Spätzle machen! And Knoblauch presses!

Because I'm homesick for some great traditional German food and the fuzzybee, I decided to make one of our favorites! Spätzle!!! Yay!

The famous Spätzle doesn't necessarily need to be made with it's special Presse. Well I tried searching for a cheap one in Berlin and Bonn's famous Flohmarkts. So I decided to make do with this Garlic Press I found at the Ostbahnhof Flohmarkt (during the last weekend of Flotrinkian's recent reunification trip) which I got for 1 euro.

The Mini version of a Spätzle Prese: a Garlic Presse!


Then The Dough!

That's just

500 grams Mehl (or 2 cups)
1/4 Tsp Muskat
1/2 Tsp Salz
Pffefer!
Misch alles!

2 Eir (Beat it baby!)
3/4 cup Milch oder Wasser (Well the quantity can vary, I guess)
Misch alles!

Und dann zussamen!

Form a hole in the middle of the Mehl mix and put the eir mixture in. Then form the dough! Keep kneading until you have a nice solid dough. Add some water to the dough when it gets too dry or tough and keep adding flour when it gets too sticky.

*If you want Spinat Spätzle, just finely chop some Spinat and add it to the dough.

UND DANN!

Beginnen sie!

Start presing away!

Caution: This knoblauch Presse procedure takes a while (obviously hahahaha), but you won't regret it! Make a whole bunch so you can just drop them in a pot of boiling water.

Viola! Kleine Nudeln!

Throw in the first Nudeln bunches and then, watch them float to the surface and scoop them out with a strainer right away and put them in a dish. And then drop the next batch and so on and so forth.

Swim nudeln, swim to the surface!

Tada!



Don't forget the sauce!

--which can be anything really. Goulasch--which is a tomato based sauce, or a nice creamy mushroom sauce. Mmmmmm.....

Of course there are traditional recipes for Spätzle but I think a freestyle sauce would definitely work too. You can add cheese as you go along too! Just remember to mix the stuff together (on separate serving plates) right before serving. And for leftovers, keep the sauce and the dough separate so it never gets soggy and the yumminess lives to see another day.

So there you go, Spätzle Flotrinkian half in Manila-style! Guten Apetit!


***Credits:
Thanks to the Essigs and to Spätzle online. Yay!

OH NO! Lässig-Member is gone!

Lässig-member 2 is sitting in the plane to Doha now... Too bad, and surprising how fast 7 months can pass.

So, what did the young Jedi learn?? Well, besides using the force, the filipino Lässig-member knows Wurst now for shizzle. We ate:

Bratwurst
Curry-Wurst
XXL-Bratwurst
Nürnberger
Thüringer
Brühwürstchen
Berliner Knacker
Leberwurst
Landjäger
Schinken Knacker
Frankfurter
Wiener
Krakauer
spanische Wurst mit Salsa
Leberwurst
Mettwurst
Fleischwurst

..

Hmmm. Did I forget something? I could complete the list with Schnittwurst (like Mortadella, Schinken and so on...) but I leave this for the other teammember.

(trinka adding now roastbeef! schikenwurst---hmmm, you have to name the other ones! haha)

Besides that, the Flotrinkian teammember is probably the only person ever travelling by plane with 40 Kilos even though 20 Kilos are just allowed. HAHAHA. 20 regular weight + 5 kilos overweight. + 1 Kilo free of charge. 7 Kilos handluggage. 3 Kilos hidden in the beld bag. and another 10 Kilos "Laptop". HAHAHAHA. Packing the luggage was much like playing Tetris, but I hope everything gets well to Manila.

Trinka thinking she can trick me into taking her excess baggage

So, the Flotrinkian-adventure is not over yet. We just have to figure out a way to hook up again. The good thing about it: MUCH, MUCH time to prepare the conquest of the world. The disadvantage: NO TRINKA! (trinka adds: "at least in Germany! I'm right here Flobee!Just now with a 6 hour time difference!"

pffft... have a save flight Lässig-member!

AND NOW!!! (Trinka adds from Doha airport)

ON TO THE NEXT AWESOME FLOTRINKIAN ADVENTURE!

YAY!!!!

Some other Food Adventures

This part of the Flotrinkian team obviously likes posting about food. Well, the Filipino part of Flotrinkian absolutely loves food because it always associates to time spent with my favorite people. So here are more food adventures from the Flotrinkian hungry bees!

I've posted the normal and not so exotic food Flo and I cooked/baked or bought and devoured!

SPINAT SPÄTZLER! lecker!

Ostern Frühstuck Picnic

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Weinachten Cookies!

Gluewein from a Traditional Cup

Eirlikor + Schokoladen trinken

Gries Auflauf Machen!

Gries Auflauf mit assorted Obst!

Germknodel Making Tag

Germknodel: The Austrian Dish

Germknodel Eating Mann

Some thoughts on Essen

Someone just asked me recently what my favorite German Food is, to which I answered in the plural of course!

1. WURST (all German wursts, you name it, I find it lecker! Even blutwurst!)
MMMMMM

2. Spätzle
Which is this pasta type dish which you can layer with cheese and mushrooms (lecker) or with pork or tomato sauce and is best eaten when you're having a bad day. hahaha. MMMM.

Pic Stolen from the web haha


3. Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a side dish. And though it's not a main dish, i think it's a pretty delicious dish. It looks like a turnip but it doesn't behave or taste like one. And because it is exotic to me, and because you just need to cook it with cream and some nutmeg, it makes number 3 on my list.


Kohlrabi

Flori preparing the Kohlrabi

Best Side dish for the Nürnberger!!


I suppose you can add Leberkäse, daumpnudlen and Maltauschen and all other meaty German dishes to the list. And there's even this whole list of assorted German nutty bread that I love and Bakery goodies like Apfel Tasche and Pudding Bretzel which are perfect with a cup of hot chocolate or Naschen while waiting at the train station. Don't even get me started on the cheese and the Beer and all these Turkish street food which is just soooo yummmy.

I think German cuisine, in all its simplicity and meat-loving nature, is just awesome, awesome food. Now, there must be a way to fuse it with Filipino cuisine's spice, saltiness and lack of discipline. Hahaha.

I could imagine Adobo Spätzle...

mmmmmmmmm

Recording Session at Philharmonie Essen

Well, I guess it's really about time, that I write something, since the other teammember wrote most of the last entries. Main reason is, that I don't have a digital camera, so that it's often too boring to post something, since I can't present pictures. But with this...:

Kunstkopf von Neumann (guess: left or right?!)

...TADA! I have some pictures I can present.

Since it is Trinkas goal, to have as much pins as possible on her virtual world map, we have to visit each of Germanies cities at least once, so that she can say, that she has been in EACH AND EVERY city of Germany. So, Essen is conquered now.
We would love to go to other European cities too, but since Trinka requires soooper pooper expensive visas for every country we want to visit, we have to concentrate on Germany first.... Then Europe.... And then the world...

So, in Essen we recorded an orchestra and several choirs, as part of my study. Pretty big and pretty interesting, since we set up several microphone arrays and all instruments seperately. Would be too much work, to describe everything in detail. Most of all it was interesting, since I learned about microphe setup. But now Trinka is as same as professional, since she helped out with maximum power, as it is normal for a production designer. Now, she can say, that she is a production designer / director / filmmaker / sound engineer... So, there should be firms who want to hire her immediately!!! hahaha

Philharmonie Essen

Well, even though we are separated, we are soooper busy and important! I write my thesis and Trinka shoots 3 movies at once. Ludwigsburg, Berlin, Köln.... Germany is already homezone for Team Lässig. So will be Manila...!
And: We are application pros, too! Watch your mail box... you might have received an application from us already. YAY!

Hahahaha...

So, spring time is definitely there, and so does the heat come. Let's see if it will be sooper hot before Trinka leaves, so that the change to Manilas tropical temperatures won't be too much of a shock...

YAY!

Train Travel Along South Rheinland

So the ICE train was actually 22 minutes late. It was a nice sunny day and I though it would suck to spend the nice afternoon on a train to Ludwigsburg. But as I realized later on, it was a perfect day to be on a train that follows the river Rhine down south of Germany. And wow! Walled cities and medieval castles atop hillsides galore! I had a great view of the towns and cities that dot the Rhine, caught a glimpse of their trade and farms lands and wished Flo and I were exploring their nooks and crannies on our bikes and rewarding ourselves with a beer later on.

It’s finally really Frühlings in Germany and with the sun out and with much warmer temperatures, people are out with a vengeance, on their bikes, taking a walk, playing ball, all of them (us!) proudly wearing 1 or 2 thin shirts and enjoying the sun.

And guess what, I also got a good glimpse of Mainz, Mannheim and Heidelberg from the train!

I was afraid of falling asleep on the train, not because I was scared someone would steal my bags but because I might snore away and miss the whole Rhineland experience. (But well, the train ride on the third hour got pretty boring. Hahaha.)

For a free 29e ticket ride on the ICE just to help out for 8 days for free on a student project, I’d say this train ride was pretty worth it.

Hamburg and the Flotrinkian + Charley Invasion!

Hamburg was mainly about the following:

1. Visiting Charley
2. ESSEN!
3. and HARBOUR EXPLORATION!

The first night was pretty surreal, having realized that you’re on an escapade with a friend from back home in another country! Add to this was the fact that 2 Filipinos, a Peruvian and a German were going around Reeperbahn (Hamburg’s red light district) with the goal of staying awake to catch the famed 5am Hamburg Fisch Markt. Thus, we partied in an Irish bar, gorged on Turkish food, hung out in a bar with really ugly pole dancers and sang our guts out in a Filipino Karaoke joint where the Germans were hogging the microphone and singing so badly out of tune. By the time we got to the Fisch market surviving 6 hours of “partying”, the Peruvian Johnny was down and drunk and fast asleep, the two Filipinos still chatty, (with one with aching feet and a runner’s knee—that’s me!) and the German Flori, bored but happily drinking his hot chocolate and eating his Berliner.

Partying Party

Turkish Delight

Poledancers!

Sexy Cakes for Sale!

5am: Derranged and Sleepy

Sunday was spent walking around Hamburg, seeing the Rathaus,; going up the burned Church and getting a real nice view of Hamburg; see real swans! (hahaha) and eating .70e ice cream and once again gorging on delicious German-Turkish food! That night we also went down the hundred year old Elbe Tunnel and got a glimpse of Charley’s luxury liner.

Flori, Is that you?

Yay!

Elbe Tunnel Man

The next day, we took a river cruise down the Speicherstadt. Hamburg has the biggest cargo storage in the world! Various cargo get stored in these warehouses as old as the port itself, keeping an even 12 degree temperature for food, carpets and other items of trade from all over the world.

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Hording Place of World Trade

The tour of the Speicherstadt also takes you through the Elbe river where you get to see cargo ships and huge containers unloading as well as huge ships dry docked (like a car going into repair), their bottoms repainted and the ships getting an overhaul in preparation for the next trip overseas.





We met up with Charley afterwards for some ice cream (of course!) and kite flying. (Charley has the actual kiteflying pics. hahaha)

Macho Kite Builder

Kite Flying Day

Charley got her first taste of authentic German food. We had fish and some leberkase and Hamburg’s beer which unfortunately rates even below Kölsch on my review of good German drinks.

Fisch!!! Lecker!!!

Leberkase!

Satisfied Dinner Guests

The Runaway Design Team

Sexy Flotrinkian

Rounds of drinks with Derek wrapped up our days in Hamburg and it’s always a nice couple of hours relaxing and laughing in a warm house with great breakfast! Thanks for having us over Derek!

The Host with the Most!

And then, we said “See you later” to cheeky Charley who's off on her world adventure tour, and then we were off back to Bonn, back to work and back to the German daily grind and back to the usual Flotrinkian adventures, and now to more serious ones like Diplomaarbeiten and the process of filmmaking and creating the great Flotrinkian empire!