Thanksgiving is a very American holiday. Many of my friends here have been very curious in recent weeks to hear how I (and America in general) celebrate it, so I figured what better way to explain than to throw a Thanksgiving dinner? It was an enormous undertaking, but in the end it somehow worked out absolutely flawlessly! My menu was very extensive - in fact even more extensive than my usual celebration in America! This is going to be a long post, so bear with me, but I'm so excited to share how I pulled this off with limited space and some great help from all of my friends. I've included all of the recipes that I used, as well! The MenuFor appetizers (knowing that everything probably wouldn't quite be ready to serve by the time people started arriving), I grabbed some crackers and Brie to set out. Of course with so many people coming (there were almost 30 in my kitchen), we needed plastic cutlery, plates and napkins as well. For the Thanksgiving meal, we had a real turkey, and I found some lingonberry sauce in place of cranberry sauce. The various sides were mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cornbread, mac and cheese, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, some chicken schnitzel to supplement the turkey, rice, and bread rolls. Dessert was taken care of by my friends and consisted of pumpkin pie, apple pie, cookies, and truffles. By the end, we had the perfect amount of food: everyone had their fill and there was only one pan full of leftovers! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried. The TurkeyLet me start by saying I've never made a turkey in my life. I walked into this with zero knowledge of how it works, but luckily I had the internet to help. I started by finding a good 5kg (11lb) frozen turkey in the big supermarket in town. Now, the internet gave me a couple options for thawing it. I was told DO NOT thaw on the counter or in hot water. Either thaw it in the fridge or in a cold water bath. Also, it might take days. So I bought my turkey on Monday night, hoping the timing would work out. But I'm in a dorm, with very limited and shared fridge space so I got creative with the cold water bath, by which I mean I put my turkey into a clean recycling bin, stuck it in my shower, and filled it up with cold water. And there my turkey sat until Wednesday morning, when I was told by a knowledgeable source (my mother) that turkeys need to be brined beforehand. So early Wednesday morning before my courses, I drained the water and set to work sticking salt and herbs all over my masterpiece. Here was the tricky part: I had to make room in my fridge. But I did it, and my turkey got to surprise my neighbors when they opened the fridge. Finally the big day arrived. I had my floor mates prepare some chicken broth and take the turkey out of the fridge, so by the time I got home from class I could just toss it in the oven. The internet told me 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey and that turned out to be extremely accurate. I don't have a meat thermometer here so I was really concerned about how I was going to be able to tell when it was done, but luckily I discovered that in the absence of a thermometer, simply stab the meat between the thigh and the breast and check the color of the juices that come out: if they're clear, the bird is done, but if they're a bit pink or red, it's got to go back in for a bit. After the 13 minutes per pound had run up, I checked on the juices and they were perfectly clear. Success! I then let it sit in the pan under aluminum foil until it was carving time, and it turned out amazingly moist and more perfect than I could have ever dared to hope. A friend of mine took on the job of carving it and did an incredible job, even cleaning all the meat off the bones so that we could eat every last drop. I'm really glad I was able to make this happen, because a lot of Germans whom I've spoken to had never tried turkey before. I would say this was a very good first impression! The CornbreadCornbread is a very American food. All of the international students I've spoken to had no idea what it was or how it tasted, so of course I had to make it for them! There doesn't seem to be any cornmeal in Germany, but I did find relatively fine Polenta. First I bought corn flour by accident, but don't do that if you're trying to make cornbread abroad, because you can't use it. Instead just go for some smaller-grain Polenta. I even found a great Polenta recipe to follow! It turned out delicious and moist, and not overly crumbly. It was fun to see how everyone reacted to trying it: is it cake or is it bread? Well, it's just kind of cornbread. How do you explain it? But everyone seemed to approve once they tasted it. The GravyGravy was another food that was hard to explain. My translation of it was "Bratensoße" but that still left people wondering. They were surprised at its thickness but in love with the flavor. I used a very simple recipe that just uses a base roux of 4 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons flour and then added in some of the pan juices, supplemented with chicken broth. The recipe called for 2.5 cups of the juices but I added twice that and just threw in some sauce thickener ("Saucenbinder") and voila, gravy. The StuffingThe stuffing was absolutely incredible. I used a pretty basic recipe and doubled it to feed so many people. I forgot to buy my bread the day before, so Thursday morning I went to the bakery and bought a beautiful fresh 1kg loaf of half-white bread. It hurt me a bit to be cutting up such wonderfully soft bread just to toast it and dry it out, but in the end maybe the bread is what made it so amazing. I sort of used the spices in the recipe (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) as a guide to raiding my kitchen, more than as an actual recipe. I ended up throwing in some thyme, sage, and tarragon and it was delicious. The Mac and CheeseI wasn't originally going to have mac and cheese as part of the menu, but multiple of my German friends asked me to serve it because they had never had it before. I left this to a friend of mine, who made it super delicious and all of my German buddies were very impressed. I never realized just how non-German mac and cheese is. There's Käse Spätzle here, but that's not quite the same as some good, thick, cheesy mac and cheese. I was really happy to be able to introduce them to such a great dish. The Green Bean CasseroleThis was the idea of the other American girl on my floor. It was a great side to have! I just wanted to include it in my blog because of the notable absence of Cream of Mushroom Soup in Germany. We had to come up with a quick solution using some powdered mushroom soup. We managed to find a good substitute online using a roux of 2 tablespoons of butter and flour, and then used about 12 oz of milk (the equivalent of a can of evaporated milk, perhaps?) and the packet of powdered soup. It ended up looking a little soupier than the canned cream of mushroom, but it worked perfectly for the casserole.
All in all, this meal could not have gone more smoothly or more perfectly. Thank you to all of my friends who helped make it happen: my cutting minions who chopped all the potatoes, onions, and celery sticks, as well as my floormate who made the casseroles and my friends who made the mac and cheese and desserts! I hope I succeeded in giving everyone a memorable American Thanksgiving.
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Election Day is here, but I get to watch it from afar, in a country across the ocean. I've sent in my absentee ballot (thank goodness my flatmate had a printer and an envelope for me to use, or I'm not sure I would have gotten around to making it happen) and now there's nothing to do but sit back and see how it goes. With such an unprecedented election cycle this time around, I think it's rather enlightening to hear the opinions of non-Americans on our current predicament. The topic actually comes up in conversation relatively often, so I took the opportunity to ask my German friends to give me their opinions for this blog post. Obviously, every individual has a different opinion on the matter, but there were certainly noticeable trends. Thanks to everyone who gave me their opinions! I hope I'm able to convey everyone's answers well. On TrumpEveryone has different emotions when asked about Trump. For Germans, those emotions tended to be negative. I've heard many times that at first his campaign was funny, but now that it's come so far, it's terrifying. They're worried and angry that he could have even come so far in this election cycle and that people believe him. There's certainly also some amount of intrigue about how the outcome of a Trump presidency would affect America, but nonetheless, most of the Germans I spoke to are baffled and concerned for us. The Germans I spoke to were divided on whether or not he was qualified to be president. Some felt that his business experience qualified him, albeit in a negative sense (he knows how to use loopholes and bankruptcies to his advantage), or that pretty much everyone is qualified for the presidency since there are enough advisors surrounding the president to keep him in check and help him. Others felt he was very much unqualified. One of my friends said it would be "like putting a lobbyist in position of president. He's just there for the power and fame. He needs it for his ego." And I feel it's important to note this friend also felt the same applied to Hillary, saying that she too is just power-hungry and unqualified. The Germans I've spoken to really tend to resemble many people I've spoken to back home: displeased with both options. Some of the people I spoke to were surprised at Trump's popularity in this election, but many really weren't. One cited the history of the last 10 years of American politics in the world as his reason for not being surprised, saying that America tends to put its own interests in front of everyone else's. Another called Trump the epitome of American cliches: a self confident and self absorbed business man (and thus was not surprised by his popularity). No one can say for sure who'll win today, but the consensus is that it'll be very close. On AmericaI asked my friends if this election affected their views on America and Americans and the answers varied for sure. One friend said he now thinks that a large portion of Americans are dumb. We live in our little country towns and think that's the whole world; we can't see beyond it. He feels we don't think through problems well (and quoted guns as a prime example) and aren't modern in our ideas. "America thinks they are the greatest, but really they haven't been for a long time." Another friend of mine seemed saddened to say her opinion of Americans was lowered as a result of this election cycle. She was careful to clarify that all the Americans she's ever met are good people, and that just makes her baffled by this election. She certainly doesn't think worse of any individual American that she meets, but now that he's come so far, she doesn't really know what to think. One said that he previously "thought that the majority of Americans had issues with education and their world view, and this just proves that there are many easily-influenced people with superficial views." On international repercussionsThe overall consensus in regard to how this election's outcome will affect our international relations was negative. One friend believes that under a Trump presidency, our relations with Russia might improve, but our relationship with China would decline. Another friend compared Trump and Hillary, saying that a Trump presidency would negatively affect both our foreign and domestic policy, but Hillary would still affect our foreign policy for the worse. He felt very strongly that Trump was a global threat, however: "I don't want him to have the command of your forces. I don't see him really being able to cope with foreign interests to maintain the status quo. His views will only be focused on the United States, but in today's world, we need to work together and not only be focused on one country. We have to interact with each other to compromise and find solutions to satisfy most people's interests." One said "it will be harder to solve international problems with him because we need America to be strong, and he would weaken America. If he wins, it would give fresh energy to political parties in Germany such as AFD." AFD is a German political party (Alternative for Germany) described as right-wing populist and opposed to the EU and to letting refugees enter the country. In the context of historyOf course many people in America have compared Trump to Hitler. I was very curious to know how Germans felt about this comparison. Overwhelmingly, they saw a couple of similarities between the two but overall found them not to be comparable. "All conservatives hate minorities and immigrants; Trump and Hitler didn't create that." Someone else said, "You can draw a comparison, such as with the propaganda, using the fear of the people and their unsatisfaction with what's going on in their country and channeling that to create hate against minorities in order to gain power. That's the same concept to what the Nazis did, but usually comparing someone to Hitler is not a good way to have an argument. I don't like comparing everything to Hitler." Another friend had this to say: "Trump doesn't have an ideology like Hitler had. I see he has equal potential to inspire masses and move them in his favor with his talking. It's like hypnotizing masses; he's talented in that. But other than that, they aren't similar. The same goes for Hillary: she can give good speeches but has no ideology. Maybe it's just the hype about having a first female president that makes her attractive." One friend of mine had a great deal to say on the matter. I can't include it all here, but I'll try to include the main points: "Hitler was a demagogue who knew about his effect on influencing people with his charisma. He claimed to be the chosen one who could fix all problems on his own as an almost messianic leader... Trump also likes to portray the iconic leader who could fix America's problems almost overnight, although he seems not to have a convincing plan of how to do this. Nevertheless his main goal is certainly not to start a world war but to 'make America great again'. Compared to the situation in Germany after 1918, Trump's idea of an America that lost its 'greatness' isn't quite real, because the U.S. is still the most powerful nation and never lost its actual influence after becoming a superpower in World War II. Interestingly, Donald Trump himself uses this gestures and words linking to the Nazi period but doesn't want to be perceived as a neo-Nazi. He always dissociates from any comparison and plays it down as a joke. Possibly he only wants to provoke those thoughts. But just making racist statements doesn't make him the next Hitler...I think he only enjoys the attention he gets while acting like this or saying things that he knows will offend many people." In conclusionThis election has been a mess; I think most people can agree on that. The media across the world is reporting on it, and people internationally are waiting with bated breath to see the outcome. I've focused on German perspectives in this post, but of course many of my friends here are from other international countries as well. Those who I've spoken to about politics have expressed similar opinions to those of my German friends though. It's certainly an interesting subject to discuss.
I've already voted, but to everybody back in the States, please take this opportunity to exercise your democratic rights and influence the direction of our country. Every vote counts. Make sure yours is cast. Today I got a tour of the Französiches Viertel of Tübingen, or French Quarter in English. After World War II, Germany was divided up and occupied by English, American, and French forces. In Tübingen, French soldiers occupied the area south of the town, giving the French Quarter its name. When the soldiers finally left in 1991, it left Tübingen with a large number of barracks and a sizeable amount of space. Some of the barracks became student housing (I actually have friends who live there currently). They also named an area in memory of the war, as can be seen in front of the barracks building. The French Quarter has very unique architecture. After the soldiers left, families got together to design and erect their own apartments. Often, they opted to put a common garden area or lounge building in the center, since it would be too expensive to afford a personal one, but together it was manageable. As a result, each building looks different. It makes for a very cool atmosphere. On the southeastern edge of the French Quarter is a sort of commune area of alternative living. It’s full of decorated trailers and huts. Apparently there’s also a fun festival held there every year. It was cool to explore a part of Tübingen today that I hadn't seen before. It has so much history attached to it that was great to learn about.
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AuthorJust a girl trying to get by in Germany for a year and having adventures along the way! Archives
April 2017
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