Trip to France and an evening with German food and friends

Post for NOVEMBER 12th:

Coffee for the road....driver concentration

passenger enjoyment

our GPS we were on the right track

road trippin!

little french girl at the bakery

in front of Stassburg Cathedral

Pflammkuchen

At z-Marche

Caro happy in the bakery

Nadine and Suse prepping the Kartoffel Suppe

Our onion cutter with water in her mouth to help prevent crying. unfortunately it doesn't keep you from cutting your hand though.

Dampfnudeln Kochen

The girls of the night....Nadine, Me, Caro and Suse

Potato soup with creme fraisch and sprouts and dampfnudeln

Dampfnudeln with vanilla sauce

Friday morning Caro and I hopped in the car for a day trip to Strassburg, France. It is only a couple hours away and is a cute little place with shops, cafes, and beautiful architecture. My first trip to France :) Our GPS of written map quest directions and Caro’s i-phone helped us to successfully get there around noon. The signage on the autobahn isn’t really the most clearly stated. Seems as though every trip we have taken has led us to a couple “turn-arounds” in order to stay on track. It’s all good. Adam Lambert kept us entertained quite a few times as well as a few other songs that I’m surprised I can’t think of right now. ….over and over, gotta love the radio. In Strassburg, we strolled around town, through the beautiful cathedral, through a couple French Marche and were unfortunately disappointed by a pflammkuchen that the area is famous for. Apparently it is usually really good and you can get it at most restaurants there but the place we decided to stop into made a different type of sauce that neither Caro nor I really cared for so much. A little bit like creamy cheese mixed with uncooked egg…..right? sounds yummy, huh? Pflammkuchen is a very thin crust pizza with rahm (like a sour cream, or in our case creamy egg something) and then other ingredients like onion, bacon, and cheese. All in all, it was an experience worth having. After lunch we check out a few clothes shops and a couple patisseries before grabbing some sweet treats to take back to Caro’s parents. We made our way back through the drizzle and stopped in Leimen for coffee at her parents and while she ran to a quick appointment I sat and visited with Anke, brushing up on my German speaking some more. Very treasured times. Then it was time for us to get back into Heidelberg because we had plans to cook some traditional German food with friends. An originally planned group of 4 turned into a group of 12 and there we were eating Dampfnudeln, Kartoffel Suppe, and Vanilla Sousa in a kitchen I like to still pretend is mine. Gotta love a full kitchen with good food and good company. Nadine provided us with all the goods and I watched (with a small partaking) Nadine and Suse make this German delight, oh, and Caro chopped the onions. Dampfnudeln is a big ball of dough, sort of like making a soft dinner roll. Then they are cooked by placing water, butter and salt (or sugar depending on the sauce) in the bottom of the pan, then the dough ball on top of that and covering it so the bottom gets crusty and the top is steamed to cook. Then you eat it with Potato soup and/or vanilla pudding sauce. VERY yummy! A great night with great food and great friends.