A Night Like This

I know it's been a while. I actually had a beautiful macaron post typed up and it somehow got eaten up by the internetz. I was pretty bummed out and I'll try to rehash it sometime next month.

I've decided that I am going to trim down my monthly posts from 9 to 5. I can do more but I want to do at least 5. Today is the last day of January and it's my 5th post of the month...how convenient! It just seems less daunting plus, I don't want to start sounding tired.

It has been so darn cold these past few days. We had a wave of warm in the middle of the month (the temps were in the 40's) but for the past few days, it hasn't gone above freezing. I was looking back at some of my pictures from our last trip to Germany and came across the Gleuhwein shots. This stuff was all over Vienna as well. Every place we tried it was a little bit different.

It's a seasonal beverage in the German speaking countries and it's made with mulled wine. My friend Andrew used to live in Germany and he made it a point to tell us that we should definitely try some. The way it's pronounced, I thought he was saying blue wine and the mental image was not pleasant. What was in the wine to make it blue!? How could it possibly taste good!?

When I saw the tent, I felt silly. Gleuhwein! It's served up nice and warm in a commemorative cup. You pay a deposit fee of about 2-3 euros for the mug and the beverage itself is about 2. If you want to keep the cup, you've already paid for it so you're more than welcome to do so. We kept the pretty cup we shared in Vienna. It had a nice picture of the Rathaus which is a huge and gorgeous building. The picture below was the drink we shared in Germany.

As you can see by the pink froth, it isn't blue. :-) It's served up nice and hot but not scalding so you can drink it right away. I didn't expect to like it nearly as much as I did. Even if I did hear it correctly and didn't imagine it to be the wrong color, mulled wine just sounded strange to me! I managed not to write it off and I'm glad I gave it a try. While we were walking around and taking in the sights, this stuff did an excellent job of taking the edge off of the cold weather. It smells really strong but it's quite smooth! Not too sweet with just a hint of spice. Sehr gut!

With the weather being as miserable these past few days, my heart ached when I saw these pictures. I'd give anything right now to warm my hands and kick back with a nice mug of Gluewein! I should try to see if I can dig up a recipe. I did get a lovely German cookbook for Christmas.....

We Shall Meet Again!

This is a picture from our trip this summer of my typical German breakfast. The bread is the star of this show. There are few, if any, that I covet more than a good German bread. The dense sponginess inside surrounded by a chewy crust. My Opa used to bring it home from his trips overseas and all you need to do is slather it with a little butter and you will instantly take me back to my childhood. It sounds much easier than it actually is. I've tried for a looooong time to find bread that comes even close to this and it's almost impossible. The closest I've found, so far, was in Montreal.

When we were in Germany this summer, we stayed at the Hotel Agneshof. A free breakfast came with our room and I took full advantage of it every morning. The bread was just like my Opa used to bring home and I stuffed myself full of it. After each breakfast, I was already looking forward to the next. It was one of my favorite edible memories of our trip this summer because it reminded me of one of my favorite edible memories of my life. That bread.

Tuesday we leave for Vienna and we're also going back to Germany. We're staying in the same hotel as we did this summer. Chris knew how much I wanted to stay at the Agneshof again and it didn't seem possible at first. There is a world famous Christmas Market that kicks off two days after we leave (darn it!) and so the hotel costs are much higher than they were this summer. We were discouraged last weekend while we were trying to book a room. The next morning, he came bursting into the bathroom while I was in the shower. He told me that he had good news that he didn't want to wait to tell me. The cost of the room went down from the night before and he was able to book it for the trip. I was thrilled. This hotel is right in the center of town and so conveniently located. I will be able to walk everywhere I want to go while we're in Germany. The location alone is worth staying at the Agneshof. If that doesn't sell you, do it for the breakfast. Do it for the bread.

A Shot in the Dark

My husband's job requires him to travel to Germany occasionally. It's tradition at his workplace when someone goes anywhere, they bring back chocolates for the rest of the people in the office upon their return. Chris is diligent with this. Anytime we go anywhere, he always remembers to pick up something for his coworkers. He is a kind and generous soul that guy! I am still training him on how many bags of Haribo to bring back though! The only time he failed was on a flight home from France. He was so groggy that he left a bag full of chocolates on the airplane when he landed in Newark! D'oh! At least he didn't forget my present!

On the eve of his first trip to Germany last year, the department secretary, Angela, requested him to bring back a particular kind of chocolate called Edle Tropfen. Chris has learned that when you are nice to Angela, she makes your life much easier! I'd never heard of them before. My Opa used to bring back all sorts of stuff from Germany and he never had this. After I had one, I understood why. Chris brought home an extra box for us. I saw that the chocolates had alcohol inside of them. I was familiar with this concept since those sorts of things are available in the U.S. Turns out, I was not ready for this! This isn't the sugary and syrupy liqueur filling that I was used to. This was a straight shot of alcohol! I took a bite of the kirschwasser flavored chocolate and liquid spilled all over my sweater! Needless to say, I was surprised! I was also in shock as to how strong it tasted! Two or three of these babies will give you quite the buzz!

I enjoy sharing these with friends. I am nice and I always warn them to eat the entire thing in order to spare them a repeat of what happened to me! Once they pierce the chocolate shell, their eyes usually pop open. I like to refer to this as a chocolate-covered culture shock.