German Breakfast

November 21st, 2011 § 2 Comments

A month ago we were in Germany on our way to explore Europe.

As we now sit in Austin, TX, enduring the miserable job searching process, our European memories are like refreshing drops of rain in the midst of a drought…or like finding a tasty morsel of German bread during a famine.

As we left the Frankfurt airport, it felt like our friend Theo’s BMW was our fourth airplane of the day. We flew up to 130 m.ph. on the autobahn, the German highway, which is legal since you can go as fast as you want in some parts of it. Dom reveled in the speed and squealed with delight, but my mind was fixated on finding a German bakery as fast as we could.

Ever since I met my first German friend, and she told me how amazing German bread is, I have always dreamed of going to a German bakery and buying it. And during our first two hours in Germany my dream came true.

I was a bit jet-lagged, but even in my stupor my face lit up as I gazed at the bretzels (pretzels), loaves of bread full of seeds and goodies, crusty rolls, and pastries of all shapes and sizes. Our friend bought a few different types of breads, and grabbed the big, flaky, layered pastry that I was infatuated with and couldn’t take my eyes off.

When we walked into his modern Ikea-inspired house the table was set for a European breakfast feast. We sat down right away, took the fresh, warm bread out of the paper bags, they prayed in German, and we devoured.

It was hard to choose what to put on my whole wheat roll with sunflower seeds: a variety of savory cream cheeses, fresh cheeses, lunch meats, liverwurst, sausage, hard-boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, jam, or nutella.

I watched Theo cut a bretzel (pretzel) to make a sandwich with meat and cheese. And Adina cut a roll and put tomato, muenster cheese and ham and at it like an open faced sandwich.

So many choices. I think I tried every option possible before I left Germany.

We ate and ate and ate and we talked about our flight and what we would like to do, and laughed at their one-year old’s funny noises, and taught them some new English lingo, and attempted to pronounce German words that only resulted in lots of giggles.

It was love at first sight with German breakfast.

In Munich, during another perfect, simple, relaxed German breakfast I commented on Peter eating sandwich after sandwich like he hadn’t eaten for days. Klaus smiled and said,”There is a German saying, “You eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”

It was during these royal meals that we discussed what we would do that day:

explore Neuschwanstein, the castle the Disney land’s was modeled after. My friend Luise told me, “We have to go to Neuschwanstein because that is where Peter proposed to me—it is the most romantic place in Germany.” And it was.

tour the BMW Museum in Munich, and think of the BMW bikes my dad sells–owner of Engeland Moto, a European motorcycle company.

visit Hofbräuhaus in Munich, a beer house/brewery from 1589: listen to yodeling, traditional German music, and Germans drinking beer, being merry and hitting their tankards on the wooden tables–as they have done for the past 500 years.

meander around Worms, where Martin Luther was put on trial and excommunicated for refusing to retract his 95 theses that jump-started the Protestant Reformation.

learn from German chef Luise how to make spätzle, a type of egg noodle, comfort food—the German form of mac and cheese.

stroll by the old castle in Heidelberg, gaze at the ancient town, and amble along the streets on a crisp fall night, and end the day by eating together at a cozy restaurant with friends.

But of course all our fun started out at our German breakfasts: eating crunchy, soft, flavorful bread, with our dear friends who made us feel like a king and queen by encouraging us, feeding us, hosting us, and loving us so well during our journey.