Obazda

I have realized, with some shock it has to be said, that I have been neglecting to write about all the different food discoveries that I have been making while here in Germany. That is very unlike me, because as most of you know, food is very important to me! Food, in one way or another, is always on my mind. I love talking about food, looking at food blogs on the Internet (and the 58 food blogs that are saved in my Favorite folder can attest to that!!! The number as even surprised me!), collecting cookbooks (Christmas 2007 has added three new cookbooks to my collection!) and of course I love cooking/baking and eating the end result! So it really does come as a surprise to me that I have not written about this new discovery sooner than now. And what is this new wonderful food item you ask? Well, it is called Obazda (or Obatzda) and it is a spreadable cheese preparation, made by mixing aged Camembert together with cream cheese. Butter is then added, as well as spices, the most important of which is powdered paprika, as it gives the Obazda its reddish colour (salt, pepper, onions and garlic are also added). Obazda is a Bavarian speciality and can be found in every beer garden down south.
I eat it on bread for breakfast and I love it! It has a mild but delicate taste and goes well with apples. I have noticed that since I am here, my breakfasts are more salty than sweet, which is a big change for me, as I usually prefer sweet things over salty ones.
If you feel like giving Obazda a try, here is a recipe for it: http://www.bayern.by/en/b90f54d0-4849-4a0a-7842-09896237eaa1.html








On an un-Obazda note, I am very curious to know who posted the comment that appears on my last post! Whoever you are, you seem to be well informed about what time of year it is here in Germany! I also liked the name you called me- Perlchen! I am usually called Carolinechen, so your nickname for me is a nice change! In your next post, if there is to be one, please let me know who you are!

The DB's Hbf in Bln (The Deutsche Bahn's Hauptbahnhof in Berlin)

I love living next to a metro station. It really makes life so much easier when you know that getting somewhere, or coming back home from somewhere, is just a metro station away from your home. I only need to walk 10 minutes and I am at the metro station. But it is not just any ordinary metro station. This one is located in Berlin's main train station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Berlin's central train station is quite the building- it took 8 years to complete its construction (and I thought that Germans were efficient!!!!), but when you consider that it is Europe's largest two-level railway station, 8 years does not seem to be that much time. There is traffic on five levels- that means that more than 1,800 trains call at the station every day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000- now that's worth it!

Do you play Chinese table tennis?

When I was younger, I remember playing marbles (which, by the way, were invented in Germany around 1848)with my school mates during our breaks and at lunch time. Although I have seen a few kids at my school also play with marbles, the favorite pastime of most kids (I am mostly talking about boys) is table tennis aka Ping Pong! All the boys walk around with their paddle in their back pocket and can't wait for the bell to ring, so that they can challenge each other to a game.
There are table tennis tables in most parks here, and in the summer, people meet in parks for a friendly match or two.
In the winter, people don't give up this pass time, but simply bring it indoors. Every Wednesday night, the Kastanienkeller hosts a table tennis evening. Since there is only one table (!), the people there play what is called "Chinesisch Tischtennis"-Chinese table tennis. The advantage of this version of the game is that everyone can play, and when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE, whether it be five or thirty five players! The game is simple: everyone tries to find a place around the table; one person begins the game and then moves along; the strike is returned by someone standing on the the other side of the table, who then moves along; this second strike is then returned by someone on the opposite side of the table, who also moves along afterwards; so on and so forth. If you miss your shot, you are out (which means you can drink your beer in peace!). The game really starts to get interesting when there are three or four people left, because then you really have to run to get to the other side of the table in time to hit the shot. The game goes on until there are only two players left. These two players play a game until one gets a point- once that is over, everyone can join back in. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that all of this takes place under black lights! Fun times!








I apologize for the quality of the pictures- it's not easy taking pictures when the only source of lighting is black lights!

Guitar, guitar, guitarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I often wonder (because most of the times I get no comments about it) how many of you actually visit the links that I post on this blog. I really only put things that I think most of you will find entertaining, things that I deem to be "worth it"!
If you have never clicked on any of the links that I have previously posted, here is your chance to redeem yourself, while having a great laugh at the same time. This music video unfortunately only lasts 2:57 minutes, so I don't want to hear "I have no time for this".

https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0,1518,520208,00.html

*** You'll have to copy and paste the link***

You're welcome!

Sowjetisches Ehremal- Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)

I have touched on the subject of war memorials in a previous post, so I won't detail my thoughts about them again.
This Soviet War Memorial is situated on the north side of the Strasse des 17 Juni ( the major east-west thoroughfare running from the Brandenburg Gate to the Siegessäul, which is just a 10 minutes' walk away from my flat. The memorial commemorates the Red Army soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945. It is said that more than 20 000 soldiers died during these two months.
It is speculated that the reddish-brown marble (not seen on these pictures) used for the memorial was scavenged from Hitler's chancellery.

Berlin- a few pictures 3

Canada's national winter sport- in Germany!

While I was in Lübbenau, I met my friend Anja, and the both of us, plus her lovely dog Roxy, went skating! It was my first time skating this year, and after a bit of hesitation, my skating skills came back (I am no figure skating expert or super hockey player, but I am Canadian, so skating is in my blood, eh!). Skating is a bit like ridding a bicycle- you never forget how to do it, it just takes you a little while to get back into the motions!
We skated over a frozen field, which was lovely. The ice was much smoother than I had expected, which is always a good thing.
We had brought a ball so that Roxy could play with it, but he was not interested in our ball. What he really wanted to do is catch the hockey puck of the other skaters!
Good times were had by all!

Not the same procedure as every year: New Year's Eve- recap

I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve. I find that making plans for that night, for whatever reason, always ends up being a complicated thing. Some people want to go out to a bar, others want to stay home and have a nice meal with friends, and yet others want to to do both. Loads of compromises need to be made and someone is always unhappy about the way the evening turns out. I find New Year's Eve to be a big headache, and frankly, that's no way to start a new year.
That's why I really enjoyed my NYE last year. One of my friends, with some of her friends, took the initiative to "rent" out a bar in downtown Montreal and to invite all their friends there. We all had a fantastic evening at the Old Man Bar, with our Tall Boys and pig knuckles....OK fine, no one actually ate pig knuckles that night, but they are actually really served there on regular nights! This fine evening was repeated this year, and I hear that it was as successful as last year.
Of course this year I was not able to participate in all the fun at the Old Man Bar, given the fact that I am here in Germany! But I had an equally good time here.

The evening started out at 7pm with the first tradition of the night- the showing of "Dinner for One", a comedy sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s. German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language. This short comical play subsequently went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever (thank you Wikipedia). This short movie is showed every New Year's Eve on German television, in its original language. Every German, from old to young, knows about "Dinner for One". For those of you who do not know the movie, here is the story line:

The sketch presents the 90th birthday of elderly upper-class Englishwoman Miss Sophie, who hosts a dinner every year for her close friends Mr Pommeroy, Mr Winterbottom, Sir Toby, and Admiral von Schneider to celebrate the occasion. (Note that the plot has nothing to do with New Year's Eve, as is often incorrectly stated. There is a "Happy new year" toast, but this is purely a reference to Miss Sophie's anniversary.) The problem is that given Miss Sophie's considerable age, she has outlived all of her friends, and so her equally aged butler James makes his way around the table, impersonating each of the guests in turn. Miss Sophie decides on appropriate drinks to accompany the menu of the evening, consisting of Mulligatawny soup (Miss Sophie orders sherry) , North Sea haddock (with white wine), chicken (with champagne), and fruit for dessert (with port) served by James, and so he finds himself raising (and emptying) his glass four times per course. That takes its toll, increasingly noticeable in James' growing difficulty in pouring the drinks, telling wine glasses from vases of flowers, and refraining from bursting into song. Even before the alcohol begins to exert its influence, he has trouble coping with a tiger skin sitting on the floor between the dinner table and the buffet.

The crucial exchange during every course is:

James: The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?
Miss Sophie: The same procedure as every year, James!

After the dinner, Miss Sophie indicates to a very drunk James that she wishes to retire to bed, to which James responds:

James: By the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?
Miss Sophie, delightedly: The same procedure as every year, James!
James: Well, I'll do my very best!

***Everything in italics was taken from Wikipedia***

At around 8pm, a few friends came to hang out at our place- oops! I mean Ronny's place of course!!!- with a few of Ronny's friends. We chatted over Gin and Tonics and enjoyed each other's company.
During the evening, we took part in the second traditional activity of that night, namely, finding out our future for the new year. "How do you find out your future for the year to come?" you ask. Well, it's easy. All you need is a candle, a spoon, and a figurine made of lead. You need to melt the figurine in the spoon over the candle. Once the figurine turns into a puddle of lead, you poor the said puddle in water and Kazamm!, your future is determined! All you need to do next is try to "read" your future in the hardened lead piece that has formed.
My lead piece looks like a tree, which apparently means "Growth in your capabilities". I am not quite sure what that means, but I'll take it anyway!
This German tradition is in a way similar to the Chinese tradition of Fortune cookies, minus the less-than-tasty Chinese cookie of course!





Shortly before midnight, we all went out, and proceeded to light up the varied sorts of rockets and fireworks that we had bought at the supermarket a few days before. This was the start of the third traditional activity of the evening. In Germany, it is now only allowed, but also very much enjoyed and widespread, to buy fireworks for New Year's Eve and put on your own mini firework show. Since everyone does that, the sky is completely light up for a good 20 minutes from midnight on. We had everything from proper fireworks to cherry bombs, and it was a whole lot of fun to set everything up on fire and enjoy the show! Fireworks were being set off from everywhere and it really created quite the festive atmosphere. I tried taking a few pictures, but unfortunately, they all came out way too dark, so you'll just have to use your imagination!

The rest of the evening was spent at my friend Anja's house, which was a lot of fun too.
It was really nice to partake in all the German traditions of New Year's Eve and it made for a great start for 2008!

Wanna laugh?!

As my best friend Val said:

"Germans know it!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBnY28Mo6Is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoG8jeunpqQ&feature=related

Christmas- recap

I am back in Berlin after spending two lovely weeks in Lübbenau with Ronny. Although I still have one more week of vacation- I know, I know, I am lucky!, I have decided to come back to Berlin to enjoy the city a little and to see some friends.
I have unpacked all my things, done two loads of laundry, vacuumed my room (and the bathroom!), dusted my desk and my shelves, watered my plant, made my bed, organized all the the presents I got, and now I am finally ready to write this post!

As you all by now know, I spent Christmas with Ronny, my oyster!, and his family, which included his dad, his mom, his brother and one of his grandmothers. Christmas is celebrated on the 24th of December here in Germany, and the celebration starts with the decoration of the Christmas tree, which is bought well in advanced, but only brought into the house to be decorated on the 24th. This year, Ronny's brother, his father and I decorated the tree, and we settled on a silver theme. If I say so myself, the tree looked quite pretty!

At around 4pm, we all sat down around the table (something we did many more times afterwards!!!) for coffee and Stollen, the German version of a fruit cake.
After our little quatre heures, we- Ronny, his brother and myself- were politely asked to leave the living room, as Santa Claus, or Nikolaus, as we are in Germany, was on his way! The ringing of a bell told us it was time for us to come back in the room. A row of presents was waiting for each of us, and we all started to open our packages! I received a beautiful calendar and a cook book from Ronny. From his parents, I got another cook book (I have a small, but yet again healthy, obsession for cookbooks, and my obsession translates into German too!!!) and a platter- and when I say platter, I really mean a platter! of sweets, which I will be eating for the rest of 2008!!! I also opened some presents that my parents had brought with them when they came to visit me, as well as a gift I received from my friend Anja.

Once all the presents were opened, we settled down around the table for dinner. The big Christmas meal as we know it does not take place on the 24th here, but rather on the 25th and the 26th, at lunch time. Dinner on the 24th consisted of an array of cold cuts, an array of cheese (for my oyster, who is by the way vegetarian), sausages (The best of the Wurst baby!), fresh veggies, fresh bread and home made potato salad (two kinds, one with cut pieces of meat and one without- guess for who!?!?!?). Potato salad is something that is eaten very often here, and it is a MUST for the dinner of the 24th. Everything was delicious and just thinking about all that food is making me hungry!

On the 25th, we were back around the table for a traditional meal, which consisted of turkey, Klöße, which are dumplings made from grated raw and/or mashed potatoes (the dumplings are then cooked in water just like pasta), Rotkohl, which is red cabbage, cranberry sauce (home made by Ronny's mother), stuffing and gravy of course. Everything was prepared by Ronny's mother and everything was DELICIOUS!

The next day, we ate duck, and people, let me tell you that that duck was absolutely UNBELIEVABLE! It was moist and juicy and so so tasty! The five of us, at the great disgust of Ronny!, polished off the poor little duck and felt very happy about it too! And as if that was not enough, that evening, our dinner consisted of an assortment of cheeses, which we ate while drinking a bottle of Mission Hill red wine, which my parents brought over from Montreal.

All I have to say is that it is a good thing that I don't weigh myself, because I am sure I would have a heart attack at seeing the number on the scale!!!

In the next post, I will recap my New Year's Eve, which was pretty explosive.....!

First post of 2008!

Hello everyone!

I hope that all of you have had a pleasant holiday season, filled with good eating, good company and loads of good times!
I can't believe that the holiday season is over already! All this anticipation and then it passes by so quickly! Every year I feel that the time between Christmas and New Years passes by quicker than the year before.
I have had a wonderful time here in Lübbenau with Ronny and his family. I very much enjoyed my first German Christmas and New Year. Traditions here, as it is to be expected, are very different from the ones at home, and it was really nice to experience all of them with Ronny and his family. Pictures and more details to come in my next post!

I hope that your first day back at work was not (will not be) too hard!
Will write again soon!
xxx