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.

Household appliance #1

I can now say that I have bought a refrigerator. A tiny, adorable, A++ energy efficient European refrigerator. See that empty space down there under the counter? This baby will go there, along with a washing machine. A clothes washing machine. A clothes washing machine that means no more trips to the sketchy laundromat. Woohoo!

How does it feel? It feels like we're moving in five days and we don't have any furniture.* Not to worry, we are going to Ikea tomorrow (and you know how I feel about Ikea), both for some buying and for some pre-buying scouting. Our first piece of furniture is already in the apartment (more on that another time); on Sunday we're picking up furniture we bought from acquaintances who are moving to the US for a few years to do postdocs. (I wish they were moving to Seattle, it would be so nicely symmetric.) Our new apartment will be full soon enough, so at the moment I am enjoying its gorgeously empty state.


I imagine blog posts will be a bit scarce in the coming weeks (I know, as if they haven't been scarce before this - hey, this is two posts in one month!). We will be without phone (whatever) and internet (uh-oh) for a little while, but it will just give us time to find some furniture.

* For the record, this is not a complaint. Moving is a whole hell of a lot easier with no furniture. It's just confusing, and then after the move there's nowhere to sit but the random desk chair you bought and the exercise ball that you refused to deflate for the move because it took so damn long to pump it up after the last move. But still, not complaining.

Birthdays come and gone

Though I've been quiet over here, we've been busy. Between birthday celebrations, apartment hunts and a visit to Paris, May was quite the bustling month. But let's start with the birthdays. This is the year of turning 30, and lucky Zoli got to do it first of the two of us. It seems like quite the milestone, until you think about the birthday of the Hamburg harbor. This year Zoli shared his birthday with the Hafengeburtstag, and when you consider that the harbor celebrated its 820th birthday 30 doesn't seem so bad. It seems downright young, in fact. Which, really, I guess it is.

We celebrated with asparagus (Spargel in German - oh baby is it Spargel season), a nice bottle of wine - and for the first time in ages, I made Zoli a birthday cake. The cake was Zoli's request and, as I like to call it, "Butter Masquerading as Cake." Don't get me wrong, it was quite good, but it was a Lot. Of. Butter. Thankfully we were able to pawn off - ahem - I mean bring the leftovers to our German class.


We also visited the Hafengeburtstag, which not only provided me ample entertainment at work with all the ships coming into the port, but also had the Swiss air force as a special guest this year. Apparently the fighter jets flying so low caused some consternation amongst the citizens of Hamburg, but the day we saw them they were quite fun.


Aside from celebrating, we spent the first two weeks of May going to look at apartments, trying to find a place to live when our lease ends in July. I know I'm out of practice, but this was intense - one open house Zoli went to had over 100 people. We were going to at least one Besichtigung per day (literally an inspection or perambulation), so that was essentially all we were doing. We saw some fabulous apartments, but for most landlords two Americans who won't be here for more than a few years are not the ideal candidates. However, we were ultimately successful and were offered an apartment in a cool old building with an ideal location. Bonus - we were offered it the day before we left for Paris to continue the birthday celebrations, making the trip that much nicer.


So, Paris. Paris was...Paris. Beautiful, grey, sunny...and holy crap there were lots of Americans. It was amazing, really, how much American English we heard in four days. I never really thought about how little English we hear here, American or otherwise, but it was the exact opposite in Paris. In practically every restaurant we visited there was at least one other group of Americans, including two American scientists in the café at the Maison Européenne de la photographie - and yes, I was eavesdropping on their conversation. Basically our trip consisted of lots of walking, visiting with our friend Joseph, some museum-going and of course a good amount of eating (including amazing handmade noodles).

It was relaxing and lovely and I think a pretty good way to celebrate turning 30. Though really, you'd have to ask Zoli.