Ceci's visit: Christmas in Berlin

I know it's weird to be blogging about Christmas now that January is almost over, but here I go. This was our first Christmas in Berlin, and our first Christmas not in America or Dublin. Though we were happy enough to be here it was also nice to have Eric's sister, Ceci with us then. Unfortunately Ceci's visit started off a bit rocky. Firstly her luggage didn't arrive with her and actually didn't arrive until a good few days after. Then at the airport, after queuing and filling out forms with Air France, she went to get out some money and the machine ate her card! Double whammy! Poor Ceci! One good thing did come out of it though: she ended up getting some nice clothes courtesy of Air France, including a superwarm winter coat which she made use of.

After that luckily there were no more disasters. The few days leading up to Christmas were very quiet as Germany more or less closes down a few days before and after Christmas. Luckily we got tickets to a choral event at the beautiful Berliner Dom for the night of the 23rd. Unfortunately we couldn't see that much unless we stood up but the music was wonderful (Eric says it was the best choir he had ever heard) and the setting even better. Very Christmasy!

On Christmas Day we kept it very traditional and basically ate our way through the day, bagels and smoked salmon for breakfast and roast chicken, roast vegetables and apple pie for our Christmas lunch. Our friend Joy joined us for the dinner (he's the one taking the photo) to complete the winning Christmas combo of food, friends and family.

Ceci had rented a bike for the week she was with us and once Christmas was over and the city woke up again that was basically what we spent our time doing - cycling and seeing the sights. And I think Ceci is now in agreement with us, despite the freezing temperatures we sometimes had to endure, that the best way to see Berlin is by bike. Ceci certainly enjoyed it and could be heard singing Queen's bicycle song happily to herself as she cycled through Berlin. Berlin + bicycle = spontaneous happy singing!

We went from the west side of the city...

...to the east. Above is a photo from the Fernsehturm, which Ceci brought us up as part of our Christmas present. It has an amazing 365 degree panoramic view of the city, which is pretty spectacular.

And we, of course, made sure to stock up on energy along the way. She seemed to take to the typical German breakfast (pic above), which we ate at one of our favourite cafes. Truly, the best way to start any day.

By the end of her trip after cycling the length and breadth of the city I have to say that Ceci looked pretty at home here. She even made some friends down by Brandenburg Gate!

Thanks for visiting Ceci! Berlin's cyclepaths aren't the same without you!

When computers go bad...

Forgive me blog-readers, for it has been a long, LONG, time since my last blog, or at least it feels like it. I would like to have had a great story as an excuse about a wild adventure that myself and Eric were on and how I was that busy I just couldn't muster a blog, but unfortunately I have no such story. The main reason is that a couple of weeks ago my computer crashed. Actually not only did it crash, but it basically died. Kaputt, kicked the bucket, bought the farm etc, etc. We brought it to an Apple outlet in the city and there was nothing that could be done. They just wrapped up the old harddrive in plastic and apologetically handed it back to us. I have to say that I nearly had a complete freakout to realise that everything I had on the computer was lost. Then my lovely husband reminded me that in September I had the foresight to back up my harddrive on a handy external harddrive that we have here. So I still had everything up until then. However, it was a bummer to lose all my work and photos from September till now. It was a valuable lesson in "Backing It Up". Seriously, if you have anything important on your computer, make a copy somewhere else. Technology cannot be trusted!!! It will fool you with it's lovely shiny screen and it's perky buttons and it's super quick response time until one day it just leaves without even so much as a good-bye, taking all your valuables with it. (Yes, I'm still talking about computers.) Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter and wow, I've just realised what a boring, moany blog this is! Apologies - I'm out of practice, a proper blog on the way, I promise! In the meantime, why not share your 'when computers/technology go/es bad' stories in the comments section?

Jami and Jason's Part II: Making Cheese

So one of the things that we got to do while we stayed with Jami and Jason was to make some cheese. Jason had gotten a cheesemaking kit from Jami for his 40th birthday, and Jason kindly shared the experience with us. Everything that we needed to make the mozzarella that we decided to make (apart from the milk and the pots) was in this handy little kit. By the way, most of these photos were taken by Leah, who very diligently documented the process.

First there was the pouring of the milk.

Then after adding the cultures and the rennet we had to monitor the temperature of the milk carefully...

...until the curds separated from the whey. This is Eric modelling the curds. Cheese making is serious business.

Then it required some stretching of the molten curds, which Jason did with some rather fetching rubber gloves. He said that it was HOT!

Then it was just a matter of Jason putting his own artistic touch to the cheese.

And hey presto, the finished product - some very tasty, as you can tell from Eric's expression below, mozzarella cheese. We ate this happily with some of Jason's homemade ciabatta bread.

Joe's Stupendous Stuffing Bread

One of the main highlights of Thanksgiving, after the company of course, is the food. And this year was no exception. Ben and Sally kindly opened their doors to all the Eckhart clan, immediate and extended, and there was more than enough food to feed us all. There was a very fine turkey, sweet potato, mashed potato, beans, coleslaw, as well as the many delicious pies that we ate for dessert. One of the other things that goes with the meal, which myself and Eric love is Joe's stuffing bread. It's called Stuffing Bread because it has sage, onion and celery seed and therefore tastes exactly like stuffing. The best thing about it is that it is a perfect sandwich match for all that leftover turkey. Anyway, Joe generously offered to share this recipe through the blog. He is following the fine tradition of passing it on, as he got this recipe from his friend Margaret. So thanks Margaret and thanks Joe - Eric is going to try his hand at it on Thursday so we will be enjoying it with our Christmas dinner and for several sandwiches after.

Joe's Stupendous Stuffing Bread

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup minced onions
1/4 oz active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
11 oz can chicken broth
2 eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 - 6 cups bread flour
1 egg white blended with 1 tablespoon water for glaze

1. Sauté onion in butter until soft. Set aside to let cool.
2. Warm chicken broth to 110 F. In large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in chicken broth and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let stand in warm place for 15 minutes until frothy.
3. To yeast mixture add: 2 tablespoons sugar, eggs, poultry seasoning, celery seed, pepper, salt, cooled butter onion mixture and 2 cups of flour. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes.
4. Sitr in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Turn out dough and remaining flour on a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
5. Place dough in large bowl greased with butter, turning it to coat all sides. Cover with a slightly damp towel and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch down dough and knead 1 minute. Divide dough in half and form into loaves. Places loaves in two (9" x 5") loaf pans. Cover with dry towel and let rise in warm place 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
7. Brush loaves with egg white glaze if desired and bake in 375 F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans and serve hote with butter or serve cold for turkey sandwiches.

Hanging out with Jami, Jason and Little Chicken

So while we were in America this time we made sure to visit our friends Jami and Jason at their home in Mount Vernon, Ohio, since it had been nearly two years since we had last seen them. A lot can happen in two years. In that time, Jami has changed jobs, I've left my job, myself and Eric have moved country and Jami and Jason have also expanded their family, with their newest member, Jason's niece, Leah, who we were very keen to meet. The picture above is of Leah showing us around their vegetable garden (those are broccoli plants beside her, impressive!).

Jami had already told us a bit about Leah before we arrived. She is 10 years old. Her favourite colour is blue. She likes animals and is curious about more or less everything. She enjoys knitting, is very creative and loves music (more on this topic later). As we are animal-lovers, an avid knitter (that's me when the mood takes me), music-loving creative types that also happen to like the colour blue, we knew we were going to like her. Also, see the picture above? That is a picture by Leah of John McCain and Barack Obama. McCain is green with a funky hair-do because he is an ogre. Obama is on a taller podium with gold stars, because well, he's Obama. Also, for some reason, McCain has a handbag while Obama has a briefcase. How can you not like a kid that came up with this?

As well as catching up, we spent our days with them eating, cooking, and exploring the Mount Vernon-Kenyon area. The weather turned out to be pretty fabulous on our second day there, so Jason brought us up to see his beehives. Jason is seasoned beekeeper, whose bees make excellent honey. We didn't get to see any bees as they were busy keeping warm in their hives.

We also took a walk in a nearby forest where Jason had planted some paw-paw trees. Apparently paw-paws are a fruit native to Ohio that taste like a mango but have the texture of custard. Strange but true.

Later that day Eric and Leah got out their guitars and Eric showed Leah some new chords. She picked it very quickly and since then she's even written some of her own songs. Anyway, they jammed together for a while. One of my favourites was a song that I had made up, which Eric turned into a kind of rootsy children's song called 'Little Chicken'. It doesn't sound much written down but it was very catchy (honest!) and quite hilarious. It ended up being the song for the weekend and since then has become our nickname for our new friend Leah.

Check out next blog on our cheese making adventures in Ohio.

Some Airline Survival Strategies

I don't know if this a normal progression, but the more I fly, the more I hate flying. I don't have any fear of flying, but I have to say that I really, really don't enjoy it. Short trips are fine but anything over three or four hours and it becomes an endurance test for me. Now we are on our way to Japan in April, which is a whopping 16 hour flight (!!!) and I plan to put in place everything I've learnt about airline travel and how to survive it. Here are just some strategies which I thought I would share with you.

1. Firstly, comfort is king. Bring slippers, or even better slipper socks. In fact bring lots of socks, thick ones at that because planes, for some reason, can be freezing sometimes. Basically make yourself at home. Make your seat and the back of the one in front of you, your own private place.
2. Distract yourself from the journey ahead. Invest in a good book. And definitely invest in that special attachment so you can use your ordinary earphones on the plane. Trust me - it makes all the difference.
3. Another good distraction technique is to get to know your neighbour. Eric hates doing this and swears he brings offensive books to put off any chance of conversation (I think he might be exaggerating). But I love it! If you are in anyway a nosey parker with no sense of boundaries this is a perfect way to pass the time. The hours will literally fly past as you find out all about your neighbour, including what their relationship with their mother is and why is it they think they have abandonment issues. Fascinating stuff!
4. This one's a lifesaver - bring anything peppermint ie. mints, chewing gum, or my favourite peppermint tea. This is wonderful antidote to the air pressure playing havoc with your insides.
5. Channel any discomfort experienced during turbulence into your grip on your partner/neighbour's hand. I find this helps ALOT. However, do take care, especially when your partner/neighbour says 'Stop! Ow, owwwww! You're crushing my hand!' As the old saying goes, a handshake on the ground is worth three in the air. Or something like that.
6. Lastly let it go! This is the key to modern airline travel I think. You are there on that plane for however long it takes to get to your destination and there ain't nothing you can do about it, apart from sitting back and "enjoying" the ride.

Japan here we come!

Mary and Mr. Forde visit Berlin

One of the nice things that happened before our trip to America for Thanksgiving was a visit by Mary and Brian to Berlin. We were very lucky that they took three days out of their annual trip to Scandinavia to hang out with us. I have to say that it was lovely to have proper one-on-one time with them both, as I've only met them twice at the big group gatherings at Christmas and so hadn't had the chance really to have a proper conversation before. It just meant that we got to have some really nice chats, over the requisite kaffee und kuchen of course, and the odd beer or two.
The weather wasn't great while they were here but as they would tell you themselves they quite like it that way! We thought that they both fit in nicely here in Berlin as they both look quite European and are very relaxed individuals.

We showed them around to the usual sights, the Fernsehturm, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the odd DDR site etc.

I think I knew this already about Brian but we found that he rivals Eric in the funny poses department.

There was no strange statue left unposed beside!

My favourite time with them was the time spent in our area, Prenzlauer Berg. Mary was in the mood for decadence so we brought them to the best cake house (we think) in Berlin, where we all sampled treats like Pistachio Torte and Praline Chocolate Cake. Delicious! We wandered around a couple of second-hand stores and then went shopping for some quality German beer. We ended the day at our apartment where Eric made some of his famous pizza. I know that this sounds like another day in the life of Kusi and Eric spent centred around food. And yes, I suppose it was, but it was all the made so much better because of the company.

Thanks Mary and Brian! See you next year.