Easter Part II

Or pre- and post-Easter.  Take your pick for a title. I'm not fussy.

Writing has taken a back seat in the last few weeks - and more - and reasons seem to keep piling up to not write.  So I must.  But I will skirt the less fun, less happy things that are going on right now.  Here in blogworld, it's sunshine and smiles.

Pre-Easter we had a short visit from René and Rima and Amina.  A visit to a local museum to check out the exhibit, a series of amusing paintings on postcards. Werner and I had visited the museum already, but I hadn't been able to fully enjoy it, so it was good again and the cartoons were especially to René's liking. Afterwards, time for Kaffee und Kuchen!  The restaurant we visited is a grand old 19th century building in the center of our sprawling city park, . Rima insists on a visit in summer so we can sit in the garden.  OK - pick a date - we'll be there.

Easter Sunday dawned sunny and bright - and we were prepared! Individual spinach tortes.

Hand-painted eggs.

Chocolate bunnies nesting in bunny napkins.

 And a fully dressed table for our brunch with friends.

It was yummy and filling and so afterwards a walk was in order.  We were not alone - half the city was walking along the Weser and enjoying the weather and down time. Here we are, framed by blue skies and colorful pansies.

Ah.


Easter Monday, also a holiday, was equally lovely, so we headed to Worpswede for another walk, this time around the local "mountain"  - the Weyerberg - all of 60 meters high.  But when everything else is at 0 meters, that's a mountain.

But, first, where are we going?  As it turned out, we didn't need the guide, we could just follow the crowds.

At the top of the Weyerberg is a memorial called the  Niedersachsenstein (The Lower Saxony Stone), a brick memorial dedicated in 1922 to honor local men who died in World War I.  It is big;  I'd describe it as looming.

And with all monuments, there is graffiti, lots of initials and such cut into the brick.

And on the way back through the commercial area (which gets to sell on days that shops are otherwise closed since it's a designated tourist destination) we found just what I need (need!!) for the pots of hostas on the back terrace. 

First Advent

Ah, no wreath this year.  We opted for four candles on a tray with random greenery.  I think it will change a bit in the next four weeks, and that's OK. Meanwhile the first candle is lit and a light breakfast - a fruit salad with North Sea shrimp - is enough - because later there'll be a feast.

Some years, this was a realllllly big event - three sets of grandparents, cousin, great-grandma, godmother.  And as you all know, René can put on a food show - 12, 14 people to sit down and eat? No prob.  There have been some fabulous meals.

But years pass and things change.  Monika and Lex have moved to Curaçao. Rima's parents were in Lebanon visiting relatives for two months.  Mutti /Grandmother / Great-grandmother has left us.  Cousin Ruth was not feeling well.  We shrunk the family!!  Only five of us this year, but that doesn't mean we celebrate any less.

Rima had decorated.  She always does, and she does it well.

We brought stuff, too.  Some dishes of Mutti's that go well with their set.  And Mutti's solitaire set of hand-fashioned marbles.  Every little kid in the family - including Hunter and Hannah - have played with this game!  So retro - but so attracting and attractive.  Everyone wants a turn!

Then it's time.  Dinner.  Dining.  Delicious.

Soup.

Then of course I forget to take pics because I am so busy eating!  Instead of the whole duck, this year we had breast of duck.  But with all the traditional accompaniments - red cabbage and boiled potatoes and yummy gravy. My diet was minimally set back since I was so restrained!

Picture-taking fun was on the menu, too!

Next weekend, the trio will be here for a visit to the Christmas market in Bremen.  More fun in store!

Holidays and Food

--- and a lot of food.  Plenty of company, too, but nice quiet meals alone as well.

We had a lovely holiday - and hope you did too.  There were fewer hours to teach, so more hours to work on the bathroom, some time for stitching, lots of time at the nursing home with Mutti, telephone calls and Skypes with far-away loved ones and walks and lazy mornings.  The weather was wet and too warm for the season, and we'll take that over freezing rain, but a bit more snow would have been welcome!

Our Christmas Eve dinner you've already read about - a roast filet of beef as a centerpiece.  It showed up again later in another form.

Christmas Day, we were on our own and opted for duck breast, red cabbage and home-made potato dumplings.  That was a first for me, potato dumplings, and not quite as daunting a task as I'd imagined. Of course, it was all yummy.  And, of course, a smidge too much for one meal.

Here in Germany, the Christmas holiday is extended and there's not only the Eve and the Day of Christmas but a 2nd Christmas Day - also a federal holiday, so you plan ahead for food and company.

We went to Ursel's where we got together with her neighbors, also old acquaintences, and had a chance to welcome Ursel's son Tille back to Germany after three years in Utah doing post-doc research.  She wanted to make things easy, so we had smoked eel - no cooking!  I know, not everyone's thing, including Hilmar who had Würstchen (hot dogs!) instead.  Who cares? That's OK since company and conversation were the main courses anyway.

Then there were a couple of days in between for leftovers.  Pan fried left-over potato dumplings with left-over Christmas Eve beef in mushroom sauce, all enhanced a bit.  Another day, cold sliced duck from Christmas Day with a salad of fresh mixed greens. I have to say, left overs are at least as good as the first servings!

We had to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on one night since Werner had never seen the whole movie and since it was a movie I had to have popcorn. Home made.  No microwave.  Wonderful.

And suddenly it's New Year's Eve!  We get together with the usual suspects for a cultural event and then welcome the New Year. This year we had tickets to an Operetta (Orhloff's Les Brigands - The Bandits) - that all my companions denounced as too sexist and too sexy.  Not being as well-versed in the genre, I thought it was amusing and fun and frankly just the right note for a not-at-all-serious "Holiday" - really.  New Year's is so NOT a serious holiday!
 
But after-operetta and before-midnight, you have to eat something. Too late to make fondue, so little bites.  Little yummy bites. I don't think we left Ilsemarie with too many overs.  And don't forget the Berliner - jelly-filled doughnuts that you eat for good luck.  OK!

And finally the NEW YEAR.  2013.  Wow.  Who thought this year would ever come?  Here it is.

Since we'd had to forgo the Cheese Fondue on the Eve of 2013, I had to have it on the Day of New Year and Werner was happy to comply.  It was so yummy.

 And so comes the end of 2012.  We finished it all. Finally.  No more leftovers.

All the best for a wonderful and healthy and happy 2013. And enjoy the leftovers.

Reminders of Summer

Our Italian Adventure included a day trip into the Chianti - beautiful countryside, ancient towns, great food - just don't ask about the wine tasting.

They're famous for their ceramics there, so we took our guests to Rampini Ceramics, near Radda.

 

We don't buy many souvenirs on our trips, or at least not big ones. But we already had pasta bowls from an earlier trip - a lovely olive pattern. We like them and use them often.

And of course, they had matching plates to go with it.  We thought, hey, OK, we will use them and enjoy them, too.  Ordering was a snap and they said, 4 weeks, you'll have your new plates.

But they must have forgotten they were Italian and Italians seem to have a different clock than the rest of us.  Maybe especially when it comes to ordering ceramics.

When I got back from the October US visit, about 4 x 4 weeks after the order, I asked Werner if he'd heard from Italy. No, he said.  So I wrote and they said  OH NEXT WEEK!

That was four "next weeks" ago, but finally "next week" arrived.

So we celebrated. It wasn't a completely new meal to celebrate the new plates - the mushrooms and zucchini had been hanging around and there's ALWAYS smoky bacon in the fridge along with Parmesan and cream. But it was the perfect meal to inaugurate our new Italian plates. And a wonderful reminder of a summer trip with people we love.

Sunday Outing - Weekly Roundup

The lens cover on the camera won't open.  I got some sand in there (don't ask!) and several methods of freeing it up haven't worked.  So we took the phone on our bike trip today.

Since we're a bit backward about phones (see the Italian post about NOT getting where we wanted to go), our phone camera has only 3 megapixels - puny by today's standards.  I remember buying a camera when Werner turned 60 and the owner of the camera shop said it was ridiculous to have more than 1 megapixel - who needs that, she said.  How times change......

But they're not soooo awful.  Take a look.

This greeted us on the front page Sunday morning - 75°, no chance of rain, sunny skies.  Gotta go bike!

So we biked to Worpswede for their annual Freiluft Galerie  (Open Air Gallery) where artists and artisans display their work outside.  It was 50K round trip but we got a long break half-way through

You can see how clear it was - blue skies and even with the puny camera, a pretty good shot.

In Worpswede, we were greeted by hanging art, colors, sculpture and even "Bremen" paintings.

And on the way home, we found some blackberries!  It's been so cool and often cloudy they've been really slow to ripen.  Now I have two little jars of jam -yea!

And BIG P.S.

We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on last Wednesday, August 8.  Quite a milestone - and 19 of those years spent here in Bremen.  I have never lived so long in any one place ever.  But things change, and nothing so much as hair and waistlines.  Here we were then, but we are just as happy now.

Gardens

Crissy posted a photo  a couple of weeks ago of Dylan proudly standing by the raised garden that she and Daddy put together. Isn't it pretty?  Everyone gets the garden bug sometime!

 
They might have a little trouble with the watermelon on the left though - they tend to get exuberant.

Michelle specializes - hanging tomatoes.  And she's really good at it!

I don't think I can claim any influence on their gardening bug, though I did try to do gardens now and again in Tallahassee.  Weeding was no fun in the H O T, though I do remember wonderful cantaloupe one year and growing okra to let it dry for the ornamental pods. They were taller than me!  Of course the cucumbers went crazy and cauliflower was not a great success and the asparagus never really took off. But tomatoes were usually pretty reliable. Oh, and I remember losing all my homemade tomato sauce from the homegrown tomatoes to the hurricane one year. 

It doesn't work so well for me here in my Germany, gardening that is, though folks here are crazy about their gardens!  There are gardening "clubs" all over town and at least four within walking distance of the house.  You can rent a plot and then plant whatever you like.  Some folks are intensive veggie/fruit gardeners, others go for the flowers.

I am limited.  Severely.  We just don't have much space and so often we are gone in the summer when I could enjoy our meager harvest.

But this year our summer vacation is in early June, and since warm weather arrived sooooo late, I'm just now getting my vegetable planted.

Squash.  Three seedlings. That's it.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Spring Traditions

We had those couple of days of mild weather about four weeks ago, but since then "spring" can be translated to "cold, damp, cloudy and gray with the rare sight of the sun." 

But last weekend, at least the sun came out just a little bit to remind us that spring is here - calendar-wise.

And the wild violets are out as well.  They are so sweet and so fragrant and flourish in the teeniest places, like here between the stones in the front of the house and the brick steps to our original but non-functional front door.  There's another little bunch of violets between the roots of one of the linden trees out front that has started to bloom as well. And frankly, these cuties can be considered a weed since it often pops up in places I don't really want any growing stuff to be. But I just can't get too irritated about them. Next step, after picking the lovelies and putting them in a teeny vase with some other teeny blossoms, is making tea of the leaves.  It's supposed to be a traditional spring cure - I'll let you know what it cures.

We took a long walk over the weekend.  What a treat to be outside and moving and not wet and not rushed.

The big sisters of our violets were in their glory along this wall.

Along the way we ran into some hens happily wandering, too.  Werner used his famous chicken talk to try and communicate and wouldn't you know - five other chickens showed up!  We got out of there in a hurry!

And then , just a bit further along the path, we found my favorite herald of springtime - Bärlauch (ramps)!!  I was so surprised at how full they were- really, if I had known, I'd have been out there much sooner.
 

I suppose you're tired of hearing about Bärlauch, but sorry - it has become an essential part of the season and I can't seem to do without it.  I picked a bunch - though Werner objected that carrying them another hour would be a pain in the whatever - but it wasn't - and later we had pasta and pesto from the fresh, garlicky, green, spring-infused, wonderful Bärlauch.

(Later, I'll do some dumplings and sauce!)