Christmas Eve Photo Op…

On Christmas night we had our good friends the Kalsis over for one of the best Christmas dinners in recent memory, both in terms of the friends assembled and the holiday grub. Firstly, the crowd. Preet and Manpreet arrived with their two daughters at around 18:00. The kids disappeared, playing quietly until dinner was ready. We adults sat around sipping beer and wine and chatting while a Christmas compilation (put together just in time thanks to Amazon.de) set the mood. As is our tradition, we outsourced most of the dinner preparation to the Bolz Metzgerei in Kirchheim. They outdid themselves this year. The ham, as usual, was off the charts. The duck breasts were so big I still have trouble believing they came from normal ducks. I’ve almost convinced myself that there’s a race of super ducks that still haven’t unwound decades of  steroid abuse and genetic engineering foisted upon them in the former East Germany. I made mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker but, having peeled them this year (under duress from the Mrs.), they didn’t come out right.Luckily, B overbought (as usual). Saturday is a holiday in Germany meaning grocery stores will have been closed for essentially 4 days straight. Somehow we once again missed this memo. Our winter hoarding instincts saved us from starvation. Sor far, we haven’t grown tired of ham, duck and the five-minute miracle that is Stovetop Stuffing (thoughtfully purchased for us by some friends in the military).   Before the festivities commenced, we took enough pictures to scar the retinas of our gorgeous progeny. Enjoy. I love the natural majesty Emily displays in the pose below. We’ve always considered her our little princess, but this takes the cake.In case you’re wondering, the ring in the picture above is worth its weight in pencil shavings.

Birthday beef…

Continuing our tradition of celebrating birthdays multiple times, we had dinner at Zum Ritter on the actual night of B’s. To commemorate the occasion, she ate a rib eye the size of a hubcap. It was delectable.Here are a few more shots of the little ones, who can be commended on their (almost) exemplary behavior.Finally, here’s B waiting for the sparklers to burn down so we could enjoy her birthday (cheese) cake.     

Bar the door! B turned 34!

We vacillated for weeks on the topic of a birthday party for B. So close to Christmas, it’s sometimes tough to assemble a quorum and let’s face it, it’s a ton of work. Luckily, a friend of ours offered her house. Unfortunately, she had to un-offer it at the last minute due to a family emergency. Regardless, we’re really glad we went ahead with a little get-together (including our friend, whose delay in travel made her family and her available for our little shindig).The party was a pretty traditional affair with Christmas overtones until a few of the guys started talking with way too much authority about the subtleties of Scotch. Ever the cynic, I decided to test their palates (and their resistance to large amounts of alcohol). In an odd coincidence, I had received several bottles of all kinds of Scotch from different people for my birthday. I’ve never been a Scotch man, but have also never been one to look a gift bottle “in the mouth”.I approached the contest fairly methodically given my already inebriated state. We had been drinking beer most of the evening, turning to Jack and Coke once the sun went down. The tasting competition went like this: I hid 3 bottles at a time under my side of the table and poured a small drink of each for all 4 of us. I then recorded on paper folks’ guesses as to the brand.How well they did identifying the Scotch is somewhat immaterial as in an hour or so, we somehow managed to drink almost a full fifth of Scotch each. If I wasn’t much of a fan of Scotch before, I can assure you that if I never drink a drop of it before I go to the big distillery in the sky, that will be just fine by me. I’ve only spoken to one of the other participants directly since then, but have no reason to think anyone pulled a Jimi Hendrix.I never did a proper head count, but from the pile of coats and shoes in the foyer, I’d say we had a pretty decent crowd.   The snow made for a beautiful afternoon and kept the kids entertained to boot!

The graceful pinball…

Emily possesses an amount of raw energy (and destructive power) that would be the envy of most rugby teams. Much of the time, she reminds me of a human pinball (especially on days when arctic weather traps her inside). Last week it was her turn to show her more refined side, demonstrating what she’s learned this year in ballet class. She’s now at the age that real talent and grace become evident. While not the most disciplined student in her class, it’s fairly obvious that she has natural grace that can’t be taught (and, like her sister, beauty that takes my breath away).I couldn’t be prouder of both my beautiful ballerinas.

Power and (some) grace…

Sophia had her ballet recital last week. She and her ballet friends put on a display of cuteness (if not true grace!) capable of melting the hardest of hearts. It’s really cute to see Sophia next to her best friend, Lara. Hard to believe they’re the same age!

Taking it slow…

After almost 3 years in Germany, we finally bought a slow cooker. We used our 110V version a lot back in Seattle during the winter, but it’s pretty much useless here (we need a voltage converter the size of a Mini Cooper to power it). We haven’t found a better way to make so much good food with so little effort. Just thinking about the smell of pot roast is making my mouth water.

Germans seem to be proud of this apparatus as it cost about 3 times as much as it would have in the States. Not sure what’s up with that. I also should have paid more attention when ordering it as I’m not sure we need all of its 6 liters.On a completely unrelated note, one of my household duties is making sure we don’t run out of Coke (a real crisis for Aspartame-dependent people like us). It’s interesting to note that in Germany you pay a deposit on plastic bottles, which means you have to lug them to the store every once in a while to get your 15 cents back. I usually by 3 cases at a time to minimize traffic to our local SBK. I’ve gotten a bit lazy since we got back from Brazil and have simply been buying a case when we need it. When I finally decided to make a “deposit run”, we had 9 cases of empty Coke bottles (and a case of empty Hefe bottles). I turned quite a few heads at the supermarket as it seems like Germans go to the store to buy ingredients for each meal. Anyway, in these economically volatile times, perhaps Coke bottles are a reasonable alternative to banks.

Siberian…

is the German word for Siberia. Very topical given that at noon today the thermometer was registering –5 degrees Celsius (B said it showed –11 in Heidelberg). The diesel engine in the Family Truckster had other things on its mind than starting when B went to fire it up around 11:30. Luckily we have a strong battery (apparently rated for use in the Arctic), so after roughly 20 attempts, it roared to life. B was headed to the world-renowned Bolz Butcher Shop (Metzgerei) in Kirchheim to fetch the eats for her birthday party tomorrow. A friend had offered her house for the festivities but had to travel on short notice so we’ll celebrate B’s 34th year on this planet here at the compound with just a few friends. By the way, the food at Bolz is exceptional, but priced like Caviar (continuing with the Russian theme of this post).Luckily, the van incident reminded me that we had 3 cases of Coke sitting on our back porch, within minutes (it seemed) of freezing and exploding. Some truly useful trivia for you: Coke Zero has a different freezing point than Diet Coke with no caffeine. My acute powers of observation astound even me some times. Note to self: put booze on back porch, especially vodka.The kids don’t seem to mind the cold as it brought snow last night; just enough for them to play in. I personally couldn’t  be less motivated to leave the house. I’ve got a lot of pictures and video in the pipeline so I guess I’ll do some blogging. Some of the stuff will have to wait as my desktop computer got a wicked bug and is inaccessible (for now). Fixing computer problems is my second favorite past time. My first?  Slowly driving red hot nails through my big toes. With a passion only understood by software professionals, I can unambiguously declare that I HATE COMPUTERS!!!

Hummer at the Holiday Inn…

For those with potty-minds, it’s not what you’re thinking. Hummer is the German word for Lobster. During some grueling meetings at the Holiday Inn in Walldorf this week, I noticed that this time a year they have an all-you-can-eat Lobster buffet. For 44 Euros per person, you can stuff yourself to your heart’s content on this delectable crustacean and its little cousin the shrimp.

Now, any fool knows one should not head out to a Holiday Inn looking for fine dining. We were mildly amused to see folks dressed to the nines having dinner there. Some couples looked like they might have been celebrating their anniversary.

After having eaten at least 2 kilos of crustacean, I can offer no more than a tepid endorsement for this outing. Some of the shrimp and lobster seemed fresh, some did not. For that kind of dough (fairly expensive for this area), one can do much better in terms of quality if not quantity. The carpaccio looked like it had been cut with a chainsaw. To the Mrs. and me, carpaccio aficionados that were are, carpaccio that you literally can’t read through is not fit for consumption. I ate a little anyway. As they say: live and learn.

By the way, I noticed that the Holiday Inn site says that it’s 3.5 kilometers from the old city (Altstadt). They’re not clear about which Altstadt, but rest assured it’s not Heidelberg’s. Weird exaggeration, no?

The Heidelberg Crêpe Guy…

I can’t remember ever going to Heidelberg’s Altstadt in daylight hours without seeing the “Crêpe Guy” on duty, serving up all kinds of crêpes, sweet and otherwise, to ravenous tourists and locals alike. Robert is fond of the Nutella variety. I wasn’t familiar with Nutella until we moved here. For those who, like me, don’t get out much, it’s a hazelnut flavored chocolate “spread” that is mildly addictive.

See for yourself the culinary stylings of the famous Heidelberg Crêpe Guy. WARNING: Do not watch this clip if you’re hungry and nowhere near Heidelberg.

Go fly a kite…

This video says a lot about why I love the fall in Germany, particularly the area around Heidelberg where we live. If the clip doesn’t make the case, I’m afraid mere words can do no better.

"Spellbinding!"

"Provocative", "A startling interpretation of an important work", "A fresh take on an American classic"

These quotes have been attributed to Robert's profound yet sensitive treatment of a classic of American fiction. Enjoy and grow.

Happy All Hallow’s Eve!

Yesterday we celebrated Halloween with an attempt at traditional trick-or-treating and a little get together for the adults. Halloween is far from being unheard of in Germany, but has a ways to go before it’s mainstream (something I predict will happen in the next decade or so). The Chinese Maple in front of our house was definitely in the spirit of the day (I don’t remember its being so orange last year). The girls went as witches. Not exactly overachieving in the creativity department, but they looked cute anyway, no? As Robert decided not to don his vampire costume until zero hour (when it was already dark), I didn’t get any good stills of him. Will post some video later.The plan was for some folks with kids to come over early so all our progeny could trick or treat en masse. A few other families came later to have a bit of grub (pumpkin soup) and a few drinks. At 18:30 or so, we ventured out into the Walldorf night with a pack of 6 kids (Emily spent the night at a friend’s house). I was a bit surprised at how few houses were giving out candy. Most identified themselves with a jack-o-lantern, but there were probably fewer than 10 of these houses within reasonable walking distance of ours. It felt a little bit more like the underground railroad than full on Halloween.We finally decided to pack them all into a van and head to the “younger” part of Walldorf, a target-richer environment where they collected  more candy than they’ll need for a long while.      We had fewer than 10 gangs of kids that came by our house, but we saw more than I expected on the street, a good omen I think for future Halloweens in Deutschland.