de Food
A Country in Food

After all, what else is there?


I believe both of these, view 1 2, are in Rudesheim, we stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast inn at the edge of the town, view provided, so you CyThons can do the rest, eh, still not happy with that name, 2-20-16, for the notes, wonderful trip, basically got comped the top floor suite, young and healthy, so good for the walk less view, more hot chocolate

A cup of the brew

Berlin, some winter garden or something, covered, mall like, pay as you go, buffet style eatery, great view Ratt Cellar or something, underground restaurant bar, under the city hall, bell tower, food was OK, ambience was unbelievable

and a nice view...

Introducing the Food

The star of the show.

I recently travelled to Germany. As is my want, before departure, I put together a few 'projects' for myself, things to do, ways to pass the time, some idea of how I wished to memorialise the trip for later generations, so they might appreciate the sublime beauty of the experience, and all that claptrap.

Thus, I decided to seek out a bite of chocolate and bit sausage each and every day, catologuing the experience for all posterity: the results of which would have been quite boring. See for yourself... if you can... if you dare... keeping in mind that at this point, the notes that follow are as I wrote them, but the images do not coincide with the text in any way at all... so, really, it's just an indication of how much hot chocolate I can consume given half the chance...


Cocoa Crazy

chocolate on table, first hotel, Swiss Something, in Berlin this and next three, hot chocolate, nothing special, it was good, but like I remember one from the rest Berlin, outside the Dome, wonderful cafe, OK, OK cafe, wonderful day, chocolate malt, shake type thing, very refreshing

The Notes
Read Them and Weep

Airport. Dry. Would the salami sandwich have been better. My first selfie. Euro-selfie!!! Smooth. Fruity. Just the type of chocolate you'd pose on the table for a photograph and promptly forget. And just the type of chocolate that would be waiting for you when you came back when you did. Pick pocket table. Place to put wallet during meal so pick pockets better able to access. Patent Fun. Chocolate Moose at Winter Garden. Better than the fish... Hot chocolate. Breakfast. Nice. Better than expected. Odd how the second time never as good as the first. Swiss Trio with Candied Fruit. Meh. Not really chocolate. Nice mix. Probably more fun if not sharing. Chocolate Castle (fiction): Traditional to give away baked goods at foot of castle wall. Big festival once a year. But others do for special reasons. Can research why folks pick specific days and how sub-festivals develop. 'I always come for her strudel. It's good enough for Main Day.' Schocopress: 25% of the black and bitter. So much, it clumped just like the pure. Smooth, decadent, I don't even have to taste it to write this, to know it's true. Street Art in the Raw: Pay her to keep her clothes off. And me to keep mine on. Chocolate Milk: surprisingly good. You know, when you're expecting a half-assed job? Well, this one wasn't. It was chunky, in fact.

More hot chocolate this one was on the drive to the airport, think it was a hot drink, cannot really remember, did not usually get cookies, whatever they call them, with the cocoa, though to be fair, usually, most of the pics, are from all you can eat breakfast buffets, or me drinking cocoa in the room

But Wait!
There's More!!!

Brownie cake with chocolate nibbles for breakfast. Cake says it all... Not thick, rich, or hearty enough to deserve greater praise. Though, to be fair, it was exactly as I expected. Hence, why I waited until the third day. Didn't miss much the previous two. Enjoyed the purple fruit slurpy more better still. Crazy for Cocoa Flakes: a small bowl is all I'm good for these days. Otherwise, too much sugar... New hot cocoa mix, but didn't bother to take a pic today. Trinkshocolade: two packets. Meh. Chocolatey. Maybe I'm burnt out on chocolate... or have a cold. Noughats: Eh, candy. Chocolate is my thing. Camera in one hand, cocoa in the other, quite the feat of early morning juggling jig-a-roo. Does chocolate ice cream even count? Chocolate square cereal with surprisingly deep flavour, starting the day right with just the right amount of chocolate. Apple strudel. I guess I'm not even trying any more. Ha. Ha. So sick of this project. Had a fantastic gooey chocolate lava cake that was delicious and forgot to take a picture. More hot chocolate. Quite the connoisseur, I have become.

Sausage Fest

Can I remember, fish, that gives it away, bunch of fish, weird stuff, that Berlin Winter Garden salad of sorts, do not remember where, Rudeshine, maybe, I think thats a fish puree, liverwurst like thing under the cucumber when with family, castle town, reindeer sausage, saurkraut ghoulash and potato cakes, I think, by an old Abbey, husk of a shell, climbed to the castle at the top of this hill, great rainy day, good food, almost all of it was good food Next two the same, second a close up, kind of like Ikea food, mushrooms, I'm guessing, not bother to look at the large images, just thumbnails, potatoe cakes, look good, salad, um, I'm wrong about this, I thought it was a truck stop, autoban, but I would not have gotten a saldad, looks good, though, does it not

Sausages
They Do the Body Good

Pizza: plain-ish crust. Not impressed by first bite. But lovely hot tomatoey sauce, loving it at the end. Breakfast links. The breakfast of millionaires Berlin-round, with an ever changing selection of cold cuts, sausages, and cheese. Hotel breakfast: best for waking up, eating, and going back to sleep. Fish at the rooftop Winter Garden: Why you choose sausage. Hot dog-ish filled cannoli. Coins: no longer shall I be piss poor. Sausage. For obvious reasons. Deer: best mashed potatoes ever. Bacon. Onion. Butter. Best cabbage. Cream. But the deer was only deer, valias style, which means in a ragu: gamey red sauce. Goulash was good. Probably not doing this sausage thing right. So, bonus. First World Traveller Problems. Light socket. Breakfast: I love the taste of salami and smoked Gouda in the morning. I just had sixty grams of protein for breakfast; or so, I was told. Lamb Ragu: mixed in s giant wheel of Parmesian Cheese. Gives me chicken skin just thinking about it. Hand made, soft, tender, cheesy morsels of flavour. Cheese covered noodles were far superior to the sauce. Same sausage different day. Best buffet yet. Oddly, the cocoa was instant with great gobs of clumped up powder at the bottom of the cup. Still the best buffet, though. Hunks of blue, red, and Brie cheeses, lots of sausages. Starting to recognize the staples.

Reindeer or deer... Swiss Hotel Berlin, I believe, no, no, not that, at a steak place on the other side of Berlin, could not tell you the name, the best steak I had in Germany was served on a bed of spagetti potatoe, glop, cannot tell, remember fish, that was a pain to eat, the day before we took the River Boat ride on the Rhine Looks like duck, figs, and dates, one of the best meals, photo does not look so great OK, here is the one I probably ate at the ruined abbey day climb to the castle, maybe not, but I think, cranberries in season, good food yeah, who knows, the CyThons know

Does Fish Count?
Eh, so I cheated

Kischwasser: cherry juice and vodka. Nice and smooth. Ha, don't even feel it. Time to climb some castle walls. Venison stew: so much good food it sort of blends together. Like the cheese plate for dessert. Arctic char. The buffets just get better and better. More sausage. More cheese. More of the good things in life. Half raw schnitzel. And suddenly things took a turn for the worse... Soup was quite good. Hotdog soup by some other name. Ironic that I forgot to take pictures of the most iconic German meal I've had yet: local sausage and raw pork and beef called mete (as in, test your metal). Basket of bread, and bowl of sausage with mustard straight out of the tube. Castles, Cathedrals, Cold Cuts, and Cakes... and colds... No sausage. Chicken and potatoes. Peas and baby carrots. Creamed green beans. Mit Beer! Ember. Light my fire. Premium Hooch from the Hartz Mountains. Deer Sausage: a little lean for my tastes. But this was a selling point to others. Home cooked open face sandwiches with cucumbers. Surprisingly tasty. The trick is using bread that only uses enough wheat to hold the other stuff (seeds) together. Pomme Frits par excellence.

Tired of writing, but this one worht it, Curry Wurst, at a castle, cafe, made me sit at another table, they did not like the smell, but it tasted fine, had been looking forward to this street fair for a long while, see it, but no one else was ever going to go for it last castle town, hardly remember the name, barely knew it then, castle in the distance, standing on the bridge, mist, light rain, sort of dangerous feeling, friday or saturday night, and we went to this resturant where and old couple, really old, long past retirement, hunched backs, not a lick of english were doing the service and this was the mixed seafood plate, very happy with it sauce was so so, but the noodles were mixed in front of me in a big two foot round cheese wheel, the noodles were great, waitress pretty sexy too last night at airport, just food, not very good, cataloni or something, always had a problem with that name, saying it, spelling it, would not get this dish again meat obviously, I do not know where, I think I did better than the rest at the table, or at least, that is what comes to mind, a good choice given the options, maybe in this twisty neighborhood, so where, Berlin, was it, somewhere they had been before, this was my main who knows

How about pasta?
It's got meatballs...

Wild Boar Goulash: tough. But very delightful once I started mixing each forkful with a generous portion of cranberry sauce. Having a fried egg was nice for a change. Chicken broth trying to pass as cream of potato soup. Actually, it was quite good. Hit the spot. Sometimes service makes the meal. Steak spaghetti. Great tender steak. Best steak I had my entire time in Germany. Meatloaf: ala a greasy spoon roadside diner. Trout. Not even close to being sausage. Bony, but good. A delightful duck gave us its all: with date, prune, and fig stuffing. Goulash: being European chili. I like chili, European or otherwise. Goulash twice in one day, it must be on holiday. Venison Steak & Strudel: if not a German tradition, a personal one. Curry Wurst: much better than expected. Waiting all trip for one of these and it did not disappoint. Sweet, mildly spicy. I'd do again. Another banquet... The Best Goulash is Castle Goulash (i.e. Goulash eaten in a castle cafe). Hash brown with sausage. So, potato pizza. Anti pasta. More like anti-sausage. Enough is enough. Vegetarian Cannelloni. At the airport, almost home. Can you tell?

empty plates the lot of this series, not much to say, food stains on plate, in a resturaunt, in public, so I could not lick, would have licked, would have licked everything, even the cannolli, what is it called Fries, I guess I had leftovers, so would nto have licked, so, this was the roadside diner, can you, dear Cython, tell which meal it goes with, if I even included that pic

But then, I decided not to do things that way...


Breakfast

Starting the day right!

full spread breakfast, the buffets were great chocolate cereal, tasty another spread, family town, the cheapest buffet, we stayed at nice places typically, this was one of two in town, utilitarian breakfast, chocolates courtesy of family cereal castle town, maybe, yes, same place as the view at the top, I remember the pitchers, though, I could be wrong, maybe in Maritime, weird town, crooked pink building, you know the place, yes, I think that was the place, top notch buffet, made friends with the service waiter guy, from the Middle East

Was breakfast invented in Germany? No? Well, maybe heaping portions like this are the reason they won both World Wars? No? Didn't do that either? Are you sure? Well, I guess it makes a sort of sense; after a meal like this you either don't want to move... or are set 'till supper.

more breakfast, almost skipped, doubt I would redo these notes if the spacing was off, I listed one row, instead of another, so maybe should double check that, eggs here, view from the top, keep on saying that, do not know why, could be so many, fried eggs, chese, maybe where the main street was blocked off, tourists only, and we got lost on the way to the hotel, nice place, nice hotel, another great buffet, sit there for an hour stuffing my face olives, sausage, cheese, beans, where did we have beans, only two or three, first night, Swiss Hotel Berlin, my best guess, my oftener guss, blue cheese, nice spread, one of the few places I remember quality olives bacon, sausage, olives, I take back nothing pickle, that is a pickle, sausage, cold cuts cheese, I am bored jelly, oh, that looks interesting, remember that road block story, probably the same place, they had crepes and jelly


Followed by a Light Lunch

Hey, hungry or not, it's noon; and that means it's time for lunch.

tourist town storefront, chocolates in the window, yeah, pretty sure this was early int he trip, walked to a castle from here, should have loaded up on chocolate when I had the chance, but the timing was never right tourist town, sausages in the window

And with inducements like these: let's see, we've got your chocolate, your sausages, and your hot goulashes and soups. Want to know how to say 'chili' in Deutsch? Try 'Ghoulash'. See, didn't even know it and you're fluent in two languages. Or just talk louder. Actually, it was a little uncanny, just as soon as I got used to everyone speaking English, I run across someone who didn't know a lick (and seemed genuinely apologetic, that here I was in there country, not speaking a word of the language, and so, how were they going to ask me to politely leave and get out of their store if I was going to continue talking so loudly). And then, I'd be all primed to talk in multi-variants (say if I wanted shoes, which I didn't, but it's the first thing that popped into my head, I might might go down an impromptu list until I got a hit, such as: shoes, feet, boots, gloves for the toes, sandals, moccasins, and so on) while doing a pantomime; and whoever I was talking to would wait patiently until I stopped talking (like and imbecile) and respond in perfect American style English.

soups, goulash, the lot, I chose this one to make the comment in because it was one of the nicer, or memorable, lunch break, river trip day, hot dog slices and what not in the stew


And Dessert

So, much good food...

What was my favourite entree? The roast duck stuffed with figs and dates. My favourite snack? A goulash served at a small tavern comes rapidly to mind. But I'm still trying to figure out my favourite dessert? If I could have one plate magically appear? I guess apple struedel, nestled between castle walls in the old part of town...

dessert, wine cheese with jelly and chutney, un godly expensive, given the portions, tasty, but I was sort of guilty ordering it apple strudel mit ice cream sausage, reindeer, apetize, smallish, tastish more strudel many will feed, few will get a full portion, empty plate, two forks, three spoons, yes, this is the one, two forks, three spoons, it is a joke


Euro Selfie

This is my third year on the Net,
but the first year I'm bothering to post pictures of self.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as vain as the next guy, girl, whatever. But I have a sense of humility, humbleness... maybe not a large one, but a sense nonetheless. And it may be surprising, but one of the reasons I decided to start posting images of myself is so I don't see pictures of random strangers whenever I do a search for myself. So, vanity, but in a backwards sort of way.

And me drinking chocolate. Ever wonder what your's truly would look like in the morning, the morning after, well, now you know...

This and the next four are all me, Brett Paufler, hot cocoa by window the man himself eating some sort of delight, making a sort of face same food as above, only smiling, the item was not that good hot chocolate in the morning, I think I might be naked underneath, good thing it was a close up of Brett Paufler Brett Paufler again, some german town, relatives nearby, recognize that hotel background, i had bought some mix in the store nearby, good mix


Danke and/or Bitte

Saving the best for last.

Eh, maybe not the best, just the weirdest. You know, you (or at least, I) sort the pictures, into food, family, castles, and whatnot; and then, there are those leftovers, could call them miscellaneous, but that doesn't quite cover it. Oh, I know, let's call them weird. In Berlin, the public restrooms were pay as you go (even the highway rest stop had a little turn style, 75p in, get a 50p coupon on the way out). And let's just say that when change in a country is that linked to other folks dirty business, I'm going to wash my coins at the end of the day. And then, electricity; I did lots of advance planning on chargers and adapters, but all I needed was a simple adaptor prong. Not that the image on the right has much of anything to do with that; just like the picture; think it came from castle country, the same as the view at the top.

hand, my hand, Brett Paufler hand, holding coins recently washed, so obviously, some money washing scheme here a watched kettle may not boil, but that does not mean one cannot take of picture of it

Paufler.net

Brett Food


English was spoken often enough.
And in the end, I could start to read the signs.

This was my only concern prior to going.
There was no need for any concern.
© copyright 2016 Brett Paufler
paufler.net@gmail.com