Cooking with Chris #1

Ok, so things in my life are going pretty slowly right now, but I still eat food. Thusly I decided I was going to share with all of you the stuff I cook, if it's good. Most of the stuff I make is pretty basic and easy so do not expect anything too fancy, but I did just get a new German cookbook for Christmas (thanks Holly) so it might get more intense later on. Of course this could be a fleeting idea and I might never write another.  So I now present to you the first (possibly last) Cooking with Chris. Also I might change the name to something less lame.

Ok so I have 2 things for you today (because I am just that nice).  The first is a basic Spaghetti and Alfredo Sauce. Things you'll need

Onions or shallots
garlic
cream or milk
butter
Parmesan cheese (preferably actual cheese and not from a shaker)
Tomatoes (optional)
Olive oil (optional)
Spaghetti or pasta of choice.

So I don't like to put too many measurements because I think that following direct recipes doesn't teach you how to cook. We're not baking here so I say no to exact measurements, adjust everything to your own tastes.

Ok so first off you are going to want a sauce pan, toss it on the burner at medium to low heat. When it is warmed up toss in a healthy amount of butter (depending on how much your making). I put in around 2 tablespoons (I think?). So let that melt (but not boil or burn).  Then you want to toss in your garlic and onion. You can cut them however you like. If you like big hunks of onion then cut them big, if you don't then don't... pretty easy. As for the garlic I usually dice a couple cloves, but if I am lazy I'll just crush them.  Stir this around and let the onion and garlic get nice and soft.

Now you'll probably want to start your pasta of choice cooking, just do as the label says and you'll be fine.

Now it is time to add the cream/milk. This is just a choice thing. If you want it to have a little less fat then go with milk although I'll let you know that because of the amount of butter and cheese in this it may not have a huge overall effect. Plus I like a nice rich creamy flavour. So now that your cream is in you let is reduce and thicken up for a while. Make sure to stir it often so you don't get a thick layer on top. You don't want it to get too hot either, but it should have steam coming off of it.

Check on your pasta. How is it? Nice.

So now that your sauce is thickened a bit grab your grater and your wedge of parmesan and get grating and stir constantly while doing so. This can be made easier if you pre-grate your cheese. The sauce will thicken up pretty quickly.
OPTION: once again if you do not want to add too much cheese or if your sauce just isn't thickening the way you want it you can ad flour or cornstarch. If you do this then do is slowly and stir constantly. Also allow for some extra cooking time for these as if they are not cooked long enough flour and cornstarch can ruin the taste of the sauce.

After you added all the cheese you want then your sauce you can also add any herbs and spices your might want. Some suggestion I like in it are Oregano, Basil, Cayenne, Paprika, and lets say Parsley. As soon as your sauce is as thick as you want it then turn off the heat (do not let it cool though). Your pasta should be ready and strained by now. Add your pasta directly into the sauce pan and toss it in the sauce. Make sure the pasta is completely covered. Then toss it on a plate, garnish however you like and your done. Top your pasta with whatever you like. I like to add more Parmesan and oregano.

OPTION: Get a frying pan and put it on Medium/high heat. Add olive oil. Once it is hot then toss in tomato slices. The slices can be as thick or thin as you like. You want to sear the tomato slices on both sides and then put them on your plates of pasta.

Results:

One Down, now how about another.

Mushroom Garlic Risotto
Things you need:

Rice (not minute rice, but just a regular short grain, I used a wild rice so it took a bit longer to cook)
Garlic
Mushrooms
Onions or Shallots
Olive oil
Dry white wine
Parmesan cheese
Chicken or Vegetable stock
OPTIONAL: Leafy greens (ie spinach)

To start off grab yourself a deep frying pan and add olive oil. Now add your garlic and onions chopped however you like (sound familiar?). Once they are starting to get nice and browned add in the Mushrooms, once again cut however you like, but for faster process I say sliced thin. Allow everything to get nice and brown.
Use a slotted spoon and remove everything from the pans (make sure that the oil stays in). Add your rice in and stir it around.  Cook your rice like this until each grain has become somewhat transparent. When this happens it is time to add your Stock.
So when doing this you want to do so slowly and make sure to stir the rice plenty. You want to add about a 1/2 cup of stock at a time and when it is almost gone then add another 1/2 cup.

Option: If you want to you can make the first or second half cup of liquid you add to be a dry white wine. This will add more depth to the flavour but remember to add it early to give it plenty of time to cook

Now your going to continue to do this until your rice is of the consistency you want. Usually the ratio for rice is about twice as much liquid as the volume of rice, but see that you are cooking this without a lid it will likely take more liquid then you think. When it is to your liking then turn the heat to low and add your mushroom, onion and garlic in and stir it about.
Optional: You can also take this time to add in some leafy greens like spinach. It will add some nutrition the the dish.
Now that it is all mixed start to add your Parmesan slowly while stirring constantly you can add as much as you want so go crazy.

Serve immediately.

TIME SAVER: This takes quite awhile, but if you want to save time then you can cook the rice before hand and then toss it in the frying pan with your Mushrooms and all. Although this will mean you won't have enough time to properly cook the wine so it probably shouldn't be added.

Results:

Ok so there's that. If people like these than I might try to do some more. If you find the post boring and recipes crappy then let me know and I'll stop and we'll never speak of this ill fated attempt again.

New Years Eve, Keytars and Hasselhoffs

Ok so New Years was well over a week ago, and I have been meaning to get this out since I got home on New years day, but that didn't happen. So New years in Berlin is really sweet. Apparently it is one of the biggest new years parties in the world. The main event takes place on a 1.9 Km strip of road starting at the Brandenburger Tor.  With an estimated 1 million in attendance. It was really awesome.

One thing I noticed is that they like their fireworks.  When I got to Brandenburger Tor it was pretty early (about 6pm) and things were already rowdy and fireworks were on the go... and they didn't stop. The fireworks went on constantly the entire time. and you could see them all over the city. 

"and boom goes the dynamite"

They had all kinds of stuff, including 3 stages other then the main stage, make-shift dance clubs,  rides, and somewhere to buy Gluhwein every two steps. Fantastic. I decided to take a walk around the ground and get a lay of the land. While walking around I saw that one of the stands was selling Grog... Now I have never had Grog before, but how can you refuse Grog... well I'll tell you. Grog is disgusting. I just figured it would be all old timey and each sip would make me feel more and more like a I was walking around in 1320ad. Unfortunately all that it made me think of was a hot mixture of water, bad beer and rancid rum. So yeah, I do not recommend it.

OOOh Ferris Wheel.

Make shift dance club

The Main Stage... pus some dumpsters

So after walking around a bit and getting some Gluhwein to remove the taste of Grog out of my mouth I thought that I would hit the stage. I got surprisingly close. considering I didn't try until about 9:30.  So below we see the MC's of the evening. Kind of like the Dick Clarks of Germany Wilhelm and... his female counterpart. I only know Wilhelms name because a big group of drunks guys kept on yelling his name trying to get his attention. Wilhelm was all business though.

MC's of the night

The first muscial act that I was around for was Loona. She's a german popstar of sorts, but she did not keep my attention as much as her KEYTAR PLAYER!! Yeah thats right, the mighty keytar is still living strong in Berlin. One of the most hilarious things were the back up dancers. They seemed more like they had practiced for a talent show at an office team building retreat and not for... a giant concert.

He knows what's up. Keytars

Next up was this guy... I have no idea what his name is (and I think he would e super surprised by that). The entire performance was filled with mid 90's latin pop-sensation cheese. He was super into himself, from the performance I am pretty sure he ends each day by staring at himself in the mirror and flexing all the while softly whispering to himself "you're the best, you're the best", or at least thats what I imagine... usually with some confused person in the room.

"You're the best, You're the best"

So yeah like I said this guy was classic solo artist. He did a couple of soulful songs reaching out to the crowd and showing off his moves, then he slowed it down to show that he is a deep musician by sitting down at his keyboard (not cool enough for a keytar) and busted out some R&B while a woman danced and grinded on him.... Classsy sir, just too classy. 

" She's wearing a top, so that means we're all style"

Next on our list of "bands that might be famous somewhere, maybe" is the Hermes House Band. These people were just flat out ridiculous bordering on embarrassing, but fun. They played only covers, and had a huge ensemble (curiously missing a keytarist) and sang a lot of disco. Around the time they came on I was thinking to myself "Gee, I sure hope there is a disco version of que Sera" and moments later my wish was granted.

Featured above is the Hermes House Band... WOOOOO. They were fun, but overwhelmingly lame.  I'm pretty sure when they make song decisions it goes like this

Musician 1: "Hey you know that song from the 70's"

Musician 2: " Yeah we should add that one to the set"

And that is how they sound. Not trying to put them down (well maybe a little), they were really fun, got the crowd going (if not laughing). Plus they all dressed super cool.

Nothing's cooler then dressing like Nardwuar 

This gut was so cool that his jacket later erupted into silver... or he changed it. 

"Hey guys check this out, it's sergent peppers-chic"... No it is not

The above three are just the singers, although they brought out teh rest of the band for a big.. poorly choreographed dance. It was just walking back and forth with a back bend... SUPER COOL!

Overall these guys were good, they weren't trying to be too serious about it, just having fun and being entertaining. They are kind of like if the Mellotones played bad music... If you know who the mellotones are. I mean they don't have a keytar, but I can live with that... sometimes. 

So after their big dance with many a turtleneck laden brass player, the band sent their personal mountie out to get us. By which I mean video tape and wave at us. Constable Benton Fraser would not be pleased with this type of mountie conduct... He doesn't even have a dog with him.

Where's your pride man!

Up next was just the most awesome thing ever, Middle aged guys who are convinced that it is still the eighties... I mean they were just fantastic. Don't believe me? Just check the guy in the picture below.

EPIC!

So yeah, he is pretty much the greatest man ever. I assume the headband is a style choice only and not being worn to conceal anything on the top of his head... It has a Brett Michaels quality to it... wait.

So if a flowing trench coat and gold pants do not convince you of how awesome this band is then first of all you have no soul (sorry about that) and check out below to have your mind rocked.

KEYTARS!!!!

That's right, after a two band lull in keytars they are back baby. I'll  give props to the first keytarist of the night, he new what was up, but this guy is just loving the keytar (and with good reason). Once again I am being lazy and just want to get this posted so I do not have much more to say about these just. Although the guitarist and bassist where matching cloths/ hair is also pretty sweet.

Keytar vs Guiter... such a one sided battle 

Everyone knows that to rock hard you must have a guy committed to the bubbles

Oh so after a few songs the band left and then six random men pulled a giant bag onto the stage. The reason being, so they can hurl snacks into the crowd. I guess the coordinators of this event all thought it was necessary to have a mid concert snack time. I must say that I agree. The only problem is that there were too many snacks. I was dodging them after I already filled a bag full of them. The Kiwi family in front of me had a big back pack with them and filled it to the brim. It seemed pretty wasteful, but people were scouring ground for a good 20 minutes after the fact trying to find more.

Snack!!

I know you already got to see some keytar, but this guy was just gold. so here's more of him.

"And my Dad said I would never get anywhere"

So continuing on with both the 80's and odd segues. The next performance took a while to set up. They had a good 10 violinists, 6 cellists, a bunch of flutists, and some other people I couldn't see because they lowered the light on the back stage a lot (also the reason why I don't have pictures of all of these people). 

SO, this is Adoro, and from my understanding they are kind of like Il Divo. So they busted on stage and sang an operatic version of.... Take on me? What? So yeah, it was weird, but they nailed it. But as soon as the song ended they all just looked at the crowd for a second the one said "Bis Spater" and they all promptly left with their large ensemble. ummmm ok. I'm not sure if they had more but the program was running long or something but yeah, see you guys later. 

"hey guys, I have a great idea for a joke"

Then we have Velile, she sang some African/club music and it was good. I really don't have anything of interest to say. Although here 2 background dancers were (as was the trend for dancing that night) terrible. At one point her drummer took a break from the drums to show off his capoiera skills.. and that was kind of cool and misplaced. If you like african/club music I say check her out. She also wasn't out there very long. it seemed like the Hermes house band was there forever but everyone else was being treated like it was a middle school talent show. Five minutes then get off the stage so everyone can have a turn.

After Velile was a band I got excited for and I didn't know would be there. It's the drapers /w Yolanda be cool. It was pretty sweet. They were decked out in pretty nifty costumes and the bassist had a sweet bass.  They obviously did up a version of "we no speak americano" albeit less techno-y then the version we are all used to. They also did a up some yakkity yak. All round my only complaint is the lack of keytars. I mean this was the third group in a row without one so I was pretty worried. 

That bass is just sweet

The next group once again disappointed in the area of keytar. It was the ensemble from "We Will Rock You" a musical using the music of Queen.

Trying to look cool enough not to warrant a keytar. It is not working.

These guys were fun and it really made me want to see this show. The costumes were all great and late 70's/ early 80's stereotype-y.  There is even a part where they all go into unison head banging.. Awesome.

Then there were 4 overweight middle aged women singing. They were alright. Once again they received the talent show treatment and were swiftly taken off of the stage. 

Then we have these guys.. and oh my god were they were... well i don' even know. In this band (Leslie Mandooki and the Soulmates) you have Bobby Kimball fromToto, Chris Thompson fromManfred Mann, Jimi Jamison from Survivor, John Helliwell from Supertramp. It's like they got a kid from the 1981 graduating class of "Anywhere High School" to toss together 4 musicians that he likes.  I really reccommend that if the pictures resolution is good enough to zoom in on the drummer and keybordist (no keytar, nice one Bobby Kimball) the mustaches on these men are heartwarming. 
Basically they just play songs from each of there bands hay-days. I was pretty pumped when "hold the line" was busted out. 

Why do we exist?

Then we have Paul Potts. Who's Paul Potts you ask (because I know that is what I was asking. He's the winner of x-factor, or something like it. He sings opera. The two MCs were interviewing him before he sang and they nearly missed the countdown for midnight. They caught it when it was at 6.

Paul Potts singing in the new year

So the fireworks picked up for a bit (and then went back to their ambient amount)  and they decided it was a good time to bust out the lasers (as anytime is).

Aaaaaaww Yeah. Lasers and fireworks.

Then came one of the greatest things ever. Paul left the stage and directly after the Hoff came onto the stage. Singin about freedom and everything.  I am just going to let you enjoy these photos of him, because honestly I have no words to explain the awesomocity of this experience.

David is overjoyed with this moment.. until

He remembers he left the iron on!!

The Hoff hitting on the ladies

So almost nothing can follow Hasselhoff, right. Well only one thing will not look like complete crap after him and that is....

Keytar!!! Well ok this is just Loona again, but the Keytarist really kicked it up a notch for their second performance. 

So now that it was the new year and all was well I decided to go back to wandering. Surprisingly despite my usual social awkwardness I am really good a approaching random people when I am alone at events like this. I just think "hey if something goes wrong I can just leave and never see them again" so there is no pressure. It was pretty fun. I actually ran into a guy from Montreal and talked for a bit. Once again when I meet a Canadian here we fell on the same subject: politics. I do not know why but every time I meet a new Canadian here the conversation very quickly becomes politics, but also a la Canada it is always a civil and polite talk. While talking to him I also got to meet a group from Ireland and had a couple of drinks with them. 

It was around 3 at this point and I thought it was about time to go home (though the party was still in full swing). So I bought a bottle of Sekt for the trip home and headed off. Of course when I saw some people looking for help with the rail system my Canadian instincts kicked in. It was a couple from Italy (Sara and Marco) and they had just gotten to the city the day prior so they did not know the transit well. I was able to direct them to where they needed to go, but only after we had some sekt together and talked for a while. I am actually friends with them now and went out to see them the next weekend (while they were still in Berlin). They told me to visit them in Rome sometime. So yeah, I recommend helping people. The rest of the trip was on the S-Bahn and pretty uneventful. Talked with a few people also heading home. Shared more of my Sekt. It was good. 

So all in all I once again highly recommend checking out Berlin for at least one of your new years eves. It is fun, it's cheap, it's flat out awesome. 

Christmas and stuff...

So the Holidays are pretty much over and I am back (back again, tell a friend).  I spent a good 10 days in Luxembourg with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, and cousins' friends. But I'll get into that later. 

First Just a couple of Pre-Luxembourg pictures for you all. The first one below is from the Alexanderplatz Weinnachtsmarkt. It is pretty sweet. No real story, just a picture, deal.

"Oh your Christmas Carousel is only 20ft high... I don't think I could downgrade back to that. "

The next picture is from Amsterdam Airport. While running around I decided to  snap a pictures of some of the cots that had to be used over that weekend (December 17th - 20th) when all the airports were shut down and all hotels in Amsterdam were filled up. I need to emphasize that there were hundreds of these cots in the airport, ridiculous.

"So heres your cot. Just remember that it is 50 in the 30 down... Oh yeah and we are all on the honor system so you are probably going to be robbed blind tonight."

Ok, we now have that out of the way, onto the Bourg of Luxum. So when I finally arrived in Luxembourg I was tired and had no luggage (it was picked up later that day). I was one of the first to arrive, only my Aunt (Nancy) and cousin (Julie) were at their house in Dippach Luxembourg. a couple of days later my Uncle Dan showed up. The first few days were uneventful, I shoveled their driveway, we went and Checked out Luxembourg city (pretty cool). We went to this sweet soup place (a La soup). All they served was soup, if it hadn't been for the modern chic styling, and pleasant staff (what I call C-Webb style... which only about 2 people will understand) it would be reminiscent of the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld.  They had daily soups  in a small seating area and I had no idea what the protocol was (there seemed to be some, so I let my aunt order because she had been there before). The soup was awesome and I even got some bread!! There was also this weird statue near a Hair salon that looked like Conan O'Brian as a gay stereotype... I also forgot my camera that day so no pictures of soup or Gay Conan.. I am sorry for my failures. 

Moving on

A couple of days later we headed to Trier, a small city in Germany near Luxembourg. We were doing this so we could pick up my other cousin (Holly) and her four friends (Grant, Alex, Will and Nick).  Her friend are also a bunch of misplaced Canadians, but they are going to school so they have a better reason  for being here. When we got into Trier it was a few hours before their train was coming in so we decided to wonder around. So here are some fun facts about Trier.

1. It is the oldest German city, originally established by the romans (at least according to my aunt, fact checking can suck it) 

2. They do still have a piece of roman wall (seen below) which is pretty cool.

Sorry for the suckiness of this picture, it was really dark and the only lighting near the wall was that tree, which  was no where near as bright as it looks

3. There are only two entrances into the city for the Luxembourg side, and one of them in a one lane bridge (once again this is according to my aunt, but when entering the city it seemed pretty legit).

4. Apparently they are too good for regular looking McDonalds (directly below

The only true McDonalds have red roofs and a play centre 

5. The streets are kind of pretty

OOOOOOOooooh pretty lights

So Holly and the rest of the gang made it and we all had a nice drive back to Luxembourg, also I got to find out that Alex is from Hants West in Nova Scotia. When we got back to the house, Nancy immediately put hats on us... as you can see by his hat, Alex is obviously the leader of our Christmas themed super team.  Our team handled such perilous missions as: "Fixing the slingbox internet connection", and "Drinking the any excess alcohol". We made a good team. 

Christmas powers activate, form of... Drinking.

So now we skip ahead to after Christmas... it gets too much hype and though fun is never super interesting... well sometimes it is. I got a Mankini, a german cook book and a sweet beer glass.. THERE I gave you a taste. Now moving on once more. Nancy and Dan went to Paris on Boxing day to spend the week at Euro Disney: The Happiest place with French People on Earth. This left the rest of teh crew with spare time. So we went into the city a couple of times.

Walking into Luxembourg

Although I was sad because apparently the Luxembourg people tear down Christmas decorations very fast, where two days prior there was a bustling Christmas market, now there was an empty square... the city is still cool though... but expensive compared to my sweet Berlin. Although you can find anything you need in the city, including a house made of underwear... I am assuming it was constructed inside this building.

Another little known fact about Luxembourg is that it contains Hogwarts as seen below.

Sup Harry

Despite my refusal to believe that this is not the home of Nearly headless Nick, my cousin insisted that it was actually the headquarters of the Luxembourg Bank.

You may have noticed that there was a fairly deep chasm underneath Hogwarts, this is call the Grund, it is the old part of the city. I didn't ask why it was called the Grund, I probably should have, or I could look it up... oh well. Fun fact about the Grund: There is a small piece of graffiti there that looks like my Uncle Goonsy... Yup, so here is another picture of it. We are up top right now and we are headed down.

The only way down is the stairs. This would not be a problem, but everyone in Europe lost the part of there brain that makes them know how to clear snow. So the stairs were more of icy death slides. So icy that they made Grant go fast enough for his feet to completely vanish. Given that he wears something like a size 19 that's an impressive amount of ice.

Grants feet reaching light speed.

We did eventually make it down with only some minor injuries. The Grund has some cool stuff. There are these tunnels that go all through the old city (they are blocked off mostly but you can get tours in the summer. One of the entrances is below

The Grund is also home to a super sweet sledding hill. So sweet that the boys (lacking sleds) used their jackets to slide down it. The only down side to this hill is that not too far from the bottom is a river with nothing to stop you from going into it so yo need to stay alert when you reach the bottom, lest you want an icy grave.

Sweet sledding hill, Icy grave not featured

We found an easier way up then the death slide and we cam up right near Hogwarts.. although the campus seems to have developed quite a bit from what I remember. It also had a sign that said it was a bank.. so that is kind of weird.

"Screw vast fields and magical forests. I want a Jamba Juice!" 

Much like Trier, Luxembourg has pretty lights

So that sums up the great events of being in Luxembourg.  It was a good time, I suggest you check it out. Although you may want to listen to my aunt who constantly let me know every time we went somewhere the "Everything is so much better in the Summer"

and now we end off with me on the Death Slide and being far too happy about it.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"