Germans and food

A partial list of the things you can eat or drink at a German Christmas market: bratwurst, curry wurst, steak on a rock, fondue, raclette, mushrooms in cream sauce, mulled wine, mulled wine with amaretto, mulled wine with rum, salt pretzels, cheese pretzels, sugared pretzels, fried battered bananas, fried dough balls, apple fritters, fried potato pancakes*, a dozen variations of of sugar-coated almond, Italian pizza, German pizza, French crêpes, Belgian waffles, waffles coated with chocolate, tacos, burritos, cheese spätzle with or without onions, shish kabob, candy of a billion sorts, hot chocolate, hot chocolate with rum, schnapps, schnitzel, fried fish, pickled herring, baked salmon on a roll, smoked ham, baked ham, cotton candy, and popcorn.

*With apologies to Ben Franklin, reibekuchen is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

My first breathalyzer!

We were coming back from Germany today and stopped at the rest stop in Spy. (Don't bother trying to be cute about this, Pop. We've already made all the jokes. Besides, it's pronounced "spee" in French, which is far less interesting.) As we were leaving, a gang of Belgian policemen waved me over to the side of the parking lot. After checking my license and registration (the first time anyone has asked to see my Belgian license!) the officer assigned to me asked if I had had anything alcoholic to drink. "Yes, officer. I had a cup of glühwein at the Christmas market in Cologne this morning." Only I said it in French, where glühwein is vin chaud, meaning hot wine. "No problem," he said--in fake English. I had to blow into the thing and passed. They wandered off with my license and registration to make a note of it for their stats, then we were on our way.

It's a good thing it wasn't a grease-alyzer, though. That I would have flunked big time. I had, after all, been to a German Christmas market.

Christmas in Germany

We just spent several days in Germany, where the Christmas decorations are up and the markets are going full blast, serving liters of Gluehwein, tons of brats, and piles of those delicious greasy potato pancakes. It's all about Christmas there. 

We were reveling in the lights and atmosphere and food and drink but I couldn't help thinking how ironic it was that if we were home in the States, we'd be grumbling about the premature advent (not Advent) of decorations and the pressure to buybuybuy. In Germany it just seems right. 

Bezoek onze productpagina

For some reason Hewlitt-Packard has apparently decided I'm a Dutch speaker, as they have taken to emailing me ads in that language. I know I should send them to the junk folder, but frankly, I appreciate the practice, because in theory I do know some Dutch.