It's always a treat to have guests, and especially Nicole and Jeremy from Berlin, folks we first got to know in Gainesville when Werner was in grad school. A short visit - just the Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend, but we got a few things done (and I didn't take enough pictures!).
Before their visit, I made a rhubarb cake, because you need cake.
For lunch, first day, we had spanikopita. Sadly, no pictures, but it was lovely and tasty, but a bit dry IMHO. I'll have to adjust something next time.
And you need a little walk after sitting on a train for five hours or so, so we walked. And what did we find? A store that sells beer! Imagine. Wow on that. Jeremy is a beer aficionado first class and even has an investment in a local brewery in Berlin, so beer choices are always interesting.
Thank goodness, we found some beer.
And then we made our sausage. We need to make sausage - in Germany? Well, we do, since we wanted some American-style breakfast sausage. I am so sorry, Germany, but you don't do this one so well. We found some recipes and some tips and, lucky us, Werner and I have a hand-cranked meat grinder. What fun is that?? Here we go.... grinder ready.
Pork shoulder and extra fat (essential!) put into the grinder and mixed all up. We used the thingy with the largest holes (what do you call that?) though next time I think we'll use the middle one.
We mixed it gently with all the spices and flavorings and put in the fridge get married during the night.
Dinner night one was shrimp and grits. We have some Bradley's stone-ground grits here, so a real treat from the usual. Good stuff!
A little dessert? How about Nicole's homemade braided Easter bread? Yes!!
To bed, to bed. And in the middle of the night, I was awakened. Not by a hot flash or a noise or a nightmare, but a sore throat and sneezes and coughs! A cold or covid??? I waited a few hours and tested and it was negative, and this potent cold seems to be going around. What a downer, bummer, unwanted thingy. But so it is.
However, mornings are better than afternoons when you have a cold so we had our amazing American breakfast of biscuits, bacon, hash browns, eggs, and our home-made sausage. We were impressed! And we'll definitely do it again - the sausage was tasty and light.
But my cold made the day a bit slower. We rested and later took a ride out to Fisherhude, took a walk about and were somewhat disappointed at how the village has changed over the last few years. But maybe it was my cold.
Dinner was already half done - we'd ordered braised ox cheeks (don't say anything unless you have tried it!!). Wonderfully tasty and tender. We made potato dumplings and some salad and yummied it all up. Fantastic.
Afterwards, down time and watching stuff on Netflix.
Isn't it great to just kick back and relax with friends and not have to worry about being the entertainment all the time? I do think Nicole and Jeremy enjoyed the down-time. too.
And then it was over! We took them to the train after a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes and the rest of the sausages. Yum, and yum. Looking forward to the next visit, we hope in Berlin!!
Meanwhile, the cold is winding down and somehow, dear Werner has been spared.
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