German Christmas Fete
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
18
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Laon,
Picardy,
France
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday December 18th
So we all wanted to get together and celebrate Christmas since most of us are going different directions for the holidays. Since we had an American dinner already, Susanne volunteered to make a traditional German Christmas dinner with me. We were going to make goose in a pepper sauce, red cabbage, and bread dumplings for dinner, with apples cooked in the oven and stuffed with cereal for dessert. We were all also going to do a Secret Santa gift exchange as well. It was the first time in the three months that I've been here that all the assistants were together. In the past there has always been one person missing. So anyway, I went shopping with Susanne on Wednesday. All her recipes were still in German, so she translated them and we looked for the ingredients. They didn't have any goose, so we settled for chicken. She was a little upset, but she is a vegetarian, so it should not have mattered that much. Plus, none of us besides her has had a traditional German Christmas dinner, so we don't know what we would be missing.
On Thursday, Susanne and Nicole came over to start cooking at 5:30. Our guests were supposed to come over at about 7, and we planed to have dinner ready at about 8. While Susanne was cooking the red cabbage we realized we never got vegetable bouillon. Nicole and I raced out to the nearest grocery store and picked some up. Overall things went pretty well. I decorated my apartment a little and we had Christmas music, which was nice. Also, last week I had made Christmas cookies, so we had those for dessert as well. All the food turned out well, but the chicken was really peppery, a little too much for me. I actually liked the cabbage, which I was surprised about. Susanne cooked it with onions, apples, and garlic, plus spices, so it was kind of sweet, yet savory. The bread dumplings were delicious, as were the apples. We also made our own hot wine, which I thought was better than what we got in the Christmas market in Brussels. Everyone was having a good time, but we didn't eat dinner until 9. After dinner we were all chatting and laughing and one of my neighbors came and knocked on my door. He asked us to be quiet, and I felt a little bad. I didn't feel too bad though. I think I am entitled to have parties every once and awhile. After dessert we exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. Candles and chocolates were the mainstay, but overall it was really nice. Everyone pitched in and helped me clean up, and they left a little after midnight. I'd say it was a success. The next fete we are going to have is going to be a Venezuelan theme I believe, so it should be good as well. See you all soon for a real American Christmas!
