Not growing up with any sort of real winter was a real treat. The weather was warm(ish) and sunny for the first time today in months and it was a real spirit lifter. I don't know how people who live in those countries that have 24-hour night and what not in the winter can stand it. Well, actually, I've heard with lots of alcohol is how they deal with it and that sounds miserable.

You can feel spring coming. I am so excited to eat non-root, non-roasted vegetables. In particular, I've been craving peas. What? I know. Who am I?  I wouldn't shed a single tear if I never had to see another celery root again. I do like celery stalks but they have yet to make an appearance in our vegetable box. In getting ready for spring, we've also planted a few different types of tomato seeds. Seeing the little sprouts feels so promising. I don't think I've ever felt this poetic about a season. Spring, I love you, I love you and I don't care who knows it!

I've avoided writing about the huge run around that I've been getting from the visa office. My sympathies for non-US-Nationals trying to get into the United States have multiplied by the thousands, hundreds of thousands. I've also never felt a stronger desire to smash my head through a wall, and I can tell you, the walls in this new apartment are thick. Information is only given when you ask for it, and even then, no one will confirm whether it is correct or not. I've never encountered more employed people completely unaware of and unwilling to acknowledge the actual duties of their job. That means something; I worked in the New Orleans public school system.

I guess there are some things to look forward to in the coming months like sunshine, the start of Mad Men, and the Eurovision Song Contest. ALSO! I'll be flying home for two weeks over Easter. Who knows if you'll be able to get me on a plane headed back towards Germany when the two weeks are up.

It's 2012 and I'm still sometimes surprised by nudity on TV

I mostly say I'm still surprised about nudity on TV because it's 11:30 in the morning and there was just some commercial on television for a women's website that can tell you whether or not you are having the right amount of sex for you...while showing a picture of a naked, gyrating woman. What? Why? I guess it's mostly a ploy to get people to go to their website but if it's about sex, shouldn't they at least have shown two naked people? I'm just thinking logically here. There's also breastfeeding in commercials too, which I don't find offensive at all except that they are clearly not real breastfeeding lady breasts. They are way too small and cute looking. I thought breastfeeding breasts were supposed to be giant and intimidating and functional. Okay. Enough breast talk. Sorry, Grandpa.

We're moving into a new apartment. It will be a real space upgrade. This is of course always good. The current apartment is 35sq m (376 sq ft according to google). The new apartment is about 60 sq m (645 sq ft). Space to breathe and fill with things. Oh the things...can you buy stock in Ikea? I suggest that you do. I've certainly spent a good chunk of money there in the past few weeks. I am proud to say though that the day before yesterday we saw a trash pile on the street and I convinced Phil to take a side table out it. He seemed pretty skeptical but obliged and I've now painted it blue with a white pattern design. It looks better than it did before and has the super low price of free. I think we can both be happy with that. It did make me feel like my mother. She is the queen of refinishing trash pile treasures. What is nice is that our new landlords gave us a key at the beginning of the month, even though we don't officially move until February 1, to start painting and moving small stuff. 

In other news I'm watching one of my preferred German TV shows called "Mieten, Kaufen, Wohnen" (Rent, Buy, Live) and it follows around real estate agents who are showing people apartments. I know, it sounds really riveting, try not to get too excited. It's interesting to see what's valued and what's not. It gave me a good idea of what I should complain about when we were looking at new apartments. Never in my life had I really considered the benefits of a window in the kitchen or built in kitchen until that became something that wasn't always standard. In conclusion, German television is generally crappy but I really enjoy it. It's so much more fun to feel embarrassed for a foreign population than for other Americans. Plus, the German version of American Idol "Deutschland Sucht den Superstar" (Germany Seeks the Superstar) has the added fun of people singing songs in English with funny accents. Imagine the worst American Idol auditions and add people who don't even understand the words that they are singing. The people who are the most successful are usually actually pretty good with the notable exception of the guy who won last year. He was (still is?) so dumb but it made him somehow more endearing. The real star of the show is Dieter Bohlen, Germany's "Pop Titan"(the blond one). This country is full of wonders.

When we finally get a memory card for the camera that isn't busted up we'll take some pictures of the apartment to share.

I'll just leave this here...the winner of last year's Deutschland Sucht den Superstar. Look at his lil suit!

Leroy, the Balding Christmas Tree

This is Leroy. He is from Alsace.

This year I decided I would make the ornaments for our Christmas tree using a salt dough recipe. I baked them, let them cool and then painted them to look pretty. The German flag, American flag and cat we obviously bought.

America

Germany

A pretzel inspired by an old picture I saw of Phil's parents' tree.

A heart and a Christmas tree ON a Christmas tree. Meta, I think so.

Lil' Phil sniffing a poisonous poinsettia. Cute!

Christmas Baking

Here's a little Christmas recipe for you. My life right now has pretty much been either baking or making lesson plans. I think that you would rather read about baking. This recipe is for something called a Christstollen.  Normally, it has candied orange and lemon in it, but per request, I've left those out of the recipe. I think if people are making this at home, they traditionally bake it at the beginning of the Advent season because you are supposed to wait a few weeks after baking it to eat it. For most German Christmas goodies, there is a town that is known for making the best. If you buy a Christstollen, for example, the best ones are supposed to come from Dresden. The best Lebkuchen comes from Nürnberg, a city that is also famous, sort of awkwardly, for the Nuremberg Trials. I wonder why that is spelled differently in English. Well, actually, probably it's because Nürnberg is sort of difficult for English speakers to say. Anyway, let's think of Lebkuchen instead of war criminals, shall we?

Here is the recipe I used for the Christstollen. Hopefully it tastes good.

P.S. I found out what happens on Christmas day. You sit around and relax with your family. That sounds alright to me.

Christstollen

500 g Flour
1 pkg. dry yeast
120 g Sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Zest of 1 lemon
200 ml Soy milk (about 4/5 of a cup)
150 g vegan butter
2 tsp. rum
100 g almonds (I used blanched but the recipe I looked at called for slivered.)
200 g raisins
200 g marzipan
+ more butter & powdered sugar

1) Mix the flour and yeast. Add sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
2) Combine the vegan butter and soy milk in a sauce pan. Heat until the butter is melted. Add to the flour mixture. Add vanilla and rum.
3) Knead the mixture for about 5 minutes and then add the almonds. Form into a ball and put it back into the mixing bowl. Let sit, covered, in a warm place for 45 minutes.
4) Take dough out of the bowl and kneed for 5-10 minutes. Add raisins. Let sit, covered, for another 30 minutes.
5) Press the dough out on a clean surface into a rectangle about an inch thick. Coat the marzipan in powdered sugar and press out into a flat rectangle. Lay the circle of marzipan on top of your flatted dough.

It's much harder to get those nuts and raisins to stay in there than you would think. Nuts and raisins everywhere.

Press the marzipan gently into the dough. In three sections, fold the dough/marzipan onto itself, like when you fold a letter. Place the folded dough form on a greased baking sheet. Additionally, spread some butter over the top of the dough form. Allow the dough to sit in a warm place, covered, for another 45 minutes.

Folding the dough over itself to form a loaf.

6) Bake the stollen for 30-35 minutes, uncovered, until it is golden brown. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.

It actually didn't bake this flat. I smashed it down a bit once I took it out of the oven because Phil said Dresdner Stollen is flatter.

Allow the stollen to cool slightly, then spread butter over the top of the dough and coat generously with powdered sugar.

Now that's what I call powdered sugar generosity.

Wrap it in aluminum foil and allow the stollen to sit for 3 weeks in a cool places before consuming.

Christkind

When people tell me that Baby Jesus is flying around on Christmas Eve delivering presents to the Lutherans, this is what I imagine:

 Yup, he's got lightning and short little spaghetti hairs. That's all I have to say about that.

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone and we continue to eat more pumpkin that the average human being. I had some frozen leftover pumpkin pie filling that I decided to used to make some pumpkin muffins. They were quite delicious and so I tried to recreate them this week again. I'm not so great about writing down recipes because I generally tend to look at a non-vegan recipe online and then "veganize it" off the cuff. With the newer muffins, I did make an effort to be slightly "healthier" and used less oil and sugar but more pumpkin and maple syrup. They turned out a bit denser and more moist, and I think they taste pretty good and make a nice breakfast with a cup of coffee.

The Saturday before Halloween, we went to a party at a friend's hause. (Typo and it stays) I'm not going to write her name because I don't even know if she reads this or if she would feel weird about it. I'll have to ask her. Anyway. You know it was a good party because there were three different cookies shaped like witch's fingers. I saw some on Chef Chloe's website and felt inspired to use some leftover vegan shortbread I had. Basically, you form a finger, then spread a little bit of cherry or strawberry jam on the "finger tip". Then press a blanched almond on top of the jam to make it look like a finger nail. I forgot to chill the dough fingers after I formed them, so they flattened out quite a bit in the oven. I think they still looked pretty disgusting regardless (I always hear Rachel Dratch saying "irregardless" in my head when I use the word 'regardless') of their flatness and I hear that they tasted good too. I didn't feel like eating one myself, I'm much more of a dead man's toe person, but I'm glad that people enjoyed them. I was originally going to dress as a Nihilist because I just don't care, you know? What am I saying? Everyone knows that is actually a lie and I really care about my Halloween costume, I just didn't have any better ideas. We picked up some face paint while we were last minute shopping, though, and so I decided to paint my face to look like a creepy doll. It was kind of full circle if you consider how much Chucky scared me as a child. Actually, I can't decide if this should be spelled with a 'y' or an 'ie' but I don't want to google it because then I'll have to actually look at pictures of Chucky(ie). He still scares me. Who am I fooling?

Phil's first pumpkin carving experience ever.

Phil needs more GRAAAAAAAINS! Vegan zombie? Get it. Har. Har. (Thanks for the picture, Chels!)

In other news, someone who plays the french horn has definitely moved into our building. Luckily they are enough floors up that you only catch every other scale. I can't remember if I've written about this or not but we have this neighbor who really enjoys playing the guitar. Worst singer I've ever heard. I mean, bad like the kind of bad that American Idol shows you in the auditions preview reel so that you want to watch the show. God bless that little guy, he is annoying, but kind of endearing. He's not ever really distracting just very consistent in practicing. If I had had his persistence as a child in my piano lessons, I'd be the Yo-Yo Ma of pianos. Not that there aren't any really famous, amazing piano players, I'm just partial to the name Yo-Yo Ma and try to bring it up as often as possible. Anyway, I'd be sad if our neighbor, Yo-Yo Ma American Idol Guitar Player, ever stopped because he helps me remember that I'm not alone in this apartment building. Maybe I should figure out exactly what apartment he lives in and the apartment that French Horn lives in, bring them together over some Witch Fingers, and they could start a band. You know that would sell a lot of albums.

So now it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. Everything is starting to get quite Christmas-y though. They don't have the speed-bump of Thanksgiving to slow down the race towards Santa Day. I felt like a dummy today when I had to google whether or not the Advent calendar has 24 or 25 days. I mean, I was pretty sure it was 24 but you know know, it could also very well be "Bonus Baby Jesus 25th Piece of Chocolate". I need to figure out what most German people do on Christmas day. I know they open their presents on Christmas eve, but if you open them on Christmas eve, then what is the point of even waking up on Christmas Day????  To drink mimosas? I don't even know. I'll report back.

Pumpkins, not just for carving

We've been a bit pumpkin-crazed lately. Pretty much every time I see a pumpkin, I feel compelled to buy it. I am always certain that there will be something to do with it. The standard go-to has been soup or curry,  however, in the past few weeks,  I've also made some pumpkin pie and pumpkin gnocchi.  I think I'll actually go ahead and post the recipes I used, so maybe you can make something too. I highly, highly recommend the gnocchi. When you see how many we ate...well, I'm not even ashamed.

In addition to that, I've got some pictures of a Loaded Baked Potato soup,  the Dirty Coast shirt that inspired the red beans, the ever discussed Chana Masala,  and my pint glass from Molly's in New Orleans. Yes, I brought it all the way to Germany.

"Believe in the Trinity"

Chana Masala from the PPK Recipe

My hands look like gigantic baby hands.

Loaded Baked Potato soup was perfect for when you really like potatoes, like I do. On top we used the Monterrey Jack style Daiya cheese, Frontier Brand vegan Bacon bits, and chives. 

I didn't want to commit to a full pumpkin pie, so I made these little "Pilots".

Brussel sprouts, pan fried potatoes, and homemade veggie sausage from a recipe in the book "Vegan Brunch".

Young spinach from the Farmer's Market. It still gets its ID checked at bars.

Pumpkin and potatoes for the gnocchi. These are of the "mealy" variety of potatoes. In Germany, it's normal to buy your potatoes based on their texture after they're cooked: "Predominantly firm cooking", "Firm cooking", and "Mealy".  I love one-to-one translations. I don't know if people buy their potatoes like that in the US, but personally, I always just kind of stood before the potatoes and thought, "Ohh those are pretty" and made my choice mostly on color.

I steamed the potatoes and removed their skins while I roasted the halved pumpkin in the oven. I then cut them both up into chunks and used Luke (the immersion blender) to make a smooth paste. This was actually really hard and my hand was shaking afterward from holding up the weight of the hand blended for so long. I went ahead and drank a beer for my troubles.

Cookin' tools for the gnocchi: measuring cup, spatula, digital scale, pumpkin seed oil, and olive oil. The little tupperware container has about half of the pumpkin/potato mix because it was simply too much puree to use at one time.

Pumpkin-potato puree after being mixed with flour, oil and spices.

After letting the dough rest for 30 minutes, I split it into four pieces, and then split each piece into two "ropes".

I then cut the ropes with a regular old knife into the gnocchi and kept them on a lined baking sheet. I've already made the mistake once before when making pasta of letting the pasta pieces touch before cooking them. They will stick together if they're not properly floured and it is terribly annoying.

Ze tray of gnocchi.

After I boiled the gnocchi (it took three batches of boiling), I pan fried them with some garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and sage. When they were all cooked, I covered them with some vegan sage butter and served them on a bed of steamed teenage, er, I mean young spinach. 

Looks good? Well, here is the recipe:


Pumpkin Gnocchi (makes 4 servings)


1. 5 cups (400g) pureed pumpkin and potato. (If you want to make your own use either small pumpkin and three medium potatoes and save half for later or use 1 medium potato and half of one small pumpkin.)
2.5 - 3 cups (350-400g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp. Sage
1/2 tsp. White pepper
1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 tbsp. Pumpkin oil (If you can't find these, use another teaspoon of olive oil)

1) Steam your potatoes until soft. When cooled, peel off the skin and place in a bowl. To roast the pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds. Place face down in the oven on a greased baking dish and roast for 30-45 minutes or until a fork easily passes through the skin. Remove from oven and let it cool. When cooled, cut it into chunks and add it into the bowl with the potatoes. Using an immersion blender, blend until there are no visible chunks. If you don't have an immersion blender then I would use a food processor. The blender should be a last resort as this was pretty sticky and I can imagine would be incredibly frustrating to get out of a blender.

2) Add half of the flour to your pumpkin and potato puree. Stir in with a spoon. Add in the oil and spices. When it becomes less sticky, add the remaining flour slowly and mix with your hands. It may not take all three cups of flour, so add it until it can be easily formed into a ball without staying stuck to your hands. Let the ball of dough rest for about 30 minutes.

3) Split the dough into four pieces. Take one piece of dough and split into two parts. On a floured  surface, work out the dough to for a 6-7 inch rope. Using a knife, cut the dough into the gnocchi, about 1/2 inch wide pieces. Move the cut pasta onto a baking sheet (or other big surface) that is covered with wax or parchment paper.

4) While you finish cutting all of your dough, boil a large pot of water. Don't forget to salt it.

5) Boil the gnocchi in small batches. They're ready to take out when they rise to the top of the water. Remove with a slatted spoon or strainer, getting rid of as much excess water as possible. Place on a plate (or back on to the baking sheet) to dry.

6) When you've boiled all of your pasta, chop 1-2 large cloves of garlic and saute in a pan with some olive oil. Add your gnocchi to pan and heat them until they are slightly crisp on the outside. Feel free to add any additional spices here. I added some fresh ground black pepper and about a pinch of salt.

7) In a small sauce pan, melt about 3 tablespoons of vegan butter. Add either a few fresh sage leaves or one teaspoon of ground sage. Pour the melted butter over the gnocchi.

8) Serve immediately!