leftover epiphany

We are hunkered down here in Hamburg, in for the long haul of cold, wet and gloomy that will be life in this part of Europe until April. I find this time of year challenging - sunrise at 8:20 makes it hard to get out of bed with any kind of enthusiasm, all the more so when you can't really tell the sun is up because the clouds are so thick. On the other hand, we get the occasional bursts of sun that are pretty spectacular, and I get to feel virtuous for getting up before sunrise, which never happens in the summer.


I find myself craving spicy food at this time of year, needing something with a good kick to keep me from complaining. Mapo Tofu has become one of our standard winter meals, hot and tingly and seriously good. Good Asian food of any type is hard to come by here, as is anything remotely spicy, so we mostly make our own when we need a fix. We actually make this quite often during the week - most of the ingredients are in the pantry, so once we have them we're good to go for a while. Plus, the leftovers make an excellent lunch, especially to thaw freezing toes and raw fingers.


We don't have a microwave at home, and I was surprised to discover that I am quite content not having one. Our apartment is small - the kitchen isn't tiny but counter space is still precious. The only time I ever missed it was when reheating leftovers - until I discovered that I can do it in my regular oven! (Anyone with cooking experience in the pre-microwave era, feel free to roll your eyes.) A little over a year ago I acquired a small porcelain covered casserole from a flea market for 5 euros, thinking that it would be good for making one or two-serving meals when Zoli is away.



It turns out what I mostly use it for is reheating leftovers. (Incidentally, it is also great for roasting beets.) The first time I made leftovers in the oven I was totally impressed with myself - until it occurred to me that it would probably also work with a foil-covered regular bowl, not just my little dish, which it does. Then I just felt rather silly for taking so long to figure it out.


Regardless of how the leftovers are reheated, the Mapo Tofu is delicious and warming and the polar opposite of 2 degrees and drizzly. Right now, that is pretty darn good.



Mapo Tofu
adapted from Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop
Serves 2-3 as a main dish and doubles easily


1 block soft tofu, drained and cubed
3 tablespoons peanut or other vegetable oil
6 oz (170g) ground pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced at an angle (save a handful for garnish) - one small leek also works
1-3 Tbsp Sambal Oelek (what we use) or chili bean paste
1 Tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed and chopped
1/2 Tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 c chicken stock
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp soy sauce (more to taste)
4 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 6 Tbsp water

Toast the Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan (I normally use the same pot I will use to cook the Mapo Tofu) until they are smoking slightly but not burnt. Transfer to a spice grinder or mortar and grind until relatively finely ground.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. (I use my big enameled cast iron dutch oven - a wok would definitely also work.) Add the pork and stir-fry until it is crispy and a little brown but isn't dry. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and scallions, and cook until fragrant (a minute or two, careful not to burn the garlic). Add the Sambal Oelek, black beans, and 1-2 tsp of the ground Sichuan pepper. Cook for another minute, stirring to combine everything.

Pour in the stock, making sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the sugar and soy sauce, mix well, and let the mixture come to a gentle simmer if it isn't already there. Taste for seasoning and for spice - if you want it a bit hotter add more sambal oelek, more tingly add more Sichuan pepper. (I normally start with two Tbsp sambal oelek and sometimes add a third, but we like it quite spicy.) Add the tofu and incorporate it into the sauce by gently pushing it down with the back of a ladle or large spoon. Try not to break up the tofu. Simmer for about 5 minutes, letting the tofu warm through and absorb the sauce. Add about half the cornstarch mixture and mix well but gently, letting the sauce thicken. (You want it to just coat the back of a spoon.) If it needs to be thicker, add more of the cornstarch mix. Serve hot, over steamed rice and garnished with scallions and the remaining ground Sichuan peppercorns.

away we go

A few weekends ago we took a ferry down the Elbe to an island in the North Sea - a practice vacation, as it were, to prepare us for our real vacation. Our real vacation that started when I left the lab this evening. I hope we practiced enough - there are beaches calling my name. Enjoy the tail end of summer, I'll be back in a few weeks.

bring it on

Summer is here and it is glorious. Days in a row of 35 degree temperatures, swimming in the sea and the pool, sticky weather that demands gin & tonics, watermelon and barbecues in the park. Northern Europe has been going through a heat wave for the past few weeks, and while the temperatures can't compare with what the east coast of the US has been coping with it has still been pretty damn hot. There is no air conditioning here, not at work nor at home, so days of constant 35 degrees add up. But when the heat means skirts and sandals, train trips to the beach, fun with (young) old friends in Amsterdam, and more summer produce than I know what to do with, I am one happy chicken.

I meant to make a list of things I wanted to do this summer, but summer arrived before I had a chance. We have already had a birthday barbecue in our neighborhood park, rented a Strandkorb on the Baltic (so silly and yet so practical), eaten basil spaghetti, slept with only a sheet and had some quality balcony sitting. There is yet more to come - a weekend on a North Sea island, hopefully another train trip to the beach, peaches and apricots and baby artichokes, tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes, and maybe a trip to Berlin. Last but not least will be vacation in the US to see family and friends and enjoy the tail end of the east coast summer. Corn on the cob, I'm coming for you.

Cherry season has been going for a few weeks now, and my absolute favorite thing to do with cherries is make clafoutis. Any kind of cherries (or really, any other fruit) will be delicious, but I think the best are dark red sweet cherries. Here they are called Knubberkirschen and there are countless varieties, but they are generally similar to Bing cherries. (Knubber somehow refers to the fact that they are kind of crunchy and meaty.) The best part is, there is no need to pit them, you're supposed to just spit out the pits as you eat. I've made this twice in the past week and somehow I don't think I'll be stopping any time soon. As long as I can say knubberkirschen and clafoutis, all is right (if slightly linguistically confused) in the world.


Cherry Clafoutis
(adapted slightly from this ceres & bacchus recipe, via smitten kitchen)

I like to make this in an oval ceramic dish, but a high-sided pyrex dish or pie plate also works well.

2 heaping c (12 oz, 360 g) sweet cherries, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
1/2 c (3 3/4 oz, 108 g) sugar
1/2 c butter (4 oz, 113 g), melted and cooled
1 c (4.5 oz, 130 g) flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c milk (whole or low fat are fine - with that much butter skim would probably also work)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp kirsch (or rum)

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease the baking dish well with butter and add the cherries, distributing them evenly over the bottom of the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until they are well mixed and lighten a bit in color. Gradually whisk in the butter, then add the flour all at once, along with the salt. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick (not lumpy). Add the milk a little at a time, whisking well to incorporate. (The mixture should be smooth and thin, like crepe or pancake batter.) Add the vanilla and kirsch and whisk to fully incorporate.

Pour the batter over the cherries in the baking dish (the fruit will move around a bit - no problem)and place the dish in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes until quite brown, puffy around the sides and set in the center. (I normally check with a sharp knife - it should come out fairly clean.) Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving, but it is also great at room temperature. It is just as good the next day for breakfast or cut into little one-cherry cubes for a snack. Really.

Serves 4 (with a little leftover for breakfast)

home improvement

While I have been rather quiet here things have been happening. Specifically, things around the apartment. Zoli has been putting his carpentry skills to good use in order to improve our kitchen and the results are quite fabulous.

First he made us a pot rack, which made me inordinately happy. (This was back in February. I'm a little behind.)


Then we got our act together and made a decision about how to add some eating space in the kitchen. One long wall was bare except for the heater - wasted space unless you counted the top of the (safely turned off) heater, which served as a very narrow shelf. We had been talking about getting/making/building something since we moved in and after much bickering and disagreement about how it should be done this is the final result.

Zoli took the bus to the lumber store for the very large, very heavy piece of wood, I took the bus to Ikea (in a snow storm! Highly recommended) for the legs. Zoli got to make measurements and saw some stuff and make a mess, I got to melt beeswax and walnut oil together for the finish and make a mess.


We both got to use the drill. All in all it was an excellent compromise. We even found some stools without too much difficulty - so now I can sit in the kitchen in the morning and eat breakfast, looking out at our suddenly-green courtyard. It really is finally spring.

Hamburg on ice

It has been snowing here like nobody's business - I saw online somewhere that it has essentially been snowing for six weeks and I believe it. The sidewalks are now covered with weeks of accumulated snow, snow that partially melted and then refroze as dirty slush, the grit used as traction on the sidewalk, and more snow. If you looked at a cross section it would be like some kind of sedimentary rock formation except colder.

The big excitement here is that the Alster, the lake in the center of Hamburg, is frozen solid enough to walk on - which apparently half of the city has been doing at the weekend. The ice isn't quite thick enough for the Alstereisvergnügen, the festival on the frozen lake that happened in 1996, but the sheer possibility of it is all anyone has been talking about. I haven't actually gotten over to that part of town to see the lake, but we woke up last weekend to about six inches of fresh snow and took a walk around our white, white neighborhood. There is a canal that we walk along quite frequently, and it was frozen - enough to walk on it, which we of course had to do along with other folks from our neighborhood, some of whom were (unsucessfully) trying to ice skate.


The Elbe is also frozen again, and again Zoli and I took the ferry to check out the ice, along with the half of Hamburg that wasn't walking on the frozen Alster.

No sun this time (that has been in short supply lately, it's been snowing too much), but enough ice to make docking at the ferry stops a multi-try operation and waiting for the ferry a multi-shiver one. Thankfully the cold and the grey are somehow ameliorated by swimming in a toasty-warm outdooor pool with snowflakes falling on your head.

Not only is it shiver-in-your-underheated-office season, it is also Berliner and Heißwecken season. Berliners are probably familiar to you, the good old jelly doughnut, though depending on where you are in Germany they aren't always called Berliners. In some areas they are called Krapfen and (ironically) in Berlin they are called Pfannkuchen - particularly confusing because in many parts of Germany Pfannkuchen means pancake. (There was a very spirited discussion at lunch one day between people who use the word Pfannkuchen to refer to completely different things.) I have to say that I was never a fan until I ate the Berliners here. They fall firmly in the category of sweets you will only find between Christmas and Lent (also eaten for New Year's apparently), and when you find a good one, well my goodness. My favorite at the moment is filled with Apfelmus (essentially apple sauce), in part because at our local (fantastic!) bakery they are coated in both regular sugar and powdered sugar, so you make an unholy mess eating them. (Don't do it on the U-bahn, you'll regret it. As will your neighbor.) But also the apple filling just fits - it feels wintery and comforting, but also has enough of a tang to let you know that spring is on it's way.


Heißwecken on the other hand say no such thing. They're more of a wallow-in-winter deal, a sweet roll studded with raisins, almost like stollen in texture, split in half, filled with whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar. There is often a little dot of cranberry compote underneath all that cream, but that too says winter. Heißwecken are a Northern German treat, something I had never heard of before I came here. They seem to be related to the Swedish semla and are really only here until Fat Tuesday, and if you've done your duty by eating a Heißwecken every day leading up to it, it will indeed be a Fat Tuesday.

Sliding through

I really love snow. Even though I don't get snow days anymore it is still a thrill to wake up to falling snow. We have had quite a bit of it recently, by Hamburg standards anyway. It was beautiful and white and never mind that the shoveling was spotty and the steps up to work treacherous. It was snow!


Today it melted. Not entirely, but enough that the un-shoveled sidewalks are either sheets of ice with water on top or four inches of dirty slush. Slush that is most definitely not snow. So to console myself, and those of you also having uncooperative weather, here are some photos from where the light was nice and there was no slush to be found, except in the form of granita.

walking and eating

Venice is not one of those places I always wanted to visit. I knew very little about it except that it is Historically Important, you can get the itty bitty clams from the Adriatic that are unlike any other clams anywhere (thank you, Marcella Hazan) and, well, canals. So while I was excited to visit I really didn't know what to expect.


Despite warnings, I didn't prepare myself for giant crowds of tourists in teeny tiny alleyways. I also didn't prepare for getting utterly lost on the way from the bus station to my hotel, which was about as much of a straight shot as one gets in Venice. I blame the tour group in front of me. I was heading the same way as they were, but everyone said "Don't follow the tourists! Get lost!" So I did exactly that, to the nth degree. I went the exact opposite way that I should have, was off of my map for the first half an hour and only very, very belatedly realized what I had done. On the upside, I got a rather nice tour of some of the outer neighborhoods of Venice before coming to the monster crowds at the Rialto Bridge. And at least I only had a backpack for luggage.


Despite that rather rocky navigational start, walking around the city was mostly really pleasant. Our hotel was in San Polo, very close to the Frari church and within easy walking distance of just about everything. And we did what we generally do on vacation - ate, walked, saw some art (the Biennalle, actually, which was fun), walked some more and then ate. To the walking and eating we added vaporettos and traghettos (1 euro ferry gondolas, my favorite) and some high-quality people watching.


Much of our time was spent figuring out where we would have our next meal. Normally when we go on vacation we have a PLAN, both in terms of restaurants and specific things to eat. For whatever reason that wasn't as much the case this time and we did a fair amount of random restaurant seeking that devolved into being hungry and crabby. Basically, we are indecisive. We keep walking and looking and then we don't eat lunch because we never find a place that looks just right. And then we get cranky. It's not pretty.


But despite all of that, Venice was...fabulous. We found fantastic gelato, a few lovely restaurants and even some unfiltered Prosecco for an afternoon drink. (I also found the most vicious and enormous mosquitoes I have ever encountered.) Mostly though we just relaxed and enjoyed being in the same place.


And now I would love to go back. I would plan it differently this time (stay in an apartment instead of a hotel, make time to swim, bathe in DEET before sitting beside a canal to eat an espresso granita con panna) but there was so much we did not get to see, and so many foods we weren't able to try. Next time.

Let's start in New York

I was having a hard time writing about my recent trip - maybe because it was so long, or it had so many parts. Or maybe because I became immediately busy and sick after getting home. But I actually think it was that I had to wait to get my film developed to see most of the photos I took. Zoli took the digital camera with him to Taiwan and Italy and I had my manual SLR, so while I took a few digital photos, most of the photos that I really thought about and wanted to see were on the four rolls of film sitting on the dining room table waiting to be developed.


Since that is finally done and the negatives were scanned by the lovely people at the photo lab we will start where I started, in New York. I visited my sister for a few days before my conference and aside from some good eating we also did some exploring on the weekend. We took the subway (obligingly rerouted over the river instead of under) to visit the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. I haven't been to many neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but I liked Fort Greene - the Flea, the farmer's market, the park - it was more peaceful than New York normally is, and really, how can you not like a neighborhood with tomatoes like this?


We also visited the Highline, along with every other person visiting New York that day*, despite the rain. And it was lovely - the weather was too hässlich for any burlesque shows or exhibitionism, but it was fun to see the old railroad tracks in some places, and the views of Jersey City in others.


From New York I bussed to Boston and then to Woods Hole, which is a lovely place any time to have a conference.

Conference summary: Parasites are bad but really interesting, and we're trying to do shit to stop them. Also, lobster is tasty.


On to Medford to see the baby, hang with my other sister, see my mom and practice being a good aunt. I learned two lessons. 1. Nephews are fascinating. I spent most of my time staring at him and I wish I was still there doing the same thing. 2. Babies are a lot of work. My sister and her husband are doing a fabulous job and basically taking it all in stride, it's quite impressive. And it was nice to be able to just hang out, go for walks, observe the Medford wildlife and help out, if only for a few days.


It's funny, despite living on the other side of the country from most of my family for many years, somehow since we've been living in Germany the distance feels larger. I was always sad to leave them when I was living in Seattle, but I guess I didn't feel like I was missing anything. But now I know I'm missing a lot and photos, adorable as they are, don't make up for it.

Up next: Venice

*I was somewhat overwhelmed by all the people in New York - or rather, all the conversations I was unable to block out because they were in English. Though I can understand many German conversations now, it is still quite easy to disengage and not listen since it requires extra concentration and effort to understand. I am out of practice blocking out English conversations, however, and I was listening to EVERYTHING.

Year 2, Day 12

If this summer was a whirlwind, September was a tornado. But a generous tornado, the kind that knocks you around a little but doesn't actually cause much damage except some jet lag and one suitcase casualty. And one that takes you to Venice on vacation.

We both spent most of September traveling for conferences in different hemispheres and then for vacation together in Italy. Zoli had the more exotic conference locations (Taiwan then Venice) - my conference in Woods Hole wasn't quite as sexy, except that I got to spend a week in Boston cuddling my nephew. (I'd take him over Taiwan any day.) We were gone for over three weeks - the conferences were interesting and exhausting the way conferences are and our vacation in Italy was lovely, but man is it nice to be home! (We both had conferences close to Hamburg last week as well - who made September and October conference season?)

All that conferencing and traveling is finally finished, just in time for Zoli to leave for five weeks for his annual RAPID cruise. I can't say I'm really prepared, but compared to this time last year this cruise will be a piece of cake. We've been in Hamburg for over a year, rather than just weeks; I have a job and more than enough to keep me busy; I can speak and understand so much more than at this time last year; and I've made friends so I won't be quite as lonely. His boat is supposed to have internet this year, so we may actually be able to Skype while he's gone instead of just email for five weeks (fingers crossed).

While we were on vacation we started our second year living in Hamburg, which is somehow unbelievable . So much has happened and yet it went so fast. We forgot on the actual moving anniversary, but the following evening we had a fantastic meal to end our vacation and somehow remembered that we were on Year 2, Day 2. Appropriately enough we sat next to some Germans and talked with them auf Deutsch until late into the evening. Year 2, I think I'm ready.

Summer so fickle

Remember how at the beginning of July it was hot? And I had to go to the pool after work to cool off because the lab was a toasty 32° C? Ah, those were the days. Since then it's been nothing but rainy with some cold and extra-rainy thrown in. I tend to think of July as my favorite month - it's warm, the days are long, it has my birthday (it now also has the birthday of my new nephew (!)), all the good summer produce is starting to come in and it just feels like quintessential summer. This year however, not so much with the quintessential summer part. In that first mini-burst of heat I was able to make what is possibly my favorite summer meal ever, and it's a sign of how miserable it's been that I have only made this dish twice this summer, total. Normally while the heat lasts it makes an appearance about once a week. It's one of those dishes that requires good tomatoes and basil, which means you're not likely to be able to make it before July, but then you can savor it through the end of August and beginning of September, before the last of the tomatoes disappear.


It's a ridiculously easy dinner, fast to make and not much clean-up. Basically you chop some tomatoes and combine them (juices and seeds and all) with small cubes of mozerella, shredded basil, a wee bit of garlic, and then enough olive oil to let all the ingredients mix and mingle. While the mingling is happening, you heat the pasta water and then boil capellini until it's just barely cooked, and toss it with the sauce so the heat from the pasta melts the cheese. The oil and tomato juice become the sauce, the cheese gets a bit oozy, the shards of basil cut the richness of the oil and oh man I'd really like to eat some right now, despite the fact that it's 10:30 pm and I should really go to bed.

This recipe came to me via my mom, via my aunt and uncle, and I don't know where they first encountered it. It's one of my favorites though, and for me it tastes like summer. And despite being rather fickle so far, the weather is looking up a bit - last week was beautiful, it was sunny this past weekend, and today I don't think it rained at all! I may even need to go to the pool after work tomorrow. Perhaps August will be the month for warm days that demand tomatoes and basil for dinner. July, I forgive you - we'll try again next year.


Basil Spaghetti

In my family there were two methods for serving this dish, and each method had its faction: one in favor of mixing all the pasta with the sauce at once, for optimal cheese melting; the other in favor of letting each person mix their sauce and pasta separately, which was better for leftovers. (Bonus - snacking on leftover sauce on toasted bread the next day.) Though I grew up in the mix-your-own camp and was a steadfast devotee for years, I defected at some point to mixing it all together at once. It's true that it's not as good for leftovers, but I live with Zoli. Do you really think we have leftovers? But feel free to let each person mix their own, the cheese doesn't melt as well but it's still mighty tasty. Also, I generally peel the tomatoes, but I have made it many times without peeling them and it's fine if you're feeling lazy or it's just too hot. One last thing - fresh or normal packaged mozzerella are both fine. If you use fresh (it's all I can find here) cut the ball into slices and dry them off a bit with paper towels before cubing it, otherwise the sauce can get too watery.


Basil Spaghetti
Serves 2-3 (can be doubled, tripled, you name it)

3 ripe plum tomatoes
1 ball fresh mozzerella (or 5 oz regular mozzerella)
1 branch fresh basil (20-ish leaves)
1 small clove garlic, pressed through a garlic press
1/4-1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
3/4 lb capellini (De Cecco is my favorite) or other skinny long pasta

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Spear a tomato on a fork through it's stem end and submerge in the boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Using a paring knife, peel the tomato, take it off the fork and core it. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes into pieces between 1/2-1" and add to a large bowl big enough for tossing the pasta. Cube the mozzerella (1/2 " pieces or smaller for optimal melting) and add to the tomatoes. Tear the basil into the bowl (or use kitchen shears), and add the garlic. Mix it all around and add a glug or two of oil. Add the salt and pepper (be generous with both), add a little more oil and stir again. Basically you want there to be a bit of oil/tomato liquid in the bowl but the ingredients don't want to be swimming. Taste, adjust the seasonings and let sit while preparing the pasta. (I like to let it sit at least 20 minutes before tossing with the pasta.)

Heat a large pot of water for the pasta. When it boils, add salt, then the pasta and cook the pasta until just barely al dente (this will only take 2 or 3 minutes). Drain well, then dump into the bowl with the sauce, tossing immediately to distribute the sauce and melt the cheese. Serve.

July, July

I was contemplating a post complaining about the crappy pseudo-fall weather we've been having, but apparently the weather read my mind and now it's hot. It actually is quite pleasant outside and in our apartment, but my lab faces south. And west. On the river, with nothing blocking the sun, and no fans or air conditioning. The thermometers say it's about 30 degress centigrade inside the lab - it's only 27 or 28 outside. Blech. So that's it, I'm going to the pool, no more bench work for me today! (I will get back to regular postings soon hopefully, we're still trying to figure out our internet at home. Once that's done I will post photos of our semi-furnished apartment.)

Moved and hiding

Moving stinks. Even when you know you're moving someplace better, that the new place will have all kinds of things the old one didn't, it still stinks. Even when you're moving on Midsummer and you have no idea it's 9pm because it seems light enough to be only 6 and you see a double rainbow after dropping off the heaviest load it still stinks. But all of our belongings are now in our new apartment, including a new bed frame, used furniture and adopted plants. Actually, not everything is in the new place - after dropping off the last load at 11 pm last night (they sky was still light), we returned the rental van and then retreated back to our old apartment to sleep and pretend that the chaos of the new place doesn't exist. We have enough clothing for a few days, and the old apartment has a bed with a mattress (something missing from our new apartment) so for the moment we're hiding. We'll deal with the piles of boxes and disassembled Ikea furniture in a few days.