Kohlfahrt, Again

I have to admit, this is getting repetitive. It's the Kohlfarht again, with the same wonderful folks, the same delicious meal, the same walk with minor variations.

So do I stay a journal, which means just telling about what it is we do, or become something else. What THAT would be, I have no idea. Cooking blog? Lots of those. Cats and babies? Lots of those, too.

Forget it. As they say these days, it is what it is, and it is what we do.

So, it is Kohlfahrt time. It's one of our touchstones and it makes the year make sense. Klaus and Johanna do it wonderfully and predictably, and we love it that way. We met at 3 in the afternoon, this time under gray skies that never did anything. Though there was still enough snow around, it was actually too warm (imagine that - 40° is too warm!) and we walked and sloshed through our walk. But it's friends, and it's talk, and it's good times together.

That's the best, and worth remembering and celebrating. Here's my salute. Till next year!!

First Advent

There's a German Christmas song that the children love:  Alle Jahre wieder kommt das Christuskind   - Every year the Christ child comes again.  The first part - alle Jahre wieder - gets used a lot for things that just get repeated again and again:  the tree, the celebrations, the Christmas market, the wreath. Our Weihnachtskranz for this year, a bit simpler.

And so it is with First Advent lunch at René and Rima's - every year again - though this year could be the last of the "usual" since it will be the last that Monika and Lex are with us as residents of Germany:  in January, they'll be moving to Curacao.  Not exactly around the corner, as they are now.

But no one was sad.  The day started with snow here in Bremen-Vegesack but was bright and clear most of the day.

 

Amina had a bright red Heidi outfit, and the rest of us were festively dressed as well.

 

And Rima, hair professional that she is, had done Amina's hair beautifully. I have to say, though, when you have thick, shiny, wavy hair, it's hard to go wrong!

Renè used to come up with a different festive menu every year, but he seems now to have settled into a traditional goose meal.  Actually two geese - one roasted at home and one at Monika's, which begs the question what will we do next year??

Round out the goose with steamy hot potatoes, brussels sprouts in brown butter, apple stuffing and red cabbage and you have a feast.  We all did our part!

Afterward more conversation and coffee and dessert.  I have to say, it's a bit like having Thanksgiving two weekends in a row. In fact, it is exactly like having Thanksgiving two weekends in a row!  Next weekend, I think we'll fast while remembering the wonderful food and company.

Spring?

The calendar says it, but my bones do not agree.  I remember Easters in Baltimore that were less than lovely - cold and windy.  There was a tradition of "spring coats" up north that we never participated in, but in hindsight I understand it. You don't want to be wearing the same dark wool coat you wore all winter when the calendar says it isn't anymore, but the temperatures, well, they talk back  to you.

And I remember too hiding Easter eggs and Michelle and Lee hunting for them still wearing warm coats, so this isn't just a north Germany phenomenon.
 
But it is cold and you have to live with it and so you keep doing stuff you do.

So cold or not, the Spargel is in! And the first Spargelessen is always a bit special.

THIS time, however, I'm doing all the preparation alone.  Werner went and did in a finger!  It looks a lot more serious than it was, but still, peeling potatoes and washing asparagus are not on his "can do" list!

First, get out the special accoutrements.

Then cook it up just right.

Then serve it up.  A pretty dish and a nice Silvaner helps.

Then you just enjoy.  Life's pleasures are small, but these small pleasures take up a whole big place in our lives and are worth the work - even when I have to do it all myself!

Christmas Eve

Our tree is decorated, the gifts are wrapped and it is time to celebrate.  Off to see the family.

Mutti said tonight, "They don't have Christmas Eve in America, do they?"  WHAT?!

Of course they do, but not like here.  Today is THE celebration.  The church bells ring.  Folks go to church services.  There's a family meal.  And most important for the children - the presents. Sometimes, a house visit from Santa.  But more on that later.

Since Mutti has been a bit on the weak side lately, we planned our celebration for their house. We prepared all that we could at home and took it all there to put together.  But not just dinner - first Claudia and Christoph served coffee and cake to Mutti, Claudia's mother and her husband and us.  Lord knows, we haven't had enough cake and cookies lately.

 
Afterwards Claudia modeled the neck warmer she'd just finished knitting.  It looks GREAT, but we wonder how warm it will be since it was knit on such large needles.  She'll have to find out later because it isn't really cold right now.  Really.

There was a welcome break between coffee and dinner since Christoph had to go play Santa.  Lots of parents here (of very small kids) often hire a "Santa" to come deliver the presents IN PERSON.  Wow.  Christoph did it for years for his godson, and now occasionally for friends.  He's got a great costume but honestly, Christoph is so tall and big, I'd be a bit intimidated by him if I were a 4 year old!

And you don't just ring the door bell and your hand bell (forget dropping down a chimney if you're a real Santa!) and leave the gifts.  You have to have a conversation with the kid and talk about the naughty and nice!  So Santa gets a letter beforehand with notes.
  

Oh Paula, you have been very nice to your friends, but sometimes you don't really share your toys like you should.  And you did really well in reading at school this year, but you still get up too early on Saturday and don't let Mama and Papa sleep in!  Besides, you keep sneaking into their bed at night and don't stay in your own bed.  Didn't we talk about this last year??

I think I'd be glad not to be getting switches and coal!

Dinner was tasty - pumpkin soup, lambs' leaf salad, Argentine filet, mushroom sauce, baked potatoes with Werner's famous green dressing, and to end, lemon curd pie with whipped cream.  It was all delicious.
 
On a final note, though, never forget this is Germany. So there's beer. Christmas beer.  Who'da thunk it?  Seems we used to leave beer now and again for Santa when Michelle and Lee were little.  Who needs milk at every stop along the present-dellivery way?

Have a Merry, Merry.

Advent, Advent

It is here, again -- Advent and all the events leading to Christmas.

And it is all about traditions.  The Advent wreath.  The candles.  And of course, the annual first Advent family dinner at René and Rima's.  It begins with breakfast at home with the Advent wreath and of course seasonal egg warmers!

Sadly, Mutti had to opt out this year.  She's been feeling poorly of late, so the gathering was smaller than in some years.

But it's tradition, so we do it!  We started with soup: a wonderful base with duck, noodles, vegetables and custard royale as reported last year.

Naturally, Amina takes lessons from her mom and dad and wants to help with the cooking.  Of course.

The main event was roasted goose, actually two of them!! A goose, though it looks big, doesn't really have all that much meat on it.  For all of us adults anticipating this meal, two was the minimum!  Mashed potatoes, the apple filling, brussels sprouts, and red cabbage were wonderful sides.  I especially like the Brussels sprouts with browned butter.  I have to remember that - and browned butter for my favorite - green beans - as well.

  
Oh my.  It was good!  The "filet" is the crispy skin of the roasted goose and there were a few minor confrontations about who got the crispy bits!!

 
The food is always wonderful, but it is basically about family and spending time together.  Since Mutti wasn't able to be with us this year, we took some special leftovers to her and sat with her while she enjoyed what we had enjoyed earlier.  A connection.  It's what holidays are about.

Happy Anniversary to Us

It's not a "significant" number, 19, but still an anniversary worth celebrating.  Werner's mom sent us flowers and we had a day together and an evening out.

Good for us.

Food

Seems to me we spend a lot of time - Werner and me - dealing with food.  Thinking about meals.  Planning meals. Shopping for meals.  Cooking the meals - good grief, that takes some time!  We eat breakfast and ask each other What's for lunch?  What's for dinner?

So, I was thinking the other day that with all the thought and time we put into planning, shopping, preparing and the final eating, I should perhaps say something more about it.

We're in the middle of a scandal at the moment.  Dioxin in animal feed.  Not good.  The farms that unknowingly used this feed are mostly in Lower Saxony, our closest neighbors, and mostly in feed for layers and pork.  Yes, we eat a lot of eggs and pork here! Makes you want to go organic. Fast.

And then last Friday we asked Nickolet and her roommate for dinner and offered hamburgers or tacos as the meal, thinking that would appeal to young people.  Great - hamburgers! they said.  Then they arrived and - horror of horrors - Ranisha had not an inkling that hamburgers were made of beef.  Sacred beef.  OMG.  I thought we all spoke English.  Not so much.

We got over that.  I whipped up a veggie burger for Ranisha and afterwards we played Scrabble - and for the second time, Werner won.  I think I should get extra points for helping the others, but they don't. 

But back to food ...  we have had some lovely meals lately.

First, the table is always welcoming. 

Cabbage rolls with ground lamb.  This is so green and bright for a winter meal!

After the very rich dinners over Christmas and New Year, we went for fish, but somehow I couldn't just do plain fish.  Here, poached haddock with a vegetable sauce and rice.  Another keeper.

And though Werner says he doesn't really like risotto, he will yummy it down when it shows up on his plate.  I had an itch for a butternut squash and Jamie Oliver had the perfect recipe here for risotto with the squash and all my favorites - pancetta, sage, chili peppers and parmesan.  Oh, that was good.  (Truth be told, I altered the recipe a bit - not celery but celeriac since that was on hand and not mascarpone but crème fraîche for a slightly sour rather than sweet accent.)

Note the tulips on the table.  The snow has melted.  We'll likely get more snow, but spring is closer.

Kohl and Pinkel

I just took a quick look in the posts on this blog (really, have you read them all?? three years worth now??) and can't seem to quickly locate one that is dedicated to our annual Kohl und Pinkel dinner and walk. That said, I KNOW you have all heard about this north German ritual of the Kohl und Pinkel Fahrt - but just in case you don't remember, it is a time to get together and eat mounds of winter greens - note the picture of fresh greens above on the left - along with smoked meats and sausages. And since digesting all these gas - sy cabbage - gy greens takes a little help, a glass or two or more of schnapps helps the process. Walking is what we do regardless. Grünkohl is the excuse for imbibing.

Some of the folks in Friesland - the most northern parts of Germany in and at the North Sea - combine the feast with a bowling game along the streets in the villages. Werner and I have done that too, but not with our regular Kohl-und-Pinkel compatriots.

Yesterday the weather was sooooo cooperative! It was cold and crisp and sunny and not wet and not gray and not nasty. Wow. Here's the Lesum getting toward sunset. Don't you love the ducks?

And here we are standing around the bust of Admiral Brummy, a famous captain from this region. The street along the Lesum is named for him.

This year Werner and I had had but one other tradional Kohl Essen and that was in November for heaven's sake and besides that in Hamburg where they don't even serve Pinkel! So we were more than primed for this meal.

Johanna never disappoints. The potaotes were just right, the greens were perfectly seasoned, the Pinkel (both the Bremen variety and that from Oldenburg) were the crowning glory. Or maybe the crowning glory was the local beer. Or maybe it was the company. Or maybe it was the dessert (Rote Grütze with ice cream and/or whipped cream and/or vanilla sauce - we opted for all three!)

Or maybe it is the combination of all those things. It was a wonderful evening and though Ilsemarie had to warm her feet on the radiator after the walk, we will do it again all over next year. With pleasure.

With music perhaps. We had such a lively conversation about opera and Freddy Mercury and Elvis and Bach and tenors that we decided a karioke contest would suit us well next year! I will win of course because nobody loves singing more than I do - just ask Hunter and Hannah.

20 Years Ago Today

Yeah, you guys there have taxes due today. I hope you've done them and already got your returns back. I can wait until July; somehow it's harder to meet the deadline when you aren't in the country, though in these days, you should be able to do it from just about anywhere.

Twenty? Well, yes, 20 Years Ago On This Day, Werner and I had our first date. Wow. Here's a picture from about that time. Somehow, I didn't manage to take a picture of us on our first date. Who'da thunk it would be memorialized in the future?

I think we look a bit younger, thinner and less gray. We DEFINITELY look like we're in love. Or at least I do. Werner seems to be hiding behind those really big sunglasses.

Congratulations to us.

And congratulations to Steve and Gina. It's 19 today, isn't it? All the best!