Book ’em Dan-o!

Last week I read a little blurb in the paper about a “bucherbazaar” or used books sale up at Schloss Trautenfels. The Schloss is a former palace turned museum and it’s just up the road from us. We got in the car and drove up there where our minds were promptly blown by the incredible …


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Diplomacy starts with a smile.

This morning, I am off to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist, even when my teeth are totally fine – which they are. I’m seeing the dentist here because I don’t have any US dental insurance right now. The contract agency I worked through wouldn’t sell me dental and optical only and I …


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The Baker’s Apprentice

My reputation as a cook, which I’ve done nothing to export beyond the US borders, ensured that I was recruited as the baker’s assistant long before I arrived here for the winter. This is why I spent the better part of the day dusted with flour while baking Scheehaubenkeks and Linzer Augen in Josefa’s kitchen. …


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If there are cockroaches, it must be Christmas!

A schabe is a cockroach. A strohschabe is a cockroach made of straw. Or perhaps one that lives in straw, I’m not sure. The arrival of these creatures signifies that the Christmas season has begun, naturally. After all, when you think Christmas, you think cockroaches, right? We got to Krungl early enough to watch the …


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Goulash and Cookies

Yesterday, we had goulash for lunch. Goulash at my mother-in-law’s is potatoes and sausage smothered in a creamy tomato sauce. We had it with fresh rolls – you use the bread to soak up the sauce that’s left on your plate. Because of my vegetarian tendencies, you think I’d pass entirely, or at least migrate …


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