German Easter Candy and Eggs

After months of chocolate and candy displays, the long-awaited day is here!

How do you celebrate Easter in Germany?

It varies, by family, by region, and of course by religious beliefs. The schools are on a 2 week break, so much of the country goes on vacation.  Italy and the New York/Florida combo are the most popular destinations, as are ski trips in years where Easter is earlier.  Easter here is second only to Christmas as a holiday - it's a pretty big deal.  In the Munich area, for those who don't go on holiday, a traditional fish lunch on Good Friday is common, as is church on Sunday, followed by a family dinner.  The church bells have been ringing frequently for the past 24 hours.  Or, these days many of the younger people who didn't travel for holiday or to see family will go out to the English Garden and enjoy sun, friends, and nature when the weather is nice.  And somehow, it's always nice on Easter.

But across Germany, the common traditions are similar to the US. Easter trees are big, as are displays of flowers and new life. Rabbits and eggs come in every form, spring cleaning is a popular "sport," and on Easter morning many families hide chocolate eggs and treats for the kids to find.  There are some older, more localized traditions such as the Easter bonfire and Saturday Easter Market, but we're talking city life in this blog today. And more importantly, we're talking sweets!

I had the chance to pop into a CVS in the US and check out the candy assortment. How do German and US Easter baskets differ?

American Easter Basket:      

Contents:
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Bunny
Peeps
SweetTart Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies
Cadbury Creme Eggs and Caramel Eggs
Whopper's Robin Eggs
Cadbury Mini Eggs
Reese's Eggs
Milk Chocolate Bunny
Jelly beans (not shown)

German Easter Basket(s):

Contents:
Chocolate eggs, with a variety of fillings (marzipan, liquers, hazelnut, nougat, crispy butterfinger type things, etc)
Marzipan Loaf
Ferrero Eggs
Lindt's famous Gold Hase chocolate rabbits
Lindt chocolates in a variety of shapes...frogs, turtles, lambs, chicks, carrots
Chocolate-covered almonds
A real eggshell filled with nougat
Spring chocolate bars from Lindt
fondant fried eggs
Egg tree ornaments with chocolate eggs inside 

Lindt varies their chocolates by season. We see in Christmas chocolates featuring spices and a more warm mix. In Spring, they feature fruits, yogurt, and ice-cream type fillings - generally much lighter and fruiter than the heavy spiced chocolates of winter. These giant  Lindt truffles have a creamy stracciatella filling, similar to the bars that have a creamy filling. The bars are not true ice cream, but are recommended to be served cold and are like a cool bit of cream and fruit wrapped in tasty Lindt chocolate. Lindt has whole sections devoted to Easter and Spring chocolates, with lots of pastel and fruits. The Easter choclates will disappear now, but the Spring varieties will go on through the summer.

Lindt's Spring assortment

  Lindt Easter bars(btw, I adore the Lindt chocolate lambs in the first basket, as they have one black sheep in the flock.)

What's the difference between German and American Easter candy?

The main differences I see is are:

1) American Easter candies are more based on pure sugar, whereas the Germans focus on chocolate (especially high quality chocolate), cute animal packaging, and lighter tasting (not lighter in caloric terms!) flavors such as fruit.

2) The American candies are mainly Easter shaped version of the same candy, but the German ones often vary the ingredients for Easter, as well as using different fillings and chocolate blends than they do year round.

In Germany, chocolate is the most popular Easter sweet by far, then bunnies and eggs the most popular shape of sweets. The sheer volume of chocolate rabbits in Germany is something we'll tackle separately in the next post....

Eggs:

Easter eggs come in all varieties....sets to dye your eggs (with natural dyes, of course) are widely available, as are real eggs from an assortment of fowl - Ostrich, goose, chicken, quail. They come dyed, raw, already hollowed out, etc.

colored quail eggs

Most stores will have a wide assortment of chocolate eggs....with various nut fillings, nougat, fruits, and liqueurs. However, marzipan eggs are an Easter specialty. Niederegger, the famous Lübeck based marzipan maker, offers all types of different marzipan eggs, as well as some nougat ones. They're good, but marzipan is a bit too sweet to eat in large quantities! Most of the marzipan eggs will be in different fruit flavors and dipped in chocolate. Dark chocolate dipped marzpian is a pretty tasty combon, but again...in small doses!

We were amused to find that Milka makes something looking suspiciously similar to Cadbury Creme Eggs, so of course we here at Schnitzelbahn investigated closely.

The Milka Löffel Ei ("Spoon Egg") comes in a 4-pack carton, with two spoons. It's an egg you crack open to eat the creamy sweet filling. Sounds a lot like a Cadbury Creme Egg, with a little ettitquette and fancy packaging.

Upon first examination, they look similar. The Cadbury egg is slightly smaller, vs the Milka egg's life-sized egg size. And the Milka directions show a little indentation where you bang the spoon to crack the egg open into a nice, clean shape to pull off the top.

The real difference is in the taste.  On the chocolate side, I think the Cadbury chocolate is a bit better tasting, but both are good. Cadbury just does milk chocolate really well! Milka does, too. But really here the chocolate is unimportant - it's about the filling.  Or we'd be eating Cadbury Mini-Eggs, a Milka bar, or some Lindt.

The filling is where we see the real difference. Cadbury eggs often get stale a bit quicker - the taste is still the same, but the filling gets a little drier and not so creamy. No matter, it still is vastly different from the Milka egg. Basically, the Cadbury egg is filled with sugar or fondant. It tastes extremely sweet, and you'll love it or hate it.

The Milka egg, on the other hand, is basically filled with buttercream frosting. Yum!! I know they say it's filled with fondant, but it taste like a sweet spoonful when you're scraping the bowl after making buttercream frosting. It's really good, and it's a much less sweet, sugary taste.

It of course doesn't have the cult following that the Creme Eggs have, nor does it inspire scientistific experiments, but it's a really tasty treat and it's much more manageable than making a batch of frosting or buying a can!

So, a Frohe Ostern to all, and hope you're all enjoying your Easter treats and holidays. Let us know if the Easter Bunny brought you anything special this year. He hid some great DVDs (American TV and BBC's Planet Earth blu-ray) around my apartment.

Cold Weather Gear

Having spent most of my life in south Georgia, Texas, and Bangkok....I'm not exactly what you would call acclimated to cold weather. I may never be. I don't enjoy being cold and I hate the feeling of being so bundled up I can't breathe. Somehow, ski gear is usually fine, but you can't wear that daily.

Winter for me is a battle to stay warm, even though I love seeing the snow and the mountains. This year (with Herr J's guidance), I made major steps in learning to cope:

• Lightweight, soft long underwear? Check. Thanks, Thermotech!
• I still cringe a little at the thought, but buying a pair of Uggs was the kindest thing I've done for my feet.
• Earmuffs? Got 'em, love 'em! Keeps me warm like a hat, without adding yet more knots to my hair.
• Hand warmers...I use gloves and liners, but usually am still cold. With these guys, I can wear light gloves suitable for photography and stay toasty.

During our recent trip to Finland, I found the ultimate cold weather gear for someone who hates being weighed down and strangled by winter clothes. The Halti Whiff Jacket, made by Finnish outdoor outfitters Halti. It's windproof, water repellant, oh-so warm, and super light. I feel like I'm enveloped in a soft cloud. I actually wore it to walk 30 minutes to dinner in Helsinki at close to freezing, with a very light shirt underneath. No problem!

I have to love any company whose slogan is "Weather Yourself."

Best of all, it folds up into one of the pockets to be a pouch. I'm enjoying hiking, but don't want to carry a lot and don't want to be cold. This thing is pefect (and was half off)!

How light is it? Let's check it out compared to common household items....

Folded up, we have the jacket weighing in at 466g. That's just over 1 lb.

Seems pretty light for wearing and for bringing along hiking just in case (the temps change rapidly at altitudes and depending on the sun)

What about a beer?
Sorry, Augustiner...your Maximator weighs in at almost double. Without the bottle, we'd still be at 500g.

Or my new lens?
Not a very heavy one, but still too heavy 

 How about my wallet?
Nope, those Euro coins weigh a lot! (I even took out 6€ first)

 

Maybe a couple packs of gummis?
Getting closer, but a little light.

A pint glass perhaps?
Almost...

Or maybe a really heavy book?
Perhaps if she hadn't edited down Galt's speech, it would be the right weight.

We finally have a winner...my lovely sugar free coffee syrup

So, it feels great, is super-warm and incredibly light. Of course the question is how does it look?

I'm loving it...can't wait to go hiking again!

Photoblog - Munich's English Garden

Warm weather has finally come to Munich.  (At least the Springtime version -- inconsistent, and still chilly in the shade, but the air has changed.)  That means everyone will be spending a lot more time in the English Garden.

We're really looking forward to this and pulled out a few photos from last year to tide us over until our first 'Saturday in the park'.  (Yes, the English Garden is physically larger than Central Park in New York City, but they have completely different auras.  More on this in a later post...)

From Odeonsplatz downtown, you can walk through the Hofgarden to the south entrance to the English Garden.

This building below greets you just before entering the English Garden, and I've always loved its yellow against a blue sky.

The same water (it's an artificial stream) seen above runs through the English Garden, and the walking path follows it for a while from the southern entrance.  Sometimes it flows lazily, other times it is swift with runoff from the melting snow in the mountains.  There is even one point where people can surf!  (more here)

 

One of the most popular parts of the Garden is the Schoenfeldwiese (Schoenfeld meadow) -- partially because it's a huge open space with lots of sun, and partially because nude sunbathing is permitted here.  Many a tourist have had a memorable cultural experience/shock!  I organized a game of American football here once, and that drew funny stares from the Germans!

From the meadow you can look back towards the city and see the two spires of the Frauenkirche (middle/right), the yellowish Theatinerkirche (far right), and the Bavarian State Chancellery (Bayrische Staatskanzlei, left). 

 

Here's a zoomed view of the two churches: 

Both of the prior photos were taken at the far end of the Schoenfeldwiese, at the top of a small hill where the Monopteros sits.  The Monopteros is a Greek-style "temple" that replaced an older wooden "Apollo Temple".  It was completed in 1836 using leftover material from the Residenz.

How safe is Munich?  I've taken early walks to this point and seen people "camping" out -- overnight with just a sleeping bag.  They enjoy watching the sunrise from here and therefore just crash.  No worries.  Now that's different than Central Park.  I don't have a photo of sunrise yet, but this is what they see (below).  Now you know why Frau A and I will do more photoblogging from here this Summer.

 

Texas and Bavaria

As the Texas Legislature votes on a bill to raise the maximum speed limit to 85 mph (136 kph), I feel this is the appropriate time to address the similarities between Texas and Bavaria. I’ve lived in both and have grown to love both – for their charms and their quirks. But both Texas and Bavaria are considered “special” in their own nations, and I’m finding that they have quite a few amusing similarities.

We could start with the history and geography, with both being the 2^nd largest states (by area) in their nation, and both being economic powerhouses. The individual GDPs of each state are larger than those of all but the top 10-20 nations, and both are considered well-diversified economies. They are large states that have big industry, innovation, and hi-tech, but also large tracts of wilderness.

But more fun are the states’ relationships with the rest of their country. If you meet a Texan or a Bavarian in a foreign country and ask where he or she is from, you’ll more often hear “Texas” or “Bavaria,” rather than “USA” or “Germany.” There is great pride in these states, and both states have their own histories and identities as separate countries, much more so than other parts of their countries. The Bavarian state, of course, goes back centuries and has its own monarchy.  Bavaria rejected the West German constitution in 1949 and still refers to itself as the Free State of Bavaria. Of course the other states ratified the constitution and so the Bavarians are Germans today.

And what of the rest of the country? Yes, most Americans and Germans find Texans and Bavarians to be “special” also…and many of their fellow countrymen claim they speak strangely. Rumor has it that the Bayern Partei – the very small Bavarian political party that has Bavarian independence as its platform – received more votes from non-Bavarians than from Bavarians in the last election. Texas, too, has separatists, but they’re usually of the living in a compound, dreaming up crazy plots type, rather than organized political parties. But I think a Texas separatist party might garner some votes outside of Texas!

Beyond the position in their respective countries, are the cultures and outlooks. Both Bavarians and Texans strongly value independence and individual freedom, more so than their average countryman. Though guns are very regulated and not widespread in Germany as a whole, you find the hunters in Bavaria, and the antlers on the walls. They love the land, and contrary to the picture of big oil companies, Texas has a strong conservationist movement and leads the US in wind energy. Neither like being told by the government how fast to drive by those windmills. On the whole, both are known as staunchly conservative states relative to their neighbors, where the CSU (Christian Social Union) and Republican Party have won virtually every state and national election in recent history. Though German politics as a whole is much more to the left than American, the CSU is considered a conservative party in Germany. Not surprisingly, both also are strongly religious states.

And in their free time? Bavarians and Texans love food – especially barbecues at the lake. Floating down the river with a case of beer in summer, going to the Texas State Fair or Oktoberfest in September, shooting fireworks, drinking beer, and eating sausage...the activities are quite similar.  Texans would love Schweinshaxe and spanferkel if they had it, and let’s be honest…Schnitzel and Country Fried Steak are close cousins, especially Jagerschnitzel. Both are border countries that have integrated many aspects (especially in food) from neighboring nations – perfect Neopolitan pizza is available all over Munich, and the Aperol spritz is the popular summer cocktail. I know it’s courting controversy (or heresy?), but many of the great Bavarian dishes like Kaiserschmarm are very similar to Austrian dishes, and goulash is a staple in many Bavarian restaurants. And my mouth waters at the thought of good Tex-Mex.

And finally, we have two states that often become the stereotype for their respective countries. When you ask most Americans about German culture, the ones who’ve never visited Germany would mention lederhosen, beer, pretzels, Oktoberfest, cars and sausage.  While that’s not too inaccurate for a generalization of southern Bavaria, the Kölners, Berliners, and Hamburgers will strongly disagree. When you ask foreigners who have not visited the US about their impression of Americans, the boot-wearing, steak-eating, gun-toting, drawling conservative is a pretty popular stereotype.

Maybe it's the history and shared core values of freedom, or maybe it's the influence of German settlers in Texas (more than 10% of Texans have German ancestry, and you'll still see the influence down around Gruene and New Braunfels), but both places have distinct identities and traditions, and that's one of the things I've loved discovering in both states. Perhaps next time I wear my dirndl, it should be with my cowboy boots?

(For the record, I'm guilty of some generalizing here too...Bavaria is quite a diverse state, and some of the more northern areas identify themselves much more locally (especially Franconians) than as Bavarians. In fact, some of them want out of Bavaria. They do drink beer of course, but they don't wear lederhosen. And like in Texas, there's quite a difference between "city folk" and country folk.)

German Street Artists - anamorphic painting

Kurt Wenner is an American artist that lived in Europe during the early eighties, and claims to have invented anamorphic street painting in 1984.  This is not typical chalk art, but are intended to be viewed from a particular perspective and there trick the eye into seeing a 3-D image.  His images are impressive.

There are a couple German artists who have followed with similar success.  I've never seen these people or their work in person, but I really hope to.

First is Edgar Mueller, from Muelheim.  His website claims "Since 1998 Edgar Müller has held the title of 'maestro madonnari' (master street painter), born by only a few artists worldwide. The title is awarded at the world’s largest street painting festival, called The Grazie Festival, which is held in the small pilgrim town of Grazie in Italy."

He too travels to festivals and competitions, like what he did in Geldern, Germany:

Cool how he uses real people to enhance the effect.

The second guy is Manfred Stader.  He studiet art in Frankfurt and is now freelance - his web site makes it clear that you can even hire him to create 3-D street art at your festival/event/etc.  He did this in Hong Kong for a conference:

What is just as cool is seeing a time-lapse video that shows the "making of" art like this.  Here is a video from Edgar Mueller.  You can see the team mapping out the lines of perspective at the start:

Edgar and Manfred both have many more pictures on their personal sites, and Manfred has videos too.  Hopefully Frau A and I run into one of them this Summer.

American Beef + German Beer

What better combo??

In general, American beef is EXTREMELY expensive in Germany (unless you have access to a military base). It's also not found everywhere. However, German beef is usually quite good for roasts, ground beef, and other uses, and Uruguayan and Argentine steaks are quite good.

But when I saw ribeyes at the store for insanely low prices, I had to give them a try. They were the perfect way to christen the grill Herr J had put on my balcony while I was away (he knows the way to a southern girl's heart!).  Yes, the label really does say my beef was "Born in the USA". In Germany, when you can get 3/4 of a pound of American ribeye for less than the price of a maß of beer, it's celebration time!

Herr J put a nice cajun rub on these big boys and then set them out to grill:

You'll have to ask him what was in there, but it was really tasty.

We made a nice salad (heavy on the pine nuts and parmesan, of course), and had a good German pilsener - this time a Bölkstoff. What a great dinner to end a week of hard work!

Vienna - Schoenbrunn and schoenes Essen

Not long ago, Frau A and I took a weekend trip to Vienna.  This time, instead of driving (like to Stuttgart), we decided to take the train.  The ride itself is about 4 hours and 20 minutes.  At this distance, the door-to-door time is just about equal with flying (but still a little cheaper, when you factor in the ride to the airport).  We could have driven in slightly less time, but the train was more relaxing and no traffic jams.

We all learned about the Austro-Hungarian Empire in school, but still it is easy to forget just how close Vienna is to Hungary and the Czech Republic (probably because you think of Austira as part of the modern German language block.  In fact, there is a boat that travels along the Danube to Bratislava, Slovakia in just over an hour.  (next time...)

One of the most popular tourist destinations in Vienna is Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens.  It was very cold that day in February, so we spent an abbreviated time snapping photos of the palace and grounds.  In comparison with sites in Munich like the Nymphenburg Palace, Schoenbrunn has a much more regal and powerful feel -- it was the home of the Habsburgs and center of power in its time.

Here I caught Frau A taking photos of the front gate.  It was a blustery day, so I used the Olympus "dramatic tone" filter to increase contrast and give the picture more punch.

We took a short tour of the palace (of course, a very vary small part -- it's enormous... wonder what the other thousands of square meters are used for?).  For a moment, the sun was hitting the back of the palace nicely, and the colors came out beautifully.  That's Frau A again on the right, snapping her own pics.  Again, perhaps not as ornate as other palaces, but has a really large presense.  Impressive.

You see the balcony in the above photo?  This is the back of the palace, facing the gardens.  From here, you get a nice view of the grounds -- massive scene.  This was the end of winter, so things were a bit gray and muted, but you might imagine what it could be in the spring a summer.  I also particularly like the structure on the hill at the far end.  It looks like a mystical site in a fantasy movie.

  

Again, since it was mostly an overcast day (except the few minutes for the photo of the back of the palace above, where skies magically cleared) I took the opportunity to use the "dramatic tone" art filter again and caught sun streaming through the clouds.  Nice otherworldly effect.

After hours on your feet walking around the palace and gardens, you need some good food (schoenes essen) and we definitely found that.  No, we did not go the Hotel Sacher and get the famous sachertorte.  However we did have Wiener Schnitzel and Zwiebelrostbraten at the "12 Apostles Cellar".  The building has been around since 1339 and it's known for traditional Austrian cuisine.  We also had the local "double malt" beer to go with the dishes.  As expected, it was a bit sweeter than a typical Munich helles, but the malt was roasted more darkly and it had a nice, complex flavor.

Later in the weekend, we enjoyed some goulash -- no, not the soup but yes, this is a Hungarian dish leftover from the empire.  It's hung around because it's good.  The meat is falling-apart tender, and the paprika-rich sauce is fantastic.  And we washed it down with more local beer.  Notice that these glasses are different than the Munich maß. They're more squat - shorter and wider - but still give you a half-liter.  The most common Viennese beer is the märzen, like the beer server at Oktoberfest.  A little darker and sweeter than the standard Munich helles.  Excellent.

        

Yes, those are two shots of local schnapps in front of the beer.  Cultural research, you know.

Despite skipping the sachertorte, we did indulge in two other Vienna classics:  apfelstrudel and chocolate truffel torte.  Sooooo good.  There are so many nice cafes in Vienna, and they all have a selection of sweets like these.

         

We have more photos, and more thoughts to post about Vienna... but we really can't wait to return.  A great weekend getaway from home base in Munich.