glühwein

Now that it's not cold enough to drink it, a recipe. This is not in the least bit technical, and we pick and mixed from about three recipes, going heavy on the spices, but it tasted delicious.

2.5 litres of dry red wine
150 grams of white sugar
chopped apples
sliced oranges
zest of half a lemon
one cup of orange juice
12 cloves
3 star anise
3 or 4 cinnamon sticks
a little freshly grated nutmeg

MacGyver* a spit over the fire in your backyard or simply put it on a low heat til its warm, not too warm mind as there was panic about what temperature the alcohol evaporates, maybe 70 or 80 degrees? Like I said, not terribly technical.

*MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises.



Try not drink a whole clove or worse, a star anise. Also be warned that after 8 litres you may end up with a hoe-down in your backyard with two lagerchairs, coconuts, tambourines and somebody playing the phone book. After this racket you may also end up with blood blisters on your fingers from playing the coconuts and a tambourine shaped bruise on your thigh or bum, depending how you play. Be warned!

Language, it's a virus...

House hunting in german. I don't really understand...
Google translations end up with gems like 'the bathroom has been recently rehabilitated'.
We have established a few facts... There are lots of places. Adam's dream of having a coal-fired oven to feed is slipping away with the times and efficient central heating... Flats are overwhelmingly cheaper than Melbourne. It's very hard to communicate, with limited and impractical language skills. Well duh...

I'm much better at remembering words like sommersprosse which are freckles, summer spots!
and kopfkissen which is a pillow, perhaps because a pillow kisses your kopf all night long, but really it just means head cushion. Romantic germans.

Ich bin schläfrig... or just Ich schläfrig?

Yes we have done a bit of work. I have been painting. Viva schlafe klub?
I know I've got my tenses and timing all wrong. That's part of the reason we are having such trouble... OK



On the high notes. So many varieties of delicious lebkuchen to try... Delicious little brown cakey spicy biscuits after my heart... Ginormous beers. I have a LOVELY new coat that is warm and pleasing despite the steadily falling temperature. The kids are walking the streets with lanterns in some kind of it's dark and cold, but life is alright, ritual. And it is.