Turkey Day in Deutschland

My first Thanksgiving in Germany was a mix of the traditional Thanksgiving along with a few new things that might become tradition for me. The traditional part of course being that I ate way too much food and was really regreting my decision to try and look euro with my new skinny jeans tucked into my boots. Elastic waistband for me next year - dress sweats of course. Your last name has to be Hosler to get that one.

It was a little hard to get into the Thanksgiving groove. I wasn't around any family and there was no Macy's Day Parade coverage on German TV. I also spent the day shopping so it felt like just a regular day.

Jim was in Russia for Thanksgiving so luckily my only American friends here in Bonn invited me to their cross-cultural Thanksgiving dinner. The group was 1/2 American and 1/2 German so I was able to practice my German a little bit and share this truly American holiday of overindulgence with them.

We had our meal late because obviously no one had the day off. We had the usual turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, but my new favorite sweet potato dish with a twist was a sweet potato tart / pizza. We tried to convince the Germans that everyone has the traditional sweet potato pizza at their Thanksgiving, but I don't think they bought it. (Erin, if you are reading this, I need that recipe). We also had pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting instead of the traditional pumpkin pie. That was also a great new improvement on a Thanksgiving classic.

All in all it was a great first Thanksgiving in Germany. Next year I'll have to be the one who hosts Thanksgiving as our only American friends are moving back to the US next week. Sweet potato pizza and pumpkin cake are both going to be on the menu.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving wherever they may be!

Germany's Attempt at Fast Casual Dining

Jim and I recently visited Vapiano for the third and probably last time. Vapiano is fast casual dining with a German Twist. The twist being that you spend more time standing in line than at a table eating your dinner.

The first time I went to Vapiano, I thought that it had a lot of potential and would be a successful concept in the States. The food is very fresh and made right in front of you. They have pasta, salads, pizza and apps which all look delicious as you walk through the modern dining room. The tables even have potted herbs on them so if your pasta doesn't have enough basil, you can just pluck some off of a live plant. The food here reminds me a lot of a place called Sauce in the DTC area of Denver.

However, where Vapiano falls short is in the ordering process. Most fast casual restaurants have one counter where you order all of your food and drinks, pick them up at the end of the counter and then sit down to eat. Some even give you a number and then deliver your food to you like - Wahoo's Fish Tacos or Noodles & Company.

At Vapiano though, it is all about the lines. You have to stand in about 5 different lines to get your full meal. There is one line for drinks, then another for pasta and so on. They have 4 different food stations where the chefs will make your food right in front of you. I like to know my food is fresh, but the whole point of going out to eat is getting to sit down and relax. Here, I'm just on the other side of the counter watching someone make my food, and feeling guilty that I was apparently too lazy to boil water for some pasta.

Vapiano is a busy restaurant and after having been there a few times we knew we need to have a strategy. We decided Jim would secure a table while I got the food and drinks. Apparently, that wasn't a good enough strategy. After standing in the pick up line for the pizza instead of the order line, I decided I would cut my losses and forget about the pizza and salad and just order pasta for both of us. There were so many options on the pasta that by the time I reached the front of the line, I panicked and made some bad choices. I felt a little like Ralphie in The Christmas Story. I was ready to climb over the counter to tell the chef what I really wanted was an official Red Ryder Air Rifle or maybe gnocchi with a Gorgonzola sauce and toasted walnuts.

Linguistic Lessons

One of the great things about the German language is deciphering really long words. Germans tend to string a number of words together to form one long word rather than several words as we do in English. This can make the German language very intimidating at first. Just try to pronounce this word - RECHTSSCHUTZVERSICHERUNGSGESELLSCHAFTEN! In English this word means insurance companies which provide legal protection. Or how about this one? Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz – which is translated as a beef labeling regulation & delegation of supervision law.

The other interesting part about the language is how descriptive the words are. Hospital or Krankenhaus is literally translated as sick house. This can be very helpful when trying to figure out words with a limited vocabulary. In my German class yesterday, I learned the German word for gloves is handschuhe or hand shoe. I don’t know why but I found this so funny.

Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree

Well, I've got my Christmas tree up! Since we are coming to the states on Dec. 19th, I wanted to have a tree up for at least a little while. Also without that pesky Thanksgiving holiday in the way, I can start gearing up for Christmas a little earlier.

I also figured that I needed to get into the Christmas spirit to get ready for the Bonn Christmas Market (Weihnachtmarkt) which starts this Sunday. The downtown area is already getting set up with decorated wooden stalls, rides and an ice rick. I can't wait!

I decided to go for the potted, living tree this year instead of going the cut tree route for a number of reasons. I figured that if I can keep this little guy alive for a year, then I can use it again next year. (Not very likely considering that my plant graveyard on the deck seems to be growing.) I also didn't want to have to deal with figuring out what to do with a tree before we leave to come home. I couldn't keep it up - a dried out tree could be a fire hazard and since we have no smoke or fire alarms here I thought it would be risky. It also seems to be the German way to do it. I haven't seen any cut trees yet, just little live ones.

The tree is a bit skinny so I couldn't fit too many ornaments on him but all in all he isn't too bad. Unfortunately my tree topper is too heavy for the tree causing him to tip over and spill dirt everywhere, so he's topless for now.

Milk Mystery Solved

I've always wondered why the milk in Europe doesn't need to be refrigerated. The first time I shopped for milk in London, I must have walked around the store three times before finally discovering the milk was not in the dairy section where I thought it belonged but in an isle near the drinks. Of course the thought that the milk could have been sitting on a shelf for a month didn't seem quite right. I figured there had to be something different about this milk so I decided toast was a better plan for breakfast rather than cereal.

In Europe, shelf stable milk is the norm. Coming from the US it is hard to wrap your brain around the concept that milk doesn't need to be refrigerated. However, I've come to appreciate milk than can be stored in a cupboard rather than my small fridge. Plus the thought of lugging home gallons of milk while on foot isn't very appealing.

I decided to do a little research to find out what the difference is between the American milk and the Deutsche milch. It comes down to the temperature that the milk is heated during the pasteurization process. In UHT (ultra high temperature) pasteurization, the milk is heated to 282 degrees for 2 seconds. In HTST (high temperature / short time) pasteurization done in the US, the milk is heated to 161 degrees for at least 15 seconds. The UHT milk requires special packaging but then has a shelf life of up to 6 months.

Sorry to get Nancy Drew on you, but it was something I've often wondered about.

German Pretzel

I went to my first and probably last German Yoga class this week. I thought it might be a good way to meet some English speaking people as it is an English yoga class.

The class was Vinyasa yoga so the instructor started with some chanting and then it was a free for all. Everyone works at their own pace going through a series of poses. Now, if I am paying for a yoga class, I don't want to have to think about what pose is next or remember how many sun salutations I've done so far, that's just me. Plus, everyone doing their own thing is really quite distracting. I spent most of the class watching what everyone else was doing. Although then the "instructor" told me I wasn't focused enough.

Since the instructor wasn't bogged down by teaching the class, she was free to walk around the room and help put people into the correct position. She put my hands behind my back in a prayer position which I've never been able to do. Of course, then I couldn't really do the forward bending part because I thought my shoulders were going to come out of their sockets. In the next pose, she seemed to think it wasn't a big deal to wrap my arm around my body a few times and grab my sweaty foot. I must be missing that rubber arm gene.

I had two realizations during this class. 1). I think I like the idea of yoga more than I like actual yoga. It sounds peaceful and enlightened and people who do it always seem to have really good posture. 2). That torture device called the stretching machine that they used in the middle ages is a lot like yoga.

I have decided that I should spend my time in Germany eating pretzels rather than trying to be a pretzel.

The Beginning of Carnival

The Germans love Carnival or Karneval as they spell it here. Before moving to Germany I always thought of New Orleans or Brazil when I thought about Carnival. Germany was never a country that came to mind as a crazy party destination.

However, after being here for a few months I have come to learn that Germans wholeheartedly embrace such debauchery and Oktoberfest and Carnival are two prime examples. It seems that Germans are always looking for a reason to start drinking before noon.

The official launch date of Carnival is Nov. 11, but the week that people go crazy is in February. No one seemed to know why Nov. 11th was the start of Carnival so I did a little research.

Nov. 11th is Saint Martin's Day, which during the middle ages started a 40-day fast both preceded and followed by excessive eating and drinking. Additionally, the number 11 has historically been considered a number of sin. So at 11:11 on Nov. 11th, the Germans in Bonn kick off Carnival dressed up in costumes, drinking Kolsch (local beer) and singing traditional German Karneval songs.

On Tuesday, I met a few friends downtown to see what it was all about. I was surprised how many people were dressed up on a Tuesday morning at 10:30 am. A lot of the costumes didn’t make a lot of sense – like a cowboy riding an elephant. Apparently in Germany, you can just put a crazy hat and a boa and you are dressed up. You don’t necessarily need to actually be something; being poorly dressed is apparently enough of a costume.

I think the best part of the morning was seeing three little old ladies standing in a circle passing a bottle of wine around. That maybe and seeing Genghis Kahn.

Ghent, Belgium

On Sunday we decided to go to Ghent on the way home from Bruges. Jim raced bikes for a few summers and lived in Ghent, Belgium. Reliving his glory days, (if living in squalor and racing bikes in the rain can be considered glory days) Jim wanted to do a drive by of the ramshackle apartment he lived in for those two summers. Not surprisingly, Jim found the street where he lived with our GPS system, but didn’t recognize any of the apartments. Shocker!

Since we were already there, we decided to check out the center of town. Jim kept trying to manage my expectations so much so that I was expecting a very industrial, ugly city. I thought Ghent was really pretty charming. The downtown area has canals running through it with huge churches, a castle from the 1100s and a belfry.

We walked through downtown looking for a place for lunch before checking out some of the sights. After getting a few Croque Monsiurs, we visited St. Nicholas’ Church which is one of the oldest landmarks in Ghent.

We next visited the Gravensteen castle which was built in the 1100s. Unlike a lot of other castles we have seen, it is right in the middle of downtown surrounded by shops and restaurants. For the most part, the rooms were empty except for a few that showcased instruments of torture and weaponry. It was recently restored so before the late 80s had been used as a prison, a factory, a courthouse and finally had houses built in the area, using some the old stones. The tour was pretty easy to follow, but didn’t provide all that much information. Every other room seemed to be used for torture. I’m glad I didn’t live in back then.

It was funny to see the signs saying no food allowed or in this case no ice cream. I think in the US the no food or drink allowed signs are of a McDonalds happy meal - soda, fries and a burger.

I enjoyed my day in Ghent and would like to go back in the summer. It seemed to be pretty free from the swarms of tourists that we saw in Bruges.

Bruges

Jim and I went to Bruges on Friday. After seeing the movie “In Bruges” and reading what Rick Steve had to say about the city, I was excited to check out this medieval town which is sometimes called “The Venice of the North”.

I was able to get a room at the Camers B&B, a Rick Steve’s recommendation. Unfortunately our host wasn’t home when we arrived so we started to worry that we might be wandering the very quiet, cold streets trying to find a place to sleep. We called him and luckily our host was drinking at the bar next door so was able to pop over and let us in. He had somehow mixed up the dates and wasn’t expecting us until the next day.

We decided to head out for a beer after dropping our stuff off at the room. We found a great little bar and had two of the house brews on tap, deciding that we should start there before wading through the 50 page beer list. The Belgians really take their beer seriously. The beers were both great so we ordered a second round before calling it quits. The Belgian beer must have higher alcohol content because I was feeling it after just two beers.

The next day we walked to the main market square and climbed the Bell Tower. We were lucky that it was sunny so the view from the top was clear. However, it was really quite windy and cold so we didn’t spend too much time up there. The square was a lot like the Grand Place in Brussels with lots of outdoor café/ restaurants lining the square and the surrounding streets, providing their guests with great views and ambiance albeit not very good food.

After doing the amount of travel we have done in the last five months, I have learned one very important lesson. Don’t plan to see too much and view getting lost as an adventure. So we decided that our main objectives for the day were to go to the Groeninge Museum and the De Halve Brewery and find a good place for dinner.

We decided to get lunch on the way to the Groeninge Museum. We searched for the crowded vegetarian restaurant we had seen the night before, but when we finally found it they had a sign indicating they would be closed for the weekend. We were pretty hungry so went to the next place we saw. We ordered the obligatory – steak frites and mussels with frites for lunch. Frites are a big thing in Belgium. They even have a french fry museum!

Our next stop was the Groeninge Museum which houses the largest collection of Primitive Flemish art from the 1500s. The use of the word Primitive isn’t intended to be pejorative but rather to designate that they were completed before the Renaissance. Torture and religion seemed to be common themes in the paintings.

We next went in search of the De Halve Brewery, but of course it took us a while to get there. The narrow, winding streets can be so confusing. Along the way, we found a little antique market on one of the canals.

We also found the Minnewater which is a canalized lake surrounded by flowers and swans. In Dutch, Minnewater means the lake of love. Apparently a lot of people come to take their wedding pictures here, but we didn’t see any wedding parties at this time of year. We did however see a Japanese tourist taunting a swan with her sucker. I’m not sure what she was hoping to accomplish. She obviously doesn’t know much about swans because she was surprised when it attacked her. That was entertaining.

When we finally found the brewery, we were able to get one of the last tours of the day. Surprisingly, neither one of us had ever been to a brewery before. It was a really interesting but slightly stinky tour. We learned that hops only grow on a certain latitude which is why England, Ireland, Belgium and Portland are such havens for beer producers. Our guide also told us that they used to only serve beer in the hospitals. At that time, the doctors didn’t know anything about sterilization but they knew that water made people sick and beer didn’t.

The brewery was definitely not a good place to work back in the day. They used kids to clean the fermentation tanks because the entry was so small. There wasn’t much oxygen in the tank so they had the kids whistle while they cleaned. When the child began whistling out of key, they knew he or she was in trouble and needed to be taken out.

Like all brewery tours, we finished ours with a beer while we made some calls to make a restaurant reservation for dinner. We were able to get in at Tom’s Diner. It was a restaurant recommended by our host at the B&B as well as Rick Steve.

The dinner we had at Tom’s Diner was easily the best meal we’ve had since we’ve been here. I was a little worried that it was called a Diner in the first place, but Rick described it as more of a bistro. It was also a little worrisome that when we arrived, the door was locked. We were early for our reservation but it was 6:30 so I figured it would be open. We walked around for another 15 minutes before going back and luckily it was open. Our server was great. She steered us to a bottle of wine which was 10 euro cheaper because it was a better wine in her opinion. She was also happy to help us translate the menu. We shared the beef Carpaccio to start. For our mains we chose the specials of the day. I ordered the grilled sole with shrimp and scallops in a mustard seed sauce with mashed potatoes. Jim got the rabbit with a cranberry sauce, fried little potato things and bacon. After such a great meal, we had to indulge in some dessert and got the chocolat au moliere (I’m sure I didn’t spell that correctly).

It will be pretty easy to bribe me to come back. Another dinner at Tom’s Diner is all it will take. 3 ½ hours isn’t too far to drive for dinner is it?

Bruges and Butta, Baby!

I have a new found appreciation for butter since I've been in Germany. I think I've got about 5 different butters in my tiny little fridge. I've got some German butter, truffle butter, French butter, etc. (I'm not sure why the French butter is so much better than the German stuff but trust me it is.)

Now back in Denver, I was on the butter backlash bandwagon. I was an anti-butterite. Butter was bad, and I was having no part of it. So my new love affair with this oh so creamy, salty but sweet at the same time, condiment is a surprise to me.

The German bakeries are part of this love triangle, and I truly believe the guilty party. Because the bread here is so good, it deserves the real thing. I'm really just doing it for the bread.

Today we are off to Bruges, Belgium. Jim is doing a lot of traveling this month for work – Athens, Oslo and Moscow so it will be our only weekend to get outta dodge.

From the research I’ve done so far, it looks like the dining scene will be pretty good. I’ll make sure to come back with some good recommendations and a full report on what we ate. I'm sure whatever it is, it will have lotsa butta.

Bike racing on steroids

So for our first Saturday in Bonn in a long time, what do we do? We drive up to Dortmund, of course. Saturday night, Jim and I went up to Dortmund to watch Colby (Jim’s friend) compete in a 6 day track bike race.

I’ve never been to a track bike race so it was interesting to see what it was all about. The track is on a 45% angle at the corners. From what I was able to gather, this is a team sport with two people on a team. The riders go at full speed – 75k an hour and trade off every couple of laps. Because the track bikes have no breaks and only one gear, the riders grab the hand of their teammate and sling them into the group of racers to get them up to speed when they switch places. Surprisingly, there weren’t any crashes while we were watching. I was getting dizzy just watching them zip around the track.

According to Colby, the significance of 6 days of racing comes from years ago when the race actually was a 6 day nonstop race. Apparently when racers started dying, they scaled back the races to 6 hours or so.
Track bike racing is like a bike race on steroids. I haven’t ever been to a monster truck rally, but I got the feeling that it might be a lot like a track bike race. You have your cheesy motivating 80s music - like the soundtrack to Top Gun along with lots of flashing lights. There was even a band in the middle of the track with lots of VIPs hanging out.

There were a lot of other venues set up in the same arena in conjunction with the bike race. They had different rooms with a laser light show, disco, live music and rooms of food and drink vendors all as part of this 6 day race. My guess is there isn’t a whole lot going on in Dortmund so this becomes a major event.

Colby and his teammate were the only Americans in the race. I don’t think track bike racing is as popular in the US as it is here. Here, the star German rider (Erik Zabel) is treated like a rock star.

One of the events was a Derney race. I’m not sure who came up with this one, but I’m guessing there were some head injuries involved. A Derney bike is a motorized pacing bike. The rider puts his wheel up to a metal bar on the pacing bike so that he eliminates drag and can go even faster. The best part about this race is watching the two guys who won take their victory lap. I don’t think the gray haired, slightly chubby guy who drove the Derney motorbike is much of a cyclist so it was pretty comical watching him take a lap on a regular bicycle.

Christmas Markets

CHRISTKINDLMARKT

On Friday night, I went to my first Christmas market. (Yes, on Halloween I was getting in gear for Christmas.) Halloween is not widely celebrated here in Germany. They have a few costumes in stores, but I only saw a few people dressed up while we were out on Friday.

Since the next big holiday is Christmas, the stores start hawking their Christmas wares in mid October. For anyone who might not know – I am a huge fan of Christmas. You might say, I’m a little Christmas crazy. So the fact that the Christmas season has already started is great for me but not so great for Jim.

The Christmas market we went to was in Bad Honnef, about 20 minutes south of Bonn on the other side of the Rhine. They have their Christmas Market this early so that the other, larger Christmas markets don't overshadow them.

The Christmas Market in Bad Honnef had plenty of food stalls selling sausages, potato pancakes, flammkuchen, bread dumplings in a creamy mushroom sauce, roasted nuts, and waffles. However, I think the market is less about the food and more about the Glühwein which is warm, spiced red wine. I’ve already determined that the Glühwein is only good though if it is (1) cold outside and (2) made from decent wine. If it wasn’t very good wine at the start, heating it definitely doesn’t make it better.

The market had lots of stalls selling ornaments, jewelry, hats & scarves and even specialty cleaners for radiator heaters (very random). There were also a number of fire pits with hay bale seats surrounding them so we could warm up our hands and feet.

The tradition of Christmas Markets started in the late middle ages in Germany and Austria. Almost every town in Germany will have a Christmas Market between now and Christmas. In the smaller towns the Christmas Market might only last a week, but the one in Bonn starts in late Nov. and lasts until the day before Christmas. I’ve heard that the one in Bonn takes over a few different plazas and even has an ice rink. I can’t wait.

I think I will dig out my Christmas decorations today! Sorry, Jim.