The Frankfurt Zoo

I think the last time I was at a zoo was for my 1st grade field trip to Turtleback Zoo in New Jersey.  Fritz, similarly had not been to the zoo in a very long time.  When he and I registered our address with the German government (because you have to do that when you move to Germany), they gave us a very nice welcome book, which included a zoo coupon!  We figured we'd put it to use and spent Saturday afternoon mingling with the animals! 

I have to say, the Germany zoo was much like my memory of an American zoo.  Animals in artificial habitats, ice cream carts, lots of little kids, great gift shop, etc.  The main difference is that all the signs were written in German so I didn't understand any of the written animal explanations.  Then again, I guess this made my experience even more similar to my 1st-grade zoo trip as once again, I couldn't read any of the signs.  

We arrived just in time for a seal show.  These guys did a bunch of cute tricks in exchange for fish tossed by their zoo keeper friend. 

Caution: Rhino "spritzes" into the audience

That was a real sign.  And no, we did not get peed on by the rhino.  Thank goodness. 

MONKEYS!!!

We stayed until the zoo was closed and they literally kicked us out.  There is something totally wonderful about just watching animals.  I could have walked around for another 3 hours, just studying the animals' movements.  But there is a complicated balancing act I have to do in my mind while walking around looking at all of these beautiful creatures.  My first instinct is to be totally in awe of them.  There is a child-like fascination I have when I am able to be "this close to a real tiger!" Shortly after that feeling, an immobilizing sadness kicks in, and my heart breaks for the animal that will never know true freedom or what it means to actually be a "wild animal."  And then I rationalize and wonder if that really matters since the animal was likely born in captivity, and probably will never understand what he is missing.  Perhaps his life is better than it would have been in the wild considering he is fed every day, he lives without the threat of starvation or being hunted down, and maybe he is just as fascinated by his human visitors as the humans are by him.  I'm reminded of the terrific novel, The Life of Pi, which makes a really convincing argument in favor of zoos.  If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it, and not just for its stance on zoos.  Anyway, unable to fully rectify the fact that these animals have been transplanted from their natural place of origin and put on display for curious humans, I try not to think too hard about the injustice of it and appreciate the incredible animals in front of me.  It really is a beautiful thing just to watch the ears of a zebra twitch while she listens to a boisterous crowd, and the graceful majesty of a tiger as he paces the perimeter of his enclosure, and a mother chimp as she caresses and cuddles her precious baby.  

Halloween Morning in Höchst

I seriously have to stop writing about food!  

Well, good news!  We did something besides eat on Saturday.

We decided to stick around Frankfurt this weekend since we have some out-of-the-city traveling on the horizon.  I found a website with information on "free things to do."  So we hopped on the subway and headed to Höchst, a subsection of Frankfurt, which happens to be the oldest part of the city.   They have a market on Saturday mornings and I thought it would be a good place to get breakfast!  (Ok, this post is mostly not about food)

The market turned out to be pretty small, but big enough to find a tasty sandwich, fresh bread with creamy cheese spread on top, and a good coffee!  Fritz and I shared our breakfast and then perused the market.  

We were happy to find the one-and-only person in all of Frankfurt (this statement is based on empirical evidence collected after a full day of searching) who was celebrating Halloween!  

As most murderous butchers do, he was selling mushrooms this Saturday morning.  

After the market, we headed around the bend to Old Town where there stands a German castle! 

Pictured above: Altes Schloss Höchst (the castle)

Originally there was a moat around the castle, but now it's a pretty garden for visitors to walk through. 

And take pictures. 

Here are some other pictures from Höchst...

I had to snap a picture of this pole on which someone had slapped a kind-hearted bumper sticker.  

"REFUGEES WELCOME" brought to you by the LGBTTI Community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersexual). 

We have not seen too much evidence of refugees in Frankfurt yet, although it's a major topic of discussion here and is in the news daily.  It was nice to witness evidence of one minority group showing their support for another.  

Burger Cravings!

The truth is... I really REALLY love cheeseburgers.  I know they aren't very good for me and I know I'm in Frankfurt and not Hamburg (I should be eating hot dogs instead of hamburgers), but sometimes a person just needs a burger!  

Well lucky me!  The burger gods must have heard my deepest darkest desires and when I was walking around today, as I often do while Fritz is busy doing scholarly things, I stumbled on a little burger place!  I casually scoped it out and noted the subway stop nearby so I would be able to find it again when it was actually dinner time.  

I texted Fritz and informed him of the plan.  When he got out of his German class, we met at the Alte Oper subway stop.  This is the site of the famous Frankfurt Opera House.  Totally beautiful at night!

Burgerschmiede was just across the street from the opera house square.  We looked up "Schmiede" by the way, and learned that it means Smithy in English.  So Burger Smithy!  That's where we got dinner on a fine Friday night!

We walked in and a goofy bald guy who I am guessing was the owner enthusiastically greeted us!  And for the second time this week, someone told me they recognized me from when I passed by their shop earlier that day.  I have got to learn how to be a little more stealthy!  These Germans are watching me!  The owner was extremely friendly and quite gregarious.  He continued to sing random English pop-songs throughout our meal in a loud, off-key voice.  Naturally, I sang along with him as any self-respecting Schlenker would do.  

It was a very hip place with funky lighting and an appealing craft beer selection, which was right up Fritz's ally.  

Not to mention delicious burgers!!!  Craving satisfied! Thanks Burgerschmiede!

Doing What the Locals Do

As the full moon rose over the city (pictured below), I read a book while waiting in a coffee shop right around the corner from our first Frankfurt apartment until Fritz was released from his German colloquium.  I waited here because we were invited to have dinner at the neighborhood German restaurant with the academic crew from the colloquium.  

Pictures of the moon never do it justice, but it was such an incredible scene I had to try. 

When Fritz and I lived in this neighborhood, we passed this place every day, but never realized it was a restaurant or that it was home to "the hip local scene."  We were told by our new German grad-student friends that they come here often, sometimes in the early hours of the morning after a long night out when they aren't yet ready to call it a night.  They were well acquainted with the bartender here as a result.  

Pictured above is the entrance to the restaurant.  I can't remember the name. 

The restaurant was set in off the street and you had to walk through a private-looking, gated yard to get to the front door.  If it weren't for Fritz's fellow grad students, we probably would have never found this place despite the fact that we walked passed it every day for a week.  

Inside it was warm and lively in contrast to the quiet, somewhat abandoned look of the outside entranceway.  Fritz and I both did our best to do as the locals do and ordered the most traditional German meals on the menu.  

Classic Frankfurt Dish: Frankfurter Schnitzel mit Grüne Soße (Basically fried pork, potatoes, and green sauce.  Also, the letter "ß" makes a "Z" sound.  Before I knew better, I was guessing "B" since it kind of looks like a B, but that's the completely wrong end of the alphabet.)

I don't remember the name of this dish but it's ham, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and mustard. 

 Our meals were delicious and quite filling.  Perhaps a little lacking in vegetables, but still good.  Green sauce, by the way, has a yogurt based with 7 spices in it.  Our friends weren't complete sure what those spices were, but there was a clear consensus that there was definitely 7 in there. 

Here are our friends!  Johanna, pictured on the right, was in touch with us while we were still looking for a place to live.  These three are a lovely bunch and Fritz was thrilled to learn that our friend on the left is completely obsessed with American Football and LOVES the Green Bay Packers.  Just to put this miracle into perspective, Fritz couldn't find people to watch games with him in Ithaca, New York (which is in the United States).  What are the chances that he finds a fellow fan all the way in Germany?!  To give you a sense of what it means to be a true fan in Germany, you have to stay up until 3am just to watch the kickoff due to the time difference.  Now that is commitment!  Even though 3am American football is oodles of fun, we are are going to try to see a German football (soccer) game with these guys sometime in the near future.  And that would be while the sun is still shining. 

Pinwheels with Irma!

Cooking in Germany continues to be a noteworthy experience.  Today was particularly exciting as I had the opportunity to cook with a culinary marvel who also happens to be one of my most favorite people- Irma!  Irma used to live outside of Boston and when I moved to the city after college, she and her husband Brian took me in and let me live with them until I found an apartment of my own.  While I was there, Irma taught me how to bake bread with yeast, the best way to cook mushrooms, how to make a chocolate ganache, and many other scrumptious tricks.  One of the great things about Irma's cooking is that it never requires measuring cups, and in Germany where everything is labeled in millimeters, a measure-less recipe is exactly what I need!

One problem- Irma now lives in Austria.  True, we are in the same time zone, but we still have a substantial distance between us.  So, we decided to cook together over Skype!  Basically, it was like an interactive live cook show starring Irma!  

She gave me permission to share her measure-less recipe.  So here you go!

Pinwheels

Ingredients:

Flour

Butter

Sugar

Quark (or ricotta cheese if you are in the US)

Fruit Preserve 

Powdered Sugar

Lemon Juice

Set your oven to 175 degrees Celcius.  Ok I lied.  Welcome to my world Americans!  Now you get to do the temperature math.  And then I promise everything else will be easy after this.  

In a bowl, dump about about a cup of flour.  Now take your butter out of the fridge and while it is still cold, cut it into little chunks and plop them into the flour bowl. 

Use your fingers to squish up the butter chunks and mix them with the flour.  Keep doing this until it's all pretty evenly distributed and the flour looks kind of like wet sand.  

Add a little sugar to the mix.  Maybe like a 2 tablespoons or so, depending on how sweet you want your cookies to be.  

Time for the secret ingredient: Quark!!  It might also be called Topfen depending on whether you are in Germany or Austria.  Don't worry Americans, I have a substitute for you.  Just use ricotta cheese.  Add about 2/3 of a cup.  

Now with your hands, knead it all together until it seems like everything is pretty well mixed. 

Once the ingredients are mixed together and you have a nice little ball, roll it out on the counter until its about 1/8 of an inch thick.   Irma used a rolling pin.  I didn't have one so I just used a tall drinking glass.  Sometimes you just have to work with what you've got. 

This is an actual screenshot from Irma's computer during our Skype Cooking Session.  You can see her with two of her children in the small screen on the top right. 

Cut the dough sheet into squares.  Maybe 2 x 2 inches each. 

They don't have to be perfect.  Cut little diagonal lines in the 4 corners of each square.  

Now take a glob of your favorite fruit preserve and plop it in the middle of the square.  I used raspberry which can be a little runny.  Irma advises apricot since it is a little bit thicker, but it's up to you.  

Irma's live demonstration for how to plop the jelly glob using two tea spoons. 

Now take one corner from each of the 4 little slices you made in the dough square and pinch them together in the middle around the jelly glob to make a pinwheel.  

It should look like this. 

Grease your cookie sheet a little bit, and spread out your pinwheels.  

Stick them in the oven for about 15 minutes.  

While they are baking, make a little lemon glaze.  Whisk together about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with about half a cup of powdered sugar.  If it is kind of soupy add more powdered sugar.  You want it to be more on the globby side so it will drizzle without being too runny.  

When the timer goes off, take your cookies out of the oven but leave them on the baking sheet while you drizzle your lemon glaze over them.  Once they have cooled a little bit (like 5 minutes maybe), you can take them off the cookie sheet so they don't get soggy in all the overflowing jam and lemon glaze.  

Take a picture!  They are really pretty!

Oh.  And eat them!  Yum!

Skype baking session success!  Thanks Irma!

The other fun thing is that Irma has also written a blog post about this experience.  In addition to being a terrific cook, she is a very talented photographer.  If you'd like to see her pictures and read her rendition, click here. 

Sondern Lebe Deinen Traum in Bad Homburg

The first thing you should know is that it is pronounced Bod Homberg and "Bad" means bath in German.  Bad Homburg is a small German town located about 45 minutes north from where Fritz and I live.  This historical stop is best known for it's medically used mineral waters and its spa.  There are actually little water fountains in some of the parks and you can drink the mineral water.  I watched someone else take a sip, so when the fountain was clear I snuck over and tasted it too.  Not realizing it was going to be "special" water and regretted my decision immediately.  This happened before I knew Bad Homberg had healing mineral water so when I was expecting cold, clean water and got fizzy, metallic water, I was a bit shocked.  It helps if you're prepared for the healing powers of Bad Homberg.  Anyway, rich people used to (and still do) come here for healing at the spa, fresh air, and leisurely walks through the many beautiful parks.  Consequently, it happens to be one of the wealthiest districts in Germany.

Pictured above is the famous Bad Homburg Spa

Fritz and I came here because the university that Fritz is associated with had a "History of Capitalism" conference here today.  The university has a satellite building just behind the Spa.  I didn't spend too much time there since I was way too busy exploring the rest of the town, but for the short period that I was in the building, someone brought me wine!!

Wine and knitting in a private study with soft leather couches.  

Does anyone really need anything else?

As I mentioned, I spent most of the day doing one of my all-time favorite things- walking around a new city and taking pictures.  

There was a central shopping street several blocks long that was closed to motor vehicles.  A public market was set up in various spots along the street with vendors selling fresh veggies, flowers, cheese, and of course sausage!  

A statue in a central square

I had to snap a photo of the German soldiers casually walking through the market. 

There is a famous bridge that crosses over the town and connects the shopping area to the lower, more residential part of the town. 

In the background is a tower from the bridge

Some of the gardens and parks were easy to find and very public, but this one seemed a bit of a secret.  I stumbled on it by walking through a random parking lot that was surrounded by a stone wall.  Cut into the wall was an opening with a blue gate.  When I walked through, I found a Secret Garden!

More of the Secret Garden

The main park which is more or less in the center of town is probably where I spent most of the day.  It's quite large with trails running throughout.  Our visit to Bad Homburg came at a perfect time as it seems to be peak foliage season here! 

At the top of the park is this beautiful little establishment.  I learned that it is a Russian Chapel called All Hallows' Church.  Construction of this Eastern Orthodox church began in October of 1896 and lasted about 3 years.  

 Many quiet ponds were scattered throughout the park. 

When you have a tree-lined path on your mind, you just need to explore.  

(And also take double exposure photos)

Apples!

I was told Bad Homburg is the home to many older or retired people and is therefore a bit slow-moving.  I found it to be busy enough and I was happy to see the parks full of happy couples walking hand-in-hand. 

This Thai garden pavilion was sent by King Chulalongkorn of Siam in 1914 as a thank you for a successful cure.

As the day grew late and afternoon crept up on me, I thought it would be nice to find a quiet cafe to sit and read for a while until Fritz's conference let out.  Having walked the entire city several times over, I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  

I had passed Espressobar Ernesto twice already in my wanderings, peering in through the windows but choosing to continue my explorations while the day was still young.  But now, with many miles and plenty of photos behind me, I was ready to settle in for a soothing latte macchiato and a good book.  

I was greeted by a kind and cheerful woman named Rita, who turned out to be the owner of Espressobar Ernesto.  This colorful and quaint little establishment was everything I could have hoped for in a cafe.  It had cozy corners, local art hanging on the walls, an outside patio with tall trees providing a natural canopy, plenty of candles and plants scattered throughout, soft music playing in the background, lovely homemade treats, and great coffee.  Perfect!  

As I sat and read, Rita checked on me from time to time and eventually confessed that she had spotted me passing her shop earlier in the day.  She was kind to speak to me in English and told me that her cafe was named after her father, Ernesto, whose portrait was hanging on the wall.  I told her I loved her shop.  The energy of the quiet cafe was enriching and Rita's spirit and hospitality made the perfect conclusion to my afternoon.  She was appreciative of the compliment and informed me that she often hosts events.  In fact, there will be live music this coming Saturday.  

She asked what I do for work and I explained what an Occupational Therapist does, though I told her that I wasn't licensed to work in Germany.  At some point after that, Rita asked me if I wanted to help at her shop during the event on Saturday.  A job!  Does she really want to give me, non-German-speaking Amanda, a job?!?  How cool!  I don't know what she would want me to do exactly or even if the offer was totally sincere, though she seemed genuinely interested in having me come back to her cafe.  She gave me her card and as I was leaving she said with a kind smile, "I think we will see each other again." 

Later I visited her website.  On the home page is this quote: 

"Träume nicht dein Leben, sondern lebe deinen Traum!" 

Do not dream your life, live your dream!

I think I should contact her.

My new friend Rita at Espressobar Ernesto