“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
This week will be a little random. I’ve visited some cool places over the last two weekends, but I’ve also cooked and/or eaten some pretty cool food. So here we go!
Last weekend, I went to Heidelberg with the technical school, THM. The day was split between the Heidelberg Observatory (Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl) on one of the hills next to the city. Since there was only one mountain-tram up and only one down, we decided to take a little hike, which had an amazing view.
The observatory mainly looks for asteroids. O^O (my official geeking-out face)
We eventually made our way halfway down the mountain to the old Heidelberg castle.
The coolest part of the castle is that so much of it is in ruins. It reminds me of a Miyazaki movie in its beautiful, decaying way.
I might have lied though…the coolest part was the wine barrels. I’ve heard that these barrels are fake and don’t actually contain wine, but if nothing else, they are probably the largest barrels in the world. And by large I mean ginormous.
It’s a bad picture with my phone, sorry…
The last part of the day was spent in the city itself. A group of us bought ice cream, walked around the main street, and made our way to the bridge — another main sight in Heidelberg.
The day I visited Heidelberg, it was sunny and beautiful. In contrast, this week has been rather overcast and raining randomly as it pleases.
Nonetheless, I went hiking with a friend outside of Giessen and I went to Marburg with a new Studdy Buddy. (I joined the technical school’s program as well.)
Schiffenberg has a wonderful little monastery at the top, and hikers, runners, and dog-walkers can take the bus from Giessen to the monastery. There are lovely paths around the area and also longer hiking trails farther out. Stephanie and I planned to hike, but we just enjoyed the shorter paths. It was a lot of fun!
And yesterday I went to Marburg with Robin. He’s a student at THM, the technical school. He of course had been to Marburg before, and was kind enough to show me around the city, including the Elizabeth Church, the Marktplatz, and the Schloss (with a cool little museum!).
So that was my traveling for two weekends. It’s been a lot of fun. But learning about a country is not just about seeing the sights but eating the food. And late May is always Spargelzeit in Germany.
Spargel is the German word for asparagus, but it specifically means a kind of white asparagus. Spargel Time has been important in Germany for a long time, and even the University bought the expensive asparagus for the whole week. Every day there was a Spargel dish of some kind, though it was mostly Spargel with a type of Hollandaise sauce.
I decided I wanted to make some Spargel myself. When in Rome, right? However, there are just some things that newbs shouldn’t cook…because they’re bound to mess it up.
Either way, I made Spargel. And Sirius helped! Here are the instructions for how I did it, not necessarily meant to be copied.
First, peel the asparagus because white asparagus has a fibrous outer layer that people can’t eat.
Second, cut off the bottoms of the Spargel.
Third, boil that Spargel! Something like 10 minutes…I don’t really know.
Also make a random white sauce from the internet and boil veggies.
And then try your new food! And…realize you did not peel that Spargel nearly enough.
Last step, go watch Hannah Hart and know you are not alone in failing to cook. By the way: My Drunk Kitchen is an awesome vlog and I encourage you all to check it out.
And for bonus points…eat the Spargel at the cafeteria, which is really, really good, so you know what Spargel is supposed to taste like.
I’ve also been eating a lot with my Indian suite mates because they always make too much and invite people to eat with them. I think its a pretty good life philosophy, especially for college.
They taught me how to make baked veggie bread rolls, which are really good and taste like veggie hotdogs. I think its because of the ketchup.
And then the latest Indian dish that I’ve had the pleasure to eat with them is called baaghi. It’s a spiced vegetable dish. And puri bread, which is really delicious.
So if you guys are interested in any of these foods I encourage you to try them out (and then watch ‘My Drunk Kitchen’ to be consoled). After all, sharing food is sharing love! And I do mean that in the least hippie way possible…
Bis Bald!
Jacque
jacque in germany 