I will be taking a three week vacation and don't believe I will post in that three week period.
I will be going three weeks on an Europa-tour with my Rotary Club. We will start on 23.03.2012 in Prague, and then go to Budapest, Vienna, Padua, Venice, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Nizza, Monaco, Avignon, Geneva, Paris, and finally back in Muenster on 13.04.2012. I don't think any other spring break will be as good as this one.
Schnelle Küche: Tortellini Surprise
Cook time: 25 min. Servings: 4-6
Ingredients:
500 g. (1 lb.) Tortellini (meat, cheese, or whatever you prefer)
2-4 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
2 c. Heavy Creme
1 Tbsp. Salt (plus for pasta water)
200g. (~3/4 c.) Ham, diced
Directions:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add a little salt to the water.
Cook the Tortellini according to the packaged directions. When the tortellini are cooked, then drain the water from the pot. Slice the ham in a small dice. Add the tomato paste, cream, salt, and ham in the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let cook for 15 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced into a thick consistency, like mac and cheese.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Kind of a Nerd
This week I went to CeBit, twice. CeBit is like CES but with more software and less hardware technology. CES is the annual Consumers Eletronics Show in Las Vegas. CeBit is the Consumer Electronics Trade Fair in Hannover. Both hold the record for World's Largest thanks to the fancy name play.
CeBit was huge. There were 26 different halls to go in, on a 5 acre campus. Tobit was there with the best Booth. They were next to google. They set up a bar that looked like Offsite, Tobit's bar in Ahaus. The bar/booth even included a robot DJ with pole dancers.
To continue with the nerd theme. Albert this week tried telling me that the 6th star wars movie was the best. Everyone knows the 4th (1st) movie was the best. The Fifth had Luke's ugly face when he finds out that Darthvader is his father, The first three were too computerized, and the last had weird tiny animals. I am not a stars wars fanatic, but everyone knows the 6th movie was the worst.
My Observation of this week is that Germans will only go through one door of a double door way. At my school kids will wait to go through one door for two way traffic, when there are two doors available. At CeBit everyone would file in through one door instead of opening the second. It's a little weird, but it's whatever.
Schelle Küche: Pasta with Mushroom Creme Sauce
Servings: 6 Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients:
500 g. Mushrooms (Simple white button Mushrooms or Champions)
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Oil
200 g. Sour Cream
220 g. Heavy Cream
100 ml. Water
1 1/2 Tbsp. Steinpilz-hefebrühe (I couldn't find anything similar in English except Porcini Powder and Yeast flakes mixed)
1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
500g. Pasta (Short, Curly Pasta works best.)
Directions:
In a pot of boiling salted water, add the noodles and cook following packaged directions.
Slice the mushrooms about a half inch (2 cm.) thick. In a warm pan add the oil and butter. When the oil and butter start to simmer add in the Mushrooms and sauté until golden brown, and the mushrooms have reduced by half, about 5-8 minutes. Add in the Sour Cream, Heavy Cream, Water, Steinpilz-Hefebrühe, Salt, and Pepper. Let the mixture reduce by half, about ten minutes. When the sauce has reduced, add in the cornstarch and let thicken, about 2 minutes.
CeBit was huge. There were 26 different halls to go in, on a 5 acre campus. Tobit was there with the best Booth. They were next to google. They set up a bar that looked like Offsite, Tobit's bar in Ahaus. The bar/booth even included a robot DJ with pole dancers.
To continue with the nerd theme. Albert this week tried telling me that the 6th star wars movie was the best. Everyone knows the 4th (1st) movie was the best. The Fifth had Luke's ugly face when he finds out that Darthvader is his father, The first three were too computerized, and the last had weird tiny animals. I am not a stars wars fanatic, but everyone knows the 6th movie was the worst.
My Observation of this week is that Germans will only go through one door of a double door way. At my school kids will wait to go through one door for two way traffic, when there are two doors available. At CeBit everyone would file in through one door instead of opening the second. It's a little weird, but it's whatever.
Schelle Küche: Pasta with Mushroom Creme Sauce
Servings: 6 Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients:
500 g. Mushrooms (Simple white button Mushrooms or Champions)
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Oil
200 g. Sour Cream
220 g. Heavy Cream
100 ml. Water
1 1/2 Tbsp. Steinpilz-hefebrühe (I couldn't find anything similar in English except Porcini Powder and Yeast flakes mixed)
1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
500g. Pasta (Short, Curly Pasta works best.)
Directions:
In a pot of boiling salted water, add the noodles and cook following packaged directions.
Slice the mushrooms about a half inch (2 cm.) thick. In a warm pan add the oil and butter. When the oil and butter start to simmer add in the Mushrooms and sauté until golden brown, and the mushrooms have reduced by half, about 5-8 minutes. Add in the Sour Cream, Heavy Cream, Water, Steinpilz-Hefebrühe, Salt, and Pepper. Let the mixture reduce by half, about ten minutes. When the sauce has reduced, add in the cornstarch and let thicken, about 2 minutes.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Mild Temperatures are Killing Me
This week I was curious to find out which US State had the most exchange kids in Germany, as of Today, Illinois has the most with 10 kids. I believe it would be fair to say that district 6440 has the most kids per district with 4, Impressive for a tiny district in northern Chicagoland.
This up-coming week, I have 2 finals Bio and Geography. I wish my Geography class was as easy as Lakes, where the kids just learned where the countries were and then made food from that country. Now I need to learn economics of developing countries and how tourism effects a country's development/ deteriorates the culture.
I am going to die when I get back to the US. I am not saying it's super cold here because we actually had a warmer winter than Chicago, and we never received snow. Today is 14℃ (mid 40's), and to me that was T-shirt weather. I am going to die in the summer heat.
The US needs to use the metric system. It would make my life a lot easier. When everyone else in the world uses the metric system, doesn't it make sense to adopt a system that everyone uses, so that we are globally compatible. I understand the creator of "Fahrenheit based it off the human body temperature, but even he was wrong, and the human body temperature is 98.6 and not 100 like originally stated, making the Fahrenheit system invalid. But we are Amuricans, and we are the ass of everyones jokes because we are as stubborn as one.
Schnelle Küche Recipe this week: Peasant Lentil Soup
150 g. Lentils
4-5 Medium Potatoes
4-6 Strips Bacon
1/2 Medium Onion
1 Carrot
1/2 Leek
1-1 1/2 L. Chicken Broth
1/2 Tbsp. Pepper and Salt
1/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. White Wine Vinegar
1 c. Chopped Bologna like sausage.
2 Tbsp Curry*
Dice the bacon, onion, carrot, leek, and potatoes, and then cook them in a medium pot until the bacon is crispy, and the onions are translucent. After that pour in the Chicken broth(and curry, if using), scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot. They add flavor. Add the lentils, potatoes, and leeks and bring to boil. Turn down heat and let reduce until the lentils are plump, and the potatoes are fork tender. After add the sugar and vinegar. They are added in equal portions, so that you can play around with the combo until you find one you like. Let cook for one hour. Before serving add sliced bologna and enjoy.
*I add curry but the wasn't part of Petra's original recipe. Also this recipe is made by eyeball measurements. These are not exact but a suggestion.
This up-coming week, I have 2 finals Bio and Geography. I wish my Geography class was as easy as Lakes, where the kids just learned where the countries were and then made food from that country. Now I need to learn economics of developing countries and how tourism effects a country's development/ deteriorates the culture.
I am going to die when I get back to the US. I am not saying it's super cold here because we actually had a warmer winter than Chicago, and we never received snow. Today is 14℃ (mid 40's), and to me that was T-shirt weather. I am going to die in the summer heat.
The US needs to use the metric system. It would make my life a lot easier. When everyone else in the world uses the metric system, doesn't it make sense to adopt a system that everyone uses, so that we are globally compatible. I understand the creator of "Fahrenheit based it off the human body temperature, but even he was wrong, and the human body temperature is 98.6 and not 100 like originally stated, making the Fahrenheit system invalid. But we are Amuricans, and we are the ass of everyones jokes because we are as stubborn as one.
Schnelle Küche Recipe this week: Peasant Lentil Soup
150 g. Lentils
4-5 Medium Potatoes
4-6 Strips Bacon
1/2 Medium Onion
1 Carrot
1/2 Leek
1-1 1/2 L. Chicken Broth
1/2 Tbsp. Pepper and Salt
1/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. White Wine Vinegar
1 c. Chopped Bologna like sausage.
2 Tbsp Curry*
Dice the bacon, onion, carrot, leek, and potatoes, and then cook them in a medium pot until the bacon is crispy, and the onions are translucent. After that pour in the Chicken broth(and curry, if using), scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot. They add flavor. Add the lentils, potatoes, and leeks and bring to boil. Turn down heat and let reduce until the lentils are plump, and the potatoes are fork tender. After add the sugar and vinegar. They are added in equal portions, so that you can play around with the combo until you find one you like. Let cook for one hour. Before serving add sliced bologna and enjoy.
*I add curry but the wasn't part of Petra's original recipe. Also this recipe is made by eyeball measurements. These are not exact but a suggestion.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Schnelle Küche
Petra's Schnelle Küche recipe this week.
Ham wrapped Endives in a Hollandaise Sauce
Servings: 4 cook time: 10-15min
Ingredients:
4 Endives
4 slices Ham or Prosciutto
2 cups (250 g.) Hollandaise Sauce
1 cup Cheese (Gouda, Mozzarella, anything that is good for melting)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180℃ (350℉)
Cook the endives in salted boiling water until they before fork tender. Next put the four endives in a baking pan. Wrap the sliced ham around the endives, and then pour the hollandaise over. Cover with cheese and bake until brown.
-normally we eat this as a main dish, but it would also make a good side dish.
Ham wrapped Endives in a Hollandaise Sauce
Servings: 4 cook time: 10-15min
Ingredients:
4 Endives
4 slices Ham or Prosciutto
2 cups (250 g.) Hollandaise Sauce
1 cup Cheese (Gouda, Mozzarella, anything that is good for melting)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180℃ (350℉)
Cook the endives in salted boiling water until they before fork tender. Next put the four endives in a baking pan. Wrap the sliced ham around the endives, and then pour the hollandaise over. Cover with cheese and bake until brown.
-normally we eat this as a main dish, but it would also make a good side dish.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Karneval!
Duisburg is a city that I could give or take... give. I went there Wednesday with a my Art Class on a field trip to a sculpture museum. Driving into Duisburg, is the same as driving into Milwaukee. There's nothing special going on. Homeless people in Duisburg have a funny way of saying hallo, "Fuck you guys, and your moms too. I'm not Joking!"
The Museum itself was a 1960 disaster. I don't know what it is about the 60's/70's, but they had some of the ugliest/unpractical architecture...
Now that the I'm done with the boring stuff, here's Karneval.
Karneval is probably one of the coolest things I have ever been too. Köln has the best Karneval in Germany to be followed by Düsseldorf. I am not 100% sure, but I believe Berlin and Hamburg do not celebrate Karneval. Karneval is a 4 day event, Thursday through Monday. I have already forgotten the names of each day, but they aren't important.
Thursday is the ladies day. The girls go around and draw on guys faces, and everyone goes out drinking.
Friday is something, I don't remember, but it involved drinking.
Saturday... Drinking. I arrived in Düsseldorf on Saturday, but Rotex wouldn't let us go into the city.
Sunday is when the real partying starts. We started off the day with go-kart racing. I have always been a good go-kart racer, and I had the best lap time, from what I saw. Then we went into the altstadt for 5 hour free time.
If anyone has been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, then they will know what I am about to explain. Karneval, unlike Mardi Gras, is all ages and starts around 11 in the morning. It was funny seeing parents pull a wagon with their alcohol and kids in the back. There were also a ton of drunk old people (60+) waddling through the altstadt with the younger crowd. Everyone having a good time. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a couple streets, from what I have seen. Karneval in Düsseldorf is the whole altstadt (a few square blocks), and every street is packed. It's like a combo Mardi Gras and a rave. One of the best parts was when it started to lightly hail and everyone was dancing in the street. Rotary wouldn't let us stay out after 6 because I am sure it only got crazier then.
After the hail was done, I was able to get this picture of the Rhein and important tower, that every German city seems to have in Düsseldorf. This was the only photo I took with my camera.
Monday is the day everyone dresses up. You look stupid if you aren't. The whole weekend is a costume weekend, but most people do it on Monday. Düsseldorf had a parade at 12:30, but most of us went back to the Altstadt because once you have seen one parade, you have seen them all. I did see a few floats from the parade and got an unwrapped muffin thrown at me from a float.
The U.S. needs to start celebrating Karneval because it is one of those things, that you will never forget.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Can't wait until Summer!
Last week Petra planned our Summer Vacation. The originial plan was to go one week on a houseboat in France, and then another week in Tirol(That's Italy). We came to the conclusion, that that would be too much driving. We are now going, one week on a houseboat is middle/southern France, and one week in Western France, on the Atlantic Ocean.
This will be my first time ever seeing the Atlantic Ocean. Kind of a weird thought because I had to fly over it to get to Europe, but I was in the middle section. In Mamabear's and my opinion, we had the best seats on the plane.
It was funny, all my host brothers were excited about the house we will be staying in. It was a nice cape cod/ old English style house in Britanica, France, but I was more excited about the houseboat. Since, I was only out on my boat 3 times last year, I am looking forward to going out on a boat again.
When I saw the house boat, I said wow it's relatively new, and got funny looks because my "Relatively New" is a boat from late 1980's til 90's. I always imagined a house bought as an ugly thing from 1950, that you find on the Chain O'lakes, but this looks more like something that would come from Winthrop Harbor.
When I showed my host family our boat, my host mom asked if we could sleep on it. I laughed a little in my head because it's a tiny fishing boat, maybe 6 meters long. I called it an only fun boat, and my youngest host brother laughed, and the middle was jealous because he loves fishing more than my Dad. I guess I never realized, not everyone has a boat.
I have never been "boatless", and even the Marpert's have a canoe, so that I am still not "Boatless." If they do visit, I think my host brother, Fritz, needs to go Salmon fishing on the Bad Medicine and catch some real fish. Carp are garbage fish.
I am going to start a new thing. I am going to add one of Petra's easy recipes to the bottom of every blog, so that you can cook like a German House Wife. This week is a Dish I didn't know how to name, but Petra called it a Casserole. If you have a better name, I would love to hear it.
This will be my first time ever seeing the Atlantic Ocean. Kind of a weird thought because I had to fly over it to get to Europe, but I was in the middle section. In Mamabear's and my opinion, we had the best seats on the plane.
It was funny, all my host brothers were excited about the house we will be staying in. It was a nice cape cod/ old English style house in Britanica, France, but I was more excited about the houseboat. Since, I was only out on my boat 3 times last year, I am looking forward to going out on a boat again.
When I saw the house boat, I said wow it's relatively new, and got funny looks because my "Relatively New" is a boat from late 1980's til 90's. I always imagined a house bought as an ugly thing from 1950, that you find on the Chain O'lakes, but this looks more like something that would come from Winthrop Harbor.
When I showed my host family our boat, my host mom asked if we could sleep on it. I laughed a little in my head because it's a tiny fishing boat, maybe 6 meters long. I called it an only fun boat, and my youngest host brother laughed, and the middle was jealous because he loves fishing more than my Dad. I guess I never realized, not everyone has a boat.
I have never been "boatless", and even the Marpert's have a canoe, so that I am still not "Boatless." If they do visit, I think my host brother, Fritz, needs to go Salmon fishing on the Bad Medicine and catch some real fish. Carp are garbage fish.
I am going to start a new thing. I am going to add one of Petra's easy recipes to the bottom of every blog, so that you can cook like a German House Wife. This week is a Dish I didn't know how to name, but Petra called it a Casserole. If you have a better name, I would love to hear it.
Zucchini Gyro Tomato Casserole
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25-30 min. Servings: 4-6 people
Ingredients
- 2 Zucchinis
- 2 c. (200g.)Grape Tomatoes (1 c. Plum)
- 1 lb. (500 g.) Gyro Meat
- 1-2 c. (100-200g.) Gouda Cheese(or Mozzarella)
- 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Pepper
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375°F (200°C)
Start by washing the vegetables. Slice the zucchinis in half. Scoping out the insides sides (so that you only have a zucchini shell left) and saving the inside of the vegetable in a bowl. Quarter the tomatoes and put them in a small casserole dish. Sprinkle Salt and Pepper over the tomatoes. Finally lay the zucchini halves on top of that.
Cook the gyro meat according to packaged directions in a pan. When the gyro meat is cooked almost finished cooking, add in the insides to the zucchinis. Cook until the meat is finished.
When the meat is finished, stuff the meat into the zucchini halves. Layer the cheese on to zucchini/meat combination and bake until the cheese is bubble and golden brown.
*Note Originally a Weight Watchers Recipe
Monday, February 6, 2012
You did what with your schnitzel?!
Did you know that in Germany, they sell toaster schnitzel, Tillman's Toasties. Processed square meat like substance coated with breading ready for your toaster, so that you can enjoy schnitzel at all hours of the day. Still not sold? Here's a picture...Winter finally hit. We still don't have snow, and I don't believe we are going to receive any. But the temperature has dropped below freezing, making for a fun ride to school every morning.
This week, for my Rotary partner meeting we went wine tasting. It was probably one of my favorite meetings so far. The wine cellar was pretty cool because they also made their own schnapps on the premises. They even had a Herren Creme Schnapps. Something you will only find in Germany, I believe.
I might be doing an Internship for one of the Rotary members towards the beginning of Summer. One of the Rotary Members is an Architect and has a firm in Muenster. I might intern for him for a few weeks near the end of June.
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