Dienstag, Dezember 05, 2006

Belated Thanksgiving in the Peace of the Forest...

What a wonderful weekend I’ve had! Let me tell you about it…
Friday evening my friends from Pirna arrived, and we walked to a restaurant on my street, tried it for the first time. Its name is Waldfrieden, or “peace of the forest.” Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. It’s one of those restaurants. Walk in and you peer through the smoke to see really eclectic décor: old branches on the wall, every window styled differently, the bar “wallpapered” with old beer caps. And the place was full with people straight out of the old GDR socialist East Germany. A young guy from Poland sat on a makeshift stage and strummed guitar and sang the likes of “I don’t get no satisfaction”. He played and sang quite well, but I don’t think he had seen a bar of soap in a while. The help behind the bar was dressed in gothic with wavy long black hair halfway down the back. A little black puppy dashed among the tables and a cat meandered through the chairs. A rather old and extremely overweight drunk man kept asking in a loud voice if the guy would sing old folk songs from East Prussia and Danzig. So the waitress came, and I asked for the menu. “I am the menu” she said. She wanted to know what I wanted to eat, and they simply fixed it. So I had a dark Budweiser (the real thing from Czech. Republic) and food, and my friends had mineral water and a cola, and the whole bill was 9 Euros, a really good deal.
Saturday evening we were 10 people sitting at my table to have a belated Thanksgiving meal. What was the menu? Turkey baked in champagne (I did eat meat for this one meal), dressing, corn-sweet-potato pudding, lettuce salad with raisins, soy beans and balsamic vinegar, and home-made pumpkin pie. And a pino grigio from north Italy gave the perfect white wine for the event. Both Saturday and Sunday we were at the Christmas Market in Leipzig city centre to have hot spiced wine, Christmas goodies, and just walk through all the booths.
A note from my previous post: the odor problem has thankfully all but vanished. I think it may have been stress related. I have come to terms with the conflict that may have caused it, even though the other party has not yet started communicating. (More on communication and friendship in Germany later: it’s different than in the USA…)

6 Kommentare:

Angela O. hat gesagt…

That sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving. How was the turkey baked in champagne? I've had the usual roasted, soaked in a brine and fried but never baked in champagne . . .

The restaurant sounds cool--you can order ANYTHING?? Cool!

(Glad the problem is resolved.)

Karen hat gesagt…

So glad to hear things are smoothing over and you had such a wonderful weekend with friends.

Euromark hat gesagt…

Angela: Rub the turkey with butter, salt, and garlic powder under the skin, halve a cooking apple and put in into the bird, then put the bird into a cooking bag, and then pour a bottle of champagne into and all over the bird,and then tightly seal the cooking bag. Bake for 3 to 3.5 hours at 350 F, and there you are - so simple, but so juicy and delicious.
The restaurant: well, if they have the ingrendients, they'll cook whatever you want.
Concerning the "stress stuff": I have come to terms with the problem, but the other person is not communicating yet, so I hope they are simply thinking things over and doing a lot of soul searching. So, the conflict is not resolved, but it does not upset me anymore, because I feel I have done what I can do to stand open and ready for discussion.

Euromark hat gesagt…

Karen: yes, it was a wonderful weekend, and we have just cleaned up the last of the results today.

And, concerning the "stress stuff", a conversation has completely fixed and resolved everything, so now everything smells like roses...

Chris hat gesagt…

"I am the menu"! What a great line! I am going to use it in my novel.

Euromark hat gesagt…

Yes, Chris, but she is the menu, not only the dessert... :-)It was interesting how we had a conversation to come to an agreement on what the cook would prepare for me. That is personal service!