My burning hot northern German Valentine's date

Yes, you read that correctly, I had a burning hot Valentine's Day "date." It was actually literally burning hot. I'm not kidding. At one point the table was on fire. It was all in the name of some northern German fun so it all worked out. Heck, even my date was northern German (but from a different state than what was being featured).

There was a cultural night where a group was serving a meal and traditions from northern Germany. I asked along a friend and we decided to wear dirndls, which have absolutely nothing to do with northern Germany (they're more Bavarian). That's what I think is so awesome about this friend; she totally went with it, even as she was suffering major wardrobe malfunctions.

After stuffing ourselves into our dirndls (I realized that it's easier to put it on after unzipping the bodice first!), we headed up to the restaurant to join the group. We were pretty much the youngest ones there, by at least 25 years. It was a lively bunch and we were immediately greeted with glasses of sekt with rum-coated raisins. Now that's a way to start the evening!

We thoroughly confused our table mates since I kind of do/don't speak German and my friend is obviously fluent, but they didn't realize that she was German at first so they spoke English to her. Wearing the dirndls didn't help ease the confusion either (always keep people guessing!) but we were welcomed warmly.

Our dining companions soon directed their attention on the hostess, letting her know that they wanted dinner. She told them that it was still social time and dinner would start soon. I tried to keep a straight face because I imagined them devolving into children, pounding on the table, and chanting "we want food, we want food!"

The dinner arrived: boiled potatoes (Salzkartoffel), Grünkohl (kale, pureed and boiled), and two different kinds of smoked sausage. I ended up doling out the sausages to the other diners since I was in the middle. Some of the sausages were as big as the plates where I was dropping them, making me feel a bit risqué. The food was tasty. I don't normally dig German food much as I'm not really a meat n' potatoes type of gal, but this was a pleasant deviation.

This was the smaller of the sausages. Kid you not.

 As we were eating, the schnapps and spoons came out. Oh lawdy, was that something! We experienced Löffeltrunk, which was shots of schnapps taken from a special spoon. The last drink was Friesengeist, which was brought out flaming in little shot glasses carried in a wooden shoe (I was excited about the wooden shoe because my peeps are Dutch).

Even the shoe that carries the shots warns that it's "served burning."

Here's where the burning hot portion of the evening came in: one gentleman spilled a bit from his shot glass so the table started on fire. He nonchalantly blotted it out, grinning, and commenting, "happens every year!" We were also given special spoons to set on top of the shot glass to extinguish the flames. Our host said a nice folksy thing and then we all threw back the fiery drink. Oh my goodness, one could taste the fire!

The tools of the northern German (drinking) trade. We drank shots out of the spoons.

 Following the excitement of setting the table on fire, we then watched a slide show as our host talked about northern Germany. There were lots of windmills, ships, bicycles, adorable dudes wearing dark blue-striped shirts and captain hats, and wind-swept dunes.

Traditional male northern German outfit, with schnapps, of course! Isn't he great?

As the other guests left, my friend and I chatted with the hostess. She commented on our dirndls, saying that they were Bavarian and traditional northern Germans attire was like what she was wearing, a white blouse with some embroidery and a long black skirt. She also made a point to say that they wear their skirts to their ankles in northern Germany. I told my friend later that we probably looked like women of "loose morals" with our knee-length dresses and we had a giggle about that one. Everyone seemed confused about why we were wearing dirndls. We told them that we had just felt like it. They said, ah, it must be for Karneval. Um, not really, but if that's how they needed to compartmentalize it, that's fine.

Despite the dangerous drinks, we had a really good time and learned more about northern Germany. You can't beat that!

Some history learnin': The Parisitic Nobility-Peasant Relationship in the 18th Century

I wrote this for a history class. Copyright 2014, Around the Wherever. All rights reserved. May not be duplicated in any form.

Additionally, to those conducting research: this piece is not suitable to be used as a reference source. Here's why. If you need a reference source, try using the excellent text noted in the Bibliography.

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The socioeconomic relationship between peasants and nobility in the eighteenth century could be described as parasitic. In this case, it would be apt to say that the nobility were the parasites, sucking the peasants dry, both literally and figuratively.

Treatment of children was influenced by socioeconomic status. Initially, the elite women employed wet nurses to give their children sustenance, as it was not befitting a lady (Spielvogel, p. 559). Later in the 18^th century, the concept of childhood as its own stage of development grew. Children of the rich and nobility started to be valued more and were treated better; they had their own style of clothes, toys, and books (p. 560). Unfortunately, peasant children did not experience such joys; if anything, they were seen as a burden and risked being a victim of infanticide or abandonment. Children were abandoned throughout Europe but it appears that in the east, within Russia, the numbers were extremely high, with the largest foundling home in St. Petersburg (p. 560).

In addition to the treatment of children, living arrangements were subject to one’s status and income. The nobility (especially the French and English) tended to live in vast country estates in huge houses (p. 567). Peasants might eke out a living in a town, city, or the country, but the unifying theme was their desperate struggle to survive, often subject to employment of nobles. In most of Western Europe, peasants had freedom but still were not secure, having to pay heavy tithes on the crops they had grown (p. 566). In other areas things were even worse, such as in parts of Germany where the lord had legal jurisdiction over peasants and could make decisions regarding their affairs. Farther east in Russia, peasants were virtually slaves, with ties to the landlord and not the land (p. 566).

The nobles’ parasitic use of the peasants certainly did not improve the peasants’ lot in life; if anything, it kept them from success.

Bibliography

Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western civilization. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012.

There are mythical Pfälzisch creatures about!

When I was walking around downtown Kaiserslautern, I saw a lady leading an elwetritsch around!

What is an elwetritsch, you ask? Well, it's a mythical bird known to the Pfälzisch region of Germany. It's like the Pfälzisch version of a snipe, I would assume. It's so famous that Neustadt has a fountain with quite a few of them in it (and I have pictures and more to say about that, but that's a whole other blog entry).

The interesting thing about the elwetritsch I saw was that its human leading it around was soliciting signatures for something. I was super curious about the whole situation but I still felt like an interloper because my German isn't good enough yet to ask about it. So, I just watched from a distance and took some pictures of the mysterious beast.

Major art find, Monuments Men, and my favorite Biedermeier

In the past five months, I learned a lot more about art and German history, both through university classes and reading on my own.

One book I read was called The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel (there is an upcoming movie that's based on this book). It was a fascinating history of a special unit in the Army composed of well-respected professionals from museums, archives, etc. who searched Europe for looted artwork during World War II.

I learned about how the Ghent altarpiece had gone missing. This is an extremely valuable, early Renaissance polytych and it is the jewel of Ghent, and even Belgium, for that matter. After hearing about it in Edsel's book and then learning about the altar piece's importance in my Art History class, I am kicking myself for not going out of my way to see it when I was in Ghent this summer (though it was mostly covered for restoration, I am told, and I was also really ill on that trip so I shouldn't feel too guilty).

I was reading the news on Monday and found new developments in the story about art that went missing before and during World War II. It's absolutely fascinating; a major treasure trove of art was found in a Munich apartment. Read about it here and here. I am very curious about the Carl Spitzweg painting mentioned in the article. He is my favorite Biedermeier painter and I even drew a study of one of his pieces in the local museum. I hope that more information (and pictures!) will come out about this major find, worth at least a billion dollars.

Questions answered: German measurements & baking

I am taking a class that deals much with German history and life, and I have learned so much that I feel like my brain is going to burst with new information...and happiness at learning it!

I wrote earlier about being really surprised during a cooking class when the instructor said that she just uses any tablespoon or teaspoon she has on hand when it's called for. Before I got here, I didn't realize that Europeans often use a scale when preparing food from a recipe. Germans also would use a regular cup from the cupboard and not a specific measuring cup, I learned from the comments on what I wrote.

Imagine how delighted I was when I learned more about this from the instructor teaching a class I'm taking on life in German and its history. Seriously, yeah, it's nerdy, but the whole thing made me very curious so it was great to satisfy that curiosity.

Here are the interesting things that I learned from the instructor:

There have been many units of measurement used over time, but they have been highly variable because they were often based on something that could vary greatly. That doesn't work so well when, for example, the length of a "foot" was based on someone's foot, thanks to the curiosity of differing genetics. Merchants selling bolts of cloth were happy when they sold a short arm's length for the going rate but when they came someone with long arms using the arms as measurement, they found themselves being shorted.

Another interesting thing is the size of cups and bowls. Usually a town had the same person (or group) making pottery, often for the life of that person. The depth of the cup would be dependent upon the length of the thumb of the person throwing the pottery. Therefore, for the career of the person, the cups would be approximately the same depth. The problem arose when the next person took over as his thumb would be a different length.

Napoleon, after conquering much of Europe, had the idea that standardized measurements were in order. It helped regulate trade. Of course, it was a slow process to try to force what had been hundreds of kingdoms, many with their own measurements, to adopt standard measurements. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck found himself enforcing the last of standardization 50-60 years after Napoleon's decision.

All of this ties into the questions I had about German cooking. Why is it that Germans would just take a cup out of the cupboard in recipes that say to measure a cup of thing? Why are those recipes not specific? After all, cups are all of such varying sizes! My instructor says it's simple: many of the recipes or cookbooks had been in use in the family for so long that everyone knew the correct amount of ingredients to put in, and they would use the same cup to measure things. With experience on her side, the cook or baker had a feel for what was the correct amount. I'm floored by this, mostly because my domestic skills are very much wanting, but I'm impressed, nonetheless.