Hamburger Bilder aus der Woche

Hamburg Pictures of the Week

Who needs Venice when Hamburg offers us such pretty views?! Hamburg's warehouse district is a mini, less-colorful model of the incomparable Venetian scenery, but is undoubtedly still worth the minute it takes to catch a pic.






Isn't that just a delicious sight? Tasty Sparty colors greeting me as soon as I walk in the door! The padded man himself must be walking around here somewhere...



The highly anticipated Hamburg asparagus season has now arrived. This tasty season brings not only green asparagus, but also it's thicker, more flavorful pal, white aspargus. Asparagus is plentiful throughout the many, many produce markets around town as well as in daily menus. I have always been a fan of the classic green asparagus and have recently had the opportunity to sample it's ghostly white counterpart. No offense, green, but white's a sure thing in the taste-off.  It has so much flavor it's just as tasty raw as it is grilled!

My friend Stella is a Japanese drummer--you know, those super cool and massive drums that you've always wondered about (if you're anything like me). I have told her time and time again how neat it is that she's involved in such a unique hobby and so when she heard of a Japanese drumming benefit for Red Cross' effort to aid Japan she passed the info along to me. The show was mesmerizing--the talented, energetic drummers performed/worked out for several hours as I gazed in amazement at them from the front row (sitting two seats away from the Japanese Consulate General himself!). The music was so powerful that it touched my soul (and vibrated my feet) in a way I had not expected. Several hundred guests watched in awe as the musicians drummed, danced, chanted, and sweated all over the stage--all to assist those affected in Japan. What a show!

Who knew so much power could come from this sweet drum?

In June I'll attend a Taiko Drumming workshop. Look out! I bet you'll be able to hear me from wherever it is you're reading this.

Hamburger Bilder aus der Woche

Every Monday night Hamburg's English theater, Streit's, offers a totally unique movie experience called Sneak. Sneak is a movie event with a catch--you don't find out what you're watching until it starts. Yep, that's right--Streit's Sneak is the ultimate risk-taking experience for the movie lover. For 5€ (purchased one week before the movie otherwise you'll never get a seat) you get your ticket with assigned seat. Once in the theater doors you're smack in the middle of a massive herd of anxious patrons drinking beer and coffees from the stocked bar, downing sweet (never salty) popcorn, selecting sweets, and lounging in chairs more comfy than anything I have ever seen in a theater lobby.

Once inside the theater a comedy show and welcome speech is presented-in English (phew). Snacks are then thrown out from every corner and more of the theater. Yum. When things settle, the fifteen minutes of previews begins. The previews act as clues to the feature presentation (we didn't know this at the time and couldn't figure out why 'Stuck on You' and 'Traffic' where just now coming to Germany). After the loooong display of previews subsides the presenters reappear to present an award to the audience member who guessed the feature presentation correctly after watching the previews online. Not even the winner was lucky enough to get buttered, salty popcorn.

Then, finally, the movie begins. Our feauture presentation was The Adjustment Bureau-not what I would have guessed had I had any idea the previews were there to help me, but we accepted it happily nevertheless. We enjoyed the movie amidst random spurts of inexplicable clapping from our fellow Sneak lovers. 
 The Adjustment Bureau is good. Couple it with the fantabulously fun experience Sneak offers and it gets bumped to a great.



Any movie ticket other than one for Sneak gets you a free coffee or adult beverage from the fully-stocked Streit's bar.



Though not much cheaper than in the US, the snacks collection at Streit's is much more orginal and cute than anything I'm used to.

Love seats.

On a recent walk home from the gym Reggie and I came across a teensy diner boasting a 'Best burgers' sign. Because advertisements never lie, we made a beeline for the prospect of comfort food. I am happy to report that Hollywood Canteen did not disappoint.



The burgers, wraps, and sandwiches are named after American oldies music artists. The milkshakes are huge and delicious, and if I closed my eyes while eating the twister fries I would have thought for sure I was at Arby's. Even the salads are tasty. While enjoying our meal we were entertained by La Bamba on VHS, oldies on the radio, and the comforting feeling of home, sweet home.

The differences between hockey in Hamburg and hockey at home are minimal--and most importantly, going to games in both places is a ton of fun. When Holger and Claudia asked us to join them at the Hamburg Freezers game we jumped at the chance. Lights, music, and, of course, fire made for one spectacular hockey spectacle.

Nichts for sussies = not for sissies

Blurry, I know, but if you look reeeeeally hard you'll see a Detroit Red Wings jersey.

Hamburger Bilder aus der Woche

Hamburg Pictures of the Week

There's no shortage of good food in Hamburg. I miss Red Coat Tavern and J. Alexander's so much it hurts but still, I'm far from hungry over here. A recent food discovery has helped ease any hunger pains and the great news is it can be prepared in the convenience of our own home. Introducing raclette: a term used for a cheese, a grill, and the way this memorable meal is crafted.

The grill is called a raclette oven and the bottom rack of it holds little square dishes that you fill with whatever you like, top with a slice of raclette cheese, then put back on the grill. On the top of the grill you cook your meat and fish. Holger was kind enough to prepare all of this for us in his home and this delish meal, solidified with red wine, made for a perfecto meal. Caution: if you don't have a solid hour to spend eating this yummy-ness, don't bother. It deserves it's fair share of time.

While I am fully aware that this debacle could occur in the US just as it did here, I find the ridiculousness of this situation well worth spending a moment on.

My fantastic brother-in-law will celebrate his birthday this week and unfortunately he will not be opening a present from Reggie and I. I have had his gift packed and ready for over a week (and yes, I was uber proud of my punctuality) but each of the four times I attempted to take it to the post, I was greeted with lines at least this long. You should know that all four trips were to different posts at different times of the day. Does this stem from the fact that German service is less speedy than I'm used to? Or is there just a shortage of post offices in HH? Regardless, we've got a problem here (and it's more than just the fact that my brother-in-law doesn't have a present yet.)

Hamburger Bilder der Woche 2

Hamburg Pictures of the Week 2

Guten Tag! (Good day!--Not a bad start, right?) One month of German language lessons down and many, many more needed. My language school, Colon, offers more than twenty languages as well as classes in all formats. My class meets three evenings each week for 1.5 hours and although I want to bang my head against the table for the majority of each class, it is not nearly enough. The sixteen different forms of "the" are, well, darn near impossible to wrap my brain around as is the fact that the language includes sounds and letters that are not a part of the good 'ole ABCs. I know, I know...give it time.

There are eight students in my class and we are as multicultural as Seedlings. Two are from Mexico and are in Hamburg for graduate internships, there are two video game programmers--one from Italy and one from Poland, a Russian scientist/professor that has been living in Chicago but moved here to do science-y things, and a Brazilian and Brit also here for work. All speak fluent English. Another point for Hamburg for offering me a lesson in multculturalism.

When my fabulous friend Colleen offered to send me the hair product and travel book that I was so desperately missing from the mitten we expected the normal post office routine we're all familiar with. The plan was simple: Colleen would take it to the post office, Lauren would pick it up from the post office. That all seems so naive now. Much to our dismay, a month-long battle with USPS and Deutsche Postbank got in the way of me and my beloved goods. Upon arrival at USPS in early August Colleen was told that the package would take about two weeks to reach me. We discussed that having it shipped to our new apartment would be best because we'd be moving in within that time.

Several packages arrived during the next few weeks and each time I got the golden ticket notification, I hurried to the post office (offices, rather, as we are serviced by three different ones (?)). Lovely teaching books and supplies from thoughtful friends were very much appreciated and a thrill to receive, but I couldn't help but wonder when September 1 rolled around and I was still without my Aveda hair product and Rick Steves' travel-planning assistance. We both made massive attempts to track down the mysterious package. Colleen, without any help from UPS, was able to find out that the package had in fact left the US. She gave me the customs numbers which we were sure would help but alas, only provided me with confused, wrinkled brows from my pals at Deutsche Postbank. "It'll never come," my American friends here told me. "That's happened to me many times."

Lucky for me, Colleen refused to give up. Two weeks into September she surprised me and mailed another care package. The day after she did, the original package showed up at her door. It turns out it arrived in Hamburg early and Reg and I had not moved into our new place yet, so it was returned--slowly. As you can see, it's a mess. It looks like, well, it looks like it's been to Germany and back.

Hamburg Bilder der Woche

Hamburg Pictures of the Week

Another example of the German dog-bot.

It's good to be a dog owner in Germany. Without the need for instruction, your genuius of a dog will wait patiently outside the meat shop while you pick from the endless supply of fragrant fleisch. He won't bark, he won't even drool. He'll just wait for you. Quite frankly, I think it's magic. Good, good boy.

This week at TK Maxx Hamburg.

This is no joke, folks. (Nor is it Halloween.) These striking dirndls (lederhosen for females) covered several walls of our TK Maxx so that eager people could begin their preparation for the 177th Munich Oktoberfest. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the famous 16-day festival that supplies beer, pretzels, pork, spaetzle, and sausage to some six million parched folks annually.

Federweiβer

(Literally: white as a feather) Only available for the first few weeks in September, I became a semi-hoarder of Federweiβer once I discovered its amazingness. This baby wine made from fermented fresh-pressed grape juice is a gem of a find. Due to the carbonic acid which is a byproduct of the fermentation, Federweiβer is as refreshing as homemade lemonade that is made right. According to the wine shop that sells me this fab treat, Federweiβer is a rich source of vits B1 and 2. I thought I tasted them in there...