Travels, real and imagined

I am a nomad. Even when I’m not traveling, I’m thinking about traveling, planning my next adventure, scouring Expedia.com or Orbitz.com for deals, maybe not being able to afford it but at least “planning,” anyway.
If I go more than four months without traveling, even if it’s just to my little cabin in New Mexico (only 2 hours away by car), I go stir crazy.
Last year I traveled to Bavaria about 5 times, two of those times staying more than a month. It became second nature to me to make the reservations, maneuver the airports, exchange currency, live out of a suitcase, etc. Many people dread airports: the crowds, security, lack of seating, disorganization and canceled flights. But I love airports. I LOVE them. Even Charles de Gaulle, just for the people watching.
My favorite airport in all of my travels has been Atlanta Hartsfield, by far. And it’s the most busy airport in the WORLD! Little ole southern Atlanta! It’s just so well organized, beautiful, has LOTS of distractions like food courts, bookstores, duty free shops, beauty counters and “sleep pods,” oh, and it has smoking rooms
Even little El Paso has a decent airport, and I make it a habit to get to the airport two hours before my flights, at least, just to sit at the Starbucks there, read the paper, and watch people say their goodbyes or hellos. It’s especially endearing when it’s military.
I also really enjoy Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss airport. It’s modern, hip, and has great cafes and biergartens. And my favorite hotel I’ve ever stayed at: the Kempinski, where the dinner buffet has got to be the most extensive (and expensive) in all of Bavaria. But SOOOOO worth it. Stay there. Even if you think you’re saving money by staying in Munich, you still have to pay to get to the airport, and you might as well get out of bed and be in the terminal at the same time!
Least favorite airport? Charles de Gaulle, bar none. The name “Gaulle” says it all. Just morbid, stuck in the 1970s, and chaotic. So lucky I’ve only had to deal with it once.
My next trip is a while off. Just a few more paychecks, a few less dinners out, and I think we’ll be on our way. But we’ve always got a suitcase half packed and one foot out the door.
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I enter contests all the time. I play those grocery store Monopoly games, the scratch-off lotto, office pools. Never win. Never.
Well, my dry streak ended yesterday when I found out my husband and I had won a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant that opened recently downtown. Although in the past, I’ve always cringed at using coupons or gift certificates, I’m older and much less prone to embarrassment I’ve got a question, however, to those who may have used gift certificates in the past: do you order and wait for the bill before you mention you have a gift certificate (thereby ensuring great service, or at least regular service) or do you tell them straight off the bat? Do “coupon clippers” get equal service? Just wondered about that.
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Yesterday I met my husband for lunch at the El Paso Public Library, which has a nice little cafe inside that serves a decent coffee, sandwiches and pastries. I’d packed lunch for us and carried it over there, but when I ordered the coffees, I couldn’t resist buying a croissant sandwich (see my previous blog entry. I am not progressing in my healthy endeavors!) filled with chicken salad. It had diced apples and pecans, and just the right amount of mayonnaise, without being gloppy and gross. The picture doesn’t do the cellophane-wrapped sandwich justice, but trust me, it was great and cheap! Gotta find me that recipe, because for a LIBRARY cafe, it was top-notch! Get me with coffee, good food, books AND with my husband, and you get me happy! But what I really want to know is where the library got their croissants. They tasted like the real deal, not mass-produced and dry at all. If you work downtown, give the library a shot for lunch. Oh, and check out their “free books” cart near the checkout area. I found about five yesterday. Good books, too. Not Harlequin romance novels or Commodore computer programming manuals.

He out-Tex-ed-me

No, he didn’t out-text me, although with my ability to text message he could do it blindfolded and backwards. My German husband out-Tex-ed-me in the fact that he made perfect Texas ribs last night. I mean PERFECT, and this is Rib Country. I gave him no prompting, no hints, no ingredients to use. He just did it instinctively and made the best ribs I’ve ever, ever had in my life.
I’m not fawning over my husband’s ribs because they were in fact made by my husband. They were better than the ribs I’ve had at The Rib Hut and State Line, and I thought those were the end-all-be-all of ribs. As you can see from the photos, we both finished off a rack (sans one tiny piece left over to shred on pizza tonight) in no time. AND some Neufchatel pureed potatoes AND a simple salad AND for me, about a quarter of a chocolate bar (dark chocolate, because it’s healthier )
The first thing Christian wanted to do right after dinner was to email the photos I took to his family in Germany, to let them know that they were. And this is what he said: “Und ich sage euch, sie waren sensationell, wie man auf den Bildern auch leicht erkennen kann.”

Last time we used pork ribs, but at the store yesterday, we saw that they’d run out, so we went for the beef ribs. All Christian did was line a pan with foil, salt and pepper the ribs, cover and seal the ribs with foil, cook them slowly at 300 for two hours, and then removed the foil, added Sweet Baby Ray Honey BBQ sauce (but didn’t slather it too much, like some restaurants), and put it back in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. That is it. The meat really did fall off the bone, and it wasn’t toooo much of a “I need tooth floss” evening, as the meat was so tender.
My cheesy potato puree I thought was to die for. And it really was. But NOTHING holds a candle to a rack of juicy, sweet Texas ribs made by a German … unless it’s a pork roast made by a German. Or a plum kuchen made by his mom.
Tonight, to further elaborate on our Texas theme, we’ll make West Texas-style pizza, basically leftover rib meat, onions, bbq sauce, asadero cheese and jalapenos on a Boboli-type pizza dough. I had a pizza similar to this at CPK in LA once, and I’m hoping I can get it to taste somewhat the same.
Does anyone else have an even better way to use up leftover beef rib meat? Other than for the dogs, please! Our two dogs have ribs for a week.

Spring cleaning

I’ve been doing so much inventory on myself, and what I can do to make myself healthier and happier, and I’ve been learning so much about how to do that not through Dr. Phil or some mass-produced Barnes & Noble book of the week, but through just OBSERVING.

In increments, I’ve begun to observe things I passed by every day before without a blink of an eye, behaviors I have that I have done for so many years without knowing or admitting, others’ behaviors and how I react to them, bits and pieces of nature that we all have taken for granted but that are so incredibly beautiful and fascinating upon close inspection, my body telling me (and me actually listening for once) what is healthy and productive, and observing the simplicity that is attainable.

Far and beyond has been the observing of my husband and how he lives his life, makes decisions, takes care of his body, interacts with his family, and how he tackles issues. Things are so simple with him: Either you do this or you do that, you follow rules, you believe it when you see it, you take care of what’s in front of you for the day, you respect your family and spend lots of time with them, you respect the environment and don’t waste anything at all, you constantly strive to learn…everything, you take part in the community and, above all, says it like it IS.

I see these traits in so many Germans that I interact with, and they all seem to be a very happy lot! I know when I stayed for extended periods in Germany, I glowed with health and serenity, and my doctor said, “You’re doing something right.” Rather than go to a doctor here in the states, I “take my medicine” with a visit to my in-laws’ house for a month, and come back like a champ.

My husband and I can’t be back in Bavaria for a few months, but in the meantime, we try to recreate as much as we can the lifestyle/cuisine/culture of Germany here in Far West Texas, and it keeps us grounded. We walk just about everywhere (these photos are from our walk yesterday, before and after it rained in the desert. Gorgeous! And our healthy fruit and muesli breakfast next to pictures of family )

What keeps you grounded?

One for Texas!

I had been having some serious trepidation about having my husband try pork here in Texas. I mean, surely, the pork in Bavaria is beyond outstanding. It’s practically the staff of life there, besides beer and potatoes (which, by the way, isn’t a stereotype, because it’s true).
After I experienced pork in Germany, I knew I’d never have the same feeling about eating pork in the states. I’d always compare it to Uli’s schweinebraten, or the Augustiner’s schweinehaxe, etc. But tonight, we felt lazy and since it is Friday night, we decided to go out to dinner. Something in the neighborhood. The nearest place that wasn’t Mexican food was Rudy’s BBQ, a chain restaurant. For those of you who haven’t been there (and we hadn’t), it’s “dressed up” to look like some retro filling station (that’s gas station to the younger ones, lol). Except it really does have gas available. Inside are lots of communal tables and picnic tables, with a cafeteria line set-up. And a great view, especially at sunset, of Mt. Franklin (see photo).
Free condiments include bread, jalapenos, onions, pickles and cherry peppers.
Rudy’s serves half-or-whole-pound cuts of beef, turkey, pork or chicken, sides like cole slaw, potato salad, three-bean salad, creamed corn, etc., and desserts like buttermilk pie and Tres Leches cake. Sauces are at the table. There’s the regular sauce (very good) and “Sissy Sause,” spelled that way, by the way.
I ordered half a pound of pork, and Christian went for the brisket sandwich. We both had the bean salad, and I HAD to get the Tres Leches cake (see me caught in the act. Darned if it wasn’t the best Tres Leches cake I’ve ever had. And I’ve had LOTS).
I figured Christian would order beef. That’s pretty much all he orders meat-wise when we go out, here in the USA. I guess he’s afraid of the “mediocre” pork and doesn’t want to lose the memory of his last great schweinebraten back in Rohr, NB.
But I had him try a slice of my pork, and…. he really liked it! That is saying something, my friends. he had not one word bad to say about it, and didn’t qualify his praise with a “but…”. Wow. A chain BBQ joint managed to make a believer out of my husband.
I ate the entire half pound (minus one slice), about half of my salad, and half of the cake (which will be history tomorrow). But right now I’m nursing the tummyache with some chamomile tea. Tomorrow we go to Las Cruces, N.M., to the COAS Bookstore, a used-bookstore that takes a day to navigate. Then we’ll eat at International Delights in Las Cruces, and hit the Farmer’s Market. I’ll try to stick to a vegetarian diet tomorrow. I’m porked out.

The German Diet

When I lived in Bavaria last year with my husband, I ate heartily and healthily, and since I was underweight, his family always made sure I had the largest piece of schweinebraten, or the biggest steckerlfisch, mound of kartoffelpuree, etc. But we walked EVERYWHERE, on top of the hour I would walk every morning before the crack of dawn.
I left Germany having lost weight.
Now, we’re settled here in Texas, and still eating very similarly to how we ate in Bavaria. Except this morning, I couldn’t zip up my favorite black pants. We still walk to and from work, parking at a family member’s house to walk downtown. And we walk the dogs pretty much every afternoon in the desert. But that’s about it. It’s the car the rest of the time, even to go to 7-11, which is certainly within walking distance.
I really never have had to diet before, and really didn’t pay attention to our modern-day sedentary lifestyles, until I knew the difference. I was amazed at how active even the elderly are in Germany. Women in their 80s would zoom by me on their bicycles early in the morning, up hill, with their bike baskets filled with their daily groceries. Kids still play outside, and play hard. A walk to the butcher, bakery, supermarkt, apotheke, etc., every single day, are NORMAL.
Now I guess I’ll have to cut back a little, or pump up the walking, or both.
I’m wondering what German ex-pats now living in the United States have done to maintain their weight. Have you lost? Gained? Made any changes in routine?

American as Apfelstrudel

It’s been more than two months, since I was last in Rohr i. Neiderbayern, Germany. I’ve been jonesing for a slice or two of apfelstrudel. My husband’s apfelstrudel. Sure, he could make it here, but it just doesn’t taste the same. What is it about real, true apple strudel made and eaten in Germany that makes it taste so damn good? Even strudel made here locally, by Germans, doesn’t come close. And I used to adore apple pie — especially the apple pie made at the Mountain Top Mercantile in Cloudcroft, N.M. It was sublime. I know Cloudcroft vacationers from East Texas who would hoard the pies, freeze them, and take them back to Dallas or Houston to consume later. It was that good.
But it doesn’t do it for me anymore. Nope. Not after trying my husband’s warm strudel, sitting outside under the, natch, apple tree, looking over the rolling hills and hops fields, having a two-hour kaffee und kuchen.
Do you K und K with your family on Sundays or any other day of the week? Do you know anyone who does? If so, what are your kaffee und kuchen traditions, recipes and memories? I think the act of sitting down with your family, with a devoted time to just chat and enjoy each other’s company and some sweets and coffee should be required for everyone.

Neu York!

The gazillion Delta SkyMiles I racked up going to and from Munich last year just earned me and Christian a practically-free flight to NYC in three weeks!!! I am thrilled! I’ve been to NY a few times, but Christian has never been. He’s only flown into Atlanta, Denver and El Paso, and the only “big” city he’s seen is El Paso and a quick drive through Albuquerque. We’ve road-tripped all around New Mexico and West Texas, but since I’ve known him he’s dreamed of hitting the Big Apple.
I am dying to see New York again, through HIS eyes. I could see all the same old tourist traps and be enthralled, because it will be new to me again, seeing his excitement.
To save money, we’re staying at a “hostel-type” place, but it’s right in the center of town, so we’re stoked. The only concession we have made is that, since we’re Bourdain fans, is that we go to Les Halles for lunch or brunch. And from there on, we’re keeping an open date book.
However, if anyone knows of a great German restaurant, we’d love to check it out.

Poppies, Easter and Thai, oh my!

We had (or have had, since it’s only 1:30 p.m.) the most amazing Easter I can remember since, oh, last year? Last year was spent in Rohr, Germany, with Christian’s family. I thought THAT was amazing. But today Christian and I decided to go to a Thai New Year’s celebration over on the East side of town. We’d read about it in the paper, and I thought it sounded “quaint.”
It was incredible. Thai buddhist monks in their marigold robes mingling with people from all walks of life in the backyard of a home near Irvin High School. For a donation only, guests were served just about every Thai food item available, fresh fruit, Thai tea, water, sodas and plenty of entertainment. The Wat Thai temple (5900 Rutledge) also offers free meditation 2-5 p.m. on Saturdays! The food was so good I couldn’t stand it, and the members were as sweet as can be. I can’t believe our luck in finding this gem. By the way, the owners of Tara Thai restaurant were in charge of it. Tara Thai on Mesa is a restaurant that El Paso should get on its knees and thank the heavens that it has it in its midst.
Oh, and on the way to the temple, we drove Transmountain Drive to check out the gorgeous view of the Upper Valley as well as the plethora of poppies that grace the foot of the mountains. Now THAT is what I call a great Easter!!!!
Now, for a nap. After all of the spring rolls, mango rice, mussels, tapioca and sauteed baby eggplants, we deserve it.