Smashing Pumpkins!

Hello fall, Y'all!

For some of us it is just falling leaves, grey and cold wather, but for me it is also pumpkin time! Last week my employer treated the staff with a round of pumpkin spice lattes. Thus the guys from the coffee shop across the street packed their equipment and carried it into our office. Do finish the ambience, they had a local farmer deliver twenty pumpkins to decorate accordingly. 

These pumpkins were edible, and after the coffee fiesta I managed to get hold of one of the pumpkins. Which means I literally had to schlep it home, because it was humongous!  

So after my weekly grocery shopping on Saturday I was determined to fight the monster pumpkin! To cut it was easier than expected - the usual Hokkaido is much more stubborn than his Maltese colleague, I must say. I saved the seeds and cleaned them from all the fibers, rinsed them thoroughly and distributed them on a baking sheet to dry overnight on the terrace. Sunday they had dried nicely, and I gave them a short but sweet bath in saltwater. Back in the oven to get nice and toasty. Usually you do that for about twenty minutes, but in my gas oven, things are different.  After ten minutes only, my pumpkin seeds identified themselves as popcorn. To prevent them jumping around in my oven I stopped the experiment. But much to my surprise they were really good, already. After they cooled down a bit, we finished them off completely. 

A good third of the pumpkin I left uncut - one piece we will have for dinner tomorrow night and the other piece I cut in slim wedges which I roasted in the oven with bacon and feta cheese. We had Maltese bread with home made garlic butter as a side dish, and it was delish! No vampires were seen in the building that night...

The remaining part of the pumpkin I peeled, because in contrast to your usual Hokkaido you cannot eat the skin of the local one. I diced the pumpkin and cooked it for about twenty minutes in my two largest pots. I then drained them and pureed them with an immersion blender. This pumpkin puree (over three and a half kilo!) I bagged in smaller portions and put in the freezer. 

A part of the puree I used yesterday already - first for simple muffins and then for brownies with a creamcheese topping. The latter weren't too convincing, but the muffins were awesome. 

As we were invited yesterday, I did not want to come empty-handed and tried small pumpkin cheesecakes (made them individually in my muffin tin). First of all they got a bottom of shredded ladyfingers with melted butter and a pinch of cinnamon. I topped them with creamcheese and pumpkin puree spiced with the usual suspects aka cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. The cream was completed with an egg and a bit of cornstarch to make sure the cream gets firm. After only fifteen minutes they were done and I let them cool in the oven with the door left ajar - normal procedure with all cheesecakes. After that they could rest in the fridge. Btw I used lactosefree creamcheese for the first time, and the little cakes were sensational! No difference to "normal" creamcheese at all.

But I needed something salty as well for yesterday's menu. And because of the time constraint due to our invitation I decided against pumpkin gnocchi, because they take too long with boiling potatoes and all that jazz. Instead Instagram made me do scissors pasta! Basically you prepare a dough with all purpose flour, pumpkin puree and salt and then with a pair of scissors you cut little pieces of that dough directly into a pot of boiling water. It's as simple as that. 

Because the little creatures are done so quickly (you know they are good when they reach the surface - in my case within a few minutes), I did not make an elaborate sauce but just heated some sage and garlic in butter and tossed the pasta into the pan.

Was incredible and definitely worth doing again. Although my cutting technique has room for improvement, I know, I know... :-) 

What else is on my pumpkin-to-do-list? A classic American pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup for sure, a chicken-pumpkin casserole and a pumpkin curry, because curry is an all-time favorite of ours. 

On that note - enjoy fall and all the pumpkins! 

Stay cool

 Hi Y'all,

During his daily Mediterranean meditation Heinrich recently realized: Long time, no see - we have to change that! 

Since four months we have been living in our new flat, and the close proximity to the sea is still exciting. In the meantime we received a key to the garage (just without a garage space, but that's ok) which provides us with a shortcut. Which means our walk to the sea is now a whole 100 meters long! Which means everyday after work we head to the beach and float for half an hour in the lukewarm Mediterranean. Life could be worse, right? 

The last weeks Malta experienced a genuine heatwave. I know, I know - we should have expected something similar when moving to Malta. Yes, you're right. But you know what? I'm at that age where heatwaves collide with hot flushes - and this is no fun, I can tell you! Of course we have A/C in our flat, but we do not want to keep it running all the time. Therefore I was very grateful to cool off naturally.

And can you think of something else which makes you bear the heat? Exactly - ice scream! But to get it from the shop to your very own freezer and keep it in its desired aggregate state might pose a challenge when it's 38 degrees celsius, which is why I either had to buy a cooler or had to come up with an idea. 

Just at that time I laid my grubby little hands on some merch issued by my friendly employer - namely these sun protection shields for the car. And I thought: challenge accepted, let me tinker a cooling bag out of that stuff. 

My first attempt was to recycle an existing shopping bag (also merch, which bears the very fitting tag "fabric instead of flowers", obviously not by my employer), because the cut was plain and simple and the outer material pretty sturdy. And so I only sewed some sort of lining for this shopper from this sun shade foil material, because I wanted to test how you can cut and sew it. To close it I attached some velcro and I turned out pretty well. 

As I had still some leftover sunshade material and the the bag was limited in size, I wanted to try a cooling backpack. The outer material I had to buy, because my Mount Scrapmore is completely used up, but at least I had some webbing and a buckle. Saturday I managed to get hold on some nice curtain fabric - could have beed a bit more sturdy for my liking, but in connection with the sunscreen material I thought it might work. 

So I started cutting the shades - easy peasy using an all purpose scissors.  

My tried and tested sewing machine bravely worked through all of it. To be on the safe side I switched to the highest stitch length, the material needed some support in guiding it under the foot and admittedly the handling was a bit stubborn, but all in all I was pleasantly surprised. 

It was not planned as a highly sophisticated picnic backpack, thus I designed it quite simple and uncomplicated. First I built the inner body:  

Then fitted the outer fabric:

My plan was to stick to a simple foldover version to close the backpack - and if I needed a bit more space I could easily leave it open to accommodate my pistachio ice cream shopping spree :-) Where I attached the buckle and the handles I enforced the fabric with SnapPap: 

I shortly considered a transformer version, which means switch between a backpack with two straps and a shopper with one carrying strap, but the lenght of my webbing did not allow this option. Therefore I added a shorter handle which should do the job just as well.  

After that I simply folded the outer fabric over the brim of the silver material and attached it with the machine and like this outer and inner bag were connected. The buckle straps and the carrying straps I also attached to the silver foil to have them double secured.

And this is how it looks like from the back:

...and front... 

I think I am going to quilt the two layers in a few places, maybe do some hand stitching outlining the pattern of the fabric for example, but that will be it. It might not be stable enough to carry half a cow, but as I like my cows whole, that should be fine. And after all, I prefer ice cream :-) 

On that note I send you this earworm:

Like ice in the sunshine, like ice in the sunshine

I'm melting away on this summer day...

Stay cool and hydrated!

All new in May!

Hi, Y'all!

I like May - it's spring, everything in nature starts growing brand new, lots of  people near and dear to me have their birthdays in May, the hubs and I celebrate our wedding anniversary in May, and at least in Germany there are two very conveniently located public holidays on Thursdays.

And this year something else was added: We moved house! We had a rental contract that was limited to two years, and if you've lived in it for a certain amount of time, you can leave earlier. We learned that at the beginning of the year and kept our eyes and ears open to see if we could find a nice new place to live.

Then we learned something else straight away, namely that these notice periods of three months or more, which are familiar from Germany, have no relevance here. Of course, you would actually have to give the landlord two months' notice before moving out, but as is so often the case, this is a mere recommendation :-) As soon as you tell the landlord that you want to move out, you can basically start packing. We weren't aware of this at first, and when I responded to the first apartment ads and said that we wouldn't be able to move in for another two months because of the notice period, we were always told: "Then come back to us later, the apartment here will be rented out tomorrow and the new residents will move in the day after."

Oookay, we then agreed with our landlords that we would move out at the end of April and I looked at a bunch of apartments around Easter. In the meantime, we had briefly considered moving to the sister island of Gozo, because it's a bit quieter and more unspoilt there. But that would have lengthened our commute so much that it's only really worth it if you can work completely remotely. So I limited my search to our current place of residence, because we really like it. 

And it's like everywhere else: there are nice and less nice apartments, sometimes the location is right but the size isn't, sometimes the furnishings are very nice but the price is completely over the top, sometimes the location and furnishings are great but then there's no elevator to the fourth floor - there's always something. But if you're prepared to make the odd compromise, you can find some great things. And that's exactly how it went! 

After browsing through a bunch of ads on Facebook Marketplace and looking at a good ten apartments, we almost said yes to one. Nice view over the town, new kitchen, modern furnishings, space for an e-bike, and Heinrich was welcome. There were only two (bedrooms), but we would squeeze a desk into each one and then it would be fine. 

Then a real estate agent called me, who had already shown me two apartments that were out of the question, and told me she had something I might like. I didn't hesitate for long, and at 8:30 on Easter Monday morning (which is not a public holiday here) I had the viewing appointment. It turned out that the estate agent was a niece of our old landlords (El Mundo es un Pañuelo...), and also the proud dog mom of a Frenchie named Louis :-) If that's not a good omen... And what can I say? I walked into the apartment and instinctively knew it had potential. 

Just as big as the previous apartment, namely 3 bedrooms (approx. 140 m²), more or less the same layout, i.e. a long hallway (Apple Fitness will be pleased), from which the rooms lead off, and which then ends in the open living room and kitchen area. It's on the third floor of an apartment complex that looks a bit like a former hotel, has an elevator (with a working emergency service :-D ), a nice balcony with a great view (He fählt nur vum Balkon die Aussich op d'r Dom. [This is a quote of a well-known song in cologne dialect which means "Everything here is just like home, only the view of the cathedral is missing".]- well, actually we do have a nice view of the church, so we can't complain at all).

There is also a Mediterranean tiled floor, which is very handy in contrast to the previous high-gloss tiled floor. In other words, you don't immediately see every water stain when Heinrich has had another sip of Eau de Tap. There's also air conditioning and a brand new 8 kilo washing machine (Alex thinks I can fit a whole parallel universe in there, like in my handbag). By the way, the washing machine is located in a built-in cupboard on the balcony, which is very common here. Of course, it never gets cold enough here in winter for the pipes to freeze over. 

The kitchen doesn't have a dishwasher, but it has everything else you need, especially storage space - which I really like, because we do have a lot of stuff. And since the day before yesterday, we also have a brand new stove and oven, and - another first for me - both run on gas. This is also very common here, as you can see from the numerous frog-green gas cylinders on the terraces and balconies everywhere. After some initial hesitation (won't anything explode here???), I have to say that I can understand why professional chefs swear by gas. 

The furniture, especially the kitchen and the living room wall unit in rustic oak remind me a bit of a 70s cellar bar - a little alcohol and I start dancing disco fox :-D OK, that falls under the aforementioned compromises that you have to make. But to be honest: If you painted the kitchen cupboards and the living room wall with a light cream colored chalk paint, it would look really good, I am definitely sensing vintage/shabby chic vibes. Here's a picture from the chaos of the move so you can get an idea...

But what really speaks for the apartment is the location. When we walk out of the front door, we are right by the sea in just three minutes! That was a thing in the last apartment: we had a fabulous view of the bay, but to be able to dip our feet in the water, we either had to take the car or the bus. It's a bit like holding a lollipop in front of a child's nose but not letting them lick it. 

And now every day the two gentlemen (two-legged and four-legged) spend their lunch break by the sea. It gives us such an incredible quality of life that we can now imagine settling here permanently. It is indeed beautiful!

The journey to work has remained more or less the same - the bus takes exactly 2 minutes longer, but the bus stop is much closer than before. And the view from there is also very nice:

Well, and in the meantime we have also re-registered - you have to do this here just like in Germany every time you move. However, they do not simply put a sticker on the ID card, but they even issue a complete new ID card. As an EU citizen, this is not a problem, the only thing that was problematic was getting a parking space nearby! And because I also have a small educational mission, here's a bit about Maltese addresses: The zip code in Malta consists of two components, namely three letters representing the city area and then four numbers. That's pretty precise; the hotel two blocks away, for example, has a different postal code to our building. What is not handled quite so precisely, however, is the house number. Many buildings here have a name - ours is called Halcyon, for example, and that's enough, there's no house number. You don't necessarily need a name on the doorbell or letterbox either. It's enough if it has the apartment number on it, then the postman knows where to ring the bell.

By the way, we had completely underestimated the effort involved in our move :-D We thought it would be a walk in the park, after all we wanted to move without furniture and had done a proper clear-out before moving to Malta. But miraculously, our household has exploded again and my little blue beetle has bravely transported box after box to the new apartment. Now we feel really comfortable, but we don't want to move again for the next few years (at least two)!

With this in mind - have a good time and enjoy May!

I spy with my little eye...

Hi, Y'all!

lately I was craving something typically German - Kirschstreusel! And then I realised that the most important ingredient is nearly impossible to get hold of. Sour cherries in a jar are only known to the immigrated Germans around. Therefore, I was very happy when Lidl offered preserved sour cherries and even plums (went by Alp Cuisine, haha). 

Thus last Sunday we had a classic crumb cake and our Maltese family really liked it! And the oldest daughter of our friends could impress her German class with new vocabulary :-)

My grandpa always made a foundation of yeast dough and he only spread the drained cherries on top of it, whereas I made the base and the crumbs from the same dough. I only pressed the crumbs into the bottom of the pie pan and I thickened the cherries including their juice with some vanilla custard powder before I buried them under loads of Streusel. 

Oh, btw there are a few cherry trees on the island (although I'v never seen one), so you are in fact able to buy them fresh, but the only cherries in a jar you get are either the insanely sweet cocktail cherries (Maraschino) or the other Italian Amarena cherries you use for the ice cream cups (also insanely sweet, to be honest). 

And therefore I thought about a list of German pantry staples you can't get in Malta. Besides the aforementioned sour cherries Quark instantly came to my mind. Maltese (and also Americans) do not know what it is - some kind of curd cheese, and therefore they prepare their cheesecake either with ricotta or cream cheese. Apart from cheesecake I love Quark with herbs as a dip to oven roasted potatoes, vegetable fritters and so-on, but have been using yogurt instead. Somewhere on an expat-blog I found a recipe to make your own Quark (I think she used buttermilk), but I could not make myself do it - and moreover, I am not sure if you can get buttermilk here... 

Another thing I could not find at first, was the good old custard powder. Although I know how to make custard (the Germans call it Pudding) without the help of Dr. Oetker, but I assumed there are lazy people even in Malta... And after questioning my beloved Maltese colleague I learned that of course you get custard powder. Only that the Maltese Dr. Oetker is called Foster Clark, and he packages his custard mix in tin cans instead of the single portion paper bags I knew from Germany. And because I was fixated on that kind of packaging I did identify the tin can as the item I was looking for only on the second glance. 

Lidl (who can't hide it's German roots) also is the only shop offering the small bags with vanilla sugar, baking powder and instant yeast, us Germans are very much used to. If you want vanilla sugar here, you either have to prepare it yourself with real vanilla pods and granulated sugar (or buy the little pouches at Lidl), because otherwise you only get highly concentrated artificial vanilla powder or liquid vanilla extract. Baking powder and dry yeast you normally get here in much larger portions, 500 g for example. This comes in very handy! With my large numbers of bread and pizza I usually bake, these small bags wouldn't get me very far. And less packaging by larger portion sizes is always a good thing. 

Another thing I think is very German is our attachment to fruit infusions (or fruit tea). Surely we drink our fair share of black or green tea, but when I think of the huge shelves filled with Teekanne and Messmer, that's a whole other story. Here in Malta you clearly can sense the British influence: You can purchase an abundance of black tea (Earl Grey, English Breakfast just to name a few), a large variety of green teas and a reasonable amount of herbal teas like camomile. But camomile is yucky! I'd rather drink hot water only than camomile tea! Which reminds me of Asterix with the Brits: "Would you like a droplet of milk in your hot water?" :-D 

Hot Love (aka raspberry-vanilla), Spanish Orange, Winterdream (aka spiced apple) or Rooibos-Vanilla is much more up my alley. Therefore I am very happy when I can manage to grab a pack of fruit infusion/tea that is not peppermint or mixed berries. But this is whining at high level, of course!   

Having said that I wish you a hoppy Easter - stay safe and have a cuppa!

Soul Food

Hi Y'all!

Long time no see, I know, I know... But you might also know that my dad went on his very last journey, and I did not feel like blogging at all. 

I still miss him, but right now I'm at peace with the situation, and therefore, it's time for a new blog post with lots of comfort food or sould food - basically food which warms the belly and the soul. Dad surely would have liked it... 

We never ate tons of meat, but since living in Malta, we reduced it even more. Once a week we have fish on the menu, but currently we are not missing anything. Moreover: Spices are incredibly affordable in Malta, and therefore with a little bit of creativity you can produce incredibly delicious things. 

A few weeks ago I bought a large piece of pumpkin and wanted to try something other than the usual cream soup. So I cooked the pumpkin with some potatoes, mixed it with spices, herbs and flour and the result was a giant batch of gnocchi: 

Some we had instantly with pesto, and the rest I divided into small portions and put them in the freezer. Pro-tip: Throw them in water while they are still frozen, otherwise you end up with one giant blob. I mixed the blob with some more flour and then cut again - so the gnocchi were still delicious. But you could save that extra step. You can even shallow fry them after cooking, and I found that especially yummy. 

And of course pumpkin is perfect for filling ravioli - therefore one Sunday the hubs and I donned our aprons and made a huge batch of pasta dough. Below you can see said ravioli - once uncooked and once with sage butter: 

You can freeze ravioli quite easily. Simply place sheets of parchment paper in between the ravioli layers and then boil them without thawing (and without the parchment paper, haha). Like this they don't stick together and won't break. And after all they only take a few minutes to cook. 

And then we planned to make tagliatelle - which we did. And without a proper pasta drying rack we just placed them on the cooking grate of our oven. But I have to admit that's a true labour of love! The single pasta strands get longer and longer while hanging and once they are dry they break if you only look at them. So, it's not worth the hassle - just make them fresh and boil them directly. The dough is prepared in a few minutes anyway.

Pasta dough is for dummies btw - In Germany I used special flour for Swabian pasta which you obviously can't get here. But the combination of simple wheat flour with semolina works like a charm. Add in a bit of salt, olive oil and water, and your DIY pasta is done! 

And while we're talking about pasta: My usual lasagna has a filling made of spinach, cream cheese and tomato, but even here I wanted to experiment a bit. The first one was pretty straightforward. I simply cooked a Bolognese ragu, only with red lentils instead of minced meat. As vegetarian option I topped it with shredded cheese, and for the vegan alternative I used oat cheese (not goat cheese, haha). In case you are wondering: In principal it's oat milk with herbs and spices (and nutritional yeast, if you can get hold of it) and cornstarch and when you boil it, it thickens. The result is a relatively firm cream cheese which can be cut into slices. It melts only a bit, but the taste is delish. Top is vegan, bottom vegetarian:  

And this is what they look like after being baked in the oven:  

And since I developed a sincere and true love for eggplants here in Malta, I had to try a lasagna with these purple beauties: 

So I peeled and shredded the eggplant (unpeeled shredding doesn't work), mixed it with tomatoes and herbs and placed it between the lasagna sheets. I topped it with some fried and caramelised onion rings (with lots of thyme) and some shredded cheese. Note to self: Don't be stingy with spices, and then it is uber delicious! 

One of my staples on the menu when I don't have too much time: chickpea curry. Start boiling some rice (Jasmin or Basmati), and add some diced onions, garlic and ginger to a well oiled pan. Make it spicy with curry powder, paprika, turmeric and cumin until it reveals its fragrance. Add two tablespoons of tomato paste and a whole can of coconut milk. Mix well and throw in two cans of rinsed chickpeas - easy peasy!

Do not throw away the chickpea water (aka aquafaba), because you can whisk it like eggwhite (and it doesn't taste like chickpeas at all). Gently fold in some powdered sugar and molten chocolate and let it get firm in the fridge. This is Mousse au Chocolate's little vegan sister! Tbh it's more like the brother from another mother, but there is no need to hide it either. Unfortunately there is no picture, sorry!

Now let's get to the last hearty dish which is inspired by the spanish albondigas - just that I made them of white beans instead of minced meat. I combined it with a light sauce with onions and white wine - olé!

But you know me - you won't leave this post with a sweet finale. If life (or your co-worker or neighbor) gives you lemons, start baking!

Muffins are a no brainer, but I wanted to try something I hadn't done before - Lemon Crackle Cookies. You prepare a rather unspectacular dough but with loads of lemon zest and lemon juice, roll it into little balls and cover them with powdered sugar. Unfortunately I used all my powdered sugar for the muffin glaze, and so I had to improvise. Put one cup of normal sugar together with a teaspoon of cornstarch in a food processor and blitz it for 30 seconds or so. And like this you have powdered sugar in no time and effort. Bake the cookies for 12 min at 180 degrees Celsius, and then they show a cracked surface, but inside they are fluffy and wonderfully citrusy - will definitely make them again! 

Stay safe and enjoy the spring!

Malta musically

Hi, Y'all,

The Maltese are good business people, but they are not just focused on numbers, data and facts. On the contrary - all the Maltese people I have met so far have a strong love of music, dance and/or singing. It starts with the fact that all Maltese, without exception, are ardent supporters of the Eurovision Song Contest and Malta takes part every year (definitely more successful than Germanyzeropoints). The event is the number one topic of conversations for weeks, and on the evening of the broadcast, the streets are as empty as in Germany during the World Cup final with La Mannschaft participating. There is also of course "Malta's got Talent" (i.e. "Malta sucht den Superstar" in German), "Dancing with the Stars" (in German "Let's Dance" - haha) and countless smaller events where local and extremely talented artists perform. On the small island of Gozo are even two opera houses, and the tenor Joseph Calleja is internationally known. I even saw him lately in a Netflix documentary about Mario Lanza.

Even international artists like to come to Malta - Elton John has been here, for example, and Tina Turner; Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera and André Rieu performed here this summer (there's no arguing with taste, though), and Ed Sheeran will be here next year. I'm still waiting for an appearance of Depeche Mode, and although that is unfortunately not in sight, hope dies last.

And then there are all the local music groups, the so-called band clubs, of which there is definitely one, if not several, in every small town. Mellieha, for example, has at least two. A band club of course also has a clubhouse, but it's not just a place where music is played, but often also a real pub or restaurant where you an have a decent meal for small money. These band clubs do great youth work, which means that from around the age of five, the young artists are introduced to an instrument with regular lessons, the instrument is provided by the club, and participation in the practice lessons or choir rehearsals is free. There is also no membership fee or additional payment for the uniform (e.g. polo shirt with club logo, uniform scarf for women or tie for men) - which means that there are a lot of excellent musicians in Malta, because anyone who wants has access to musical education.

Who knows me well also might know that I was with various choirs since the age of 7, although I haven't actively sung in the last few years (only a few shower performances here and there). But it deemed a good idea to start again, because it's a great way to get in touch with people and to integrate into society. And so I've been singing with the Choral and Orchestral Society Maria Bambina since July!

A few days before our daughter's wedding we had a huge concert with our orchestra and some guest musicians. It took place in the church square in Mellieha and was part of the extensive activities of the big annual feast at the beginning of September. We presented a colorful mix of English, Maltese and Italian musical and pop songs (e.g. The Ascot Gavotte from My Fair Lady, Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, a Tina Turner medley and one by a well-known Maltese group). In between there were also instrumental pieces by our orchestra, some accompanied by various dancers, and at the end - as almost always on the island - there were fireworks as the grand finale.

Last Saturday we had a concert with sacred or classical music in the Mdina Cathedral. By the way (insert a little education here), Mdina was the old capital until they chose Valletta in 1571 to be the new capital of Malta. The reason behind: From Mdina you can see almost the entire island, but from Valletta you have a better overview of the harbour and the sea - the risk of being attacked from within was probably lower than from the sea. Anyway, Mdina is beautiful and its cathedral is stunning. Our concert was a matinee (Saturday morning, 10:30) and moreover a collab with the La Valette Band Club which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Not exactly sure whether Monsignor Marco Frisina came to Malta specifically for these celebrations, but his timing was extraordinary. If you're wondering who he is (and I surely did): Monsignor Frisina is an Italian priest, choir director and composer (among others, film music). Under John Paul II he was bandmaster of the Lateran Basilica, he has composed for various TV and film projects and has even worked with Ennio Morricone. For Benedict XVI he has written several oratorios and has been a lecturer at two pontifical universities for 20 years (yes, there are several).

We rehearsed a Maltese piece and four of his own works in advance (and that was definitely a challenge, I can tell (or sing)), and then we had the great honor of having Monsignor Frisina himself directing our choir and orchestra.

And because the man is truly gifted, everything worked out wonderfully! As I said, his works were quite demanding, and considering we only had about six weeks to practice (but three times a week), we can give ourselves a little pat on the back. And in retrospect one can say: The first rehearsal was terrible and everybody thought it would never work. Then the first rehearsal with the orchestra was even more horrible, no one could hear the singer standing next and everybody doubted him/herself and the overall situation. But that's perfectly normal, and somehow everything will work out in the end - each and every time, believe me.

But there is no rest, as rehearsals for the festive season will begin on Friday - the first four performances have already been fixed... So I say goodbye with the holy three catchy tunes: Rockin' around the Christmas Tree, All I want for Christmas is you and Last (but not least) Christmas.

You're welcome :-)

You can't make this up...

Hi Y‘all!

When you go on a journey, usually you have something to tell afterwards. However, I would never in my life have thought that it would be the story that is coming now... Sit back, get comfortable and yourself a tea, or even a Snickers bar, because it might take longer!

Some time ago last year, our older daughter brought the happy news that she and her dearest significant other wanted to get married. We, the proud parents, were very happy, organized a chic outfit right away, because the occasion calls for celebrating in style, and instantly we booked the flights. Lufthansa Business Class - of course - because hubby didn't want to leave anything to chance with such an important event. Only LH (and AirMalta) take you from Malta to Stuttgart, and unfortunately not directly, but only with connected flights. So we were supposed to fly from Malta via Munich to Stuttgart and the return flight was to be via Frankfurt. So far so good.

I finished work extra early on the Wednesday before, in order to take Heinrich to the dog sitter without any hassle, pack our suitcase in no stress and then take the airport bus line to the airport the next morning. That worked out wonderfully. After checking in at the business lounge, we merrily passed our time and were ready for boarding. A sip of champagne to get you in the mood and off we went.

When we landed in Munich, our plane was rescheduled at short notice to a place far out on the airfield, which was okay. But they didn't think about the fact that in that case we would also need stairs and a bus. So we had to wait a quarter of an hour for the stairs, and when it arrived, we had to wait another twenty minutes for the bus. With a connecting flight, that's always great. But no problem at all - the connecting plane was also a good half hour late, haha! Supposedly due to a lack of staff, but I heard that excuse so often lately, I won’t comment on in any more...

A while ago, we bought two AirTags for our luggage, to be able to track the suitcases via GPS. Immediately after landing in Stuttgart, hubby told me: I think our suitcase is still in Munich. I thought he was making fun at first, but apparently he was not joking at all. He then contacted Lufthansa support right away, but it seemed as if we knew better than them where our suitcase was located. We then went with our youngest daughter, who kindly picked us up, to her home in Ditzingen, because we were supposed to set up camp there. At that point we were still relatively relaxed; after all, we had experienced something like this years ago with Delta Airlines on the flight to Austin/Texas. A suitcase had gotten stuck in Atlanta, but was forwarded on the next plane and delivered directly to our hotel the same night. And as it was only Thursday late afternoon, we assumed there was plenty of time.

We had actually planned a cosy evening at the Wichtel brewery in Ditzingen with Sarah, her boyfriend and his family - we finally wanted to get to know them. Since we didn't know when the suitcase would come, we considered moving the event to Sarah and Eric's home at short notice. But then, oh wonder, we received a notification that the suitcase was approaching Stuttgart and was scheduled to land at 10:50 pm. OK, we thought, then we'll have to stay up a little longer than planned, but now let's go for dinner with the family.

It goes without saying that hubby had already made it perfectly clear at the first contact with Lufthansa, that time was of the essence. He had provided them with our temporary address in Ditzingen with the remark that we, as parents of the bride, needed the suitcase by 10:00 am next morning at the latest, because it contained our outfits, shoes, hair clips, makeup... even my thyroid hormones were in it (ok, for a day I had them in my hand luggage). So it was really urgent. The evening progressed - we tried again and again to get someone on the line, but in vain, because from 8:00 pm everyone had finished work.

The next morning from seven o’clock on we incessantly tried to move mountains and get the suitcase to Ditzingen. A call to Stuttgart Airport revealed that Lufthansa always commissions a specific courier service to forward baggage. They told us to send them an email, because Stuttgart Airport is not responsible, only Lufthansa is. We sent said email and at the same time tried to call the courier service. There was only one phone number available in Hanover, and I was kicked out several times after hanging on the line for ten minutes each time (btw the waiting message pointed out that if the call didn't work out, you should email instead – as if they knew very well that nobody would ever pick up these calls)...  

At the same time, hubby had a so-called Lufthansa service employee on the line, from whom he wanted to know why we paid for priority luggage if no one gives a f’ing fuck now? The employee said dryly: I know that this is very bad service, but that's all I can do. The suitcase will come to you, but I can't tell you when. Why don't you get it yourself if it's urgent? There is simply a shortage of personnel." I'm still very impressed by the hubby's self-control...  

Since my former company is located at the airport, I even called a former colleague to see if he could bring the suitcase to us. Unfortunately, he was already on his way to Mannheim, but recommended a specific taxi company. Unfortunately (I sense an inflationary use of that word in this blogpost...), Lufthansa doesn't just hand over the luggage to a taxi driver, but only if it orders it itself - but obviously they didn't have the capacity to do so due to a lack of staff. Going there ourselves was no longer an option, because getting a taxi not only expensive, but also difficult when you are in a hurry. With the S-Bahn it would not have been possible in time. 

So we bit the bullet, ironed the hubby's shirt from the day before, washed his socks and ironed them dry, and I borrowed one of my ex-dresses from my youngest daughter. I hardly ever had worn it, thus I had given it to her before we moved to Malta - that came in very handy now. Maybe the hubs should have gifted one of his suits to Sarah's boyfriend Eric before moving :-) It was also very practical that I wore a pair of fancy sandals on the flight instead of sneakers. With the semi-elegant red dress that would have created a weird combo…

Well, thanks to Sarah's makeup palette, toothbrushes and other help, we were reasonably presentable, only not as impeccable as we had planned. Thank God I had my jewelry in my purse and not in my suitcase. Due to track works, the tram was not really an option (anyone who has ever heard the word rail replacement service knows what I mean), so hubby had already ordered a taxi in the morning to pick us up at 12:30 pm and take us to the registry office. So we were waiting in the road, when he got the call from the taxi driver at exactly 12:30 pm, he was stuck in a traffic jam and could not come! Ahhhhh!! Uber wasn't available, so we called six to eight local taxi companies, but they weren't in the mood for customers. One said: "I can't do it for another three quarters of an hour," the next bluntly told us that he had lunch break now. Service - what's that???

We didn’t want to bother the bride and groom with these hickups but at  that time we had no choice but to inform them, and thanks to Marie's ingenious organizational talent, her brother-in-law-to-be was on the doorstep shortly before one (remember: marriage ceremony was to start at 1:00 pm) and took us to the registry office in Weilimdorf, disregarding all speed limits (shoutout to Sebi aka Schumi!). In the meantime, the bride and groom had softened the registrar to wait for the bride's parents before starting the wedding ceremony (this is quite remarkable for officials on a Friday afternoon...), and at 1:15 pm we arrived at the registry office - just within the academic quarter. 

But doors were closed already, because it was Friday afternoon! So we called again for someone to come down to open the door for us. The gatekeeper wanted to brush us off, but we just overran her, and the wedding ceremony could finally begin!

The ceremony was beautiful and moving, the wedding hall very pretty, and the registrar really nice. We all had tears in our eyes and buttonholes, and suddenly our children were married. The groom's kungfu club then welcomed the bride and groom with soap bubbles and sparkling wine outside the registry building, and the Weilimdorf market visitors also had something to look at. A young man with an unmistakable American accent was so enthusiastic about the groom's outfit that he had to take a picture :-)

We were then driven from the registry office to the event hall in a VW bus from 1968.

And all of a sudden, the tension was gone, and the party could begin. And we partied hard until three in the morning, I can tell you that!

Shortly after six on this memorable Friday, Sarah was finished with her university work, and since she passes the airport from Tübingen on her way back home, I sent her a photo of the luggage receipt, and she just tried her luck at the airport. She was sent to a hall where hundreds of suitcases were standing around waiting for their owners, but ours was not there. She was then led into a second hall where even twice as many suitcases were waiting to be picked up. (Imagine the amount of money standing there and the huge bag of emotions attached to all that luggage...) My suitcase has a very significant pattern, so she was able to identify it quickly, and it was handed to her just like that (without any signature or anything).

Right when she told us via WhatsApp that she had the suitcase in her hands, the courier service informed us that they had never received an order from Lufthansa to deliver our suitcase. I don't have to mention that according to the last mail from Lufthansa, our suitcase is now considered lost...

Well, we had a terrific wedding and spent a great weekend with the in-laws of our two girls, and on Sunday, as mentioned above, we were supposed to travel from Stuttgart via Frankfurt to Malta. But Lufthansa had rebooked us from the flight to the train, and we were supposed to leave Stuttgart main station at 5:23 pm - does Stuttgart 21 and the corresponding construction site chaos ring a bell? Bearing that in mind we took the S-Bahn from Ditzingen to Stuttgart very much in advance. 

Unfortunately, we had to leave the S6 due to route work in Zuffenhausen and change to the S4. The S4 then had to make an unscheduled stop at the Nordbahnhof, because another S-Bahn had broken down in the tunnel in front of the main station... Nevertheless, we reached our train to Frankfurt Airport and were just about to find our seats, when I saw on the display board: This train is a) delayed and b) does not stop in Frankfurt today. Am I in a very bad dream right now???

So we hopped on the next train at the opposite platform. According to the train coordinator - the small man with the big red cap - the train would be delayed, but if nothing went wrong, the train should be at the airport at 6:57 pm. Boarding was scheduled for 7:30 pm, so it was a close call, but we had high hopes.

Approaching the Frankfurt main station, the train driver announced: "Dear passengers, we will reach the main station at 7:01 pm, and unfortunately we have to uncouple cars 31 to 39 due to defects, because otherwise we will not be able to take the high-speed line in the direction of Cologne. Because this uncoupling can take ten to fifteen minutes, we recommend that travelers to the airport take the ICE 120 from platform 9. (Small pause...) I correct myself: we will not reach the main station until 7:20 pm, and then the uncoupling will happen, so we strongly recommend switching to the ICE 120. (Another little pause...) I correct myself again: We just get the message via the Internet that the ICE 120 has been cancelled completely."  

Hubby was already chatting with LH support again, but of course their hands were tied, because our flight was the last connection to Malta that day. I've already joked that we had a fair chance if the plane is delayed or defective – with our luck it wasn’t unlikely, and we were only one stop away from the airport. Then, all of a sudden, it became very cosy in our compartment and in the entire front part of the train, because all the passengers from the cancelled ICE 120 boarded, and all the passengers whose cars had been uncoupled also had to get in. 

There were already heated discussions, because everyone sat down where he or she found a place, and actually all prior reservations were cancelled by then, but of course there are always people who insist on their reservation. And there are people who don't have anything to do with it, but still interfere and strike a very wrong note. Suddenly the hubs lowered his voice significantly (quite impressive spectacle tbh) and the meddler went completely silent… But since our train now had to carry triple the amount of passengers, there was another announcement stating that the train was now overloaded and wouldn’t be able to depart at all unless some passengers get off voluntarily!

It was now 7:30 pm, exactly our boarding time, and so we decided to leave this fine establishment and check if another train or S-Bahn would take us one stop further. We luckily caught an IC that dropped us off at the airport at 8:00 pm. Bless us, the plane was neither defective nor delayed, it was gone. The friendly LH service employee thus handed us a hotel voucher for the Sheraton directly at the airport, including meals. Fun fact: The lump sum for dinner was 18 euros per person, but the cheapest dish in the hotel's restaurant was 21 euros without drinks. So we paid a little more, but at that point we didn't care anymore. We just wanted to take a shower, grab a quick bite and off to bed.

By the way, the food was really tasty, and one of the three waitresses was also very nice (the male rest hadn't really internalized the idea of service yet...). So we put our tired heads to rest and fell asleep in no time. At two o'clock, however, the hubs woke up, wanted to go to the bathroom and just hummed: We have a burst water pipe! It was dripping from the ceiling in front of the bathroom, and according to the reception, that was the A/C, and a technician would come by immediately. Indeed, he was there right away and did some repair work. But he was just gone, when it dripped again - his repair attempt was probably not that effective… Therefore we had to change rooms at half past three, and it took us quite some time to fall asleep again.

Every time we thought, it can't get any worse, something even more hilarious happened. You can't make that up, except in shows like "Pranked" or in pretty bad road movies. If this is the new normal in Germany, then I am really and truly horrified. What has become of punctuality and efficiency – these were always our pride and joy? Nobody cares for anything anymore, friendly service is obviously a forgotten term, but all the time you hear about staff shortages. That’s truly disturbing. A friend wrote me: "Oh, how nice - you went on vacation to a developing country..." 

But apart from that the breakfast was good, the return flight reasonably punctual and the suitcase was also where it should be. Because we had to pick up the dog that Monday morning, we ordered a Bolt driver (that's the Maltese Uber), who was there in five minutes, and he first drove us to the dog sitter, waited dutifully until we had collected Heini, and then brought us home quickly, safely and extremely cheap compared to a German taxi fare. Which means: As soon as we entered our wonderfully imperfect Malta, everything worked out perfectly.

What a ride, Y‘all! Guys, if anyone knows a Hollywood director, we'd sell the story straight away. Although nobody would believe us, I suppose... But one thing’s for sure: That was a weekend we will never ever forget!!!

With this in mind, I would like to quote my own maid of honor
with the following advice:

Breathe, hold on, drink alcohol!!