These ones are our big rockets...
...and these ones the little fire crackers...
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree...
An addition to an earlier post: These are my vanilla biscuits in the making
Thursday, 31 December 2009
12 hour countdown until the big firework
Can you tell he's excited...?!
These ones are our big rockets...
...and these ones the little fire crackers...
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree...
An addition to an earlier post: These are my vanilla biscuits in the making
These ones are our big rockets...
...and these ones the little fire crackers...
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree...
An addition to an earlier post: These are my vanilla biscuits in the making
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Christmas in Germany
Dear friends,
it has been a very busy, very wonderful and very amazig time over the last few days and there is no doubt we have all been swept away by this great celebration of the birthday of our Saviour Jesus Christ. While the Southern Hemisphere was able to once again enjoy this time in very warm temperatures our experience this year in Germany was completely different. WE HAD A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! Yes we did, snow covered hills, trees, houses and all...it was spectacular. I'm sure it was much more spectacular for Michael who experienced all this for the very first time in his life, but I think I am safe to say, along with many other Germans, that this kind of Christmas is the best way to celebrate Christmas!!!
Michael had a lot of first times this Christmas. First time presents on the 24th. First time eating goose with red cabbage and potato dumplings for Christmas Day dinner (lunchtime). First time building a snowman on the lawn on Christmas Day. First time all the church services were in German. It must have been a bit frustrating at times but maybe the beauty of the services helped to communicate the message of Christmas across language barriers (which by the way are diminishing a bit more each day).
On Christmas Eve, my mum and dad took us to the St Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) in Leipzig to attend a serive at which the St Thomas Boys Choir (Thomanerchor) sang. We returned home at 4pm and found our presents under the Christmas tree!!! The next days, my aunties, uncles and cousins came to visit and we have had a busy time fitting church services, snowmen, family and friends all in our days. My grandparents live in the house with us so we don't have to go so far to see them!
In 2 days is New Years Eve. Michael just returned from the supermarket with my dad loaded with rockets and other fire crackers and EXCITED LIKE A LITTLE BOY! He can hardly believe that Germans do their own fireworks on New Years and impatiently awaits that evening.
We send our love to all who read this blog, hope you are full of the joy of Christmas - a Son has been born to us!!!
it has been a very busy, very wonderful and very amazig time over the last few days and there is no doubt we have all been swept away by this great celebration of the birthday of our Saviour Jesus Christ. While the Southern Hemisphere was able to once again enjoy this time in very warm temperatures our experience this year in Germany was completely different. WE HAD A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! Yes we did, snow covered hills, trees, houses and all...it was spectacular. I'm sure it was much more spectacular for Michael who experienced all this for the very first time in his life, but I think I am safe to say, along with many other Germans, that this kind of Christmas is the best way to celebrate Christmas!!!
Michael had a lot of first times this Christmas. First time presents on the 24th. First time eating goose with red cabbage and potato dumplings for Christmas Day dinner (lunchtime). First time building a snowman on the lawn on Christmas Day. First time all the church services were in German. It must have been a bit frustrating at times but maybe the beauty of the services helped to communicate the message of Christmas across language barriers (which by the way are diminishing a bit more each day).
On Christmas Eve, my mum and dad took us to the St Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) in Leipzig to attend a serive at which the St Thomas Boys Choir (Thomanerchor) sang. We returned home at 4pm and found our presents under the Christmas tree!!! The next days, my aunties, uncles and cousins came to visit and we have had a busy time fitting church services, snowmen, family and friends all in our days. My grandparents live in the house with us so we don't have to go so far to see them!
In 2 days is New Years Eve. Michael just returned from the supermarket with my dad loaded with rockets and other fire crackers and EXCITED LIKE A LITTLE BOY! He can hardly believe that Germans do their own fireworks on New Years and impatiently awaits that evening.
We send our love to all who read this blog, hope you are full of the joy of Christmas - a Son has been born to us!!!
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Christmas Market Magic and The Nutcracker
Oh, Leipzig at Christmas time is just wonderful!!! Last night we had the great joy to have tickets for the ballet 'The Nutcracker' by Tchaikovsky. It was truly magical and transported us into a little Christmas dream world. As we looked out of the window at the Opera House while sipping champagne during the intermission we could see the snow covered Christmas Market below...and so here are some photos of our first visit to the Christmas Market one week ago. I hope you can smell the beautiful scent of roasted almonds, freshly baked biscuits and Gluehwein (mulled wine)!
Monday, 21 December 2009
Yummy German Vanilla Christmas Biscuits
Dear friends,
since it's Christmas and you can't have Christmas without biscuits I have decided to post my favourite recipe here...Chelsea, if you're reading this, they are the ones you like so much.
***Vanillekipferl***
Put
200g plain flour
1 pinch of salt
125g almond meal
150g butter (not melted)
1 egg yoke
75g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar* (see note down the bottom) in a bowl and knead with your hand until it is all mixed together and is quite firm. Wrap in aluminium foil and leave in the fridge for one hour.
After one hour, get the dough out of the frigde. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, 175 fan forced, and shape little crescents with the dough, approx. 3cm long. Place on oven tray and bake for 13 minutes. While they are baking, take about 30g of icing sugar and another packet of vanilla sugar* (see not below) and mix together in a little bowl. When the vanilla biscuits have a golden colour, take them out of the oven and wait 5 minutes until they cool down a little (still sitting on the oven tray). Then take one at a time and dip the top into the icing sugar vanilla mixture and sit them on kitchen towel to cool down completely. ENJOY!!!
*This is a German product and you can buy it in the supermarket in Australia (baking goods section). However, if you would like to use something a bit more familiar I suggest you buy whole vanilla beans (2), half them and get out the yummy stuff in the middle. You can substitute one vanilla bean with a packet of vanilla sugar. The vanilla sugar comes in little 8g sachets, about 5 in a packet, and they look yellow. GOOD LOOK!
since it's Christmas and you can't have Christmas without biscuits I have decided to post my favourite recipe here...Chelsea, if you're reading this, they are the ones you like so much.
***Vanillekipferl***
Put
200g plain flour
1 pinch of salt
125g almond meal
150g butter (not melted)
1 egg yoke
75g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar* (see note down the bottom) in a bowl and knead with your hand until it is all mixed together and is quite firm. Wrap in aluminium foil and leave in the fridge for one hour.
After one hour, get the dough out of the frigde. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, 175 fan forced, and shape little crescents with the dough, approx. 3cm long. Place on oven tray and bake for 13 minutes. While they are baking, take about 30g of icing sugar and another packet of vanilla sugar* (see not below) and mix together in a little bowl. When the vanilla biscuits have a golden colour, take them out of the oven and wait 5 minutes until they cool down a little (still sitting on the oven tray). Then take one at a time and dip the top into the icing sugar vanilla mixture and sit them on kitchen towel to cool down completely. ENJOY!!!
*This is a German product and you can buy it in the supermarket in Australia (baking goods section). However, if you would like to use something a bit more familiar I suggest you buy whole vanilla beans (2), half them and get out the yummy stuff in the middle. You can substitute one vanilla bean with a packet of vanilla sugar. The vanilla sugar comes in little 8g sachets, about 5 in a packet, and they look yellow. GOOD LOOK!
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Is -16 degrees celcius healthy?
To all the Aussies who read this: You cannot imagine what -16 degrees celcius even feels like!!! To all the Europeans who may read this: Isn't -16 degrees a bit too cold, seriously?!
This morning (Saturday) I woke up early and thought I'd do what a good German does on an ordinary Saturday morning: I got on my bike and cycled to the local bakery to get bread rolls for brekkie. I rugged up, it's winter after all, but what hit me when I opened the front door was beyond my imagination: MINUS 16 DEGREES!!! Well, a good German doesn't get discouraged by weather conditions, especially not when they are about to embark on their bikes. So I got on and rode down the road in front of our house. It goes downhill and the road was covered in ice and snow. I prepared myself for an uncomfortable landing in the snowly ditch next to the road...but God must have protected me with His angels because I arrived at the bakery in good condition and high spirits...the beautiful smell of freshly baked bread rolls has never been so wonderful as this morning!!!
So long for my adventures this morning. Michael just took of with his camera and there will soon be some impressions of our winter wonder land on here.
This evening we are looking forward to a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorium in the Lutheran Nikolaikirche (St Nicolas Church) in Leipzig. Christmas Market afterwards...we can't wait!!!
This morning (Saturday) I woke up early and thought I'd do what a good German does on an ordinary Saturday morning: I got on my bike and cycled to the local bakery to get bread rolls for brekkie. I rugged up, it's winter after all, but what hit me when I opened the front door was beyond my imagination: MINUS 16 DEGREES!!! Well, a good German doesn't get discouraged by weather conditions, especially not when they are about to embark on their bikes. So I got on and rode down the road in front of our house. It goes downhill and the road was covered in ice and snow. I prepared myself for an uncomfortable landing in the snowly ditch next to the road...but God must have protected me with His angels because I arrived at the bakery in good condition and high spirits...the beautiful smell of freshly baked bread rolls has never been so wonderful as this morning!!!
So long for my adventures this morning. Michael just took of with his camera and there will soon be some impressions of our winter wonder land on here.
This evening we are looking forward to a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorium in the Lutheran Nikolaikirche (St Nicolas Church) in Leipzig. Christmas Market afterwards...we can't wait!!!
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
One week down
It's been one week since we left Down Under and landed in Deutschland. It's been an adventurous week for us and we've decided to share our excitement with you.
So here it is, our first blog. No idea how many people will have the patience to read it but maybe it can be of therapeutic use to us too as we process our experiences through writing about them. Like in a traditional marriage we have fixed roles in this blog. Michael is the photographer in the family so 100% of the masterpieces on the blog are Michael's. Maria is the writer so all the posts will be written by her which will give them a slightly subjective German twist. On the other hand, our photos will have an Australian perspective to them and I hope Michael will only get to see the preety sides of Germany.
One week down. How many more to go...there are 52 in a year. What will our world look like in 52 weeks time...?
It is looking exciting at the moment. Havig left the Aussie 40 degree summer, it is hard for us to get used to cold German winter. It's been between 1 and -2 degrees celcius and a lot of snow has fallen over the past few days. The sun goes down at 3.30pm and it's dark at 4. That's when all the lights in the windows and Christmas trees in the houses around us get turned on and the smell of freshly baked biscuits (Plaetzchen) and carols (Weihnachtslieder) perfects our German Christmas experience. It is so beautiful! We spent an evening at the Leipzig Christmas Market (Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt) on Saturday and it was magical...why would anyone want to celebrate Christmas somewhere other than Germany...?!
As you light the fourth candle on Sunday we wish you a truly blessed and reflective time as we anticipate the coming of our Lord Jesus. Much love from the Rudolph's in magical Germany
So here it is, our first blog. No idea how many people will have the patience to read it but maybe it can be of therapeutic use to us too as we process our experiences through writing about them. Like in a traditional marriage we have fixed roles in this blog. Michael is the photographer in the family so 100% of the masterpieces on the blog are Michael's. Maria is the writer so all the posts will be written by her which will give them a slightly subjective German twist. On the other hand, our photos will have an Australian perspective to them and I hope Michael will only get to see the preety sides of Germany.
One week down. How many more to go...there are 52 in a year. What will our world look like in 52 weeks time...?
It is looking exciting at the moment. Havig left the Aussie 40 degree summer, it is hard for us to get used to cold German winter. It's been between 1 and -2 degrees celcius and a lot of snow has fallen over the past few days. The sun goes down at 3.30pm and it's dark at 4. That's when all the lights in the windows and Christmas trees in the houses around us get turned on and the smell of freshly baked biscuits (Plaetzchen) and carols (Weihnachtslieder) perfects our German Christmas experience. It is so beautiful! We spent an evening at the Leipzig Christmas Market (Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt) on Saturday and it was magical...why would anyone want to celebrate Christmas somewhere other than Germany...?!
As you light the fourth candle on Sunday we wish you a truly blessed and reflective time as we anticipate the coming of our Lord Jesus. Much love from the Rudolph's in magical Germany
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