Life: Idiotropic

Do you know that in parts of Southern Italy and around Naples, you actually have to pay the Mafia if you want to live there "safely?" Seriously. Now. Today in the year 2008, it is still a truth. I learned this today from a Spanish friend who was going to move to Naples with her husband but were told that they would have to pay first for their protection. It seems so unreal.

I've also learned living here that we do not speak English as we thought, but American. Other nationalities make distinguish the two and I've been told many times that I speak "very nice American." Why, thank you. I suppose if I want to speak English, I'll have to start speaking like Miss. Marple and use words like loo, rubbish, and whinging.

Today I did two strange things.

First, I went to an hour-long fat-burning aerobics class on the base. This may not seem strange to you, but I am a girl who does not like sweat. I will ski. I will swim. I will even dance at a carnival party. But, I do not exercize. Nope. Not for me. I love the idea of being athletic, but just can never seem to get the shoes on. But, I was coerced by a dear Spanish friend to go to this class with her (but did she show up? No, but another Spanish friend came)... so I went and though I was ready to crawl to the local bakery after the first 10 minutes, I actually made it through the class and had... fun. Was it me who just said that? Strange. Doesn't sound like me. Did I actually tell the instructor that I'd be back on Monday? Yep... I think I did. So, this may be the start of something, possibly. It could be a whole new me - one who wears blue. That was the other odd thing... I wore a blue shirt today. That's almost stranger than sweat.

Anyway... on a high from successfully completing an entire hour of exercize, I savored a lunch that was absolutely perfect and decided that I live in the most amazing deli. Seriously. In the states, you can get most anything if you shop around, but here, it's so easy. I had a thick slice of a dark nutty German bread, generously drizzled with the Italian olive oil that Kirk brought back from Sicily, then topped with Spanish grown tomatoes, and a bit of creamy Greek feta cheese. Hmmmm. Simple, delicious, healthy, flavorful. And eating post work-out takes away the guilt factor from eating my oh-so-perfect lunch... that in and of itself could be incentive to go back.

Tiara's nickname around here is "moose," so on one of our websites, I called her "majestic moose." Tonight she was online and asked me what MAG-estic meant (pronounced with a hard G). I told her to look it up in the dictionary. Too lazy to do that, here was her response...


"I keep trying to think of words that sound like it and I all I can think of is maggot."

And she's a 7th grade honor student.

Taken from random chocolate related items on my desk...
I need to write down these chocolates and throw away the scraps...

• Last Thanksgiving, my friend, Maria, brought the most delicious bags of truffles. Both were by J.D. Gross, a brand that is sold by Lidl. The white chocolate champagne truffles are the best and the greatest part is that Kirk doesn't like them and the kids can't have them, so I don't have to share!
  

• Albert Heijn has an excellent selection of toast sprinkles (ruitspekken, venz vlokken, and draagtas). In Germany, they have Nutella on their toast. In the Netherlands, they put chocolate sprinkles on their toast. The sprinkles at Albert Hein come in many shapes, colors, and flavors. And, they are really fun.

• In Paris, along side one of my cappuccinos was a little chocolate by Bouchard. OH, and WOW! Yum! I wanted more. So I can't seem to let go of this tiny chocolate colored wrapper for fear I'll forget. So, here it is: Bouchard Belgian Chocolate. Dark 72%. Noir 72% (I know it means dark, but it's still pretty... French is another pretty language). www.bouchard.be
  

busiata
gnoccoli

arnacini
cuscusiera


it's poetic, isn't it? And I feel just a little bit prettier when I say them. Italian. As delicious to say as it is to eat. Which will be put to the test tomorrow when I cook up my busiata e gnoccoli for my famigia.

My amazing Italian friend just taught me to make two beautiful Sicilian pastas by hand this evening and in exchange, I taught her to make pancakes - half plain and half with chocolate chips which her daughter devoured. I also sent her away with maple syrup which she'd never tasted.

Doesn't sound like a fair exchange, does it? Sicilian pasta versus pancakes? And pancake isn't as fun to say unless you're Italian and you can say it with just the hint of an e on the end that makes it sing. But she was as excited about the pancake as I was about the pasta.

So to 600 grams of durum semolina flour - a very fine pale yellow flour, we put in 1.5t of salt and probably a cup or so of water... kneaded it, then let it rest under a bowl for about 30 minutes. [At this time it would be appropriate to sit with a strong Italian espresso and some tiny round crunchy almond flavored Italian cookie whose name currently escapes me. It would also be an appropriate time to sip a large glass of aromatic Italian red wine.] We rolled it to 1/4" thickness, cut strips, then rolled those strips thin. For the busiata, you place a skewer on one end of the pasta, then roll the skewer so that the pasta spirals onto it. Then you slide it off and you're onto the next one. If you make gnoccoli, you take that same strip rolled thin, then quickly pinch down on the edges of it with your fingertips rolling it slightly towards you. Marilena could do this absolutely effortlessly pinching, tearing into smaller strips, setting aside, then starting over on another strand. I, on the other hand, couldn't get mine to look remotely like hers. Not even close. So, busiata it will be at my house. If you want gnoccoli, go to Trapani. The pasta can be cooked right away in boiling water with a little salt and a little olive oil for 4 minutes, or you can dust it with flour so it doesn't stick together and let it sit under a towel until the next day. She says it's delicious with sauteed eggplant and fresh tomatoes. Mmmm.

On my Friday after a busy week, I was almost hoping that she couldn't come and cook today, but now I feel lighter and refreshed. So much so that if I had more flour now, I'd spend the rest of the evening rolling out and twisting up tiny busiatas until my fingers ached. Spending time with Marilena is fun anyway. We laugh at silly words as we try to communicate. She speaks English well and the words she doesn't know, I can usually figure out via Spanish. And every Italian word I have to repeat a few times, savoring slowly each syllable and slight inflection like a connoisseur would taste a fine wine.

Next time I will learn to make arancini which, I'm sure will taste just like they sound - delicious balls of rice stuffed with meats, ragus, or spinach, then fried. Can't be bad. Nothing she makes is bad. Marilena owned and ran a pasta shop when she lived in Italy. She can do anything!

Oooh, oooh.... and today... I went to Aachen with a friend and enjoyed a fabulously relaxing non-obligatory day when I didn't really have to do anything and tossed any sort of must buy or must see lists that I would normally have in hand when going to Aachen. I only knew I must sit and infuse myself with Starbucks- the coffee and the comfy chairs. So I had a triple Venti caramel latte (I think) non-fat, with whip... and it was good, though a bit sweet. It's been too long. I used to rattle off tongue twister coffee orders with pride. Every specification had a place and the rattling of those words were in cadence - almost poetic in it's own caffinated way.

ANYWAY... that is where Holly pointed out our oddest visual of the day: A beautiful raspberry marbled cheesecake looking thing sitting, all by it's lonesome, on a large dingy black cart - you know those big carts that you would use in a Costco to move heavy boxes? Yep. One big cart and one cheesecake. May be the cart is for the one who eats the cake.

Oh... that, and the wind-up sushi that I was oh-so-tempted to buy for Kirk just for a chuckle. I thought, how funny. I'll make up some sushi and then let this little one roll right off his plate.

The high for the day aside from the coffee and the delicious gruenkohl mit mettwurst I had for lunch, was finding a pair of jeans that not only fit, but were also on sale. Yippee! And, to watch a woman go from absolute stony coldness to slightly friendly and almost warm just by switching my words from English to German was really quite funny and sadly typical. Still... I got jeans, a cultural oddity, and a half smile all in one store!

Found a really cool French table at an equally cool Dutch chocolate shop - the Chocolate Company - where I again managed to salivate over everything and not buy one eensie weensie item. Am I nuts? Yeah! This is just not right. Next time, I'm buying chocolate... and may be one of those cookie cream things with the raspberries on top and a ring of marzipan holding it all together... mmmm...

You'd have photos, but I forgot the camera. :( Left it at the school on Wednesday after a yearbook meeting and there it sits. Now I have to go an entire weekend without a camera... don't know if I can make it... withdrawal is imminent.

One of my favorite restaurants in the U district of Seattle was a small Greek restaurant that served all my favorites. And, I think of all cuisines I've tried, I'm especially proud of my Greek dishes. It is amazing food.

The people are wonderful too - always positive, smiling, optimistic.

Tonight was Greek night at the IWC - an evening that I could just relax, eat, and bask in that happy optimism.

Their theme this year was the Greek diet which, to my surprise, has it's own pyramid. I should have known better - really. Why would the USDA food pyramid be the only one in the world? It wouldn't. The Greeks have one that is really interesting. And, unlike ours that changes every few years, theirs is based on the dietary habits of rural Greeks before 1960 - a time when the Greeks had heart disease rates 90% less than Americans.

So, in their pyramid, red meat is at the very top, consumed less than sweets, only 1-2 times each month. Sweets, poultry, eggs, and fish are consumed 1-2 times a week. But daily, they eat moderate amounts of cheese and milk, olive oil, 1-2 glasses of red wine, and plenty of grains, fruits, and vegetables.

The appetizers were a thick, hard seedy bread covered with tomatoes, a little bit of feta cheese, and a generous drizzle of olive oil and freshly made tsaziki with french bread. For dinner we had phyllo pockets with feta cheese, potatoes, baked tomatoes stuffed with rice, and giant beans.

When dinner was over and the raffle was finished, the music went on and we started dancing. The Greek dancing is simple with steps that many of us learned in elementary school and it's easy to learn because the music starts out slow. You watch and move and once you have the steps down, the music gradually speeds up until you're dancing in fast forward around in a circle like a record player on high speed feeling like you're going to fly off at any second. Then the music ends and you take a deep breath before starting slow into the next song. The timid have no chance. The Greek ladies will reach out and grab your hand and pull you to the dance floor patiently teaching you the steps until you are doing it beautifully. They must have taught well.. a nice German lady asked me if I was Greek. Such a nice complement.

So, I did leave with a recipe - one for the giant beans. If you can find the beans, the recipe is a must make.


Giant Beans in the Oven

Ingredients:
1 packet of giant beans
1 cup of olive oil
4 big ripe tomatoes or 2 cups of canned thick tomato juice
1 big onion
3-4 garlic cloves
finely chopped parsley
1 small chili pepper (optional)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Soak the giant beans overnight or at least for 10 hours before cooking. Then, drain them out before boiling.
2. Boil the giant beans in salted water for about an hour. Drain them out again.
3. Saute the chopped onion, cloves of garlic, and parsley in half a cup of olive oil. Add the grated tomatoes with just a dash of sugar and let it boil over medium heat for half an hour. Season with salt and pepper. Add chili pepper (0ptional).
4. Mix the tomato sauce with the boiled beans in an oven proof pan. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.
5. Bake the bean in the oven covered with aluminum foil for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve with fresh bread and feta cheese.

Tsaziki
Combine fresh yogurt, diced cucumber squeezed, garlic pressed, olive oil, salt, and pepper... all mix to taste.

Another Paris post: http://estrogenpalace.blogspot.com/2007/12/rue-mouffetard-saturday-morning.html


The recap:

• On Monday I discovered that the zoo of humanity that fills the enormous costume shop is Heerlen the week before Carnival vanishes completely once carnival is over. They were; however, dressing all the mannekins in bunny costumes, I suppose in preparation for the big Easter rush? I also spent a couple hours painting pottery for Spaghetti Fest donations and rediscovered a love for the paintbrush.

• On Tuesday my day was an absolute whirlwind of 1001 activities that are way to mundane to put here, BUT, Luci went to the post office and mailed me a letter. This wouldn’t be quite so exciting, but because of our circumstances here where the school is DOD (Dept. of Defense) and the post office is run by military and we all have PO boxes, Luci and her classmates not only WENT to the post office with their Valentine’s... but they went INSIDE where the workers are and were able to put their Valentine into their own PO box. Kirk checked the mail later and, surprise! There was a Valentine from Luci that she’d put in our box herself!

• On Wednesday, I had another flurry of activity, but a very kind German computer guy came and got my internet hooked up on my new computer! Yeah! The problem was that US computers only look for channels 1-11. In Germany, they have 13 channels, so our internet system was programmed to channel 13 and my computer couldn’t find it!

• On Thursday I enjoyed a much needed Spanish morning here at my home during which I tried to explain the US election process which is difficult in English let alone Spanish. And, I had to smile when my friend, Noemi, looked at me strange for eating cheese and apples together. They did like the cheddar cheese, though which surprises me... it’s good, but nothing like the stuff here. The grass is always greener...

• Thursday night was the Spaghetti Fest at the school where we served 350 people, entertained, and raised $3000 for this year’s yearbook! I had gone to the classes last week with my paints, brushes, and an assortment of bisque and allowed each class to collectively paint one piece. I embellished, then we raffled those off too! The pottery raffle brought in over $300! And, the kids loved to see the finished product. The most popular item was the ladybug platter - the kindergarten kids did big red thumb-prints on the white background and I did the rest. Simple, but cute.

• On Friday I relaxed in Beeck over breakfast with a friend, then finished my day with 8 girls at my house.

• And... on Sunday we took a walk to the local Cafe. 5 cups of hot cocoa and 2 large slices of delicious cherry fladen cost me only 8 euros. When we arrived a horse drawn cart was going by. It turned around, much like a car would, then parked right in front of the restaurant. The woman stayed with the horse for a moment and the man ran in to pick up cake! In my next life... I would love to travel via horse drawn cart. Too fun.

The above title was an actual headline in this Sunday's Super Sonntag - the weekly Sunday paper. It means, "Clothing forgotten?" or "Did you forget your clothes?"

This last Sunday was the first Sunday after the crazy Carnival Sunday and Monday when most of this region was celebrating with dual beers in hand... and shots of who-knows-what from those crazy costumed folks in the parades. Given that many Germans here try to take in at least 5 if not 8 or more parades and often go to the parties that follow... they do end up with a little bit to drink, thus, the headline.

So... here's the article (loosely translated):

Since the movie, Ratatouille, and her Leapster program in which she can "cook" and make up new recipes, Arianna is, well, a little obsessed. It's good, I guess. Her brain is working and she's being creative and excited about trying new things. So, I will oblige her, a little and we will try her newest recipe, but I think I may have to make a couple moderations... suggestions?

Here it is:

Recipe by Arianna (original written with black felt tip marker on a paper towel)

14 oranges
1 eggs
9 cups of milk
5 cups of egg betr (she means beaters)
9 appels
1 cups of flowre (flour)

oevin 1=12-1=11 (She translated this last part to mean - put it in the oven for 11 hours)

Today after Spanish Morning and the ever-dreaded trip to Schinnen, the base where I go for groceries that seems to suck the life out of you, I made ice cream with the girls!

Not that we needed the ice cream or that it was in any way a warm day - I did have to scrape thick ice off of my windows this morning... But, after being mildly ill and very tired all week, I was feeling guilty for being boring.

So, armed with a bunch of ice and some zip lock bags, we made up some rather yummy home-made ice cream that all 4 of my girls LOVED.

Here's the recipe:

In a gallon sized ziplock bag put 6 T rock salt and an entire tray of ice.
In a snack sized ziplock bag, combine 1/2 cup milk or cream (we used 2%), 1 T sugar, and 1/4 t. vanilla.

Put 1 or 2 filled snack sized ziplock bags into the gallon-sized bag with the ice and salt. Seal well and shake gently for 5 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency.

*In one baggie, we added 1/4 t. coconut extract (instead of the vanilla) and a pinch of shredded coconut. It was delicious. Peppermint extract with crushed candies would also be yummy. The combinations are endless.

** This can also be done using different sizes of coffee cans instead of the baggies and rolling the cans across the floor for 5 minutes.

A friend sent me this quote not to long ago... I don't remember if I've posted it here before or not, but it pretty much sums up living here where my days almost always include at least one odd thing like the man in the jogging suit with two little terriers walking by with a ginormous parrot on his shoulder, or the man riding a recumbent bicycle past my house while walking his dog, or the chicken handing out shots of Bailey's at the carnival parade, or the boy riding a bicycle and "walking" his horse.

Today I found an egg on my stairs. I suspect that my 20-year old cat must have laid it for there is no other explanation. We were out of eggs. I had just come home from the store with a new batch, then after putting the groceries away, I went to walk up stairs and found a warm, hard-boiled, brown egg sitting on the bottom stair. Tiara had no idea how it got there. Arianna looked just as clueless. Luci had been shopping with me and was also completely befuddled. Elise told me that someone was trying to get into the house and put that egg there. I did check my new eggs and none were missing. There were no miscellaneous eggs rolling around my fridge. Which leaves me to the cat unless some stranger did somehow sneak into our house unseen or heard by anyone other than Elise, and put an egg on our bottom stair. Either way, it's strange.

If you're checking in, we're fine. Carnival put us on this party high with activities and events. Even when we were home, the streets were busy... traffic, parade floats, music, balloons. Now the season is over and Lent has begun. The streets were dramatically quieter today and the dreary gray skies seemed to match their mood. Rain, gray, quiet. Gillrath was a ghost town. And I'm sick and miserably pathetic, so that isn't livening things up one bit. I did start on the Paris blog today while uploading yearbook photos for my students... but the computer is so slow it makes it difficult. I should be able to finish another day tomorrow. If nothing else, I'll throw some photos up there for ya.

Photos: 1) The first tractor "float" of the parade followed by group of Robin Hoods 2) A group of kids behind the Hansel and Gretel float. If you enlarge it, you'll see the one boy is smoking and the other is drinking beer. Not illegal and quite typical.

Today the party came to our house. We'd decorated with bright balloons and streamers in our front windows and like the rest of our neighbors, we put balloons on the upstairs windows as well. I made cookies and put out a few snacks. We served hot chocolate with marshmallows and Bailey's on the side.

Photos: 1) A group of people in front of our home. 2) Luci in the crowd with Kirk as a monk in the background
And then they came. Most of the Gillrath Americans live in the neighborhood behind us, but from all corners, Americans came to perch themselves in front of our home (not because we're so special, but because our home is conveniently located right on the parade route within easy walking distance from most of their homes) to watch the first Gillrath Karneval parade in 26 years. It was an effortless party thrown by the town so we just served some cocoa and enjoyed. We had over 53 friends in front of our home most of the parade with a constant flow of people in and out of our home. A couple times I turned around to see people I didn't even know walking in our front door. Kirk told me later that he'd escorted a couple German neighbors in to use our bathroom.

So, it was lively. The kids ran in and out of the street yelling, "ALAAF!" and gathering up all the candy they could to fill their baskets, bags, and inverted umbrellas. The adults watched the parade and other spectators with amusement visiting with each other and making funny faces for the cameras. The parade was fantastic - but NOTHING like anything we'd ever see back home.

The had floats, music, and a band. They had themes and wore costumes. They threw A LOT of candy. All that is pretty normal, right?

They also walked the parade while drinking beer. Many smoked. Many had a beer in one hand and a bottle of liquor under one arm and a stack of disposable shot glasses in the other hand. Many gave out shots to the adult spectators. I even got a shot of chocolate Bailey's from a chicken. There was no rowdiness... no obvious drunken behavior. They were relaxed and smiling and having a good time. They had no trouble walking. But - alcohol was prevalent, accepted, and handed out for free. An orange faced witch gave beers to a couple of the guys in our party. Not normal? It is here.

Photos: 1) The chicken who also gave a shot of Bailey's to me 2) A couple blue bears? Notice the bottle under his arm and the Bitburger beer bottle and shot glasses in the other hand.








Another "not normal" thing -- it wasn't just candy and shots. One green bear passed out cubes of cheese. He just reached out with a bag and you had to reach in and grab one. Our local produce guy passed out potatoes. Arianna and Luci both got apples and oranges in their baskets. Popcorn was popular too. And, the cooking group passed out soup mix, heads of lettuce, carrots, and other ingredients including little cocktail wieners on toothpicks.

Photos: 1) Sorry for the sideways photo - too tired to fix. This is Tinny with her head of lettuce she got from the parade folks and a small cocktail wiener in the same hand. 2) The green bear passing out cheese






Arianna, Luci, and Elise all had a great time running all around, playing with friends, and gathering treats. Arianna yelled "Alaaf!" as much as she could thinking it would bring her more treats. Elise spent most of the time with her best friend, Hattie. And Luci, my adventurous girl, was in and out of the street grabbing any candy between groups that had dropped short of the crowd. The yellow hat came from some one in the parade, so once she got it, she wore it the entire afternoon.

The clown and the tourist are Mike and Karyn - a fabulous German couple that lived in the states for a while, own a guest house and rental home in Gillrath and are very friendly and well-known among the Americans. They were at our house too.

The talk in Gillrath is that if this parade is successfull (and I think it was), that they'll do it again next year. And, if they do it again, you know who will be in the parade??? Yep. The Americans are going to put a float together... but I won't be passing out cheese and potatoes.

Note: After writing this, posting it, then finally going through the basket of candy the kids brought in, I must laugh at the absurdity of some. Obviously not all the things thrown are for kids. I enjoyed several Turkish coffee candies. And, in this pile of odd things I'll throw away, I have several "Rooibos Tee" tea filled candies, a couple cough drops, a "Classic New York" pear flavored chew, a hard candy labelled "golf son gual," several from "WWK Versicherungen," and one called "Air Liquide."

This morning we woke up with a completely unexpected surprise that neither local German or Canadian news had predicted - that wonderful white fluffy stuff the girls hoped for in Paris but never saw - SNOW!

I was tired and tried desperately to sleep in while the girls came in every couple minutes looking for pants, a glove, or a hat. Kirk got up early with them and took them out to play in the little dusting of snow that we had and they built two snowmen before coming in.

Arianna and Luci's was the biggest with rock eyes, a hat and scarf, twig arms, a carved smile, and candies for buttons. Elise and Daddy built a little snowman, but he was too fragile to decorate.