A weekend of success

September 9, 2007 · Filed Under An American Expat in Deutschland 

Friday night, Cliff and Sarah joined us for Thai dinner. I ended up not having the time to make anything but the Panang Beef beforehand, so they (and Rainer) were enlisted as my sous chefs when they arrived, and let me tell you, it’s nice to have sous chefs!

Our meal consisted of the aforementioned curry, Son-in-law Eggs, Christina’s Green Mango Salad, and a delicious spice cake that Sarah made. And I have to admit, it rocked. Cliff describes the mango salad: “It’s like energy waves from the four dimensions of taste have intersected in my mouth.” There’s more on the meal and the evening (including photos) in Cliff’s post.

Saturday was Mango Salad part two, as I made a milder version to bring to our street fest. The weather was crummy, but the neighborhood had erected a tent, so we hardly noticed. I was a bit worried that Thai Mango Salad (slightly Germanized with only 4 cloves of garlic and 4 chilies), was perhaps a little bit too exotic for rural Bavarians, but it was a big hit. One guy even piled it high atop his pork cutlet and made sure there was a forkful of salad with every bite of meat - I’ll have to try that sometime and see how it tastes.

By the end of the evening, we had gotten to know all our neighbors, participated in a neighborhood quiz that the local children had made up (Oliver became famous as the answer to “Who is the youngest resident of our street?”), and eaten a lot of yummy food (I really dig German egg salad with pineapple and cheese, who knew?). I came home with an empty salad bowl and a lot of good feelings.

It’s funny, a lot of Germans, when they heard we were moving to a small Bavarian village, told us we wouldn’t understand our neighbors and would never be accepted by them. Okay, understanding the neighbors has been a challenge, but they have welcomed us with open arms, and they even “du” us (for the German-challenged, “du” is the informal “you”). Oh, and the teenagers will be HAPPY to help take care of Charlie while Rainer is away this week!

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8 Responses to “A weekend of success”

  1. barbara on September 9th, 2007 3:35 pm

    Hi Christina,
    Just catching up with your ltest news. It sounds like you all had a nice neighborhood party. It sounds like a “block party” ! Your food seems to have been a hit :)

    Congrats to the newest US citizen also. Oliver will grow up with 2 nationalities, which is cool.

    You take care and I’ll be visitng soon.

  2. Sarah on September 9th, 2007 4:49 pm

    Hey there,

    I’m glad your Mango Salad went over so well at the Strassenfest! Cliff had already finished it off by the time I got up on Saturday morning. Thanks so much for having us over on Friday - it was yummy and you helped me not have to cook all weekend before we leave town. See you when we get back!

  3. rita on September 10th, 2007 8:22 am

    hi sweetie!

    your weekend sounds like lots og fun. i’m glad you all had such a great time at the street fest. small-town life in germany can be so rewarding. especially for families!

    one of these days i’ll have to try out at least one of your recipies. the photos alone make my mouth water.

    send my love to rainer and the little man.

    hugs!!!

  4. Anonymous on September 10th, 2007 1:32 pm

    That’s wonderful! Sounds like you are all settling in quite nicely. I’m glad that you sound so happy.

    Cheers
    Lynn

  5. MollyB on September 10th, 2007 10:09 pm

    Salad sounds great!
    Small-town Germany is a lot friendlier than is small-city Germany.

  6. ChristinaG on September 11th, 2007 1:31 pm

    @barbara: Yeah, it was a great party. We heard it went all night too (we couldn’t manage to party all night with a newborn!). Take care!

    @sarah: Thanks for coming over! Hope you are enjoying your vacation and I’ll see you when you get back!

    @rita: It does seem that way. I think it’s funny how many “big city” folks warned us against moving to a small town. Rainer’s colleagues at the university still think we’re nuts!

    @lynn: We are pretty happy here, although I do miss living near to a big city.

    @mollyb: I’d say it’s friendlier, in general, than big city Germany too (Berlin anyway)!

  7. Lynda on September 12th, 2007 6:19 am

    Hi Christina - check out my blog - I cooked Tom Yum Goong last night and it was insanely good! - Thanks for the recipe I have credited you.

    Cheers Lynda

  8. ChristinaG on September 12th, 2007 8:53 am

    @lynda: Just checked it out - glad you liked the recipe and thanks for the link!

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