I may be living in Germany at this time next year.

It's crazy. I'm thinking about it, and it still doesn't seem real to me. I'm not sure yet if I'm actually going to go, but I'm hoping that I do. At the same time, however, what keeps going through my head is the mantra: "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

I might be out of my mind. I don't really care to think about it. And I'm trying not to think about the adjustment from my lovely city of residence at the moment (I really do love this place) to a new city in a country I've never been to and can barely speak the language in. When the opportunity presents itself, however, who am I to turn down travel (not paid for by me, I might add) to a new and interesting place? Especially Germany, where I've always wanted to go? It's interesting, because my schooling here in the United States has always included a lot of anti-Germanic spiel. I never took much stock in it, since my amazing grandmother is from Germany, and I feel that Hitler is not a fair representation of all Germans. Just as I wouldn't want to be judged solely on my country's choice of leaders (although that's looking up now), I feel it's only fair that Americans not pass judgement on the now two, three, four generations of people who have been born since the time when the decision was made to give Hitler power. Do I worry about neo-Nazis and skinheads? A little. I've read reports of them. But there's a sizable population of them living in Idaho, and white-supremacist conventions have taken place in the suburbs of my city, so there's not much more risk in Germany than here at home, from my perspective. The world will always have its fringe populations of haters.

That said, I've been doing some research on Germany. The first comment I got on going to live there, from my friend Naomi, was this: "If you can stand eating sausages all the time, then go for it!" Now, I love a good sausage, but I could not live off of them 24/7. I need vegetables and curry (curry is a staple of my diet--Indian, Thai, Japanese, I'm crazy for it). But after googling food in Germany, I have managed to find out that there is hope. Germany appears to have not only other types of European cuisine, but Thai and Middle Eastern as well! Of course, the first thing I worry about is whether or not the food will be good...typical.

Anyway, end of long post. Off to do other things, like developing the beautiful film I finished shooting yesterday. More about Germany, food, and possibly snow later.

Two Pies

I baked an apple pie this week.

David called and asked if I'd come over and help him bake a pie--he had some apples lying around that he couldn't let go to waste. Of course, I told him I would help him out, for who am I to resist the challenge of baking one of the potentially most delicious desserts there is? Apple pie is so simple, yet so delicious and comforting. I've been meaning to bake one for a while, and I was even thinking about baking yesterday (before I remembered that I had other errands to attend to).

Anyway, by the time I got to David's, I'd talked my way into commandeering the pie-baking process. I'd had this recipe for crust sitting around on my desk for a few months. I was curious to try it, as attempted pie-crusts in the past have ranged from pretty damn good to mediocre/not very good (thankfully, I've managed to sidestep inedible). Somehow, I convinced David to let me use the recipe, plus another from Cook's Illustrated for the filling. He's actually one of the nicest, least-argumentative people I know, so that might have something to do with it.

Long story short, after dough preparation, an unplanned trip to the store for better apples and a lemon, more dough preparation, making filling, and finally pie assembly, glorious smells were coming from the oven and life was good. Baked the pie per the directions in the Cook's recipe, and the crust was golden-brown and perfect about five minutes early. Luckily, it was extremely cold outside, so about twenty five minutes on the back stoop resulted in a perfectly cooled pie, ready for consumption. The verdict: 

Best. Crust. Ever. Flaky, delicious buttery flavor, tender...everything the recipe said it would be. And it held up well, not getting soggy or mushy. The filling was loaded with great flavor, although I thought it would have been a bit better with less lemon and allspice, and perhaps a little less nutmeg, as well. I'm a light-spice kind of girl.

The second pie I baked last night was a pizza. Actually, it wasn't really pie-like at all, as it was baked on a cookie sheet. David invented the topping combination, and I must say that the end product was quite delicious. Here's the recipe:

1 bag pizza dough

cornmeal for dusting cookie sheet

1 can Roma tomatoes (I like Muir Glen Organic)

1 bunch basil

2 cloves garlic

pinch of oregano

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

pitted nicoise olives

red onion

ricotta cheese

mozzarella cheese

1. Pour tomatoes into sieve set over a bowl and strain, stirring to get rid of excess juices.

2. Turn tomatoes onto cutting board and chop.

3. Strain again--tomatoes should be chunky, but also kind of smashed by now.

4. Peel and chop up two medium-sized (or large--hell, you can add as much as you want) cloves of garlic into pieces roughly the length of the head of a match--maybe a bit bigger.

5. Into a small cast-iron/nonstick skillet, pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom in a very thin coating.

6. Heat oil, then toss in garlic and fry until just golden.

7. Toss garlic and oil from skillet in a bowl with the tomatoes. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of oregano, and taste. If the mixture needs salt, you can add some, but canned tomatoes are generally salted and the sauce probably won't need it.

8. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal. Stretch out the pizza dough and place on the cookie sheet. Spread dough with tomato sauce.

9. Grate as much mozzarella as desired, and sprinkle it over the pizza. Add desired amount of ricotta, placing lumps (for lack of a better term) of it around pizza. Add olives (whole or chopped--doesn't matter) and onions (sliced thinly). This pizza would also be excellent with some mild or spicy Italian sausage, salami--really any type of spiced Italian meat.

11. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbling. Can't remember how long it took, but I think we baked it at 425.

12. When you take it out of the oven, chop up some basil and sprinkle liberally over the top. The more, the better.

I meant to post this long ago, but I got lazy.

Blankets

I just read an amazing book. Well, it was two days ago, actually. My friend David handed me an extremely heavy birthday present, artfully wrapped in newspaper. What did I behold when I peeled back this lovely exterior?  A big, beautiful book called Blankets, by Craig Thompson. But here's the extraordinary thing about it (for me, anyway):

Blankets is a graphic novel.

And by graphic novel, I mean graphic novel. Hard-core readers of such books (I'll call them the pictorially literate) argue that much of their preferred literature falls under the 'graphic novel' banner. I am not one of them, and consequently, I can't get it out of my head that to be a true graphic novel, a book needs some form of novel-esque gravitas, some sort of truly adult theme. In this respect, Blankets is what I think of as a true graphic novel. It confronts some extremely difficult and disturbing themes, including molestation and little children getting the hope bled out of them. That said, it is one of the most sincere, touching pieces of literature I've read recently, illustrated or not. If one is, as I am, a graphic novel skeptic (though Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis also blew me away), this book will change that. It's mostly a story of the author's first love, and somehow he captures that teenage giddiness and anguish perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that I felt I was reading a strange, rehashed version of my high school romance.

I don't do this book justice. But something this powerful in exquisite illustrations...it's a rare treat for a prose junkie like myself.

Birthday was excellent. Aside from excellent reading, I devoured some of the best apple pie I've ever eaten, and spent the day (off of work--yay!) in the company of good friends. C'est la vie, et la vie c'est bon!

Thoughts on Birthdays.

Tomorrow is my birthday. This got me to thinking about birthdays past, and feeling a bit nostalgic. I remember, as a little girl, the anticipation I felt at finally having achieved another year. I would wake up with a tautness inside of me, a sensation that drove me out of bed and downstairs to the kitchen. My mom always baked a birthday cake, but best of all, she let me help. I remember watching as she measured the flour, there in the warm kitchen, November rain slapping against the old windows. The house was always drafty in the late fall and throughout winter, but on my birthday, the kitchen was the most warm and comforting place I can remember. For years I insisted upon the same chocolate cake. Between each layer was hidden a sweet stripe of my favorite raspberry jam. Outside, it was spread with whipped cream and decorated with slabs of bittersweet chocolate. This outer shell was my favorite part of the cake, as it was simply melted chocolate bars spread very thinly, dried and broken into shards. The comforting smell of melted chocolate would fill the entire house, and I was allowed to lick the spatula often enough that a ring of chocolate inevitably appeared around my mouth. 

I don't remember many of the presents I received as a child, but the ritual of cake stands out in my mind. Mom never baked from a box, and to me--even now--the baking of a cake is, at its core, one of the tenderest gestures of love and devotion that can be offered by one person to another. Receiving a cake fills me with a feeling of childish delight and contentment; to be baked for is to be truly loved.

This new year, I think, is going to be good. Today I saw an old family friend for the first time in over half a year, steamed milk for a latté perfectly, and invited a few of my wonderful coworkers to a birthday get-together. The trees are brilliantly red, apples are ripe, I have coffee for tomorrow morning, and it's storming outside. Beauty.