German Christmas Markets

All in all, I must say that Germany really knows how to celebrate Christmas. Although I was a little shocked at the fact that Christmas came to the Supermarket while I was still wearing sandals and dresses without tights, the snow arrived this week and with it the true feeling of Christmas. I feel as though I've been preparing for this moment for about a month now, however, by exploring many of the Christmas markets that appear at the end of November all over Germany.

My first Weihnachtsmarkt just happened to be in a castle. Burg Hohenzollern, which I have written about in a previous post, hosts a Christmas Market the last weekend in November to kick off advent. You pay a small entrance fee, and are able to enjoy stalls set up in the beautiful courtyard of the castle, as well as in some of the rooms. The market had typical Christmas fare, with ornaments and hand-made goods, as well as some delicious things to eat. Along with almonds roasted in cinnamon and sugar, which I can barely stop myself from purchasing whenever I see them, I began my Glühwein tasting spectacular. Glühwein directly translates into "Glow Wine," which makes sense, seeing as it is hot and spiced with delicious Christmassy flavors, which truly make you warm and "glowy" inside. At the Market at Hohenzollern I tasted Glühwein made with white wine for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. It was a little sweeter than the Glühwein I was used to, but not in a cloying way or anything. I really enjoyed it actually, and true to its form as white wine, it felt a little lighter than the red wine variety. After wandering through the stalls we saw a crowd gathering by one of the entrances to listen to carols as the sun went down behind the mountains. And there to introduce the carols was the Prince of Prussia himself! Not a bad way to spend an evening, I must say.

The market in the courtyard

Enjoying the evening

The next stop on my massive Chritmas market tour was Regensburg, the town where I studied abroad for a semester in 2009. My father and his girlfriend, Lisa, came to visit, and as part of that trip we wanted to see as many Christmas markets as possible. My friends in Regensburg had told me that the market there, or markets I should say, as there were three, was not to be missed. The first of the three markets was in the courtyard of the palace Thurn and Taxis (are you sensing a theme?), and showcased specialty crafts. There were wooden ornaments and jewelry, scarves and tin decorations. I also had schnupfnudeln, a thick noodle similar to gnocci but shaped sort of like a finger. These are traditionally served with sauerkraut and bacon, or with cinnamon sugar as a sweet dish, but mine had many vegetables and a delicious herb sauce. I also tried another sort of Glühwein, this time made with apple wine, which was absolutely delicious.

The second market was in Neupfarrplatz, one of the main squares in Regensburg, where a lot of the annual festivals take place. This market was very traditional, with lots of tin and wooden ornaments, glass candle holders, and lots of food. We went at night, and it was clear that the lively town of Regensburg came to this market at night to enjoy food and wine. We bought ourselves some Glühwein, and enjoyed the atmosphere and, for me, being back in a place I have such fond memories of. The last market was in Heidplatz, and it featured wooden handcrafts. Unfortunately we did not have time to go to that market at night, but I stopped by the next morning before it had opened to see what the square looked like decked out for Christmas.

Enjoying apple glühwein at Schloss Thurn & Taxis

My dad and Lisa with St. Nikolaus

Nikolaus handing out chocolate to kids

Schnupfnudeln!

The market in the palace courtyard

An incredible roasted dough concoction with cinnamon and sugar

Glühwein

At the market in Neupfarrplatz

Excited to be back in Regensburg, in Heidplatz

The next day we headed to Nürnberg to explore the most famous Christmas market in Germany. I must say that this title seems to be well-deserved. A lot of the markets that I went to were very winter-y, but this one was pure Christmas. So many stalls selling all sorts of ornaments, wooden and hand-painted tin, Christmas pyramids (the multi-level carousels with blades on top that spin when candles are lit underneath), decorated gingerbread figures, christmas stollen, and every type of treat imaginable. I tried the traditional blueberry Glühwein, which I'm happy to report is also delicious. It luckily in no way tastes like blueberry flavoring, but is pretty much just hot, alcoholic, blueberry juice. Delicious. I also tried something called Feuerzangen, which is a hot red wine punch. After making the punch, a cone of sugar is soaked with rum an placed over the wine, and then lit on fire. The caramelized sugar drips into the wine, making a delicious, sweet, rummy concoction. Unfortunately I do not like rum that much, a detail that I forgot when I decided to try this. And as Glühwein/Mead/Feuerzangen cools it becomes much stronger to the taste, which is good to note when trying it. I would guess, however, that if you like rum this is a delicious Christmas treat.
The stalls at the Nürnberg market often seemed to repeat themselves, but I would say they were definitely worth repeating. I bought myself a small wooden nutcracker figure and a decoration that has hanging snowflakes that spin when a candle is lit beneath them. These joined the decorated ornament and wooden ornaments I bought in Regensburg. Here are some images from the Nürnberg market. Prepare for Christmas-y happiness.

A few weeks ago, after this trip with my family, I headed to Stuttgart with two of my good friends from Wesleyan, one of whom was visiting from the United States. The Stuttgart market was nice, very big, winding through some streets and then coming to squares with more tents, before winding on again. There was a life-sized train set that you could ride around on and a skating rink, as well as delicious food, once again. There was a stall advertising potatoes with "DER Knoblauchsauce," which means "THE garlic sauce." I'm glad to report that it lived up to its name. I bought a few more decorations for my room, including a hanging decoration with wooden rocking horses and pinecones, and a double-decker Christmas pyramid (that goes with the single-decker one I bought at a Christmas market in France - my room is incredibly decked out for Christmas now). Unfortunately I did not have my camera at this market, so there are no photos. But I do have photos from the Tübingen market, which took place over the second weekend in December. Catie, Gilder, and I came back a day early from Amsterdam to explore this market, but because that meant going on Sunday night it was insanely crowded. So crowded that you could barely move. If there had been fewer people it would have been a fantastic atmosphere, as there were adorable children playing Christmas music everywhere. The hardest thing in the world is not giving money to children brave enough to play music by themselves in public, but unfortunately there were at least fifty different groups and I couldn't give money to them all. I did support one young boy who was playing a wooden alto recorder (more legit than those plastic sopranos you play in grade school), because I felt obligated as a former recorder player. I also tasted something called Holunderwunder, which was hot elderberry/elderflower syrup with an optional shot of alcohol. Germans really like elderflower flavor, and it is something I have really enjoyed being here in Tübingen. Most of the stalls were filled with hand crafts, and once again it was very winter-y rather than christmas-y. But I believe if it had been less crowded I would have enjoyed it more.

The Tübingen Market:

The last episode in my Christmas market spectacular was a trip with four friends to Esslingen and Ludwigsburg for the markets in those two towns. Esslingen has one traditional market, and then a medieval one, which was particularly great. People were dressed up in medieval clothing, selling mead, wild boar, and bread that you could eat off a stick. They had both sweet and savory varieties of this stick-bread, and I tried a sweet, thinking the savory could contain meat. It tasted sort of like a cinnamon-raisin bagel, but without raisins. It was delicious, and I would definitely recommend one if you ever come across them, if nothing else, for the novelty of eating it off a stick. The best food item was definitely apples that were sliced in rings, battered, and then fried. It was like a very light coating of fried dough around a melty, baked apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Heaven. There were also all sorts of fun things to buy, and when I went back a few days later in the snow that suddenly enveloped Baden-Württemberg, it was particularly beautiful. I also tried cherry Glühwein in the normal market, which was once again delicious. I've decided I have so far not had a form of Glühwein I did not like.
We went to Ludwigsburg because my friend Ivor told us that you have to go at night, when the lights all around the square light up. There is a circle of angels (made of lights), which make a ring around the stalls, the churches on either side of the square are lit up, and everything is covered with pine needles. It was an absolutely perfect picture of a Christmas market, and if what had been for sale had been as traditional as in Nürnberg it would have been perfect. There were some traditional wares, such as the aforementioned Christmas pyramids, however theses are made specially in this area, and so the ones we saw in Esslingen and Ludwigsburg were incredibly expensive. We settled for some more Schnupfnudeln (which they made vegetarian with only sauerkraut and no bacon), and Glühwein (this time with a shot of amaretto). This tasted essentially like hot amaretto, and was fantastic. And it came in a mug shaped like a boot, so what could be better? We also tried something called Eierlikör, or "egg liquor," which tastes sort of like alcoholic custard. I've been wondering what it tastes like for a long time, and this sample confirmed that it is delicious, and something I would purchase in the future. I believe it would be delicious in eggnog, and as I don't like rum much I might use it as a substitute.

Entrance to the medieval market

Stockbrot at the medieval market

The most delicious apples I have ever eaten

Sampling the mead

 Esslingen Christmas market in the snow:

The market in Ludwigsburg:

Ultimately, I had an advent in Germany to rival what I had always imagined. My grandmother had often said that she wanted to take us to Germany for advent, and so I felt like I was in some way fulfilling her dream this past month. The markets were amazing, and I truly feel like I've welcomed in Christmas. I've also learned about Advent Wreaths, which are wreaths with four candles, and each Sunday of advent you light one more and let the candles burn all day, until all more are burning on the last Sunday. In terms of markets, I actually went to many more in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Amsterdam, but those will be described in future posts that focus on specific cities. Sadly I have to go pack up my Christmas-y room, but that means that I get to go home on Thursday! I'm incredibly excited to be home for the holidays, and now I'll have memories of Europe to bring back with me. Merry Christmas!

A Very International Thanksgiving

So I now know what it's like to cook for 25 people. For Thanksgiving, Catie and I thought it would be incredibly fun to invite over our friends from all over the world so that they could share in this most wonderful of American traditions. I took responsibility for making the stuffing and cranberry sauce that we eat every year at my house, as well as roasting brussel sprouts and cauliflower as a side. I also made pumpkin and apple pies, which is my annual contribution to my family's Thanksgiving dinner (recipes for all dishes below). I went shopping on Tuesday, and skipped class Wednesday afternoon to begin cooking pies. With only a brief, two hour break to babysit, I baked from 2:30 that afternoon until 3:30 that morning, and then woke up at 10 am to begin again (I didn't finish until everyone began to arrive around 5:30). It turns out that between the incredible amount of food that Catie and I made, and the food contributed by our other two American friends who were co-hosting, we had enough food for about four thanksgiving dinners.

The final spread:

We somehow fit all of our guests into my room, although not having enough chairs, we all had to sit cozily on the floor. Our guests came from the U.S., England, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany, Taiwan, Spain, and Slovakia, and included my Dad and his girlfriend, who were just beginning their visit to Europe. In this visit we we will be exploring Christmas Markets in Germany, followed by a trip to France, Luxembourg, and Belgium, so I'm very excited! It was wonderful to have so many members of our Erasmus family there to celebrate with us, and I hope we can do something like this again!

Cozy on my floor:

Yummm

Feeling happy and satisfied after our feast

The next few posts will come from the trip described above, but for now here are some delicious Thanksgiving Recipes!

Pumpkin and Apple Pies:

Crust

I use the same crust recipe for all of my pies. The recipe makes four crusts, so you can halve or quarter it as necessary.

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups shortening (can substitute butter)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 egg

1/2 cup of cold water

extra flour (for rolling)

Directions:

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt, and cut in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Stir together the apple cider vinegar and the egg, and add to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork until it holds together. Add water as necessary if the dough remains too crumbly. Shape into 1/4 inch discs, wrap in foil, and refrigerate for one hour.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

16 oz can of pumpkin

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out one disc of pie dough, and line the bottom of a pie tin. Mix together the ingredients, and pour into the crust. Bake for 15 minutes, and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the pie comes out clean. Let cool before eating.

Apple Pie

Ingredients:

6 cups of apples, peeled and sliced*

2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca

3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter

*For the apples I prefer to use tart apples, such as macoun, cortland, and macintosh. 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit

Combine the above ingredients (minus the butter) in a large mixing bowl, and let it sit for 15 minutes. While it sits, roll out two discs of dough, and use one to line the bottom of a pie tin. Fill the crust with the apple mixture, and slice the butter into small slices. Dot the pie with the butter slices, and then add the second crust. Crimp the edges, and make slits in the top to allow for ventilation (this is a good opportunity to make a pretty design if you wish). Bake 45-50 minutes, or until the crust is golden-brown and the apples are tender when pierced with a knife.

Stuffing:

Ingredients:
A large loaf of Italian bread
3 tablespoons Bell's Seasoning
2 medium onions
6 stalks celery
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
1 stick butter
one package craisins
one package pre-cooked chestnuts

Directions:
Cube the bread into squares half and inch or smaller, and lay it out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle it with the Bell's Seasoning, and put it into the oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit to dry out. You can also skip this step by purchasing the bread a few days before, cubing it, and leaving it in the air to dry out.

Dice the onion and celery. Melt the stick of butter, and saute the onion and celery in the melted butter. When the onion and celery are both soft, pour in three cups of the stock, stirring until it is warm. Pour this mixture over the bread, and stir. Add the craisins and chestnuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If the stuffing seems dry, simply add more stalk until it reaches the right consistency (moist but not too mushy).

Cranberry Sauce:
Ingredients:
12 oz cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice

Directions:
Combine ingredients in a large pot on the stove, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. The cranberries will begin to pop, and once most of them have done so you can turn off the heat on the stove. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

Making enough cranberry sauce for 25 people

The Best Roasted Vegetables:
This is a very simple recipe for roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts, however I personally think it is one of the best. I have converted many prior brussel sprout haters into lovers by making these.

Ingredients:
1 cauliflower
1-2 packages brussel sprouts
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the brussel sprouts in very cold water for 10-15 minutes to make them more tender for roasting

While the brussel sprouts are soaking, chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces, and slice the onion into quarters. Peel and halve each clove of garlic. Cut off the bottom of the brussel sprouts, and peel back the leaves until it is green and fresh. Slice each brussel sprout in half, and add it to the vegetable mixture. Put all the vegetables in a pyrex, and coat with enough olive oil that they are slick to the touch. Add salt and pepper, and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring every ten to twenty minutes. Add olive oil when they seem dry, and add salt and pepper to bring out the flavor if they seem bland. They are done when both the cauliflower pieces and the brussel sprouts are tender all the way through, but still have some structure to them (do not let the brussel sprouts get mushy). The cauliflower will most likely be finished first, but they can remain in the pan until the brussel sprouts are done as well.

German Castles and German Chocolate

Two of my favorite things in the world are castles and chocolate. Thus, in my two short months in Germany, I have already been to two castles and the factory where they make what is probably my favorite chocolate (Ritter Sport). I did not know upon coming to Baden-Württemberg that I would be so well positioned to enjoy these wonderful things.

I went to the first castle, Castle Hohenzollern, about a month ago with the group here that organizes activities for international students. The Hohenzollern family were important in Swabian history, and it seems that their name keeps coming up (the second castle I went to is also associated with the family). Castle Hohenzollern is in the Swabian Alps, which is apparently the major mountain range in this part of Germany (beautiful, but smaller than the Bavarian Alps). Castle Hohenzollern is called the "Neuschwanstein of Baden-Württemberg," after the castle in Bavaria that served as Disney's inspiration for Cinderella's Castle, and which I've visited a few times before. It's in the most beautiful part of the Bavarian Alps, and is certainly a site to see. I would agree that this seems to be the Baden-Württemberg equivalent, and was not at all disappointed by the castle or the landscape.

The castle in the distance...on top of a hill we later walked down

Entrance to the castle

In the courtyard of the castle

Beautiful Scenery

For our tour of the castle they gave us giant shoes to wear/shuffle around in, as apparently our own would hurt the castle floor.

The tour was pretty interesting, and being in a large crowd of people with different levels of German reminded me of taking tours while studying abroad in Regensburg. It's interesting how different the language is that's used on tours of historical sites. The tour guide speaks often in the passive, which is common in historical speak, and uses much more academic vocabulary than you encounter in day-to-day conversations. As I don't read very many historical texts in German, it's vocabulary that I associate pretty much only with this type of tour, and it means that I have to work much harder to pay attention. After the tour we were told that we were going to walk back the way we had originally taken the bus. We discovered that this meant a two-hour hike to a different train station. Luckily it had gotten to be a very nice day, but after an unexpectedly steep climb up to the castle itself (think never-ending flights of very steep stairs), this was not an entirely-welcome surprise. We enjoyed ourselves, however, and with a beautiful landscape and good company it was quite a nice day.

About half-way through our walk home

An amusing sight to turn around to

The second castle that I went to was part of a day-trip yesterday with eight other people. We went to a small town called Sigmaringen, which is about an hour away from Tübingen. We wandered around briefly, and encountered a political protest involving people dressed as a dragon, before making our way to the castle.

Sigmaringen Castle

The view from the castle

 

After a tour of the castle with a few families, whose children just reminded me of how inept my German is when compared to theirs, we decided to take another twenty minute train ride to Beuron, a nearby town where there is a Kloster and some beautiful places to walk around. We spent a lazy few hours enjoying the newfound sun, walking along the Danube, and eventually trying to get apples down from high trees. It was a lovely afternoon in one of the few remaining fall days.

At the kloster

Where we walked along the river

Random swimming pool?

Hunting for apples

And now for the second part of this blog of favorite things: chocolate! After discovering that we could get to the Ritter Sport factory for free with our semester tickets, which you can purchase once you're enrolled in the University of Tübingen and which is valid for travel in much of the surrounding area (we got to both castles with it), a few friends and I headed off on a chocolate pilgrimage. After getting a little lost and wandering around a small town for a while, we eventually made it to the factory. Having heard from friends that there was a small museum about chocolate as well as a large shop, we headed into the Museum Ritter. For anyone who goes to the Ritter Sport Factory, know that the Museum Ritter has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate. After looking at modern art for a little while, we discovered that the chocolate part is above the shop in the other building. We wandered around, learned about chocolate, and discovered some amusing translations. Apparently there is a saying, "Marzipan kann anders sein, als immer nur ein rundes Schwein," which translates directly to "Marzipan can be different than always just a round pig." This was posted prominently on the display about the marzipan flavor of Ritter Sport, and to those of us who had just been skimming the English, it seemed pretty out-of-the-blue. After learning about chocolate, we went down to the giftshop, where we purchased insane amounts of it. I bought myself an advent calendar, as well as some samples of flavors that are not out yet and are still in testing mode. They also had giant squares of chocolate, and a million different varieties in every sort of arrangement. I bought myself a canvas bag as well, and had to stop myself from also buying a mug and a thermos. Ritter Sport is one of my favorite parts of Germany.

A little lost on the way to the factory

We made it!

Enjoying an educational video

More education

You push a button, and this truck comes out and gives you chocolate!

After purchasing our chocolate, we went to the cafe across the way and had a delicious lunch. With that lunch I ordered hot chocolate, which they make by melting down a Ritter Sport of your choice. I chose my favorite: marzipan. It was beyond delicious.

That's all for now. I'm off to bed to dream of castles and chocolate...and when I wake up I'll remember I'm in Germany and those are no longer things of dreams :)