If you’re still looking for Christmas presents, why not pop along to the Literary & Philosophical Society (Lit & Phil) at Westgate Road.
The largest independent library outside of London holds its annual book sale on Friday 25/Saturday 26 November (10am to 4pm) and Sunday 27 November (12pm to 4pm). Thousands of books will be available on a range of subjects, but also LPs, CDs etc all at reasonable prices.
There will be an entry charge of £1 and all proceeds will go to the Lit & Phil appeal.
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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 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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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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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 5th 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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In Bavaria, there is an exhibition about King Ludwig II from 14 May to 16 October 2011. It is the 125th anniversary of the mysterious death of the Bavarian King, who left behind the castles of Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof. Related to the Austrian empress Elisabeth and a key supporter of Richard Wagner, the life and death of Ludwig II has been topic of various movies. Other Bavarian places to see are of course the capital Munich, Berchtesgaden, Starnberger 5-Seen Land, regional capital Nürnberg, world heritage site Bamberg or outdoor activities in Fränkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland).
This week, Tommy Jaud’s bestseller Resturlaub saw its movie premier in Germany. A very funny novel about a man having his midlife crisis plays partly in Franconia and in Argentina. The trailer looks very silly (more a Hangover type of film) and won’t be an Oscar contender, but possibly quite entertaining. Another bit of ‘easy reading’ would be Bavarian crime novels by Rita Falk. Winterkartoffelknödel was her first book and features an imaginary little village near Landshut. It also includes a glossary of Bavarian terms and some of her gran’s cooking recipes. Click here for a brief interview with the writer.
How real some of these stories described by Rita Falk are, just watch the news in Germany. Parts of Bavaria are currently on alert – no, not rioters – but because of an escaped cow. Yvonne has been on the run for the past two months and even Ernst, a bull brought in this week to provide a ‘honey trap’ has been unsuccessful. For a news video from Stern, click here.
Maybe while walking around Germany, you come across our fugitive cow and what else you can discover is described by Andreas Kieling who recorded his experience in ‘Ein deutscher Wandersommer’. And if you’re around Germany by bike, the ADFC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad Club), Germany’s Cycling Club, provides some suggestions of tours on the 150,000 km of cycling routes in Germany. Deutsche Bahn obviously offers holidays by train.
2011 is also the year of the car. 125 years ago Carl Benz invented the first automobile and Bosch, the company of the inventor of the spark plug – celebrates its 125th company anniversary. Information on events places about the car, can be found by clicking on Automobilsommer Baden-Württemberg, Mercedes-Benz Museum, Porsche Museum, Boxenstop Tübingen, BMW Welt and the VW Museum.
We are currently trying to organise our Stammtisch events list for the autumn/winter and have been in discussion about a book swap event, a travel event, a beer festival and a historical link event (possibly Limes/Hadrian’s Wall). If you have additional ideas or know of venues where they will be able to serve German food, please let me know.
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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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As summer approaches, you might fancy a holiday on the continent and in particular Germany. Here are a few tips about travelling, activities and events that you might find useful:
The German Tourism Office released the introductory video Erlebnisland Deutschland to give you a flavour of Germany. And ‘Mit Volldampf durchs Land’ is a two-part programme by SWR, where you go on a journey across Germany by steam trains.
A little bit faster – on normal regional trains – you can explore Germany on a budget as long as you have a bit of time on your hand. Deutsche Bahn is offering a deal for one day trips: for €42 you can travel on all regional trains in 2nd class (RB, IRE, RE and S-Bahn) and take along four other people, who only pay €6/each. The ticket is valid Mondays to Fridays from 9am onwards and on bank holidays from midnight onwards. Click here for further info about the ‘Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket).
And if you’re heading to Berlin and want to save the cents, there is a free service to find a room – here’s a link to ‘Kostenlose Zimmervermittlung Berlin’.
Berlin will, of course, be one of the host cities for the forthcoming Women’s Football World Championships, which takes place in Germany from 26 June to 7 July. The German team will again defend the title, which it holds since 2003 and the English will also aim high, being the European vice-champion. With women’s football continuously increasing in popularity, this year’s event is to break various spectator records. With one month to go, the total number of match tickets now on general sale has increased to 900,000, with 70% already sold.
But if football isn’t your thing, you might want to head to one of the many music festivals that will take place this summer:
Afrika Festival in Würzburg: 2 – 5 June
Rock im Park Zeppelinfeld in Nuremberg/Rock am Ring Nürburgring in Eiffel: 3 to 5 June
Bachfest in Leipzig: 10 – 19 June
Summerjam in Cologne: 1 – 3 July
Jazz Open in Stuttgart: 1 – 10 July
Samba Festival in Coburg: 8 – 10 July
Bardentreffen in Nuremberg: 29 to 31 July
For a full list of forthcoming music festivals, click here.
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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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Earlier this month we had a very interesting and enjoyable evening in Sunderland.
Our thanks go to Ralph for welcoming us at the Liebherr factory and Dermot for organising our Schnitzel and Weisswürste dinners.
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Germany Travel Germany is Wunderbar Brigitte Rezepte Deutsch-Perfekt Spiegel Handelsblatt Manager Magazin
Stammtisch 