Wooden Spoon
By Elaine Revelle

This bust of Hans Christian Andersen can be seen at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum at the Book Loft in Solvang.

  This is a significant year.
  During 2005 Danes, adopted Danes and wannabe Danes throughout the world will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth.
  The observance will be marked by events throughout the year, especially in Denmark.
  Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has agreed to be the patron of the many Hans Christian Andersen 2005 events and the HCA2005 committee has appointed honorary ambassadors from countries around the world. Among the “ambassadors” are many high-profile names and all have been encouraged to celebrate and promote Andersen and his works in their own areas.

This sculpture of the Little Mermaid is in front of Denmarket Square, at the corner of Alisal Road and Mission Drive. It is a three-quarter size replica of a statue that sits on a rock in the middle of Copenhagen Harbor in Denmark.

   While childlike, Andersen was never childish. “He understood children better than most adults and he was an imaginative person his whole life,” the website continues, “it was in this sense he had a childlike soul. Most of what he wrote was for adults, even what he wrote for children and his poetry dealt with adult subjects to a very large degree.”
   He loved children and children loved him, but it is said that he did not like having them on his lap.
   Andersen was born in Odense (o-den-sa), Denmark on April 2, 1805. Despite what Hollywood and the Danny Kaye movie portrays, Andersen’s father was the shoemaker, not Andersen himself. Hans Christian, as most Danes call him, was a talented romantic.
   As a young boy, he often sang for local parties and events and dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer.
   Recognizing the fact that her son had unique gifts, his mother took him to a fortuneteller who predicted that someday the city of Copenhagen would be lit in his honor.
   Perhaps it was with that prophecy echoing in her ears, that Andersen’s mother allowed her son to travel to Copenhagen at the young age of 14.
   Andersen was taken in by the Collins family in Copenhagen and educated. In 1822 he published his first book, “Attempts During Youth,” it was not well received and most of the books were destroyed. However, in 1829, a second literary effort “Walking Tour” was a resounding success.
   From then on, Andersen’s life was filled with writing, traveling and romance. He fell in love three times and was three times rejected. The author of over 200 literary works (including his fairy tales, poems, plays, novels and travel writings) Andersen fulfilled the fortune tellers prediction and on September 6, 1869 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Copenhagen, the city did indeed honor him.
   His father died in 1816 and his mother remarried in 1818. Not much is known about his older half-sister. (Karen Marie, born on 22 September 1799). She was left with HCA’s grandmother and upon the mother’s marriage to his father, placed outside the home. She traveled to Copenhagen as a stowaway in November 1822 to visit her half-brother. However, he was in school in Slagelse at that time. She lived as a washerwoman in Copenhagen and later visited again in 1842. She died on 18 November 1846. It is said that they did not “hit it off.”
   During Andersen’s life he traveled extensively and had many honors bestowed on him. Among those were “Knight of the Order of Dannebrog” in 1846; “Honorary Silver Cross,” 1859 and “Commander of the Order of Dannebrog” awarded in April 1875, just five months before his death from liver cancer in September of that year.
   He met statesmen and kings, philosophers and contemporaries in the world of literature. During his lifetime he made 29 trips abroad (never making it to America) and an estimated 87 to various places in Denmark, at the end of his travels, he was buried in his adopted town, Copenhagen.
   Even though Andersen wasn’t at home in the kitchen, there are a couple of Danish dishes which bear his name: a pastry and a sandwich.
   The pastry named for him is a complicated recipe that requires many steps and pre-preparations before completion. (I suggest you go to one of the local bakeries to try the “Hans Andersen Cakes” a wonderful combination of marzipan, stiff apple jam, chocolate icing, short cookie and walnuts…yum.)
   On the other hand, the Danish sandwich namesake is a lot less complicated. So at least once during 2005, step into the spirit, dine the Danish way and try your hand with this one.
   The Danes, as you know, are masters of the open face sandwich or smørrebrød and the following is the one purported to be Andersen’s favorite.

H. C. ANDERSEN SANDWICH

  On a slice of buttered rye bread, place one slice of liver paste*, three strips of crisp bacon, a strip of jellied beef consommé (aspic), three thin slices of tomato and decorate this with shavings of fresh horseradish.
   *The liver paste can be homemade or store bought. Use your favorite recipe if you have one or purchase a well-known and dependable brand.