Strawberries & Prosecco

I'm still conducting research, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a person in the world who doesn't like strawberries. Yes, there are people with allergies, but I think it's rare (not human?) to find someone who just doesn't care for strawberries.

Strawberry season is in full swing in Hamburg, although it had a late start due to the late "summer weather" (I'm still waiting...). The positive news is that means the strawberries should be going strong through August -- at least according to the man I spoke with at the strawberry hut.

Europe does a great job of offering seasonal foods. Everyone gets excited for "Spargel season" (white asparagas) and then everyone goes crazy for the strawberries. And then come pumpkins. You can't beat the freshness, quality, and prices.

And what complements strawberries? Why, prosecco, of course! This is a great combination for summer picnics. Sadly, there have few, in any, such occasions so far in 2013. So, I had to bring the picnic inside.

I invited some of my girlfriends over for a Strawberries & Prosecco evening. Yes, I like themed evenings. We enjoyed a moderate two bottles of prosecco for the four of us and splurged on the "good" chocoloate -- you know, the kind you always admire at the store but never buy for yourself.

We also ravished the chocolate-covered strawberries and curiously tried the reduced-balsamic covered stawberries with ground pepper. It's a real thing. I've had it with peaches before and it was amazing. My version ended up more as a carmelized balsamico instead of real reduced vinegar. It was eaten, but not by me.

My highlight of the evening was our main course. I wanted to serve a salad -- something healthy to balance our drinking and chocolates. I thought something with chicken, feta, almonds, and a strawberry dressing might be nice. So I googled just that. I came upon this recipe and I can't wait to make it again.

Despite that I love rules and following directions, I rarely follow recipes. But I mostly did in this case. The dressing is made from strawberries, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and honey. It tastes like summer. It's fresh and sweet, but not too sweet.

Since I didn't want to force ingredients on anyone, I left the spinach, lettuce, and green onions dry in a large bowl with separate bowls for the almonds, crumbled feta, and strawberry dressing. I seasoned  some chicken breasts with nearly every spice in my collection and baked it in my new mini oven (it works better than the real oven) for 30 minutes. I should really bake chicken in the oven more often. It tastes so much better and proves much better for presentation.

We devoured dinner.

Thankfully, I had set a small bit aside so I could reproduce the salad for my lunch -- sans chicken. And since I forgot to take a photo last night, here's my lunch version. Apparently, I now do food-styling on my lunch break in addition to blogging.

No filters, no color editing! (recipe)

I am confident there will be a second Strawberries & Prosecco evening.

Long Days

Friday was a long day. 17 hours, 2 minutes, and 52 second to be exact. On one hand, I am excited that my sleeping issues associated with living so far north should start improving, but, on the other hand, it means that we're on the downward slope toward winter.

For whatever reason, I didn't seem to be affected by the excessive daylight last year in the same way I have been this year. Obviously, it's been a gradual change.

There was a sweet spot in April when I woke up (naturally) about 5-10 minutes before my alarm clock was due to start beeping. I assisted this process by keeping my window slightly drawn. It's a wonderful feeling and it left me feeling extra energized before jumping into my full day.

But, of course, the sun just kept rising earlier and earlier. The last few weeks, I would wake up and unhappily find a 4:something time starting back at me. And, not only was I waking up early, but I was also having trouble falling asleep before 11:00 pm while twilight successfully beamed through the cracks in my shades.

And when you throw in a few hot nights, on the (American-style) 5th floor, you're bound to wake up between 1-3 a.m. because of the heat. Thankfully (?), the heat isn't that big of an issue here -- at least not on a regular basis.

Side note: I did try sleeping with a sleep mask and it was just was not for me. Some people said if I invested in a nice one it would help, but I just wasn't keen on the idea.

Just a little comparison from 6/21:

Hamburg:
4:50 sunrise
21:53 sunset

Chicago:
5:15 sunrise
20:29 sunset

Josh Groban Concert | European Tour 2013

On Monday, June 3, one of my dreams came true. Not only did I get to see Josh Groban perform, yet
again, but in a European setting. This has been one of my goals since his 2007 tour when I was living in Vienna. My sister, who lived in Munich at the time, and I tried to coordinate tickets for a concert on a tour that didn't visit either of our towns and it never panned out. But the idea stuck with me.

When it was announced that Josh would be in Hamburg, I knew I would go no matter what. Not only did I not have to go alone (thanks, EJ!), but the venue was so close, I was able to walk there.

As someone whose first concert was The Beach Boys and currently only attends Josh Groban concerts, who doesn't tour every year, this was kind of a big deal. But it was also a little tough because it was my first one without my mom and sister.

But on to the concert. I highly recommend CCH (Congress Center Hamburg -- Saal 1 to be specefic) as a venue. It was a fairly intimate setting with seating for a couple thousand. It was basically the opposite of the United Center in Chicago. Josh's sound, complete with orchestra and chorus, was so full -- you could feel it and hear it.

CCH Saal 1

And the tickets were so pretty!

Our seats were perfect aside from the super smelly person sitting in our vicinity. We never identified the culprit and just when we thought the scent had vanished it always wafted right back to our nostrils. Also, there were a lot of men and not so many younger women in the audience. Correlation to the body odor situation?

My sister's big question was, "Did he tell the same kinds of jokes as in the US?"

The answer: nope!

First, you have to know that Josh is a major Entertainer. He's quick-witted and improves and says silly things that come to mind that are probably supported by the adrenaline rush from being on stage. Secondly, it makes you like him more.

Here's a fun video, that is more fun if you know German, where Josh says things in English to the German crowd and a German girl from the choir "translates" them into German for the German crowd who basically all understands English anyway.

Also, Josh randomly threw out some German words like "Pfirsich" (peach...his favorite German word) and "Stuhl" (chair). And he received quite a few gifts and he reacted quite wonderfully to each of them: cakes made of gummies, tea, stuffed creatures, etc.

He only made one mistake when he mentioned how great Berlin is in very beginning (he'd just played there the day before) but he called himself out and, as always, it made us like him even more.

Josh also had a lot of fun with the crowd Q&A (pretty standard for a Josh concert) with the very German names and the very strange questions: "Can I smell you?" He'd also like to live in space.

Plus, he had some autograph requests. One gal even asked him to sign her iPhone case to which he replied (in song), "I just met you...and this is crazy...but here's my iPhone case...sign it maybe?"

Lastly, there was a super cute little girl dancing in her seat, so Josh came over to give her his drumsticks because he received some drumsticks at a concert when he was young. The girl only wanted one. He was like, ok? And then some other lady rushed over to snatch up the single stick.

I didn't take a lot of video because I was enjoying the concert, unlike the many people in front of me who must have recorded all two hours on their mobile devices, but here's a short clip of "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" which appears on this year's All That Echos album. It's a song originally written by Stevie Wonder and Josh's version is amazing.

I hope you like Josh Groban as much as I do :)

Evil Things: An Encyclopedia of Bad Taste

Today I perused the Hamburg Tourism site to see if they had any fun weekend tips. This is what I found:

photo source

Typisch Hamburg.

Here's a link to the museum info in case anyone out there wants to see some Evil Things: An Encyclopedia of Bad Taste at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. Not my favorite museum if you remember.

The Bayern Triple

photo source

A lot of soccer history had been made recently. FC Bayern München has been domination the Bundesliga for most the season and they did not disappoint in the end. On Saturday, Bayern won the "Triple".

Yes, in English (I don't get it either).

This means they won:

1. The Bundesliga -- They won the top German league by scoring waaaaay more points than any other team. So many points, in fact, that this win was secured well before the end of the season. Last year, Dortmund was this title.

2. The Champion's League -- This game was pegged "the game of the century" as it was because it featured two German teams in the best of the best European league. I wore black and yellow and supported my German's team, Borussia Dortmund, but, in a much closer game than I think anyone expected, Bayern won 2-1 by scoring a goal in the 89th minute. This was a sweet victory for Bayern because they lost in last year's final to Chelsea.

3. The German Cup -- This is another German tourney that consists of all German teams from both the first and second league. Bayern won 3-2 last Saturday over Stuttgart who put up a good fight. Dortmund also won this cup last year giving them the "double".

Coach Jupp Heynckes getting a beer shower - photo source

There are some great products in the fan shop if you're interested.

On Sunday, I watched the celebration parade and presentation. It reminded me a lot of the Stanley Cup 2010 celebrations in Chicago (Go Hawks!). Of course there were a few differences:

1. Most of the team was wearing Lederhosen.
2. They were all holding beer, drinking beer, or dumping beer on each other.
3. The beer glasses were ginormous (see above picture).

Post celebrations they aired a very interesting report on the coach Jupp Heynckes. He's kind of a living legend at the moment. As a player turned coach he remains one of the top forwards of all time. You can't get much better than that.

Side note: There is one Spanish player on the Bayern team who means that in addition to these three titles, he is also a Euro Cup champ and World Cup champ. You really can't get much better than that.

Lastly, because a majority of the German national team is comprised of Bayern and Dortmund players, they were not along on the US trip where the German "B" (or C?) team lost to the USA 4-3 last night. It was sort of an embarrassing end to such a week of German soccer domination, but thankfully it was just a friendly match.

It was cool that my dad also watched it in real time, so we could share comments throughout the game. But often I found myself conflicted for which team I was cheering! A few times I instinctively cheered for the US until I caught my German's suspicious eye.

I will stop now, but I could go on and on. I feel so lucky to be experiencing history! It's almost as good as playoff hockey? (Go Hawks!)