Morgan Makes Passover

Life long learning is important, but nobody thinks they have time to take up a new hobby.  Now that I am a bit more acclimated and settled in (although I still haven't hung photos on our walls... but it will happen one day I keep telling myself) I have started to branch out to new friends and new things.   I have joined a really cool club with a really cool concept.  It's called the "Learn Something Mystery Club".

This is how the club works: one person hosts whenever they want, and they share a "mystery" topic of surprise with everyone that comes.  No one knows ahead of time what they are getting involved in. The topics are totally random, it can be an easy craft, visiting a local monument, some chemistry, history, a dance, a new recipe, anything.   So I wanted to share a slice of my heritage,  so in the spirit of the Jewish Passover coming, I decided to host my very first Passover.

Once the guests arrived I explained to them about how Jewish families prepare for Passover and we jumped right into a 30/40 minute Passover Sedar.  It was so awesome! I loved every minute of it; it really made me feel like I was close to my family, even though they are so far away.  I explained the different rituals of the Passover, we read from the Haggadah (my aunt sent me just the right amount for the group), and I described the symbolism behind the Matza and items on the Sedar plate.

 The table was all set and ready to go!  We have the apple charoset and everything!

 Some light Jewish literature for the guests to read over

It's very rare to find any sort of Jewish Holiday food when you're in Germany.  In fact, it is almost extinct, unless you are shopping at the Commissary on post, which has a tiny selection.  I am so grateful for my family members (shout out to my mom, my aunt and better than Betty Crocker Jeanie!) and Amazon Prime who really helped make the Passover a success.  It took about two days to prepare the Passover meal.

For starters we had Gefilte Fish, made by the famous Manischewitz.

Then some Matzo Ball soup...the key is to not touch the balls a lot while they are doughy and my mom says to add a little seltzer water!

I ordered a brisket cut from the grocery store about a week ahead and marinaded it for 24 hours.  After 8 hours of cooking, overnight cooling and cutting, it was warmed and delicious to eat!

I served the brisket with a caramelized leek vegetable kugel

For dessert I made chocolate covered matzo, coconut macaroons, and the traditional jelly candies

It was so good and so fun! I am glad I had the opportunity to host such a great event.  

Thanks to everyone who helped and made it a success.  As they say, next year in Jerusalem! 

Bolesławiec, Poland

Before moving to Germany, I never knew that "Polish Pottery" was a thing, or that people in the States pay 100+ dollars for dishes to eat and cook from. The people that I know who use Polish Pottery swear that it is better than any Pyrex or metal baking dish, so...since we are so close to Poland, I joined the bandwagon and a few of us girls took a quick trip across the boarder to Bolesławiec, Poland to shop for some of this fine handcrafted material.

We left after work and arrived at the Elim Mission Center for the night (the drive was about 5 hours).  It was dark when we arrived, but the rooms were super cute, so I could only imagine what the outside of this fine establishment looked like.  It felt like a princess castle, and was a perfect place to get our  beauty sleep before we shopped till we dropped!  I was impressed that we only paid 12 euro a person to sleep here!

Really pretty in the daylight too,  Now off to the land of pottery!

These were some of the places we went to: Andy's, Henry's, Ceramika, Manufactura and so many others (there is a list at the bottom of the post with details)! You can never shop at too many Polish Pottery stores right?

It is so cute as outdoor garden decor

So many designs to choose from! They should warn you the feeling of being overwhelmed is a side effect of the so many choices. Styles, pieces and designs oh my!

Not all Polish Pottery is created equal, they are sorted into different categories (Gat) of quality.  If you look at the bottom of any piece, you will see the Gat number, here's what it means:

There's more to look through

Polish Pottery is made from clay, molded by hand.  Each factory has its own molding process. Everything is painted by hand with brushes, rubber stamps, and sponges.  It is really rather exacting!

So much detail to make it look perfect

Nice displays

Valentines Day Pottery anyone?

I have an enormous crush on Polish Pottery

I think I know who they cater to...army wives?

I made out like a bandit on this trip, I picked up some great pieces of pottery that I will use often. Take a look at my loot:

Butter dish from Ceramika Artystyczna

 Serving platter from Henry's...It will be great for salads or pasta 

Deep dish 8x8 casserole from Andy's

My favorite piece, a taco platter from Andy's

No trip of mine would ever be complete without local cuisine.  Poland's traditional foods is some of the best in Europe! So delicious and comforting. We went to a delicious restaurant Opałkowa Chata. Just the thought of the food there makes me hungry all over again.   Thanks Paige for this picture, sorry you're not in it, but you're a great photographer.

Starter #225.  Buraczana polewka z uchami: traditional beet soup with little mushroom dumplings

 Main course: #54 Opałkowa micha: A variety of pierogis, and no matter the filling you can't go wrong!

If you like the pictures I took on this trip, and are interested in the shops we went to, here is a list of where I recommend spending your Zlaty:

1. Andy: Tomaszów Bolesławiecki 111A

2. Ceramika Boleslawiecka "Kalich": Czerna 32, 59-730 Nowodrodziec

3. Ceramika: Czerna 39

4. Manufaktura: ul. Gdańska 30, 59-700 Bolesławiec

5. Manufaktura Shop: ul. Kościuszki 24b

6. Henry's: ul. Masarska 1, 59-700 Bolesławiec

7. Ceramika Artystyczna: ul. Kościuszki 23, 59-700 Bolesławiec

8. Zakłady Ceramiczne: ul. Kościuszki 23, 59-700 Bolesławiec

This is only a start to something dangerous, I'll be back to expand my collection!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Take us back to Amsterdam now now now! We had such a great time, I absolutely love this city. We got in the car one Thursday after Jordan was done with work to head on our adventure through Amsterdam, The Hague, Zaane Schanns and Keukenhof.

Doing some reading on Amsterdam before we headed out we realized that Amsterdam is a biking city.  There are an estimated 881,000 bikes in Amsterdam-that's 4 time the number of cars.  So what would be better than if we put our bike rack to use, and brought our bikes along with us to live like the locals?  Good idea Jordan! Project install bike rack complete!  Side note *If you don't bring a bike I recommend you rent one for the day to get around, it's fun and a great way to get around.*

We got into Amsterdam that night and settled into the coolest campground only a ten minute ride from the center of the city: Zeeburg.  Camping in April? Mmmm well it wasn't outside, this was more like "Glamping" (glamorous camping).   The accommodations were pretty awesome, thanks to the sustainable grass roof and underfloor heating it was a really pleasant stay in the eco-cabin on the water.

Okay, now it's time to explore the capital of The Netherlands...let's start with breakfast, where we not only ate once, but twice...

No joke, Pancake & Waffles  has the best waffles we have ever had, and they are different than those your mamma makes.  Instead of using a liquid batter to make the waffles, they use some sort of special dough, and the waffles come out sweet and delicious.  You can custom order your waffle- sweet, savory, you name it.  Jordan came up with a really good one: farmer cheese and bacon- so good we ate it twice!

We went to The Rijks Museum.  It is the only museum in the world that you can bike through, and we went right through to the other side to the Museumplein.

On the other side of the Rijks is where we enjoyed beautiful flowers

 They smell as good as they look

...and of course the famous IAmsterdam sign!

There were so many people climbing on the IAmsterdam sign, we made them all move so we could take this photo.  Just kidding, we just got there early in the morning!

Okay into the Museum we go...The Rijks is The Netherlands' premier art trove-exhibiting Rembrands, Vermeers and 7,500 other masterpieces. 

The museum features Rembrandts most famous painting "The Night Watch".

Next stop, the Bloemenmarkt aka Flower Market!  I love the gables on the houses in the background.

The Bloemenmarkt is the only floating market in the world.  There are 15 stalls in this block-long flower market, and you can shop for flower bulbs, seeds, accessories, souvenirs, anything and everything else related to the flower industry!

We've got fresh cut flowers

...or you can grow them yourself from seeds 

 or bulbs...

I love the local cafes near by great to sit down at people watch at.

Speaking of food, when in Amsterdam, be sure to visit one of our favorite hole-in-the-walls for a paper cone of piping hot french fries.  You may hear them called papat or frites, but no mater the name they taste so good! Vleminckx is where its at.

They have of the best thick and crispy fries in town, with 25 different sauces to choose from like: curry ketchup, appelmoes (apple sauce), Zaanse mayonnaise (a mayo with a vinegar tang), satay (which is a Thai peanut sauce), and the list goes on and on... I liked the satay and Jordan liked the fry sauce and Hawaiian sauce.

This area is great for walking, so we parked our bikes and window shopped while eating fries.

 More bikes, I love the front rider seat for babies!

Yaya for bike riding, it means we can continue our food tour!  We really felt like locals behind these people.

What better way to finish off those savory french fries than with a sweet delicious cookie? Van Stapele knows how to make a cookie!

This is the most charming cookie shop I have ever been to.  There is only one type of cookie for sale: A crispy chocolate cooking enveloping a melted white chocolate core.  

The wonderful smell coming from the oven makes even standing in line a great experience, as long as you don't come too hungry!

Nice and warm...

 This is divinity right here...

 Gooey and warm cookies, can't go wrong...

We biked along the canals to Princengract to visit more attractions.   There are so many bikes, I would agree with the statistic that roughly 70% of the residents use their bikes on a daily basis!

 More bikes...

The canals are so beautiful they remind me of Venice, Italy

The "Golden Curve" of the Herengract canal

On Princengract we stopped at the Anne Frank house to see where she once lived.  If you want to visit the house, we recommend buying your tickets far ahead of time-tickets sell out and you don't want to be stuck waiting in a line of 300 people.

It was such a pretty canal that Anne Frank lived on.  The hooks on the gables were once used to lift cargo up into the storage attacks, I wonder if they still use them today to get couches through the windows and into some of these apartments?

Just down the street is the Tulip Museum.  The city have over 500,000 tulips planted at this time of year, and they are so beautiful.  

I loved looking at all the bulbs and flowers you could buy for your garden.  Definitely got some ideas from these beautiful dalias...

 These bulbs are HUGE!

We lost ourselves over in the Jordann district.  It was amazing how few tourists were in this area, and it is so close to the city center.  This former working-class district is a maze of trendy cafes, little shops and restaurants. 

I love the canals!

We followed the locals to Cafe De Tuin for Bitterballen. What is this round, hot, crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside ball? Bitterballen is the Dutch equivalent to tapas; they are small, bread crumb crusted deep-friend snacks that are filled with beef or veal ragu.  This cafe had some mighty fine traditional beef ragu bitterballen, it was so good and a great local dive.

If you want some delicious dessert, head over to Cafe Papeneiland.  Its a quaint little cafe known for apple tart, and it was visited by Bill Clinton when he was President. It gets pretty busy in the evenings but made a great afternoon stop.

We sat outside and enjoyed apple pie served with whipped cream...yum

 This cafe is a great place to sit and people watch-click here and check out the view.  Such cute kids enjoying the wind in their hair as their parents zip by on bikes.

...and the beautiful canals, each one is so charming and full of life.

The last part of our awesome Amsterdam adventure was relaxing in Vondel Park.  It is a great place relax and play games on the grass, and enjoy some sun, which is just what we did!

We couldn't have asked for a better trip.  Amsterdam is making the top 10 list for 2016, what a great place, I can't wait to go back.