Berlin Family and Friends

The purpose for our visit to Berlin this month was to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Sebastian’s grandparents.

Before the Berlin Wall was built, Sebastian’s Grandmother’s entire family lived in East Berlin. After years of communism, and the threat of worse things to come, her entire family fled to the west.

Well, everyone but her.

She stayed behind, bound by her love to Sebastian’s Grandfather.

Her family was right, things in Communist East Berlin became a lot worse. A wall was built, forcibly trapping people into communism. Life was hard. Food was restricted. Neighbors turned to spies. Raising a family in the DDR was a hard task. But these two did it.

They had three children together. From these three children, came five grandchildren, with one more on the way. Already, from their five grandchildren, they have two great-grandchildren.

And 50 years of love between them.

Certainly worth celebrating.

Sebastian’s mom did a fantastic job planning the celebration. Every detail was carefully considered.

From the tables to the entertainment, she did a great job.

The celebration was held in the church where the two were wed, 50 years ago.

 

She even put together a very impressive presentation about the life and times of her parents. Beginning with their baby photos, to wedding photos, to a slide of photos for each of their kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

Sebastian’s mom                              Sebastian on Route 66

Apparently, I’m not allowed to leave this family as there was even an entire slide with photos of Sebastian and me. Including the first time I got drunk with met his grandparents.

The family members who now live in West Germany even planned a bit of entertainment.

An operatic puppet show! Oh did we laugh to this one!

Well into the night, a band arrived to play the top hits from each year the couple has been married.

Boy did that perk everyone up! All the guests who are more advanced in years started singing along and got up to dance. But naturally, the first dance was had by the couple of honor.

  I spent most of the day playing with Sebastian’s cousin’s daughter, Natalie.

Whenever we’re at get-together, she and I stick together.

Even though I haven’t seen her since Christmas, she instantly recognized me and didn’t leave my side all day or night. I blame it on our similar German language skills. We get each other.

Such a cutie, right? We played with bugs, made flower garlands, pretended to be monsters, and even washed the sidewalk and watered the plants.

The party started at 2 and when we walked out of the church many hours later, it was already day light. 4:30 am to be exact. This family is nothing but a group of party animals!

The next day, we went to Sebastian’s grandparent’s house to eat the leftover food and continue the family fun.

Unfortunately, it was 104 degrees in the shade, so we spent most of the day soaking our feet in water and trying to keep cool.

50 years is really something.

Although I had a great time at this golden anniversary party, it made me really sad to think about missing my own grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary party a few years back.  Although I believe my generation will have fewer couples making it this far, I hope some day I’ll be able to celebrate 50 years of married bliss.

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Berlin Recap

Before the adventures in Sweden and Denmark were underway, Sebastian and I spent 5 days together in Berlin.

Berlin is Sebastian’s home town and any time we go back, he in in his element.

Of all the cities in Germany, Berlin is my favorite too. It is young, fun, multicultural, artistic, and unusual. I just love the Berlin buzz.

Although I’ve been to Berlin 6 times in the past 3 years, I had never been to the top of the TV tower.

Well, not until this time at least!

I’ve seen many a city from the top of tall buildings, and although the view was great, I wouldn’t put this top at the top of my list because the shape of the glass made it hard to take good pictures. Nevertheless, here are a few shots of the great city of Berlin!

In addition to playing tourist in his home town, Sebastian also showed me a good time at his friend’s birthday BBQ.

In order to save him from embarrassment, I did my best to make the most “normal” food choices.

How to Not Look Like a Weirdo Vegetarian at a BBQ

Step 1: Buy meat look alike products

Make sure you have enough to share!

Step 2: Buy grillable veggies  Mmmm…good looking guy modeling sweet corn. Be still my heart!

Step 3: Eat some junk food too!

Orange-stained finger tips just scream BBQ fun!

Step 4: Remember that Halloumi is always a hit.

Not just for vegetarians, everyone loves halloumi!

Step 5: Bring your goods in a container with beer and other BBQ necessities.

Step 6: Be nice to the griller and lick your lips with the rest of them!

Step 7: Enjoy some East German chocolates for dessert.

Ok, maybe this did happen as step 1… but I encourage you to wait.

On the way to the BBQ, we visited the downtown area of the borough in Berlin where Sebastian grew up.

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3 Course Lunch & Pfifferling Fun

Yesterday was a day spent sleeping and cooking.

Not too bad in my books.

The morning started off quite late but with another tropical fruit smoothie.

For this batch, I added about a teaspoon of coconut butter. Extra tropical!

After some light housework and grocery shopping, it was time for lunch.

Yesterday lunch was a 3-course affair.

It all started with steamed beet greens and a quinoa cracker with cheese.

The greens were topped with homemade herb butter, lemon juice and garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Followed by boiled corn with more herb butter, salt and pepper.

Then finally, the beats were finished. Squeezed lemon juice, S & P on top.

It was a beautiful, farm fresh, summer lunch!

Saturday morning, I was ripped from my sleep with an incredible pain in my leg.

A charley horse.

Now, I’ve only had 3 charley horses in my lifetime, all of which occurred during the night and in my calf muscles.

I woke up to feel every fiber of my left calf muscle, bulging from my leg. It’s so strange to see and feel the ridges of the muscles. Something I couldn’t make the muscles do if I wanted to.

The muscles spasm lasted about a minute, but the pain was excruciating.

It literally took my breath away.

Once the muscle relaxed to normal again, my entire leg was throbbing so badly that I couldn’t fall back asleep. So, I got up, drank a ton of water, then laid back in bed to toss and turn.

I guess I need to eat more bananas and be sure to stretch more thoroughly after spin class.

Lesson learned.

Needless to say, I was tired all day so took an afternoon nap. Bliss.

Before I knew it, I was hungry again. Luckily, Sebastian and I had big plans for dinner.

Pfifferlinge

Right now, these golden wild mushrooms are in season in Germany.

I’ll admit, when we bought these, we didn’t know how to cook them or what they were called in English.

I now now that German pfifferlinge are chanterelle mushrooms in English.

After a quick internet search, we learned to clean the mushrooms under running water then cook them in butter, crushed garlic and herbs.

Simple enough!

- fresh chanterelle mushrooms

- 2 cloves garlic, smashed with a knife, skins removed

- 1 Tbsp. butter

- fresh dill (next time I will use rosemary instead)

- salt and pepper

The mushrooms are really “meaty,” thick and chewy. They have a very subtle flavor that can’t really be described. Lovely though.

We also enjoyed boiled potatoes, red cabbage with apples and a protein of choice with our meal. Oh, and a pfifferlinge back-up sauce, just in case.

It was rich. It was filling. It was divine.

I opted for marinated tofu while Sebastian made a turkey burger for himself.

After making his plate, he said “I have a dead bird on my plate, what have you got on yours?”

“I’ve got dead veggies.”

Strange things are happening around here lately, it appears that the meat-eater is becoming more vegetarian that the vegetarian.

After 2 bites, Sebastian said he couldn’t eat the dead bird any more so I shared my tofu with him.

The night before, while eating the Swedish Lasagna I slaved over, he said, “this tastes great, but I’m just not in the mood for eating seafood lately.”

Hmm… interesting.

Upon further investigation, it came out that my beloved has been eating at McDonalds lately (Gasp!) Now to gasp again, he admitted that the last few times he’s eaten there, he’s ordered only their veggie burgers! (Gasp!)

Yes, strange indeed.

Can it be that after 4 years, he’s converted to my ways?

We may never know, but with a meal like this, can you blame the guy?

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