A Weekend In Berlin, 7 Steps to a Perfect Weekend in Berlin, Berlin

Disaster strikes in Charlie's sourdough adventure

Almost every loaf I bake is unique.  Lately I have been baking every couple of days and I am constantly tweaking my recipe.  I have experimented with various different flours (Wheat, Wholegrain Wheat, Rye, Wholegrain Rye, Spelt, Wholegrain spelt), I have also tried adding various ingredients like roasted capsicum, olives, and grains.  In addition I have been adjusting my hydration level, and also experimenting with doing an overnight second stage proof in the fridge.

All this experimenting has resulted in a delightful variety of flavours, textures, shapes and sizes. One of the pitfalls, however, is days like this...

Da da da duuummmmm.........

We had invited our friends Sandra and Chris around for dinner last week.  I decided that I would make some Pate and some delicious Spelt baguettes to go with it for appetizers along with a spelt loaf for us to eat for the next couple of days.  The Pate was a great success.  It was my first attempt at Pate and I was really happy with the result; it was rich, smooth and everything a Pate should be - see recipe below. The bread, however, was the exact opposite.

I had read that when working with Spelt flour that a lower hydration dough is needed.  I adjusted my recipe accordingly and off I went on the 6 odd hour long odyssey that is sourdough bread making...

Mixing, kneading, resting, stretching and folding, pre-shaping, shaping, proofing, carefully taking out of the banneton or couche, slashing, transferring to the oven, baking and cooling.

Everything went well up until the "taking out of the Banneton/couche" stage.  The dough felt quite nice when I was working with it but strangely after it had proofed for the necessary couple of hours it turned quite fluid.

The baguettes I had proofing in the Couche (a linen cloth dusted liberally with flour), all stuck to the bottom and got really mangled going into the oven and the loaf clung to the walls of the banneton as though it was trying to avoid its fate of landing in a 250 degree oven.  Knowing it wouldn't be pretty,  I attempted nevertheless to pop the loaf in the oven.  Adding insult to injury, it then stuck to the improvised peel I use (a piece of cardboard) and flopped unceremoniously out onto the baking stone in the oven, at which point, half of the dough slipped down off the side of the stone and landed on the floor of the oven.  What happened next cannot be described while still retaining at least a little dignity.  Lets just say that there was much swearing, fuming and dramatic hurling of dough into the bin.

Charmaine went for a walk to leave me to calm down and afterwards we had a little of a laugh about it, chopped up the ugly baguettes (which luckily had a beautifully light texture and tasted fantastic) and went on to prepare the rest of the meal...Quiche Lorraine, with a rocket, fennel and walnut salad.

Today in an effort to redeem myself I made some adjustments to the recipe (heaps less water).  The resulting Baguettes and loaves were some of the best I have ever made.  

In the background is one of the Bannetons I use for shaping my loaves, with my improvised Lame (a disposable razer threaded with a skewer inside a thin straw!)  and my container of semolina flour for dusting.

RECIPE

Chicken Liver Pate

Ingredients

600 mls Chicken livers, chopped (with any fat and gristle removed)

100g Butter (chopped)

2 Tbs Port or Brandy

1 Finely chopped onion

2 Crushed cloves of garlic

1 Tbs finely chopped fresh thyme

2 Bay leaves

Method

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy based frypan
2. add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until softened
3. add the rest of the ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, until the livers are cooked
4. Leave to cool for 20 minutes.
5. take out the bay leaves and blitz the rest in a food processor until a smooth paste.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste
7. Pack into bowls and cover with clingfilm (or melted clarified butter) and put into the fridge for at least 2 hrs to set

 

Making Chocolates

I have still been making my sourdough bread every couple of days, along with various other savory delights as inspired by the latest season of Masterchef Australia.  It is nice to hear some Aussie accents (apart from our own of course) although at times some of the language makes us cringe.  My favorite, and one which pops up nearly every episode by a wide variety of the competitors is the hard 'k' sound at the end of words like 'somethink' and 'anythink'.

Yesterday we were invited to 'Sommerfest', a party that my boss was throwing for the first weekend of Summer.  In typical Köln fashion it rained nearly the entire day and the temperature required a jacket.  Hopefully the party functioned like a reverse rain dance and we will get nothing but sunshine and clear skies for the next couple of months.

My contribution to the mounds of beautiful food at the party was a selection of homemade chocolates...

The top row are white and dark chocolates with a tangy raspberry jelly center and the bottom row are milk chocolate truffles with a dark chocolate chili ganache, and the same but rolled in coconut.

Here is a shot of what they looked like in the center.

It was my first real attempt at making chocolates since doing so as a kid in mums kitchen.  It also brought back memories of "helping out"(read:getting in the way and annoying everyone) in the kitchen at my father's restaurant, Doms.  I was often given the job of peeling things, but when I was very well behaved I was allowed to make the Chocolate baskets, which would then be filled with fruit and topped with cream.  There is something quite magical about chocolate, and I used to love to paint the melted chocolate onto the mold and then watch it transform into a solid, and yummy, dessert.

These chocolates take a little bit of effort to make, but the satisfaction of creating such a yummy treat from scratch make it well worth it.

To make these yourself you need a couple of bits a equipment that you may not have but which are indispensable,  a cooking thermometer, and a chocolate mold tray (I have a silicone one which makes it very easy to turn out the chocolates when they are set.

Chocolates with Raspberry center (makes around 20)

Equipment

• Food thermometer
• Fine Sieve
• Chocolate molds
• Double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl that fits into a saucepan.

Ingredients

• 300g Chocolate (The best quality you can afford)
• 125g Rasberries
• 3 Gelatin sheets, Gold. 
• 1/4 cup Apple Juice
• 2 Tsb Suger 

1. In a small saucepan, add the Raspberries, Apple juice and Sugar.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the raspberries break down into a mush.
2. Strain the mixture through a sieve and use the back of a spoon to push the pulp through, leaving behind the seeds and set aside.
3. Now for the slightly tricky part.  To temper the chocolate so that you get a beautiful shine when it sets, and a lovely crack as you bite into it you need to follow the following directions.
4. Finely chop your chocolate and put 3/4 of it in the double boiler (making sure the pot on top is not touching the water below)  stirring gently but constantly, bring the temperature of the chocolate up to 46 degrees Celsius for dark chocolate (43 for milk or white)
5. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the remaining chocolate and continue to stir gently until it drops to under 29 degrees C
6. Place back on the heat 10 seconds at a time until the temperature of the chocolate reaches 31.5 degrees(30.5 for white and milk choclate) - It is now perfectly tempered and ready to use.  It is important that you don't leave the chocolate over the water or allow it to exceed 32.5 degrees at this point.  Also - Make sure that water NEVER comes into contact with your chocolate.  It will make it seize up and will be unusable. 
7. Fill your molds with the melted chocolate, wait a couple of minutes and then tip the molds upside down over your bowl of chocolate or a piece of baking paper.
8. Scrape the remaining chocolate of the top of the mold and tap vigourously to remove any airbubbles (if you don't, your chocolates will like like they were nibbled by mice)
9. While your chocolate sets, soak your gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 mins and put the raspberry mixture on the heat.  Shortly before it reaches a simmer, take the saucepan off the heat and whisk in the softened gelatin sheets until dissolved.
10. Cool the mixture down over an ice bath (or cold water in the sink) and fill the cavities in the chocolate molds, leaving a space at the top to seal it in with more chocolate.
11. Place the molds in the fridge for 10-15 mins to let the jelly start to set.
12. Try to keep the chocolate as close the 30 degree mark as you can.  This requires putting it on the heat for 5-10 secs every couple of mins.
13. Test the jelly with your finger and it it feels slightly firm it is time to add the last bit of chocolate.
14. Fill each mold up and then scrape away the excess chocolate so they are level.  Again, give them a tap to get out the air bubbles.
15. Put the in the fridge for 30 mins and then take them out and de-mold them, trimming the bottoms of the rough bits of chocolate the will be jutting out.

Sourdough Croissants and a new visa

After being told by 3 different people at various immigration offices that I wasn't eligible for an unrestricted work visa until I had been here 5 years, I finally found someone who referred me to the right person who knew what she was doing.  So now, after 4 trips in one week to various different offices I have been granted an unrestricted work visa - for the last three years I have had to go to immigration every time I was offered a contract, and then wait 6-8 weeks for the permission to work. I am now allowed to do any job I want, or, I will when I actually get the stamp in my passport (which may take another couple of weeks).

In celebration I decided to make some Croissants (and a few Petit pain au Chocolat) on the weekend,   Sourdough of course...

I always knew that Croissants weren't particularly healthy but it wasn't until making them that I realised just how unhealthy they are!


This is a photo of the dough after I had it had rested in the fridge overnight.  It is layers of butter and dough (which also has butter in it)

After rolling the above dough out I then cut it into triangles

and then left them to proof for a while












They went beautifully with an espresso and some home made Rasberry Jam given to us by our good friend Maike.  The perfect sunday brekky!

YUM!

Check out the recipe here

Sourdough English Muffins and Eggs Florentine

After perusing the various websites dedicated to the delights of Sourdough baking I stumbled across a recipe for English muffins.  Taken with how easy it seemed I decided to give them a try.  And, I am pleased to announce, they are very easy - And YUMMY.  I made them on saturday and then for sunday breakfast we had organic eggs florentine on organic sourdough muffins (minus the Hollandaise sauce due to Charmaine's state).  They were great, although would have scored higher with the addition of some freshly made Hollandaise!

After breakfast we lazed around the house for a bit before heading to Nippes, our old stomping ground, for the dual treats of flea market and Street Festival.  'Twas a great day,  capped of by a 30 min set by a very 'eurovision' singer with his two back up dancers, made all the better by the dancer who was every so slightly un-co and not all that sure of all the moves!  GOLD!

Anyway... as always, the RECIPE

courtesy of Susan at her great sourdough blog Wild Yeast.

It requires you to make a "sponge" which is a pre-ferment which gets everything going.

Ingredients for the sponge:

110g Ripe 100% hydration starter
160g Strong Flour
100g Wholemeal flour
276g Milk

Ingredients for the rest of the dough
75g Strong Flour
8g Salt
1 tsp Baking soda
1.5 tsp Honey
All of the sponge.

Method:

• Mix together all of the sponge ingredients until combined.
• Leave for 8 hours or overnight.
• Add remaining dough mixture and mix roughly to combine.
• Turn out onto bench and knead the dough for 7-10 minutes or until the gluten is well developed. The dough will be very sticky at first and will get slightly less so with kneading.  Please resist the urge to add more flour though.

• Flour your bench surface and hands really well and pat the dough out to a thickness of 1.5cm
• using a round cookie cutter with a diameter of 8cm cut out the muffins and transfer to baking paper sprinkled liberally with semolina flour.  Alternatively you could just use a knife or dough cutter and have them square.
• Cover with cling-wrap and leave to proof for an hour.

• With a pastry brush, lightly oil a heavy based fry-pan.  In batches, cook the muffins over medium heat for around 15 minutes, turning several times, until golden brown and the sides are firm.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• When splitting them for toasting, it is best to use a fork rather than a knife.  This creates lots of great nooks and crannys which will crisp up beautifully.

These muffins are great as they are, toasted with a bit of butter, or your favorite spread.  But are also fantastic as part of your favorite english muffin based breakfast!

Anniversary dinner - slow roasted lamb shoulder

On Sunday night Charmaine and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary!  We decided to cook dinner at home before heading out for a stroll and perhaps a drink.  Remembering with fondness some slow roasted lamb shoulder that our friend James Payne cooked for us in Melbourne, I decided that if I could find Lamb shoulder in Cologne, I would give it a crack.  I happened to find some New Zealand lamb shoulder in the gourmet food section of the department store nearby,  unfortunately it was frozen but beggars can't be choosers!  It ended up roasting at 130 degrees for about 8 hrs and it was beautiful!  The meat fell off the bone with just a little help from a fork.  The skin and meat on the outside was really dark and crispy and inside was beautiful and moist with a really rich flavour.  I served it with roasted potatoes(Of course) along with roasted carrots, onions, and garlic.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photos so you'll have to take my word for it.  See below for Recipe...

After dinner we went for a stroll into the the center and hung a Liebesschloss (Love padlock) on the Hohenzollernbrücke (Hohenzollern Bridge).  We had a padlock engraved with our initials and the date we were married and locked it onto the bridge, along with the estimated 2 tonnes of other locks.  

After affixing the lock, we threw the keys into the river below....and then went and ate some ice-cream before wandering home full and happy.

RECIPE - SLOW ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER

For two People to be eating at 8pm.

1kg Lamb shoulder

3 Bulbs garlic

2 Carrots (Peeled and quartered)

as many potatoes as you want to eat

2 small onions

Red wine

4 sprigs rosemary

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

11.30 Preheat oven to 130 degrees

rub the Lamb with salt, pepper, one of the rosemary sprigs, and olive oil and set aside

prepare a bed of 1 bulb of garlic cloves (unpeeled) and the remaining rosemary.

lie the lamb on its little bed of tastiness and pour a cup of red wine into the pan.

12.00 put the Lamb in the oven

17.45 cut the very top off the remaining garlic bulbs and pour some olive oil in the little holes.  put in a separate roasting dish along with the unpeeled onions, and the carrots.  Add Olive oil to lightly coat.

Par boil the potatoes in salted water until cooked through, drain and stand until they stop steaming.

19.15 Add to the roasting tin with the other vegetables

19.30 Remove the lamb, cover with foil and leave to rest in a warm place.  If the garlic looks soft and a golden colour, remove it too.  Turn oven up to 220 Degrees and place the Vegetables on the top tray.

19.45 Toss the Vegetables.

20.00.  Remove meat from the bones with fork.  Place on warmed platter.  Add the vegetables to the platter.  Serve.  Enjoy.

Long time no Blog - Getting my Mojo back

Well - It has certainly been a long time between posts!  Last post - 28th Dec........2009!!!!

wow - So, what have i been up to you might be wondering.  Lots of stuff, living, singing, playing board games, auditioning, making a baby, watching movies, visiting Australia, talking on skype, and lately.......baking bread, is the answer!

About a month ago I was inspired to turn my hand to Sourdough bread making after being inspired by my  friend Abe Singer's photos posted on facebook.  

I had tried a few years back to make a Sourdough starter but with zero success but after Abe's effort I thought it would be worth giving it another crack.

Abe gave me instructions for how to go about cultivating a sourdough starter and I also did a lot research on the net, especially at sourdough.com, a great portal for all things sourdough. 

So, on a mild spring morning in Köln, Deutchland I mixed together 50g of Water and 50g of organic whole-meal flour in a glass jar, in the hope of encouraging some wild yeasts to grow.  I patiently fed my starter following these fantastically easy steps, and after a week I had a colony of yeast that I could bake with.

I have decided to use Organic ingredients and as much as possible to use whole-meal flour (the only problem being is that loaves with a high proportion of whole-meal flour have a tendency to be a bit on the dense side)

My very first loaf was a 20% Rye loaf. (see under for Recipe)

mmmm - Avocado and Tomato on fresh sourdough....Nom nom nom

It has been less than a month since I embarked on this Sourdough journey but it has become somewhat of an addiction.  In the past 29 days I have made around 10 Rye/Whole-meal loves, a few Spelt loaves, Baguettes, Pizza bases, and today.....Croissants.  All using my sourdough starter culture.

It is still fascinating to me that something so tasty can be created with so few ingredients.  My bread is only flour, water, salt and my starter (which is flour, water and wild, naturally occurring, yeast!  It stays fresh for a couple of days and when it is stale it makes the most amazing Cheese toasties!!!!!

I'm looking forward to reviving this blog and sharing with you some of the things I am cooking/baking as well as other things that are going on in my life.

Cheers,

Charliek

RECIPE

• 140g Starter - 100% Hydration
• 420g Flour - 84g Rye, 336g of White Flour type 1150 (strong)
• 280g Filtered water
• 10g Sea salt
• 
  

1. Roughly mix together everything except the salt and allow to rest for 20 mins 
2. Add the salt and knead the dough for 10 sec (YES REALLY!) every 10 mins for the next half hour. 
3. From now, give the dough a stretch and fold  every 45 mins for the next 3 hours (4 times)
4. Shape your loaf and putting in a Banneton covered with a teatowel and plastic bag and into the fridge overnight.

The next morning, take out your loaf from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 1.5 hrs.

Put your stone in the oven (I use a piece of granite from a hardware supplies shop)Preheat Oven to 250 Celsius and put a tray in the bottom of the oven to heat up.

Working quickly but gently, turn your loaf onto a well floured "Peel" (I use a piece of firm cardboard), slash the top with a sharp knife or razor and slide it onto your stone in the oven.  Pour 2 cups of cold water into the tray at bottom of oven, and using a spray bottle, spray some water into the cavity of the oven to create steam.

After 20 minutes, remove the tray and reduce temperature to 220 degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes.  The loaf is cooked when it sounds hollow when tapped on the base.

Allow to cook completely before cutting.

Erste Weihnachten in Deutschland!

and what a lovely Christmas it was. Unfortunately the lovely snow that was covering the ground only a few days before had vanished after a warm snap (4 degrees). Charmaine, Timmy and I spent the 24th at home listening to Christmas Carols, eating Schnitzels and drinking Kölsch. On Christmas day we went to a nice party at Joe and Kathleen (American singers working in Köln - I am working with Joe in the Kinderoper at the moment).On the 26th I had my final performance of The tales of Hoffmann and after that we went to a Cocktail bar around the corner from home and also visited a cool little bar for a nightcap after that.

The only bummer was when we realised (a day too late) that the day we thought the shops would re-open, the 27th, happened to be a Sunday this year which meant everything was still shut! GRRRR! So we had to eat a Döner kebab for lunch (which served as a bit of a hangover cure as well)

Tomorrow after the Kinderopera we are all going to Berlin to celebrate NYE and spend a few days seeing the sights and drinking some beer other than Kölsch (not that I'm complaining as Kölsch is quite yummy). Before I go, here are a couple of photos of Köln in the Snow.

Pure as the driven snow

Its quite amazing how the first snow of the season transforms so many people into children. On thursday afternoon we got our first snow fall. I was riding my bike to the gym when it started falling and rode past many people gazing out their windows watching the snow falling. When I'd finished at the gym I exited the building to discover a fine white dust covering everything. Char spent a bit of time sitting on our windowsill with a cup of tea watching the snow fall through the light of the street lamps.

The next morning we woke to discover that about 2 inches of snow had fallen during the night, covering everything in a beautiful blanket of white. The park 30 meters from our house was quite pretty.

It is now starting to get seriously cold (well at least for someone has spent the last 4 winters living in Sydney) we have had quite a few days now that have had a top of -1 or 0 and yesterday was -9 for most of the day before dropping to -14.

A few days ago our friends Chris and Adam came to visit and we had a great time at the Christmas markets drinking Glühwein (mulled wine) and eating the sort of food that i'm pretty sure are well out of the running for a heart foundation tick of approval!

I also love the fact that hey serve the Glühwein (or hot chocolate with rum) in real mugs! After paying the 2 euro deposit with the first order you just bring the mugs back everytime you want a refill and when you've had your fill of warm red wine they give you the deposit back (or you let them keep the deposit and throw the mug in your handbag). Imagine how many plastic cups get saved from the landfill! Also, the fact that you have to take them back to get your deposit means that there aren't empty cups and rubbish lying around!

As I write this it is snowing again and I am looking out our bedroom window at a view that has been dramatically improved with the addition of some snow...

Aladdin und die Wunderlampe

A couple of weeks ago I found out through the grapevine that I will be appearing topless (albeit with blue and green body paint) in the upcoming "Childrens" opera Aladdin. Had I known a little earlier I would probably have curtailed my love affair with Wurst, Bread, and Beer (well at least a little!) As it is I have joined a gym and have 6 weeks to whip this body into something that the children wont recoil from in horror. For added proof (in case anyone needed more) that there is NO god, I have to do this in the middle of the Christmas period, the time when I traditionally gain a few kilos from all the merry making. ARGH!

If I don't manage to lose the kilos and tone up a bit I will have to convince the makeup department to paint on some muscles or something! Oh yeah - I forgot to add that I will probably have to wax or shave my chest so that they can do the paint.

The glamour of life in the theater never ends!

Christmas time has begun

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent and for the first time in a lot of years I have an advent Calender. Charmaine purchased me a "sexy advent Calender" which has some lovely ladies in swimwear on the front. I am yet to find out if there is a surprise behind every box (Pun intended).

For some reason Christmas here feels a lot more real. In Australia I enjoyed the Christmas time only in so much as it was a time for a few days off to spend with my family and drink and eat too much. I really didn't get into the whole "Christmas spirit" and Char and I never bothered with a Christmas tree or lights or anything like that.

Here however, things are different and I think it is because it conforms to the image of Christmas that we see in every film we see or story we read. Even though its often 30 degrees in Australia we still persist in a Santa in thick coat with fur trimming and a lot of us still eat a cooked lunch. Its nice, but there is something about it all that feels a bit phoney and borrowed (I guess because it is) to me.

In Köln the Christmas markets have started. Char and I went on the weekend and wandered around all the cute wooden huts selling all sorts of yummy foods from Reibekuchen (kinda like potato cakes made from grated potato), crepes, fruit dipped in Chocolate, grilled meats of every variety, Glühwein (mulled wine), hot apple juice. There were also heaps of different hand made gift stalls with things made from wood, glass, felt, leather etc. We will have to go back a few more times to sample all the tasty delights that are on offer.

Tonight Char and I have been invited to our first dinner at someones house. Raphael is in the Opera studio with me and doesn't speak much English which means that when we hang out we speak only German - which is great (although at times, tiring) for me. Tonight will be a great test for Char to see how much she can understand and respond in German without looking at me for help to much.

The Devil is in the details!

To date my German knowledge has been advancing quite steadily. I now have no problems interacting in everyday situations and can even have some quite decent conversations on varied topics with my german friends and Colleagues. I have however made a few humorous mistakes...

The first one was when I was relating to a friend that I had watched "Aschenbrödel" (Cinderella) in german the previous night. In my excitment I neglected to pay the attention to pronunciation that was needed in this situation and I elongated the "A" sound at the start of the word. An easy mistake to make and one might think "not that big a deal". My friend, however, stared at me quizzically with a smirk on his face, prompting me to scan over what I had just said. You see the difference in sound between the word for ash - Asche, and the word for a persons derriere: Arsch is quite small, but i'm sure that "Arschenbrödel" is a completely different type of movie altogether!

I moved to Köln in the middle of summer and was immediately struck by the level of humidity. I reminded me of a sticky Sydney summers day. I immediately looked up the word for Humid and discovered it to be "schwül". At language class the following week I made a comment about how "schwul" the weather was, to which the teacher replied with a giggle. Sensing that my sentence had not had the intended meaning I inquired as to where I'd gone wrong. The two little dots above the U was where I had gone wrong. Such a small difference but it changes the sound from U as in "Pull" to U as in "Hugh" and changes the meaning from Humid/Muggy to......... Gay! The irony is, it was the day after the Christopher Street Parade (Huge gay festival) and if I'd said my sentence the day before I would have been correct no matter which way I said it!

Shortly after I started working at the Opera I overheard a conversation where two elderly Germans were talking about the "Abo" that they'd just bought for the Opera. I was horrified that A: they were using such an outdated and racist word, and B: there seemed to be a people smuggling operation where my native countrymen were being purchased by Germans to be put to work in some aspect of the Opera. It was probably instigated under the Howard regime but I thought since K Rudd's apology that this sort of thing would have been stamped out. I was horrified and spent my train ride home wondering whether to call the Embassy or the Police first. Just to be on the safe side I decided to consult my dictionary upon arriving home. Imagine my relief when I discovered that in German "Abo" is short for Abonnement which is in fact a Subscription! Still, I wouldn't have put it past that nasty old Howard!

Castles, alluring maidens, and gynecological dinners!

This weekend we took a trip 2 hours up the Rhein to a small town called St. Goar. The scenery is quite stunning and the train follows the Rhein, going through lots of cute little towns and villages and past a few Castles perched on the Hills/small mountains along the river. The town of St Goar has 3 Castles in its near vicinity. Burg Rheinfels was once the largest Castle on the Rhein was started in 1245 by Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen, however was partially destroyed by French Revolutionary Army troops in 1797. Nowdays for 3 Euros you can wander round the ruins completely unsupervised. I was totally surprised that they pretty much let you go anywhere too. There are a few areas that are fenced off but all the fence consisted of was two bars with a huge gap that even I would have no trouble getting through! We had a map which led us through the ruins and explained points of interest (in English, but I did try to read many of the Information boards dotted around the Castle in German with various degrees of success). Next time we come back we will bring a torch so that we can explore some of the dark small passages that snake around the ruins. Unfortunately taking a photo every meter or so for the light of the flash is a horribly frustrating was to travel - It also made me feel like I might have a seizure. My favorite bit of the map we were given was in the Foxhole section where it said "on the left you will notice some stairs leading down. For safety reasons the entrance is locked by iron bars. This is where the mine tunnel begins. The tunnel, hardly 1m high, has several turnoffs. It can be passed and leads us back into the battlements" The iron bars it mention was actually a gate similar to that on a sheep paddock and had no lock. Unfortunatly our lack of "approriate lighting" meant that we will have to save that particular adventure till next time. Maybe when Timmy comes at Christmas time?

The town of St Goar (or to be more accurate its sister city accross the river, St Goarshausen) is also home to the Loreley, a 150m tall rock that juts out into the Rhein. It is the subject of much Folklore. It is said that a maiden, named Loreley, threw herself off the rock in despair over a faithless lover and was transformed into a siren, luring hapless sailors to their deaths. There is a poem about the tale written by Heinrich Heine that is one of the most well know German poems. We walked up the steps carved in the mountain side to to the top of the rock and were very glad that we did...........

That night, after resting our weary legs from all that walking and step climbing, we headed to a Hotel restaurant for some dinner. We were one of two couples eating there that night and at a table a few meters away was the Proprietor and his wife on laptops watching the TV. Suffice to say, this establishment wont be winning any "ambiance of the year" prizes! I'm not a huge fan of TV's in dining rooms at the best of times but when the program requires footage of a woman receiving some sort of gynecological exam, I think, my dear people, that it is definitely time to turn it off and put some music on!

Visitors

We have been living in Köln for only 4 months now but we have already had so many visitors. It has been really nice seeing the numerous family members and friends and showing them our favorite spots and discovering new ones together. This weekend Char's Mum and her friend came to stay. We had a great weekend filled with Wine, Cheese, Shopping and laughs and we now know about a lovely cafe in the neighborhood that the ladies discovered.

The weekend was also pretty busy at work too.

First was opening night of Hoffmanns Erzählungen on Friday night. I am singing the role of Wolfram who is one of the students at the start. I only sing a few words but it is a great production. Char, Judy and Jill came to see it and all 3 loved it.

On saturday night I sang in perhaps the strangest venue of my career: A kitchen showroom!

This weekend was a music festival where all sorts of different spaces from private lounge rooms, to foyers of businesses around the city were used as performance venues. My fellow Opera Studio colleagues and I sang a concert of Arias, Duets and Ensembles from various Operas that are being performed this season in Köln.

I sang a bunch of things from Don Giovanni and really enjoyed singing some great music with a group of wonderful singers. The audience were (or should that be "was" - hmmm... I can't decide) lovely - very warm and appreciative. After the concert we stayed for a bit of mingling combined with a glas or three of wine and a bowl of soup...

The perfect way to end a concert!

11/11

Yesterday I saw a monk walking along hand in hand with a strumpet. I also saw a man dressed as a nun, 27 Pirates and a group of men dressed as tampons.

The 11th of November is the official opening of Karnival and the streets were alive with all sorts of costumed folks drinking, singing, dancing and generally having a good time (there were even drunk hoards on the street at 9.30 in the morning as I rode my bike to work!)

After yesterday the Karnival festivities are put on hold until the thursday before the beginning of Lent. The town goes crazy with street festivals, drinking, costumes, parades, and more drinking until Ash Wednesday where the sins of the previous 5 days debauchery are washed away.

Bring it on!!!

where are you sleep?

It has now just clocked over to 1:00am and I am now officially annoyed that I can't get to sleep. My mind just wont shut down despite the alcohol that has slowed it down somewhat. I am hoping that by emptying my mind onto this screen that I will be able to drift off to sleep. I hope, though that my ramblings don't send you to sleep too.

This weekend we embarked on our once a year visit to IKEA. This is a store that has the potential to send even the most chipper of us into a pit of despair! And that is before you even begin your DIY flatpack nightmare.

As you have probably anticipated, this trip didn't go well...

Everything started quite well as we set of into the drizzle with our bellies full of eggs, mushrooms and tomato courtesy of my lovely wife. Our main mission was to get a new cover for the couch in our apartment that started life cream in colour and then got dyed brown and then green. Suffice to say that Pamela Anderson's dye job is more convincing!

Things at IKEA first started to go downhill a little when my belly started rumbling and my blood sugar began to plummet, but we managed to avert a full scale disaster with a trip to the IKEA Cafe to dine on some delightful meatballs (The sign assured me they were meat but they were unlike any meat I've ever eaten - maybe a weird Swedish beastie?)

So, fighting off indigestion we made our way to the Sofas, picked out the colour we wanted (Red by the way) and then went to an info desk to find out where we could pick up the cover. I told her that we had a 2 seater "Ektorp" Sofa Bed and would like a new cover in Red. She typed away and then gave us the code and the location on the shelves downstairs where we could get it.

We grabbed the cover, along with a few bits a pieces that always find their way into your trolley and commenced our 1 bus and 2 train journey back home, content in the knowledge that I had come out in as good a mood as I had gone in.

This good mood only lasted as long as it took to get home, rip the cover off the couch, take out our beautiful new cover and realize that we had been given the wrong size. The package we took home (and which had no description on it except for the code which matched the one that the "Helpful" woman printed out for us) was for the 2 seater couch without bed which is a completely different size.

After this realisation there was much ranting combined with swearing in 2 different languages (a feat which I am secretly proud of). I eventually calmed down with the help of beer and schnitzel but not before uttering such grandiose statements as "That has ruined my week" and "This would never have happened to Tony Soprano" (I may be watching a little too much tv at the mo).

Wish me luck this week as I head back into the lions den to see if I can get the proper cover! Yay

Its now 1.44am and my not only am I still awake, but I am angry again too!

Oops

Autumn days and separate doonas

It is well and truly Autumn here now. The park near our house is quite pretty with lots of trees in various shades of yellow, orange and brown and with a carpet of leaves on the ground which makes me want to be 5 yrs old again so I don't get such weird looks when I run through piles of leaves squealing with delight. I have realised that the average temperature at the moment is colder than I am used to in the dead of Sydney winter and I am quietly nervous about my first German winter.

When Char arrived in Germany we went out and bought a new Doona as the only one in the apartment when I moved in was a single (although they don't use the single/queen/king system here!). We bought the largest size, as recommended by our helpful shop assistant due to my length. Imagine our surprise when we got home and it was not much bigger than the single doona it was to replace! I guess that people here sleep with individual Doonas. We gave it a crack and I have to say that I LOVE IT! Those midsleep battles for the doona are now a thing of the past and I can also drag my doona out to the couch for some late nights watching the Sopranos while Charmaine gets her sleep before her early start at language school.

Today we went for a nice bike ride along the Rhein and stopped to take some photos in a nice park that we passed that had ducks in a what was either a large pond or a small lake. And as I write this we are patiently waiting for our oven to do its business with a chicken we introduced it to earlier........mmmmmmm sunday roast!

Yum - still, its never the same as Mums is it?

I'm a naughty Blogger!

After a number of messages chastising me over my recent lack of blogging I have decided to get cracking again....

It has been one month since my last meeting...errrr... post.

I have now finished our run of Carmens for this year (we have another four performances in June). I really enjoyed performing the role of Morales, which is smallish but has some really nice stuff to sing. By the last few I was really having fun with the character (quite the sleaze) and not worrying so much about my top Fsharp! hehe

We are currently in the end phase of rehearsals for the first Kinderoper of the season Die Feuerrote Friederike (the fire red Friederike) and all is going well. I am sharing my role and don't start performances for another month so I'm hoping that i don't forget everything. We are also rehearsing La Traviata and today is the first rehearsal for Hoffmanns Erzählungen (tales of Hoffman).

When I write it down like that it gives the impression that I am busy but compared to life as a chorister in Australia it is a walk in the park! I have had plenty of spare time and have been learning some new arias for Auditions and am starting to learn the role of Don Giovanni.

Since I wrote last Charmaine has arrived. It is so great to have her here - she is currently in her 5th week of an 18 week intensive language course and is doing really well. Unfortunatly there aren't many people at the school at the moment and the social scene isn't as good as when I was there (the advantage is that we got a 25% discount because its off peak!)

Tomorrow night we are going to our first swing class. It took some tracking down but we have finally found a swing community in Köln. Hopefully class is good and we can meet people that are as cool as our swing friends in Melbourne and Sydney.

That is all for now, I have decided that rather than waiting for inspiration for my next post that I will write a post every Sunday night with a reflection on the week that has been.

Thank you to the readers that have hassled me into resurrecting my blog.....I'll try not to disappoint.

C

Rehearsals begin

Three days ago I had my first rehearsal for Carmen.

I hadn't realised how much I had missed the rehearsal room until I walked in and felt right at home. It had been about 4 months since I last worked in the theater and I think that break has really renewed my energy and drive.

As Moralés, my scene is at the beginning of the Opera and after a read through of the dialogue the Director got straight in and blocked my scene. Its not a huge scene or a huge character but I am enjoying playing it none the less and I do have some lovely phrases to sing.

The following day they added the Chorus gentlemen to the scene and it felt really surreal to be amongst them. It felt like I was dreaming that I was back in the OA chorus again - but for some reason everyone was speaking German! Witnessing their banter and camaraderie made me realise how much I will miss my friends from the chorus.

It is a fairly International cast with Principal artists from Israel, Spain, Netherlands, Australia(me) and of course Germany. The director conducts most of the rehearsal in German but then will translate if anyone didn't understand. I find that I understand most of what is said to me but every now and again a word pops up that I need to ask about.

It is 2 weeks till opening night and I can't wait!

Nippes Nacht

No I didn't forget a letter in the title. Nippes is the name of the suburb I live in!

Last night was Nippes night and there was a concert in Schillplatz (a small square a 7 min walk from home) starting at 5pm. That finished at 7 and that is when the real fun started...

For 7 Euro you buy a wrist band that allows you entry into about 20 different bars/cafes that all had 2 or 3 bands playing between 7 and 11. It was great - the suburb was alive with all sorts of people wandering around popping in to different bars to listen to some music and have a glass of wine or Beer. Looking at the map on the program I was astonished at just how many places there are to go out within a 10 min walk of my house - Dangerous!

I listened to some funk, German Rock, a cool little Jazz trio, a punk band, a gospel choir (singing lots of Mo-town stuff really well) and then finished it up with a sweet Funk band that was playing at a big outside area. Unfortunately all my friends from the language course had departed that day (or weeks ago) and I went alone. I did meet a few people and had a lovely chat with a German women who's friend was being picked up by one of the guys that I had been talking to earlier in the night.

By 11 I found myself quite tipsy and decided to take the 5 min walk back to my bed. I love festivals that are close to home!