Sunday, November 8, 2009

Glühwein und mehr

We are well and truly entering into winter here in Berlin. Last Thursday it was raining when I left my apartment to get on the U-Bahn. When I arrived at Alexanderplatz, however, the rain had turned into snow! It was wondrous. As I stood in the tram shelter, staring in joy, a whole flock of little brown chickadees, also seeking shelter, crowded around my feet peeping urgently. I beamed down at them until my tram arrived. What a great way to start the day! The big fat flakes looked beautiful from the office window, which has a view of a courtyard with a red brick building across the way.
Anyway, since it is getting so cold now, glühwein is beginning to be served all over the place. It's spiced red wine, served hot. Mmmm--the perfect pick-me-up on a cold night. "Glüh" does not mean glue. "das Glühen" means glow, or roasting. Glow-wine :)
So last Tuesday Celia and I decided to make some glühwein at home, and by "make" I mean buy prepackaged glühwein and heat it up. At Kaufland, a box of Oma's (granny's) Glühwein costs 79 cents. 79 cents!!! A bottle of Wintertraum (winter dream) Glühwein costs 99 cents.
We tried both. And thus got tipsy for 1.78eur. Amazing!!!
I asked Celia what Glühwein looks like, and she said it's a bottle with pictures of Christmas. She was right:

I hope Alexanderplatz will look like this when the Christmas market is up:

And sometimes, glühwein comes in a box (apparently). An adorable, 79 cent box:

Celia liked it I think:

The cooking process was quite complicated as you can see:

mmmm warm and yummy in the tummy. Germany sure knows how to party.
Quick rundown on what I've been up to since then:
-Dienstag: My Holga-toting friend from the reading last week joined us for glühwein and a drink at a bar in my neighborhood, Ä bar.
-Donnerstag: They also serve food at the Weinerei, so I went and had a "pay what you feel like" dinner with my "pay what you feel like" crappy champagne. Good times. Then Celia and I watched a truly disturbing yet hilarious movie, Happiness, by the brilliantly dark Todd Solondz (of Welcome to the Dollhouse fame) before meeting her former roommate, who likes to be called Space Ribbon, for a night of drinking and dancing at Monarch in Xberg and Golden Gate near Jannowitzbrücke. At GG we ran into one of the DJs from betahaus a couple weeks ago, that was fun.
-Freitag: Another go at Maria Bonita Mexican (mmm mole enchiladas). Then it was the opening for my photographer friend's Ausstellung (exhibit) with 6 photos of me in it! The show looked great. Afterwards, we headed in a big merry group to a classy house party in Friedrichshain with delicious homemade food, punch, mojitos, and pureed raspberry shots. Girl knows how to throw a party.
-Samstag: Sightseeing with a friend from Oktoberfest who's visiting from Darmstadt. Cooked at home: ratatouille and rosemary-lemon chicken (should have taken pictures! It was delicious). Then out to a birthday party in the neighborhood where I danced with a woman in a skeleton cape and pinned dried rose petals to a dried rose to make her a birthday corsage.
Heute (today): OMG BRUNCH. At Boxhagenerplatz. Sooooo much wonderful cheese, scrambled eggs, BAKED BEANS (!!!!), delicious little würstchen (sausages), various cold salads, etc. Had a wander around the flea market and bought a Darth Vader tote bag I've had my eye on (might post a picture later; it's hilarious). Then Celia and I shared two huge delicious cupcakes and walked it off all the way back to Neukölln.
On the agenda this week:
-Montag: the 20th anniversary of the Mauerfall (Mauer=wall). It's a really big deal. I'm going to try and check out the festivities near Brandenburger Tor (a whole line of giant "dominoes" being knocked down; speeches from various VIPs including Hillary Clinton, etc.) and am also participating in Mauer Mob. It'll be crazy.
-Dienstag: our second supper club!
-Mittwoch: Grizzly Bear & St. Vincent concert!
Bis bald,
D.

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