The Buttercake Long Way Round

Yes, another butter-cake-related story... Yes, I know, I'm obsessed with butter cake.

This past weekend we got invited to a barbecue Friday evening as well as to a sushi-and-dumpling-making party Saturday afternoon. I wanted to bring something so I figured that I'd make one big butter cake, split it in half, and bring half each day. What I didn't know at the time was that the two days would be the butter cake journeys from helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll! Let me explain...

But first, a little background. I've mentioned before about the Long Way Round and Long Way Down motorcycle-travel documentaries that were done by Ewan McGreggor (the guy from the new Star Wars movies) and Charley Boorman (famous, I think, because he's friends with a famous guy). Both are epic motorcycle adventures that basically go across the world. The trips are long, challenging, and, for the two guys, seeming like they'll never get to their destination. In the end of both, though, they overcome the challenges and recognize how great the journey was...and...

So, after school on Friday afternoon, I fired up the Electroherd (German for electric oven) and made an almost-perfect butter cake (or at least as best that I can do). I cut it in half as planned and came up with an ingenious, if I do say so myself, way to protect and carry each half to its respective event. It looked a bit like this as we went...

Friday evening's barbecue took place at the top of one of the wine-growing hills not too far from the center of Stuttgart called Kappelberg. We had to arrive at 5:30 pm and I didn't want to get there late so we left around 3:30 pm, which, at the time, seemed like a crazy amount of extra time. Being late for something in Germany is, like my dad says, akin to farting in church - you just don't do it - ever!

We arrived at the bottom of the wineries, which are lovely and loaded with grapes this time of year, via the metro and a bus. From there, we followed the signs towards the direction of Kappelberg, which is where the BBQ was happening.

Unfortunately, there were no sidewalks or even space for pedestrians to walk along the road so we followed another sign that took us through one of the vineyards. No problem - at least it's beautiful. Check out this view of the Mercedes Arena (left) and Volksfest (right) in the valley beyond the vineyards:

Along the way, we may have stopped and tried pretty much every wine grape variety grown in the area. It was very interesting to taste the difference between them. For some reason, I've always pictured wine grapes being less sweet than "table" grapes. Well, that was wrong. They're, umm, sweet and delicious just like what you buy in the store, and really, actually more tasty.

Some Späteburgunder grapes growing in the Kappelberg area of Stuttgart:

Well, lovely so far, right? Yes, it WAS. For the first hour! Remember that the sign at the bottom of the hill said 1km (about 1/2 mile). Even crawling along and eating every available grape, we should have arrived in less than 1/2 hour for sure. The problem was that it was getting late and I was starting to worry...and I was carrying a butter cake the whole way... It looked, again, like the photo below (the scenery was better, though):

We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Diana, who stayed calm and positive the whole time, called our hosts to let them know that we were "there" but that we couldn't find the picnic area. Finally, a couple on mountain bikes, yes, mountain bikes, led us in the right direction and we eventually found the party...a little less than TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS after we had left home.

The picnic was very nice and we had lotsa' fun. Once again, I was amazed at the level of everyone's English and the fact that EVERY SINGLE PERSON at the BBQ spoke English the ENTIRE TIME because of the two of us! Crazy. Thanks Alfred for the invite and great time! (Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, there was potato salad.)

Like I said, we also had an invite on Saturday afternoon to make (and eat) sushi at a friend from my German class' house. So, once again, we headed out with butter cake in hand...sort of like this...

Again, we left with plenty of time to get to where we needed to go. This trip involved taking the metro to the city center and switching to another metro line then taking a bus to our final destination. All was good until we got to the city center. We waited for the connecting metro but nothing was coming; actually, none of the metros going to the north of the city were coming. For about 30 minutes or so we waited, and waited, and waited. I checked the transit system's app on my phone but it just kept saying the metro was coming.

I ended up calling our roommate after about 40 minutes to ask him about alternatives to get to where we were going. He managed to figure out that there was a train derailment north of the city, which took half the metro system offline. He suggested an alternative routing (involving a tram, another metro, and a bus) and we followed it. Remember the butter cake??? Yeah, after about 2 1/2 hours of traveling, we finally arrived at our destination and got to help at the tail-end of the sushi-and-dumpling-making process:

Let's just say that the food was pretty damned good. Thanks to Ying and her husband for hosting us and for sharing some amazing food with us.

Let's recap. Two afternoons. A total of seven hours travel time, seven metro trips, one tram trip, a couple of bus trips, and LOTS AND LOTS of walking...with a butter cake! But, great endings for great journeys for sure. Ewan and Charlie'd be proud.

Back In Barcelona - Diana's Thesis Defense

So, what does happiness look like? How about being back in Barcelona, enjoying the weather, hanging out with friends, eating tapas, and drinking wine? Yep, pure happiness - Friday night out on the town in BCN!

We were joined on the trip by our "new" roommate. Diana needed to prep most of the weekend, and since it was his first trip to Spain (...yes, I know, Catalonia isn't Spain...), the two of us got to play tourist. Berat and I at Casa Batllo:

Seafood isn't that common in Stuttgart so Berat wanted to fill up while we were there. We didn't have time for La Peradeta and one of the things he wanted to try was mussels so I knew just the spot. Not too far from Casa Batllo and La Pedrera is the Muscleria, which serves what are considered some of the best mussels in the city. While there, someone proceeded to eat their entire meal using two empty muscle shells like some sailor's chopsticks. Hint: It wasn't me. Here's the master displaying his form:

The two of us managed to squeeze in a lot of sites, and, more importantly, a lot of food in just a couple of days! One of my favorite things to do in Barcelona is get churros con chocolate at Cafe de L'Opera. It's not very Catalan but it is damn delicious. I think that he agrees:

Thanks to some excellent timing and the generosity of our lovely hosts, we were lucky enough to get to stay at our old apartment during our visit. It came in handy because, not only is it a super-so-awesome place but it's also central to everything and there are bunch of great restaurants right in da' hood. We hung out with Victor on Saturday night and enjoyed more seafood at one of our old favorites, Can Eusebio in Paralell (sorry, I never wrote a story about it). Too much good company, too much good food, and way too much fun!

Sunday morning brought a whole bunch more stops in our tour. We went to Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia among others. It's amazing that each time I go back to the Sagrada Familia I see something new, and not only because they're still building it.

Our visit came just one week before the annual La Merce, which is one of the biggest festivals in Barcelona. It just so happens that our wedding took place during La Merce last year so this was kinda' like an anniversary visit for Diana and me. While Berat and I were at the Barcelona Cathedral, I spotted this large advertisement for the week's festivities. It shows all sorts of Catalan traditions including some photos of castellers. I noticed that one of the photos shows the Castellers del Poble Sec, which is my old group - oh how I miss them! The photo is in the middle on the left edge:

And, guess what! I went up close to the poster and found me in the photo! How likely, and cool, is that???

Berat wanted to see the Mediterranean so we walked over to La Barceloneta, which is one of the beach neighborhoods in the city. One of the supermarkets in the neighborhood is called Spar, which Berat believed might be a German company. We went in to check it out and, while there, I couldn't help but take a photo of part of their super-efficient operations. Rather than stop the receipts that no one wants from printing, they had positioned trashcans to catch them. Minus one point for mude but plus one point for 5S (geek joke alert)!

Finally, it was time for the big event! Diana's thesis defense. All her hard work summarized into one 45-minute block of time. We were all nervous! But, of course, she did great! Her lecture was complete and clear and her panel had very few questions. I'm sooooooo proud that we now have a doctor in the house! Congrats Doctor Morenita!

So, it was off to celebrate - at El Glop of course! This Catalan restaurant is probably our favorite and was the location of our wedding reception. On the left, Berat, Gemma, Bernar, and some of Diana's thesis committee and panel. On the right, me, one of Diana's professors, Diana, and more of her committee/panel. As always, the food, drink, service, and environment were great!

The cherry-on-top of the weekend was the after-defense party with many of our friends at our old place. Thanks to everyone for making the weekend such a good time for us! Thanks, from left, Berat, Vladimir, me, David, Diana, Victor, Elizabeth, Andrea, David, Bernar, Gemma, Leiris, and Liliana (and to everyone else who couldn't come that evening):

Being back in Barcelona reminded me of how much I love that city and the people in it. I miss it very much and can't wait to get back one day soon. Until then, thanks for the great memories and until next time, ens veiem aviat!

Stuttgarter Weindorf

One of the things that surprised me the most when I moved to Stuttgart...other than things like the fact that Germans have a plan for everything including going to the bathroom...is that there's fairly big wine industry "in the neighborhood". There's even some grapes growing on a hillside just a few hundred feet from the main train station in the center of the city. Since I'm not much of a beer drinker, it's been a treat to be able to order a local wine when going out and not having to feel bad about not ordering a beer ("no thanks, I just want to try the local wine" works every time). Note to self: I need to write a separate post about the local wine...

Anyway, just after our arrival at Stuttgart's airport on the first day, we visited the tourist-information desk to get some information about our new home. One of the things in the massive pile of papers that we took home that day was something about a wine festival held right around the last week of August or first week of September each year. The event, called the Stuttgarter Weindorf (Stuttgart wine village), is a chance for the local wine industry to strut its stuff for the locals. Because our original plans only had us here for six months, I figured that we wouldn't get to go but I kept the paper as a reminder...just in case... Well, as with all good plans, ours changed and we found ourselves (still) in Stuttgart as the calendar page turned to September...

The Weindorf is set up in two downtown plazas and the surrounding streets. This photo was taken in the Schillerplatz between the Alte Kanzlei (white building) and the Altes Schloss (out of the photo to the right):

Each winery and business has its own stand and many of the stands are actually mini restaurants where local food specialties are served up. My guess is that there are more than 100 different places operating during the almost two-week-long festival.

It must be time for the early-bird specials or something with the makeup of this crowd:

It's a great opportunity to not only buy "half glasses" of wine so that you can try lots of different ones, but also get appetizer-sized plates as well to do the same with the food. Can you say yummy Maultaschen (a local ravioli-style item) and Spätburgunder (a local Pinot Noir variety)?

Some of the action in the Rathaus (city hall) plaza:

My German school is about two blocks from the Weindorf so I made sure to visit early and often! I even "convinced" my German-English language partner (my roommate's mom - is she too young or what?!?!?) to meet up one afternoon for a couple of glasses of Weißburgunder (a local Pinot Blanc):

The timing of the event makes for nice evenings out people watching. As with my daytime sorties, I also made sure to do a handful of evening runs. The Rathaus plaza about an hour after sunset:

...and back at the Schillerplatz a bit later:

During one of the last nights of the event, we met up with some friends for an evening out. I was super happy hanging outside drinking and talking. The international crew: Alex from South Africa, Katharina from Cologne, Fuka from Japan, Diana from Colombia, and me from the United States (missing from the photo due to poor timing was our roommate Berat - sorry!):

All in all, a great event especially when you consider that southern Germany is often only thought of in terms of beer consumption. As the Stuttgart locals are sometimes heard saying, "we're not Munich" and they've got the festival to prove it. Now to go and buy some of the wines that I sampled...