Christmas Vacation: Part 4

When we decided to drive down to see my family for Christmas, we needed to figure out what we were going to bring everyone as gifts.  The most important thing was the girls.  Who ended up getting candy from my trip to Strassbourg.  Then we decided to go by this wine shop around the corner and get bottles of local wine.  Now, I'm not 100% sure what the local wine tastes like, but it's a gift, right? 

So the morning of our drive down to the family, I ran some errands, checked out the store and came back with fresh bread for Andy and me.  We had breakfast and then headed over to the wine store together.  We decided on three bottles for each family and picked the same three for each. Then we got the car and headed down with our bags and gifts and crappy directions from the internet.

The problem with directions on the internet in Germany is that they label everything by the street number.  Which is fine for the major roads that are marked well, but for those little tiny roads that are not marked at all, it is a totally different matter.  Plus, I don't have a printer, so I have to write everything out by hand, which means that Andy has to try to decipher my shorthand, which makes perfect sense to me, but not so much to him.  We headed off found the streets that we needed and at some point just started following the signs that pointed in the direction of towns nearby, because honestly that's how they do most directions here.  There's no northbound or southbound freeway.  It's the Autobahn in the direction of Stuttgart or in the direction of Ulm and you'd better hope you learned where each of those cities was on a map because if you go the wrong direction you're going to have to turn around.

We finally found the back road to Kolbingen - where my one set of relatives live and stopped in for a visit.  I had called them ahead of time to let them know we were going to stop by, and about 10 minutes after we arrived, my cousin Marc showed up with his wife and 1 year old son.  We had coffee, tea, cake, cookies, etc...all home made by Hedi.  We told them that we would come over for lunch the next day and said our goodbyes and Headed down to Mühlheim to make it in time for the children's mass at the Catholic church.  

Sieglinde picked us up, with Lena and Annika and we headed into the old part of town.  Mass was fun.  Well I guess it wasn't really mass because there was no communion, but the kids from the kindergarten did a great job of putting on the story of the birth of jesus.  They were very cute, but at some point Andy realized that when children speak German it sounds to him like what they're saying is totally fake.  Like Udo on the Simpsons.  At the end of the mass, the priest basically told all of the adults that they weren't off the hook and that they were required to go to mass for Christmas.  Whatever....

So we headed home, the girls opened their gifts, we opened our gifts and we had dinner.  I mentioned that we were going to see Hans and Hedi for lunch the next day and it became clear that it was going to be a problem, since Lydia had planned something special for lunch the next day, so I had to call Hans and Hedi and tell them that we weren't going to be able to make it - but that also meant that we weren't going to be able to see Marc, Connie, and Karl, because they were leaving to go visit her family on the 26th.  This was a little upsetting, but there was nothing that could be done about it.  

We proceeded to dinner, which was something relatively traditional.  Rotwurst with sides - at this point I can't remember which sides, but sides.  It was also really tasty and dessert was good too.  Living in a university town and cooking for myself I often find that I try to replicate a lot of the things I eat at home, or that I'll run out and grab something quick and cheap, but it's nice to have a home-cooked meal, and even better when it comes with the cultural context of tradition.  Eventually we headed to bed for the next day's fun.

In the morning Annika came over with Stefan and showed us a newspaper clipping of the Nachtwächter of Mühlheim who was going to be doing a tour of the city that night.  She really wanted to go, so we decided that we would go along with her and her dad.  It was later in the evening, and we still had to eat our special lunch of Venison roast and other tastiness.  I really enjoy venison.  I have never had a bad meal with venison. I know it can be gamy, but I suppose when you live in a small town surrounded by forest and your family has been eating game for generations at some point you learn how to cook it so that it's tasty.  And it was super tasty.  Along with it we had red cabbage, potato salad, and a berry compote.  Super tasty.

This is also the point where we realized that they didn't trust that I was feeding Andy enough.  Every time they asked if he wanted more I wouldn't really ask him, because he would tell me if he wanted more.  I just said, "no" that he doesn't want any more.  This meant that they thought I wasn't translating things for him and just answering for him.  This also meant that at some point they started making fun of me and saying that I wasn't allowing him to eat and that they started trying to communicate with him directly by just offering him food.  It worked out ok....but it was clear that they thought I was somehow controlling him, rather than us having our own way of communicating that doesn't require many words and can me done without most people noticing.

Speaking of translating - or not - the Nightwächter thing was really fun - cold but fun.  We walked into town, which was fine, but steep and icy.  Remember "Steep and Icy"  that's going to become a theme at some point. I translated the important parts of the tour for Andy and I think he enjoyed it.  Stefan said that he learned some things about the town that he hadn't known about and we headed back to the house - down the steep and icy path this time.  The next day - 2nd Christmas or the 26th of December - we undertook another steep and icy adventure.

Christmas Vacation: Part 2

The first weekend, we had plans to go to the Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt with my friend Andrea and her fiance, so Saturday I gave Andy a little tour of the university and the city.  Unfortunately that first weekend it was SUPER cold and snowy.


We went up to the building where I have most of my classes and grabbed a hot chocolate in the cafeteria there.  Well actually, it's a little trick that I found out the other day.  You press the cappuccino button and it gives you hot chocolate.  One day they are going to fix it and I'll actually get a cappuccino, but for now it's tasty hot chocolate.  And rather hot.  I showed him a couple of other buildings at the university before heading back to the Altstadt.  Then I let him see the two grocery stores where I do most of my shopping.  I think Andy was a little surprised by the lack of selection and the soviet style lines, but it was a Saturday and the stores would be closed on Sunday, so it made sense to me.  :)


That evening I made dinner and we headed out to grab a drink.  Collegium, the place right around the corner from my dorm was pretty packed.  We were going to go to a place that my friend Bobby recommended just down the street, but it was full too and most of the places on the Marktplatz were also full, so we decided to go to the Schlosscafe. We ran into a friend of mine there and after a drink or two headed back to my dorm since we had to get up early to go to Stuttgart the next morning.


On Sunday we met Andrea and Cap at the train station and headed off to Stuttgart.  The Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt goes on for a couple of weeks (unlike the Tübingen one that is only for a weekend).  It was a 5 minute walk from the train station, but most of that was underground.  We wandered around, drank some Glühwein, ate some bratwurst and a Dampfknödel filled with cherries and covered in warm vanilla sauce and looked at the various stands.  It was however REALLY cold.  After almost freezing we headed to a pizza restaurant that Cap and Andrea had been to their last time in Stuttgart.  


The place is called Vapiano, and in looking at their Web site they apparently have a couple of locations in the DC area, so we'll have to check them out the next time we're up in DC.  The concept is fairly simple.  You get a card when you enter.  Then you decide what you want.  There are various stations where you can order pizza, pasta, salad or drinks, and if it's something that takes a little longer they will give you a buzzer to let you know when to pick it up.  We got a pizza and a salad to share along with a soda and an orangina.  I don't recall how much it was, but not overly expensive.  They also have fresh herbs on the tables so you can add basil, rosemary or whatever else to your pizza/pasta if you want.


We headed home on the train.  We rode there and back using a Baden-Württemberg ticket, which costs 26 Euros for up to 5 people.  Though there were only four of us, this meant that each of us rode round trip for 6.50 which is really reasonable.  With the ticket you can also ride on the public transportation systems in the cities as well, which means if we had wanted to go someplace else around Stuttgart we could have done that with the ticket as well.  Honestly it's a very reasonable way to travel.


The next day I was going to pick up the rental car so that we could have some other fun adventures around the area, so I got up early, took the train to Reutlingen, figured out what bus to take, and picked up the car.  I had ordered a manual transmission Seat Ibiza - which is a subcompact cheap little vehicle.  Instead they gave me an automatic 4 Door VW Golf.  This was actually really lucky because I had been looking at the Golf as a potential next car so it gave me an opportunity to drive it and see what I thought of it.  I picked it up, got a little lost getting out of Reutlingen, but made it back to the house in one piece.  


After eating breakfast, we decided to head over to the Ritter Sport Factory to check out the factory store and the Museum.  Unfortunately the museum was closed, but the store was open so we bought some discounted chocolate. The prices are definitely better than what you find in the store, and in the back section they have their "irregular" chocolates that they can't sell in stores, but which taste just the same.  We ended up getting a 1 assortment of chocolate, some minis and a bag that I have wanted since I saw it the first time years ago.  Then we headed back to the city to meet up with friends for coffee.


We ran into my friends on the way home and they were headed to Kalendar for a döner, so we told them that we would meet them there.  We dropped everything off in my room and headed over to eat.  After eating we went to a bar/cafe called Tangente Jour.  It is here that Andy encountered Cherry Glühwein.  I think it kinda changed his life, because now it is going to be his fall/winter "thing."  He's decided that he wants to learn how to make really good Cherry Glühwein and we're going to have a fall/winter party this year and invite people over for treats and Cherry Glühwein.  I'm all for it.  It was damn tasty.


Not much to report after that.  We headed on a couple of driving trips to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Neuschwanstein the next two days which will be the recap in the next post.

Restaurant: Wok-In Asia Imbiss

In keeping with my Chinese food theme, we thought we would try out the other Chinese place in Tübingen while Andy was here.  Wok-In Asia Imbiss is on the way from my dorm to campus and I've walked past it many times, but had not yet gone in.  

The decor is far less kitchy than at Asia Bambus, but to be honest I'm not sure if this is a plus or minus.  At any rate, there were plenty of tables, and the service was good.  My review of this place is tainted by the fact that I was coming down with a cold and that we didn't order what we usually do.  Typically we will order the Kung Pao chicken at a Chinese restaurant as a baseline, but since Andy had just eaten Kung Pao (Or Gung-Bao as they say in Germany) he wanted something different. 

We started out with soup.  Since I was starting to come down with something I figured a nice spicy soup was appropriate, so I got the Kung Fu Suppe, which was designated as "scharf" or spicy.  It was indeed spicy, but I attribute that to the chili oil that was liberally added to the soup and which basically sat on top of the broth.  I probably should have gone for the Peking Soup again - since that's the closest they have to Hot and Sour soup, but oh well.  Andy once again got Chicken soup with veggies, since they didn't have egg drop soup.  The soups were ok, but I think they were probably better at the other place.

For a main dish I got the #12 Knusprig gebackenes Schweinefleisch m. Gemüse (crispy pork with mixed vegetables) and Andy got the #57 Knuspriges Hühnerbrustfilet mit pikanter Erdnusssoße (crispy chicken with a piquant peanut sauce.  Mine was ok - it was basically chunks of pork fried in a batter and mixed with sauce and veggies.  Andy's was a whole chicken breast, fried and cut into slices, on top of veggies and a peanut sauce that wasn't terribly "piquant."  Both were interesting dishes, but ultimately fell short in terms of taste and presentation. I'm used to international foods in Germany being a little off, but these were just weird.

If I were to choose a Chinese place to go to in Tuebingen, I would probably choose Asia Bambus, but we may have just picked odd dishes.  It's not a bad place, and it is one of the only places where you can order online and pick up your food at the restaurant which is definitely a plus.

Restaurants: Asia Bambus

There are a couple of Asian restaurants in Tübingen and since I hadn't tried any of them yet, I figured it was about time.  I started with the one near the Döner stand that I usually go to.  It's in the old part of town between the Holzmarkt and the Marktplatz.  The restaurant is called Asia Bambus and it's located at Kirchgasse 6.

They seem to have a perpetual special which is 5 Euros for any main dish on the menu - or at least they've had this special for the last few months.  It's located on the first floor of the building - just above Asmara (the only after-hours bar in town) and an Italian place.  Once you go up the stairs it's through a very unassuming little door. and you can pretty much sit wherever you want.

In addition to the dishes being 5 Euros - which includes rice, you can add soup or egg rolls for either 1 or 2 Euro.  I had the Kung Pao Pork and the Peking soup.  Andrew had the Kung Pao Chicken and Eggdrop soup.  The Peking soup is kind of like Hot and Sour soup, but it's a little sweeter than you would expect.  I added some chili sauce to it to make it a little spicier.  It was pretty tasty.  Andrew's eggdrop soup also had some veggies and pieces of chicken in it.  He said it was pretty good as well.

As for the Kung Pao dishes, they were good, but as with most Asian foods in Europe they were just a little bit off - mostly because they were not really spicy.  Again, I added some chili sauce to spice it up.  Even without the spice though, they were very good dishes and I would definitely recommend the restaurant.

One thing of note:  I have noticed after having read the ingredients of other foods and having woken up the next day after eating at Asia Bambus with puffy hands and feet, that they use MSG in some foods here.  If you're allergic to MSG or just want to avoid it you may want to ask about it.

Restaurants: Padeffke

Padeffke is a bakery and cafe on the way from the train station to the old part of town.  In the front you can order various baked goods - from bread to pastries.  In the back you can sit at any table of your choice.  It's basically self serve, so you get your baked goods and coffee from the cashier and then find your table and sit down.  The prices are reasonable, and the space is really nice.  I've been there twice now.  The first time was to grab coffee for a friend's birthday and the second time I went to read.

I'll start with the good parts and transition into the not so great.  First, it's very easy to find a place to sit.  They've got booths, high tables, low tables, tables with funky chairs, areas where you sit on pillows and hang out - basically whatever space you want to be in, you can find it there.  In fact, if you have a specific desire for a firmness of the pillow upon which you sit, you can choose from a variety in the back.  They also have a little library back there where you can find a book and do some reading.  It's probably the most "american" coffee shop I've been to.  Also, when I went they were having a special on some of their baked goods because hey had won some sort of award.

Here's the not so awesome.  I had cappuccino both times I went, and I found it to be a little lacking. There was too little foam, and the espresso part tasted a little watered down.  There may have been more that made it bad, but at this point I can't remember, all I remember is that it certainly wasn't the best cappuccino I'd ever had.  I'm sure some of the other drinks there are just fine, but I just know that I've had better cappuccino elsewhere.

The other not so awesome thing probably has more to do with me than with the location, but I was approached by a crazy woman while I was there.  She sat down at a table one away from me, and proceeded to drink her mini wine. (Yes...that kind of crazy person.)  She was clearly talking to herself, but you never know if someone is talking on a hands free device these days, so I just ignored that.

Then when a gentleman sat down at the table between us she got up and started talking to him.  I could tell she was saying something about someone attacking her but I wasn't sure what she was saying because of the background noise.  The guy just wanted to drink his coffee.  Eventually she went away, but came back and the guy left essentially telling her to leave him alone.  She pestered a few other people and eventually came to my table.  I was taking surreptitious pictures of the place when she came up and asked about my camera.  It seemed to disturb her, so I put it away.  I mean, there's no sense upsetting a crazy woman more than necessary.  She told me some crazy story and I seemed uninterested so she went away.  Eventually I finished my reading and left.

I would recommend the place as a study location, and that's about it.  The prices are comparable to other coffee shops and nobody on the staff is going to bother you about staying too long, but the coffee's not great and there is the possibility for crazy drunk people to harass you.

In Praise of Fresh Meat

Though this isn't on my list of things I have plans to write about, I couldn't let today pass by without mentioning the tastiness of fresh meat.  Just before I went down to visit my family my relatives up in Kolbingen had slaughtered a pig and I came home with two pork chops, two bratwurst, and some leberwurst.

The last time I was studying in Germany 12 years ago, my family had also slaughtered a pig, but that was a completely different experience.  My cousin had received a pig from some of his friends as a wedding guest since pigs are symbols of good luck in Germany.  Frank and his (now ex-)wife gave the pig over to a local former who took care of it until it was big enough.  At that point, they went over to the local butcher - who is probably a distant relative - slaughtered the pig and had what is affectionately known as a "Schlachtfest" (slaughter fest). A Schlachtfest is basically where you invite the people over who gave you the pig so that they can share in your luck.

This time, there was no Schlachtfest.  Instead Hans and Hedi split the pig with one of Hedi's relatives and they came away with basically half a pig worth of sausage and other meat. Anyway, I had some of the leberwurst for breakfast, and one of the pork chops for dinner and let me tell you they were some of the tastiest  meat that I have had in a long time.  The leberwurst was so fresh, and well seasoned, and the pork chop was tender and flavorful.  It's almost enough for me to go to a butcher when I get home rather than buying meat at the supermarket.  Unfortunately, it's super expensive...but if I could find an inexpensive butcher, it would be worth a try.

My new favorite snack

So the last time I studied abroad in Germany was 12 years ago.  To be honest, not much has changed.  There is probably more garbage separation, but to be honest it's not that different a place than it was 12 years ago.  With one exception....Peanuts.

Now I know what your thinking: What the heck do peanuts have to do with anything?  Well, my friend, I'll tell you.  Germans do not really eat peanut butter.  If I were interested in making a cheap PB&J for lunch to bring with me, I would be out of luck.  First, their bread is WAY better than the crap you would make that kind of sandwich out of.  Second, while they do have bread for such sandwiches, it's not as good as our bread for such things...strange but true.  But it's a moot point, because there is no peanut butter.