Schnee

We woke up to surprise snow on Wednesday morning. It wasn't much - no more than five centimeters - but it was enough to make everything more beautiful. Schönes Wochenende!

Going places I've never been

I am often not good at anticipating which things I will like or want to do and which I won't. For example, had you asked me a year and a half ago if I would ever want to live in Germany I would have said no. (I stand corrected.) Had you asked me two years ago if I was likely to get married I would have said no. (Ditto on being corrected.) And had you asked me three years ago if I wanted to try cabbage pie...well, you get the picture. But the good thing about thinking you won't like something is that it's all the more enjoyable when it turns out to be seriously good.


Cabbage pie is good. My sister learned the recipe from one of her college roommates and passed it on to me. Her roommate is one of those people who can make a pie crust by just dumping the ingredients in a bowl - no measuring required. While I would love to be this comfortable making pie crusts, it isn't necessary to make her cabbage pie. This pie isn't showy - it's not going to complain if the crust looks less than perfect. All you need aside from the crust is some fresh cabbage (I've used savoy and green, but I bet red would work), olive oil, salt and pepper. There are endless variations to what you can add to the cabbage - hard boiled eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, fresh herbs, or nothing at all. It's all good. My last variation had savoy cabbage, mushrooms and thyme, and it echoed the flavors of my mom's awesome meat pie. It was also more of a galette than a pie, as you can see from the photo, because I was feeling lazy and only wanted to make one crust. The only problem was that the bits of cabbage sticking out got quite brown. The crispy browned bits were tasty but they were edging rather close to burnt, so it's something to watch.

So - for those of you who think you won't like cabbage pie, I urge you to try it once. If you don't like it at least cabbage is cheap and healthy, and if you do - well, thank goodness for surprises (and college roommates).


Cabbage Pie

Pastry for a double-crusted pie (homemade, store-bought, whatever)

For the filling:
1/2 head savoy or green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 1 lb)
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 190 C. Make sure your crusts are prepped (rolled out, unwrapped, etc.), and put the bottom crust in a standard pie plate, letting the excess crust overhang the dish. (Sarah's roommate always did this in a 9x13" pan, but I don't know how much pastry that requires. Feel free to experiment.) Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add a good splash of olive oil to the pan. Add the sliced cabbage, stirring to coat it all in oil and cook until it wilts. Season with salt and pepper and let cool slightly. Add the cabbage to the pie crust, then place the second round of dough on top. Crimp the edges of the crust to seal, and trim excess dough. Cut a few steam vents in the top and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nice and brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes before cutting.

Back to life

We are finally settled back into life in Hamburg after our trip, and I must say it's nice to be back. I was curious to see how we fared on our first foray back "home." I was afraid I would be so happy to be someplace familiar that I would dread returning to Hamburg where we don't know many people and which we're really only beginning to understand.

It's confusing, I tell you. Hamburg definitely started to feel like home this fall, at least for me. Zoli was on the boat longer than he was continuously in Hamburg, but even he started to settle in...right before we got on an airplane and *poof* were back in a country where we can understand the telemarketers and conversations on the subway, where the stores are open on Sundays and where I can buy real vanilla extract in any grocery store. I was worried that being back in the US would make me miss those things, and how easy everything is when you speak the language and understand how the system works.

On our flights to the states we were given some evidence of how far we've progressed in the few months we've been here. Since we were flying Swiss Air, all the announcements were in German, French and English and it was gratifying to realize how much German we understand now compared with when we left the US in September. We were also mysteriously upgraded to business class for the transatlantic portion of our flight, which made the trip back that much nicer.

The most confusing/amusing part of the trip was when one of the flight attendants decided that French was my preferred language, forcing me to resuscitate my very paltry French. It made my brain hurt.

One of the first things I noticed when we arrived in the US was how loud it was - not that Hamburg is quiet, but it's easy to tune out stray conversations when you only have a slight chance of understanding them. At the baggage claim in Logan I was silently fuming at a group of college students home from their year abroad in Italy because they were having an annoying conversation that I didn't want to hear. (Apparently being upgraded doesn't make me less testy after a long flight.)


As for the rest of our trip, we were lucky to get all the good parts of snow (gorgeousness) with none of the bad parts (travel delays). Given that we stayed in five different places up and down the eastern seaboard and we traveled over 1000 miles while in the US we were very lucky. Every place we visited involved excellent company, delicious food and lots of fun. I had Rouladen and Klöse for the first time at our Christmas Eve dinner (a German in attendance declared it the most traditional German Christmas meal she'd ever had). At other meals we had fabulous Boeuf Bourguignon and lobster hand-carried from Maine, as well as delicious Chinese dumplings, chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls, fondue (made with Appenzeller and Beaufort cheeses)...and I'm sure there's more that I can't remember. All in all it was a great trip.


But ultimately I was very happy, itching even, to come back to Hamburg. I wasn't sure it would feel like we were actually coming home since we were leaving so much that is more familiar, but it did and I was pleased.

Things are a little different now as last week I started in the lab full time, so I don't have as much time to wander around and explore the city or to plan dinner. (Nor do I have as much time to eat breakfast in my pajamas at 10 am while checking my email and reading the news.) We're still getting reacquainted with the two-people-working thing so there hasn't been much in the way of exciting cooking happening. We're back to reliable, easy meals for a little while. Tonight I think I'm going to make this, assuming I can find shrimp (Garnele) somewhere. Tomorrow we're both coming home early to watch the inauguration - we bought some little Wurst that we were instructed to cook in either Grünkohl or Sauerkraut, but only for 10 minutes because they don't have much fat in them (hah!). Who are we to disregard that? Zoli's buying the kale today.

Home again, home again

We are back in Hamburg after 2+ weeks in the US spent trekking around to see family and friends. It was a great trip, but I'm having a hard time describing everything we did at all coherently. I will keep trying, but for the moment suffice it to say that we were mainly in the general Boston area; we went as far north as Belfast, Me; as far South as Tafton, PA; and ate lots of tasty food.

We came back via Dublin and Düsseldorf for complicated and boring reasons, and then took the train from Düsseldorf to Hamburg. I don't recommend this when you are carrying four bags crammed full of books and woodworking tools and have been awake for almost 24 hours, but the train came in over the Elbe and we were able to see some of the ice that accumulated in the very cold weeks we were gone. Arriving back in Hamburg felt like coming home - in a more tentative way than when we lived in Seattle, but still home. Since we are able to stay in our current apartment until the end of May we have five months with no planned trips or moves, which sounds quite fabulous right now. Happy New Year!

Gluhwein and Pfaffenglück

When people talk about Christmas in Germany, one of the first things that usually comes up is the Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte) that are present in almost every city. In Hamburg the market started just before Thanksgiving and goes until 23 December. Actually, it's several markets - there are three or four downtown, including the biggest by the Rathaus. Many of the neighborhoods in the city have their own, including Eimsbüttel (our neighborhood) and St. Pauli. The one in St. Pauli is right on the Reeperbahn, and the decorations on the booths reflect that.


I've visited a few of the markets by now and they're insanely crowded. There are booths selling all kinds of German Christmas-y things (and some not-so-Christmas-y or German, like the Stetson hat booth), but mostly the markets are all about the food. The rows of stalls are packed - but because there's a Gluhwein stand, or a place selling sausages or Fischbrötchen and people are queueing up for the food, or standing around eating and drinking. The one by the Rathaus is the most crowded - even going there in the middle of a weekday there are crowds that make it difficult to not spill your Gluhwein.

But - the Gluhwein is worth it! It's pulled from what looks like beer taps so it gets a bit foamy on top and is very warming. My favorite food so far is only at the Rathaus market - Pfaffenglück! It's basically an herbed yeast dough rolled out and topped with cheese, a sour cream sauce and bacon (or mushrooms), then baked. When they come out of the oven they add a bit more sour cream and chives, and that's it.

They're incredibly good - I have yet to go to the market and get away without eating one. Without fail it's the stand with the longest line, even longer than for Gluhwein, and that's saying something.

The best - or worst - part of the Rathaus market is the giant sleigh that goes across the market on a zip line every two hours, carrying a man dressed as Santa Claus who sounds disturbingly like Barry White. He climbs into the sleigh (hoisted up by a Genie), wishes all the children a merry Christmas, and then the sleigh goes across the market and then back. The second time it does this, the sleigh has sparkler "rockets" coming out the back. It's all rather alarming, made more so by the worst recording of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer I've ever heard. I've seen it twice now and that is plenty.


What I find the nicest about the markets is that people mostly go there to stand around, drink some Gluhwein or a Lumumba (hot chocolate with a shot of rum and whipped cream), eat some snacks and just generally socialize and enjoy being out with people. It's quite festive and fun. Give me a Lumumba and I'll drink to that!


Lumumba

I have not yet figured out why this is called a Lumumba - no one I asked knew, and Wikipedia was no help. But it's tasty, and I'm generally not a fan of rum.

6 oz. hot chocolate
1 shot rum
whipped cream

Put the hot chocolate in a mug and add the rum. Stir to combine. Pile high with whipped cream and enjoy!

Serves: 1

Thanksgiving en français

Before we moved I didn't think that much about celebrating such a distinctly American (and Canadian!) holiday abroad. It's easy to think that you'll just make the usual Thanksgiving dinner anyway, regardless of the fact that people don't have the fourth Thursday in November off from work, a whole turkey isn't exactly the easiest bird to find, and cranberries? Um, yeah. I won't even mention trying to find pie plates.

We were incredibly lucky this Thanksgiving - Sarah and Matt were here, Zoli was off the boat and we visited friends in Strasbourg to celebrate the holiday. Sarah and Matt were kind enough to bring gorgeous weather with them, in addition to cranberries and aluminum containers to hold extra stuffing and cornbread. We took advantage of the sun, repeating the trip I did several weeks before, taking the ferry to Teufelsbrück and walking back to central Hamburg along the Elbe. This time it was gorgeous, with amazing late-afternoon sunlight (late afternoon being, oh, 3pm).

The tide was low so we were able to walk across a bit of the beach as well.


So, we did a lot of walking, some eating and some exploring. Then Zoli came back from the boat and was home for 12 hours before we left for the Hauptbahnhof and a six hour train ride to Strasbourg with two pies, three pans of cornbread and a jar of cranberry sauce in tow. I was nervous because I was in charge of the train logistics but to my relief the trip went smoothly. Matt was able to get a pickled herring Brötchen in the train station to fortify him for the trip and I didn't leave the pies on the train. Joseph and Rebeka, our gracious Thanksgiving hosts, awaited us with delicious quiche, wine, cheese (oh, the cheese!) and little pots of chocolate mousse. This set the stage for our three day visit and it was the most restrained meal we had.

First off on Thursday morning we had to figure out the turkey. Joseph procured it from a local farm and it came with the head attached, which was both fascinating and bit perplexing.

But after we all examined it, Zoli cut it off and we added the neck to the various innards to make the broth for stuffing and gravy.

For a pre-dinner snack we made an approximation of American onion dip - Sarah found some onion soup mix in the grocery store and we subbed cremé fraîche for the sour cream.
We had to pick out the little bits of dehydrated croutons in the mix, but it wasn't bad - surprisingly a bit sweeter and less oniony than the American version.

The beginning of the meal was a foie gras terrine that Joesph's mother made for us.

It. Was. So. Good. But, not exactly light so it made continuing on to the next course, a.k.a all of Thanksgiving, a bit more difficult. We had a break though, because we still needed to cook the vegetables and make the gravy.


And open more wine.


I forgot to take photos of the actual food, but we had: turkey, stuffing, green beans with almonds and pomegranate seeds, Brussels sprouts, cornbread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. Joseph selected the wine, tutoring us on which type of wine goes with which course. Before each course there was a test to see if we remembered. (White with foie gras (typically sweet, but Joseph prefers dry and it was quite tasty), red with turkey, red with cheese, white sparking with dessert.) After the main meal we were all seriously stuffed, but we had cheese anyway (with an amazing French blue I can't remember the name of, and several tiny, tasty goat cheeses). Then we all mustered our inner masochistic glutton and partook in the pies, apple and pumpkin.


(I gave up on finding pie plates here and used springform pans instead, which I DO NOT advise doing, although they worked well for transporting the pies.) So - we learned that the addition of foie gras and cheese to Thanksgiving makes for a very delicious and physically painful affair.

The rest of the trip we took the opportunity to be tourists, taking a narrated boat trip along l'Ill, the river that surrounds the old city of Strasbourg.

We learned all about the bridge on which criminals were tortured, mocked by townspeople doing needlepoint, that sauerkraut originally comes from China, and something about the architecture of the European Parliament building, but I was getting a bit sleepy by that point. We also sampled some regional foods, including: tarte flambée (Pflammkuchen auf Deutsch - a very thin, circular crust covered with cream, onions, lardons and cheese, and baked until the crust is a bit charred and everything is toasty) accompanied by local beer; and choucroute garnie (big pile o'pork products on sauerkraut). Not specifically local, we had tasty waffles (gaufre, otherwise known as gophers) with chocolate and whipped cream,


and Raclette to end our visit. Not to mention the pastries for breakfast, and roasted chestnuts and gluhwein at the Christmas market. (I feel full just thinking about this.)

Strasbourg is famous for both its cathedral and its Christmas market. We climbed the tower of the cathedral, which had amazing city views

as well as some fairly impressive graffiti.

Unfortunately we forgot our chisels. The Christmas market was a madhouse, but quite attractive and festive at night. On a chocolate-buying expedition we even found an Oberlin connection.


Sunday morning Sarah and Matt took the train to the airport and we went back to Hamburg. We had first class seats for the trip home, which basically just means bigger seats - after three days of non-stop eating I needed it.


Pumpkin Pie

The filling in this pie was fabulous - much better than my first attempt at pumpkin pie in college. (The less said about that the better, but it involved food coloring.) Use whatever dough you like for the crust, I like this version as well as this one.

Crust for one single-crust pie, in pie plate and ready to be filled. (You can also par-bake it if you like before filling.)

1 small Hokkaido pumpkin (2-ish lbs)
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 c milk
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp whiskey
1/3 c moscovado sugar or other brown sugar
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a bowl, toss pumpkin with butter and granulated sugar. Arrange on a baking sheet or in a large baking dish. Roast, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and very soft, 30-40 min. Let cool. Pureé pumpkin in a food processor or with a hand blender until very, very smooth. Measure out about 15-oz of the puree - freeze any extra. (This step can be done a few days ahead, or you can freeze it for about a month. Just be sure to freeze what you need separately from any extra.)

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pureé, cream, milk, eggs, yolk, whiskey, brown sugar, peper, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into prepared pie shell and bake for 15 minutes, turning once for even browning. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 25-30 min., rotating again, until the pie is mostly set but still slightly jiggly in the center. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Serve the same day or chilled overnight - either way with freshly whipped cream.

Too full to write

Sorry for the silence over here. After a month without much to do aside from thinking about malaria and trying to understand German I got a bit busy. I gave a seminar and had a bunch of fellowship application work to do. Then all-of-a-sudden Sarah and Matt arrived for a visit, Zoli came back from the boat and we all took the train down to Strasbourg for a seriously awesome Thanksgiving. I think I just about ate my body weight in food while we were there, so since then I've been occupied with digesting and more digesting. And fellowship writing. So - I promise a post about our trip soon. I hope you all had lovely Thanksgivings, full of family and friends. We certainly did.