Easter Weekend in Bonn

It was Good Friday morning when we set off to visit our friends Marga and Ewald in Witterschlick near Bonn. They live on the outskirts of the one-time provisional capital of Germany, in a large rambling house in which Marga runs a short visit elderly persons hospice (if your going on holiday for a while you can get granny looked after in safe hands while your away galivanting). This time there was no room and so we went to the hotel in the village, it isn’t far and we did actually walk it on the first night.

We arrived on Friday lunchtime (lunchtime is always a good time to arrive) Ewald had his electric frying pan on and I scented fish, wonderful I just love fish. Ewald was cooking brown trout Müllerin, well what can I say, I started salivating like a dog at broth. The brown trout had been caught by Ewald and his pals on the river Wisent on their yearly fishing trip. They caught them with flies tied from pheasant feathers provided by me, so I was getting my just reward.

After eating we went to our hotel, The Lambertushof , this is a typical German Gasthof, oak panelled walls, a schankraum, with scrubbed deal tables and stools propped up at the bar, the meals that it serves are traditional Rheinland Hausmannkost (good home cooking from the area), without any frills, airs or graces. Order a meal and you will not leave hungry. With the exception of breakfast, we didn’t eat there this time, though I have eaten there many times in the past.

I had the evening before been to two of our local Schlachthof (to get different pork cutlets, shoulder steaks, etc for the grill), these had been requested by Marga, this meant we would be dining on meat, meat and more meat this weekend.

After booking in and unpacking we walked up (it is a little uphill) to Marga and Ewalds arriving just in time as Ewald had the meat under the grill. It is tradition that we get a little tipsy on our first night, this first night was no exception.

We walked back to The Lambertushof and had a peaceful night and did not get awoken to the chimes of the Church bells because it was Easter Saturday (no bells until Easter morning), this is not always the case, I have stayed here before and if you are unlucky then it can mean a room with the Church tower right outside your window.

Saturday was a trip into Bonn to go to the market and have a look around,

Aspargus green and white, spuds and strawberries (from Spain)

The Marktplatz with the Alte Rathaus behind

walk through the University down to the Rhine to the area of the “Alter Zoll” from here you can watch the river traffic passing below, with the passenger day trip boats tie up places. We took a few photographs and sampled the morning air, there where not a lot of people around, we being the only ones with the exception of a statue flanked by two old cannons.

The Alter Zoll grounds with the university and the Markt behind

magnolia blossom

a great tit foraging in the undergrowth

The Rhine tourist ships waiting for their first guests

We then walked along Ardenauerallee this runs parallel to the Rhine and leads to the Museum mile.

We passed  Villa Hammerschmidt

 the ex-home of the Bundespräsident and many of the Ministry buildings, the Ministries now being in Berlin. Most of the buildings are now being used by other organisations, the new UNO University building being but one. Crossing the road at the junction of Willy-Bradt-Allee, we went into the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (history of the Federal Republic Germany).

This building charts the life of the German Federal Republic from its conception (and prior to show the historic reasons for the formation of modern-day re-unified Germany) to present. Very, very interesting, you even get to sit in one of the seats used in the first Parliament building (Museum König) and have a vote.

Lots of things about the rebuilding of Modern Germany including the formation of the East and West, the cold war and the re-unification. 

It was raining when we came out as it was when we went in so decided to take the U-bahn, stop right outside of the door, there is even a direct entrance to the U-bahn, though we only discovered this when down in the station. 4 stops and we arrived back at the Main Railway Station. We decided to go for lunch, there is  a favourite of mine, but we took a wrong turning arrived at Beethoven’s Birth house, next door is a Sushi bar called Mika and then a traditional Gaststatten called Gasthaus im Stiefel “the guest house in boot”.

Dreesen Gasthaus im Stiefel  this is the menu

We plumbed for the latter as we wanted some traditional Rheinische Hausmannskost. Inside is what Germans would call Urig, a very tradition beer house, long scrubbed tables in the main body, at the far end a raised section with a log fire with a more modern atmosphere, we chose the traditional.

We sat ourselves at one of the scrubbed deal tables and along popped a friendly smiling waiter, plonked a couple of menus and a Tageskarte (daily menu)  in front of us, with a, “take your time” and took our drinks order. We looked at the Tageskarte and I saw at once what I was having, Rheinischesauerbraten with red cabbage, potato dumplings and apple sauce. Linda was in two minds about having it as well, but because of her diat the poor lass settled for another Rhineland speciality Bönn’sche Röggelchencremesuppe mit speckwurfel und rostzwiebeln, this is a Bonn rye bread, cream soup with bacon bits and roast onions.

Along came my Rheinischesauersauerbraten. 2 thick slices of pickled (sauer) pot-roast beef in a thick sauce (Rosinensoß), spiced with pumpernickel and raisins wonderful, truly wonderful. It was accompanied by a heap of  Rotkohl “red spiced cabbage”, Apfelkompot “apple sauce” and kartoffelnkloß “potato dumpling. Linda had a water, I had a large Bittburger pils, this is not the type of food that one drinks wine with.

Cost: mine was €7.50 and Linda’s was €5.90  mine would have normally cost €14,80 but because it was on the special menu it was almost half that well worth the price, even if paying the full wack.

We then got the train back to Witterschlick after doing a bit of shopping at T-Kmax and Karstadt (I picked up a Valentine Warner’s  cook book for €5,- was originally £25,- what a bargain).

Evening was another monster meal at Marga’s, her son Stephan was visiting with his wife and little son (Come to search for Easter eggs that have been left by the Easter hare). So this time it was rumpsteak and pork cutlets , chips and salad, garlic and herb butter.

We sat and chatted until late drank a few bottles of wine, tried Ewald’s self-distilled brandy and then Linda (who had not touched a drop, drove us home).

The Berliner buletten

The Berliner buletten is the grandfather of all frikadellen (though there are others that will say it is just the load mouthed Prussians making another unsubstantiated boast)


Here is my recipe, which varies each time I make it but this time it required

1kg of mixed mince (50% beef, 50% pork)

250g of Mett (Hackepeter) this is spiced minced pork that is often eaten raw for breakfast a sort of pork tartar but with a good smattering of fat, herbs and spices.

1 Schrippe (bread roll) from the day before.

100 ml of milk

1 fresh egg

1 dsp of marjoram

2 tsp. vegetable stock powder (I use marigold low salt)

2 tsp. tomato concentrate

2 medium onions or 1 large one diced quite fine

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 heaped tsp of mustard, what type I shall leave up to you, but Dijon or mittelscharf is my preferred

A good grinding of black pepper (at least a tsp. worth)

Cut the Shrippe into 3 or 4 pieces (this gives it more surface area to absorb the milk) and put it into a bowl with the milk, allow it to soak up as much of the milk as possible. It should swell and become very soft, squeeze the Schrippe and place in a kitchen machine and buzz it until it is a paste,

put into a bowl with the mince etc.

Fry the onion and the garlic in a little oil

Place this in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix either with a hand mixer or do as I do use your hands, it is far better and also very therapeutic. When mixed taste, you can adjust the seasoning if needed (you can also fry a small patty to see if it is correct). Now form into balls of about 110g ( this will give 12 or 11 nice buletten)

Heat some oil in a pan (traditionally it would be pork dripping, but we are being healthy)

Here you don’t want it too hot, you should fry the buletten at a medium heat, turning when the bottom is brown and crisp.

Fry them and when done put them on a plate covered with kitchen paper to absorb the fat (again see that I am thinking about your health)

Berliner buletten are traditionally served with Salzkartoffeln (steamed potatoes and peas)

Or eaten with pommes (Chips) and Senf (mustard)

Or eaten with a curry sauce (curry buletten)

Or eaten straight out of the pan, but beware hot, this is why my dozen only has 11 in it

A mild beef Vindaloo

This is a variation on the traditional Vindaloo; it does not blow the top of your head off. It is roughly based on Mamta’s recipe Vindaloo 1 with my changes due to not having certain ingredients to hand (forgot to pick them up) and wanting to make it less severe without losing the acidity of a Vindaloo.

I made the Vindaloo marinade the day before and let it mature overnight on my balcony (it was quite chilly about 2 Degrees)

Meat (you can make this with pork as it comes from Goa which is predominantly Christian)

1.2 kg of beef goulash

The marinade spices

Dry ingredients

5 green cardamom pods

2 large black cardamom pods

4 cloves

10 peppercorns

3 cm piece of cinnamon bark

1 tsp. coriander seeds

1 tsp. of cumin seeds

½ tsp. fenugreek seeds

3 large dried chillies

1 tsp. white mustard seeds

heat all of the above in a heavy based pan when the mustard seeds begin to pop put

into a pestle and mortar (or a blender) and pound until it turns into a rough powder

heat the ghee in the pan and add the onions, garlic and ginger, fry until translucent, but not brown add to a blender along with the spices and blitz to a paste.

 







20ml of red wine vinegar

10ml of sherry vinegar

½ tsp. of tamarind paste

add the above to the paste and give it another wiz

pour the lot over the meat

Mix all together, cover and put in a cool place I put it on my balcony as it was about 2 degrees

Next morning (Sunday) up with the larks (none about at the minute)

slice another red onion and fry in ghee until soft add the black mustard seeds and allow to pop add this to the meat, give it a stir.

add

1tsp. of turmeric

1tsp of sweet paprika powder

2 tsp. of vegetable stock powder

mix and pop the lot into the SC bowl

Add

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (a deviation)

A good sprinkling of dried coriander leaves (had no fresh)

And here I deviated again from the traditional Vindaloo recipes (will I ever be forgiven)

150ml of full (10%) cream Greek yoghurt

Give it all a good stir, lid on and on to full for 2 hours and then low for a further 3 hours, taste the sauce at the 2 hour point, if you think it needs more acidity add a splash more vinegar (I did).

This Vindaloo is I suppose not what the lads want on a Friday night after 10 pints of Lager but I think that this will suit most people’s palates without blowing them to bits. If you would like a little or a lot more heat just up the number of chillies or add a couple of teaspoons of chilli powder.

I served this with plain boiled basmati rice steamed with a couple of green cardamom pods

I think the sauce was a bit thin, next time I shall strain the juice from the tomatoes and may be do without the beef stock, we live and learn, though there was nothing wrong with the taste.

I would have had some naan and pickles or chutney but if the truth be known, I had run out and was too lazy to make some.

I drank a nice cold pink from Aldi which it cost all of €2,90 a bottle, a litre that is.

I should have sprinkled some fresh chopped coriander leaves on top before serving but I had forgotten those as well.

ahh well I don't suppose it will get any better, my memory not the Vidaloo

A weekend at a Kurklinik

As this was to be Linda’s last weekend at the Kurklinik, we had agreed that I would come up for the weekend, now before you say that I could do with a Kur, may I just say I am perfectly fit, well if you discount all of my ailments, aches and pains.

So I set off at lunchtime on Friday and had a smashing clear run up and done the trip in about 4 hours which was quite good considering that for half of the journey I had decided to travel on none motorways.

The weather was fantastic for the journey and was still smashing when I arrived. I took my case up to the room and then Linda took me around for a tour of the grounds. The clinic is part of a group called The Damp Group and they have rehabilitation clinics situated all over the North of Germany.

The Lehmrade clinic specialises in the rehabilitation of people that have just been through cancer operations and the atmosphere is very relaxed. It is situated in what was once a Gutshof (Manor), most of the buildings have long since been demolished, but there are a few still standing and in use that gives an idea of what it once was like. It is set in a park landscape and it has the relaxation and well-being of the patients first and foremost as its goal.

I was able to photograph all manner of bird life in the grounds and the surrounding countryside, the area is famous as a resting place for cranes and storks on their journey south to their breeding grounds in the south of France and Spain, some are also sedentary and breed in the area. I saw a few flying overhead but alas was not fortunate enough to see them on the ground doing their courtship dance.

But I was able to catch many of the other birds billing and cooing, the air in the whole area was alive with the cacophony of bird noise.

We had our Abendbrot  and then had a  walk through the area, I did a bit of surfing, watched a bit of TV, listened to kur guests dacing to the rythm of Deutscher Schlager from the 70s and had an early night (the patients have an early start and breakfast is from 07:30).
Breakfast was very substantial (German style) and then Linda went off to do her power walking, I went out (none power walking) into the surrounding area to get myself a bit orienteered with vicinity. First stop was across the road to see what the noise was all about, it was a pond full of frogs many in a marital embrace.

I then walked through the country lanes doing a bit of bird spotting, this was not at all hard as every hedge, tree and bush has some member of the bird family calling out for company.

I returned to find Linda finished with her physical exertions for the day and so as we had decided to go out for the day said we wouldn’t be in for lunch or evening meal .

So of we jolly well went to Schwerin, I had been to Schwerin once before, it was when the DDR was still in existence, but the wall was no longer a dividing factor, I could remember very little other than we went to the castle which was in a desolate condition, but then that was a normal state of affairs for most of the Bauern und Arbeiterstadt.  What difference, it is one of the places that one can see where the solidarity money, paid by all to build up the former communist state, has gone.

We parked at the water front not far from the opera house and theatre, this is just across the road from the Island castle, this is now almost completely renovated to its former glory, a most impressive building and no longer a dowdy, run down ruin.

Once the home of the Dukes and Grand Dukes, now the seat of local Government "The Landtag"

As we crossed the bridge to the island, I looked down and saw a pair of Great Crested Grebes doing their courtship dance; I was also able to catch a one just coming up with a fish in its beak.

In all I have never seen so many pairs of Great Crested Grebes strutting their thing, there must have been at least 50 pairs.

The island castle has now been turned into the state parliament and access wasn’t possible, but the exterior was quite splendid and also the view across the Schweriner lake was fantastic. The bronze plastics and marble statues have been replaced on their plinths around the sunken winter garden.

Taking the bull by the horns!

we took a stroll through the schloss-park with its bird life 

 

 and then into the Altstadt (now also completely renovated).

We even managed to find a couple of fantastic cheese and wurst shops, one actually selling Blue Stilton, not normal in most places in Germany. There was also a smashing historical weinstube, alas I was driving.

We wandered back to the car and decided to head up to the coast  for Lunch, we had settled on Wismar, I had been there 18 months previous for a weekend with my Kegeltruppe (skittle group). We parked up and it was funny but in the distance of 45km the temperature had dropped from 20°C down to 8°C and a chilling wind, grey and overcast. We popped into an Easter Market taking place in the new market hall, it was nice and there was a lot of artisan art on sale some of it very well made.

Brauhaus am Lohberg

We then headed for something to eat and as we were on the Baltic then it was to be fish, of course. We settled on a place that I had visited when I was last in Wismar called Brauhaus am Lohberg, bier was first brewed here in 1452 and even when this part of the Baltic was under Swedish rule it was as a vittling house. At one time Wismar boasted 180 places brewing their own beer as well as 148 hop gardens. Most of the microbreweries are long gone and with them the hop gardens, but since 1995 beer is once again being brewed at the Lohberg. They also serve traditional Mecklenburg food and more to the point traditional Baltic fish dishes.
I was driving so could this time not sample the brau-meisters wares, but I can vouch for it from the last time, well worth a taste, or three!

Linda ordered the fish salad platter and I ordered the Baltic fried herrings, apple and onions, with fried potatoes and a side salad.

Well Linda’s plate of food was really ginormous, three different sorts of fish filets and a wonderful salad.

Mine wasn’t any less spectacular, consisting of three crispy fried fresh herring, a pile of fried potatoes and a nice fresh and pickled salad. Quite wonderful and neither of us could not finish the meals.

We finished our meals and decided to walk along through the old harbour frontage (Wismar had been one of the old Hansiatic trading cities) much of it has either been or is being renovated to its former glory. The fish market takes place on the small inshore fishing boats complete with their smoke ovens.

The house over the river, it is holiday appartments

The old water gate, now home of the "Maritime Club"

One of the boats selling smoked fish

We then returned to the car, it was my original plan to travel along the coast to Travemunde but the weather was so miserable and the sunshine inland so inviting that we headed South before reaching the mouth of the Trave and back into Sunshine. We had originally said we wouldn’t be back for evening meal, but as we arrived just as it was being served, we decided to participate.

That evening we went bowling, the girls that I chaperoned where very well behaved and we all had a very nice time.

Tomorrow we planned to go out for the day , but that is for tomorrow