Ein Ausflug nach Werni

16. December 2010

The car strained up the incline, wheels alternately whirring and grinding as they slipped, gained purchase and slipped again. Being native to an area often blessed with copious amounts of snow in the winter, less-than-ideal conditions are nothing out of the ordinary, but this snow-covered sloped was nothing short of ghastly. The snow shone eerily in front of us, lit only by the outdoor lamps shining dimly through the mist from the adjacent buildings.

“I’m going to try to find the reception,” H finally decided, and she climbed out of the car and trekked crunchily up the hill in front of us. J and I sat in silence, chilled by the sharp blast of freezing wind and the prospect of attempting the incline again.

“This can’t be the entrance,” J mused and began backing down the road. The car fishtailed wobbily and he cursed worriedly under his breath. We cleared the tree and turned back onto the main road. And this was the start of my weekend in Wernigerode. Thankfully, this first grueling episode didn’t translate into a grim tone for the rest of the weekend.

In fact, it was quite the contrary. I left H and J with their family and met my friend, Erin, who also works as a teaching assistant. We took refuge from the wind and she cooked a fragrant tortellini soup in her cozy apartment. Between soup and lots of tea that we cooked whenever we came in from the cold, we had no problem staying thawed.

The next day the shopping activities revolved around cookies – the sugar kind with icing. Unfortunately, there was a minimal selection of sprinkles, and there were no red hots to be found. Erin’s apartment has a kitchen, but no oven, so we had to use the kitchen in the WG (Wohngemeinschaft – shared apartment) next to her apartment. Mixing the ingredients posed the challenge of converting everything in the recipe to metric, and then I proceeded to mix away as one of the WG guys watched curiously.

While the dough chilled, Erin and I braved the cold once again to visit the Weihnachtsmarkt. A giant Pyramid spun in the main square, and we perused the wares. I completed my Christmas shopping and treated myself to melt-in-your moth Creppelchen, which are called “Schmalzkuchen” in Werni. Then we saw something odd.

“Puf-fer-fies,” we stuttered, “What’s that?”

“I think we have to try it,” Erin decided.

I agreed. Pufferfies turned out to be like little pancakes with a hollow center. They are made on a griddle with rows of round indents by pouring batter into each indent and then flipping it when it’s halfway done to create the aforementioned hollow inside. We tried some with Eierlikor (literally translated: egg liquor…but I’m still not 100% sure exactly what it is), which was odd, although the Pufferfies were very tasty.

On our way home, we also purchased a Schneeballchen (like pie crust remnants formed into a ball, baked and then coated in almost anything to can imagine) because it was just one of those “have to try it” kind of days. Hmmm…possibly we enable each other…

Cookie time was quite a success, although we have a small disaster trying to boil sugar in water to make a corn syrup substitute. As in the common German Christmas song, “In der Weihnachtsbäckerei” (In the Christmas bakery): Gebrannt! (burned). Then WG guy had a lot of fun stirring up a new batch and using it to “thicken” our green frosting. Really, I think he just wanted to experiment with his concoction. It was funny, though. I wish he and I would’ve had Erin’s saintly cookie decorating patience; sadly, our contributions were rather haphazard. But they tasted good.

Riding home on the train the next day, I felt utterly content. Sometimes going away for a few days really helps you put a different perspective on things.

Bis bald!

Deine,
N*

Let It Snow!

*Even if it’s a little late in coming, my blog wouldn’t be complete without a post about German Christmas!

December 15, 2010


Since the week of Thanksgiving, winter has set in for good. Last week the temperature dipped below 10°F and settled there. We also received a hefty helping of snow – unusual for this early in the winter (December).

Although it’s milder this week, I’m still aware of my first real winter experience in four years. Sure, I visited Colorado winter over my breaks, but let’s face it, South Carolina, where I went to university, isn’t exactly known for its frigid temperatures, so it’s been awhile since I’ve actually had to LIVE winter. Huh. I like winter, and I don’t particularly mind the cold. Walking everywhere through the slush isn’t particularly thrilling, and neither is standing in a freezing train station waiting for the trains to overcome the railway chaos that descends the moment the first flakes start sticking to the steely tracks.

All in all, I really don’t mind most of the previously mentioned winter qualms, but there is one thing that would make it all worth it, if I really had a problem with winter: Weihnachtsmärkte! For those sad souls who are unfamiliar with the German Christmas Market, prepare to be awed. Almost every German city and town has at least one Christmas Market and the larger ones often last the whole Advent season. Big deal, you say? But going to the Christmas Market is THE activity for this time of year. In the evening the town squares transform into veritable fairylands and the hum of laughter and joyous voices fill the twinkling rows of stand keepers peddling their wares.


Our Pyramid at home in Colorado

Germany is known for its handmade wooden crafts: ornaments, pyramids (wooden centerpiece contraptions which spin with the help of candles hitting the fan blades attached to the top of the spinning mechanism) and Schippbogen (semi-circle, wooden-carved candle holders, which many Germans display in the windows in the evening during the Advent season). You can also find nutcrackers and smokers (little wooden men with hollow bellies for incense, a hole making a droll open mouth from which a pipe protrudes, so they appear to be smoking…hence their name). Baskets woven from chestnut-colored branches are also a traditional craft and are sold frequently. Many German Christmas stars, folded intricately to create paper ornaments and decorations, are also to be found.

So, perhaps you can imagine that someone who comes from a family that loves these types of decorations, Weihnachtsmärkte are a Mecca of all things fascinating, beautiful and easily giftable. They are also the scene of a sizeable sum of money *ahem* leaving *ahem* my purse.

All this, and I haven’t even mentioned the food yet. It might be easier just to make a list, since these are not items commonly known in the U.S.:

1. Lebkuchen – Soft, gingery cookies with lots of flavor from Christmas spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, which are then coated with either a clear sugar glaze or a thin layer of chocolate. Mom and I made them one year from a traditional recipe and worked all day for almost 200 cookies. They are complicated, but well-worth the effort. Here, though, I just get to enjoy the goodness. Aldi sells 7 cookies for €0.89!

2. Stollen – A dessert bread with raisins (and sometimes other candied fruit) and marzipan inside, coated with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar. So yummy. And marzipan in chocolate is also good, by the way. I love almond flavor, so I should’ve known marzipan would really grow on me! (*Note to Michelle about the marzipan pig incident of 2010…those pigs did NOT taste good!...marzipan revisited is much better!)

3. Creppelchen – This is market food. It’s basically just cubed inch, friend pieces of dough covered with powdered sugar, but they taste like the homemade French Beignets. For a while my family was making these “doughnuts” a couple times a year. *On a related note: Fair food in Germany is so much better than in the U.S. It’s definitely not healthy, but it tastes real, instead of tasting just like a fried grease mess.*

4. Gebrannte Mandeln – Toasted almonds covered in caramelized cinnamon-sugary goodness. Often they’re still hot when you buy them, so they’re both tasty and functional as a handwarmer.

5. Glühwein – Hot red wine with lots of spices in it. I guess the English equivalent would be mulled wine. If wine is not so your thing, they also have Glühpunsch.

My Adventskranz

All in all, if I have to be away from home during December, at least I’m somewhere where they really do Christmas right! The lady I rent from even brought me up an Adventskranz (Advent wreath), so I could burn a candle each Sunday of Advent, adding one each week, until they were all lit for the fourth Advent.  Here's to starting new traditions.

Deine,

N*