Perfectly Simple Risotto

     I've been wanting to make risotto for a long time. I assumed that it was a very complicated process, but I'm glad to report that it's really not. Yes, it does require a little time and your undivided attention, but it's not actually difficult. The only reason it took me two tries to get right was because I got a splitting migraine in the middle of my first attempt and was unable to give it the love and attention it deserved. But this time, it was perfect. It's so good, it makes me not want to eat plain rice now. And while I usually think of my culinary endeavors in Germany as one long ride on the struggle bus, this one really wasn't compromised. Okay, I confess I did use plain rice instead of risotto rice, but hey, it worked.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup risotto rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
a handful of button mushrooms, finely chopped
2 shallots, minced
half a stick of butter
1 clove of garlic
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a saucepan, gently simmer the chicken broth, so that it's warm when you add it to the rice later.
2. Chop the vegetables. Then sauté them in half of the butter for a few minutes until tender.

3. Add the rice to the frying pan and sauté with the veggies for about 2 minutes until it just starts to turn translucent.

4. Now, transfer the rice and veggies to a larger pot, and add the wine. Stir it constantly until the wine is absorbed. Maybe 5 minutes. The constant stirring is the essential part of this process.

5. Once all the wine is absorbed, do the same thing with the broth, 1/2 cup at a time. Add 1/2 cup, stir it  constantly until the liquid absorbs, and repeat until the broth is gone. The whole process should take about 25 minutes. when you're out of liquid, the rice should be cooked.

5. Finally, stir in the other half of the butter and the parmesan until it all melts. Then serve immediately.

See, it's that easy. Just make sure to give it your undivided attention, and you should get the result you want. Enjoy!

The Best Things I Ate This Month: Part 2

     As you are probably well aware, one of my favorite things about living in Europe is eating in Europe. Since my last "Best of" food post was so much fun to write (and research) I have, in fact, decided to make it a series. For each of the four months of my travels, I will post the very best things I ate. While the first post was dedicated to German favorites, this one also includes culinary pleasures from Austria and Paris. Since I only spend 36 hours in Paris, there's no way I could possibly do its incredible cuisine justice, but rest assured, I'm going back for more on Thursday. I have many, many things to share this month, so this is going to be mostly pictures (in chronological order) with short commentary.

First, the Thüringer Wurst, my first experience with street food. Surprisingly good for just 1 euro!

Next, there's Spaghetti-Eis. It looks like spaghetti, but it's ice cream. And it's terrific!

I had this meal in a very old Austrian restaurant in Salzburg. It's pork roast with the best gravy and a giant Knödel. That's a dumpling, but I just like the word Knödel.

This was my meal at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. This establishment isn't exactly known for the food, so the schnitzel cordon bleu was just okay. 

The apple strudel, however, was perfect. Fresh and not too sweet.

On a day trip to Ulm, we stopped at a little café for cake and coffee. This is a slice of blueberry goodness.

And now, on to Paris! The first thing I ate there (besides the free breakfast at the hostel) was a Nutella crêpe. They don't skimp on the Nutella!

While in Paris, we decided to have one splurge dinner at a real brasserie. The steak-frites was great!

And the crème brûlée was even better! That crunch of the sugar on top is the sound of perfection!

     So those were the highlights. Over the next month, I'll continue to be that tourist, taking pictures of all my food, living that food blogger thug life, so I can share it all with you!

Honey Beer Bread

     When I was a little kid, I was absolutely perplexed by this stuff. I loved it, but I really felt like I shouldn't. "You mean it has beer in it, but I can eat it?" the five-year-old me would ask. It felt wrong. Beer was for old people, and it smelled funny. How could it transform into something so delicious when baked? I didn't get it at the time, but now years later, and living in the land of beer, I had to revisit this old favorite. And I'm so glad I did. With only a few ingredients and about 10 minutes of effort, the result was absolutely heavenly.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons honey
12 ounces of beer
1/2 stick of melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan (which I didn't have, so my bread is more cake-shaped)
2. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
3. Add in the honey and beer and mix just until there are no floury spots left.

4. Transfer the dough to the pan and smooth the top. Pour the melted butter over the top before baking. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

5. Enjoy this while it's fresh, with real butter.

Again, sorry it's cake-shaped. We'll call it rustic.

Switzerland and Feeling Like the World is Yours

      We've officially passed the halfway point of the semester. The feeling that comes with that realization is incredibly difficult to describe. First of all, I'm proud of myself for doing a thousand things I never thought I could. I'm sad to see the time passing so quickly, but since I have another whole year here to look forward to now, I'm actually really excited to go home for the summer and be with friends and family for a while before round two. Knowing that I have more time has gotten rid of the sense of urgency I had to go everywhere and do everything as soon as possible, which feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Still, I know that my experience next year will be nothing like this semester, so I'm trying to really cherish all the unique opportunities I have now.
     The most exciting of these opportunities is the backpacking/hosteling/eurail riding experience. It's one giant cliché, it's what all the college kids are doing these days, or at least, it seems like it. Honestly, I never expected to love that style of travel. It all sounded way too spontaneous to me. However, I think this weekend was when it finally started to sink in that this freedom to go anywhere is pretty incredible. The fact that we can decide on Tuesday that we want to go to Switzerland on Friday and actually make it happen is not something to take for granted.
     So that's what we did. It conveniently takes only 3 hours to reach Zürich, and while it's somewhere that was never on my travel bucket list, I'm so glad I went. We spent only a day and a half there, but since we decided to spend our time in a more relaxing way just enjoying the culture, we didn't feel compelled to spend longer going to every typical tourist attraction in town. And to my surprise, the culture of Switzerland is really fascinating. The country has four official languages, and almost one quarter of its inhabitants are not natives. It's like a playground for the rich and famous, but still has a rich mixture of cultures. Although Zürich is in the German speaking part of the country, I felt right at home when I walked into cafés with menus half in German and half in French.
     We began our exploration of the city with a walk down the most famous shopping street. It's lined with the kinds of stores I would feel awkward just walking into, but at the end of the road is the beautiful Lake Zürich. Switzerland, not Illinois.

     The rest of our time was spent at a leisurely pace, looking for more beautiful views, strolling along the pedestrian streets of the old town, enjoying authentic Swiss meals in the outdoor sections of cafés, having wine and chocolate on the rooftop terrace of our hostel, and simply finding as many of those little moments of perfection that we could. It's those moments of perfection that make this entire experience what it is. It's those moments that make all the challenges worth it. It's those moments that make me wonder why all the college students in America aren't tripping over each other on their way to sign up for study abroad.
     It's been said a million times before, but studying abroad changes you. It not only makes you a more independent, adventurous person, but also a more interesting person. You get out there and see all you can see, and when you get back, the world seems both bigger and smaller at the same time. Now I realize that America is such a small part of what it has to offer, but at the same time, I feel like it is a little more within reach than I used to think. It's mine to explore, to experience, and it could be yours too.
   

German Pear Cake

     Recently, I took a day trip from Stuttgart to Ulm, on the border of Bavaria. Aside from the Ulmer Münster, one of the main attractions in Ulm, at least for me, is the bread museum. Yes, you read that correctly, they have a whole museum devoted to the history of bread. It may sound random, but keep in mind that bread has been humanity's main food source throughout  most of history. It really is an interesting museum, but it would be a lot better if they had actual bread there for sampling or purchase. They do, however, have cookbooks, so you can go make your own bread. And you know how excited I get when anyone encourages people to make their own bread. So I decided that I deserve a souvenir for myself too, and I picked out a cookbook full of Swabian baked goods, entitled Schwäbisch Backen. One of my projects over the next year or so is to translate, convert, and share each and every one of the recipes in this book, and there's a lot. It's no small undertaking, and I hope it doesn't qualify as plagiarism. I'm just genuinely really excited to try all of these things and share them with an audience who probably would otherwise never hear of these delicious treats. Plus, making German recipes while I'm in Germany solves my problem of never finding all my usual ingredients.
     For my first project, I chose a pear cake. I initially chose this because I never know what to do with pears. If I try to eat them raw, I don't think they taste like anything. However, in this recipe, they're incredibly juicy and sweet. Then in the middle of making it, I realized that this is very similar to my favorite thing ever, German cheesecake. It's a little different, but it has Quark, the magic ingredient. If you look hard, you can find that in the US, so I refuse to provide a substitution for it. The crust dough for this is also really good. I think I'm going to experiment with using it in some American recipes, because it's so much less finicky than pie crust. So basically, this cake/cheesecake is amazing, second only to the original German cheesecake.

INGREDIENTS:
Shortcrust:
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 sticks butter, softened
1 egg
pitch of salt
pitch of baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour

Cake:
4 pears, at least quartered
juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
pitch of salt
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup quark
1 cup crème fraîche

DIRECTIONS:
1. It's best to prepare the crust dough a few hours early, chill it in the fridge, then take it out 30 minutes before use. To make it, beat the butter, sugar, egg, and salt until fluffy. then gradually add the dry ingredients. Mix it with a machine or by hand, but it does need a little bit of hand kneading at the end. It should come together nicely.

2. Preheat the oven to 400. Butter and flour a 12-inch springform pan. Peal and cut the pears, coating them with lemon juice to keep them looking fresh.

3. Roll out the crust dough and press it into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Unfortunately, I don't have a rolling pin here, so that's why there are thumbprints in mine. Gotta do what you gotta do.
Then, place the pear pieces to cover the bottom of the crust. Think of it as a pear upside-down cheesecake with a crust. That's really the best way I can describe it.

4. Carefully separate the eggs. Beat the yolks with the sugar, salt, vanilla, sour cream, quark, and crème fraîche until perfectly smooth.

5. In a chilled, metal bowl, beat the egg whites with a little lemon juice until you get soft peaks. I will never again attempt to do this by hand. Next time, I'll walk next door and borrow a mixer. I dot them about 80% there before my arm died and I just called it a day, but it worked.

Fun fact: The German word for whipped egg whites is "Eischnee" or "egg snow." Cute, and logical!

6. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Then pour it all over the pears into the crust and bake for about 35 minutes. I still haven't gotten the hang of my German oven, that has a bunch of weird settings with funny symbols, so the the very top of my cake got a little dark, but it was cooked perfectly. Don't be alarmed when pear juice stars oozing out when you cut it. Or if you're really patient, cool it in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for more German specialties!

Lemon Chicken

     Have I told you guys lately that cooking here in Germany is hard? Every recipe involves ingredient substitutions, complicated conversions, and generally lackluster presentation. I feel like every post I write from here should begin with an apology because honestly, if I were at home, it would look better. I promise it all tastes just as good, but aesthetically, it takes some imagination. Even though cooking takes twice as much planning and time here, I'm not going to stop. Eventually, I'll learn what works here and what doesn't, and since I'm staying another year, maybe I can justify expanding my limited array of kitchen gadgets. But this particular recipe was a winner, winner, chicken dinner. It was actually  arelatively easy road to lemony goodness.

INGREDIENTS:
4 servings of chicken---White is good, dark would be better. I wanted to get some with the skin on, but my tiny German grocery store didn't have that today.
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
2 lemons, zest both, wedge one, and squeeze the juice of the other one
salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Chop the garlic, zest and juice the lemons.
2. In the bottom of a glass baking dish, mix the oil, wine, garlic, and lemon juice and zest.
3. Add the chicken to the dish, place lemon wedges in between, season with spices, and brush the top with the olive oil mixture, once before and once or twice during cooking.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.

It's simple and delicious. Enjoy!

I Live in Germany: What I miss and What I Don't

     This week will mark the halfway point of my semester abroad. Over the last two months, I have really settled in here and created a life that I love. And that's not just because studying abroad is tons of fun. I really think it's because there's just something about Germany that's good for me. I felt it when I spent a summer here in high school, and I feel it again now. There's a different pace of life here, and a different general philosophy that's impossible for me to fully describe, but it just feels right. And I'm not the only one who notices this. In fact, most of the people in the group repeatedly comment about how we want to live here forever. Today, as a sort of midpoint reflection, I want to share the top 10 things I miss from home and the top 10 things I'll miss about Germany when I do come home. And then I have an announcement to make.

First, let's start with what I miss from home/ things that annoy me here: (In no particular order)
1. Comfy beds. I don't know if it's just the dorms, and cheap hostels here, but I haven't slept in a bed that wasn't hard as a rock since January. Also, the bedding is odd here. I've already complained about the big, flat pillows, but the duvet blanks are weird too. I miss my fluffy comforter and my memory foam.
2. A fully loaded, kitchen. I'm a chef. I'm thankful that the program supplies us with some essential kitchen items, but I miss having a full set of pots and pans, my electric mixer, and all my little gadgets. Plus, I miss dishwashers and garbage disposals.
3. Free water, free bathrooms, free anything. Restaurants are the worst about this. not even a glass of tap water is free, and the price of bottled is beyond ridiculous. But it's the bathroom thing that really gets me. Why on Earth should I have to pay 50 cents to use it? Is there some great cost of operating a WC that I'm not aware of? I have been known to sneak under or around the barriers without paying whenever possible because I've never heard of anything stupider than having to pay for a bathroom.
4. Doggie bags. You usually can't take your leftovers home here, but it's rude to leave food on your plate. So what option does that leave?
5. 1-hour laundry. I miss being able to wash and dry a load of laundry in an hour. Here, the washing takes an hour and the drying can take several days.
6. Normal showers. This just apples to the dorms. I really miss taking showers without having to push the water back on every 10 seconds. Environmentalism really makes my life more difficult than it has to be.
7. Public trash cans. There are a few of them around, but when I'm out and about, I usually end up hoarding trash in my purse all day until I can get home to throw it out.
8. Stores like Target. I miss being able to go to one place and buy pretty much everything I need. Sure, I love the quaint, specialized shops here, but shopping through them can take all day.
9. My Taylor Guitar and time to play it. I have a little travel guitar, but it's just not the same.
10. Service with a smile. The superficiality of American customer service used to really bother me. But the utter lack of it here bothers me more. Every once in a while, I'll find a really helpful employee, but that's rare.

And now for just a few of the things I love here:
1. Bakeries. They're just better here. They have more variety, the product is cheaper, and they smell heavenly. Plus, their croissants and baguettes are just as good as in France. It's a little dream of mine to work in a German bakery.
2. Public transportation. Granted, the Deutsche Bahn isn't usually as punctual as the stereotype would suggest, but still, you can get literally anywhere and everywhere without needing a car.

3. Pedestrian cities. Since the cities here were built before cars were invented, they are laid out with pedestrians in mind. Once you take a bus or train to the center, everything you need is in walking distance.

4. Cafeteria food. The locals here complain about it, but I think it's great. You can get a good, filling meal and dessert for 3 euros.
5. 3-day weekends. This requires no explanation.
6. Very informal professors. Most German professors actually insist on a more formal relationships with their students, but in Reutlingen, we have the perks of being a Valpo kid. This means that all of them invite us to their houses and feed us at least once during the semester.
7. The German language. When I go home, I'm going to miss hearing it and speaking it every day. Every day, I have at least one communication challenge, so i'm in the habit of planning everything I want to say in German before I say it.
8. Paying in change. There are 1 and 2 euro coins, so there's a lot you can buy without paper money. I know it's just an illusion, but it makes things seem cheaper.
9. Feeling safe all the time. One time, a tour guide I had in Munich joked that you could walk around at night with money glued all over you and nothing would happen to you. I still wouldn't do that, but I think she's right. I lock my doors and always keep an eye on my stuff, but a lot of people don't.
10. A de-cluttered life. Almost everything I have here fits in a suitcase. Sometimes that's frustrating, but most of the time, it's freeing.

     There are days when I really miss things about home, but all in all, I really think that the good outweighs the annoying. I feel like I can live in two cultures now. I don't know if I ever really had "culture shock" but the idea of it between the US and Germany seems silly now. This is my home now, and since I love it so much, I've decided to make it my home for a little longer. Next year, I'm going to stay in Reutlingen for an internship in the university's international office. I'll be back for the summer and then back at school for senior year in 2015, but for now, this is where I need to be.

Paris and La Joie de Vivre

     One of the best things about this study abroad program is that every weekend is a three day weekend. That way, we can maximize our opportunities to travel. So this week, we finally decided that it was time to activate our Eurail passes, and what could possibly be a better first stop than Paris? I've wanted to go to France ever since I was about 5 years old, so even though one weekend couldn't possibly be enough time to explore this beautiful city, I jumped at the first chance to go.  In our 36 hours there, we missed so much. The Louvre, Versailles, L'arc de Triomphe. But what we did get, was a wonderful introduction to one of Europe's greatest cities.
     The train from Stuttgart to Paris only takes 4 hours, so we left after class on Thursday and arrived at about 11p.m. I'm glad that we did this so that we had more time there, but unfortunately, our first experience in Paris was a stressful one. In the dark and without a real map, we got lost. Now, I know I'm not alone in this. Several of my friends have told me about their similar first experiences in Paris. It seems to be a right of passage. But my tip is to get to your destination before dark and not to rely on google maps. That little blue dot isn't always right.
     Anyway, we finally did find our hostel, and after a good night's sleep, we were ready to go get our real first impression of Paris. Of course, our first stop was the Eiffel Tower.

The line for the elevators had about 72,000 people in it, so we decided to get up there next time we're in town. And there will be a next time. After that, we stopped for lunch at one of the many quaint cafés, where sitting outside in the 60 degree weather, I enjoyed my first authentic French crêpe. After lunch, we took a free tour of Paris' other most famous landmark, Notre Dame.

     In the afternoon, after a quick ice cream stop, (Salted caramel and butter is my new favorite flavor.) we decided to go on a short sightseeing cruise on the Seine. It's such a touristy thing to do, but I love river cruises because there a great way to see a lot with very little effort and really get an impression of the whole city. After the cruise, we headed back to get ready for dinner. For lack of time, we had to skip many of Paris' main attractions, but one thing we wanted to make sure to do was go have a fancy French dinner. 

     Time for a funny story: After deciding on a restaurant out of our Paris guidebook, we read the metro directions in the book and hopped on at the stop closest to our hostel. After following the directions exactly and even switching lines once, we got out of the metro station near the restaurant, only to realize that we were just down the street from our hostel and could have easily walked there in less time. Note to self: next time, knowing where you're starting will help a lot to figure out where you're going. When we got to our restaurant, the waiter was extremely friendly and patient, taking time to explain all of the specials in English. Later, he even offered to take a picture of the 3 of us enjoying our meal. 

     After our steak-frites and crème brulée, we made one last stop to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Standing there watching it sparkle, I had another one of those moments where I just have to stop for a second and marvel at the fact that this is my life right now. That I get to stand here in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and experience a moment of perfection. And this is for school. I feel like coming back to school and begging everyone I see to go study abroad because I really can't understand why most people don't. Just sign up, and then you get to live this amazing life!

      After years of hearing about how great Paris is from everyone who has been there, I needed to see it for myself. Now that I have, I feel like I've been let in on the big secret. I just get it now. I've been to Germany 3 times now, but never anywhere else in Europe, so I'm glad I finally got to change that. Before going to Paris, I was a little nervous because of the pickpocketing horror stories I've heard, but I have to say, I didn't feel unsafe once. The city certainly does have a different atmosphere than German cities, which are so safe it's almost funny. I was a little more on alert than I usually am. Still, I feel like I could love Paris like I love Germany. I could live here someday. In fact, I want to. All weekend long, I had such a strong desire to go eat in every little café, to hop on the back of somebody's motorcycle and race through the narrow streets, to really experience la joie de vivre like a Parisian. So someday, I will live in Paris, but right now, I live in Germany. I just realized that I actually live here. It's not just an extended vacation. But that's another story for another post.