Category: in germany

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foooood in germany in the netherlands

speculoos spread

ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the best thing this side of nutella’s invention:

i wish blogs could convey the scent that emanates from this precious jar. it’s… indescribably mouth-watering. our friend isa showed it to us when we were staying with her, and in our excitement we almost forgot our manners and inhaled all of her precious stock! good lord, i could swear they lace it with crack…

speculoos are crunchy spiced (pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg) cookies from the netherlands and belgium. they taste a bit like crispier gingerbread cookies… but better! it’s hard to explain, the flavour is so characteristic – and in my mind irrevocably connected to afternoons writing my master thesis in the netherlands, with a cup of tea by my side.

the spread tastes like the cookies, and has an interesting story too:

In the area of Europe centered on Eeklo, Belgium, where the speculoos cookie originated, local workers had long known that a sandwich made in the morning with butter and speculoos cookies would develop a spread-like consistency by lunchtime.
In 2008, two competitors entered a contest on the Belgian television show, The Inventors (de Bedenkers), with a spread made from speculoos cookies— Els Scheppers, who reached the semi finals, and the team of chef Danny De Mayer and Dirk De Smet, who weren’t selected as finalists. Spreads made from crushed Speculoos cookies would subsequently go into production by three separate companies, and by the time they arrived in Belgian supermarkets, Speculoos spread caused a sensation, taking the “Benelux market by storm.”

it’s still hard to find in germany, but we’ve spotted it at kaiser’s and have been sharing it with all our friends ever since. seriously, give it a go if you can get it! :D

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in germany

48 hours neukölln

our district celebrated art this weekend, with 48 hours of concerts, exhibitions, talks, tours, performances, open doors and lots of other cool stuff. the particular thing about this festival is that it happens all over the district, inside art galleries, courtyards, cafés or even ordinary people’s living rooms! you walk down the street, and when you see the sign – go in and check it out!


the result is a mix bag, but there’s always interesting things to be seen. this year, the highlight for me was the visit to the puppet museum. the lady there was super-enthusiastic about her job and the history of the musem, and even let us try handling the marionettes! i gave it a go…

…but it was hard work just trying to walk! :D

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in germany traveling

the bauhaus workshop

weimar is also the birthplace of bauhaus, a new kind of art school started in 1919 by walter groupius. it was characterised by the absence of ornamentation and the harmony between design and function – as gropius said, “we want an architecture adapted to our world of machines, radios and fast cars”.

and so, a visit to weimar wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the bauhaus museum. we joined a guided tour of the museum which was nice enough, but we had something else waiting for us… a bauhaus workshop!

after the museum, our guide showed us into a room on the historical university, where a lot of materials were waiting for us. the task: to make bauhaus-inspired lanterns!

paulo was really into his yellow pyramid! :)

everybody tried their best and with some help from the guide, we all managed to make some pretty (and working!) lanterns. here are the finished art pieces:

don’t they all look nice? everyone wanted to show their artistic talent! while we waited for night to fall to light our lanterns, we were served the evening bread, bauhaus style! the bread and salad were especially yummy… not to mention the hot chocolate!

there were still some minutes left to tour the university’s buildings…

… including walter gropius office!

and then, night felt and it was time to light our candles and cross the pitch black deserted park, with our lanterns in tow…

it was simultaneously eerie and yet so magical… like being transported almost 100 years back in time, to one of those nights when the bauhaus students did this same stroll with their own lanterns. i could almost feel the happiness and excitement sizzle under my skin! :)

i’m so glad we got to experience it, thanks to our friend (& weimar connoisseuse-extraordinaire) helena! if you ever visit the city, do not miss it! :)

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in germany traveling

weimar

a few months ago we had an invitation to visit weimar and erfurt. it was a special treat from a friend who had lived there for some years, and wanted to show her friends around in a weekend… we were really happy to accept, delighted in the knowledge that we couldn’t be in better hands! :)

accommodation was sorted out on a quaint bed & breakfast, cars were rented, and our group got on the way one early saturday morning!

the first stop was an autobahnkirche, or a road church, which was something new to me. road churches are churches near a highway, where people can go to pray or meditate on their trips. the road church of gelmeroda is especially famous because it was painted numerous times by lyonel feininger, a famous german-american expressionist painter.

in weimar, we headed over to the lovely duchess anna amalia’s library for a quick peek…


… after which we ran to the market square for some food! (priorities!):D

weimar is renowned for its cultural heritage – and especially for 2 very famous writers who lived here: goethe and schiller. between 1788 and 1805, the two of them led the cultural and literary movement known as weimar classicism. everything in weimar seems to have been touched by them, and so a tour of the city wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the houses of the masters!

both houses couldn’t be more different from each other. while goethe enjoyed success from an early age, poor schiller did nothing but work like a slave to sustain his family. this is goethe’s house:



you’ll notice the different colours in every room – goethe was fascinated with them, and published the theory of colours in 1810. he also spent some years in italy, from where he brought a lot of architectural influences to weimar.

in contrast, schiller’s house was very simple…

after a day filled with goethe & schiller, we were almost ready to retire… but little did we know, the best was yet to come! i’ll tell you more about it tomorrow :)

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in germany

waking up early

we’ve been trying to follow goethe’s example and wake up earlier in the summer months, especially since there’s daylight at 5 am, and it seems like a waste not to enjoy it. so far this month, we’ve managed to always make it out of bed before 7, and i’m quite proud of that.

but it’s not the waking up early that is a problem for us – it’s the going to bed (reasonably) early that we seem to have trouble with… any tricks or tips?