Beating the Heat

After all my whining about a rainy, cool summer, the Hundestage finally have arrived!

We've been soaking up as much of the warmth as possible, enjoying local festivals, hiking, watching American football, and walking around town sipping iced coffee drinks.  Lots to catch up on and photos to share in the next week.

Though the heat here is nothing like what our friends in Texas have been facing, these are the 4 or 5 days per year when it's too hot to sleep or eat and I miss having air-conditioning.  But it's made me rediscover a treat from childhood, and one of the best ways to banish the heat.

Ice cold watermelon!!

Lobster Cocktails, Italian Style

Since we had an extra tail left from Herr J's lobster cocktails, we decided to experiment with a little more Italian flavor and have a picnic in the English Garten.  (This is what I've been wanting to do all summer but have always been foiled by the weather.)

We brought some serrano ham, manchego cheese, and the rest of the wine. And of course, the football. Herr J is teaching me to throw a good spiral!

Though our presentation wasn't as nice (plastic cups, foil and tupperware!) as before, its was a great late afternoon picnic.

For the Italian style lobster cocktails, we added to the lobster: olive oil, fresh grated parmesan, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a little bit of garlic. I was skeptical about the parmesan-lobster combo at first, but it was very tasty!

Train Travel

Munich Hauptbahnhof with the Olympus "Diorama" Art Filter - quiet but active in the early morning

Travel tends to bring out the best and the worst in people.  (One reason why travelling together can be a great test of a relationship...)

It's not just air travel - it's also true when travelling by train. While one of the things I enjoy most about train travel is seeing how the countryside changes, I also enjoy seeing the people and how they interact with one another.

Let's be honest, usually the most memorable travel stories are about the "worsts," not the "bests."  Last week, however, I experienced one of the bests.

I had another work day with a round trip to Frankfurt.  Early that morning the train left Munich with the car rather empty.  In our section of 4 seats facing each other (with the table in the middle), I sat at the window and another guy sat across the table on the aisle. And had his stuff in the seat by the window. He then decided to take the seat next to me for sitting, AND the TWO across the table for his belongings....Not the best start for positive glimpses into humanity, but it didn't matter much to me...I was in my reserved seat and had the space I needed.  The issue of the other seats would be someone else's battle to fight.  This is a typical German train situation.

Munich Hauptbahnhof with the Olympus "Dramatic Tone" Art Filter - almost empty when Frau A returns about 21:00

At Würzburg, a lot of people boarded the train, meaning this guy occupying 3 seats had to move some of his things and share the space.

A 30-something German guy sits down at the window seat across from me just before the train departs. At this point, many people are walking through the train trying to find empty seats. He moves the other guy's stuff and tells a 20-something tourist that the seat is "vacant."  In the confusion, it sounded a bit like "taken," but he made sure to let her know that she could sit there. So she and her friend finally find seats on the packed train - one at our table and one across the aisle.

Then the fun begins.  The German guy asks "So where are you from?" The average business traveller is not usually so outgoing or caring about other people and strangers don't strike up a conversation here as much as they do in the southern US where you learn someone's family history in the grocery checkout line. I admit that while I'm always careful not to infringe upon anyone's rights to enjoy the train, I'm usually exhausted and don't go out of my way to talk to people. 

These girls were here from Dallas (!) and were headed to the Frankfurt airport after the last leg of their European vacation.  They had visited Wurzburg, home of Dirk Nowitski, which only made me like them more. 

The German guy noticed that at times the two girls conversed in Spanish, so when she apologized for bumping him, he responded with a no te preocupes to her.  Over the next hour or so, he conversed with her in Spanish and English, and was incredibly helpful in telling them out of which terminal their flights would depart and drawing a map of how to most quickly navigate the airport (they were a bit pressed for time). And at which club in Würzburg they stood the best chance of running into Dirk.

It left me with a happy feeling, because I had witnessed what I'm sure was the creation of a positive memory of foreign travel and of the people who live there. When she first found a seat, she commented to her friend that "this train is totally different than the last one...people aren't so rude!" And after talking to a random German guy (in two languages that were not his native tongue), I suspect that the feeling was intensified.  Instead of the usual difficulties anyone faces in navigating a foreign country, the last part of the trip included a friendly and helpful person and an easy final leg of the journey. It just left me with a happy feeling inside.

 

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bahnhof with Photomatix for HDRThe Munich-Frankfurt connection also delivered another memorable trip, this time with an eastern twist:

A couple of months ago, I was seated in the middle of a wonderful example of clashing cultures: Middle-aged Chinese tourists vs weary German business travellers.  It's slightly before 5am on the Munich-Frankfurt train, and only a few of us are scattered through the train car. No one wants to be up this early, so it is quiet and peaceful. Until the flash flood of Chinese tourists, that is. I choose the description "flash flood," as the train changed in a few seconds from an empty & quiet to overcrowded with much noise and activity.

As a generalization, Germans often are more measured and deliberate in their actions, and on the mornings trains prefer relative quiet, especially in the cars that don't allow talking on the cell phones. A disapproving glare at an offender often is enough to quiet him or her down.  While conflict definitely has a place in German culture, it usually is more quiet conflict...battles fought by laying down umbrellas to keep the neighboring empty seat or a short gesture or word to let someone know when they have overstepped the boundaries.

In China, things are louder and, to the outsider, utterly chaotic.  Lots of pushing, bumping and speaking very loudly, but that's just how the system works.  This tour group was ending their German trip and headed to the Frankfurt airport with loads of suitcases and packed cardboard boxes. As they began to fill the train car - both physically and with noise - I could see the discomfort on the other passengers' faces.  These new passengers were very loud, bumping each other, and taking all of the overhead and luggage rack space in the car.  One of the already seated passengers muttered very softly, Ruhe, bitte, but a barely audible whisper in German is not going register over the din to non-German speakers. Most just sat there looking very uncomfortable, as if they didn't know what to do about the situation.  I sat there trying not to chuckle.  On one hand, yes, a lot of noise is not what you want when you've gotten up at 3am. But on the other it was fascinating to see how different the two cultures were. Both the Germans and the Chinese were following their respective social norms, but WOW do those norms clash! Probably the same would be true on early morning trains in most Western European or US cities, but the differences were so clear here.

Empty track at Munich Hbf - awaiting arrival of Frau A's train from Frankfurt Hbf after 3.5 hours

Today is another Munich-Frankfurt round trip....another 7 hours to pass the time with sudoku and reading and watching people. I'm hoping for some more positive experiences or just some sleep!

Lobster Cocktails

Friday evening Herr J whipped up an ad-hoc version of a classic summer appetizer - Lobster Cocktails.

In the really strange world of coincidence, Thursday night I dreamed about chasing a lobster across a front lawn. One of those pretty blue-spotted French lobsters they have here, but with two big claws that featured in the chase scene! I didn't tell him about this odd dream, but Friday afternoon he called and offered to swing by Nordsee and see what good seafood they had. We don't often eat lobster - and I've only once dreamed of lobsters -  so this was a very bizarre coincidence.

We didn't plan to celebrate anything, but it ended up being a wonderful celebration of Herr J making it through a super stressful week, of me getting a contract extension (yay!), and of FINALLY having an evening where we could eat outside.  

So, we set the table on the balcony, cooked up some Steinbeißer fillets with a light Asian-style marinade, opened a bottle of Macon Village chardonnay, and added some fresh green beans to compliment the main event - the lobster cocktails.

Very tasty and light, and fun to serve.  Here's the first recipe, below. We had an extra lobster tail so we experimented with it on Saturday, too.

(And most importantly to me, it was a delicious mayo-free seafood salad!)

Herr J's Lobster Cocktail Recipe:

• Use 1 medium lobster tail per person.  Broil, bake, steam, or boil until cooked.  Let cool to room temp.
• Cut into small pieces, place into bowl.  Add just enough olive oil to barely coat the pieces.
• Sprinkle generous portion of kosher (large grain) salt.
• Grind szechuan and pink peppercorns together and sprinkle over the mix (regular black peppercorns would work too if don't have szechuan and pink - they just add a different twist and flavor).*
• Add 1/2 tablespoon of your favorite spicy mustard, or mix your own.
  (We used a "grill" mustard which contains paprika, a little white wine vinegar, and a little garlic.)
• Add a splash of lemon juice and turn over with spoon until evenly coated.
• Should NOT be a heavy sauce - the lobster pieces should barely be covered.
• Cook's prerogative:  test and add mustard etc. to taste if it needs adjusting.

* I keep a jar of szechuan and pink peppercorns that have been ground together to add a little zest to simple seasonings. Neither actually are true peppercorns, but they have a nice subtle flavor. More complex flavors and don't overpower a dish the way black pepper can. We use this mix often for a quick seasoning to grill shrimp or something else where you want to add a little flavor but let the taste of the meat come through.

Dirndl Progress

After many, many hours of marking, pinning, and cutting, I'm finally making some progress on the dirndl project.

 

Let's just say that this will be a giant learning experience, as the instructions are full of a long list of things I've never done:

• make something with a lining
• use interfacing
• use a pattern without seam allowances included
• princess seams
• pleats

So, to start off, I decided to be cautious and do something else I've never done before - make a test version!

As usual, the first challenge was figuring out what size to use: (For those of you non-sewers, the pattern comes drawn for several sizes and you cut it out to your size). This part is never fun, as your pattern size usually is a size or two (or three) above the size you wear from a store. Similar to how couture and some designers haven't changed their sizing over the years will have you in a larger size than the other designers who have increased the sizing over the years.

The test version worked out ok, though it did show me this would be much harder than I thought!

And then the not so fun part began....I traced and cut and traced and traced and...  For the 6 pattern pieces, I had to mark and cut each one 6 different times! And I ended up doing an extra 2 sets because I'd cut out the lining backwards.  So, the bright purple cotton lining is now a blue silky patterned fabric. A much better choice, but frustrating to have to do it all over again.

As you see from the top picture, I had to draw 1.5mm seam allowances around everything before cutting it out.

Here we have the outside of the dirndl cut. The skirt parts are cut out too, but I've put those away for now. I think the bodice will be 80% of the work! 

After all that cutting, I decided to cheat a little on the lining. Since all of the markings would be on the interfacing (the black material, which irons onto the lining fabric).  I just ironed them on to the lining and then cut around it. I couldn't bear the the process of measuring and drawing the seam allowances again!!

  

I took advantage of having cut out the lining backward and used those pieces as another test. After my first not-so-good attempt, I researched how to sew curves and princess seams. (excellent hint from ThreadsMagazine: cutting notches in the convex one and ironing out the concave one to make it bigger is a HUGE help).

Not bad for a beginner! (though apparently I need a tailor's ham to properly iron out the curve...yet another thing I knew nothing about)

And everything is laid out to start the sewing (lining, interfacing side up)

The funny part is that the actual sewing part takes very little time. It's all the measuring, marking, pinning, and cutting that takes all the time. Oh, and the reading the pattern a thousand times to try to understand what it is saying. I swear, it's tougher to decipher than most legal documents!

So here's the first measurable progress, the bodice lining.

I definitely like this lining better than the first fabric!

Hopefully I'll get some free time to work on the outside this week.

And Bavarian Whisky Liqueur

Last week we sampled some Slyrs, the Bavarian single malt whisky.  As we were quite pleased with it, we decided to try their whisky liqueur.

The website describes it as a diluted whisky (30% vs the usual 43%) with the addition of honey and vanilla notes.  All things that sound good, but we've had whisky and we've had schnapps...and we really had no idea how this would taste.

Luckily most of the stores here sell single serve bottles of liquor, so we grabbed a small one to try. Better than being stuck with a full bottle of something we don't like...

My first impressions were its light color and an aroma that reminded me of the wonderfully intoxicating smell of vanilla extract.

Off to a good start.

While it does have vanilla notes to the taste, the vanilla is much more strong in the aroma than in the actual taste. It was a really subtle and well-blended drink. Very smooth and sweet, but not too much so. In fact, all of the tastes (sweet honey, whisky, vanilla, and caramel) mixed perfectly so that none dominated.

Of course my initial thought was "Wow, this is great. It's like a girlie whisky!" When I later looked it up on the Slyrs' website, I was amused to discover that whoever does their marketing is very in tune to customers' thoughts.  They mention that when they tested the liqueur in the destillery, it was not only women visitors who enjoyed it. And also that they sell in miniature 50 mL sizes "for the skeptics."

Well, we are skeptics no longer, and bought a normal sized bottle yesterday.

I'm thinking this would be great for eggnog and also a really good gift to bring someone from Germany. While it's not the strong smoky whisky taste that some love, it will definitely please those who love a smooth whisky. It's very subtle and really good.

Pigeons

I wonder about odd things sometimes.

Such as pigeons. and pigeon babies (squabs).

First, these things are everywhere so they must breed. But why don't we ever see baby or even juvenile pigeons?  

Second, do they have nests? I always just see them hanging out on the roof or ground, but I've noticed one or two who nest in the vines at Sendlinger Tor.  It seemed like unusual pigeon behavior, though it's perfectly normal for almost all other birds.

Thanks to the Discovery Channel, I've now learned that pigeons do nest, but usually they're hidden completely out of sight and that the babies don't leave the nest until they're almost grown (and are not noticeably different than adult pigeons).

Incidentally, pigeon was one of the first words I learned in German. Working in real estate, I quickly learned some of the common words used in construction and repairs. Taubenabwehr or Taubenabwehrsystem are ones that pops up quite often in the urban buildings. Literally translated as pigeon defense (system), this is the description for the nets and spikes you'll see on buildings with ledges and other attractive perches. What's interesting is that they chose a word for defense that implies an all out battle. Abwehr is a military type defense. Though I think most who have fought battles wtih pigeons would agree on the linguistic choice.