Eurovision Song Contest

This week is an important week in Europe, and a good example of another pan-European love that is a mystery to most Americans. Yep, it's the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest.  This is something that, unless we've had the fortune to have British friends, most of us never hear of in the US.  However, it's the most viewed non-sports broadcast on earth - EBU estimates 125 million viewers per year, with more watching worldwide online.

This week in Düsseldorf, musical acts from 43 European countries will compete for the coveted title, decided by a combination of experts and the voting public.  The whole week is a festival of parties, rehearsals, and performances, with all of the national delegations, journalists, and fans coming into town for the festivities.

On each broadcast, the contests will perform live (recommended 3-3:30 minutes). An interval act will perform after the contestants, while the votes are being tallied. The winners (or 10 advancing to the Finals) will be announced, but the actual scores and rankings will not be released until after the Finals are complete.

Eurovision is fun...it's usually mainline pop (think modern schlager music), with glitzy costumes, choreography, and wind and smoke machines. Celine Dion launched her international career with a 1988 win, and ABBA has been Eurovision's biggest success story. (Yes, think ABBA when you think of what's popular in Eurovision!).

And yet sometimes there are surprises...Germany's schlager hit Dschinghis Khan won the 1979 contest and we LOVE the 2006 winner, Finnish heavy metal band Lordi. It's hard to describe, but it's a little bit like KISS meets the aliens that you'd find in a bar on Star Trek DS9

For the most part, the entries are more along the lines of well-produced, formulaic pop that will appeal widely and are fun....a lot like this

The rules are somewhat complex and often changing, but the current key rules are:

Entrants:

• Each member of the European Broadcasting Union may submit 1 song to represent its country (the number of competitors varies per year)
• Member countries can select the entry by any method - Sweden hosts the Meolodiefestivalen extravaganza competition; others have reality shows to select the candidate; and yet others just recieve an invitation from the national broadcasting company
• The song cannot have been previously commercially released
• Performances are broadcast live with no recorded vocals permitted
• Unless it cannot, the winning country always hosts the next year's competition

Rounds:

• The "Big Five" Germany, France, UK, Spain, and (recent addition) Italy plus the host country automatically qualify for the final.
• The other entrants compete in one of two semi-final rounds, with the top 10 from each Semi-final going on to the Final
• It's determined by draw who will be in which Semi-final

Voting: (this one is complex)

• Each country casts a single "vote" which ranks the other acts in the round.
• This "vote" awards 12 points to the favorite act, 11 to the second favorite, and so on down to 1 point
• The points awarded to the countries are tallied to come up with the winners
• Each country's vote is determined 50% by the public and 50% by a professional jury in that country. Public voting is by phone and SMS - each person can vote a max of 20 times, but not for his/her own country
• In the Semi-Finals, only the participants from that round can vote, plus the designated 2 or 3 from the Big Five (this year Spain & UK vote in 1st Semi, the others in the 2nd)
• In the Finals, all 43 nations can vote, with the same voting system

Voting often is controversial (even more so than in the Olympics), with accusations that countries often vote in blocs to ensure their positions relative to others. But the system of awarding a fixed number of points does now ensure that the large countries don't have an unfair advantage due to larger populations voting.

Being something so loved in the UK, there of course are bookmakers and odds on Eurovision results....

So who do I predict to win the first rounds? 

It could all change with the live performance, but based on their video submissions, my predictions for who will go on to the Finals are:

1st  Semi-final: Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Malta, Georgia and Norway.
2nd Semi-final: Denmark, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Ireland, Israel, Estonia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Moldova

Finals: We'll see who makes it to the final, but the UK will be a tough one to beat. Italy and France seem too slow and classical to win; Spain is fun and makes you want to dance but isn't outstanding; and sorry, but Germany's entry is too much a pale shadow of last year's Eurovision winner (the beats are strangely similar, but Taken by a Stranger doesn't quite work as well as last year's hit Satellite):
 

 And this year's German entry (also by Lena):

This years entrants....a mix of pop, rock, classical, folk, and seventies....Click on the country name to see their official video for this year's entry:

First Semi-final (10 May 2011)

Country	Artist	Song
Albania	Aurela Grace	Feel The Passion
Armenia	Emmy	Boom Boom
Finland	Pardise Oskar	Da Da Dam
Georgia	Eldrine	One More Day
Norway	Stella Mwangi	Haba Haba
Poland	Magdalena Tul	Jestem
Russia	Alexj Vorobjov	Get You
Serbia	Nina	Čaroban
Switzerland	Anna Rossinelli	In Love For A While
Turkey	Yüksek Sadakat	Live It Up
Azerbaijan	Ell and Nikki	Running Scared
Croatia	Daria	Celebrate
Greece	Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike	Watch My Dance
Hungary	Kati Wolf	What About My Dreams
Iceland	Sjonni’s Friends	Coming Home
Lithuania	Evelina Sašenko	C'est Ma Vie
Malta	Glen Vella	One Life
Portugal	Homens da Luta	Luta É Alegria
San Marino	Senit	Stand By

Second Semi-final (12 May 2011)

Country	Artist	Song
Austria	Nadine Beiler	The Secret Is Love
Belgium	Witloof Bay	With Love Baby
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Dino Merlin	Love In Rewind
Cyprus	Christos Mylordos	San Aggelo S'agapisa
Moldova	Zdob și Zdub	So Lucky
The Netherlands	3JS	Never Alone
Slovakia	TWiiNS	I'm Still Alive
Sweden	Eric Saade	Popular
Ukraine	Mika Newton	Angel
Belarus	Anastasiya Vinnikova	I Love Belarus
Bulgaria	Poli Genova	Na Inat
Denmark	A Friend In London	New Tomorrow
Estonia	Getter Jaani	Rockefeller Street
Ireland	Jedward	Lipstick
Israel	Dana International	Ding Dong
Latvia	Musiqq	Angel In Disguise
F.Y.R. Macedonia	Vlatko Ilievski	Rusinka
Romania	Hotel FM	Change
Slovenia	Maja Keuc	No One

Final (14 May 2011)

Country	Artist	Song
France	Amaury Vassili	Sognu
Germany	Lena Meyer	Taken By A Stranger
Italy	Raphael Gualazzi	Madness of Love
Spain	Lucía Pérez	Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao
United Kingdom	Blue	I Can
Top 10 scorers from 1st Semi-final
Top 10 scorers from 2nd Semi-final

After seeing videos from some of this week's rehearsals, I have high hopes for lots of glitter, dancing, and wind machines! We'll post some of the best videos from the semi-finals and give you our picks for the finals this weekend.

I'm curious to see how it's presented. There are a lot of interesting stories behind the songs and performers, and if this were an American show, I'd expect the focus to be on the story behind the scenes...Norway's entry by a Kenyan immigrant inspired by her grandmother's words (put into a song that makes you want dance).....How Iceland's entry is being sung by "Sjonni's Friends," after Sjonni himself died suddenly this year....Israel's beautiful transgender diva (and 1998 Eurovision Winner)...or Finland's cute, simple entry by a guy who just wanted to get some feedback on his music, not win a competition.....  I'm imagining it will mostly be about the performances, but the stories behind them often are equally interesting.

Update on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 11:58 by Frau A

So, we've made it through the Semi-Finals. I had a very surreal feeling as I watched German presenters on German TV speaking in English. It was a nice change of pace, but very very strange.

I was again impressed by their ability to switch between English, German, and French (well, the two ladies could. Stefan Raab switched effortlessly between English and German, leaving the French to the ladies).

As for our predictions (finalists are in bold), we were 5/10 in the 1st Semi and 7/10 in the 2nd:

1st  Semi-final: Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Malta, Georgia and Norway.
2nd Semi-final: Denmark, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Ireland, Israel, Estonia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Moldova

Moving on to the finals are (click on the link to go to their Eurovision page):

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Georgia

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Lithuania

Moldova

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Nothing too crazy or shocking so far. There's a lot more rock and use of hip hop interludes than I expected.

These shows generally also are a giant tourism ad for the host country. I really like how Germany did its ads. Before each performance there's a short video of some site in Germany following someone who is from the country about to perform. They talk a little about the person and then conclude with the Eurovision 2011 motto "Feel Your Heart Beat" written or said in the native language. Additionally, the videos are mostly shot in the tilt-shift type of mode that makes it look like a cute little diorama in motion. Also a very subtle but good way to promote diversity in Germany. The Slovakian surfer at Munich's Eisbach was a nice touch!

Happy Mothers' Day!

Wishing a very happy Mothers' Day to both our moms, and all the others out there.

This good duck mother in the English Garten teaches us the true meaning of "take you under my wing." 

Children's Chocolate?

We love the Kinder products The Happy Hippos probably are my favorite on the basis of taste - let's just call it an adorable hippo-shaped Ferrero Rocher (same company, same hazelnut chocolatey goodness). But on the basis of overall fun, you just can't beat the Kinder Überraschungs-Ei ("Surprise Eggs").  

For those of you not familiar with Kinder Suprise Eggs, they're pretty wonderful for all ages. Kinder chocolate is full of milk and vitamins, so it's supposed to be better for children than regular chocolate. The eggs actually are a layer of chocolate and an inside layer of a milky something. In my opinion, it's also good for kids because they come in small packages and actually don't contain that much chocolate and sugar, compared to most candy bars.  

But what's special about the Kinder Eggs is their plastic "yolk," a capsule containing a toy. I find their design team is quite brilliant in how they pack it into such a small space. And really there isn't much chocolate to it - it's the toy that's fun. You can see from my Advent Calendar what amazing things they can stuff inside the space of an egg.

For Easter and Christmas, they have giant Kinder Eggs, and often will have other promotions with themes of the toys. Then, of course, you have to buy a lot of eggs to collect all the toys in a series!! There have been Looney Tunes collections, and others.  

Last year Kinder had an rather odd marketing campaign for its new series of Kinder Eggs. Outside of Germany, they called it "Dog Stories;" in Germany "Großstadt Hunde" ("Big City Dogs"). We first saw this on a billboard at a train station.

When you see this picture, with the caption "Stop! There's nothing to see here!," what's your first thought? Yeah....that there's German Shepherd pimp and his underage chihuahua prostitute friend.

It turns out it's a bit more innocent than it seems at first glance to someone who's seen a lot of American TV, but still a bit odd and open to interpretation for a product aimed at kids.

Thanks to the Egg-Wiki (yes, Kinder Eggs are so beloved they have their own Wiki!!!), we know that Rex Bell is the coolest dog in town, with all the ladies at his feet and Chi-Chi is the sweet "Shopping Princess" who wants Rex to notice her. Of course, Don Dogge the policeman wants to protect sweet innocent Chi-Chi, and I suspect there're more to that story... With all these interwoven stories and potential for cross-over into TV media, it's really a shame there aren't Kinder Eggs in the US. They'd definitely have a cartoon series of their own!

The were even in stores in a ski resort in Finland...with a snapshot of all the Big City Dogs.

  

Birthday Tacos

While yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, we had our Mexican food a week early to celebrate Herr J's birthday.  (OK, I'll be honest, we eat Mexican food fairly often around here...brisket tacos, slow roasted pork, enchiladas verde...the Texan in me can't resist!)

Yes, I know Birthday Tacos and Warsteiner may seem a little strange, but there's a nice story behind this one.  

Herr J learned German in junior high & high school (lucky guy!!), then got the opportunity to study abroad during university.  So he spent a semester taking engineering classes at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule in Aachen.  What a name!  Translated, it is the "Technical University of Rheinland-Westphalia"

While he was in Aachen, two big milestones ocurred:

(1) He had his first German beer (Warsteiner), and
(2) He turned 21.

From that experience, he has a special place in his heart for Warsteiner as his introduction to German beers. And also for his host family, who wanted to give him a nice birthday celebration. The 21st is a relatively insignificant birthday to a German, as it's not a "round" birthday and the kids have been drinking for years already, but they knew it was a significant one to an American and wanted to make it special.

Herr J's host mom offered to cook whatever he wanted for dinner, and told him to invite his classmates (about 10 others in the program).  Having had been there for 2 months at that point, he was craving something he hadn't had for a while...

Herr J:  "I would like tacos for dinner."

Host Mom:  "I don't know how to make those!" (with a very worried expression)

Herr J:  "Just brown some ground beef and spices, heat up corn tortillas, and fill them with the meat, cheese, tomatos, and lettuce."

Host Mom:  "I can get the ingredients, except I have never ever seen crispy corn shells.  And when I get the ingredients, I would not know how to make the tacos!"

So Herr J offered to find the corn tortillas and make tacos for everyone - something completely new to the family. So, after searching every specialty and import shop in Aachen, he found some taco seasoning and shells, helped them all cook up the ground beef and chop up the toppings. And they LOVED it!! The boys finished off every last bit and were instant converts to American-style tacos.  Host Mom was a little unhappy that the guest was cooking, but baked TWO cakes so that everyone could have a huge piece.

So, I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate another birthday in Germany, and also an excuse to make the Old El Paso type tacos that we never eat anymore. I'd forgotten how great the crunchy tacos are!! It won't stop me from going to Milagros for some Cochinita Pibil tacos, but these are definitely going back into the rotation!

Though I don't know if I'm allowed to give the number of years (this was another BIG, ROUND birthday), there was something orange for each year, including this cute mini-cake in the photo below.  Due to some time pressures (you know, waiting till the last minute combined with having a job...) and not finding the right decorating tips, it didn't quite look as I'd envisioned, but it truly tasted wonderful.  White cake plus the great Magnolia Bakery buttercream frosting recipe that's all over the internet.

Last year I surprised him with his favorite childhood birthday cake, the Icebox Cake. I'd never heard of it (must be a Northern cake??) but now have been enlightened.  Even my parents now are making them, so Herr J has helped spread the Icebox Cake love.

One small problem, the store only had letter candles, and since it was a mini-cake, I couldn't fit them all. So, I had to do a little quick abbreviating and skip the "APPY" and "IRTHDAY" candles.  Luckily, "HB" around here also means Hofbräu, it's acceptable :)

On a related note...the cake mold was so cute I just had to try it. They also make a high-heeled shoe I'm dying to try, but somehow it didn't quite seem appropriate for Herr J's birthday.  Perhaps another time....

Touchscreen Guides at Munich Airport

The Munich Airport is undergoing some small upgrades, and taking use of impressive technology.

Now they have touchscreen kiosks throughout the airport. You can touch a flight to find out the status, or you can use it to search for food, drink, and services throughout the airport. Even better, there's an interactive map that will walk you there.

We find our flight info, search for the Paulaner biergarten, and then get directions to the rental car pickup.

Nutella-filled Waffles

I was curious to see if we could make waffles stuffed with Nutella, so we tried it for an Easter brunch. Special occasion, special breakfast, right?

All you need is Nutella, waffle mix (any kind will do), and a waffle maker.

Step 1: Mix up your waffle batter. We used the "just add water and shake" kind available in German supermarkets, but you can make your own or use other mixes.

Step 1a: Warm the Nutella slightly so that it flows a bit better. Not too much, or the chocolate breaks down. But there's a reason the crepe makers keep Nutella in a warm water bath.

Step 2:  Spray the waffle plates with PAM or oil.

Trust me, this one is important! Because you're pouring the waffle in two layers, it will be much more likely to separate when you open the waffle maker if you haven't greased the plates.

Step 3: Pour on a layer of waffle batter, slightly less than you'd use for a regular waffle.

Step 4: Quickly drizzle Nutella (or drop bits, as we did here) over the bottom layer of batter. Be fast so that it doesn't cook yet.

Step 5: Pour more batter over to cover the Nutella bits

Step 6: Remove per your waffle maker's instructions.

Enjoy your hot waffles filled with Nutella!

There aren't many pictures of the results....we were too excited to eat them and forgot about the taking pictures part of it.  They were so good! With this sweeter waffle mix, they were like crepes in a different form.  

We tried a few different ways - the small drops of Nutella, the big clump, and drizzling it in a spiral (not shown here). I'd recommend either the drizzle (you'll have small threads of Nutella througout each bite) or the smaller drops (you'll have yummy pockets of hot Nutella in most bites).  The one big clump concentrated the Nutella too much and also didn't cook as well. You want to have both waffle and Nutella in each bite!

Enjoy!

Easter Bunnies

In Germany, the secular side of Easter revolves around rabbits and eggs. I'm still a little unclear on the whole rabbits hatching from eggs part of Easter, but that's not something unique to Germany.

The chocolate bunnies here come in every shape and size and flavor, from white to dark chocolate, and from chocolate for kids with extra calcium to chocolate for adults with liqueur.

 

By far the most well-known are Lindt's Gold Hase, which have been made for more than 50 years. According to Lindt's site, 

One fine spring morning in March when the ground was still covered with a white blanket of snow, a master chocolatier from LINDT observed little rabbit in his garden.  His little son was completely fascinated when he saw the hare, but began to cry when the rabbit disappeared into the bushes.
Struck by the his son's sadness, the father suddenly had a great idea:

"I should make a rabbit like that of chocolate ..."

He made a rabbit out of finest Lindt milk chocolate, wrapped it in gold paper and hung him a golden bell on a red ribbon around his neck so he would not be lost.

"When the bell rings, you can find it easily," the choclatier said to his young son. And so the first GOLDHASE had come into this world.

However the tradition began, the Goldhasen are now one of the best known international Easter sweets.  They emerge from eggs and come in sizes from baby up to 1 kg giants.

 

This year, Lindt introduced the dark chocolate (brown ribbon) and white chocolate (white ribbon) varieties to go with the traditional red-ribboned milk chocolate Goldhase.

Though chocolate is the main event, everyone else gets in on Easter bunny mania, too....we find rabbit shaped cookies and breads and rabbit-shaped versions of most candy bars.

Chocolate-dipped shortbread sandwich and rabbit bread

And it wouldn't be Easter in Germany without an elaborately creative themed educational display. In PEP (the closest thing in Munich to an American-style mall), they have displays throughout the mall using the fictional Rabbit Co. ("Hasen AG") to teach children how chocolate is made - from harvest to chocolate egg.

 Growing and Harvesting the cacao Beans 

Drying and Fermenting 

Shipping the beans

  Pulverizing and Processing the Beans                                     

Making Chocolate and Molding Chocolate Eggs

Painting, Wrapping, and Shipping Chocolate Eggs

The detail in these displays was amazing, down to planting flowers and aging the printing on the cacao bean bags. Of course there were signs at each display explaining the steps of the chocolate making process. And at the end, a cage full of adorable real rabbits to see. Unfortunately not a petting zoo, but still adorable!