Essentials in the Kitchen
It is fantastic to be able to report that the house is now “complete.” By that, I mean that all the plumbing is in working order, all of the lights are installed, the light switches all work the way they should, the deck is finished and the gardener has finished his work for the season.
So, you’re asking, what could possibly still be missing? Well, there was one kitchen appliance, essential to German living that was missing from our kitchen. In a turn-around of the stereotypical “Don’t Ever Buy Your Wife a Gift that has a Plug” rule for men, Gary was the lucky recipient of this appliance on his recent birthday – and, he was pleased!
What, you wonder, would a grown man be happy to receive on his birthday that is an appliance for the kitchen? A “PerfectDraft,” of course! “Frisch gezapft fur zuhause!” as promised on the box:
That’s right – perfectly chilled draft beer right in the comfort of your own home. And, a six liter keg stays fresh for up to 30 days so, no, we don’t have to drink like fish to make this a worthwhile investment. No house in Germany, no German-American Mann or Frau who was born and raised in Milwaukee should be without the freshest of beer available at the flick of a wrist... Prost!
On the subject of kitchen appliances, we are learning to work with our dollhouse-sized appliances but, not without some snafus. Gary’s birthday cake was an example of baking with a dollhouse-size oven. The recipe for pumpkin cake called for a 13 x 9” pan. But, our oven is too small for that big a pan. Yes, that is a BIG pan in the context of our oven... (Thank goodness we celebrate Thanksgiving in Door County – there will be no turkeys, roasts or hams cooked in this German kitchen.) So, we went with the option of two 9” round cake pans.
The pan on the top shelf baked just fine. The pan on the middle shelf did not. After taking out the finished pan and moving the second to the top shelf, we thought the problem was solved. After 15 more minutes, it even looked done.
Audrey put the cake together and frosted it and realized that the middle of the second cake was slightly doughy but, we couldn’t do much about it at that point. Slightly doughy turned out to be an understatement. Once sliced, the center revealed a large pocket of raw dough – it looked like a pumpkin "lava cake!"
Ah well… enough of it was baked through for each of us to have the equivalent of a slice and we were saved from consuming more calories in leftover cake!
I won’t bore you with the challenges of a dollhouse-size refrigerator and a 14-year old boy in the house. Suffice it to say that it is a good thing that all the food here is packaged with the dimensions of dollhouse appliances in mind. And, milk is packaged so that it need not be refrigerated until it is opened. So, one can stock up the 1 liter milk cartons in the laundry room to avoid two trips a day to the grocery!
The Essentially Worthless -- but, that is the Point!
Have you ever wondered when on vacation who buys all the tacky souvenirs that seem in endless supply, offered in mind-numbing repetition by booth after booth along sidewalks, outside subway stations or in shops too numerous to count? I have the answer right here for you:
Yep! You guessed it – the Geipels! In a move of self-defense against the shopping proclivities of teenagers (and their mother – I’ll be honest), I decided that the souvenir shopping (our "loot")that accompanies our game of “Where in the World are the Geipels this Weekend?” would be largely limited to the acquisition of souvenirs for our newly-started Tacky Souvenir Collection.
This lets the whole family get involved in weighing the options and making the choice as a family purchase. Which souvenir is offered most prodigiously, best represents the city or country and - most importantly - is most tacky? We are developing this assessment into a science, focusing our attention on those items that cost less than 10 Euro. A stroke of genius, no?!
And, this inexpensive and entertaining new hobby even allows for indulgence. Take our trip to Venice two weeks ago, for instance. You will note both a plastic gondola and an adorable Gondolier piggy bank. One can afford to indulge in more than one souvenir if after the first acquisition an equally or more attractive one is discovered at a better-stocked stand elsewhere in the city (or, the airport at departure)!
A gratuitous travel tip -- while tacky souvenirs are one thing, getting ripped off for touristy experiences is another. We skipped the gondola ride (and its price tag of 150 Euro for a 60 minute ride) and all enjoyed the far less expensive water taxi ride!
And, for anyone wondering -- yes, that really is a pair of dancing, yodeling lederhosen... with a bratwurst remote control.... of course!
Tschuss!
