Craving Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ in Bavaria

One of the hardest adjustments I've had to make with living here in Germany is not having access to American staples.  You don't realize how much you rely on those staples, until you move somewhere they aren't, like enchillada verdes, lump crab cakes, or pit beef.  And, so, in lieu of not having them here, I've learned how to cook them. Well at least some of them.  Not planning on making my own lumb crab cakes anytime soon. 

Pulled Pork is one of the things I've learned how to cook.  The first time I made North Carolina Style Pulled Pork, I made it for friends, an Australian mom and German dad.  It was a trial run of the pulled pork I wanted to make for our first (and last) annual Halloween Bash, a decidedly American holiday.  At the time I was pregnant with Maggie, and the smell of pork butt roasting in the kitchen all day long, made me extremely ill. 

It was a long time after that, before I could even stomach the thought of doing it again, and I ended up making chili for the Halloween party in the end, but every year when I return home, I go visit the local BBQ shack by my parents house, and I eat plenty of pulled pork BBQ.  In lieu of making pulled pork, I started making pulled chicken, faster with a much less offensive smell, and still delicious with Carolina Sauce, a mustard and vinegar based BBQ sauce.

This week, perhaps because I've been feeling a bit nostalgic, I decided to make pulled pork again, only this time instead of roasting it in the oven, I roasted it in a slow cooker, and lo and behold, the smell didn't make me ill at all.  When I went to make the Best Carolina BBQ Meat Sauce, I realized a few key ingredients were low or missing in my kitchen, mainly apple cider vinegar and beer.  So, I completely eliminated the beer, but I substituted a 3-1 ratio of red wine vinegar and water for the apple cider vinegar, adding a splash of apple sauce to give it that apple goodness and an extra spoonful of horseradish since I was low on mustard.

Eating it not only helped clean out my sinuses, but its nostalgia inducing quality takes me home for just a few moments. 

This, too, shall pass

While I have been having a lot of great days lately, and I've managed to take a lot of life's minor set-backs for what they are, tiny little speed-bumps, there are days, when nothing seems to go right.  Today was one of those days.

Woke up this morning, feeling like hell, head cold and fever.  I was supposed to pick Maxi and Maggie up at 7:30am to take them to their annual physical, but realized that I wasn't going to be able to.  I called their father to see if he could take them, but he couldn't re-arrange his work schedule.  So instead, he called to reschedule their appointments, and the kids came straight here this morning.  

Normally, on a day when I have a fever, I'd let the kids watch movies on our desktop, but life seemed to be conspiring against me today.  The desktop won't turn on, so that means we had to survive on the handful of DVDs we have and the portable DVD players we use in the car.  Putting them in front of DVDs all day, so I can rest.  Well, we did manage to squeeze some reading, some play dough, making of waffles and snuggle time today, but I know that the kids would have preferred to be with their father and his fun new roommate today.  This is when I feel, like I completely fail as a mother. 

Then Paul asked if he could take the kids away for another long weekend, the third weekend this summer.  Which I really shouldn't be upset about, but I'm already feeling like the kids are happier with their father, where they get the attention of two adults, not just one.  One mother, who is trying to split her time between the kids, get everything in the house done, and all the errands run, as well as trying to reinvent herself while smiling the entire time.

After the kids were picked up by their father, I decided to take a nap, before I picked up my mantle of reinvention, only to be woken up by a friend calling with some bad news causing him to renig on a promise.  Now, normally in a situation like this, I would be able to listen with a symphathetic ear, but instead I started crying on the phone feeling sorry for myself, which was embarrassing and sort of pathetic, and not at all the kind of person I want to be. 

So I called my best friend, and like she always does she gave me the best advice:

--Let yourself cry, let yourself be sad, but remember, this, too, shall pass.

After that I turned on Jewel, and then I read my friend Katya Barry's blog, where she gave some really good advice in a post about getting over your past, eliminating old beliefs and prejudices so .  And it reminded me of just what I needed to do today, which is let it all go, so I can focus on the future I'm trying to create for the kids and me in our new family of three.

Adventures in Toilet Training

Reason # 299 why I like Munich is because of the International Children's Library located in the Schloss Blutenberg.  Since I got the car, the kids and I visit the library once every couple weeks, and yesterday was our first trip during toilet training.  It was a comedy of errors to begin with, and I should have just stayed home.

First, I got to the library parking lot only to realize that I had left the library books at home, so I turned around and went back home.  Half-an-hour later, we pulled into the parking lot again, and Maggie was sound asleep.  Now, Maggie is not a morning person, and she absolutely hates it when I wake her up, so by the time I was finally able to pry her arched body out of the car seat, she was absolutely hysterical.  As I'm holding her, and she is crying her little eyes out as if she just lost her favorite teddy bear, she wets herself and me.  And I'm not talking about a little sprinkle, but a full on waterfall, her pants are practically see-through because of the wetness, and my sweatshirt is a puddle, with pee dripping down MY  legs.   

So now, we are both soaked, and, because the temperature is just above freezing, Maggie is wet & COLD which only adds to her hysteria.  I try putting her down, and this doesn't calm her, but makes her more upset.  So I pick her back up, and drag her over to the trees, where I proceed to strip and change her into the one extra outfit I had packed in the library book bag.   Her sneakers are also soaked, so I'm resigned to carrying her the rest of the way.

Of course, I forgot to bring a plastic bags to put the wet clothes in, and protect the library books, but as this is Munich, there are doggy stands placed strategically in public places, like the park in back of Schloss Blutenburg, so I sit Maggie down with her brother who is enjoying watching the ducks, and I run back up to the path to grab some complimentary doggy poo bags. 

The whole 63 seconds I'm gone, I get very evil looks from passerbys who are watching Maggie standing in the grass screaming her little lungs out.  By the time I get back to Maggie, she's wet herself yet again.   How that girl had any pee left in her is beyond me. At this point, a little more pee isn't going to hurt anyone, so with a screaming Maggie in my arms, and Max trailing behind us, we beeline it for the library to return the books, only to figure out that we left one audio cd in the car and two books at home. 

Reason # 303 Why I Love Munich

As long as I've lived here, I've had a love-hate relationship with Munich.  When things are difficult, I despise it here, blaming my limited language skills, my lack of cultural memory or cultural differences for my difficulties.  And while all those things are true, and generally do make life more difficult, like everything else in life, it is all a matter of perspective. As long as I can keep those minor speed bumps, in perspective, because that is really what they are, speed bumps, not road blocks, I generally love it here.  And there are so many things to love here, from the six weeks of vacation to the excellent health care coverage to the access to the mountains and lakes.

And one of the things that I really love here is that if you don't have a car or access to a car, is how easy it is to get around.  Now, normally I get on here and kvetch about how frustrating it can be to navigate public transportation with two children in tow, but truthfully having access to public transportation all the way out here in the suburban countryside is generally fantastic.  However, what is really wonderful about Munich, is the access you have to it with a bicycle.

Almost the entire city is covered with a crisscrossing network of bicycle paths.  All the major roads have bicycle lanes, often separated from the main road by a curb, so not much danger of  a car crossing over into the bicycle lane. Additionally, because the city is covered by parks, there are bike paths crossing through the parks that will cut your commute down considerably.

Generally I've only used my bike locally in the neighborhood, to go to the kindergarten, to friends' houses, the store or der Bahnhof.  And occasionally I've forayed deeper into the city, but on the West side closest to my home.  Well, yesterday I was brave, and I decided to take my bicycle to my friend's house all the way on the other side of the city.  It was just over 11km in (approximately 6 miles), and generally I did pretty well, though once I made it to her neighborhood I got quite lost, so I probably added an extra mile to the ride. 

And as luck would have it, my friend's house was in the same general vicinity of my next destination three hours later, Treemans Coffee, where I meet up with friends every Sunday evening.  Of course, trying to rely on my inner compass, of which I have none, added another good mile to the trip, but luckily I was carrying my handy-dandy map, and was back on track in no time.

Considering how lost I got during the daytime, I was mildly concerned when I left Treemans at 8:30 pm in the evening for my trek home.  However, somehow, miraculously, I made it all the way home, without getting lost once, ending my 22.5 km (14 mile) bike ride at approximately  9pm that evening. 

For those of you who worry about me cycling home in the dark, the entire ride home was lit, and there are a zillion other cyclists and pedestrians outside as well, because this is Munich, and it might be the only city in the world, where a woman cycling alone at night is completely the norm, and no one bothers you because it is the safest place in the world. 

And that is one of the reasons, I love it here.

Time for Passport Renewal

Remember, this post a couple years ago, when I talked about getting passport photos made for my children?  Well, five years later, Maxi's passport is about to expire, and it's time to get him a new one.  Still, the United States has somewhat comedic requirements when applying for the passport of a minor child. They require a biometric photo, height and hair color on the application for a passport that will be valid for the next five years.

Hm mm...  Lets see, how much Maxi changed over five years since his last passport application.

2007 Application

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color:  What hair? Is that fuzz stuff considered hair?

Height (or Length would be more appropriate, as he wasn't yet walking): 53cm or 1'9"

Passport Photo:  

 

2012 Application

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Blond, but it is getting darker every year

Height: 112cm or 3'8"

Passport Photo:

In my last post on passports, I talked about how hard it is to get a biometric photo of a baby, well, it was a bit easier this time, but not much.  This time, Maxi was wide awake for his photo, but trying to get him to not smile or open his mouth was almost impossible. See, how that left corner of his mouth is itching to go up into a smile...Good thing the photographer was quick.  Go figure, considering when I want him to smile for the camera, he refuses.

I wonder what he will look like in five years, when he is almost 10.