CH2. Life in Germany 6: Better & Back

Hello, Tim,
I'm back! Technically, anyway.
It is Thursday of the next week already, in fact. I would still need a week of simplicity before I can caught up with what is more like a weekly update. Told you that I would be back eventually. I am here with a story and a dish to talk about.

First Snowy Field

Last Thursday, I finally saw what real snow fall looked like.

I was in the middle of my marketing class when someone mentioned a possibility of snow in the chatroom of my dorm. That was when I dragged my feeble attention to a very old-fashioned guillotine and beheaded it. I tried to pry my eyes from the window that showed an expanse of the rainy campus.

I tapped frantically on my neighbor Emily's arm and thrusted my hand at the window as the droplets slowed down gradually, floating downward as if every single drop was equipped with a small, downy parachute.

My first snowfall. From indoors. The people from my floor in the dorm also went crazy with what was going on outside, but there was something they had but I didn't: the freedom to go out into the open and receive the melty kiss from the falling snow. I was sitting there, mind hanging on what feathery objects were descending outside, biting my mental nails to want to chuck everything and simply rush out. I didn't. And the snow stopped in around twenty minutes.

The next day, when I was just planning to plunge my whole day in my project work (which still isn't done yet at this point. It's the next week already and I am feeling very guilty about the delay) I got an invitation from Saad and Abhidha and an encouragement from Johannes that we together go to the top of the Königstuhl and have a look at the snow that must have had accumulated on the previous day. It was quite scary, thinking about how I was almost too determined to push some process on my project. 

I don't know if it is morally correct to say that I was happy that I neglected my school work (temporarily)

Halfway taking the mountain railway onto the mountain, we could already see the snow-covered railway and overgrown bushes. The excitement heated up as it became a bit colder up ahead.

We got off the mountain train, and what followed was, unsurprising for the standard of three people who were only interacting with such amount of snow -it was indeed all white!- for the first time, a snow ball fight.

The roads were actually a bit muddy because of the melting of snow that was already starting; we came at the right time.

Upwards on the snowy trail

I promise that we weren't bullying Abhidha.

Last time I was with Johannes on Königstuhl, the highest mountain (600 or so meters) in Heidelberg, and I recalled there was a grassy steep slope facing more west, where people would sit on and have picnics. It was then covered with a thick layer of snow. 

Also comes with great overview of the city.

On that day, I practically did whatever was imaginable on the snowy field. Here are what I could remember:

- I sat down and slid down the slopey snowy slide.

- I tried to freeze my fingers off because I certainly didn't think as far as to bring along a pair of gloves.

- I knelt down on the snow, took off my glasses. I pressed my hands into the snow, and smashed my face into the snow.

Was me.

- I threw myself into the snow.

- I did what animations stereotypically do and rolled a small snowball and pushed it down the hill to try making it bigger. It really worked.

- I made a snowman and named it Jonny. Succeeded after the third try.

Jonny in the making.

I didn't want Jonny to catch a cold.

- I lay down on the slope horizontally and rolled down. A kid aimed a snowball at me but it landed midway. I stood up feeling really disoriented and fell face-down while trying to climb back up.

Visual support:

- I made a snowball and smashed it against the ground. 

- I took of picture of me and Jonny the snowman.

So yeah, this was me on the snowy field. I think it was actually the overwhelming emotions of seeing snow that drove me into all the crazy shenanigans I pulled in the snow. I have been talking about wanting to see snow for over a decade now. Coming to Germany, I had learned that my story with snow won't just end the instant I see it. It's a progressive story that develops with time. I want to collect all different facets of snow. That day I tasted the playful aspect of the snow, and before I really  get to experience the romantic side of it, I guess I will try to have more playful encounters with the snow.

Now for the dish I was eagerly trying to talk about.

Full disclosure first: Two weeks have passed, and I can't really recall which of the two dishes I have in mind right now was the one I was thinking about introducing. So instead of doing one longer description of a dish, I would do two short ones.

The first dish was the pumpkin soup, and even though this was already the third time I made this soup, (it was a rare case as I normally would try not to repeat the dishes I had made in the past unless I messed it up last time), I was the proudest with this particular pumpkin soup because I used the whole pumpkin as a bowl. Here's the end product:

Look at it!

The whole process was excruciatingly long as it involved the removing of the flesh from the inside of the pumpkin with a spoon, making the broth that should be simmering on the stove for at least two hours, and putting the seeds into the oven for some roast-y salty pumpkin seeds that would go as the sides. But since the outcome was indeed satisfactory, I would raise a spiritual thumbs up to myself when I think about it.

Disclaimer: No pumpkin bowls were wasted during the process.

First time pumpkin carving

The next didn't turn out so well, but it was a good attempt and I had to acknowledge it. I tried to bake some earl grey macarons on my own. I have always state it as a fact that macarons are my favorite dessert, and even though last time I tried to make some macarons with the girls at Sherry's place, this was the first time I was trying this solo. Not exactly. It was late in the evening right then, which would be way past midnight of the following day in Taiwan, but while I was mixing everything together, I had Angela on the other side of the telephone, and we chatted and she gave me some instructions for making macarons. 

Photographer: Aliang

But they do rise.

Having almond biscuits with a cup of tea

The shells were having a nice shape, but as the bottom was still a bit undercooked after fifteen minutes of baking, I popped them back into the oven for way too long, and the shells became way too crunchy to call them macarons. The filling was also somewhat a catastrophe. I ended up using apricot jam and sugared butter because my whipping cream kept falling apart. I definitely have more to work on that, and I can see myself taking the challenge again in the near future. The taste was, however, still pretty good because all my friends were trying to get more even though I would call them almond biscuits instead of macarons.

Finally!

There is finally one thing less on my mind (count it as two things less since I did one of my two presentations on this Monday as well.), and I will have to pick up on my recount of week 7 pretty soon as well.

See you soon!

Sincerely,

Hugo