Category: Buon Natale

German Christmas Markets – Hamburg, Germany’s Most Elegant Christmas Market
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German Christmas Markets – Hamburg, Germany’s Most Elegant Christmas Market

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Hamburg.jpgI love a Christmas market. In fact, I have yet to meet a Christmas market that I didn’t like. I love the vibe, the decorations, the music. I love the bustle and the throngs of people all enjoying the season. And living abroad, I like learning about how each country celebrates the season a little differently. Hamburg’s White Christmas Market is a little different than the rest.  It is smaller, set along the water, themed with all white market stalls and quite tranquil in feeling. The reason that I loved Hamburg’s all white Christmas market was that it was peaceful and elegant.  I think it is Germany’s most elegant Christmas market.  It evoked a feeling of respect for the season. The all white stalls set against Alster Lake were breathtaking.  The glow of the white stalls and lights drew us in like moths to a flame.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS | A CELEBRATION OF FOOD
While I cannot profess to be an expert on German Christmas after three days, I can tell you that the predominant feature of every Northern German Christmas market (and we went to no less than 5 in 3 days) was food!

Food, food and more food. We sampled flame broiled bratwurst, grilled sausages, hams, currywurst – a fried or grilled sausage is cut into thick slices and seasoned with spicy ketchup and generous amounts of curry powder (usually served with french fries), fischbrötchen – a fish sandwich served with pickled or fried fish and onions and sauerkraut – fermented cabbage.  We also saw big vats of boiled potatoes, sausage in green cabbage.  Also for sale were potato pancakes served with applesauce.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS | A CELEBRATION OF SWEETS!!
After your main meal, one finds a vast array of desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth. My favorite was fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar (called muzen in Lübeck and schmalzkuchen in Hamburg). We also tried marshmallow cremes dipped in chocolate (schaumkuss) which were surprisingly delicious as I am not a marshmallow fan usually.  These marshmallowy treats were not as sugary as their cousins in America. There were also lots of mini pancakes (profferjes) filed with your choice of Nutella, butter, sugar, marzipan, apples, mint, cherries, Grand Marnier, Baileys, Cointreau, Amaretto, vanilla to name a few.  We didn’t try those and I wish we had, especially with some Grand Marnier. Next time!!  Northern Germany is also famous for marzipan in every shape, color and form that you can imagine and these large gingerbread cookies with various messages of Christmas and other festivities written in hard frosting on them.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS | A CELEBRATION OF WINE
To wash it all down, one can stop at one of the many glühwein (mulled wine) forests constructed all over town.  Glühwein is usually prepared with red wine. It is heated with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, citrus, sugar and vanilla beans. It is offered as is or mit schuss (with a shot), which means that rum or some other liquor is added.
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GERMAN CHRISTMAS | A CELEBRATION OF DECOR
THE CHRISTMAS STAR
We noticed that the northern Germans also embrace the Christmas star as they do in Sweden, but more often than not, the German star is more three dimensional, resembling a thistle or bur.

THE CHRISTMAS PYRAMID
Another similarity to Swedish Christmas is the German 
Weihnachtspyramide or the Christmas pyramid which is like the Swedish änglaspel in that the pyramid device works by generating heat from candles to turn the wooden blades. While these beautifully carved wooden pieces look nothing like what I was taught a pyramid looks like, they are called pyramids nonetheless. They reminded me of multi-leveled carousels. All of them depicted a Christmas theme such as the Nativity, angels and the Wise Men.  Much larger than their Swedish counterparts, the German versions are often 3 or 4 stories high and made entirely from wood as opposed to brass in Sweden. I was told by one woman in a shop that the German Christmas pyramid predates the Christmas tree. Fascinating!
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CHRISTMAS TOWNS
Also wildly popular at every market were these miniature towns – very intricate miniature wooden carved people, houses, animals, trees – entire villages really complete with town halls and churches.

CHRISTMAS GNOMES
There also seems to be a German version of tomte, the Swedish elves that I have fallen in love with. Tomte are known to help you with your housework over the year if you leave them some porridge on Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, I did not get an accurate name or story for their German relatives – the gentleman and I were trying our best to communicate across the language chasm. I did buy one and much to my daughter’s horror, I think his hair is real animal hair.  I love him and think he is adorable. Lena is creeped out by his hair. I only hope that bringing him into the house will not piss off the tomte in our basement as I am serious about wanting that help with the housework.
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Frohe Weihnachten jeder! Buon Natale! God Jul! Merry Christmas!

Italian Liqueurs | Day Drinking In Italy: The Italian White Russian.
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Italian Liqueurs | Day Drinking In Italy: The Italian White Russian.

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ITALIAN LIQUEURS ARE NECESSARY | Our First Winter In Italy

Big Snow for the Big Lebowki
Emilia Romagne snow.

Our first winter living in Italy was brutal. Snow for months.  My husband and I were snowbound, watching the movie, The Big Lebowski and dreaming of White Russians to keep us warm. A White Russian is a lovely concoction comprised of vodka, cream, and coffee flavored liqueur, Kahlua. The drink features prominently in the movie. Unfortunately, while Kahlua is very popular in the USA, it was impossible to find in Italy. Literally impossible. Our Big Lebowski dreams were shattered.

Then one day my husband walked in from work with a look on his face like a little boy with a frog in his pocket. He excitedly pulled out a bottle of Borghetti, a coffee based Italian liqueur. White Russians were back on the menu. And, we quickly realized that the regional Italian liqueurs, well, they are necessary to survive winter.

White Russian cocktail on the bar stand on rubber mat.
The classic White Russian cocktail. Photo credit: iStock Photos.

Now, after 2 or 3 White Russians,  you’d think that we would have been out cold. I am an insomniac, but my husband can literally sleep anywhere, at any time. Yet this night, no sleep was to be had. No sheep were being counted. At about 3:00 a.m., we were both wide awake with the edgy energy that only high amounts of caffeine have ever given me. We tossed. We turned. We tried to figure out why my husband couldn’t sleep. Eventually, it dawned on us to look at the Borghetti bottle.

ITALIAN INGREDIENTS | Hint, They Are Sticklers For Natural, Pure Ingredients. 

There it was right on the front of the bottle, “di vero caffe espresso.”  Arrgh. Our excitement had made us foolhardy. While Kahlua is a coffee “flavored” liqueur, Borghetti is made with pure espresso.  Italians do not believe in artificial ingredients. Not even in their liqueurs. We had essentially consumed 3 espressos each before bedtime.

ITALIAN COFFEE | Borghetti, Not Suitable For Evening

We concluded that Borghetti is only suitable for day drinking. Borghetti is a day drink because one cannot drink it in the evening and expect to get any sleep. If Borghetti bested my sleep connoisseur husband, a normal person doesn’t stand a chance. 

Borghetti is delicious. I like it even better than Kahlua. It has less of a sugary taste and more of a strong coffee flavor. So the conundrum. The stuff is tasty but there is no way we can drink after 12:00 noon and how many times a year does one sit around drinking during the daytime? Hum . . . when could we consume this lovely liqueur?

We decided that Borghetti is the perfect Christmas morning drink. A little Borghetti in with some cream and Nat King Cole singing Christmas carols is a pretty damn near perfect way to start your day.

Two Christmas gnomes with a bottle of Borghetti.
The Italian liqueur, Borghetti. The necessary ingredient for an Italian Christmas White Russian.

ITALIAN RECIPES | The Italian White Russian

Despite the name, the White Russian was not invented in Russia. I suspect that the alleged inventor so named it due to the inclusion of vodka, but I have no proof (pun intended) of that.

Legend has it that Gustave Tops, a Belgian bartender, not a Russian, created the cocktail in 1949 at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels. The drink was quite popular initially and eventually spread across the globe. In the USA, the concoction hit the height of its popularity in the 1970s. Today, not too many people drink them and it is considered a retro cocktail.

Our recipe adds a new twist with the addition of the espresso liqueur. In our house, we have cross pollinated 2 cultures and now our cocktail’s official moniker is Il Russo Bianco di Natale Italiano or the Italian Christmas White Russian.  

Makes one drink:

  1. 2 oz vodka.
  2. 1 oz Borghetti
  3. 1/2 oz whole milk or heavy cream.
  4. Ice.

Buon Natale a Tutti!