Leibniz cookies! Here! In the US!
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2012
Leibniz Cookies!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Random Germany Thought #3-- Strawberries and Doing the Dishes
I've been eating grocery store strawberries lately. On the whole, they're crap: giant monstrosities that taste like crunchy water. In Bonn, you only buy strawberries for a few weeks, when they're in season. They're always very local -- small, but super sweet and full of strawberry flavor -- and you have to eat them right away. Many farmers set up road-side stands (there was a very good one across the street from work, in front of the bakery) where you can buy them in giant boxes. Mmmm.
Is this a German / European thing? When I do the dishes, I wash, then rinse, then dry (if for some reason I didn't have a place to air-dry them). When I would do a dinner thing with the students in Germany, they would wash, then towel dry. No rinsing. I got used to it although I think it kind of freaked out the Canadian postdoc.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Das Räuchermännchen
Sean went to Germany a few weeks ago and came back with a räuchermännchen ('little smoking man'). A figurine of a woodsman or craftsman (is this little guy a shepherd?), there is a little plate in the center of it on which a little cone of incense is burned, and the smoke comes out of the mouth. 
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Germany is on the Honor System Redux
I wrote a post a long, long time ago on how the German public transportation system operates on the honor system. You buy and validate tickets, but bus drivers are not checking boarding passengers for valid tickets (you can get on in the back of the bus) and there are no turnstiles in the subway. The honor system is probably the reason that you can go to the bus stop in Germany, look at the bus schedule posted, and know at what minute the bus will arrive. There are random checks and fines if you are found without a valid ticket, but I cannot remember ever being checked in the entire time I lived there -- never on the bus for sure, never on the U-Bahn, maybe once on the S-Bahn (actually, that might have been a Deutsche Bahn train). I assumed that the system works because Germans are just more honest than Americans. Anyway, Sean is in Germany right now and he says that today when the ticket checker came into his S-Bahn car, 4 of 8 people did not have a ticket. There goes that theory.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Still Alive ... For Now
I accidentally ate some moldy pie (apple, if you're curious) this morning -- yes, for breakfast --which puts me one step closer to actually being Homer Simpson.
Also, it gives me an excuse to post this classic clip:
This was the best resolution clip I found. It has the added features of being the German version and, for some reason, mirror-reversed. (German Homer is weird, right? Very pimply-faced kid-like. I tried to explain this when I lived in Germany, but they were just too used to it to hear it.)
Friday, July 02, 2010
Random World Cup Thoughts
Anyone following the World Cup? I've been watching even though I can't ever remember the name of the one U.S. player I've heard of. Landon Donovan is such an odd name, so I get as far as "Lan" and then all I can think of is "-do Calrissian?"
I was fairly invested in the Germany-England match. Despite the WWII reference nonsense, I was rooting for Germany (it's the only team where I actually know the players' names). I was so tense when England had the non-goal goal (thinking that the tide was turning) that I couldn't watch until it was 3-1. I'm okay with Germany losing to Argentina or Spain if they get that far. But England seems to be all whining and self-absorption (this opinion is, of course, totally uninformed by anything) -- like the Yankees, but suckier at their given sport.
Aside from my Germany leanings, the most awesome final -- in a very Simpsons-tastic way -- would naturally be Paraguay v. Uruguay. Unfortunately the countries aren't right, but I couldn't resist including this clip:
Monday, May 31, 2010
Eurovision 2010
Germany won the Eurovision Song Contest this Saturday with this song, "Satellite" sung by 19-year old Lena. I didn't see it, of course, but it's notable for 2 reasons. One, it runs counter to the trend of domination by Eastern European countries. Although there have been recent wins by Finland and Norway, one might have thought that the old school Eurovision countries -- e.g., France, Germany -- might never win again. The second unusual thing is that the song is a genuine pop hit. Here's the song (not the live performance):
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Random Germany Thought #2
Back the in the day, when I lived in Germany, I had the same stunning realization every time I visited the U.S. after several consecutive months of hearing nothing but various forms of European accented English: Americans talk funny. They have a twang, a cadenced whine. Not just Southerners or Texans. People I at one point would have said spoke normal, unaccented English sound like this. I probably sound like this. I'm sorry to report, it's not a pretty sound. Of course, about two minutes after I moved back to the U.S., I totally forgot about it.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Random Germany Thought
I took this picture at an outlet mall in New Hampshire and then forgot about it. But this vest (is it a fishing vest? what is it?) illustrates one of those little quirky differences between living in Bonn and living in Boston. This is the de rigeur fashion accessory for German retirees. Every white-haired man in Bonn sports one. I can't explain it. My neighborhood in Boston doesn't even have any retirees. Just yuppies. 
Friday, August 28, 2009
Goodbye Germany
So if you've missed all the references in the last few posts, I'm leaving Germany. I'm going to Boston, where I'll be living for at least a few years. I began this blog to document my adventures 'abroad', so there will be a few posts in September wrapping up my time here (pros & cons of Germany, travel summary, ... other ideas?). And what will happen to the blog once I'm ensonced in the USA? I'm not sure yet. For now, I'm going to keep going and see what's there to blog about life in the States. But I may end up pulling the plug. Don't worry, though, I won't just leave you hanging; if it looks like there's not enough to sustain the blog, I'll do a 'goodbye blog' post.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Back in the Office
After 3 weeks and 1 day, I've finally gotten back into my office -- 4 days before I leave the country for good. But, finally, new windows:
Unfortunately (after 3 weeks and 1 days), there aren't any blinds yet. And my office gets sunlight all day long. So, it'll probably be hot (not so bad today) and impossible to see my computer screen. You can compare them to the old windows here (notice the lack of a dirt line in the new windows -- I tried to illustrate the old dirt line here). Looking out and through the new windows!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I Did It!
I live in Poppelsdorf, a neighborhood in the city of Bonn. Just south of Poppelsdorf is Venusberg, and, then, south of that is the Kottenforst, a forest. It's not too far from Poppelsdorf, maybe a little more than 3 miles. To get to the Kottenforst, there are three options: go through the woods to the east of Venusberg, go through Venusberg, and go through the woods to the west of Venusberg.
View Kottenforst Bonn in a larger map
Going to the west of Venusberg is my usual route: run up the steep hill to the hospital, down the street with some pretty nice looking houses, through the wooded area to pastures with cows and horses, past the old brick bridge over a ravine with a very small stream, through the path that goes the back way to people's gardens, past the swimming pool, and home. You can run along the stream too -- very cute, winding along and over the stream. The furthest I've gotten is the green marker on the map.
On the other side, I usually get as far as the blue marker, running up the hill to the hospital, then winding back and forth and up and down through a forest path. This past weekend, I finally had the bright idea to go all the way to the top -- to Venusberg itself. There are running/walking/biking paths all over Bonn, along streets, through wooded areas, behind people's houses. That's the cool part. The bad part is that there are not really marked and you have to be careful that you don't get lost. I ran the path that went around Venusberg -- stopped to take in the view of the Siebengebirge and the Bad Godesberg castle. Then turned left to run through the forest. I hadn't decided how far to go, but I could see ahead that the forest was thinning -- blue sky ahead -- and then I was at Annaberger Hof.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Munich Again
After Salzburg, I spent a couple days hanging around Munich. Unlike my first visit, it was sightseeing-light, beer-drinking heavy: two beer halls, two beer gardens. The best Bavarian beer, in my opinion, is Schneider and you can get it at the Weisses Bräuhaus, where we had weißwurst. Weißwurst is supposed to be a morning thing, so we had to be there and drinking by noon. I feel like the Weisses Bräuhaus isn't as touristy as some bräuhaus-es and our (in typical fashion) gruff waitress totally warmed up to us -- even in our American ineptitude. The Hofbräuhaus, on the other hand, is a ginormous tourist trap and the waitress there (in a first for me in Germany) actually grubbed for a tip -- but it's probably still mandatory to visit.
In a typical Bavarian beer garden, they have stands for beer and food but it's acceptable to bring a picnic and only pay for drinks. We went to one out of the city center (near a very expensive looking neighborhood). Here's me and my friend Amy at one of the biergartens (thanks to Amy for the pictures in this post).
We also went to the beer garden by the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) in the Englischer Garten (English Garden, duh), a large public park in the center of town. It has 7000 seats and is the second largest in Munich. Germans are very committed to the outdoors; it hailed on us (we were partially protected by trees) and the people around kept on sitting and socializing.
There's a river in the garden with a standing wave that attracts surfers. Here's a picture of them:
Monday, August 03, 2009
Working from Home
It's 11AM on Monday morning and I'm working from home. And I'll be working from home for a while. They are replacing all the windows at work, meaning that my desk had to be cleaned out, the computer shut down and stored somewhere, and I won't be allowed back into my office for two weeks. (That's right, not only do I not have a place to sit at work, they shut down the computer on my desk too.) The timing is particularly annoying since -- if you didn't know already -- I'm leaving at the end of the month. So, I've cleaned out my desk and mailed 20kg of stuff to the U.S., but in two weeks I'll have to go back to work in an empty office for another two weeks before I leave. Anyway, here's the (very dim) before picture:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Cupcake Digression
Today is my birthday. In the German tradition, this means that I bring the cake. After a discussion a few weeks ago about the difference between muffins and cupcakes, I decided to make red velvet cupcakes with icing based using this and this recipe from the New York Times. I've never baked anything that wasn't brownies out of the box in my life. But I figured that most of the baking horror stories you hear about are because people are bad and reading and following instructions. I am very good at that.
Now, with no baking experience, shopping for ingredients would be baffling in the U.S. With the added twist of finding the German equivalent, it was basically a day-long chore. Go to store 1, look at shelves. Go home, Google. Go back, buy. Repeat with as many stores as necessary to find all the ingredients. Some things I've learned:
Cake flour = Weizenmehl Type 405 (No surprise, flour types are strictly regulated in Germany. Type 405 is the most popular, but there seems to be no equivalent of American "all-purpose flour." The other flour types seemed more suited to different kinds of bread.)
Canola oil = Rapsöl (Rapeseed oil)
Baking soda = Natron (and they don't sell boxes, just tiny packets, unless you go to an Asian grocery)
white vinegar = Essig (Essig means 'vinegar,' of course, but I guess the default is 'white.')
Vanilla extract is difficult to find in Germany. In general, I hear they use vanilla sugar to flavor. In the grocery stores, you'll find a light colored liquid labeled something like 'vanilla aroma.' It's not the right thing. I did find some vanilla extract in the basement grocery store of Galeria Kaufhof (a German dept. store), where they stock a lot of international stuff.
Food coloring isn't the same as in the U.S. The only kind I could find was less concentrated although thicker in consistency.
Unsweetened cocoa was also tricky. For one, I couldn't find anything but 'Nederland Kakao' in the baking aisle (which I presumed was Dutch processed). I looked at the chocolate drinks aisle (they're more popular than in the U.S.) and found something that looked promising.
I borrowed someone else's kitchen to do the baking (I don't have an oven!) and used some tools that I never had even when I lived back in States: an electric mixer, a sifter, a whisk (I don't think I even owned a whisk). Despite some difficulties with the baking times (the oven didn't really work properly), the cupcakes turned out pretty good -- maybe a little dry but not over or underdone -- and the frosting (despite being just fat upon fat) was quite light and yummy.
In total, following the recipes exactly produced 37 German-sized cupcakes (they looked fairly similarly sized, but I'm not sure how my cups compared to American ones) and maybe not quite twice as much, at least 1/3 more even if you love frosting, than the amount of frosting necessary (doh, oh well). Yay, cupcakes!
Unrelatedly to cupcakes, some friends got me flowers for my birthday. Wasn't that sweet?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Pretty Purple Flower Tree
As long as I'm blogging about flowers, I figure I should throw up pictures of this. 
I can see two of these trees (what kind of tree is it?) on the grounds of the botanical garden behind Poppelsdorfer Schloss. They're gorgeous.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Where Does the Time Go?
It's been far too long since my last blog post. But it feels like yesterday it was winter and today it is summer. I haven't got a lot of bloggable stuff (although if you are patient, I'm going to Italy at the end of June) but on the recommendation of one of the students I took my bike down Heerstraße on Sunday and went back to take some pictures today. If I had made it there the weekend before, I'm sure the trees would have been full of giant bunches of flowers and no leaves. That would have been impressive. Still, the piles of falling and fallen petals was pretty neat -- reminiscent of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, but bright pink and on a small street in Germany. 
Look how pink the street is.
And this car is.
And all the piles are ... well, you get the idea. 
I tried to get a shot of the petals flying and landing on me, but my camera wasn't cooperative.
These are the same trees I blogged about here, but those trees were little and I didn't realize there was a whole street full of mature trees just across the train tracks. 
If anyone knows what kind of tree this is, let me know.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Trier
On Tuesday, we went to Trier (wikipedia here and here). Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded in 15 BC. With a lot of history, there are a lot of sights to see. I was most interested in -- and we focused on -- the Roman stuff. Actually, I was ridiculously excited about Trier and worried that it wouldn't be as cool as I hoped. In fact, it was cooler.
This is the Porta Nigra, the "black gate." Built between 180 and 200 AD, it is essentially two towers with a narrow courtyard between two sets of gates. In the Middle Ages, the gates were saved from disrepair when it was incorporated into a church (they took down the church later).
Somewhat embarrassing personal aside: Before my trip, the presence of the Porta Nigra was the only thing I knew about Trier and the only thing on my 'must see' list. This is probably not in small part because this is the logo of the high school I went to.
The other side of the gate: 
Looking up from between the gates:
Looking down from the upper floors:
Looking across:
Inside one of the towers:
The view south to the Hauptmarkt (the tower is the church in the Hauptmarkt):
Just east of the Hauptmarkt is the Dom. Standing outside, my friends were unimpressed but changed their minds after seeing the interior.
A little south of the Dom is the Konstantinbasilika built in 310 AD. It was the throne hall of Constantine and its dimensions are 67m long, 36m high (11(?) stories!). It was part of the prince-electors' residence and now it is a Protestant church. 
Attached to the south side of the basilika is the rest of the prince-electors' residence. 
The Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths) built in the 4th century AD are just south of the basilika. I should mention that all the Roman things we visited charged 2.10 euros for entry, and we bought a discount card for all of them for 6.20 euros (saving us 2 euros!). Okay, I don't know how the baths were organized or the history (Googling suggests that they were never finished), but this was the coolest place (possibly ever).
On one side was the remnants of the building.
On the far side, a lawn. In the middle, there were a maze of paths on the surface and tunnels just below to explore. 
Here you can see some students (there aren't a lot of tourists in Trier in March) heading down. 
Heading toward that dark hall. 
Underneath, the halls are lit by tiny skylights ...
which you can see on the grass. 
We also went to the Amphitheater. 
The stairs in the center allow tourists to see the rooms underneath.
The Viehmarktthermen were discovered during construction of a parking garage. They built a big glass cube over it. 
Here the remains of monastery (back) that lies over the Roman ruins (wall in foreground).
Unfortunately, we only had the one day there. There were sights that we didn't get to and definitely we could have spent more time at the ones we did see. We had dinner in Trier at a restaurant that advertised recipes inspired by a 2000-year-old cookbook discovered during excavations. I noticed that we were the only ones in the restaurant eating the "Roman" fare. But it wasn't bad.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Marksburg Castle
With some friends visiting, I took Monday off, and we went to Marksburg Castle. A little south of Koblenz in Braubach, the castle advertises as "the only hill castle on the Rhine that has never been destroyed." The oldest parts of the castle date to the 12th century and it's rather awesomely medieval-y.
You have to take the tour to see the castle, but -- unlike a lot of other castles on the Rhine -- it's open year round. In general, the tour is German-only (with an information sheet offered in several different languages). A lot of English speakers happened to show up when we were there and the tour guide very kindly did the tour in both English and German. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures.
The Riders' Stairway (ride your horse into the castle and straight to the stable):
Old cannons: 
The walls are incredibly thick. My information sheet says 4.5m, although I thought the tour guide said 3.5m. At points, they cut into the walls to make window alcoves. This also meant that it was pretty dim inside and not so good for taking pictures.
This is the great banqueting hall. It's pretty small (maybe the size of my 40 square meter apartment). That door leads to the bathroom. In typical medieval castle style, the toilet hangs over the outside of the castle walls so the waste drops outside. The door wasn't for privacy. It was never closed unless the castle was under attack. Then, it was locked to prevent enemy soldiers from climbing the castle walls and into the castle through the toilet. 
There was a lot of other cool stuff like a collection of armor from 600 BC to 1500 AD, the torture chamber, and the tiny stone stairway that was designed to be too small for invading soldiers to draw their swords.
There's a ton of castles on the Rhine. Here's a picture of what I think is a fortress right above the Koblenz train station. 
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