London

Wow.

Maybe the coolest city I've visited in Europe so far. My two days there were two of the best I've lived, and though I was sleep deprived (I took the bus, which is an eleven hour trip and includes having to wait to go through the Chunnel), I was basically pretty ecstatic. The whole trip was a whirlwind of good food, sightseeing, and tube-riding. I miss it already.

Upon arrival, friends S, KS, KJ, C and I set about acquainting ourselves with the London underground. The maze-like system is completely different from the simple organization of German public transportation, but I actually liked this a little better. After some initial confusion involving the zone system they have in place there (which determines how much one needs to pay for tickets), direction, and which lines to take, we were on our way. While boarding the tube, an announcement crackled over the PA system: "To the bloke who's walking along the edge of the platform with his girlfriend: this is dangerous, and she could die. Next time, think with your brain and not your feet!" Everyone in the train laughed--what a great first impression of England (and I mean that in all seriousness).

As people who have all read Harry Potter, our first stop was King's Cross Station. Yes, there is a Platform 9 3/4 (specially made for tourists). Yes, we lined up there and took photos. It was tacky, but all in good fun. And when you need to nerd out with your friends over Harry Potter, it's perfect. I didn't even feel that weird about it, as there were people three times my age waiting to take a picture. King's Cross, however--aside from the fake platform--looks disappointingly normal. KJ was a little embarrassed the whole time, as she is not a big fan of the books and was going along to humor the rest of us.

Our next stop on Day One was the British Museum, which we were surprised to find was absolutely free. We perused mummies and ancient Egypt, then meandered through Mesopotamian artifacts and ended up at the Rosetta Stone. There was a lot to see, but the museum was pretty mobbed and we were getting hungry, so we left after about an hour and a half. I'd heard a lot of bad things about British food, but I didn't eat one bad thing the entire two days, and this first lunch was no exception. We bought sandwiches at a sandwich chain called Pret a Manger, but they are on pretty good bread, have interesting ingredients and flavor combinations, are cheap, and fast. I got an egg, mayonnaise and cress sandwich. It was good, although I feel it could have used a little mustard. I was overjoyed to find that Englanders appear to use normal mayonnaise and not the sugared, artificial kind that is popular in Germany. Woohoo for sandwich snobbery! I also bought a bottle of sparkling lemonade, something I haven't had since coming to Germany, at Marks & Spencer in Charing Cross. C opted not to go to the sandwich chain, and instead bought a traditional Salt Beef sandwich. It was actually really good, despite neon-yellow mustard. Salt Beef is kind of like British pastrami, and the sandwich came on rye with pickles. We took our sandwiches to a park near Buckingham Palace and ate in the sun, then proceeded onward to (maybe?) see the Queen.

We didn't end up seeing her, but we did see a marching band, and we continued to make our way all over London, eventually ending at the Tower Bridge, as all of us were getting sore feet, and making our way back to our hotel. After about half an hour of recuperation after our long day, we decided to get some dinner. Being the foodie that I sometimes--albeit reluctantly--am, I had already researched the best Indian restaurants in London. These required a thirty minute tube trip, but being the adventurers that we are, S, C, KJ and I decided to brave it anyway. C loves Indian food, and was pretty excited when we got off of the train in East Ham and realized that we were the only non-Indian people on the entire street. The restaurant I'd located is called Thattukada, and it lived up to its internet reputation. I ordered a simple vegetarian curry with chapati; the curry was rich and silky, with a burning spiciness that caught me completely by surprise. It included perfectly cooked cauliflower, green beans, potato, carrot, peas, etc. It was really good, and easily big enough for two people to share. I also ordered a mango lassi, which mellowed out the spiciness of the curry, and was a perfect, smooth balance between tangy sour and sweet. S ordered chicken curry and two kinds of Indian 'bread' that I have never seen before--one was thin with a kind of sweet foamy middle, and the other was similar to naan, except a little more buttery and flaky. The chicken curry was thinner than the vegetable version, with a stronger hit of prickly hotness and a subtly different mixture of spices. It was excellent. C ordered mutton biryani, which was an extremely hot, cumin and cardamom-studded mound of buttery basmati rice with equally spicy meat atop it, and a cold yoghurt sauce to cool it down served on the side. This dish was amazing--I've never had Indian food like it before, and the memory of that perfectly-cooked rice with the perfume of cardamom in every bite still haunts me. C ate the whole thing with his hands, which is actually the correct way (everyone else in the restaurant, I observed, ate their plates of rice, etc., without using utensils). KJ, who claimed not to like Indian food because it upsets her stomach, ordered something called 'Chicken Fried Rice.' This turned out to be a plate of basmati with ghee, sweet green peppers, egg, and chicken. It at first looked like typical 'fried rice,' but the taste was great. The basmati was enhanced by the flavors of ghee and chicken, and the whole dish tasted fresh, unlike the greasy, mediocre 'fried rice' that is ubiquitous in America. Despite KJ's claim about Indian food, I noted that her plate was completely clean at the end of our meal. The waiter asked us if we had liked our food, and seemed surprised by our enthusiastic, positive answers. I'm guessing they don't see many groups of Americans in their restaurant.

After our dinner, we explored some of the markets in the area, where I was sorely tempted to buy Indian ingredients that aren't readily available in Germany, but had to contain my urge. C, however, bought lychee juice. We ended up heading to Picadilly Circus later to take in some of the London night scene and to meet up with KS, but we were so tired that we ended up walking around aimlessly and eventually deciding to crash back at the hotel. The next day, we started out early and, thanks to an amazing man with a tiny food cart containing an espresso machine, were well-fueled for our last day in London. As a side note, the latte I ordered was insanely good--the guy making the coffees tamped the espresso grounds himself, and really knew what he was doing. This was the best cup of coffee I've had since coming to Europe, which is strange, because everyone told me how bad British coffee is.

We made it as far as St. Paul's Cathedral before KJ met up with a German friend and headed out to the Twining's Factory (I'm kicking myself for not going with!), C went into the cathedral to investigate climbing to the top, and S and I walked across Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern, where there was a free art festival going on. People from all over the world were showing their art, and the whole thing was a little like TBA, but contained in the Tate. One woman was patiently crocheting herself into a cocoon, and there was a man from Portland, OR (!) using the power from photosynthesis to create music with growing plants. After a few hours there, we left and got Vietnamese, which was good, but not as great as some of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in America. S and I considered paying for the London Eye, but after we saw the never-ending lines, thought the better of it. Instead, we got our hair cut for a reasonable price by hip Italian stylists. Hey, when in London...

Later we hit up Pret again for road food, and I got an excellent cheddar, mustard, tomato and pickle sandwich. The pickles were really good, not so much 'pickled' as marinated, and they reminded me of chutney. For a chain, a damn good sandwich. We endured another bus ride through the chunnel, and after about ten hours, we were back in Germany. It felt good to be home and in bed, but I feel that I could have spent at least two weeks in London and still not have seen everything it has to offer. If I ever get back to Europe, I'll need to make another visit.

The delay on this post was long, I know, but I just got back from Prague, as well. I'll try to pay blog-homage to that trip in the next few days. As of tomorrow, I have one month left in Europe--I'm excited to go home, but scared of the packing and transplanting of my life that looms ahead. Time is flying by.

Last night, I made the most perfect massaman curry! I've found this great Chinese grocery store in Düsseldorf called Ho's, and they have the dangerously hot kind of chilis, sweet potatoes, those little round green eggplants, FRESH TOFU (holy crap, I was tempted) and sweet Thai basil. Of course, they have much more than that, but those are just samplings of the supplies necessary for Asian cooking they provide. Anyway, yesterday I decided that I was in the mood for curry--I'd bought massaman curry paste a few months ago, and hadn't even opened it yet. So I headed out to Ho's and picked up some supplies I was lacking: tofu (packaged, but still locally made), sweet basil, Thai jasmine rice, ginger, a purple-skinned sweet potato,  package of about 30 chilies, tiny onions (this is a little embarrassing, but I thought they were shallots because I grabbed them really quickly without looking as I was getting into the insanely long line behind three guys buying 50 Euros worth of bok choy). All of it only cost me around 8 Euros--a total steal!

Got home, cooked, and loved it. This is really the first time I've eaten home-made Thai curry since I left the U.S., and it was sooo unbelievably comforting. Here's a recipe (sort of), if anyone cares:

1 nice knob of fresh ginger, peeled

8 or 9 tiny red onions (or use three shallots, like I wanted to do)

3 Tablespoons curry paste (doesn't have to be massaman, as this isn't really authentic massaman curry, anyway)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup coconut milk (or more--personal preference thing)

A little water (you might need it to thin the curry out at some point)

Salt (if you add water, you will probably need to add a bit of salt)

Any/all veggies that you want (I used a couple small carrots, a small-ish sweet potato, broccoli, corn, red bell pepper)

Your choice of protein (I chose tofu)

2 really fucking spicy tiny green Thai chilies, seeds removed (unless you are one of those people who wants to sweat and tear up while they're eating, in which case I recommend leaving the seeds in and possibly adding a third or fourth pepper). I like spicy, but my tongue isn't that numbed yet. And seriously, I had never cooked with these before, so I touched the very tip of my tongue to the pith, and it actually went numb. And then burned.

With a little oil, sautee the onions, chilies and ginger with one tablespoon curry paste and a little salt. After the onions are suitably cooked down, add two more tablespoons paste, breaking it up and stirring around. Immediately add coconut milk, and some water if you want. Simmer. Add ingredients like carrots and sweet potato that take a long time to cook through. Let simmer. Slowly add all of the other veggies, in the order of how long it takes them to cook. Basically, everything just needs to cook all the way through in the simmering curry sauce. When everything is the softness you prefer, the curry is done. I'm not the most organized cooker--I just kind of taste and add a little salt here, a dash more coconut milk there, a splash of water to even things out. So this recipe is more of an illustration of what I did yesterday evening than anything someone could use. But curry is so subjective anyway--everyone likes to make it a different way, with different add-ins and portions of the basics.

I'll definitely be making this again soon. It's not very much work, it tastes great, and it can be stretched to feed many people, or one person many nights in a row. It's also relatively cheap (especially if using Tofu rather than meat). And can I just rave for a couple seconds about this tofu I bought? Though I was tempted by the fresh tofu in plastic bags, it seemed a little more sensible to take a package on the train. But this tofu is so much more fresh and flavorful than what I'm used to buying in the U.S. Its taste is creamy (almost buttery) and subtle but somehow light at the same time. My God, it is good, especially in this curry.

Ok, another boring food post is almost over. Tomorrow is Heilige Abend, the day here in Germany when most people do the presents thing. This is weird to me, as Christmas Eve in America was always the day to sit inside and wrap all of the presents that I had waited until the last minute to buy. Where's the extra day of procrastination here?! I wrapped my last gift today, and I just felt so...early.

foodstuffs, German-style

Allow me to take even more time off from making this blog intelligent, interesting and/or insightful to say:

Schoko-Müsli, I love you.

I now eat this every morning. I don't want to know what all goes into it--I just want to keep eating it for as long as I am able to chew breakfast cereal.

In other news, I had my first döner the other night. Extremely delicious. It's unlike any Middle Eastern food I've ever had, and really wasn't how I was expecting. Anyway, I look forward to more in the future.

Update to end all updates (I think)!

I haven't written in a while, and the midwest/east coast trip is progressing rapidly. Basically, I'm in New York right now, staying in a cheap-ish hotel. What has happened since my last post:

1. On my second day in St. Paul, I made the discovery f University Avenue, a big, ugly street that houses the local Asian population. There are Hmong restaurants, video-rental shops, delis, groceries, etc. There are also Thai, Cambodian and Vietnamese businesses. One of my favorite lunch items that I frequently buy at home is Banh Mi--Vietnamese sandwiches made with some kind of meat (usually grilled/barbecued), pickled veggies, cilantro, jalapeños, aioli and soy/fish sauce on Vietnamese french bread. I decided to see if I could find these tasty sandwiches on University. Lo and behold, after about five minutes of driving, I noticed a small Vietnamese market, situated in what looked like an old movie theater, advertising "sandwiches." In the very back of the store, past cans of what appeared to be Chinese Spam, was a deli counter, where two women and a man were dutifully churning out the biggest, most delicious looking Banh Mi I'd ever seen. Barbecued meat hung tantalizingly behind glass. I noticed that, on many of the sandwiches, the women were putting on a kind of bologna-like lunch meat that is used often in Vietnamese dishes. When asked if they would put barbecued pork in the sandwich instead, one woman behind the counter replied that it would be extra--bringing the sandwich to $3.50, rather than $2.75! This was fine with me. The woman proceeded to pour on three different kinds of sauce--soy, and a few others that I'm not sure about (one may have been fish). There were plenty of delicious pickled veggies, the pork was amazingly good (so much better than any meat I've had on Banh Mi before) and the bread was thick enough to not get soggy and retain its crunch. For my money, this is the best Vietnamese sandwich I've had anywhere. I enjoyed it with a cool can of sweet soy milk while sitting in the sculpture garden across from the Walker Art Center. (Later I went into the Art Center, and reappeared again with a Moleskine sketchbook and a collapsable Japanese sandwich box, courtesy of the gift shop!) That night, I went after a quick dinner to try Izzy's Ice Cream, a local, all-natural (sort of) ice cream shop in St. Paul. Some of the flavors were a bit off (banana key lime, anyone?) but the two I got, bananas foster and 'peace coffee' were delicious! Izzy's has this concept where, when one orders a single scoop or larger, they can also get a small "izzy" scoop on top of their first. It's a great way to maximize flavor choices, while not having to order too much ice cream. Although I am personally biased and slightly prefer the ice cream of my work, this was very tasty and I went back a second night, unable to resist another scoop of the coffee.

2. Mall of America. I actually went on the second day, just because...well, I was curious. Yes, it is a huge shopping mall. Yes, after twenty minutes I felt zombified. Never again. That's all I'll say.

3. Met some old family friends on the last day in Minnesota. They were nice, old-fashioned, New Yorkers by birth. We ate at a cute little pub in the tiny town where they live, but unfortunately, my food wasn't very good. The root beer was great, however!

4. The next day, I flew to Boston. Once again, I had a layover in Chicago, so I can proudly claim to be reasonably well-acquainted with O'Hare. Hmmm. Boston was overcast, but still quite hot and muggy. I discovered a Taiwanese restaurant in Cambridge that was just great. I ordered Chinese squash with some kind of mountain vegetable, which came in a clear, garlic and ginger sauce, and the fish of the day, which was steamed and served in a hot garlic chili sauce containing so many Szechuan peppercorns my tongue went numb! Yes! After this successful dinner, I went to Toscanini's, because it has been my mission to compare ice creams on this trip. I have to say that Toscanini's is very, very good. The pistachio was rich but heavy on almond extract, which tasted good but didn't allow the pistachios' flavor to really shine. Their burnt caramel flavor was amazing, and not very sweet--something I value in desserts (because, despite my job and my love of baking, I really don't have much of a sweet tooth). I'd definitely go back for more burnt caramel, and my only complaint was that it was kind of melty. The texture was just perfect--silky and creamy.

5. Day five entailed a drive to Western Mass., (what seemed like) a ten-fold increase in humidity across the state, and a torrential downpour that lasted for hours. I actually enjoyed this bizarre weather, and ended up exploring Northampton while getting rained on. I had to exercise extreme self-control on a visit to Faces, which is a store selling apparel and home decor (think Urban Outfitters, but half the price and decidedly cooler). I was particularly besotted with a pear of teal, feathered, patterned moccasins that were wild, bizarre, and seemed to have been made for me. Even now, I dream of them. I also met a person who I'm convinced is supposed to me my new other best friend: this guy at a cafe who made me a (really tasty) au lait, then pronounced the name wrong, adding that he "really likes to mispronounce things." Finally, someone who understands the need that I have harbored, from a very young age, to incorrectly pronounce words. I thought I was the only one.

6. Today, I spent the entire afternoon in New York City. It was an amazing experience, and I feel that I can't really do it justice because it all happened too recently. I haven't had time to play it back in my mind and retrace the details, and honestly, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to do so at a later date. But there will probably be a NYC post in this blog's future. Tonight, I actually ate in the restaurant that is in my cheap hotel. And by cheap, I don't mean pretty-nice-but-also-affordable-cheap. This is Best Western style, baby (though not actually Best Western, because those don't exist in the East). The pizza turned out to be good. Seriously. The crust was perfect and crisp and thin, and I swear they put an entire bunch of basil on top. Plus, it was only $11. Woo, cheap hotel pizza!

Concluding this post, I'd just like to say: six days until Germany.

Favorite Winter Recipes

I love winter food. It's so good, and it makes me feel warm and happy inside. Something about eating hearty, warm meals and sipping hot beverages makes me feel at peace with the world. At least for one night. So I decided to share the love. Here are a few of my favorite things to make in winter. I highly recommend you try them, as you won't be disappointed.

Spiced Cider (Non-Alcoholic)

Really, there are few things so satisfying to me as a hot cup of spiced cider on a cold, snowy afternoon.

1 bottle apple cider or unfiltered apple juice (I like the Gravenstein kind from Trader Joe's)

1 cinnamon stick

3 to 5 cloves (depending on how much you like them--I usually go for four)

1/2 a nutmeg seed

3 to 5 allspice seeds (again, depending on how spicy you want this to be)

Put everything in a pot, and bring to a boil. Turn heat under the pot to low, and let steep for as long as you'd like (just remember to eventually take it off the flame). And it continues to steep, even without heat--it just gets better and better as the days go by. Not that you'll have it for more than two or three.

Nut Crescent Cookies

When I baked Christmas cookies for friends and family this year, I made these babies, along with some lemon sugar cookies. Everybody agreed that the nut crescents stole the show. They are almost pure butter and pecan, and really, what could be better? These are from Cook's Illustrated, a magazine that is usually spot-on in the baking department.

2 cups whole pecans, chopped fine
2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
½ lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup superfine sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar for rolling cooled cookies

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix 1 cup chopped nuts, flour, and salt in medium bowl; set aside. In workbowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process remaining chopped nuts until the texture of course cornmeal, 10 to 15 seconds (do not overprocess; you should have about ¾ cup ground nuts); stir into flour mixture and set aside. (To finely grind chopped nuts by hand, roll them between two large sheets of plastic wrap with rolling pin, applying moderate pressure, until broken down to course cornmeal-like texture).
2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 1 ½ minutes with mixer set at medium; beat in vanilla. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with spatula; add flour mixture and beat at low speed until dough just begins to come together but still looks scrappy, about 15 seconds. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl again; continue beating at low speed until dough is cohesive, 6 to 9 seconds longer. Do not overbeat.
3. Working with about 1 tablespoon dough at a time, roll dough into 1 ¼-inch balls. Roll each ball between hands into rope that measures 3 ½ inches long. Shape ropes into crescents on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 to 1 ½ inches apart.
4. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets (from top rack to bottom and front to back) halfway through baking, until tops are pale golden and bottoms are just beginning to brown, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets about 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
5. Cool cookies to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Working with three or four cookies at a time, roll cookies in confectioners’ sugar to coat them thoroughly. Gently shake off excess. (They can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.)

Boring Christmas Post!

Christmas dinner was very low-key this year.

The menu:

Steaks seared in butter and olive oil with mushroom-shallot-red wine garnish

Mashed potato/yam combination (with more butter, of course!)

Brussels sprouts with mustard vinaigrette

Christmas cookies and coffee for dessert

All in all, a satisfying dinner, and a good day. By the end, despite the coffee, I fell into bed and slept like a log. I baked all day, so it's not surprising. Today, it's back to work--the snow is finally melting and the temperature's up, so I feel a little better about leaving the warmth of my home for the harsh outside world.

No new developments as far as Germany goes. I'm working on a photo collage for the second application, and all is going well. Hopefully, I'll have more interesting news to write about in a month or two.

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.