Snow

Seems we've had more than our normal share of snow after it finally decided to get cold.  It's not bad - I can store stuff outside that doesn't fit in the refrigerator, we can wear all our clothes at the same time, and BEST OF ALL - I can make snow cream. 

Snow Ice Cream.

Memory is not always my strong suit, but I remember having snow ice cream only once during my childhood, in Baltimore, sometime during that incredible snow storm around about 1956 or 57.  It was such a wonderful treat!

Snow always brings back that memory -- along with memories of frozen hands and trading off with Julia using Daddy's hip waders to go slog around in the drifts.

And would you believe it, there's actually a recipe for Snow Ice Cream?  There is!  Where do you think?  Where else but Joy of Cooking.

So, as I said, it's snowing and I thought there was probably enough clean snow on the terrace to make a couple of bowls.  Werner was verrrry skeptical. 

First, gather snow.  At the moment, easy enough to do.

Mix cream and vanilla and sugar together and chill well.  Chill the serving bowls.  In our case, that means putting all the stuff outside!

Then serve in pretty bowls.  White on white. 

It was soooooo good!  I don't think I'll wait another 55 years to have it again.

Happy Birthdays

It's the annual double birthday today:  Michelle and Joey.  Last year was Joey's big 5-0, so this year is, oh well, just another year! 

I don't have any baby pictures of Joey, but I still have lots of Michelle.  This was at 6 weeks or so - note the sleeves on the dress! She was one teeny bird.  If I remember correctly, Julia and I took David and Michelle to K-Mart or some such discount place for a 99 cent 11x14 print .  Well, it was a while ago.

And she's still as pretty as a picture.

Twas the Day After Christmas ...

and all through the house, not much was stirring.  Thank goodness.

And we will have a couple of days more of quiet.  Stores closed on Thursday, Christmas Day, in the early afternoon.  Of course, they were all closed Friday on Christmas as well.  Here, December 26 is "Second Christmas Day" and a federal holiday.  Tomorrow is Sunday, and of course the shops are closed.  Nothing to do but take walks, read, relax, listen to music and catch up.

Christmas Eve we cooked our goose and though it's a fairly big bird, they're pretty sparse on the meat side.  The four of us - Mutti, Christoph, Werner and me - put away the major portion of it, along with beet/carrot soup, red cabbage, potato Knödel, and the becoming-famous ginger cake with lemon curd.  After a visit and after opening our gifts to each other, Christoph took Mutti home and then went out again with friends - another tradition here.

We'd originally planned a Christmas Day alone, but that changed when we discovered that Mutti had no plans - can't sit alone on Christmas !! So Werner picked up Mutti and her friend Frau Finke, also alone, and brought them here for brunch and The Opening Of The Christmas Bounty.  They were amazed at the number of gifts (we do have to talk about this, folks, and scale back a bit ...) and at the same time had lots of fun looking at everything.  Frau Finke was so surprised to find that Santa had left something under the tree for her!  She lifted her little 95-year-old self off the couch faster than you can imagine to give us a hug!  That was sweet.

We took the little old ladies back to their homes and then took a walk in the Bürgerpark near the Park Hotel.  Cold, gray, slushy, melting snow was the offer, so we made it a short one. 

Though we planned a fancy dinner for ourselves, that got iced.  We were still stuffed from dinner and breakfast, so Werner fixed Häpchen, little bites.  What a relief! A bit of TV a bit of winding down. 

Tonight we'll go to one of the local churches for a concert and enjoy the walk and the music.

Here's wishing you a quiet and refreshing after-Christmas time.

Control...

Maybe it's an illusion - control - but somehow this seems the picture of a person who can do anything from his seat in the living room.

How many controls does one need to control ONE television?????  The answer seems to be FIVE.

Almost Christmas

Fourth Advent came and went. It came with snow!!  Really, I know most of you folks think it is a burden and a horror, but frankly, I am still (said it last year, year before and etc.) a bit enchanted by it.  Since we are lucky enough to NOT have to get in the car and go to work every day (just some days), we can look at it, wistfully remember childhood snow adventures, snuggle, read a book, go crunchy-snow-walking and simply enjoy it.  Tomorrow they're predicting a bit more snow but perhaps a bit of rain (now, that's a horror!) but maybe it will stay cold enough to just snow. 

Here's a little film, a little snow stuff, a little Christmas Market stuff, a little walking around Vegesack stuff.  The really dark pictures are of the lighted masts in the old harbor.

Merry Christmas to you all.  We miss you.

Third Advent

Well, I'm way behind again. Even more way behind than before. I'm trying to not be too uptight about it but it's hard.

Rima, René and Amina were here last weekend for Third Advent which included a theater visit (Beauty and the Beast, the musical, kid-friendly variety) and the obligatory visit to the Christmas Market.

It was a short and hectic visit, but fun.  Saturday arrival, dinner, check out the tree, bed.  We had lots of fun playing with all the Mardi Gras beads (I knew they would come in handy sometime!) and the extra ribbons.

Sunday there was a nice breakfast. We lit the third candle, Mom and Amina are admiring the toast here - it has a secret message on it!

Then there were cookies to make.  Snowmen and trees and leaves.  Later they got a snowy sprinkle of powdered sugar or some fairy colors.

Then to the theater.  It was oh so nice, but of course no pictures.  But also of course, the happy ending.

Then to the Christmas market.

Bremen really has a very nice Chrismas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt or Christkindlmarkt, depending on where you live).  Loads of busses bring loads of people from various cities in Germany as well as from Denmark and the Netherlands. I hear British English, too, though I am never sure that they are visitors or replants. Walking around the market is an international event!  Signs on many of the stands are in English, since that's the common language of the visitors. 

Riding the small Ferris Wheel with dad was a treat.

And Opa can still manage a ride, too!!

Second Advent

Here's what has happened since Thanksgiving.  One of our guests brought a amaryllis as a gift, only a few inches high.  Now it is practically a tree and has THREE stalks with flowers and is quite impressive.  Goes well with Christmas red, I think.

It's practically Third Advent, but I have been busy - NOT getting ready for Christmas but getting ready for next summer for goodness sake!  But now summer is pretty much arranged:  tickets for the Moms and Dads are done, tickets for Hunter, Hannah, Kenley are done, tickets for us, apartment in Paris for 11 people RIGHT AT THE LOUVRE TO DIE FOR  is done and Lee and Crissy are getting their tickets done. Gasp, sigh, breathe.  I'll put that aside for a week or two now.

Last Saturday there was a noon concert at the church near the market in Vegesack, so we planned our market visit accordingly.  Sooo nice.  Five amateur musicians playing music on their horns - a 3o-minute respite from the frantic rush of shopping.  Later our neighbors and friends Gerd and Renate came for dinner - crepes of turkey and spinach, salad, lemon curd in pastry.

And then Sunday.  Light the second candle.  The miniature poinsettia has lost several leaves. I'm not taking pictures of its demise.

Now we have the tree up.  Trees seem to be getting more expensive (isn't everything) and this year I insisted on one just a teeeny bit shorter. I like it.  It accommodates the lights, the ornaments stand out, and it's easier to decorate.  I only need the stool to put the topper on. Werner loves the tree but does NOT love the decorating.   That's my job.  (But he is so great at putting all the stuff away!  No complaints.)

Here's the newest ornament.  A martini glass.  A santa martini glass. Thanks Michelle and Joey! Love the buckle.

First Advent

It is going faster and faster, the time.  Didn't we just do this??  It seems we did, but here it is again, First Advent.   Four Sundays before Chirstmas.  Get out the wreath, start counting down.

First Advent means lighting the first candle.  (The miniature pointsettia is sitting in the window this time; we'll see how long it lasts.)  And - of course - it means going to René and Rima's for the annual family First Advent Feast. 

The day before was a frenzy of baking: cranberry bread for Monika and Amoun (mothers of René and Rima who really really like it); banana bread for Mutti to serve to her card-playing cronies next week because it's her favorite; carrot nut bread because we just like it; and fresh ginger cake with lemon curd as part of the dessert offering. Thank goodness, Werner likes to clean up!!

You may have to try this ginger cake - everyone LOVED it and it is so easy to make! Well, it takes a bit of prep (grating and chopping ginger is a bear -maybe it works as well in a processor), but putting it together is a snap. I don't know if I had beginner's luck with the lemon curd or not; it seems to have a reputation of hard-to-do-right since prepared curd is so expensive! But it was easy too and yummy.

Sunday morning we lit our first Advent candle and had our breakfast of eggs Benedict, though Werner kept saying egg Benedict since there was only one ... with a garnish of chives and not much else.  There was lots more food to come.

We stopped to pick up Mutti though she was hesitant about attending this year; she's had a bit of a hard time recently and getting around is becoming a challenge. She thought - silly her - that she'd be a burden. On the contrary, she cheers everyone with her optimism and sunny outlook!

The table was set; René got started firing up the grill and Amina busied herself making a necklace with the beads we brought to her.

Menu this year:  Oxtail Soup, Pasta stuffed with minced lamb, and Grilled Rabbit with Braised Vegetables.

Well.  Not bad! (That means it was wonderful.)  René made the consommé himself, of course, so clear.  The pasta is a thicker sort that the Germans like.  Called Maultaschen (little pockets of goodies for your mouth), they're  intended to fill up your mouth (Maul, though that's not exactly kosher German), and they do!  Be we had reasonable portions and a touch of sauce.  Here's Lex considering the main course before cleaning his plate!

Sigh.  Bring out the coffee and the schnapps and the cake.  Roll me home.

Date Day II

Back to normal and another Date Day.  We met at the main train station and headed to the city center.  Yow, hungry!  First a stop at "Kleiner Ratskeller" - The Small Ratskeller.

Here they serve traditional Bremen dishes.  There are only 10 tables in the place, and when we arrive only 6 - 8 customers.  English-speaking visitors have a hard time figuring out the menu since translating some of these dishes is near impossible.

But we know what we like and ordered (Bremer Knipp for me and Pan-fried potatoes and Sulze - meat in aspic - for Werner)  and then of course, we shared.  That's what we do!

Then it was off to the Gerhard Marcks Haus to look at the current exhibit:  various sculptures depicting Daphne.

Daphe was a wood nymph. The gods got into a little quarrel: Cupid and Apollo argued about their skills, so Cupid thought he'd show the big guy a thing or two.  He hit Apollo with a love arrow and Daphne with a not-ever-in-your-wildest-dreams-will-I-let-you-near-me arrow. Then Apollo chased Daphne and when she despaired of being caught by the man/god, she begged (BESEACHED) her father to save her.  So, she was turned into a laurel tree:   her arms turned to branches, her legs to trunk and roots.  Her lovely face was buried in the leaves of the tree.

But Apollo decided to honor her and forever after wore the leaves of the laurel and granted them to champions.  Sigh.  Sigh.

So, the myth.  Now the realization. 

Here is a very classical rendition of the two, based on Bernini.

This one was interesting - modern, featureless, but the elements are clearly Daphne. 

This one was my favorite:  the torso is slightly smaller than life, there's almost a 2-dimensionality to this 3-dimensional piece since her limbs (literally!) only grow to the side.  From the front, it looks almost like the ribs of a fan with a decorative handle.

Intrestingly, at least half of the sculptures were done by women artists.  I guess it's a theme that resonates.

Thanksgiving

I know, it's early. But we have to do it early since we can't celebrate on Thursday next week and the next weekend is too late.  So we do it now.

This year the menu included the usual mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (with orange butter sauce and fresh cranberries), and cranberry sauce.  Brussels sprouts with garlic and basil and black-eyed peas made a return appearance along with pecan pie, pumpkin pie and ambrosia.  Mr. Turkey came from the organic shop down the street, and we all agreed it was more tender and tasty.  We'll have to do that again.

BUT SMALLER.  You know our kitchen and the fridge are not standard American.  Mr. Turkey took up the whole middle of the fridge and this year we had no snow and cold weather to have our ersatz fridge outside! 

The newbie every year is the soup.  This year it was a suggestion from Michelle from the very last issue of Gourmet magazine.  I'd put in a link, but it isn't there yet, but it's Scarlet Carrot soup.  The scarlet comes from the beets and I can promise you that such a red is seldom to be seen.  Wow.  Besides that, it was incredibly tasty.

It's always fun setting the table with pretty things and then having the guests ooooh and aahhh. 

We used to have 10 and then we kinda lost one along the way but this year it was down to 8 since our good friend Ursel came down with the flu (standard, not swine) and decided not to share it with us.  Thank you, Ursel!!

After a glass of sparkling wine and the carving of the bird, we served our plates.  Ready here to dig in!!

Unlike previous years, we started early this time (3:00) so had time for a walk between the meal and the dessert.  Some of us here with one of the statues at the harbor.  She's holding the lantern that we took with us to light the way ----  DARK here at 4:30 these days!

Sunday we got up and after breakfast filled two plates with leftover goodies and took them to Mutti and to Ursel.  MORE happy faces and more Thanksgiving joy.  Wonderful.

2 Seconds of Fame

Werner got caught on camera the other day.  He'd just bought a new hat and since he's such a ham anyway, getting caught suited him just fine!

It was Friedrich Schiller's 250th Birthday.  As a "Famous Dead German Poet" kids in school - particularly those of Werner's generation -had to memorize some of Schiller's poetry.  Perhaps his most famous piece is "Ode to Joy" (An die Freude) famously put to music by J.S. Bach.  But another, frequently memorized verse is Das Lied von der Glocke (Song of the Bell), Schiller's longest poem which he composed as an allegory of life. 

Werner's quote is:

So test therefore, who join forever
If heart to heart be found together!

How romantic!

If you want to watch the clip, his few seconds are at 2 mins 16 seconds. I think we have a bit more fame coming.

Nostalgia

Actually, "old people's memories" might be a better title. 

I've been doing a bit of sewing for Christmas and thinking of doll clothes for Dylan's and Hannah's dolls. This brings back lots of pleasant memories, and reminds me of paper dolls.

Paper dolls.  Who reading this remembers Betsy McCall?  (I'll guess two. ) I see paper doll books in stores once in a while, but years and years ago it was a standard in the toy stores and 5&10 stores and drug stores and wherever coloring books were sold.  A part of that trend was Betsy McCall , a once-monthly feature in McCall's magazine, the same company that produced McCall's patterns (and of course touted their product along with the play-toy).  She was a cute little girl -10-ish I'd say -  and each month there was a different theme and paper cut-out clothes to go along with the theme.

I LOVED cutting out the dolls and the clothes.  I even designed clothes myself for these little paper dolls and made dolls of my own.  Naturally, this magazine did not show up monthly at our address - that was waaayyy too expensive.  It seems I saw more of them at Aunt Geraldine's in Tishomingo, Mississippi, during our summer vacations.   I don't remember if I only drooled over the cut outs there or if I sneaked them from the magazine or what.

Anyway, here is an example of the former Betsy McCall Paper Doll,one of the later versions. 

Read and sigh.

Date Weekend

The earlier promised Date Day was magically transformed into Date Weekend in honor of my birthday and in honor of the fact that we really wanted to go to Berlin and this was perhaps the only weekend between now and January to do it!  OK, I can do that.

Deutsche Bahn (the railway) makes it easy.  From Bremen to Berlin is a bit over three hours by train; by car it is at least that PLUS you have to drive through Hamburg which is as much fun as having teeth pulled. Or you can drive through Hannover, almost as much fun.  Either way, you have to deal with multiple construction "events" along the way which cause major bouts of frustation and costs you happy.  Never give up happy for a road trip.

The main plan was meeting up with friends but that left plenty of time to see the sights. Berlin has a lot to offer and you can't even begin to do it in a weekend. 

Thursday we arrived mid-day and found ourselves on the security camera at the subway station before we found our (unbelievably ordinary but clean and modern, NO WINDOW BOXES!) hotel and headed to the Neues Museum (New Museum) only to find we had to have a ticket for a time slot in order to get in at all.  Plan B: get tickets for Friday and then head to the Alte Museum  (Old Museum). 

New and Old are relative terms.  The Neues Museum is New because the Old Museum was too small for all the artifacts collected by King Frederich II.  The Old Museum has mostly ancient Etruscan, Roman and Greek artifacts and I was happy to make acquaintence with some old friends, among them Pericles who oversaw the construction of the Parthenon, and lots of old vases and statues from the age of the Parthenon.

Friday we breakfasted like kings at the hotel and then headed to the current exhibit at the Neue National Galerie.  All these names are confusing, I know.  I am terminally confused by some of them:  museums, galleries, old, new.  But this building, designed by Mies van der Rohe (who spent a lot of his professional life in Chicago, like another person I like) is very special. They have no permanent exhibit but rather put on temporary shows; currently it is Bilder Träume, or Picture Dreams - surrealism in Europe and its connections in New York.  VERRRRYY nice.

Then back to the Neues Museum and the old Egyptian stuff.  Bless Werner, he didn't complain though this old stuff is really not his thing.  There were mummies and sarcophogi and (more) vases and even more Roman statues.  The building itself is interesting:  it was heavily damaged in WWII, left open to the elements until 1980 when the East German government decided to try and save it and then when they just got started on the hard restoration work, The Wall came down and it became the project of the new unified German state.  It's been almost 20 years in the making.

Nefretiti is the S T A R attraction of this museum and people are streaming in from all over Germany and Europe and Scandinavia to see her in her new setting.  Here are two images: one with her husband, Akhanaton and the other famous image of her.  She is beautiful.  Funny, she could always be seen in her temporary housing before but the renovation of this last shell of a building on the Museum Island in the center of Berlin is something that makes everyone here proud and is an incredible magnet. 

Otherwise we spent time looking at maps and figuring out where we were headed.  We weren't the only ones.  We must have seen 5,000 people looking at maps during these few days.  At least.  I am not kidding.

Of course went to the Brandenburg Gate and passed by the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  At first it seems just there, but it is a moving and impressive memorial.  It's next to the American Embassy, and right next to the Brandenburg Gate.

We walked and rode the bus, but you can rent bikes or Segways to get around.  Don't know that I want to try that on a first visit to a big city. 

The Alexander Platz is probably the most famous square in the former East Berlin, the source of espionage and intrigue; from our hotel window we could see the communication tower and it is visible from most everywhere.  This is a collage of the Tower, including it as a head ornament over my white head. Cute!

And then it was time for Halloween at Nicole and Jeremy's.  We were prepared!  I'd downloaded scary images from the internet and Werner had made them into masks for us.  Everyone was suitably horrified.

After a  dinner of dirty rice and red beans (delicious!), we watched a slide show of Nicole and Jeremy's US trip through Colorado and the Southwest, and finally took a group picture.  It was (what else!?) a really nice weekend.

Date Day

I thought we needed a Date day and so Tuesday will be our Date Day this winter; Werner's taking just one class at the university and I have nothing scheduled on Tuesdays. 

So for our inaugural Date Day yesterday, we met at the main station and then headed to the Städtische Galerie Bremen (The Municipal Gallery).  It was 
c l e a r -  is that a blue sky or what ? - but a cold wind was blowing; we stayed away from the river and walked the sunny side of the street.  The Galerie building is a former brewery and the interior is interesting, too, in addition to the art.  

The title of the current exhibit is "entartet" (loosely interpreted as Degenerate Art) and displays works from Bremen artists who happened to be Jewish or whose creations didn't meet the standards of the government and/or were  NOT approved by the National Socialists (Nazis) because they were avant garde or ugly or modern or whatever reason they decided..  Some landed in private hands, some works were burned by the Berlin fire department and some simply disappeared.  Here's the entry from MoMA about the whole Nazi program which confiscated thousands of works and then put them on a traveling display - it was wildly successful and people stood in lines for hours to see the art - before removing them from view.  If you don't tell people what to hate, how will they know?

Here  is an example from Emil Nolde called "Wildly Dancing."  Isn't it wonderful?  Such bright colors and the brush work is just as wild as the dancers.  I'd put this in my living room in an instant!  Those Nazis didn't know from anything, much less art.

Then we went back into town to do some necessary shopping but of course stumbled upon signs of the Freimarkt there on the main square.  Our Roland is wearing a decorated gingerbread heart that announces the fair. 

And on the square there's an antique carousel with lovely carved horses and elephants and camels and carriages and garlands.  Makes you want to be a kid again.