28 November: Moving Survey & Dinner For Stefanie

I spent this morning cleaning house and then made one of my favorite desserts, Chocolate Brownie Puddle, in preparation for having Stefanie over for dinner this evening. Unfortunately the chocolate ganache didn’t turn out quite right this time – I think some of the water from the double boiler may have gotten into the chocolate – so it turned out rather dull and pasty instead of smooth and shiny, but it tasted just as good. I’ve been wracking my brain for weeks trying to decide what to make for Stefanie. I know she only eats chicken and fish, so I decided chicken would be the safest choice, but then I couldn’t settle on a simple, fool-proof recipe. Much as I enjoy cooking, I rarely cook for other people, so I am a bit rattled whenever I have guests over. I also don’t like to be cooking everything at the last minute, but I’m not great at planning out what should happen when. My mom came to the rescue with a very simple recipe for chicken breasts sautéed in a white wine sauce, which will be accompanied by roasted potatoes and a green salad. For an appetizer, we found a recipe for pear and blue cheese crostinis that I can prepare in advance and just pop in the oven when Stefanie arrives.

This afternoon I had to take a break from my meal preparations to await the arrival of a representative from Hartmann, the German moving company, who would be completing a survey of our belongings that we wanted shipped back to the States. I had prepared a list just like last time, identifying the items room by room. A young woman from Hartmann rang promptly at 2:00 and I took her through the house, pointing out everything, and gave her my list. Hopefully we won’t have a repeat of our traumatic moving day in Michigan, when the movers insisted that they weren’t allowed to ship bikes or skis!

John got home early as instructed and Stefanie arrived precisely at 6:00. Fortunately I had dinner mostly under control by that point, but I knew she wouldn’t mind watching some of the last-minute preparations since she has always expressed a keen interest in my cooking. The crostinis were a big hit (you chop and sauté the pears, place a spoonful on each baguette slice, top with crumbled blue cheese, and toast in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts) and dinner went off without a hitch. We had a wonderful time chatting with Stefanie, of course, but I was saddened that this would most likely be the last time I see her. After dessert, I brought out Stefanie’s goodbye gift, the pink-and-gray ribbed scarf that I have been working on for nearly a year. I just managed to finish it last night and barely had enough yarn to make it long enough. I’m pretty sure she would have liked just about anything I knitted for her, but hopefully she will enjoy wearing this scarf and remembering all of the good times we shared over mugs of tea and my travel photos. We had a little photo shoot with Cody and then bid our farewells. I will never forget Stefanie – from the first day she walked into our classroom in Esslingen, blue eyes twinkling behind her round glasses, I knew she was going to be fun. I could not have asked for a better teacher to guide me through the ins and outs of “that awful German language.”

8 June: A Lovely Day in Ludwigsburg

A trip to Ludwigsburg’s Residenzschloss and gardens was on today’s agenda, and it was a perfect day for it – cotton-puff clouds floated across a periwinkle-blue sky – although a little on the warm side. We arrived with just minutes to spare to get into the only English tour of the day, so we agreed to take the tour first and then wander around the gardens later. This was my third visit to the Residenzschloss (fifth if you count my garden visits) but I really enjoy the palace and I learn something new from each tour. Sometimes you see something new, too – this time we got to see both of the palace chapels, whereas on my previous visits we had only seen the Catholic chapel. (The theater and chapels are still used for performances and weddings, so they are not always open.) I’ve described the palace before, but for anyone who wants a refresher, here is a recap (excerpted from our October 2005 visit):

The Residenzschloss is an enormous, ornate pale yellow building with white wedding cake trim, laid out in a hollow rectangle with a large central courtyard. It was constructed in sections by the dukes and kings of Württemberg, beginning as a hunting lodge in the early 1700s and eventually becoming the seat of the Württemberg royalty. It is the largest Baroque palace in the country, also known as the “Versailles of Germany.”

The entrance to the Schloss is located rather unceremoniously along a busy street, where passing motorists seem oblivious to the history and grandeur located just feet away. We passed through an enormous wrought iron gate into a large stone courtyard, with a pleasant-looking outdoor café on the left side. A cobbled pathway lined with huge potted plants leads you to an arched opening in the palace wall, where the visitor office is located.

Our tour began upstairs, in the newest section of the palace. To get there we climbed an impressive staircase adorned with Greek gods and goddesses, then entered an empty oval room where a large plan of the palace is mounted on an easel. Our guide informed us that we would be seeing about seventy-five of the more than four hundred and fifty rooms of the palace, and we would be walking the equivalent of about a mile. The first half of the tour was spent in the newest portion of the castle, which was completed in the late 18^th century by Duke Charles Eugene. The first room we entered was the extravagant oval dining room, outfitted with enormous multi-tiered crystal chandeliers hanging from a high domed ceiling. Eagles are used as a royal symbol extensively throughout the palace, and here they are painted on the ceiling as if clutching the cables of the chandeliers. Our guide demonstrated how a sharp clap of the hands made in the center of the room creates an echo that sounds like the flapping of great eagle wings.

Our tour took us through the king’s suite along one wing of the new palace and the queen’s rooms on the other (the last full-time residents of the Schloss were King Frederick of Württemburg, appointed by Napoleon himself, and Frederick’s second wife, Charlotte Mathilde of Great Britain). A rare woven portrait of Napoleon adorns a corner of one of the king’s anterooms – a gift from one of his visits. We saw the king’s throne room, lavishly decorated in red velvet and gold, his sea-green satin bedroom, and various audience rooms and libraries. The queen’s rooms mirror the king’s wing, in similar Empire style, except her throne is set on only two steps instead of three, and her bedchamber is done in brilliant red tones (above). Every so often, our guide would point out a particular painting or tapestry of an interesting historical figure or event. During the second World War, much of the artwork and furniture from the Neues Schloss in Stuttgart was brought to the Residenz Schloss, which was then covered with camouflage netting to hide it from Allied bombers. The trick worked, and while much of the Neues Schloss was destroyed, many of its precious contents were preserved in Ludwigsburg.

Before heading towards the Hall of Ancestors and the theater, we got to glimpse something you rarely see on palace tours, at least in my experience: the servants’ quarters. We viewed a room lined with numbered wardrobes where the royal family’s clothing were kept out of sight, and a dark, low-ceilinged chamber with no windows that served as kitchen, bedroom and general living quarters for about a dozen servants. Our guide noted that these conditions were actually quite reasonable for the time and it was seen as a privilege and a luxury to be a servant in the palace – not only did you get to spend most of your time in the warmth and comfort of the greatest wealth in the land, but you got to hear all of the royal gossip, which made you quite popular amongst your friends.

Our next stop was the Hall of Ancestors (right), which connects the newest section of the palace to the wing containing the theater and chapel. This long wood-floored hall is lined with portraits depicting five hundred years of Württemberg history, including all of the lords and ladies that had inhabited the Residenzschloss over its century or so of occupation. Next to each portrait sits a gigantic oriental vase, each of which, our guide informed us, is worth 80,000 Euro, so watch your step. We got our first chance to sit down when we wandered into the theater, an impressive construction decorated in pink, blue, and yellow, which in its heyday was one of the premier spots in Europe for opera and ballet. (Our guidebook says the first opera in Europe was performed here.) Next stop was a glimpse of the unbelievably large and ornate Catholic chapel through the bleary windows of the duke’s seat, high up at the rear of the structure.

Finally, we stepped back in time once more to tour the original hunting lodge, which has been extensively restored to its original Baroque condition. The Mars room contained a particularly beautiful Baroque ceiling fresco (in other parts of the palace the amazing frescos and gilt had been covered up with white paint when Baroque extravagance had passed out of fashion), and the excessively mirrored duke’s bedroom was spectacular (enhanced by the story that a particularly despised Catholic duke was murdered in it). Another room has a painstakingly preserved original wood floor, laid out in an ornate circular pattern, which is more than three hundred years old. The last room we viewed was the great hall with more enormous crystal chandeliers, which once witnessed royal balls and is still used for state functions.

After our tour we headed out into the gardens, which, this being a beautiful summer day, were livelier than I have ever seen them. All of the antique carnival rides in the Easter garden (right) were in operation, including the tiny four-car ferris wheel. We stopped at the café by the pond for a light lunch – we shared a wurst und brot and a mixed salad, washed down with a couple of refreshing Schweppes Bitter Lemons.

Next I took Mom through the tiny Japanese garden, the Mediterranean and rose gardens and then the formal landscaped gardens on the older side of the palace. We visited all of the exotic birds in their aviaries and then finished our walk on the new side of the palace. Unfortunately they were in the middle of setting up a summer festival so the place was a bit of a mess, with tents being erected and delivery trucks everywhere. Needless to say, we were pretty hot and tired by the end of the afternoon – a nice breezy trip home in the SLK with the top down was just what we needed!

For dinner we scratched the idea of making zweibelrostbraten (steak with onion sauce) because it was so hot, and decided instead to give another shot at the balsamic-glazed steak salad that John had enjoyed in Ravensburg last spring. Mom tried making a balsamic reduction and it turned out really well, but the steak was still tough – it seems to be next to impossible to get a tender piece of beef here. We served the beef with mixed greens, tomatoes, and shaved parmesan and ate outside on the balcony – a perfect end to a lovely day!

5 June: A Summer Afternoon with Friends & A Raclette Feast

I walked with Evelyne and Oda this morning while Mom slept in. Evelyne invited us over to their house for a barbeque tomorrow night and I offered to bring “American style” potato salad. Stefanie came over for my German lesson at 11:00 and brought chocolate croissants; Mom was a real trooper and sat through my whole lesson! (Mom spoke English, Stefanie spoke German, and I did the translating between them.) I still can’t figure out how much English Stefanie really knows. She’s a clever one – I don’t think she wants me to know how much English she understands. Our conversation ran from John’s job to having kids to our upcoming trip to Rome, and we looked at some of my Serengeti photos.

In the afternoon I went downtown to the Alte Kanzlei to have coffee with Kris, who is visiting from Michigan and is now about 5 months pregnant, Jane (with new baby Vera), and Beth. (I took a picture of the Smart parking sign at right in the parking garage under the Schlossgarten. I'd really love to know how much money Mercedes gave the city of Stuttgart to put these signs up!) I ordered iced tea mit vielen Eis and actually got a ton of ice for once (Germans are very weird about ice in their drinks; they think it’s unhealthy), along with a delicious slice of kirsch-mohn kuchen (cherry-poppyseed cake). Jane and Kris needed to run some baby-related errands so Beth and I tagged along. We visited an enormous baby store that had the largest selection of strollers I have ever seen. Beth and I examined the diaper bags since Beth is doing “research” for her new handbag company. Afterwards I stopped at the supermarket in the basement of Karstadt, thinking I would surely be able to pick up some Best Foods mayonnaise in the “Taste America” section, but they were all out. I ended up buying some German mayo that actually turned out to be a pretty good substitute (you have to be very careful because most of the mayo here tastes like Miracle Whip, or worse). I drove Kris home in the SLK with the top down, which gave her a thrill, and stopped to say hi to Kris’ husband Thomas and daughter Kalista, then headed home.

Mom came along for our afternoon walk and we made raclette for dinner – this is the first time we’ve used the raclette machine that we bought from the previous tenants of our apartment, and it turned out great…yesterday we bought a raclette cheese platter at Kaufland with three kinds of cheese, along with potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, cauliflower, and a couple kinds of ham. We cooked the veggies on the upper grill surface and melted the cheese over the potatoes, veggies, and meat under the heating element. Delicious!

6 Sunday: Wir Fahren Rad (We go biking)

John had to go to work again this morning (apparently DaimlerChrysler does not feel compelled to abide by the German rule that Sundays are Ruhetage – “quiet days”) but fortunately it was only for about an hour. We finally got our act together and went for our first bike ride of spring. John worked on our bikes last weekend so they were freshly lubed and adjusted. We went about ten miles, making a great big loop through the woods – first heading towards Schloss Solitude and up some long, gentle hills, then across on the long, straight path I call the "Dog-o-bahn" and up to the Birkenkopf. The brief rain had cleared the air slightly and the view was spectacular. Then we headed home via a short stretch of singletrack. It was nice to be on my bike again, although it reminded me why I dislike running so much! (No downhill stretches where you can relax in the cool wind.)

For dinner I recreated the balsamic-marinated beef salad that John had for lunch in Ravensburg. I think I did a pretty good job - and it looked very pretty!