Oktoberfest 2007: Kick-off in Frankfurt

Well, yesterday people heading down to Munich for Oktoberfest this weekend started to arrive in Frankfurt. Actually, we're now only missing my fantastic brother, Marc, who gets in on Saturday at 6am (yikes!!) and the illustrious Kent Middleton, Creative Director extraordinaire who will be meeting us down South.

It should be a pretty fantastic crew T.J. and his wife Melissa, Jeff Cantalupo and his girlfriend Leigh Ann (who just made the big move over to Spain to join him!), Jeff's sister and her husband, Birgit, Marc and I. It's a heavy Leo Burnett crowd, but so much fun.

Last night we went to a restaurant in Frankfurt called Silk. It's one of the molecular gastronomy crowd/avant garde food movement crowd. Obviously inspired by Ferran Adria, it's a good addition to my dining experiences in my long running quest to finally make it to El Bulli. . .

Here are the courses as best I remember them (this is definitely not all of them):

Olive -Olive Juice trapped in a soft casing to look like and Olive (very similar to a dish offered at El Bulli last year)
Salmon in a Cone - A thin wonton wrapper like cone filled with
Risotto
Pear and Goat Cheese - Pear Juice Shooter with Caviar, goat cheese and candied walnut
Breakfast Egg - Slow poached egg at 60C for 6 hours, gnocchi, Parmesan foam
Lobster
Chicken with mushrooms
Brownie withe Pine Tree Sprout Foam - pine tree foam, pomegranate compote, brownie and quark
Apple Tart
Silk Lollipop - Spun Cotton Candy wrapped around a chilled fruit cake (which I think may have been mango?)

Late Summer BBQs

Well, I think this may have been one of the last really beautiful weekends in Frankfurt. It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, temperatures in the mid-70s with bright sunny skies. A perfect day for a BBQ and a birthday celebration.

After a rather raucous Friday night with Francesca, her new boyfriend, a couple of her friends, Nick, John and Christine (John's girlfriend's sister, confused yet??) which culminated in pasta being cooked at 2:30 am for a late night snack (have I mentioned that I love having Italians over for drinks??), everyone ended up invited to a celebrate the end of summer BBQ on Sunday.

So of course, after many burger patties had been made, John, my trusty fire starter appeared quarter to 4pm. Then 4pm arrived, then 4:10, then 4:20 and no other guests had shown up. John looked at me and said:

"You didn't invite any Germans, did you?"

To which I replied, "No, why do you ask?"

And he said, "No wonder no one is on time. The Americans never want to be the first one at the party and the Italians are guaranteed to show up at least an hour late!"

And he was right. Doug showed up next followed by Francesca and the rest of her friends at around 5pm. Almost exactly an hour late. Inside each cliche is a grain of truth. We had a great time though, good food, good wine and great company. It was a pretty perfect way to finish off the summer.

Not that the end of warm weather means I won't be BBQing any more. I am from Chicago after all, BBQ season is every season.

Rosh Hashanah and Reflections

Well, for the first time in almost seven years I am away from home and not celebrating the start of the New Year with my father. Without our regular twice yearly attendance at temple together (yes we are what my grandmother fondly calls "Revolving Door Jews": in at Rosh Hashanah and out after Yom Kippur) I feel strangely adrift. Although I'm not the most religious of people, somehow the ritual of yearly reflection and contemplation, penitence and forgiveness still holds great appeal for me. The idea that the High Holy Days is a time to reconnect with the people in your life seems even more important this year now that I am living across an ocean.

The last few weeks have been filled with sad occurrences, the death of my friend's brother, the news of a brain tumor identified and removed from my friend's wife, the sixth anniversary of September 11th. It feels even more important that I take a moment and pause this year to reach out to the people I love who are scattered throughout the world, the ones that I talk to every week and the ones that I only connect with a few times a year. Strange how distance suddenly brings that need and desire into such sharp focus, isn't it?

So to all those out there, Jews and non-Jews alike, those I've known and loved for years and those that I may meet and get to know in the coming year I say 'L'Shanah Tovah!' May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good and sweet New Year.

In Memoriam: 11-September-2001

Another day is passing quickly by in Frankfurt and aside from a few articles that I've read online, there has been no acknowledgment or notice of the day here in my office. How quickly and easily a day like this becomes just another day even as there are bomb plots being thwarted right here in my new city.

So a moment of remembrance in honor of those who died six years ago, in honor of those who are fighting today, and in gratitude for my friends who were safe on that day.

A Ball in Baden Baden and Waltz as a Contact Sport

So somehow or another I found myself attending a Grand Ball this past weekend in Baden Baden, Germany. Granted I've always enjoyed getting dressed up and looking pretty, but definitely nothing quite as formal as this. The black tie events in Chicago, while fancy don't usually involve an entire weekend of activities like fashion shows and clubbing . . . .

However, assisted in the fashion department by my team of advisers (thank you Andrea, Ilham and Birgit!!), I pulled myself together and found myself on the road Friday afternoon to Baden Baden ready to do anything but go out clubbing. . . .


. . . .which thank god we did not end up doing. Bless the boy for letting me having a quiet night. Seriously. I was so much happier the next day after a good night's sleep, we spent Saturday just wandering through the streets of Baden Baden which for those who don't know anything about it is this old spa town that was founded by the Romans and has a famous mineral spring that feeds a spa called Friedrichsbad. It also has a casino which is said to rival the one in Monte-Carlo as the best in Europe. The casino is actually where the ball itself was held.

There was a medieval street festival taking place in the town that was actually pretty cool. A group of woodworking apprentices were doing a demonstration. Nick explained to me that the clothes they were wearing are actually a traditional uniform for apprentices and as part of their training they make their way through the countryside seeking out master woodworkers to learn from. But for a few years they don't earn any money. Apparently the clothing is just the visible mark of the apprentice in this particular trade and sometimes you'll see them hitch hiking along the road.

So the ball. Oh the ball, was lovely. Nick claims it didn't even come close to comparing to the Viennese balls he goes to every year, but I thought it was pretty lovely (well at least until it devolved into something similar to prom at the end of the night, only with more expensive jewelry and clothes and a lot more alcohol). But the night was wonderful, I loved the opening waltz! Everyone in their beautiful clothes gliding and twirling around the dance floor to the strains of the Sleeping Beauty Waltz from Tchaikovsky. And believe it or not, somehow Nick managed to teach me to waltz while we were waltzing. I think it's because the Viennese come out of the womb waltzing, but that's besides the point. Somehow he managed to teach me to waltz while we actually moved across the dance floor. Now I know, I know that waltz is supposed to be the easiest of the partner dances to learn, unfortunately I never learned them (thank you for that mom and dad). So this is all new to me.

Before we got to the ball, Nick warned me that waltzing is actually a contact sport. To which I replied, well of course it's a contact sport! There are two people dancing, they have to touch each other. He laughed and said, no, think contact sport in relation to say, rugby. Well, I certainly wasn't completely convinced of this idea, but lo an behold, there we are dancing (on a relatively crowded dance floor) and all of a sudden I see this guy tumble over! And then some woman stepped on my foot and it just kept going. I couldn't believe it! Ballroom dancing really is a full body contact sport.

There go my romantic notions of classic ballroom dance as a gorgeously graceful give and take between two people whirling around the floor in some strange throwback to an elegant time in Europe when society would come together for an evening of sociability in the most gorgeous ballrooms in the world.

Anyway, the ball was lovely. We had a really nice time, but as I said before, Nick claims this didn't even compare to the balls in Vienna. And he's already promised me a true Viennese ball experience in January. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it truly does compare.

Sunday after the post-ball brunch, we spent the day lazing in the waters of the Friedrichsbad, one of several thermal spas in Baden Baden. There were 17 stages to progress through that included everything from sauna to steam room to a series of hot and cold water pools. Certainly an experience to be had while in Europe especially given how strong the thermal spa culture is in Germany. But if you decide to go just be prepared that is sans bathing suits and co-ed. But really wonderful, for only 29€, it's hard to beat three hours at this spa.

If you happen to be in the area of Baden Baden, I highly recommend that you stop by for the day, it's a beautiful (if expensive) little town near part of the German wine country. Just be warned, the nouveau Russian rich are everywhere.

You can find lots of information here on the Baden Baden tourism site, but for the record, here are my highlights:

Baden Baden Kurhaus - Site of many cultural and formal events, it's also surrounded by some lovely gardens

Casino - As mentioned before, it's said to rival Monte Carlo, just remember that men need to wear a jacket and tie to gamble there.

Thermal Spas - I went to Friedrichsbad, but there are several other wonderful spas in the city including Caracalla.

Churches/Cathedrals - Of course there are several lovely churches that can be seen in the city, the one we stopped to see was the Stiftskirche which can be seen after a somewhat strenuous climb up to the Marktplatz.

Lost in Amsterdam: Live from Den Haag . . . P!nk!

OK, so it's my first trip to Amsterdam and I'm here with my friend Doug! You may remember him from my first foray into the German wine country . . . And here we are watching P!nk in Den Haag in the middle of a wildly dusty open-air music venue.

We've been talking with this amazing outgoing Dutch guy (he reminds me of my friend Harmony's husband Eric who can also walk randomly up to people, have tons of energy and suddenly find himself with brand new group of friends, plus he's a musician which Harmony's husband also it . . . the parallels were unending).

The show is great! P!nk is amazing, and plus we've heard some really great Dutch bands, a group called Di-rect. Fantastic! I thought they were American because of their sound until our new friend informed us that no, they were in fact a Dutch band.

Anyway, Amsterdam has been great. Doug and I have wandered all through the streets along the canals and of course into the famous Red Light District. Somehow even though it's legal I still find it disturbing. You just hear too many stories about modern day slavery and Eastern European women being tricked into an indentured slave situation.

On our way back from the Red Light District we were getting ourselves lost among the canals when we hear this raucous singing echoing through the buildings. Of course, we had to go and check it out . For a little while all we could hear was crazy singing (in what I assume must have been Dutch) and the occasional loud splash. . . . And then we saw them. A canal boat full of drunken guys probably in their mid-20s boating their way through the canal attracting as much attention as you can at 2am on a Friday night. We stood there watching them for a few moments and then all of a sudden these two other guys go running up the street to the next bridge. They stood up on top of the railing and just as the boat with the singing guys was about to get there they jumped! And their friends scooped them up with out missing a beat in whatever song they happened to be singing. Now I don't know about you, but somehow I feel like the water in the canals in Amsterdam must be kind of similar to the water in the Charles River in Boston. In other words, something I really would have no desire to go swimming in. Ever. But hey, they looked like they were having fun, so whatever. I guess Amsterdam is a pretty big destination for Hen and Stag parties.

But anyway, the city is beautiful. I love it here. All the bicycles piled one on top of the other tied up along the bridges, 'parking garages' full of hundreds of bicycles near the ferry. It's the quintessential vision of Holland and yet somehow it avoids being a cliche. I wish I could spend more time here.

With interiors are as beautiful as the exteriors full thick wood beams and ceilings sculpted with intricate plaster decorations, the buildings are gorgeously distinctive and such fun to spy on through the windows at night. On our canal tour today I learned all about the different styles of gables and why there are hooks on the front of every building (so that they could get furniture to the upper floors). It's an amazing city, I will definitely be coming back to explore it more soon.