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Christmas Events

Posted in Events organised by Others, Food & Drink, Music, Stammtisch on December 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If you still want to join us for our Christmas Stammtisch on Monday, 12 December at the Mansion House, make sure you pay this week and state your preference of the two main courses – either goose with apple red cabbage, potato dumplings/spaetzle or roast loin of pork stuffed with prunes. Cost per person for the 3-course dinner is £20 – simply call the Mansion House on 0191 281 0863.

Other Christmas events taking place in the region are for example:

4 November – 31 December: Christmas at Alnwick Garden

19 November – 2 January: Christmas at Beamish Museum

Saturday, 3 December: Tynemouth Christmas Festival from 12noon till 7pm.

7 to 11 December: Newcastle Christmas Market

7 to 10 December: Winter Festival: Gatehead’s Saltwell Park will turn into Enchanted Parks.

Sunday, 10 December: Advents Celebration from 5pm in the Martin Luther Church in Clarence Street/Copland Terrace in Newcastle.

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Getting ready for Christmas

Posted in Events organised by Others, Food & Drink, Stammtisch, Travel on November 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Christmas is only just over a month away and here are some events and activities that you might enjoy in the run up to the festive season:

There is, of course, our own Christmas Stammtisch on Monday, 12 December at the Mansion House in Jesmond.

Starting at 7pm with a Glühwein reception, our dinner includes Hühnerleberpastete mit Zwiebelmarmelade (chicken liver pate with onion marmalade), Champignoncremesuppe mit Mandeln (mushroom crème soup with almonds), Gebratene Weihnachtsgans mit Apfelrotkraut, Badischen Klössen und Schwäbischen Spätzle (Christmas goose with apple red cabbage, potatoe dumplings and spaetzle) and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (blackforest gauteau), Stollen and Pfeffernüssen (biscuits).

For those that are not so much into the birds, we also offer roast loin of pork stuffed with prunes as an alternative.

Please state your preference when booking. As the Mansion House caters specifically for our group, you need to pay by latest 5 December – cost per person £20 – simply call the Mansion House on 0191 281 0836. If you haven’t told me yet that you’re coming, please email me so I can track numbers for this event.

On Saturday, 26 November the German Christmas Basar will be held from 11am to 2pm at St James United Reformed Church in Newcastle (close to City Baths). And two weeks later, an advents celebration will take place on Sunday, 11 December from 5pm in the Martin Luther Church in Clarence Street/Copland Terrace in Newcastle.

This weekend it’s all happening of course in Durham, where you can enjoy Lumiere 2011 until Sunday. As part of the Winter Festival, Gatehead’s Saltwell Park will turn into Enchanted Parks from 7 to 11 December.

But if you want to experience a German Christmas and don’t want to venture off the island, just head north on the train to Edinburgh, where the Traditional German Christmas Market starts already next week on Thursday, 24 November and lasts until 24 December 2011.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) also has a special offer on – from London you can get to your favourite German Christmas market for €49 in 2^nd Class one-way. Journey times are around 5 hours and for information, just click here for further details. From Newcastle there are also direct flights to Düsseldorf where you can easily get to many markets in the west of the country. Earlier this month, Lufthansa also announced one way fares of £39 from London, Birmingham and Manchester to Berlin, which is also a good gateway to the historic cities of Leipzig and Dresden in Saxony. And maybe with the launch of the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport in 2012, the North East eventually gets good transport connections again to middle and eastern parts of Germany?

Also not too far from Berlin is the Harz National Park, which is partly in the states of Saxony Anhalt and Lower Saxony and covers an area of 24,700 ha. Click here for images and information on Christmas events in the region and here for a Deutsche Welle film about the countryside, its towns and villages and legends.

I hope that has put you in the mood for Christmas and travelling near and far and look forward to seeing many of you at our annual Christmas dinner.

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Tynemouth Village Christmas Festival on 3 December 2011

Posted in Events organised by Others, Film, Food & Drink on November 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This year the Tynemouth Business Forum is organising its very first Christmas Festival on Saturday, 3 December from 12noon till 7pm.

There will be Christmas stalls at Tynemouth Village Green (just in front of King’s School), with mulled wine, hog roast, an opportunity to meet Santa & to feed reindeers, late shopping and carol singing.

The Priory Theatre is also showing some Christmas films – unfortunately Polar Express is already sold out, but there are still some tickets for A Wonderful Life (these can be bought for £5 at Tynemouth shops such as Children of the Revolution, Ruby & Frank’s, Allards’ or Busy Lizzies for the 7pm show.

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German Christmas at the Mansion House

Posted in Business, Events organised by Others, Food & Drink, Stammtisch, Travel on November 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We now have a date for our Christmas Stammtisch. On Monday, 12 December the Mansion House in Jesmond will host our traditional German Christmas Dinner from 7pm.

You can look forward to a Glühwein reception, Hühnerleberpastete mit Zwiebelmarmelade (chicken liver pate with onion marmalade), Champignon-cremesuppe mit Mandeln (mushroom crème soup with almonds), Gebratene Weihnachtsgans mit Apfelrotkraut, Badischen Klössen und Schwäbischen Spätzle (Christmas goose with apple red cabbage, potatoe dumplings and spaetzle) and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (blackforest gauteau), Stollen und Pfeffernüssen (biscuits).

The cost per person is £20 and pre-payable to the Mansion House either by debit card or cheque. If you’re planning to join us, please let me know so we get an idea on numbers.

The German Christmas Basar will also again take place on 26 November from 11am to 2pm in St James United Reformed Church in Newcastle (close to City Baths). If you are looking to get involved with a stand or in any other way, please contact Michael Mehl directly, email: germanchurch@gmail.com.

All about Christmas in Germany – visit Discover Germany website for lots of information on the best places to go and information on traditions. And if you want to be spoilt after trailing along Christmas markets, why don’t you relax in one of Germany’s Best Wellness Hotels.

Export capability, engineering & technology and strong medium sized companies contribute to the success of the German economy. In a recent Handelsblatt article, various correspondents compared the German economy with the US, Britain and France to see what has been done differently – click here for their analysis. Guardian correspondent John Kampfner gave his opinion this week on the recent commons debate about Europe – click here to read his comment piece.

Both Germany and Britain have still many historic sites dating back to the Roman frontier days. Hadrian’s Wall Heritage is working with their colleagues from German Limes and if you want to find out more about their work, click here for their newsletter. If you’re interested in this topic, please drop me a line.

And a last piece of information: in the UK we eat frozen desserts like chocolate mousse, strawberry cheese cake and blackforest gateau from Coppenrath & Wiese, while the Germans are on Diet Chef from Scotland to loose weight. Any thoughts?

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Thanks to The Broad Chare & West Beer

Posted in Food & Drink, Restaurants, Stammtisch on November 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Thanks to everybody who came along to our Stammtisch at The Broad Chare earlier this month and made it a lovely evening.

The Broad Chare had a fantastic German menu to choose from and there were also plenty of German beers.

If you have missed out, you can visit the gastro pub any time and sample some of the WEST beers still on tap (I think the Hefeweizen and St Mungo’s is still there). There are half pint, pint and Mass (Stein) glasses for those with a bigger thirst. Also if you like your dark beers, check out Düsseldorf’s Schlösser Altbier.

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Oktoberfest @ The Broad Chare – Tuesday, 11 October

Posted in Food & Drink, Languages & Communications, Restaurants, Stammtisch, Travel on October 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I have just found out Terry Laybourne and his team will run a ‘Oktoberfest’ at their gastro pub ‘The Broad Chare’ down at the Quayside from 10 October for one week. They have a fabulous menu on offer and on top of that will stock the award winning WEST Brewery beer, brewed in Glasgow according to the German Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law). I’d suggest that we meet next Tuesday at 6.30pm at the bar and then head upstairs for dinner from 7pm. Please let me know if you’re coming by the weekend so that Terry can plan table(s) and food accordingly.

Just to give you an idea what’s on offer: Gulaschsuppe (Classic goulash soup), Gemischter Salatteller (mixed Autumn salad plate), Wurstsalat (classic Baden style sausage salad on Bauernbrot), Matjes Hausfrauenart (marinated herring fillets with apples, onions, gherkins and Yoghurt), Eisbeinsülze (jellied ham knuckle), 2 Münchner Weißwürste mit süßem Senf (Munich style veal sausages flavoured with lemonzest and fresh herbs), Bratwurst auf Sauerkraut (grilled pork sausage with sauerkraut), 4 Wienerwürste mit Kartoffelsalat (Frankfurter style sausages with German potato salad), Schweinebraten mit Blaukraut und Reiberknödel (roast pork with red cabbage and potato dumplings), Gebratene Schweinshaxe, Sauerkraut und Kartoffelbrei (roasted pork knuckle with sauerkraut and potato puree), Eisbein mit Sauerkraut und Meerettich (poached ham knuckle with sauerkraut and horseradish), Jägerschnitzel (hunter’s pork escalope with wild mushrooms), Hasenpfeffer (jugged hare), Leberkäse mit hausgemachtem Kartoffelsalat (German meatloaf with potato salad), Münchner Sauerbraten mit Semmelknödel und Preiselbeeren (marinated braised beef from the Rheinland with bread dumplings and cranberries). And for desserts there is Apfelstrudel (apple strudel), Kaiserschmarrn (hot caramelised pancakes with sultanas and apple sauce), Dampfnudeln (sweet yeast dumpling with vanilla sauce) and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (proper Black Forest gateau).

If you want to get into the Oktoberfest mood – click here to see a short Stern video about this year’s Wies’n. And if you think you understood most, you’re maybe also ready to do Stern’s test ‘Bayerisch für Anfänger’. Being Bavarian, I thought I’d do very well, but was told that I must be a ‘Flachland Tiroler’.

I hope to see many of you next week at The Broad Chare – if you need any more information, please let me know!

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Beer Festival Time

Posted in Events organised by Others, Food & Drink, Networking, Restaurants, Stammtisch, Travel on September 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We’re currently planning our next few events for autumn/winter time. As it’s been a while since we met, I thought why not just attend one of the local beer events.

Popolo’s in Newcastle (Pilgrim Street) currently have an Oktoberfest Beer Menu, which includes Augustiner, Hacker Pschorr, Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten. Why don’t you join us on Monday, 26 September at Popolo’s from 6pm for a few beers?

If you want to sample from around 60 UK ales, you need to head to Tynemouth today and/or tomorrow (16/17 September). In its 5^th year, the Tynemouth Beer Festival, it is held at the Cricket Club (just behind the Rugby Club) and will feature live bands, plus many other drinks to try out and hot and cold foot. Entry is £5, you get a beer glass, programme and pen or for £10 it includes drinks vouchers.

WEST Brewery are, of course, also holding their own authentic Oktoberfest and this is probably one of the few places in the UK, where you can wear your Dirndl and Lederhosen without getting funny looks. If there’s some interest to go up to Glasgow together, let me know as I’m definitely heading north in the next few weeks!

If you’re heading south, why not call into Stein’s in Richmond-upon-Thames, a traditional Bavarian beer garden right on the river. They serve Schnitzel, Schweinebraten, Käsespätzle, Nürnberger sausages, Leberkäs, Currywurst und Obatzda to be washed down with German beers, wines and Radler. The dessert menu includes Sachertorte, Apfelstrudel, Dampfnudeln etc.

You will have all heard of various social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing or Twitter. I’ve recently found two new ones in Germany, which I thought might interest you – My Social Petwork (social network for pets) and InterNations (which connects Expats worldwide).

Have a very good weekend and maybe see you soon in Popolo’s.

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Join us to sample German Wines & Beers

Posted in Events organised by Others, Food & Drink, Languages & Communications, Stammtisch on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Our next Stammtisch is a German Wine Tasting evening on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 at the Mansion House. Stammtisch member Anne Thiele, who grew up on a Mosel winery and local wine merchant Heinz Dennhöfer have organised various wines for us and will guide us through the evening. Gunther has prepared a menu that will include salad, cheese, meats and breads followed by blackforest gateau. The cost for the dinner and wine tasting will be £15 per head and payable in advance at the Mansion House (call 0191 281 0863) – but as usual if you could let me know if you’re coming then we get an idea of numbers to ensure we have enough wine and food available! The evening will start as usual at 6.30pm.

Last year at the London International Wine Fair, German wines won a total of 21 gold medals, which meant that Germany was joint third with Italy behind France and Spain. In particular producers from the Franconian region were extremely successful and picked up 63 medals for their wines, including 14 Gold. To get you in the mood for our wine evening and find out a bit more about Germany’s wine regions and some of its products, check out the 3-Minute Wine School online.

It’s usually beer that Germany is famous for and therefore we thought we organise a small Beer Festival and BBQ before the summer holidays. Hosted again by the Mansion House on Thursday, 7 July we will also have a marquee just in case the Geordie weather doesn’t play ball. The ‘German’ beer will be travelling down from north of the border. The famous WEST restaurant and brewery, which is run by Franconian Petra Wetzel, will introduce their award winning beers to you, which are brewed according to the German purity law.

The Martin Luther Church in Newcastle will again hold an Organ Recital and this time it will feature the renowned organist Paul Ritchie. This will take place on Friday, 3 June 2011 at 7.30pm and Paul will play Albrechtsberger, Bach, Boyce, Bruhns, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Seeger and Stanley. The Martin Luther Church is situated at Clarence Street/Copeland Terrace in Shieldfield and admission fee is £5, which includes interval drinks.

So what about the polite Brits and the rude Germans? If you’re trying to avoid communication issues, the BBC website might offer a bit of a clue. This week there was an article on direct and indirect communications comparing the Germans and the Brits. Click here for the full article.

And last, but note least here are the answers to the questions raised in our May newsletter: 1) Düsseldorf is the city known as ‘Klein-Tokio am Rhein’. 2) And the over 100 year old Schwebebahn in Wuppertal hit the headlines in 1950 when Circus Althoff did a publicity stunt that went spectacularly wrong. The circus director and head of transport seemed to think it was a good idea to take a 700kg two-year old elephant baby on the train. Tuffi the Elephant, quite understandably, didn’t agree and very quickly got off by jumping into the river Wupper from a height of 12m– luckily she escaped unhurt. The Berliner Zeitung had quite a nice article about this event, if you’re interested.

We hope we will see you soon at one of our next events and hopefully by then summer will have also arrived in Geordieland!!!

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From Bread to Cake Making

Posted in Food & Drink on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We recently introduced Doughworks to you for information on rye and sour dough breads and bread making classes. Stammtisch member Tanja also asked me to mention another local business, which makes beautifully decorated cakes. Maxine’s is based in Warkworth and the website has some lovely examples of her products and I believe she also teaches people how to make sugar roses.

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