Wordless Wednesday

This one's dedicated to Tabs!  23 September 2009

Experiences

Over the last week, I've had several experiences that I'd like to share with you.

1.  Pizza!  Pizza is available EVERYWHERE in this town: most sit-down restaurants (if it's not called pizza, it's called flammkuchen), something similar in the bakeries, and at every kebap house.  We have an Italian friend who refuses to call most pizza here in Jena pizza (he's cool with it if they call it flammkuchen however), but will bestow the honor at two places in town.  First, there is a small Italian restaurant that opened in Jena shortly after Jason and I arrived in town.  It's on Wagnergasse, and if you read Jason's post, you've seen pictures of this quaint little street.  All the food here is authentic (several of the waiters have trouble speaking German since they just arrived from Italy) and tasty, but I expected that from a small little Italian joint.  The second place our Italian friend calls "real pizza" is a totally different ballgame.  Literally, there are balls... bowling balls.  That's right, the best authentic Italian pizza in town is at the bowling alley.  And it's huge... the diameter of this pizza is half a meter (though when it came out, it seemed closer to a meter) and quite tasty.  Luckily, you really have to work for your pizza, so you don't feel as guilty about eating so much of it.  And by work, I mean walk.  No trams or buses go this far out of town, and not many people have cars, so you end up walking and walking and walking to get there.  But the pizza is well worth it.  So, if you want to try real pizza if you come visit us, bring your walking shoes! :)

2.  Interviews.  My interviews were last week, and I'm now beginning to decompress.  Tuesday lasted from 8:30am until 9:30pm.  It was exhausting.  We started out with all twenty applicants giving presentations, and let me tell you how much all the students (current and applicants) liked my presentation simply because it was so different from everything else people were presenting on (I was applying for a chemical ecology program). The afternoon consisted of professors giving a short overview of their labs, then we toured several of the buildings connected to the program (and even got to see the house where Ernst Haeckel lived), and finally, we had dinner at the botanical gardens.  They were beautiful, and we mingled with current students who had been paired with the applicants based on interests.  So that was fun, but again, exhausting to be on show for 13 hours.  I walked home from the botanical gardens, but on the way noticed my favorite kebap house was open, so I stopped in to purchase a beer to take home with me.  I was able to unwind by watching an episode of Veronica Mars, and then prepared for the next day... one on one interviews with the faculty.  Day 2 was much more mild.  My first interview went very well, and the second one went poorly, but it taught me a lot about who I want to work for and what field I eventually want to work in.  So overall, a decent experience.  Thursday, interview 2, day 1 went well.  We didn't start until 1:30pm and I was home by 10:30pm.  We again ate dinner at the botanical gardens, but instead of meeting with current students, we met with the faculty so we could arrange our own interviews.  I met with the first prof I interviewed with during interview 1 (the nice one) and we arranged to meet the next morning at 9:30.  We spent the morning discussing how he can defend me to the other faculty members (basically, every single faculty member has to agree on every single person who gets accepted, so it's no easy feat to accept a girl to a molecular biology program who has no molecular biology experience).  I'll find out today about the results from Interview 2, and the results from Interview 1 on Friday.  Of course the prof I want to work with has other money, so it's still possible for me to get rejected from both programs and still get a PhD position, but that all depends on how he wants to spend the money.

3.  Movies!  Jason and I went to the movies last night!  We saw District 9 (Jason's choice, obviously) in English!  Interestingly, the subtitles when the aliens were speaking were in German, so we did miss part of the movie, but it also kinda added to the suspense.  Of course, when a word did pop up on the screen that I recognized, I was quite excited (pardon my French... err German, but here's my example: Scheisse!)  The movies here are a different experience from the US.  Similarly, the movie theater seemed quite beat up (stains on the carpet, dingy walls, etc), but that's where the similarities ended.  We walked up to the counter, ordered our tickets, and were expecting to hear the price next... but that is not what the cashier said.  Instead, she asked us where in the movie theater we'd like to sit (What??).  We pointed to the map, paid for our tickets (that came complete with row and number for our seats) and then went upstairs to the theaters and concession stand.  The concession stand hand the familiar popcorn and combo deals, but closer inspection of the combos revealed a chips and salsa combo (now, I've had chips with yellow cheese sauce, but not salsa) and the drink that came with it was a beer!  I'd heard such things existed, and Jason has been saying for years that US theaters should serve beer, but it was exciting to actually see it (and partake).   We walked up another flight of stairs to get to our theater and had to wait outside until the previous movie (Up!) finished.  When we were allowed in, our jaws dropped.  It was so clean and the seats were SO very comfortable.  Plush even!  I don't think I'll be able to watch the Harry Potter 7 movie at midnight for fear of falling asleep (and no, I don't know when it comes out or even if it shows at midnight here).  Overall, going to the movies is not cheap here, but definitely an enjoyable experience.  Yay!  Julie and Julia is showing in English tomorrow at 4:45, and I'm definitely going to try to make it!

Foodie Friday

I've had an interesting week in the kitchen.  To begin with, I finally made a successful omelet!  The last time Jason's parents came to visit, my FIL showed me the trick... just leave it alone and flip it once it's mostly on the plate.  Well folks, for the first time ever for me, I listened and it worked.  I have major issues leaving a pot alone... I think it comes from my mother...


In the pan (I know, I know, canned mushrooms, but it was morning and I'm particularly lazy in the mornings!)

And on the plate:  After looking at Wikipedia, I think this may be a French omelet because it's thin and barely has any color.  Either way, it's tasty!  :)

Directions for the perfect omelet:  beat eggs well, with a little water.  Season to taste.  Pour into a med hot pan filmed with melted butter, and walk away until the eggs are mostly set.  Add toppings.  When it's done enough for you, slide out of pan, halfway onto plate.  Fold omelet in half using the pan.




Chicken Tetrazzini:
I failed on this one, but I'll give you the recipe first so you can see where I failed.  I got the recipe from my mom, and I'm not sure where she got it.  I did find a very similar one here.


1/4 cup butter, 
1/4 cup flour, 
1/2 tsp salt, 
1/4 tsp pepper, 
1 cup chicken broth, 
1 cup whipping cream (or light cream or half and half), 
2 Tbsp sherry, 
1 pkg (7oz) spaghetti, cooked and drained, 
2 cup cubed chicken or turkey, 
1 cup sliced mushrooms, 
1/2 cup grated parmesan


Preheat oven to 425°.
Cook spaghetti or noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat; sauté sliced mushrooms until golden. In a saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter; stir in flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth; remove from heat and add chicken broth and cream. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened. Add chicken, cooked mushrooms, and sherry; heat through. Place noodles or spaghetti in a buttered baking dish; pour on sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 15 to 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
Chicken tetrazzini serves 8.


Seems simple enough, and I get to stir constantly (yay!).  However Jason and I tend to get lazy when we make things in the oven, so we try to throw our veggie in with the dish, that way it's a one pot meal.  Generally I use broccoli, and that has worked well every time (If you try it with broccoli, use fresh and give it a light steam before adding it to the dish, or if you like it crunchy, add it fresh without steaming).  This time I went crazy and tried to use frozen spinach.  Big mistake.  Don't do it!  It didn't taste quite right and over powered the yummyness of the tetrazzini.  I also made the mistake of using milk instead of cream of half and half.  The sauce did not set up as well and the flavors were just off.  Not inedible, just not good.  Anyway, here is the finished product:

I chose this pic so you can see we've bought the essentials for the kitchen: a knife set and wine glasses!  :)


So what do you do with that huge 9x13 of leftovers when you need the dish in two days because Jason is making lasagna?  Giada to the rescue.


I stumbled over a recipe for Pizza di Spaghetti and have actually tried it with my own spaghetti recipe when we were still living in the States, but it didn't set up properly and failed.  I did a slightly different take on this recipe with my tetrazzini this morning.


2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup parmesan
salt and pepper
2 cups leftover tetrazzini
EVOO

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Add leftover spaghetti and combine well.

In a large 10-inch non-stick skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add spaghetti and egg mixture, spreading evenly and pressing down in pan. Cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Carefully invert onto plate, add a little more oil to the pan, and slide mixure back into skillet and cook the other side for 6 minutes. Turn out onto serving platter and cut into wedges and serve warm.

Those are Giada's instructions.  I didn't use the amount of EVOO she called for, just lightly filmed the bottom of the pan.  Instead of inverting the dish onto a plate since mine did not set up after 8 minutes, I cooked it in the pan until it had set a bit more.  Then I realized I did not have a plate nearly big enough to catch it (or cutting board for that matter... I checked).  So I turned on the oven, covered the non-ovensafe skillet handle with foil, and slid skillet into the oven for 20 minutes.  I just turned on the upper heating element to 200 degrees Celcius and let it go until it looked brown and delicious.  A definite save for the tetrazzini!

Wordless Wednesday

Though in the true spirit I shouldn't use words, I've decided to include the date and location of each photo for Wordless Wednesday.

Die Kneipe, Jena, Germany, 18August2009

Pictures of Jena... finally!

Jason wrote an excellent blog describing a bit of our day here in Jena, so click here to read it.

On Tuesday (the day we moved in), I cooked for the first time in my brand new kitchen :). And what did I make you ask? Well, simply delicious fried chicken of course! We had to go for something we couldn't get at a restaurant here!

My cute kitchen, complete with stainless steel hood: (The crate filled with plastic next to the stove is now gone. It belonged to the roommie, and I think he moved it into his room the next morning when he realized we had moved in.)

Chicken bubbling away:

The finished product (obviously not the same pieces in the skillet):

And we had baked potatoes to go with it, complete with bacon and green onions:

You might have noticed that my plates aren't square. We were unable to make it to IKEA and the plate selection here in Jena is pretty slim. Department stores in the malls here sell clothes... and that's it. So our choices were Mueller and Komma 10. Mueller reminds me of Target (slightly) and Komma 10 is kind of a hodge podge store, similar to World Market, but much smaller and focuses more on kitchen and cleaning items. We found these plates at Mueller in the "clearance" section, and they were way nicer than the plates we found for full price at Mueller and Komma 10. Either way, I'm happy with my plates.

Jason is going to make lasagna for our friends this weekend, so I'll have another foodie post soon!

We're In!

We're all moved in... for now, or until we make it to IKEA.

Gourmet kitchen: (define) This kitchen has a nice dishwasher, a stove with four burners, an oven, a fridge, and nice cabinetry. It even has one of those pull out pantries you can access from both sides. I'll post pictures when I am at my camera again.

Internet comes with the apartment for only 5 euros a month! Wow. We're just waiting to get the code so we can log on to the wireless connection. Unlike in the US, EVERYONE here in Germany remembers to encript their wireless. Yuck, but I guess very smart at the same time. :)

So there is a drawback to our new place, but he'll be leaving at the end of the month. That's right, we've got a roommate. It's a little strange... he could do an AXE commercial... you know, the ones where gorgeous women are suddenly drawn to a strange guy walking by just because he uses axe body spray. Turns out he uses Axe too. We don't see much of him, but 3 people in 516 square feet is a lot of folks. We're excited about him moving out. In the meantime though, it means we don't feel compelled to furnish our apartment completely since we don't have access to his room which we will convert into the living space. Our landlord has also offerred us a TV, so we'll pick it up sometime this week. The only major thing we are missing for the moment is a washing machine (dryers are a luxury here), and we're going to pick it out this afternoon after Jason's group meeting.

Today I remembered why I liked having a car. I was dripping wet by the time I got to Jason's office. Granted, I have NO desire to drive in this town... I'm never sure where the lanes actually are here. So I'll stick to public transportation and invest in an umbrella.