A Frei-Tag Indeed

I have about 5 or 10 minutes of waiting time until my yeast is activated so I’ve decided to finally put this rare moment of peace and quiet to use. Oh I guess I should explain why exactly I have been granted this rare moment of peace and quiet. You see a good friend (and ex-boyfriend) of Lilo’s and his family are visiting form Schifferstadt (the name of Lilo’s hometown in southwest Germany). They got in last night after a hell of a journey – “a hell of” because their car broke down halfway through and they had to search out a rental somewhere two hours along the drive here. Which in and of itself is enough of a hassle, but they had to do it with a baby and 6-year old boy in tow. Luckily from the brief time I have since spent with them they seem to quite calm and collected individuals who are capable of taking such bumps in the road in stride (unlike some other Germans I know…hint hint). What I think also helps in such a situation is the fact that according to Lilo they are not punctual people – people after my own heart – which of course means they are most likely less focused on and stressed about time and can probably handle such set backs with ease. (Well I believe I must break here and begin my challah-making process. Challah by the way for all who do not know is a traditional Jewish bread, eaten on the Sabbath, but for which I have a HUGE affinity, thanks entirely to my ex-roomy Jaclyn Dagger. )

(So a half hour or so later…) I am back here to chat with y’all!! And the first round of rising is well under way…woohoo!! So to explain a bit, the reason I am making challah today is, well rather the reasonS for making challah today are 1) I’ve missed our Friday night tradition for a while now –the tradition to which I am referring is the one that yours truly and my two roomies last year used to have about once a month of having freshly-baked challah, and wine, and when we were feeling really crazy some fabulous European cheese to boot, usually before going out – 2) my friend Shane is culturally Jewish so that inspired me and 3) him and I made an attempt at it last week but due lack of appropriate American measurement tools and my own mental exhaustion we failed, or rather produced a bread that looked and tasted as if it were a distant relative, if anything, of challah. So now we’re on round 2, and already I have higher hopes for this one. And if successful I will have baked two loaves of challah by 6pm tonight. We’ll see!!

If successful I will then give one loaf to the Brueckmeiers for them and their visitors to enjoy, and then take the other over to Shane’s before heading out for a night at one of Jo’s and my favorite places in Muenchen, Substanz. Substanz is a bar south of the Theresienwiese, near the Poccistrasse S-bahn stop that designates Friday night as Brit pop and indie music night. As such the crowd it attracts on Fridays matches. By that I mean they are a bit off-beat and quirky, and best of all it’s just a really chill atmosphere where basically anything goes. Everyone just kind of does their own thing, from breaking it down on the dance floor, to chilling with a beer at the bar or at the picnic-style tables, or playing some foosball. But the one draw back (slight though it is) is that it is a “raucher club”, aka a smoking club. So every single time I come home from a night at substanz my clothes, never mind my lungs, are left permanently reeking of it. A stench, the only remedy to which is to hang one’s clothes outside over a night or two to air out. But despite that, it’s all in all a good time and definitely worth the stink J And tonight the whole gang is going: Me, Jo, Shane and Glen. YAY!!