Happy New Year!

We did not have cheese fondue today, which seems to be the German tradition. Instead we still celebrate New Year Dutch style: with oliebollen.



Secret ingredient: preserved lemon.

Lost & found

Germans (especially Jacky, Micha and Timmy -- whoever they are) are really nice people who compose rhymes for Silvester instead of Sinterklaas. Look at the wonderful text message they sent Frans:

Das alte Jahr ist morgen futsch,
für Mitternacht einen guten Rutsch.
Das neue Jahr soll Glück euch bringen,
für Gesundheit, Herz, und anderen Dingen...
Ein gesundes neues Jahr wünschen euch jacky micha und timmy.

In return, we wish them many good meals for 2011, like the one we had to bring 2010 to a close:



Mr. Bojangles is back in the house as well (a few kilos lighter and a lot louder than he was a week ago). He has been shouting at us for a day now, and from the sound of it, I would say he is either trying to tell us he is pissed off, or he is trying to wish you all the best for 2011...

Pasta and Veggies

Yum.

Flinke Ötsmijter

Any visit to the Netherlands is not complete without a visit to "In den Bockenreyder" with trappist and lots of eggs.

Merry Christmas!

We definitely had one, and in the tradition of the internetz, we post pictures to prove it happened.

Ellen planned a very exciting sounding menu, and it came out the way it sounded. It started off with a bang: Smoked eel with elderberry sorbet and mousse. The flavors worked astonishingly well together and were in a beautiful balance in this amuse.



Next up were some scallops on cauliflower puree with a vanilla sauce. Not bad, but not the symphony of flavors of the eel.



What is a fancy dinner without offal? (Not fancy would be my suggestion.) In any case, Ellen chose the thymus gland for this Christmas served on a bed of couscous. Every bit as good as it sounds (or maybe even better).



Finally it was time for the main course: Venison with kohlrabi two ways, and pears. The venison had a special crust of nuts and orange powder, which made this another winner. The sauce was obtained from a befriended chef, who must be a very good friend indeed to give us such an amazing sauce.



Any last space still available in anyone's stomach was filled with this very nice plum pie.

Merry Christmas to all! I wish all of y'all wonderful foodz for the coming year!

Fail

Today we went to the Christkindlmarkt to eat sausage in honor of the repeal of DADT. Somehow, we are a little tired of sausage, so we ate Germknödel instead (kind of the opposite thing I guess). Moreover, the camera refused to focus, and the screen showed all kinds of psychedelic colors, probably because of the cold. Multifail.

Here then just a picture in honor of the repeal of DADT:

A's commute

It has been snowing like crazy here, and keeping bike lanes clear does not seem to be a priority. So I ended up walking to the institute last Friday. More than an hour of this:




Poor me...

A Little Behind in Posting

Anke made a wonderful pasta with fava beans today:



Earlier this week we had another quiche:



And finally, in honor of the extension of the tax cuts: Mush from the Wimp.

Hutspot Bloody Hutspot

"Without Blood Sausage, It Just Wouldn’t Be Christmas"

Mr. Bojangles and Mouse

Less shy by the day.

Our Quiche Was Vegetarian Today

Honest! We cannot be held responsible for all the fresh meatz in our mailbox!


Emmanuel has obviously been on a killing spree, and is not shy about it! Enjoy this report.

Tomato and Mozzarella Quiche

Gaining confidence

We are happy to report that Mr Bojangles has taken to the litter box and has not left any more suggestions for new bathrooms. This is lucky indeed, because he eats crazy amounts and shits about as much as three cats combined.

Even better is the fact that he now really likes to be petted, and ventured out from under the sofa yesterday.

He is still very shy, but seems to be getting into playing:




We are happy about this now, but I bet this will soon pass, as he just made a half-hearted attempt to draw down the curtains.

More Snow

Today we did another nice little hike in the forests around Saarbrücken. We found this wonderful website that gives information on where we can get food and drink, and we just plan a hike close to these places.



Today it turned out that we were hiking in our own forest.



And afterwards we were lucky to find some place with sausages --- what are the chances of that?