Weihnachtsmarkt [Christmas Markets] in Germany

[Trier, Germany]

Its beginning to look a lot like christmas… 🙂 [I’m totally singing to myself right now]

A lot of people seem dislike this time of year, for various reasons. But for me, I reaaaaaaaaaaally really love it!. Its energetic, frantic, emotional and usually a sign that schools, uni, work and WINTER is coming to a halt…however in the northern hemisphere, winter is FULL STEAM AHEAD… but less steam, MORE SNOW!

Being my first German Christmas/winter, everything is wonderful, and new and awe-inspiring. It truly is  a winter wonderland. Everything makes little more sense celebrating the holiday season when its ‘brain-freezingly’ cold. Like, singing ‘baby its cold outside’ when its ACTUALLY cold outside…

However, I crave the sun, the heat and wearing floaty shimmery dresses to christmas lunch/dinner and all December long.

For me, there is something very odd, but beautiful about rugging up to head outdoors this time of year… making sure you’re layered up like an onion and putting on your hats and scarves. But I think, as much as I adore it and admire it, I would take slipping on a floaty number, popping on my haviannas and wearing SUNSCREEN over a scarf any day…

Yes, I may sound a tad homesick, and maybe thats b/c in a few days I’ll be in Melbourne and sweating like a ‘p***’ eating my words :)…ahh *sigh* the grass is always greener…

Anywho, whilst being in the most random place in Europe, we discovered the joys of European Christmas – the Weihnachtsmart [Christmas markets]. But especially the on in our town – Trier Weihnachtsmarkt. And the sheer joy of Christmas market food!

*Gluhwein [mulled wine]
*Hot chocolate with baileys
*Eggnog

*Poffetjes [dutch pancakes]
*waffles
*crepes

*Schocofruecte [delicious chocolate covered fresh fruit]
*Mushrooms/panfried potatoes
*Potato cakes with apple sauce

and SO MUCH MORE!!!!

If you’re on a diet – forget about it. Indulge in deep-fried, sugar-coated salty numbers and pile on the christmas weight to keep you cosy for this jolly season.

Heres a Christmas mishmash of delicious yummies and the magical backdrop that was my home for the greater part of this year….Trier

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If you don’t celebrate christmas, I hope you enjoy your holiday season and for those who do, wherever you are I hope you’re enjoying some good food and taking time to reflect on the year that has been…2010.

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Joanna

Advertisement

S u i t e : a u : C h o c o l a t

[suite au chocoloat | Trier ]

WRC, (thats world rally championships for those like me who had no idea) was in town for the weekend. To me it was like a massive go kart track for big kids!

Anywho, we happened to duck into a side street before the the streets were closed off and snuck in a bite before the engines rolled.

The espresso & espresso machiato was pretty good, but not as good as Cafe Lecca

Due to the name we thought we’d sample Sweet crepes, but they were unfortunately off the menu for the day, so we ordered Galettes…

what are galettes I hear you ask?…

Galette is a general term used in French to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes.^[1][2] One notable type is the galette des Rois (King cake) eaten on the day of Epiphany. In French Canada, the term galette is usually applied to pastries best described as large cookies.

Galette, or more properly Breton galette (French: Galette bretonne, Breton: Krampouezhenn gwinizh du), is also the name given in most French crêperiesto savoury buckwheat flour pancakes, while those made from wheat flour, much smaller in size and mostly served with a sweet filling, are branded crêpes. Galette is a type of thin large pancake mostly associated with the regions of Normandy and Brittany, where it replaced at times bread as basic food, but it is eaten countrywide. Buckwheat was introduced as a crop suitable to impoverished soils and buckwheat pancakes were known in other regions where this crop was cultivated, such as Limousin or Auvergne.

It is frequently garnished with egg, meat, fish, cheese, cut vegetables, apple slices, berries, or similar ingredients. One of the most popular varieties is agalette covered with grated Emmental cheese, a slice of ham and an egg, cooked on the galette.^[3] In France, this is known as a galette complète (a complete galette). A hot sausage wrapped in a galette (called galette saucisse, a tradition of Rennes, France) and eaten like a hot dog is becoming increasingly popular as well.

Prociutto with walnuts was a little salty and dry, but was still very appetising.

The Galette ‘italianische’ was seriously yummy boasting with essential Italian flavours : fresh tomatoes, fresh mozerella and fresh basil. All lovingly drizzled in olive oil.

The cars may have been driving fast and loud, but breakfast on this particular sunday was eaten slowly and peacefully.

I’ll be sure to come back to play with the chocolate.

.    .    .

Tastefully yours,