Hello all. It’s been awhile since I last wrote, but—sorry to be cliché—time flies when you’re having fun! As usual, if I don’t get around to publishing a new blog post for awhile, I’m always pretty receptive to answering emails (though I might take a few days to return those, too).

Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken a few trips, entertained visitors, and met up with Spanish friends while continually trying to be more a part of Spanish culture here. I’ll briefly try to describe most of these in this post, and then add a few different posts afterwards with Tomatina photos and reflections on teaching and life!

To start, there was a fun excursion I took at the beginning of October: VALENCIA!!! My friend Lisa, one of the Fulbrighters in Madrid, had organized for a few of us to meet up in Valencia for the long holiday weekend. We booked spots in a 10-bed, dorm-style room at the Purple Nest Hostel—which I’d highly recommend, if anyone was curious! – and enjoyed the beach, the discotecas, and the big celebration and parades in town for the 9^th of October, a day in which the Valencians celebrate the Christian victory over the Moors. It was also the 100^th anniversary of Valencia becoming an important city in Spain. Of course I’ll upload a few photos for you people 

PHOTOS FROM VALENCIA WEEKEND:

The Christian-Moors parade had really elaborate costumes… I loved it!!

View of the parade starting point from our hostel room balcony:

La Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias, Valencia: the largest cultural-educational complex in Europe. Really cool architectural design, too.

Our crew at the beach in Valencia, enjoying the sun all afternoon and then out for paella at a seaside restaurant:

Market, Sunday morning at the Plaza de Toros in Valencia:

A few weekends ago, my friend Lulio (another Fulbright ETA who works at a secondary school in Madrid) came to visit Dani and I here in Alicante. We had a great time trying new restaurants, enjoying the beach, and cooking good food!

The next weekend, my parents came to visit. I can’t express how comforting it is to have a piece of home, finally, here in the town I live in!! They flew into Madrid on a Friday, so I caught a train into Madrid to meet them. I ended up going on Thursday night so I could see some of the other Fulbrighters in Madrid that I rarely see, which was a great time—we all met up at a bar and caught up, and then a few of us stayed up chatting for awhile back at my friend Lisa’s apartment by Gran Vía.

Once Mom & Dad got into town, they caught up a little from jetlag, and then we hit the town. We found a sector up near Calle Serrano that had a ton of antiques—Mom loved this, of course!—and browsed for awhile, later heading over to the Palacio Real to see the palace and the gardens. We ate out and enjoyed some tinto verano near the Parque del Retiro, and then walked through the park and sat near the Estanque talking all evening. Needless to say, it was wonderful.

PHOTOS from Mom & Dad’s trip to Madrid:

Plaza de la Independencia near the Retiro:

Mom & I near the Banco de España:

Palacio Real:

Once we got into Alicante on Sunday, my parents checked into a hotel just down the street from my apartment. While I worked most of the week, they got to enjoy some sightseeing and the Costa Blanca beach as well as some good company: Mona’s friend Florian was also in town visiting, so we all went out for dinner in the city one night. After discussing typical German foods one night, Mona and Flo also decided to cook their German favorite for us: kässpätzle, or cheese spätzle. DELICIOUS! And so much fun to watch them make! (Here’s a video to show you… Basically they have a simple dough mixture on a cutting board, and they slide it off bit by bit with a knife.)

PHOTOS from Mom & Dad’s trip to Alicante:

Views from the Castillo de Santa Barbara that Dad took:

View of the Castillo de Santa Barbara from a restaurant on the harbor:

My neighborhood (Benalua) market, open every Thursday & Saturday morning just down the block from my apartment:

Alicante train station:

Anyways, back to now. On the weekends where I’m not traveling or entertaining, I’ve been trying to meet with intercambios, or language exchange partners; basically, other Spanish people who are willing to help me practice Spanish if I help them practice their English. I met with two girls on Friday night for drinks, and it turned out that they barely knew much English at all—one of them knew “hello” and “beer” and that was about it. But I didn’t mind, since I got to practice a LOT more Spanish!

The same night, I went out with my friend Nerea, who’s also my co-worker and music teacher at my school. A director from Alicante was introducing his movie, “Estigmas,” at a premiere at a theater in town, so Nerea invited me out for dinner and the movie with her friends. It was kind of crazy: while we were in line in the restroom at the theater, another girl passed us, and we later realized she was the main actress in the movie!

Despite how I’m craving more travels to other European cities, or even cities in Spain (Galicia, Santander, Pamplona, Granada… the list goes on!), I also love sticking around the Comunitat Valenciana where I live. This upcoming Thursday, I’m going to a pueblo about an hour north of Alicante called Torremanzanas. Mona spends most of her weekends there, taking care of horses at a ranch owned by her German friend Dagmar, and giving riding lessons to Swiss friends of Dagmar’s. I’m really excited to see the little town—Mona says we’ll go to the town market on Sunday morning, sure to be tiny compared to what I’ve experienced in Segovia and Alicante!—and go horseback riding out in the fields. I’ll be sure to take plenty of photos! Speaking of photos… hang on, there’s tons to come after this post, I assure you!

Much love,

Meg

As you may have noticed I have been severely neglecting my blog for the past few days. You may wonder what I’ve been up to. Ok, I’ll fess up – no, I wasn’t on a miraculous 5-day diet – I was taking advantage of the opportunity to eat other people’s food Some highlights below:

Thursday: I went to dinner at an Italian friend’s house. He and his roommates (four college guys, mind you, not the usual group you’d find in the kitchen!) made my American friend and I an Italian interpretation of spätzle (a traditional German noodle) made up of spinach, eggs, flour and salt. The head “chef” was originally from Trentino, a region in Northern Italy bordering Austria and Switzerland. A large portion of the population in the region are in fact German speakers and there is a heavy German cultural influence. See a picture of the cooks in action (courtesy of my friend Nicola) here.

Friday: My roommate Giusy cooked dinner for the girls in the apartment. She made a delicious lasagna with radicchio and cream sauce. Yum. I’ve found that radicchio is quite common here and is used in many dishes, from salads to risotto. It looks similar to a head of lettuce but is red in color and has a more bitter, almost spicy taste.

Sunday: I went with my roommate to a local pizzeria to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We started off with beer and pizza – I ordered the Sanremese (pizza San Remo style) which consisted of pomodoro, mozzarella, pesto alla genovese, noci e Parmigiano a scaglie, or in English, tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, walnuts and shaved Parmesan. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. Amaaaazzzziiinnng. After the pizza we had torta or crostata di fruttà, a traditional fruit tart (which is quite common to eat at birthday celebrations in Italy rather than cake). And to drink with dessert? Prosecco (a dry sparkling wine from the Veneto) and Fragolino. And of course, as is common in Italy, a complimentary shot of limocello (lemon liqueur) with the bill.

This was my first taste of Fragolino and upon asking about it I soon discovered why. Fragolino is a sparkling red dessert wine that has a slight strawberry taste, hence the name (fragola being the Italian word for strawberry). It is typical of the Northeastern part of Italy but is made from an American grape and was therefore made illegal by an Italian law protecting local products. While Italian growers are allowed to produce Fragolino it is illegal to sell. Apparently wine labelled Fragolino can be found in supermarkets but it is not made of the Fragolino (or Isabella) grape; rather, it has been flavored chemically to reproduce the taste. New mission: find a local vintner and get a hold of a few bottles to take home with me!

店の名前「ボルツァーノ」はイタリア北部、オーストリア国境にも近く、アルプス山脈東部のチロル地方南部に位置する町。この地方独特の料理を専門に提供するレストランを訪れた。

手前のボールは、ジャガイモの揚げスペッツレ。一番奥は平たい乾パンのようなシュッテルブロット。

チーズ、ハム、前菜各種、パスタ、パン、どれをとっても一般に知られるイタリア料理とは異なっている。ジャガイモや肉類、キャベツを多く使ったメニューはむしろドイツ料理を彷彿とさせる。

特徴的だったのは、カネーデルリ。写真で見るとバニラアイスのようだが、セモリナ粉を牛乳、バター、チーズとあわせて練り、団子状に丸めたふわふわ感のある手打ちパスタで、ミートソースと絡めていただく。家庭料理の食感があり、アットホームな気分が味わえる。

ワインも数種類試したが、中でも南チロルのブドウ品種スキアーヴァとラグラインから作った「サンタ　マグダレーナ」という赤ワインは透明感のある色でありながら味わい深く、美味だった。食後のデザートもまた、幸福感を増幅させてくれること間違いなし。（みかん。写真も）

BAR BOLZANO　
http://www.toku-toku.net/bolzano/index.html

オーナーである三輪シェフのコンセプト
http://pws.prserv.net/miwatei/miwatei/concept/index.htm

Today’s James Beard Project dish is inspired by the cuisine of the Alsace region of France, in the east along the Rhine River at the German border. The cooking of this area has, of course, been heavily influenced by German cuisine, and that influence shows here. Coq au Riesling is a variation on the traditional French coq au vin dish that, instead of using the usual red Burgundy wine, uses a sweet Alsatian white Riesling instead.

The chicken is browned in butter to which oil and flour are added. Salt pork then goes in to flavor the dish further. Its fat is rendered, and sliced mushrooms, shallots, onions and carrots are added. The chicken is flambéed with cognac and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic before the Riesling is added and the dish is simmered. Following the simmering, the sauce is thickened with a beurre manié — a dough of equal parts soft butter and flour.

James Beard’s recipe calls for the completed Coq au Riesling to be served over pasta noodles, which figure largely in Alsatian cuisine. However, we’re substituting a traditional German form of noodle, the small dumplings known (and again, well known to many ethnic Clevelanders) as spätzle. We think they do an excellent job of soaking up the rich, delicious sauce. Of course, there’s one way for you to find out, and we highly recommend that you stop by tonight to conduct your own taste test…perhaps with a nice glass of Riesling alongside.

On rainy Sunday, we spent the day in the indoor swimming pool and at home. In the evening, Peter stood in the kitchen and cooked the specialty from his hometown – Spätzle pasta with bacon, cheese, vegetables plus beetroot salad as a side dish. Since beetroot is supposedly rich in iron, we came up with Spätzle after we purchased the ready-made salad. If I had not married a German, I would have never known this kind of food. Since everything Peter cooks is very high in calories, I call Peter’s German-style cooking “Kalorienbombe“, meaning “calorie bomb” in German.

While waiting for dinner, I tried to play with L in the living room but without success. L kept going back to the kitchen, because the entire apartment smelt so delicious. After dinner we were so stuffed we had to eat a bowl of cookie-dough ice cream just to feel worse.

Spätzleküchle mit Champignon-Soße

Zutaten:

• 150 g Spätzle
• 2 Eier
• 5 EL Milch
• Salz
• Pfeffer
• 3 Frühlingszwiebeln
• 50 g geriebenen Gauda
• 3 EL Sonnenblumenöl
• ¼ l Wasser
• 1 Päckchen Champignon Soße (z. B.: von Maggi)
• 2 EL Weißwein

Zubereitung:

1. Spätzle nach Anweisung auf der Packung zubereiten, abgießen, mit kaltem Wasser abschrecken und abtropfen lassen.
2. In einer Schüssel Eier mit Milch verquirlen, mit Salz und Pfeffer würzen.
3. Die Frühlingszwiebeln waschen und in ca. 1 cm große Ringe schneiden.
4. Die Spätzle, die Eiermilch, die Frühlingszwiebeln und den Gauda in einer Schüssel mischen.
5. In einer Pfanne das Sonnenblumenöl heiß werden lassen. Nacheinader darin 8 flache Spätzleküchle backen, herausnehmen und warm stellen,
6. In einen Topf  Wasser heiß werden lassen. Die Soße einrühren. Unter Rühren aufkochen und bei geringer Wärmezufuhr 5 Minuten kochen. Dabei gelegentlich umrühren. Weißwein hinzufügen und die Soße zu den Spätzleküchle servieren.

Dazu passen gut Schweinemedaillons und Gemüse.

Indisches Reisgericht mit Rindfleisch (3 Portionen)

Zutaten:

• 1 Zwiebel
• 300 g Rindfleisch aus der Keule
• Sonnenblumenöl
• 1 TL Curry, oder mehr
• 1 rote Paprikaschote
• 200 g Reis
• 400 ml Wasser
• 1 Würfel Maggi Klare Fleischsuppe
• 1 Banane
• 1 EL gehackte Erdnüsse

Zubereitung:

1. Zwiebel schälen und in Würfel schneiden. Rindfleisch waschen, trockentupfen und in Würfel schneiden.
2. In einen Topf das Sonnenblumenöl heiß werden lassen. Rindfleisch und Zwiebeln darin anbraten. Curry darüber streuen.
3. Paprikaschote waschen, Kerne und weiße Innenhäute entfernen und in kleine Würfel schneiden, mit dem Reis in den Topf geben.
4. Wasser zugießen. Den Suppenwürfel darin auflösen, aufkochen und bei geringer Wärmezufuhr ca. 25 Minuten ausquellen lassen.
5. Banane schälen und in Scheiben schneiden, unterheben und heiß werden lassen.
6. Reisgericht auf Tellern anrichten und mit Erdnüssen bestreut servieren.

This past weekend I had the great fun of meeting up with some of my personal chef friends at Seneca Lake again. It was a smaller group this time, and we met for lunch on Saturday.

Ladies who lunch!

Our fine chef for our adventure, Chef Dano Hutnik!

At Dano’s most of the dishes are very simple, beginning with spreads and salads. There are at least 8 different spreads to choose from, served with a basket of fresh crusty breads, and 9-10 different types of salad. A selection of spreads and salads along with some great wine is a meal in itself! We began with Liptauer spread (an Austrian house specialty which is made with Liptauer cheese, paprika and other spices), a Hotel Sacher spread, and a Pumpkin seed oil spread (which is my favorite!) Each of the spreads is similar to cream cheese in it’s consistency and you schmear them on the delicious bread. Oh my, very addicting!

Hotel Sacher, Liptauer and Pumpkin Seed Oil spreads

Large bean and corn salads

Celery root remoulade and salsify salad.

Our main dishes and sides were plentiful. We were served some of the house made charcuterie including bratwurst, knockwurst and smoked Hungarian sausages, the country pate, and the Heuriger Eggplant. The sausuages were delicious, not too fatty, very flavorful and fresh. I am not usually a huge fan of pate ( I have a thing about offal~better known as innards…) , but had to admit it was tasty. We also had a vegetarian plate which was eggplant and tomatoes. I didn’t care for this dish as the tomatoes were very sweet, and as an Italian, it was just not right to my palate. Tomatoes should be a bit tart!

Knockwurst, Bratwurst and Smoked Hungarian sausage.

Country style pate

Crispy Wiener Schnitzel

Spatzle!

Well fed and happy!

All the dreamers in all the world are dizzy in the noodle. –Edie Adams

Ah, National Noodle Day.

I have to tell you, Noodle Day really taxed my ability to come up with something delicious. Well, I did have one idea of my own:  I wanted to make Spatzle and thusly make my Inner German Milk-Maid very very happy. However, my best friend AKA “Schmoopy” took me to task for this choice:

Me/Inner German Milk-Maid: “mmmmm, spatzle…*drool*”

Schmoo: “That’s not a noodle. They are too lumpy and irregular.”

Me: “They are flour and egg dough cooked in water. What else could they be? They are noodles.”

[I pause this to admit that, yes, in fact, we can have long conversations about nothing in particular when we’re at work....Especially when we’re at work!]

Schmoo: “No no no – noodles are long and skinny. Much longer than they are wide.”

Me: “What about egg noodles, they are squat. Are you telling me those aren’t noodles?”

… you can see where this is going. To avoid a tiff, my Schmoo and I had to consult the Source of All Truth… Wikipedia:

Noodle

1.        (usually in plural) A string or strip of pasta, especially as used in Chinese food.
2.       (colloquial) A person with poor judgment; a fool.
3.       (colloquial) The brain.

THAT IS IT!   BRAINS!!

I said to myself “think outside the box D., how do you know that ‘National Noodle Day’ isn’t about BRAINS!!?” And so, I went exploring what happens, gastronomically speaking, when the one is inclined to eat The Noodle. This is what I learned:

1. They are just as unpopular as you think: There are 100,000 recipes on epicurious.com and NOT ONE deals with cooking brains.
2. The most common way to prepare brains is by coating them in breadcrumbs and frying them.  Eggs, breadcrumbs and butter – it’s a classic!
3. Brunch Menu Item Strikeout #1: Brains are eaten as a crepe filling in Poland.
4. Brains are on the rise in foodie circles – for example, Mario Batali at Babbo in NYC is making this Lamb’s Brains “Francobolli” (al dente pasta “postage stamps” filled with a mix of ricotta cheese and lamb’s brains).
   

   Image by ulterior epicure/Flickr-Creative Commons

5. Brunch Menu Strikeout #2: In the Southern United States, canned pork brain in gravy can be purchased. For consumption. As food. Seriously. Apparently you crack a can and fry them up with scrambled eggs to produce “Eggs n’ Brains”.
6. Eating brains is not for the risk adverse: Brain consumption can result in contracting fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (basically the human version of mad cow disease ). Scientist believe that the disease may be transmitted to human beings who eat the brain or spinal cord of infected carcasses of cattle.

Did that leave you hungry? I know I’m starved. Time to wrap up the research, head to the kitchen and tuck into a big bowl of…. *drumroll*….spagettini.  I’m not a noodle – in the foolish sense of the word. I know some nice al dente noodles topped with a sweet and sour ragu based on slow roasted chicken will be a winner. Add pancetta, EVOO, carrots, celery, rosemary, cinnamon, garlic, tomatoes,  red wine, sultana raisin, pine nuts, fresh parsley… oh yes, National Noodle Day *has* been celebrated in my house.

D.

Fürs Abendessen.
Es wird Käsespätzle mit Zwiebln geben. Leider, dank meiner ständigen Schlappheit, nicht mit selbstgemachten Knöpfle.

Bergkäse und - noch- bleiche Zwiebeln

Vielleicht schaffe ich es ja gleich noch mich aufzuraffen, um endlich diesen Schokopudding zu kochen, unter den ich seit Tagen die matschigen Bananen mischen will.

Gerda Schönbucher aus Schwäbisch Hall kocht für Stockenboi Aktuell original Schwäbische Spätzle. Klick hier zum Rezept > Spätzle

Hallo Zusammen,

so jetzt geht’s los hier, mein erster richtiger Blogeintrag!

Zunächst mal so viel: Ich bin gut angekommen, was ja an sich schon mal das Wichtigste ist.

Doch bevor wir zum Aktuellen kommen, blicken wir nochmal auf mein letztes Wochenende in “God old Germany” zurück:

Freitagabend eine recht gelungene Abschiedsparty von der lieben Helene und meiner Wenigkeit. Der nächste Tag warf allerdings seine Schatten voraus, so dass wir (Gottseidank) gegen 2 Uhr schon die Pforten schließen und mit dem Aufräumen beginnen konnten.

Wie gerade schon angekündigt, der Samstag kam und bot einiges:

Zunächst mal ging’s für mich das letzte Mal ins geliebte WESTFALENSTADION, um mit Tristan nochmal richtig Block Drölf zu rocken. Leider war an diesem Tag nicht Jeder so motiviert wie Ich (jaja, wie schnell kann ein Spiel gegen die Schwaben was Besonderes werden) und so entstand über die meiste Spielzeit unsere typische Heimspielstimmung. Irgendwie nix ganzes und nix halbes, nicht schlecht aber auch wahrlich nicht gut. Wie unglaublich laut es bei uns werden kann, wenn jeder mal etwas aus sich raus geht, zeigte die letzte Aktion als wirklich jeder versuchte bei der letzten Ecke den Ball ins Tor zu schreien. Gelang uns dann aber dann leider nicht und so endete das Spiel gegen den VFBääh (sg.de Forum rockt ) 1:1. Nelson entwickelt sich immer mehr zu dem, was unser Argentinier wohl schon ist: Einen Welttorjäger ( Getreu dem Motto: Hey lieber Nelson… und so). Unsere Abwehr wirkte, obwohl es dieses Mal nur 1 Gegentor gab, bei weitem noch nicht gefestigt, da muss noch einiges passieren, wenn wir dieses Jahr wirklich unter die ersten 5 wollen.

Ein paar Worte noch zu den Gästen: ICH hatte den Eindruck, dass schon lange nicht mehr so viele  Spätzle liebende Mitmenschen den Gästeblock bevölkert haben. Meine Schätzung war zunächst 5- 6000, was sämtliche Berichte jedoch vehement bestritten. Na gut, dann halt nicht. Laut waren sie so oder so nicht wirklich, unsympathisch dafür mal wieder umso mehr (Ich hatte eigentlich nur noch auf die 3. Präsentation der DES- Fahne gewartet) und ein guter Auftritt im schönsten Gästeblock der Liga sieht ebenfalls anders aus.

Nach dem Spiel ging es dann, nach einem kleinen Umweg über Düsseldorf zurück ins schöne Essen, denn nun sollte es noch ein letztes Mal feucht fröhlich werden:

Meine geschätzte Nachbarin Lida schimpft sich seit Dienstag Privatuniversitäts- Studentin ( hör ich hier jemanden “Bonze” schreien?) und veranstaltete zu diesem Anlass eine schöne, dicke Party im legendären Tennisheim des TC Überruhr’s. Nette, sehr nette Sache, die für mich irgendwann gegen 5 mit einem, dem Alkohol zu verdankenden emotionalen Ausbruch endete.

Der dicke Schädel und der angenehme Fuselgeruch, der mich am nächsten Morgen umgab, bestätigten den gelungenen Abend. Leider fiel das “letzte Mal lange schlafen im eigenen Bett” aus, da ich, samt Family um 8 Uhr ( so eine Uhrzeit gibt’s wirklich, hatte ich über die 3 Monate Nichts- tun glatt vergessen) noch zum Frühstück bei den Großeltern antischen durfte. Runter bekommen hab ich nichts und gegen viertel nach 9 ging’s dann ab zum Flughafen.

Während der Fahrt erreichte mich dann noch die Nachricht, dass Lukas, Hilti, Arno und wohl auch Lennart auf den Weg zum Flughafen machen.

Dank Online- Check in ging’s direkt durch zur Gepäckabnahme, die meine Koffer sicher, heil und pünktlich in Richtung USA liefern sollte. Satz mit X, aber dazu später mehr.

Kurz bevor mein Name ausgerufen wurde, erreichten dann auch Lukas, Hilti und Arno den Terminal. Lennart hatte der Abend zu sehr auf den Magen geschlagen, so dass er im Auto geblieben war *g*.

Schnell und möglichst unemotional verabschiedete ich mich von allen und ging meinen Weg in Richtung Amerika. Alleine. 1 Jahr.

Danke Jungs, dass ihr gekommen seid, groß!

So, Paris umgestiegen, kein Ding, nach 11 1/2 Stunden in Detroit angekommen, auch noch kein Ding. Einwanderung… Kribbeln und Anspannung als es ins Sicherheitsbüro ging, doch nach 15 Minuten hatte ich mein Visum. So weit so gut. Jetzt noch der Zoll. Kinderspiel. Denkste! Der Bulle dort hätte auch gut in eine deutsche Hundertschaft gepasst, so unfreundlich wie der war. Ließ mich 10 Minuten vor ihm stehen und genau dieselben Fragen beantworten, die ich vorher schon 2 Mal beantwortet hatte. Zusätzlich rief er sich vorher erst noch 2 weitere Kollegen. Mr. Boisserèe- Schwerverbrecher! Oh Mann, was ein Minus- Typ! Letztendlich konnte er mir nix anhaben, aber einen kleinen Arschtritt wollte er mir wohl noch verpassen und schickte mich zur Detailkontrolle meines Koffers.

Halt! Koffers?  Schrieb der Typ nicht vorhin, dass er 2 Koffer aufgegeben hatte. Riiiichtig. Irgendwie hab ich momentan kein Glück mit den Airlines, so dass der größere Koffer in Paris geblieben war und erst Dienstagnacht um 2 Uhr angeliefert wurde.

Okay, Detailkontrolle und zum Glück dieses Mal super freundliche Officers, die sich besonders über die, bisher von mir unentdeckten Geschenke meiner Eltern freuten.

Anschließend ging es mit Gayle (Meine Chefin) und Christian (Mein Mitbewohner aus Würzburg) ab Richtung Weltstadt Mount Morris Downtown. Hier leben ganze 18.000 Menschen, bei einer Arbeitslosenquote von 35%. Die GM Krise lässt hier derbe grüßen. Mount Morris ist eine Vorstadt von Flint und hier wurde  1908 General Motors gegründet und bis vor 10 Jahren beschäftigte GM mehr als 50.000 Menschen, heute sind es noch ganze 2000… Da braucht man sich über die sozialen Verhältnisse nicht wundern. Zur Begrüßung wurde diese Woche auf einer Straße die Flint und Mt. Morris verbindet, auch direkt mal jeden Tag eine Person erschossen. 5 Tote an 5 Tage, gute Quote würde ich sagen. Aber keine Sorge, ich pass auf mich auf und meide diese Gegend komplett. Gayle hat uns ebenfalls ausdrücklich verboten dieses Gebiet zu betreten. Gehört wohl zu den kriminellsten in ganz USA.

Ansonsten macht Flint eigentlich einen ganz coolen Eindruck. Der Zweitgrößte Campus der Universty of Michigan (3.Größte Uni der USA) und viele weitere, teilweise große Unis verleihen der Stadt, besonders in Downtown den Touch einer Studentenstadt. Allerdings sieht man auch viel Industriebrache. All in One aber echt in Ordnung.

Der “Palace of Aurbyn Hills” ist nur 45 Minuten entfernt, so dass ich mich schon jetzt auf Ende Oktober freue, wenn die NBA Saison endlich wieder los geht.

Die ersten Tage im Center waren ebenfalls sehr cool. Wer’s nicht weiß: Ich arbeite hier in einem Senior Center, einer Art “Jugendheim” für Senioren. Die Seniors kommen morgens, spielen Karten, Unterhalten sich, bekommen mittags Dinner und danach ist meistens Programm. Wii- Bowling, Bingo, Poker, Angeln, Tanzen etc. Bisher jedenfalls äußerst spaßig und die Leute sind sehr nett.

Seit Mittwoch dürfen wir auch endlich unseren Wagen fahren. Hier seht ihr nun, weshalb ich das “Öko” mit in die Überschrift gepackt hab. Es handelt sich um einen 1996 Chevrolet Pick- Up, der schlappe 28 Liter auf 100 Km frisst. Ein hoch auf unsere Tankkarte und die 60 Cent/ Liter für Sprit.

Bis Sonntag wohnen wir noch bei unserer Chefin, was an sich ebenfalls okay geht. Sie ist super cool, hat allerdings 3 Katzen die alles vollhaaren und sich nachts auch mal gerne auf deinem Kopf zum schlafen niederlassen wollen. Deshalb freu ich mich echt, wenn wir über’s Wochenende endlich unser Haus fertig renovieren können (die Tapeten brauchen dringend einen neuen Anstrich, außerdem wurde bereits der Keller neu gemacht, die Fenster ausgetauscht und neues Licht installiert). Gestern ist auch unser Internet und TV Receiver geliefert und angeschlossen worden. Sehr nette Sache, 235 Programme inkl. 4 Bundesligaspiele pro Spieltag und eine 6000 Internetleitung. Heute wird noch der neue HDTV geliefert und dann kann morgen früh direkt mal Fussball geguckt werden .

So, dass war’s erst mal von mir an dieser Stelle. Nächste Woche gibt’s einen neuen, dieses Mal wohl deutlich kürzeren Blog von mir. Mal schauen was das Wochenende, das Haus und die neue Woche so mit sich bringen.

So long, liebe Grüße in die Heimat, ich vermisse euch alle und denke oft an euch. Vergesst mich nicht! Noch 51 Woche, dann bin ich zurück!

Schwarz- Gelber Gruß aus Mount Morris/ Flint, Michigan, United States of America,

euer Clemens

Die Ekmannsdorfer Firma Spätzlé fügt einigen Cornflakespackungen eine CD mit einem Fitness-Video bei.

Als heute Maria Liegewiese aus Dorschborn die CD aus der Packung nahm und ansehen wollte, erlebte sie allerdings eine Überraschung. Anstatt einer Fitnessanleitung enthielt die Scheibe ein deftiges Pornovideo.

Spätzlé untersucht die Vorkommnisse jetzt.

Also known as “Old-fashioned Chicken Fricassee with Wine-flavored Cream Sauce, Onions, and Mushrooms.”

Last night, I attempted a great feat:  to master the art of French cooking as guided by Julia Child.  Well, at least, master one chicken dish by Julia Child.  I was craving something French, as I have been for some weeks now.  And being the ad-influenced consumer that I am (referring to my having seen the Julie & Julia movie recently and read the book — which I didn’t find to be as good as the movie, btw), I pulled our dusty Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 off the shelf and began to read.  Now, I had limited options on what to cook given what was available in our fridge.  I only had two options: chicken or beef.  Since I’ve been eating a lot of red meat lately, I went with the chicken.  I had chicken drumsticks, to be exact.  I wanted to make it up to Hubby since he recently cooked dinner for me and a friend, while we gabbed about people falling in love in their late twenties and settling for the first great guy encounter or waiting for true love to come along (that’s another post for another day).

So back to my chicken.  I didn’t want to just do a simple fry or grill.  I was craving something more complex in taste, but easy to make.  So, page 258 it was:  the location of my first Julia Child recipe excursion.  On initial read, the recipe seems straight-forward.  You saute some vegetables (1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 sliced onion) in 4 tablespoons of butter, then add the chicken, turning every now and then until the chicken is “light golden yellow.”  Then sprinkle the golden yellow chicken on both sides with salt, pepper, and flour.  Cover and cook for another few minutes, turning once.  Then add the 3 cups chicken stock,  1 cup white wine (in my case, I used vermouth, which was an option allowed by the recipe), and an herb bouquet.  The recipe called for parsley, bay leaf, thyme for the herb bouquet, but I used the parsley, thyme, and rosemary since we had those fresh.  After adding these ingredients in the casserole, you bring to a boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes.  My chicken immersed in delicious liquid looked like this:

While the chicken is cooking, Julia says you should make the onion and mushroom “garniture,” found on other pages of the book.  To make the onion garniture, you basically take some small white onions (I just sliced an onion), butter, chicken stock, and an herb bouquet and simmer these ingredients for about 40-50 minutes.  To make the mushroom garniture (basically stewed mushrooms), you simmer some mushrooms (I just used the baby bella slices), 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1/3 cup water for about 5 minutes.  The point of making these two dishes is for the sauce.  You add it into the chicken casserole, eventually.  Plus they made great side dishes.  My onion and mushroom garniture looked like this:

So back to the chicken.  Once the chicken drumsticks are cooked (i.e., tender when pinched. By this point the chicken should easily let your fork slide in when pricked), you need to reduce the liquid to make the sauce.  You basically bring it to a boil and let some of the liquid evaporate, and the sauce starts to thicken.  At this point, you can add the juices from the onion and mushroom garniture.

Once the liquid has reduced and thickened, you need to blend 2 egg yolks and 1/4 cup whipping cream in a bowl, using a wire whip.  This was where I got a little stumped because the recipe stated that I should “add the hot sauce by tablespoonfuls until about a cupful has gone in” my bowl with the blended egg yolks and cream.  So much for “easy to make.”  I decided, after deliberating with Hubby about my options, to take turn off the stove (which had been on high so that I could reduce the liquid into a thick sauce), take out the chicken (onto another dish), and pour the remaining liquid into a measuring cup (the kind with the spout).  This made it easier to “dribble” the hot sauce into the bowl.  Dribbling is important because you don’t want the egg yolks to cook and curdle.

Once I blended all of the hot sauce into the egg yolk and cream blend, I poured the new mixture into the casserole and let it boil (to further thicken and reduce).  Once the sauce has reduced, you can now eat dinner!

Actually, while the sauce was reducing, I made some spatzle.  Once the spatzle is done and the sauce thickened and reduced, then you can eat dinner.  Put some spatzle on your plate; place a couple of drumsticks on top of the spatzle, pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with parsley, and lastly, place some mushrooms and onion garniture on the plate.  Complement the dish with a Cotes du Rhone or red Burgundy.

Like this one: Valreas “Cuvee Prestige” Cotes du Rhone Villages 2007, which we got at our local Trader Joe’s for about $5 or $6 bucks! It was excellent with the meal. On its own, ripe and spicy. With the dish, sweet but dry with a fruity flavor and just enough edge to highlight the vermouth in the dish.

And for its encore presentation on Lavender&Cocoa: Fricasse de Poulet L’ancienne!

I have to say that making this dish was quite stressful.  There was so much to do, even though the recipe seems straight-forward.  I have never used so many dishes (and pots) while cooking.  Hubby said that I’d get better if I cooked more from the book.  I’m sure, he’s right.  Practice does make for more efficient cooking.  Still, I think I will reserve the next Julia Child recipe I attempt for a weekend…when I have had a more leisurely day.

I’ve never even heard of this until we made this yesterday. I will definitely be making it again. It’s a nice simple noodle served with a little sauce. Quick, easy, and fun to make.

Recipe courtesy of Aaltonet.com

Equipment:

• Perforated hotel pan
• Stock pot with boiling salty water

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk

Procedure:

1. Stir together the flour and salt. Combine eggs and milk; stir into the flour mixture.
2. Place mixture into hotel pan and push dough through holes in hotel pan
3. Let the Spatzle cook for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat and drain
4. Serve with a sauce and garnish. We used a tomato sauce with parmesan and minced parsley

Enjoy,
Eric

Abandon all hopes of tidy and brief explanations in this post.  There are a lot of pictures I have included here too that I think explain, as well as I can, how to create this simple and extremely delicious version of a common roast chicken dinner.  But I moved to say first that this is a meal that I’ve made hundreds of times in just as many variations.  Let’s face it, roast chicken is traditional folk food the world over; a meal that finds a comfortable place on both rich and poor tables alike.   Portable, industrious, nutritious, and satisfyingly delicious; it is one of my favorite meals period.

At a Mediterranean restaurant about a year back I ordered the rotisserie chicken.  I was instantly warped back to my time backpacking in Europe with my girlfriend.  At that time, my food budget of 10 Euros per day afforded us at least one daily roast chicken.  Throughout the Northern Mediterranean Coast the chicken was spiced with something I couldn’t place but also couldn’t get enough of.  In the restaurant this night I was able to ask what this cryptic flavor was.  ”I think you call it Sumac” the waiter said.  ”The shrub?” I said, totally puzzled.  Sumac grew wild all over where I grew up.  And for fear of confusing it with the infamous “poison sumac” I never tried to, nor did I know, you could eat it.  I’ve been meaning to experiment with it ever since.

Having no recipe, I tried to re-create the flavor from memory.  I started with an organic free-range chicken (happy meat tastes better).  I then took handful of sumac buds, about a tbsp. of salt and peppercorns and some dried parsley and placed them in my spice grinder (a recommissioned coffee grinder).  I ground them well into a rubbing powder. I then prepared crushed fresh garlic with about 1/3 cup of good olive oil. Having already cleaned and salted the raw chicken inside and out, I rubbed the garlic mixture all over the bird and then followed suit with the rub.  I placed the uncovered bird breast down on a roasting rack in the preheated oven and turned it down to about 350*.  

A couple weeks ago I ate some homemade spatzle at a friend’s house.  I’d never realized just how easy it was until I watched her make it.  I decided to give a try.  Luckily, I was able to find a spatzle maker for about 6 bucks at a kitchen store near my house; though I have seen them for as much as $16.  My friend Joelle did the honors and prepared the spatzle dough according to the recipe on the maker’s package.  The dough turns out thick and sticky. It is then loaded into the hopper over a boiling pot of water.  The hopper is rubbed along the grate to produce small pellets of dough.  As the pellets drop in the water they form odd shaped small pasta.  The pasta cooks for about a minute and then is left to drain and cool.

When the chicken was removed and set aside to cool, I moved on to the next step with the spatzle. Once fully drained and cooled, the spatzle is then pan fried in a good helping of butter, salt and pepper.  To spice things up,I chopped half an onion, parsley and a small zucchini to add to the mix. I generally let the chicken rest for about 10 min. before carving into it.  But I often cut the skin between the thigh and breast immediately to release steam and heat more quickly.  I don’t know if this is actually a good thing but it has always seemed to work well for me. This 10 minutes allowed me to prepare the spatzle in the pan and get the salad ready.

My favorite salad as of late has been a really simple one using the best of what is seasonal.  While everything else was cooking I was steaming a skinned and diced golden beet.

I remove the beet from the steamer basket and instantly place it in a small bowl with a small glug of rice vinegar and salt.  while the beet cooled in the bowl I got the greens ready.  I grabbed a heap of arugula, placed the warm beets on top, added a glug of olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

On the plate the whole thing looked pretty nice, but the taste was even better.  Not only did everything come out great, I was able to re-create the chicken of my golden memory.  In fact, I may never prepare roast chicken another way again.  As for the spatzle, it was excellent. Though, not without room for improvement.  I have faith that next time I’ll nail it.  Yum.

-Paul