When in Rome: Make "Abendbrot" [Evening Bread] a Weekly Tradition

One thing about Germany that I plan to take with us is the tradition of eating simple meals that focus on fresh bread and yummy meats and cheese. 

Jenny taught us at German class that the word for dinner is "abendbrot" (evening bread) because it's a German tradition to simply have fresh bread for dinner, topped with meat, cheese, or vegetables.

She told us how it was tough for her to adjust to the American way of eating dinner. She never used to cook (or eat) heavy meals in the evenings. She was used to abendbrot! She felt like a lazy wife because all she wanted was some fresh bread!

I immediately thought that this was the most brilliant thing ever! 

I mean, of course I love to cook and dinner is the traditional meal I'm used to sharing with family, so I know I can't adopt this German tradition in it's entirety.

But heck who doesn't love the idea of having a backup menu item of bread, cheese, and sliced meats?

Sometimes we do this already, and we call it "cheesy bread night"... where we buy a fresh baguette and some soft cheese, melt it into heavenly gooeyness in the oven, and enjoy it with fresh fruit or olives. Definitely some red wine.

{I know, it kind of sucks if you don't live in Germany and have access to their amazing bread. But you can totally make your own... or find an artisan type place to buy some - shout out to Wegmans!}

Ideas to include with your fresh yummy bread: 
   - sliced cheese
   - deli meats
   - sliced cucumbers, radishes, or tomatoes
   - olives
   - hard boiled eggs
   - grapes, apples, or fresh berries

So hey, in the spirit of cutting ourselves some slack in our real food journey, be like the Germans and add "abendbrot" to your busiest night this week.

No cooking allowed! 

Recipe | German Wurstsalat - Sausage Salad | When in Rome...

In this "back to school" busy season, I am constantly on the hunt for super fast food. Bonus points if it's pretty healthy but feels kind of like comfort food. 

This wurstsalat (sausage salad) was a super easy dinner a few nights back.

I had it for the first time in a restaurant in the Black Forest and then just the other day I saw that Wasgau carries pre-sliced and ready to go wurst! Which is essentially bologna.

All you do is cut up your cheese into ribbons (and your bologna, if you don't have access to a German grocery store!) and mix it up.

I stored this whole bowl in the fridge "un-dressed" because I didn't want it to get soggy. But it's generally served with a bit of oil and maybe a splash of vinegar. I added some salt and pepper but if you're using sauerkraut don't add too much salt like I did. Oops. (WHY do I do that so often? Seriously you'd think I'd learn!)

You garnish the wurstsalat with a generous scoop of sauerkraut. Unless you're My Love cause he hates sauerkraut. And then I totally went crazy and added some cherry tomatoes. Not sure if that's even allowed in Germany but shhhhh. We served it with some pieces of crunchy baguette. YUM.

It kind of feels like a fancy version of a bologna and cheese sandwich! 86 the wonder bread and mayo, sub sauerkraut. And baguette.

Wurstsalat gets 4 Aiduk stars. And an extra one from Mom because it's just plain fun and kind of pretty and super easy to make! I'm thinking it might be a popular portable lunch item, too! The kindergarten teachers will be super impressed with my wanna-be-German-ness ;o)

So what do you think? Sound like something you'd try? Tell me in the comments if it totally weirds you out or if it kind of sounds yummy! 

And PS I don't recommend using Oscar Mayer. I feel like it would bring down the classy-factor a bit. Go for some high quality deli meat and a mild cheese. I used butterkase, which reminds Jesse of American cheese and is pretty popular with the kiddos.

Guten Appetit! 

German Kindergarten Adventures | Forest Week

Well hey there BLOG! Long time no post!! 

Don't worry, I should have a routine worked out soon that allows some more frequent posts and plenty of time for studying. Right now I'm just too excited about studying for much else... plus I had two photo shoots this month! So all the sudden I realize it's been almost two weeks since Forest Week and if I don't get these pictures up now I won't get them out before we leave on our anniversary trip! 

What is Forest Week, you ask? Oh you know, just a field trip on steroids. When I first heard about it, I mistakenly thought it was a one-day thing. "Oh cool, they're taking the bigger kids out in the woods for a day, how sweet!" 

And then I talked to the teacher after translating the info page and realized it was FOUR DAYS! And they meant business because they literally took a gob of preschool children out in the woods for five hours every day. Brave, brave, souls. 

So. This is Lily after day two...

Before you judge me, I have many defenses to give for her drenched state!

First, it was pouring rain that morning. And I was kicking myself for not buying her a rain jacket sooner. I mean, it rains a lot here but we usually make do with umbrellas and jackets... and even though I didn't think an umbrella was very practical for traipsing through the woods, I had no choice. But I said to Jesse "Maybe they'll cancel it?" to which he just laughed. Of course the Germans aren't going to cancel Forest Week. 

Oh and she WAS wearing a heavy jacket when I dropped her off.

Second, it was SPECIFICALLY stated in the information paper that the didn't want the kids in rain boots. They wanted sturdy shoes. And what preschooler owns hiking boots? So I just crossed my fingers that sneakers would suffice! But I knew. I just knew it was going to be bad. 

You can't send a 4yo out into the woods on the rainy day without expecting her to return a sopping wet mess. 

I was giving our friend Abby a ride to the forest from the kindergarten each morning... so after I dropped Sammy off, I packed Lily and Abby back into the car. And when I first saw Abby's RAIN PANTS I was like WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE??? But she's five years old so she couldn't really help me out. Plus it would have been too late anyways.

Lily just had to be that embarrassing American kid who's mom doesn't truly understand the German phrase "no bad weather, only bad clothing"

So the teacher's set me straight and told me what store nearby sold them... and they were less than ten euros! The teacher's also explained that the "no wellington" rule was only for dry days... on rainy days, rain boots are completely acceptable! The next day Lily was dressed like all the other German kiddos. And was also dry! 

"That's better MOM!"

So what were her favorites about Forest Week? 

- Doing something without Sam. I'm sure it's nice to actually experience the benefit of being older sometimes. 

- Going potty in the woods. Seriously, that was the only thing she wanted to talk about the first night. Delicious. 

- Learning that ticks don't hurt when they bite you... but it does hurt a little when Momma pulls them out (x3!)

- Saying hi to the cows along the paths. 

- And jumping in puddles. DUH.

I'm sure there were LOTS of other fun things (like eating breakfast and lunch in the woods and getting to choose which path to take and learning fun stuff from her adventurous teachers) but in classic Lily fashion, she only talks when she wants to. No amount of pressing for information is going to force that girl to tell me anything! So I just let her have those memories all to herself.

I did follow the group for about half an hour on the last morning. The photographer in me just couldn't resist a few pictures!

I am super proud of how Lily handled the whole week. She's not really my outdoor-cat... she definitely doesn't like getting dirty. But I never once heard her complain about it. Not even after the rainy day without rain pants!

She's basically ready for Camp Cherith now!!!

When in Rome: Germans Make Things So Easy!

Welcome to today's edition of "cool things the Germans do"... I woke up two days ago to see this yellow bucket in front of my house. There was also one in front of everyone else's house on the street.

It said something about "kleider" (clothes) and "schuhe" (shoes) and WOOHOO it also had pictures on it ;o)

So from what I was guessing and translating and from a quick check with Julia, I discovered that it was in fact a collection bucket for poor people! There were instructions to leave it outside your house two days after they were dropped off.

I spent about 5 minutes wandering around my house putting in a random collection of shoes, toys, and clothes we don't need. And I tossed it out front and this morning they came to pick it up! 

How easy is that?

Now, I know, it's not that hard to give to the poor. But I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy. I usually get as far as cleaning out the closets and labeling the bags ("airman's attic" or "donate" or whatever) and then they just sit all sad and lonely in the garage.

So I just love this idea of making it easy for everyone to make a small contribution. If even half of my village participated they got a crap ton of stuff to give away! How awesome!

It reminds me of how easy it is to recycle here. They intentionally make it a no-brainer! 

Good job Germany!

When in Rome: Party with Friends over Raclette

So when we were over at Pedro & Julia's robbing half of their cherry harvest, we were primarily there to enjoy their amazing hospitality.

Julia probably gets tired of my over-zealous questions about German culture but I can't help it! I find Germans so fascinating and I love learning new things! 

This winter, Julia introduced us to a tradition in Europe called Raclette. Everyone gathers around this cool cooking device on the table and stuffs their faces with meat, cheese, and veggies. I had so much fun (I've never seen anything like this before!) that I asked her if she'd host it again for me to take pictures and blog about it!

You know you found a true friend when she not only indulges your love of photography and blogging but takes special care to cut all the cheese and veggies extra pretty for your pictures! Thanks girl! 

So I did some digging (thank you google) and found out that raclette cheese hails from Switzerland. And this website had some cool info about this stinky cheese:

"The word "raclette" comes from the French word "to scrape." Raclette makes up a simple meal that was enjoyed by shepherds in the fields. They would boil up some potatoes, and heat a stone and melt a bit of the raclette cheese on the hot stone. Once melted, the cheese was scraped off and served on top of the potatoes. Raclette has a long history and has been mentioned in medieval writings."

So now you make it a bit more fancy, but the concept is still the same. Everyone gets their own little baby pan and scrapper to put some veggies and meats and raclette into... they you melt it under the pain pan. (Where there's usually some delicious meat sizzling) Julia usually serves a variety of cheeses, not just the raclette.

It's a super fun meal for a crowd because everyone gets to pick and choose what they want to try. We always end up getting super full and that's part of the fun! Julia serves it with potatoes and bread. Her family traditionally does this meal for New Year's when everyone gets to sit for hours and enjoy each other's company.

And the good food!

I love this meal so much because it's so endlessly versatile and interesting! I plan on getting one later so we can introduce others to it and brag about our cool German friend Julia who taught us how fun it is! 

By the way, did I ever introduce Julia properly? I need to get a picture of us together. And you pronounce her name "You-lee-a." Or, if you're under the age of five you pronounce it "You-ee-a" :o) 

And speaking of kids under the age of five, Pedro & Julia love to spoil ours with special treats. They found these gems at a German grocery store... that's coconut ice cream in a coconut shell AND orange ice cream in an empty orange peel! How fun is that? 

Three cheers for Germany! And thanks again P&J... a pleasure, as always. I'm going to die of miss when you guys move! 

St. Martin's Parade of Lanterns

On November 11th, when Americans are celebrating Veteran's Day, Germans are celebrating St. Martin.  Julia filled me in on all the details and helped me sort out some of Lily's kindergarten celebration.  It was super fun to have her and Pedro and Chase join us.  

St. Martin is a famous Christian saint.  He was a bishop known for his charity and good heart.   Every November, the children in the German villages have a parade of lanterns on the day St. Martin was buried.  

The legend is that when St. Martin was a soldier, he was out on a cold winter's night and saw a poor man with no cloak. Martin took his sword and cut his own cloak in two so he could give the freezing man something to wear.  This scene is re-enacted each year (the bigger kids in the kindergarten did a short play) and it is the act that St. Martin is famous for.

So in honor of St. Martin's charity during winter, the children walk around the village singing songs and holding lanterns to light up the darkness and remind everyone of St. Martin.  In the legend, the children of the village saw Martin cut his robe for the poor man, so they ran back with their lanterns to tell the tale.  The lantern-walk celebration is meant to remind us to bring light to the dark, charity to the poor, and warmth to the cold.  It's a super heart-warming night.

Lily made a lantern at school, and my friend Rebecca told me I could buy the little lights and a lantern for Sam at Globus. Fun fact: Julia said when she was a kid they used real candles inside their paper lanterns!  I can't even imagine the peril we would have all been in had Lily and Sam been entrusted with fire!

As we walked through the part of the village near the kindergarten, everyone in the group was cheerful and some were singing the St. Martin songs.  One old man who lives along our path had set up his own lanterns in the walkway and was out front greeting everyone!  

When we got to the kindergarten, they had a huge bonfire set up right in the middle of the playground!  The firefighters were keeping everything really safe, but we joked that this was probably not the best example to the kids ;o) Lily was pretty impressed that there was a fire in her playground!  

We also all joked that it was kind of a funny/dangerous tradition... the whole "hey let's get a bunch of small uncoordinated children together in the dark and freezing cold and give them pointy lights and breakable lanterns... surely nothing can go wrong there!"  All in all, though, Sam only tripped and crunched her lantern a few times.  All's well that ends well?

"Yook!  My school!"   Lily was super pumped when she realized our walk ended at the school.  We had recently taken Jesse to give him a tour, but she still excitedly grabbed him, as well as Pedro, Julia, and Chase, to show them her classroom!

The woman in the bottom left corner is one of Lily's main teachers, Sarita.  I'll get a better picture of her sometime... I didn't actually realize it was her when I was taking this shot!  We also ran into Lily's other teacher, Katya... Lily ran right up to her for a hug!

This tent is where they were selling gluhwein and other hot drinks and snacks.  The "glowing wine" or spiced wine, is always super cozy on a cold night.  They also had some non-alcoholic gluhwein for the kids... Lily and Sam were pretty excited about their "yummy juice!"

The other tradition of St. Martin's evening is to have special St. Martin pretzels.  They are made from a slightly sweet dough, and taste super awesome with the wine.

This is such a super cool German tradition.  I was so thankful that we were able to participate.  

I think Julia said it best:  "It makes you thankful for what you have, to share with others that don't have as much, like St. Martin did."

She's right.  And it also made me ponder the things that bring warmth to this cold time of year... Light.  Fire.  Hot cups of warm drink.  Memories made with family and friends.  As we come into the winter months, take some time to think of the light and warmth of this time of year, not just the ice you have to scrape from your windshield or the snow you have to shovel from your driveway.

What's your lantern?  This parade made me think of winter as a welcoming time, rather than a dreary time.  High-five Germany!

Fall Recipe | German Onion Cake! And an Explanation of "New Wine"

Stephanie and I had a "let's do something German" night this week.  So we took my landlady Diana's advice and used this recipe for German Onion Cake.

If you're anything like me, the term onion cake causes a bit of a question mark in the mind.  Rest assured folks, I'm going to enlighten you today!

When Diana was telling me about onion cake it was the same weekend she was gushing about how they were going to collect fresh chestnuts in Otterberg.  I was struck by how excited she was by these clearly sentimental fall traditions. The smile on her face reminded me of how I talk about our family Christmas traditions, that's how giddy she was!

I asked her a lot of questions about chestnuts (I'd never had them before so she left me a bag on our doorstep that night) and had even more questions about this mythical onion cake business.  She said it's always served in the fall with "new wine" (more on that in a second) and that she would try to find me a recipe.

When she sent me a recipe that was already in English I just knew I had to try it! 

It's absolutely delicious and definitely a keeper.  (I'm repeating it today, actually!)  It's appropriately named a cake, because the dough really turns out to be quite cake-like and very delicious!  It's topped with a mix of onions, bacon, eggs, and creme fraiche baked right into the cake!

Fun fact: if you can't find creme fraiche in your grocery store like I can, just use sour creme.  It'll be a little more tart, but it's essentially the same idea.
 

So here's the inside scoop (big thanks to my German pal Julia!) on new wine.  Perhaps they sell new wine in the States but I've never heard of it before, so here's the German version:

New wine is the first wine of the season.  It's not finished all the way, so it's essentially grape juice that is in the process of fermenting.  It has about 4% alcohol... at first.  So when we got it from Globus it was pretty sweet and didn't taste "alcohol-y" at all!  It's cloudy because it still has yeast in it and it hasn't gone through any of the processes that the vinters will later use to turn it into "real wine."  

What's funny is that it's kind of in-process, even as you drink it.  You know I'm a fermentation nerd, so this fascinates me.  They tell you to drink it within a few days of buying it, and even then it will probably have a higher alcohol content by day #3.  New wine is only sold in Germany from September till the end of October because by then it's all done with this fermentation process.

The "new wine" is the same wine that will later be bottled as white, rose, or red wine (according to the grapes) but it's sold in the fall after the harvest so that everyone can get a first fresh sip!  Julia explained to me that this is why there are so many wine festivals in Germany in the fall.  (Like Bad Durkheim, which is still on our Germany-bucket-list!)  She said it's funny to listen to the old people because they'll make projections about the "real wine" based on how the "new wine" tastes... like "Ohhh I can taste that this will be a great vintage." 

One of the reasons new wine is usually paired with something hearty like onion cake is because the wine tastes so sweet and juicy (think, mmm this is like fall lemonade!) and it also takes awhile for the alcohol to effect your system.  But even more dangerous, the alcohol content can vary so much... from restaurant to restaurant, store to store, or even the same place from day to day!   I guess they think it's a good idea to have something in your tummy to absorb the alcohol, whatever it's content may be!  

So whether you're drinking some German "new wine" or not, this onion cake is going to make your tummy happy!  I apologize that the recipe is by weight.  I didn't take the time to convert it but I can assure you that it's not too big a deal because I just guessed for the most part, and happily found that it is a very forgiving recipe!  

And THAT is how you enjoy a deliciously simple (and did I mention delicious?) fall meal, a la German tradition.  

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A big thanks to Diana for sharing the recipe and to Julia for explaining the new wine!  

Rhine River Cruise! And a Funny "When in Rome" Story

So we went on an AMAZING cruise down the Rhine River with Mom and Dad.  Jesse and I have been saying we want to do this for awhile but it was Dad who said he basically couldn't leave Germany without checking out one of these famous Rhine River cruises.  So that's what we did!  

Come to find out, it's a super easy day trip with kids, so I don't know why we never did it before.  But that's besides the point.  The point is it was a blast.  And I put a whole bunch of pictures up in a Jesse's Girl post that you can check out!

The other point is that we bumped into a funny "Germans are always on time" example.  In which the first boat we were getting on almost left without Jesse!  

So we thought we had built in plenty of extra time just in case.  And I think a half an hour extra for an hour and a half commute is pretty safe.  But not on this fateful morning... when there would be two different instances of sloooooow construction traffic and more than one confusing mix up with our GPS.

Let's just say, by the time we got to the dock, Jesse's adrenaline was through the roof and everyone in the back of the van was feeling a little car sick.  German back roads + running late = blech.  

As we're pulling up, we have about 10 minutes before the boat leaves.  Jesse basically does a drive by drop off so we can purchase the tickets and get on board while he scoots around the corner to the parking garage we had spotted on our way up.  Dad and I rush to the ticket counter and everyone else nervously watches back and forth between the boat and the corner where Jesse should be appearing any moment.

We finally get paid and rush down the dock to the boat.  I'm frantically telling the guy who's trying to rush us inside that my husband is just parking the car and will be RIGHT HERE.  And I can hear him jibbering back and forth in German with his coworkers (and possibly the captain of the ship) telling them the situation.

And they all look at me.  And I can tell.  They aren't going to wait.  The man I was talking to looks incredulously at me and says "But we have a timetable."  

His message was clear:  Get on or be left behind.  We aren't waiting for anyone.

Thankfully, at the last minute, Dad shouts "there he is!" and we all breathe a sigh of relief while simultaneously screaming at Jesse to run faster!  They wouldn't leave him when we can see him, right, RIGHT?  

I bet the guys on the boat were relieved that the crazy American lady and her family were finally going to get on the dang boat so they could push off and stick to the timetable without her throwing a freakin temper tantrum ;o)

So he made it.  And we all get on the boat, out of breath and a little flustered.  As I'm telling Jesse the story of how they almost left without us, he chimes in "I thought I told you to just get on and I'd catch the boat at the next village down the river?"  

Oops.

Then we all had a good laugh.  It had totally slipped my mind in that moment of panic that we could just board and even if the boat left without him, he could meet up with it later down the river without much problem.

So the "when in Rome" lesson of the day is:  The Germans really do stick to their beloved timetables and you better be ready when the boat is ready!  

And the second lesson is:  have a backup plan if you're running late and remember said plan that you and your husband discuss in the car as you rush up to the ticket counter!

Here's the facebook album of all the pics.  Enjoy your virtual Rhine River tour ;o)