Ringing in the New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

One of the first countries to celebrate the new year was Australia.  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of Germany's on TV as I was outside on our patio watching and listening to it all.  At midnight the church bells rang from all the towns everywhere, including our town, with fireworks lighting up the sky.

Before all the New Year's Eve festivities began, we made a last visit to the Kreuz on the hill above our town in late afternoon of the 31st to wish the Wirt and his wife good luck in the next segment of their lives.  They are leaving the Gasthaus for good and heading to Spain to the Valencia area where they have rented a house.  I feel sure he will be working again before he knows it as he is a great cook and baker.  Time will tell reference that of course.  In the meantime, they are now looking forward to some stress-free days. 

We nearly always sat at the table in that far corner under the windows.

On this occasion, we just had a drink at the Stammtisch with a Schnaps (Hans) and a liqueur for me on the house.  (Two views of this delicious cherry liqueur shown below.) The Stammtisch is where the long-time or regular customers of a Gasthaus sit to talk over events of the day or year and to have a glass or two of beer or wine.

 

 

Two days prior to New Year's Eve we went to the Kreuz for our evening meal.  The picture below shows the platter for one person with pork steak, mushrooms, French fries.  It was enough for two!  As we each had one of these platters, we took some steak home (and left behind some fries).  The pork was as tender as can be with a great sauce.  A salad accompanied it.

New Year's Celebration

On New Year's Eve we had Raclette, something we have had before on this date as it is easy to prepare and takes little time.  As well, it is relaxing.

The Raclette machine shown below with cheese melting for our potatoes.  The two bottles of wine Hans opened to accompany it all.  Unfortunately, the French bottle of 2003 Bourgogne was past it's day.  The German 2011 Laible from Durbach was excellent.
 

On New Year's Day, we had breakfast with several types of fish and sauces as well as a large Pretzel which is traditional for New Year's.  Accompanying it, we enjoyed a bottle of Sekt (Germany's Champagne-type wine).    Yes, it was breakfast--but late morning!

 
















Our New Year's dinner in the early evening included the goose remaining from our Christmas dinner along with various vegetables.

 Brownie and Whitey, above, after our dinner was finished.

Our Christmas Celebration

Christmas is now past.  As always, it was quiet but traditional.  Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed.  First, our Christmas Eve supper.

Hans sauteed the scallops and made a sauce which included tarragon, lemon, cream, a little white wine, butter, salt and pepper and a few capers.  Wonderful!  Well, the sauce was wonderful.  The scallops were not as good as expected.  There are two types and ours were not the ones we know so well from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, ones we have had here in other years.  These were called Kammuscheln, not Jacobsmuscheln.  They looked perfect and were expensive but they were too soft and had no fibre.  Next year we shall be more careful.  We did, however, enjoy the meal.

The sauce and the good bottle of wine did overcome that as did the following dishes that are traditional for Hans.

Hans' potato salad with a fine German wiener.

 Christmas morning we enjoyed a traditional German breakfast.

Our Christmas Dinner

This is a two pound goose breast and enough for two meals for two people with enough left for one more.  We roasted it for two hours and it was perfect. The second meal was for our New Year's dinner. 

With the goose, we served mashed potatoes, red cabbage (made from a fresh red cabbage) and Brussel sprouts and, of course, gravy made from the drippings. The large white ball on the plate below is a dumpling or Kloesse, nearly always served with goose and game here in Germany.

 This year, we had a German red wine and it was very good.

To you all, a healthy, happy and prosperous 2017!

 

Weihnachten and the Christmas Season

The decorated basket above sits in a corner of the Gasthaus Engel in Dörlinbach.

I haven't written a blog post for some time as noted by many of my readers.  I do appreciate all your feedback and queries.

First, I had a very busy summer and fall, both in Nova Scotia and here in Germany, thus the time slipped away.  Then, I had a painful hip and was in treatment for that, along with a recent tooth episode.  Things have settled down somewhat, although the four weeks of Advent have been filled with activities, parties and celebrations.

Now Christmas is almost upon us once again with baking preparations for Christmas Eve and Day ongoing.  We are doing a little less this year but still keeping up with our traditions.


One of our important celebrations in December was an anniversary.  Hans did himself proud with a beef Wellington, a dish he has prepared before and one that always is a lot of work.  I wrote about this in detail in my blog post of 5 May 2011.

A reader asked me whether Hans used one large piece of puff pastry or two.  He uses two.  This reader has made this dish a number of times but doesn't want to use truffles so asked what she could use instead.  Truffles are, of course, the important part of this dish; however, Hans says that you could substitute Pfifferlingen (chanterelle) mushrooms, although the taste would be changed.  Our fillet was 2 lbs/1 Kg in weight and he used 20 grams of truffles. (They come from the Perigord region of southwestern France.) They are expensive, but for a special occasion well worth the price.

In the following picture you can see the medium-rare fillet of beef and the cooked truffle farce surrounding it.

We accompanied the beef with fresh carrots, fresh green asparagus and Pfifferlingen (chanterelle) mushrooms as well as boiled potatoes and a great sauce.

As every year, we attended the Christmas market held in the hills about 30 minutes from us.  Fischer's traditional German clothing store is the site of this yearly event.

The lady and the gent below have been there for all the years we have gone.  She sells little coupons for charity and the gent sings Christmas songs, both adding to the Christmas spirit.  I sang along with him at one point.  The picture with me is not that clear but here it is below.

It was cold that day so I was dressed warmly.

 Lots of sausages

Lots of Schnaps, wine and liqueurs as well.

 I am enjoying a mug of Glühwein below--the traditional hot red wine served at many Christmas markets--along with Flammenkuchen that is made right there in a small enclosed area.

One of Hans' favourite suppers is cheese.  It is easy to have as no preparation is needed other than getting a couple of things ready and putting out the boards.  We enjoyed this meal in mid December.

This week we headed to the farm we go to every year for our Christmas tree.  We haven't as yet put it up but will tomorrow, the 23rd.  As Christmas goes right into mid January it is up for quite some time.

The small hut below has a wood stove and a table with a bench on each side.  There they offer a glass or two of Schnaps on the house! One reason we chose this place!

Also this week we enjoyed our traditional noon dinner with friends at the Bruckerhof in Reichenbach.

The waitress, a daughter of the Bruckerhof family.  You won't find a better one!

Slices of stuffed roast pork with various freshly cooked vegetables

My filled plate

 The Wirt and Chef, Herr Brucker, a great cook!

A small  house that we bought many years ago from the gentleman who made it.  Two views:  one with flash and the other without.  This sits on a corner table in the living room throughout the year (but without the lights and Christmas scene except during this season).

As well this past week, we visited the Deutscher Hof in Biederbach.  A group of us meets there every second week.  This was the Christmas get-together.  Ruth, the Wirtin and owner, is below.

The tree below is small but this weekend, just before the big days of Christmas, a large one will replace it.  This one will likely grace another area of the Gasthaus.

Earlier in December we had dinner at the Engel with friends.

This is the Ziguener Schnitzel served at the Engel.  It is the best we have had.  It comes with a salad and croquettes.  It is Schnitzel that is breaded and a sauce filled with mushrooms, red peppers and onions.

Martin, the chef and owner

Martin's brother Uli, who looks after the main Gasthaus and the beer and also helps to serve.

Last but not least was the great Christmas party at our friends, the Schlagers, in mid December.  I couldn't get my flash set up properly so the pictures are darker than they should be.

 

Sylvi is known for her cakes and they are wonderful!  Hans is known for his guitar and singing!  Below is her raspberry torte and it was oh, so good!

Her cherry cake was also outstanding along with the others she served.

One last cake picture, one from the Gasthaus Kreuz up on the hill above our town.  It is closing at the end of December so we shall go once more.  His Schwarzwälder Kirchtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake) is excellent and we shall sorely miss it, especially Hans who says it is the best he's ever had.  In fact, the Wirt phoned Hans to tell him he was baking that day and it would be the last time for his cake.   So up we went and took three large pieces home (after eating a piece each there!).  The picture is of one of the pieces of cake we took home.

Fourth Advent was this past Sunday.  Here is our Advent wreath.

The Christmas trees in Wallburg and Ettenheimmünster

 

Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten and Joyeux Noel!