Cheers to a happy new year!
More exciting than our time in Germany was the mail we came home to: a collection of crocheted snowflakes from my grandma like those hanging on my parents' tree each year of my life; handmade cards from my tiny cousins (their first ever!) now hanging on our wall; a care package from Joe's family with a piano-playing Snoopy. Thanks so much to everyone for making our first Christmas incredibly special. Our mailbox fillings mean more to me than I can say.
To bring in the new year, we're eating a tourte (a French sort of shepherd's pie filled with pork in white wine sauce) that required lots of hours marinating, lots of trimming pork shoulders, two kinds of pastry crust, lots of eggs yolks & onions that made me bawl my eyes out. (Added bonus: extra dough = REAL BISCUITS!)
Unfortunately, we've canceled our plans with friends for some needed recovery time from travel before Joe heads back to work & I start getting letters from graduate schools. We're using the nice dinner time & champagne-sipping reflecting on Germany. So what was it like in Frankfurt?
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It was like coming home. As our feet crunched along the icy sidewalks through the 19th century architecture, no longer worrying about stepping in sliding through what the last dog walker left behind, I looked at the buildings, churches and hanging pub signs with a sense of solidarity I'd never felt in France.
My family on both sides, and a good portion of Joe's family, began in Germany. I'll be honest; I'm not quite sure where we're from. I've never had any desire to learn German. As I've mentioned before, I never had any desire to eat a meat that came in any kind of casing. But something changed when we went to Germany.
Maybe it was the beer, which we had more than a good sampling of–lots of dunkels that reminded me of my dad's pint of beer in German Epcot (which I would have hated at the time, as he did, but have come to love). I was excited to try sausages with sauerkraut and brezels (pretzels) and apfelzwein (an apple wine that's a Frankfurt specialty). It felt like my duty, like a part of me; I felt like I was learning about a part of myself I'd never tried to discover.
So we aren't historically from Frankfurt. Maybe not even from the region. But I was suddenly looking for a part of myself. Without this country, the hardships they'd been through, the history it had, my family wouldn't have its history. We wouldn't have come to the states. My family wouldn't have farmed. We wouldn't have ended up in Ohio.
The trip to Germany with its various museums, restaurants, pubs and skylines was more than sight-seeing. It was somehow a trip home, a way of gaining a better understanding of myself. It was a way to connect to my family, think of them and love them, when I couldn't see them for the holidays.
More Germany to come! Now, it's time to celebrate the first new year of our married life. The photos are almost set for online posting. In the mean time, look at our updated Christmas album to see our new friends & how we spent Christmas night.
Don't forget to check out the German edition of Where's Joe's Head?
Do you love German food or have German recipes? We'd love to hear about it and try more German food of our own. If not, what foods from your own heritage do you enjoy?
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