Greek feta, crumbled (not Danish feta)

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

10 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, thawed if frozen

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and cook spinach over a medium heat, stirring, until wilted and tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool, about 10 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much liquid as possible, then coarsely chop. Transfer to a bowl and stir in feta, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt remaining 1 stick butter in a small saucepan, then cool.

Cover phyllo stack with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened kitchen towel, best to keep the phyllo in the fridge until you need it

Take 1 phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 (roughly 12- by 2 3/4-inch) strips.

Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near 1 corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.

Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.

Kourambiedes
(Greek Christmas Cookies)

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Ingredients for about 60 cookies

600g butter

400g blanched almonds, chopped coarsely and roasted

½ teaspoon baking powder

200g icing sugar, plus extra for rolling cookies

50g brandy

1200g plain flour

Firstly, chop the almonds coarsely, you can do this in a processor but make sure they are not reduced to crumbs, we want them to be small pieces that you will taste and crunch in the almond cookie recipe.

Next dry roast the almonds in a frying pan. Taking great care to stir them until they just start to take colour, then remove them from the heat and place on a plate until needed. Be very careful as they can burn extremely quickly and then are of no use as they will give the sugar cookie a burnt flavour.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy. The more you beat it the lighter the Kourabiethes will become. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture.

Add the brandy and almonds and again stir it through the mixture carefully until it is all combined.
Take a small handful of the dough in your hand and roll it into a ball.

Next, taking one sugar cookie at a time, roll it all around in the sugar until it is completely covered.
Repeat with each cookie.

Fold the flour gently into the mixture using a metal spoon, until only just combined.

At this stage you may need to knead it a little with your hands to make a dough that sticks together.

Place it on a greased baking tray and then flatten the ball slightly.

Place baking tray in a preheated oven of 180C for 15 - 30 minutes, you need to check them to see when they are just taking a colour, then they are ready, be careful not to overcook them as they will become hard.

Remove from the tray and let the Kourabiethes cool down completely.

Take a plate and pour a good thick quantity of icing sugar over the plate. Roll each cookie, individually in the icing sugar, until you get a nice thick coating. Place cookie on a tray for serving and repeat, until all cookies are coated.

Cook & Talk May 2013: Team Brazil

Camarão na Moranga

(Shrimp in the pumpkin)

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Ingredients (for 6 portions):

1 kg medium shrimp (cooked)

4 tsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 onion

5 red tomatoes (chopped and without the seeds)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can of crème fraiche

300 g of cream cheese or quark

1 big pumpkin

Spring onion and parsley to taste

Tin foil

Preparation: Open the pumpkin, making a lid, and remove the seeds. Wash it and roll it in tin foil. Put it in the oven for 45 min. Reserve.

In a pan heat the oil, fry the onion and garlic and join the shrimps, let it fry for 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper. Turn the heat off. Add the crème fraiche and the herbs, and mix it well.  At last add the cream cheese or quark, or if you want you can spread the cream cheese or quark directly inside the pumpkin, and then put the shrimp mixture inside of it.

Serve with plain rice or potatoes.

If you are looking for a vegetarian option, omit the shrimp and substitute oyster or portobello mushrooms.

Cocada

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(Coconut bars/balls)

Ingredients (for 15-20 portions):

200 g coconut flour

200 g sugar

200 ml water

Preparation: Mix water and sugar in a pan and heat it. When it starts to become like a caramel, turn the heat off. Mix the coconut flour and pour it into a tray. Wait for it to cool off and cut it into squares, then serve it.

NO MORE FREEBIES FOR CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR

by Chanda Kristensen

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Do the letters PLO ring a bell? 

I heard you say, “Yes! Palestine Liberation Organisation.” 

Well, in Denmark, PLO is an acronym for Praktiserende Lægers Organisation - General Practitioners’ Organisation –, which according to their homepage is in charge of Danish General Practitioners’ “academic and economic interests”.

The PLO (of Denmark) is not happy with the government's suggested bill, which they believe will jeopardise and limit the rights and opportunities for GPs to best organise their work. The organisation will soon be collecting license numbers from all willing GPs and deliver them to the government once and for all. 

According to the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, more than 90 percent of the GPs in the whole country have stated they are ready to deliver their licence numbers and interrupt the agreement they have with the state. This implies that if the suggested bill is approved in parliament, Danes will have to pay for GP consultations as from September 1.

GPs throughout the country have had meetings to discuss the issue and many of them are willing to operate independently without the influence of the government. The latest meeting took place in Aalborg, on Tuesday, May 21, where 96 percent of the 277 GPs that were present indicated they would break their contracts with the government.

The rest of Denmark follows the same pattern as follows:
• Mid-Jutland: 639 GPs were present and 95 percent voted for break up with the government.
• Southern Denmark: 577 were present and, 96 percent voted for break up
• Zealand: 386 were present and 96 percent voted for break up
• Copenhagen: 790 were present and 91 percent voted for breakup 

As you can see, the Danish PLO and the Palestinian PLO have totally different interests. The only thing they have in common is the acronym: PLO. 

And remember: don't visit your GP with an empty wallet on September 1 - you never know what happens!
To recall way back the Girl Guide motto from my secondary school days, all I have to says is: Be Prepared!

Please note, while you would initially have to pay for going to the doctor, that money would be reimbursed from the regional authorities.

Donations Wanted

Denmark: 6th Best Country to be a Mother

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According to the 14th Annual Mothers' Index issued by the NGO Save the Children (Red Barnet), Denmark ranks 6th best country to be a mother. Finland topped the list of countries, followed by Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Netherlands. Niger, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and DR Congo, on the other hand, are the worst out of 176 countries. 

The countries were ranked according to five indicators: 

• maternal health

• children's well-being

• educational 

• economic 

• political status 

Based on the report, it is apparent that the Nordic countries are succeeding in providing the best conditions for mothers and their children. Meanwhile, the poorest and most conflict-infested nations at the bottom of the list show figures that are grim and heartbreaking. 

Among the reasons why Denmark has been consistently on top of the list are the country's policies on gender equality, safe environment, the accessibility of essential obstetric care, effective contraceptive practices and an excellent maternity leave scheme - 52 weeks of maternity leave with benefits and up to 14 weeks after the baby is born; fathers are also entitled to a 2 week leave within the first 14 weeks that the baby is born. Denmark has it good; perhaps that is why the Danes were deemed the happiest people in the world. 

As a woman looking into becoming a mother in the future, it is comforting to know that living in Denmark means I am guaranteed outstanding maternal benefits and the best possible care for me and my children. However, as a person coming from a country belonging to the lower half of the list, it's disturbing to think that while superior maternal conditions are accessible to some, there are still a lot of countries where even the most  basic needs of children and mothers are not being met. This stark constant can be significantly reduced if life-saving measures such as: female education, family planning and skilled birth attendants can be made available to the countries where help is needed the most.



Read the report and learn how you can take action.
To learn more about maternal leave and benefits in Denmark, click here.

Friday Under 50

Unless you're British, Japanese or Scandinavian, you'll most likely find Denmark as a very expensive country.  In a comparison of price levels of various countries conducted by Eurostat, Denmark's consumer goods are among the most expensive in Europe, just below Norway and Switzerland. High prices stretch far across Denmark, from the big city of Copenhagen to the rural areas of the country. And of course, our little town is no exception. 

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A pint of beer in one of our local bars costs around 50 kroner. The same pint sells for about half the price in Germany, less than a quarter in Brazil and an eighth in the Philippines. No matter how tempting, I strongly advise newcomers to refrain from converting currencies in your heads.  Besides avoiding priced-induced  vertigo, getting accustomed to the living expenses is a real step in settling comfortably in your new home country.

  

 
While high prices are the norm in Denmark, Holstebro offers something for every budget. Just when you think it's impossible to have fun in town when you're short on cash, here are some superb suggestions on how to enjoy the city on a 50 kroner budget.

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1. Gather five girlfriends and enjoy personalized make-up session, beauty tips and a goody bag to boot!
Where: The Body Shop, Norreport Center - 50kr per person

2.  Challenge your friends to a few games of pool
Where: Pool Cafeen Cue - 50kr per hour

3. Go for a swim in the lap pool
Where: Holstebro Badeland - svømmehal - 43kr

4. Grab a cup of coffee and a slice of pie
Where: Center Bageren, Norreport - 35kr

5. Munch happily on a box of Chinese take away
Where: China House, Den Røde Plads 15 - 40kr

6. Take a trip to one of the many local thrift shops, and snag fab finds
Where: Kirkens Genbrug, Sønderlandsgade 15

7. Find a great book to read 
Where: Basement of Holstebro Aktivitetcentret, books from 5kr - 25 kr

8. Buy a decent bottle of wine and pick a picnic spot at Holstebro Lystanlæg
Where: Rema 1000, wines from 29 kr


We even mapped all the locations for you! So, the next time you're sulking around the house waiting until your paycheck comes, remember these 8 ideas and you're sure to have a great time on a tight budget!