Welcome to my first in-flight website update! Yes, I write to you from LH #456, Frankfurt to LA, using the new Lufthansa wireless internet connection. This is certainly a step forward for traveling mankind!

The time since our Mexican party has been primarily spent on the administrivia of life (like…. work & other such time-wasting nonsense). Many of you know that when I am not fulfilling my duties as a “Professional Traveler”, I also do some tax consulting as a backup. Ok in all fairness, I do enjoy my tax work & have worked hard to make it a global tax practice, unfettered by cables and anything else that restricts me to one location. Thanks to the wonders of laptop computers, wireless internet access, international cell phones, and Adobe Acrobat, I can (and do) run my practice from anywhere in the world. Even 5 years ago I think this was not possible. Now I roam free and make a living at the same time!

So between billable hours and laundry, we have enjoyed a few interesting events recently which include the following:

• Evening sailing expedition on the beautiful Alster Lake :

In my opinion, the most beautiful place in Hamburg is the area of the Alster Lake, in the center of the city. The lake is split into 2 parts. The “Binnenalster” is the smaller lake with an impressive fountain of water in the center and many grand historic buildings surrounding it. The Außenalster is the larger lake, bordered by floating gardens, walking paths and lovely homes, and in the summer is usually filled with sailboats and swans. On a sunny and breezy Sunday evening we enjoyed all this beauty from the comfort of our rented sailboat.

Our sailing trip was followed by dinner at a newfangled sushi bar serving sushi on a help-yourself conveyor belt which winds around a large bar. Personally, I prefer made-to-order sushi, especially California sushi chefs’ local creations and variations, but the conveyor belt experience was certainly a novelty!

• 85th birthday celebration for Soenke’s grandmother :

This auspicious event was a lavish dinner party held at the estate of a German baron. The four-course meal was entirely exquisite, and it turns out that the baron himself had hunted our main course of venison. The sprightly guest-of-honor seemed very pleased with the whole production, as did the 15 guests! (However I was dismayed to find that I’d left my digital camera at home…).

• Movie Night at the English Cinema with Soenke, Knut & Sally :

With salty American-style popcorn in hand (Germans prefer sweet popcorn), I joined my moviegoing comrades in viewing the animated film Madagascar, which was highly entertaining (go penguins!) and of course made me wonder if we needed to pay a visit to the REAL Madagascar sometime in the future…

• Surprise birthday party for Soenke’s friend Klas :

The group gift was a gigantic orange beanbag that seemed to be full of sand… perhaps this is a popular item for the German bachelor pad? Cuisine was high-style outdoor BBQ. I happily discovered that many guests spoke English! A highlight of the evening was driving home through the neighborhood called “Jenfeld” & passing under a bridge with giant letters on it spelling JEN. It’s comforting to know that I have my own bridge.

A major highlight of the past few weeks was receiving a temporary permit to reside in Germany while my application for a one-year residence permit is being processed. It is a very official-looking, passport-size green paper with lots of shiny seals and colorful stamps. There is also a cool looking German eagle on it. I like to flash this paper whenever possible!

Here in-flight, I have met my new idol. Her name is Maria-Grace; she speaks 4 languages and is in her 70s. Born in Florence, Italy, she moved to Innsbruck, Austria to marry her husband 47 years ago. Most importantly, she has spent her entire adult life as a full-time vacationer. She travels constantly and is currently on her way to Hawaii for 10 weeks. I appreciated receiving travel advice regarding every destination imaginable, including personally handwritten hotel tips for Dubai. Her specialty is holiday islands, for which she currently recommends Mauritius, Aruba and Maui. I secretly aspire to be just like her!

For the next few weeks I will remain in Orange County. More updates to follow as events unfold…

Photos! …

Sunset view from our apartment in Hamburg:

Some sailing on the Alster:

The Madagascar movie gang (photo stolen from Sally’s website! She is taking the photo) :

While here in Germany, there are a few things that I miss about California. Family, friends, and MEXICAN FOOD. I mean, yes, technically there are Mexican restaurants here in Hamburg. But… well…. they don’t have fresh, hot tortilla chips homemade by a Mexican grandma. And what about the salsa bar? Where’s the salsa bar?! We need mango salsa, pico de gallo, salsa verde and some salsa fuego!

But most of all, we need FISH TACOS. How does Europe live without them? I honestly don’t understand it.

A brief history of the fish taco according to my memory is as follows: Baja California (the Mexican peninsula portion of California south of San Diego) is a popular place for surfers. Surfers get hungry & like cheap food. Taco vendors sold cheap food. Some of the favorites were sellers of tortillas stuffed with fish, some secret white sauce, shredded cabbage, a slice of avocado and a squeeze of lime. Some smart surfer brought the recipe up to San Diego and founded “Rubio’s Fish Tacos”, thus creating a national treasure (and a very profitable venture).

After being here in Germany for much of a summer, I realized that it was time to bring Rubio to the Deutsch in the form of California’s beloved “Taco Tuesday” (although, technically, it was Saturday). Being our first dinner party, we had to make an emergency visit to Ikea to buy a dining room table and a gaggle of chairs. I went to a Target-like store called “Roller” & got a bunch of plates and serving bowls to augment Soenke’s bachelor selection.

Probably the most fun was had preparing for this event. With my ingredient list firmly in hand, I marched off to the grocery store. But…. no cilantro. No real Mexican beer. No ripe avocados. The corn didn’t look so great. But hey, we have limes! At least we have limes! Ok so “plan B”. Go to the specialty produce market with my English/German dictionary. Remember that cilantro is called “coriander leaf” in the rest of the world. Round up 4 employees and several customers to help me ask for ripe avocados and tomatillos. Find a guy who speaks Spanish (finalmente!) but has never heard of a tomatillo. Almost end up with a bag of shallots that I meant to be onions. But heck, it was fun! I wonder if they’ll allow me back to that store again. As a small break, I headed over to the Greek market that sells a huge array of flavored dips and bread, which they hand out in free, copious, sample quantities. They also speak English, so I had a nice chat about a particularly tasty dip made with the vegetable that we call the “eggplant”, but they INSISTED is called the “Bingel” in English (or something like that).

Across from the Greeks was the cheese store, with every cheese known to mankind EXCEPT cojita cheese, which is what I wanted to top the pinto beans and salad with. The female employee spoke a bit of English, so I specifically described how I wanted a cheese to “crumble”, not “grate”, which launched us into a description of the difference between crumble and grate, since neither were in her vocabulary nor my dictionary. Once that was settled, I sampled a few cheeses that she presented (which I’m sure were feta, but she had not heard of feta, which was suspicious for a CHEESE store) and decided on a sheep’s milk cheese that was similar in texture, if not entirely in flavor, to cojita. However it was very tasty, so I sampled it several times just to be SURE.

Things started to fall apart a little after I picked Soenke up at the airport, and asked him to accompany me on a search for Mexican beer, crushed ice, and margarita mix. I mean, WHERE is the ice in Germany??? It’s nowhere, that’s where it is! Finally I realized that the fish market had its fish on crushed ice, so THEY had to have some. The fish ladies were very understanding that this strange American girl couldn’t live without her crushed ice, so they gave us a bag for free. They also helpfully informed us that one usually buys ice in a large block. THANKS. I’ll just toss that right in my blender. As for margarita mix, there was none to be found, so I improvised with some frozen raspberries, strawberry pancake syrup and lime juice. It worked. And Mexican beer…. I gave up and bought something called “Desperado” that looks like beer, but actually is some sort of blend. Its sort of like the “Zima” version of Mexican brew (ohhh you have to be MY age to remember what ZIMA was !!!). But I have to say, it was pretty good. Soenke’s dad gave it the thumbs up. Even my landlord commented today that it was one of her favorites when I showed her the empty bottles and asked where I could recycle glass (still no answer to that).

Back at the flat, I sliced & diced & chopped & roasted & simmered & made a holy mess for what seemed like days, & then everyone showed up and the show began. First we organized a crackerjack team of 4 (Soenke, me, Sally, Knut) to figure out how to operate the blender. I still don’t really understand how, but Soenke has the magic touch. Raspberry margaritas were flowing (both virgin & not so virgin) and the chips, homemade pico de gallo and guacamole were out in my new blue serving bowls. I must say, if it were California, those bowls would have been EMPTY in about 25 minutes, but I think the Germans exercise a bit more restraint, or else they are a little suspicious of green dip. Klaudia, Mehmet, Klas, and Soenke’s mom & dad arrived. Knut brought some Spanish music which we pretended was Mexican, and everyone talked and snacked and drank for hours, waiting for me to get all the fish fried. Our neighbors Vladimir & Katyana showed up with chocolate and champagne. Finally dinner was served, including a romaine salad with orange sweet peppers, roasted corn, cheese and cilantro-lime dressing; seasoned pinto beans (which I totally overcooked!); Mexican rice with sliced olives & roasted corn; and traditional FISH TACOS with all the fixings. It took us about 25 minutes to inhale all that!

May I add that we received some very-much-appreciated hospitality gifts from our guests. Soenke’s folks brought some dishtowels and an ICE CRUSHER, for which I will be forever indebted to them. Sally brought potholders, a large salad bowl with tongs, a vase, fresh flowers, and homemade brownies! Klaudia and Mehmet brought a real live house plant (our first), ICE, and a selection of fabulous chocolates.

As for the dinner, no reports of food poisoning followed, so I can only assume it was a pretty successful evening! Fish tacos appear to have been accepted into the inner circles of Germany.

Our photographers were apparently off drinking margaritas, because our photo supply of this event is scanty:

The kitchen crew hard at work (me on fish, Sally on rice, Knut on blender):

Mehmet tasting the margaritas:

Soenke’s folks waiting patiently for the tacos to be done! :