On the Farm: Weekend

My weekend on the farm was quite leisurely and enjoyable.  Saturday consisted of finishing off the ketchup, which turned out being tomato sauce, because Sylke didn't have enough patience to cook it all day.  Here were the different stages:

cook it

press and strain it

boil it

jar it

I also made my famous apple pie, which reminded me of home.  Sylke doesn't have a pie pan or measuring cups/spoons, so I kind of eye-balled it...and I eliminated the top layer of dough.  But, it still turned out REALLY yummy!  We enjoyed it with our afternoon tea.

Didn't get a chance to take a picture before eating it...delicious!

After that, we walked to the other side of town (took about 8 minutes) where some friends were having a bonfire.  It was a perfect autumn evening: rain falling, fire burning, neighbors gathered together for a potluck.  My spirits were really lifted by being around people, old and young.  I couldn't understand their conversations, but laughter is a universal language.  The bonfire was warm and beautiful, people were throwing all sorts of stuff on it: trees, furniture, even old clothes!  It was there I finally had my first taste of glühwein.  Similar to apple cider, glühwein is a mulled wine with spices, served warm.  It was so delicious and perfect for a crisp, autumn night!

On Sunday morning, the guests staying in the apartment finally left and we had to prepare the place for new people arriving on Monday.  Then we headed to Clara's father's house for lunch.  I haven't mentioned Wolfgang yet, but I've seen him everyday this week.  He lives in a nearby town and stops by the farm here everyday.  On Monday he came for afternoon coffee, Wednesday we met him for lunch, Saturday he came for apple pie, etc.  He's a very nice and polite, and always shakes my hand when he arrives or departs.  For Sunday lunch, Wolfgang prepared homemade klöße (a potato dumpling of sorts), rouladen (rolled meat), and red cabbage.  Mmmm....an authentic German meal tastes SO good!  He also gave me a CD of Maria Callas singing various arias.  Although we don't talk to each other very much, I think he likes me :)

Then in the afternoon, Sylke and I went to a nearby town and met her friend who plays piano.  Sylke had a couple of duets she wanted us to sing together, one by Mendelssohn and one by Schütz.  We've been practicing all week, but today was our chance to sing with the accompaniment.  The Mendelssohn piece went great, but Schütz was a train wreck.  The accompanist had a hard time with the modulation and accidentals, and there was one measure he kept skipping a beat.  Sylke and I stayed together everytime, but the accompanist always ended up one beat ahead of us.  Neither of them could figure out what was happening, but I wasn't going to say anything.  So, the accompanist whipped out a metronome and we tried again.  About 4 measures into it, I noticed we were already getting off, so I just stopped singing.  Sylke and the accompanist continued, and by the time they finished, they were on the off-beat of the metronome...meaning they had sped up by half a beat.  I was thinking, "Really?  What is the point of a metronome, if you're not going to follow it?!"  It was frustrating for me, but I kept my mouth shut.  I just wish my good friend Landon could have been there--he's the best accompanist I know!