Christmas and the Crucible of Christmas

After getting back from our driving adventure we only had a few days to get ready for Christmas. Nothing terribly eventful happened in those days except the birth of a new Christmas tradition, which we later baptized “the Crucible of Christmas.”  We also had a few mildly interesting cooking adventures (which Kenny dutifully documented) and I started developing my strategy and recipes for the big competition. 

It’s no big secret that I love to cook. Kenny is also pretty proficient in the kitchen and I was trying to come up with a way to bridge our familys’ holiday rituals. The Wernly clan celebrates almost exclusively on Christmas Eve. We usually spend most of the day in the kitchen, serve a feast for dinner, count down to midnight, and toast with champagne before opening all of the presents. The Johnsons tend to open presents on Christmas morning and have their feast that day. The idea was to do both and since Kenny and I are constantly looking for ways to compete, we decided we would each pick a day to take over the kitchen, then be judged as to who did the meal real justice. Since it’s just the two of us, we had to come up with a relatively impartial way to judge the event. We came up with 5 categories: taste (for the savory and sweet course), presentation, cohesion, the event as a whole and creativity. The winner is announced at the bottom of the post…

Almost every store offers Glühwein-at-home kits!  Actually just a bottled portion, you have to provide your own chalice and heating.

adventures in supermarket hollandaise sauce

adventures in how to make terrible frozen cod edible

Commence day-before prep.  Time to get ready for Crucible of Christmas!  First shopping trip to Lidl: pretty good for €25.

At the Edeka for the second shopping trip.  More exciting items are available there.  There was a line like this up each aisle for each checkout line.

The booty.

Kenny’s bike light made a fine topper for our vertically-challenged tree

Mix a Käsekuche, thaw a lamb.

Käsekuche construction

I was tricked!  Pretty as they may be, these berries taste awful.  Also, they contain large seeds.  Do not judge a berry on looks alone.

after the rise and fall

our small Berlin fridge left us no other option but to butcher the work of art

after a vigorous selection process: the chosen Crucible of Christmas trophy (Day of!)

Christmas Eve setting… notice the trophy!

demonstrating how to correctly use a left handed vegetable peeler  Denise insisted that she also take the picture herself but I intervened.  For safety.

Mise en place!  French, loose translation: "Food for me"

committed to brown  Interesting fact: electric stoves in Berlin utilize "Purple Power" cooking technology.  That, or, something boring about infrared and quantum physics-it looks red to the eye just like boring ol' American stoves.

Glühwein break!

Denise owns the appetizer round.

Christmas set test: a half dressed Kenny is dedicated to setting up the perfect Christmas picture. Not sure what prompted the extreme facial expression...

Just excited by my ingenuity.  Getting around the apartment became a hazardous pursuit.

Mmmmmm.  Despite how it may look, it is not time to eat yet.  Find other things to do while the sauce is reducing...

Tend potatoes. Still reducing...

1st Christmas picture attempt (sans food)

2nd attempt… hard to stay serious (sans food) STILL reducing!

Stop the presses!  Reduction reduced!

salad! We are very health conscious.

3rd attempt. Winner! (avec food)

W00t!  The time has come!

doesn’t look so bad after all

All set for Christmas toast!  Weihnachtsmann lurks just beyond the left glass, damping the festive mood with threats of last-minute amendments to the naughty list.

See what that gets you, Weihnachtsmann??

I got a scarf from your parents!  I got a scarf from YOUR parents!

lazy Christmas breakfast. Not photographed: quark, leftover käsekuche, berry sauce, dulce de leche, whipped cream lots of coffee and Elf on the tv.

Kenny’s turn for a go at the pig trophy. “Amount of loving-care deployed in production” was initially proposed as a criterion of judgment in selecting the Crucible’s victor.  I took it to heart: begin with hand-strained egg yolks.

Pretty good mise en place (for gluten free bread pudding).  That is correct.  Consider the stakes on the rise.

bread action!

look ma! He even irons the tablecloths. Oh yes.  Play time has come and gone.

such a pretty thing. Kenny’s bringing more game than I anticipated... must up the ante for next year.

And for the main course, a Johnson Family Favorite:  Tuna Casserole!

bubbles!

The cheddar offered in Germany is not sharp at all.  I quickly devised ratio of gorgonzola and grana padano to compensate.

ok, now I’m excited!

Christmas day setting. Trophy still up for grabs.

“Elegant simplicity.  In White.”

holy yum.

Serve with whipped cream and a snort of burbon.

after a long deliberation period (everything was extravagantly delicious, if I may say so myself), we selected a victor! You’re welcome to enter again next year.

Taking Care of Business

Kenny's first week + Mönchengladbach Audition!  (Kenny here--Denise and I will co-author this and future blog posts.  I will write in blue, Denise in pink.)  Among the first orders of business were to visit the Burgermom (Bürgeramt!), send a Christmas card to Denise's parents and get Denise to a surprise audition in Mönchengladbach (a city near Düsseldorf on the other side of Germany).  Unfortunately, I took no pictures of the Burgermom visits (we went two times…once to set up an appointment and again for the appointment).  But it happened.  And I now join Denise among the elite ranks of Registered Berlin Residents!  Anyway, the more exciting things got pictures.

Card writing at provided card-writing-table.

More pressing matters drew my attention.

Upon closer inspection it was even more important than I thought.  To taste or not to taste?

75 cent stamp and stamp change.

Denise, wary of selecting the incorrect slot, considers her options.

Next day at the Mokalola, our internet savior.

Later the same day, a bit of shopping.  Spotted!  a chicken incorrectly shelved with the booze.  Seems someone had to make a tough decision.

First neighborhood döner kebap.

First poached eggs: success!

All packed!

Denise is the expert when it comes to German busses.  She will learn all we need to know from the schedule.  I can focus on photography.

Denise: "This looks different.  I think this bus is going the wrong way."  We quickly got on a bus going the other way and made it to the airport not too much later than intended.

The original plan was to send Denise away on a train.  And then she had a brainstorm: rent a car?  Turns out to cost the same to send Denise by herself as for me to chauffeur!  And I get to drive on the Autobahn!  And the rental company gave us an upgrade! 

Kenny adjusts to his new occupation.

I was very excited about our new wheels.  Literally new…had 1,200km on the clock.

Kenny is a strict photography enforcer.  Here is a picture of a car.

One picture of the car was not enough for Kenny.  Here is another picture of the car.  Evidently it's called a Firebird.  Notice the dice.

German countryside.

Denise warms up in the car.  I had to wait for a stoplight to document.  Her face is not actually red from exertion.

The pianist from the audition (Jesse) was American!  He showed us a nice place for dinner before we saw Stiffelio at the operahouse. Opera not photographed, but we were pretty astounded at the production level and incredible singers that a small town we hadn't previously heard of produced. Not to mention the fact that we went to see the opera on a Tuesday night and the house was almost full!

Singing makes me hungry.

Still excited for our fancy ride, even more photogenic at night.

Bed time!  So tired…

Stopped at a rest area on the way to Münster.  My excitement for our Wagen has not diminished.  Denise preferred other pictures from that stop.

My favorite Kenny picture thus far.  Thanks!  Notice the open gate(right side).

Leads to a lettuce field.  German for bucolic?  Just a stone's throw from that rest stop…

Münster!  A fine looking taxi.

Another taxi?

The face of hanger (hunger + anger = hanger).  Clearly not as enthusiastic about our opportunity for taxi spotting in Münster.

Camera must have gone off by accident, no taxis here.

A cure for distracted photographer-induced hanger.  I support any/all establishments endorsed by toucans. 

Kenny is unconvinced as to the severity of my condition.

The cure!

Locate cheapest energy drink at Münster supermarket.  Ward off food coma for the drive back.

I'm pretty sure it means no speed limit when that comes up on the sign.  I'll report back if that turns out not to be true...rental companies are notoriously unwilling to pay speeding fines for you.

Car safely returned to the wrong spot.

Second attempt, car in correct spot.

Waitin' on the bus.  Have mercy!

Coming up: Christmas and the Crucible of Christmas.