The ABC's of Trip Reporting- PLEASE JOIN US ON THE NEW THREAD!

[jenbear123]

Looks like a delicious spread of gourmet fare. Was that homemade pretzel bread?!!? Oh my gosh A-mazing!!! Plus beer and wine? Who could've asked for more?

 

[that's nice]

Well, not really, that’s an awfully high price for beer- especially because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels.

Hahahaha.... good one! (except for the vile part! )

I mean, anyone who has a clean bathroom WITH toilet paper, gives me an exotic drink, and tells me there are sausages cooking- well, my friend, come on! What more could be asked for??!

LOL look.... you are already getting spoiled. Just a few months ago you would of taken a dirty bathroom with no TP as long as it didn't explode on you when you flushed the toilet!!!!

I want Magdalene to share the story of WHY this gift was so meaningful and so perfect for them- had we known, it would have been even more amazing- but we gave them a piece of a weaving that was originally a handmade yurt tie. The piece was handmade probably about 60-100 years ago by a friend of mine’s great grandmother who likely lived IN a yurt during her lifetime- likely in fact, until the 1917 Revolution, and until Kazakhstan was overrun by the Soviets.

Very neat gift!

I can’t remember if they tried the kort (salted, dried, milk curds) or not, but I think they really thought I had brought them petrified camel poo.

What a great spread! And look Heinz Ketchup!!!!!!!!

How about bread- I know some of you have a love affair with bread that can rival any silver screen drama. So this one’s for you:

Was all the bread homemade? I could eat that whole basket... I guess that wouldn't taste very good. I could eat all the bread in that basket. Yes, that's IT!

Now what if we married these 2 together and came up with some artsy-fartsy?? Tell me, you photography gurus, which one do you like better??

I like the 2nd pic better.


What a great evening with your gracious hosts. How nice of them to have you and your family as their guests.

Surely we must end our lovely evening with a lovely kind of dessert! And this did just such the trick! Mmmm…. Mixed berry pudding! Lovely in every way! And yes, I think I did have seconds. Mike did not. Because he had not had such a Berry Magical Day. But I sure wish you one!!

LOL I just had a not so lovely image show up in my head....

GREAT UPDATE!!!!!!

 

[that's nice]

You had dinner with a couple of lollipops?

Is it horrible that I was thinking the same thing?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Is it horrible that I was thinking the same thing?

Great minds, Tim. Great minds.

 

[Flossbolna]

What a great spread! And look Heinz Ketchup!!!!!!!!

Yes, we put the German ketchup and the Heinz Ketchup on the table and it was very sweet how Liesa's daughters insisted on trying the German ketchup and then really liked it!

Was all the bread homemade? I could eat that whole basket... I guess that wouldn't taste very good. I could eat all the bread in that basket. Yes, that's IT!

Unfortunately, none of the bread was homemade, it was normal bakery stuff... And you are right, the basket does not taste very good. The bread tastes great though!!!

 

[that's nice]

Great minds, Tim. Great minds.

LOL I must agree with you here!!!

Unfortunately, none of the bread was homemade, it was normal bakery stuff... And you are right, the basket does not taste very good. The bread tastes great though!!!

Well, homemade or not it looks delicious! Is it safe to assume the pretzels were homemade???

 

[Flossbolna]

Well, homemade or not it looks delicious! Is it safe to assume the pretzels were homemade???

No, you get them in every bakery here! There is a reason why they sell them in the Germany pavillion in Epcot!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Oh the ham!!! Yum!

 

[Flossbolna]

I give you Letter P:

I was going to wait patiently for the second letter, but then I happened to see a picture of this sign without searching for it!! The problem is: there is another sign showing the same name as well.... Sending you a PM now!!

 

[All7OfUs]

OH gosh!! I am falling further and further behind on replies, and there is no end in sight for my busy day. I have GOT to get to Trader Joe's for choco cake for company tonight, clean the house, and stress with my daughter over another paper. Sheesh, I'll be glad when this term is over. She gets to flippin' worked up over this stuff, then comes home with a B+ on the last one. Anyway, there is a TON of stuff I want to comment on - from Letter guessing to exploding toilets. I could say that Letter P also happens to stand for Poopy Potty, but that's a thing of my past.

 

[MaryAz]

What a fabulous update. Looks like everyone had such a nice time. And the food-oh yummy. Especially the bread!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay, I'm drooling now! Thanks so much for the bread porn! What wonderful hosts you had - and a clean toilet to boot!!!

Thanks for the star explanation, Magdalena. Very interesting bit of history. I see beer in Germany must be like wine in France or Italy - an important daily beverage.

You had me at the toilet paper.


You had dinner with a couple of lollipops?

Is it horrible that I was thinking the same thing?

At first glance, I thought they were holding up huge lollipops in front of their faces!

Thank you so much for sharing this bit of history! I really enjoy hearing about it! It's interesting that Katharina fetched beer when she was a kid. You'd never be able to do that in the US. Too many laws.....


And Liesa,
Yummy yummy yummy! I do have a love affair with bread, and I'll say that the bread-centric picture without the meat wins for me! Oh and about that super secret Disney bank account. I honestly never thought about doing that... I certainly will now!

Thanks for sharing a wonderful looking meal with even more wonderful looking company!

Secret D account- I had the same reaction - think I'm on that one! We traded in our spare change for our cruise and had enough to pay for our hotel rooms! It proves that every little bit gets you toward your goal!

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Liesa. The DIS meet sounds great and looks as if you all had a great time. And that food...oh, how I love German food.

 

[norybell]

I had to de-lurk to say...Wow, what an amazing evening! It sounds like it would have been amazing even without the delicious food!

 

[Millie12591]

Love! Love! Love! The pictures of the gals and family. I think I love the picture best of Magdalene with the bottle of wine too. She looks so cute.

The food looked amazing! What a bounty of blessing they put out for y'all!

I do have to say, the bread is truly inspiring, I have a pretzel recipe I've been wanting to make for a while now, pretzels are my DH's and Mackenzie's favorite, now I'll attempt to make them. I'll make the pretzels AND the dinner rolls I was thinking about making for Thanksgiving! Thank you gals!

I've been on a roll (no pun intended) here of late by trying out all kinds of new things, last week I made my own caramel sauce, my own pie crust (which doesn't sound like that big of a deal-I realize) and I do have to say...it takes a bit of finesse to do this and have it come out right. I recently made my mom's birthday cake, double layer with homemade cream cheese frosting, I don't normally take chances to make something like that.

Maybe getting older and seeing your kids start to disappear makes you more prone to doing these things.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Liesa, great update! I've been looking forward to hearing about this part of your trip for a long time. Sounds like a fantastic time was had by all. Now, I have to admit, for some reason the whole visit brings to mind the part in National Lampoon's European Vacation where the Griswolds go to the wrong house when they attempt to visit their long-lost German relatives. Their German hosts were too polite to kick the perfect strangers to the curb and let them stay for a hearty meal and and an overnight in the guest room!

Oh! I got your letter today - thank you! And I'm glad you liked the music and the journal!

 

[All7OfUs]

I totally forgot that I meant to ask my father!

Your explanation was perfect and did make a lot of sense. THANKS! for taking the time to explain that out for us- what an interesting piece of history- and WOW! wouldn't that be the ultimate tour for the serious homebrew fanatic? Going from house to house of home brewers in Franconia??

[/SIZE][/COLOR]

Yes, this deck is really one of the highlights of their appartment! When they first moved to Nuremberg my mother was a bit unhappy about living in such a modern building, she loves old houses. I always tried to tell my parents how greatful they should be for this deck and they thought they would not really need it. But now both of them love it and it is just the right size to enable my father to do some "gardening" without it becoming a chore!

As I recall there were some ripening tomatoes out there, and some herbs as well. I think it was also the lovely view that struck me as wonderful. Both from the front AND the back.

Ok, I will remember that: always clean toilet before Liesa is coming for a visit!

2 Ply TP scores extra bonus points.

May I take the easy route and just point people to my report on our wonderful meet which can be found in my TR here. There are also more lovely pictures of the slippers! The weather is becoming cold enough to wear them now!! Thanks again for the wonderful gifts, Liesa!

OH THANK YOU SO MUCH. It was so late last night when posting that update, and I didn't have the time to go search for it and link it! (I did think about it, though.) Yes! Yours was a GREAT and thorough post, even much more so than mine. Plus it is fun to have 2 perspectives and writing styles. I think the weather was cold enough THEN to wear them.

I especially appreciated the fact that by bringing these gifts for us you had to reduce your own personal baggage which you could bring back from Kazakhstan!

You forget that it also let us then have an EMPTY bag to stuff full of fun German souvenirs.

No we did not try it then, I tried it since it tastes strange... Must be a bit of an acquired taste!

Sort of sour a bit. I think your dad was pretty brave to try the camel poo.

The beer was from Bavaria, or more precise from the area around Nuremberg which is called Frankonia. This is the region which still has the most small breweries in Germany. The wine is not Bavarian, though, it is from Rheinhessen (in English Rhine-Hesse) from the vineyard my parents have gotten their wine from for the last 30 years or so...

OK, I will go to my local best wine stocked store and try to find that wine- I really liked it a lot!

Interesting favourite shot, I understand your feeling about it, but I might be a bit biased against it since I don't really look very good in it!

NO, I think you look really great in it!! It's just a fun picture that really captures a lot of emotion.

Not chicken, but beef, remember what I wrote the other day about boiling brisket - this is the water it was boiled in. And the dumplings were semolina. We added it to the offerings because we thought it might be the right thing for those with tummy troubles! And it is one of my favourite meals!

I did go back and fix that in the post. You are so right- and now I totally recall that conversation. I know zach raved about the soup for a long time. It was THAT good!

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi Liesa! Just saw your reply! You are up late!!

I will reply to your reply later, bút now I am waiting for it to be 10am because I need to book tickets to see Harry Potter on Friday with Katharina and our cousins (who are also our godchildren) - they are 14 and 12 and we will have a fun movie evening!

 

[All7OfUs]

WOW! This is your best update yet! Everything looked wonderful...the meat picture, the bread picture. (And is that pretzel bread?) Beer and wine and conversation, oh my!

Did you intend to post a picture of dessert?

Thanks, Glenn. It's easy to write a good update, when you're passionate about the subject matter! This truly was a memorable meal/ evening!

Go back and take a look- I added the phantom dessert. Although, the one shot I came away with is ghastly. Missed the color completely.

Fabulous update! What a wonderful meal and wonderful companions. You tell everyone is have a great time and eating tasty food.

It was such a wonderful EVERYTHING in every way. We had a marvelous time!

Liesa what a wonderful Update !!!The food looked awesome !!!As for the "camel poo" I know the feeling !!!!

I've never personally FELT camel poo...

 

[All7OfUs]

Wow, this update even brought me out of lurkdom (is that even a word??)! What a fabulous time you all had. Two beautiful families sharing an evening - who could ask for more? I would have loved the talk of Germany's history. My paternal grandfather came over from Germany, but he passed when I was very young, so never had the opportunity to hear his stories and memories.

Everything looks delicious, but the breads just about made me drool, especially the pretzel. If food looks so good in photos, I can only imagine how yummy it had to have been.

Thank you for a fabulous update, Liesa. Will go over to Magdalene’s TR to read more.

HI Christine!! It's been a while since you've come over to play! MIssed you!

Magdalene's family is so full of great stories and information- but they are also blessed with the gift of warm hospitality. It was truly a special evening!

I almost ran away with pretzel bread that night as my new lover, but unfortunately he doesn't have a very good job, and tends to disappear quite often.

I hope you liked Magdalene's update (done weeks ago!)- she's a great writer!

I completely agree with your description here.

Lovely update!! I can completely feel the warmth and hospitality through your photos. And that bread basket? Simply devine.

Beer- meh.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the update as much as I enjoyed writing it. I can't remember how many breads were in there- like 5 or 6 total, I think? But the pretzel was by far my favorite!

You had me at the toilet paper.

Glad my writing grabbers do the trick - some readers are easier to reel in than others. If TP doesn't get 'em, use a bodily function metaphor.

I almost wish you had. Almost.

Or camel poo. That works too for piquing the reader's interest.

Does anyone like meat? Is the Pope Catholic?

Homer's my hero.

He has a super-secret stash of meat? This is the coolest dude ever!

I could tell he just wasn't going to just give this acorn fed stuff to anyone off the street. Glad I had the in's!!

You had dinner with a couple of lollipops?

Yeah, I felt bad about mutilating them like that- but I just didn't know if they wanted to be paraded around on the net- PLUS, it might give away the identity of a super secret acorn fed ham stashing cool dude. You never know what might happen if that were to get out.