Laugenstangen a.k.a. Pretzelbread in SE PDX

A new bakery has opened this summer in SE PDX. The bakery been started by the former head baker of the Pearl Bakery. Its name is the "little t baker" and yesterday I stopped by for the very first time. From the car I saw that they carry Laugenstangen a.k.a. Pretzelbread. Wow - I have never had these in the States and seeing them on display caused me to immediately pull over and park. The Laugenstange was absolutely delicious. Not quite as crusty as I am used to at home, but really, really good.

So, if you miss Germany just so much that you need a good Laugenstange head on over to the "little t baker" located on 2600 SE Division Street in SE PDX. There is also coffee, and of course bread, etc. I cannot talk about the bread, croissants, or others as I have not tried them. There is also a web-site check it out at http://www.littletbaker.com/.

Enjoy!

Bread...where to find great bread in PDX

Do you ever miss good crusty bread? Good thing if you are in Portland, Oregon because there are few great bakeries.

The Pearl Bakery has Vollkornbrot, "Broetchen" (aka rolls), great crusty bread, etc. The shop/cafe is located in the Pearl at 102 NW 9th Ave. When we go for breakfast I generally order the "Mohnbroetchen" and a nice Soy Latte. Yum! - They supply fantastic raspberry jam, and (if you like) butter for the Broetchen. They are also selling the bread on various Farmer's Markets around town and their bread is sold in other stores such as Pastaworks as well. The official Web-site is www.pearlbakery.com

Another great bakery is Fleur de Lis in Northeast Portland. I especially love their Multigrain bread. Crusty, full of grain, hearty, just like you would expect a bread from a German bakery to taste. The multigrain is available in two sizes. Go visit their cafe/story at 3930 NE Hancock St, Portland, OR 97212Phone: (503) 459-4887, or buy their bread at farmers markets around town. I have seen them at the Hollywood, and Montavilla Farmers Market.

There is a third bakery which is truly German. "Fressen" has outstanding bread. All of it is fantastic. The bread is available at various Farmers Markets around town, or you can place your order on the Web, or by phone. They actually also offer Bretzeln :). Check it out on the Web-site at http://www.fressenartisanbakery.com/

Are you looking to connect with other German speakers in PDX?

Are you looking to connect with other German speakers in PDX but have not found any of us? Don't worry any longer, there are so many of us that it is hard not to find contact and make friends. Below is the information on a few groups here in PDX...

www.germanamerican.org --> German American Society of Portland also includes sister clubs, and links to other events such as Stammtisch, Spielgruppe, etc. This is a good starting point as there are many great events, a monthly journal, etc.

http://www.austrianspdx.org/ --> Austrian American Society of Oregon

http://german.meetup.com/493/ Meetup Group "Deutsche Maedels of the Northwest"

http://german.meetup.com/390/ Deutscher Stammtisch (note there are two)

There is also a Women's Group, a German mother's group, etc. Please contact me to get more information on any of these groups.

The third Oregon weekendtrip this summer...

Our last weekendtrip in Oregon for this summer was to Government Camp --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Camp,_Oregon. Just a short one hour drive from PDX and we were in the middle of the National Forest in Government Camp at 4,000 feet. - This "mini break" was very different to our previous two adventures. This time we stayed in a very nice condo, stayed for three nights, AND there were pools. What luxury!!! A nice heated outdoor pool, a small hot tub and a seperate very large hot tub. The girls had a ton of fun in the pool. Here is the link to the condo complex we stayed at --> http://www.collinslakeresort.com/

The weather was unfortunately not the greatest, but still we had lots of fun. One afternoon we drove up to Timberline Lodge which lies at around 6,000 feet. We took a little walk and the girls played in the snow. As you can see there is snow in August...

the other day we took a small tiny little 2 mile hike around a lake in the National Forest (see picture above). OK - so you ask what does this have to do with Germany, or Germans in Portland? Let me explain...

Government Camp is a small resort town in the middle of the National Forest. There are hotels, and restaurants with names like "Edelweiss", and "Rathskeller". The town tries to have a semi Alpine feel. I say semi because it is an attempt, quite cute, and just so very different to the alpine villages of Switzerland, Austria, and Germany :) There is hiking in the summer and it is great don't get me wrong. It is however so different to European hiking. In South Tyrol we went hiking last year and there is always a destination with a hut. You can have food and drinks at the huts, they are always very nicely cared for and the trails are clean. Here on the other hand there are trails, but the destinations NEVER (unless you hike up to Timberline Lodge) have huts. It is nature pure. Just a very, very different experience. It is possible to hike in the Mt. Hood National Forest for hours without seeing another human being, therefore it is essential to be prepared as people get lost. - Hiking in the Alps as well as hiking in Mt. Hood National Forest are both GREAT, just two very different experiences...

A hot day in Portland...

It has been hot here...really hot, almost 100F hot. Our high today was around 95 degrees (35 degrees) and it was almost unbearable. We do not have air conditioning here as generally it really does not get this hot. A few days a year, and we thankfully do not have the humidity that is a hallmark of the Midwest. So what to do on such a hot day? Too hot for the zoo, OMSI is probably too crowded with people wanting to take advantage of the air conditioning...so we decided to go swimming. I have to admit first that swimming here (or anywhere in the US) is not my favorite thing. Why? I honestly think that the pools in Germany just have so much more to offer. For example here is the link to Tuwas in Tuttlingen http://www.tuwass.de/0_home1_kurz.htm. As for outdoor pools (Freibad) they ALWAYS an area where you can lay. ALWAYS grass, trees, water playground, restaurant, drinks, playground, etc. , check it out at http://www.tuwass.de/0_home1_kurz.htm. The surrounding lakes, as well as the lake of Constance all have great "Schwimbaeder". OK but now I am getting off track here :) Today we went to Creston Pool here in SE PDX. Guess what? There are actually some strips of grass surrounding the pool (inside the enfenced pool area), you can sit there, if you come early enough you can get a lawn chair...it was GREAT. Still not the same, but for here it was just fantastic. So this is my tip of the day...Creston pool in SE PDX where you will find some grass to lie in :) Here is the link http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=1107&searchtext=creston Have fun swimming and stay cool...

German Movie nights start up again in September

After the summer hiatus movie nights will start up again on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 8 PM. The location is 7901 SE Division Street in Portland aka the Deutsche Haus. The movie shown on September 4th will be "Das Schloss" (The Castle), 1997 directed by Michael Haneke based on the novel by Franz Kafka.

Germans on Mount Hood...

This weekend we are spending in Government Camp. Saturday we drove up to Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge. German friends of ours came along and we took a short little walk around Timberline Lodge. On our walk we ran into another German which I just recently met. She was showing off the mountain to a friend who was visiting from Germany.

Isn't it amazing that you meet people you know outside of town? Really amazing to me...I do not remember ever meeting people we knew by accident either in Chicago, or in the outlying areas.

We ate dinner at the restaurant of Timberline Lodge and there was another German couple. Later I hung out with our girls in the lodge area where we met another German/American family. I know I keep repeating myself but it is just amazing how many Germans are in Portland, and Oregon.

Fun at Fubonn Shopping Center - aka the largest Asian Shopping Center in Oregon

Friday before the German Spielgruppe the girls and I had so time to kill. We needed some food so I thought about going to Fubonn. At 9:15 AM the mall was close to empty, great '80s music, merry-go-rounds, and a ton of interesting stuff to look at. Fubonn has the largest Asian grocery section around and it is so fun. Lychee's by the bag; whole large fish, live oysters, live mussels, live crabs...besides that a HUGE selection of rice cookers, woks, big (and I mean really big) bags of rice, mochi, Chinese beer, any type of Asian food, condiment etc., you can think of. But you know what else they have? HARIBO...yup exactly "Haribo macht Kinder froh und Erwachsne ebeso"...sweets I grew up with. I also saw Toblerone, packaged Marmor Kuchen, how much fun we had. We danced, sang, bought a couple of interesting looking items, and the girls also rode the merry-go-round :)

In the mall there is also a store offering nothing but tea, tea cups, etc.; a Sheisheido store; Chinese bakery...just amazing. Look at it here http://www.fubonn.com/index.php

After our excursion we went to the Spielgruppe, then back to the all American world. I have to say that it one of our "multicultural" days.

Wurstsalat...do you really mean sausage salad?

Every now and then I really have the urge for comfort food. Comfort food for me is Linsen und Spaetzle (lentils & spaetzle) in the winter, Kassler und Kraut (smoked pork chop & sauerkraut), and my absolute all time favorite Wurstsalat. I LOVE Wurstsalat and yes, it is true it translates to sausage salad in English. Does not sound right in English! So what is it...as far as I know it is a Southern German thing. The Wurstsalat I make contains Fleischwurst, onions, chopped pickles, a little oil, vinegar, and some pickle juice. Mmmmhhhh! I love it and I actually made it yesterday. Sadly so my husband does not like Wurstsalat at all, but both of our girls also like it a lot. It is probably one of those things that you need to grow up with in order to like it. Just like Root beer. I just started to like Root beer a year ago...that is after having tried it time and time again for almost 13 years :)

But going back to the topic Wurstsalat, I used Gelbwurst yesterday and it also turned out great :). In the region I am from you can generally order three different types of Wurstsalat...Wurstsalat - the "plain" version, Schweizer Wurstsalat (Swiss) - includes Swiss cheese, or Schwaebischer Wurstsalat (Swabian) - this one is made out of blood sausage and I have to admit not one of my faves...my personal absolute favorite is the Schweizer Wurstsalat.

I do not really have a recipe for the type I make, but if you are interested drop me a line :)

Day Trip to the Beach...

The location of Portland is just so fantastic. In less than an hour we are in the woods, a little over an hour we are at the beach, and we also have two flight connecting us daily to Europe. WOW! - After a couple trips to the woods over the past couple of weeks we were totally overdue for a trip to the beach. Initially we thought about trying to get a room for a night, but its August and chances are slim being pretty much impossible this time of year without any pre-planning. Oh well...good thing the beach is only a little over an hour away from our house.

We left around 10:30 stopped for breakfast and then headed for Cannon Beach. We packed a beach blanket, some beach toys, change of clothes for the girls and off we went. To get to the beach you have to cross the mountain range, drive through the middle of the dark deep woods and then seemingly out of nowhere the Pacific appears on the horizon. It is just so amazing. To me being from Southern Germany it never seizes to amaze me how within a short period of time we can be at the beach, in the woods, or by the mountain.

Cannon Beach is very, very busy this time of year and parking spots are hard to come by. Luckily there are a lot of different beach spots a little further down 101. We were prepared to drive down 101 a little further but lucked out and got a parking spot right downtown only short walk to the beach. At the beach we put down our blanket, went with the girls to play in the estuary, then just relaxed as the girls played in the sand. At the beach you hear the ocean roar, take in the wild beauty of the pacific...all in all it is so rejuvenating. Before we left to get back to town we took a short walk towards Haystack Rock and our batteries were recharged.

You can learn more about Cannon Beach on its official Web-site http://www.cannonbeach.org/