Three Peas in a Pod
Aunt Ella, Mom and me (Rowdy)
Last night I ended the post on a sort of sad note. This morning, I was so excited to be blogging, I got up at 3:30 AM to blog and really just talked myself out of it!
So while I was waiting for a meeting to start this morning, I wrote down some really funny experiences to share about my Aunt Ella. Yes, the realization is there that I won't get to see her again this side of heaven but getting to share her stories made me feel good!! So lets get this party started!
Shopping - My Aunt Ella was a shopping machine!! Even when she didn't feel good (she had COPD for probably the last 10 to 15 years of her life) she would just shop until she couldn't shop any more! Oberammergau is about an hour and a half outside of Munich by train and we always tried to get at least one train ride in during my visit. On one visit, my Aunt Ella, Mom, my sister Dixie and I had hit the Marienplatz to shop. Mom and Aunt Ella went into the first few stores with us but we were slowing them down so they went on ahead of us. Now bear in mind, we didn't make any plans to meet up later and I didn't remember the time the last train left for Oberammergau but I was not worried. If we didn't hook up with them during shopping, we would just make our way back to the train station and meet them back in Oberammergau if we had too! Or if we missed the train, we could stay in the city for a night. My Mom would have freaked out but I wasn't worried. My sister was going into all the shoe stores looking for Birkenstocks and was taking forever. Personally, I don't think UGLY shoe shopping should take that long. A very nice German lady told my sister that they didn't have any small sizes because they think those shoes should be for people with foot problems. I busted out laughing - she is so right but for years it was all the rage here. So, when it came time to find Aunt Ella and Mom, I suggested that we do a grid search. We each took a side of the street and walked very slowly looking at each other hoping to spot Aunt Ella and Mom. We found them. Then we lost them again and we got to grid search again. My sister and I noticed one thing while searching - everybody on that street that was in their 60's looked the same - grey hair and no makeup. Then we noticed in the stores that everything that year was black with 30 different shades of grey so Aunt Ella and Mom were really quite fashionable! I was in my standard American uniform - jeans and tennis shoes. My sister Dixie stuck out like a sore thumb - she had on light colored pants and a YELLOW sleeveless fleece jacket. I could have seen her for a mile.
Once, when Aunt Ella, Mom, Uncle Karl and I went up for the day, we went to this awesome cafeteria in some really nice department store. Who knew department stores had places like this? When we got there, it was very nice. When we sat down, things started to go horribly wrong. There was this whole bunch of older people there in their 60's and 70's eating and they all looked like they were wearing clothes that were 40 years out of style. Some of them talked to themselves, some argued with each other, some smelled like alcohol and I was starting to get a little nervous. Not my Aunt and my Mom! The longer we sat there, the longer I felt like something horrible was going to happen! I could not have blasted my group out of there with a bomb!! They settled in for the show! I still to this day do not know if it ways a program for local seniors where they dropped them off for lunch, if the local asylum closed or if they were all actors trying to get us all into the act - maybe it was the German version of Candid Camera!! What an experience! Germans are watchers...I know that myself because my head will swivel 360 degrees to watch something interesting. It's even better to watch with another German and to comment on everything going on!! I bet my Aunt Ella would have loved to sit in a mall all day long with my Mom and I watching people! I love it, I tell you!!
Food - My Aunt Ella was an awesome cook. Her stove in her kitchen was a wood burning stove. Some of the best meals I have ever eaten came off that stove. Of course, I liked everything that my Aunt Ella cooked because I grew up with an awesome German cook too! There were only three things I would not eat while there - spatzle, Weiss wurst and saurbraten. Every time I went to visit, I loved going to the local bakery for the local breakfast role which is semmel. To have those with real German butter in the morning, along with some great jelly (usually strawberry) and coffee (I want coffee every day while in Germany) in my Aunt Ella's kitchen was a treat for me! Bigtime treat. She cooked her largest meal at lunch and at night we had mostly sandwiches on rye bread. OMG. Liverwurst with butter on rye is to die for. Occasionally Aunt Ella would cook some sort of wurst, boil a potato, cut up some brie and serve with rye bread and I thought it was just wonderful. Aunt Ella always made 2 special things for me - I have the correct names written down but she cooked bread in a pot and poured homemade vanilla sauce over the bread and she made something I call pancake soup. She would fry something that was thinner than a pancake, cut it up into strips and then cook it in beef broth with a little maggi - a local flavoring, then she would add fresh chives from her garden if we were there in the summer. My mouth waters just to thing about it!
One thing I have never seen except in an Italian place in Oberammergau, is to go boxes. My German family always ate everything on their plate. I think it has something to do with they walked to the restaurant and then they walked home. They walked everywhere. They went to the grocery store everyday except on Sunday when the store was closed. We would lug all those groceries for half a mile to get back to my Aunt Ella's house. Anyway, there is an awesome place in Oberammergau called La Montenara. When we went in for the first time in 1985, there was an American couple who told us to ask for go boxes for our pizza - we were just astounded! On two separate occasions, when we were there the waiter asked me if I would like a go box for my spaghetti carbonara. My Aunt Ella was astounded the first time and I gave her the left overs for her lunch the next day and the second time it happened, my Aunt Ella expected to get my go box for her lunch again! How funny is that?
Shopping and Food were always fun with my Aunt Ella. Any time spent with her was good. We also loved going to local cafes where they served cakes, pies, coffee and tea only. My goodness! German desserts are so much better than American. They are not so sweet which makes them so much more enjoyable.
So I will stop here for tonite. Stay tuned for more fun with my Aunt Ella! Thanks for reading!
Rowdy girls RULE!
So while I was waiting for a meeting to start this morning, I wrote down some really funny experiences to share about my Aunt Ella. Yes, the realization is there that I won't get to see her again this side of heaven but getting to share her stories made me feel good!! So lets get this party started!
Shopping - My Aunt Ella was a shopping machine!! Even when she didn't feel good (she had COPD for probably the last 10 to 15 years of her life) she would just shop until she couldn't shop any more! Oberammergau is about an hour and a half outside of Munich by train and we always tried to get at least one train ride in during my visit. On one visit, my Aunt Ella, Mom, my sister Dixie and I had hit the Marienplatz to shop. Mom and Aunt Ella went into the first few stores with us but we were slowing them down so they went on ahead of us. Now bear in mind, we didn't make any plans to meet up later and I didn't remember the time the last train left for Oberammergau but I was not worried. If we didn't hook up with them during shopping, we would just make our way back to the train station and meet them back in Oberammergau if we had too! Or if we missed the train, we could stay in the city for a night. My Mom would have freaked out but I wasn't worried. My sister was going into all the shoe stores looking for Birkenstocks and was taking forever. Personally, I don't think UGLY shoe shopping should take that long. A very nice German lady told my sister that they didn't have any small sizes because they think those shoes should be for people with foot problems. I busted out laughing - she is so right but for years it was all the rage here. So, when it came time to find Aunt Ella and Mom, I suggested that we do a grid search. We each took a side of the street and walked very slowly looking at each other hoping to spot Aunt Ella and Mom. We found them. Then we lost them again and we got to grid search again. My sister and I noticed one thing while searching - everybody on that street that was in their 60's looked the same - grey hair and no makeup. Then we noticed in the stores that everything that year was black with 30 different shades of grey so Aunt Ella and Mom were really quite fashionable! I was in my standard American uniform - jeans and tennis shoes. My sister Dixie stuck out like a sore thumb - she had on light colored pants and a YELLOW sleeveless fleece jacket. I could have seen her for a mile.
Once, when Aunt Ella, Mom, Uncle Karl and I went up for the day, we went to this awesome cafeteria in some really nice department store. Who knew department stores had places like this? When we got there, it was very nice. When we sat down, things started to go horribly wrong. There was this whole bunch of older people there in their 60's and 70's eating and they all looked like they were wearing clothes that were 40 years out of style. Some of them talked to themselves, some argued with each other, some smelled like alcohol and I was starting to get a little nervous. Not my Aunt and my Mom! The longer we sat there, the longer I felt like something horrible was going to happen! I could not have blasted my group out of there with a bomb!! They settled in for the show! I still to this day do not know if it ways a program for local seniors where they dropped them off for lunch, if the local asylum closed or if they were all actors trying to get us all into the act - maybe it was the German version of Candid Camera!! What an experience! Germans are watchers...I know that myself because my head will swivel 360 degrees to watch something interesting. It's even better to watch with another German and to comment on everything going on!! I bet my Aunt Ella would have loved to sit in a mall all day long with my Mom and I watching people! I love it, I tell you!!
Food - My Aunt Ella was an awesome cook. Her stove in her kitchen was a wood burning stove. Some of the best meals I have ever eaten came off that stove. Of course, I liked everything that my Aunt Ella cooked because I grew up with an awesome German cook too! There were only three things I would not eat while there - spatzle, Weiss wurst and saurbraten. Every time I went to visit, I loved going to the local bakery for the local breakfast role which is semmel. To have those with real German butter in the morning, along with some great jelly (usually strawberry) and coffee (I want coffee every day while in Germany) in my Aunt Ella's kitchen was a treat for me! Bigtime treat. She cooked her largest meal at lunch and at night we had mostly sandwiches on rye bread. OMG. Liverwurst with butter on rye is to die for. Occasionally Aunt Ella would cook some sort of wurst, boil a potato, cut up some brie and serve with rye bread and I thought it was just wonderful. Aunt Ella always made 2 special things for me - I have the correct names written down but she cooked bread in a pot and poured homemade vanilla sauce over the bread and she made something I call pancake soup. She would fry something that was thinner than a pancake, cut it up into strips and then cook it in beef broth with a little maggi - a local flavoring, then she would add fresh chives from her garden if we were there in the summer. My mouth waters just to thing about it!
One thing I have never seen except in an Italian place in Oberammergau, is to go boxes. My German family always ate everything on their plate. I think it has something to do with they walked to the restaurant and then they walked home. They walked everywhere. They went to the grocery store everyday except on Sunday when the store was closed. We would lug all those groceries for half a mile to get back to my Aunt Ella's house. Anyway, there is an awesome place in Oberammergau called La Montenara. When we went in for the first time in 1985, there was an American couple who told us to ask for go boxes for our pizza - we were just astounded! On two separate occasions, when we were there the waiter asked me if I would like a go box for my spaghetti carbonara. My Aunt Ella was astounded the first time and I gave her the left overs for her lunch the next day and the second time it happened, my Aunt Ella expected to get my go box for her lunch again! How funny is that?
Shopping and Food were always fun with my Aunt Ella. Any time spent with her was good. We also loved going to local cafes where they served cakes, pies, coffee and tea only. My goodness! German desserts are so much better than American. They are not so sweet which makes them so much more enjoyable.
So I will stop here for tonite. Stay tuned for more fun with my Aunt Ella! Thanks for reading!
Rowdy girls RULE!
No comments:
Post a Comment