My weekend has been filled with springtime music and garden party prep. On Sunday, rock‘n roller helped me
carry out the heavy wooden garden table and benches, long enough to seat my
eight girlfriends; interrupted by an afternoon phone call from great guy who
was about to set sail. He’s on a week-long trip, at sailing school, off of the
coast of one of Spain’s most beautiful islands, Mallorca. And, I’m, if truth be
told, enjoying a week of solitude and quiet, amid party planning and work. Fun.
Sunday
evening, after the church bells tolled five times, I found myself spontaneously
attending a springtime concert in a, needless to say, old burg kirche (castle
church). This church was built in 775 by Karl
the Great and I was inspired sitting in a building with such history. The four
voices echoed beautifully throughout the tall, narrow altar; looked down upon
by the original stained glass window (the Marienfenster) from 1404, surprisingly still standing the test of time. The peppy tunes varied from the 1400’s to
the 1900’s; from flirty, romantic love songs to heartbreaking songs of home,
like the ‘Oak and the Ash’. And, all the while I heard birds chirping along outside with
great enthusiasm – made me smile.
Tuesday
evening, I was in herb fever. My friends slowly started to arrive as the
evening sky was still full of light and full of blue. We sat at the one long
table, happy to finally be sitting outside by the river. The table was full; mason
jars lit with chunky candles; platters and plates filled with rosemary
meatballs; baked new potatoes wrapped snuggly in parma schinken, twiggy thyme
and leafy sage; parsley mint couscous salad; and small bundles of phyllo pastry
filled with either spinach and feta or smoked north sea salmon. Potted jars of
mint yogurt and herb quark joined the lemon chive butter which I had set
earlier in the afternoon. It made me happy seeing how joyfully my super-slim
mädels (like they mostly all are here) ripped baguette, slathered butter and just
dug in with gusto. And, the biggest surprise was how easy it was to prepare.
Really, truly. Just add herbs. Try it. Yum.
Rosemary
meatballs with mint dip (taken from ‘Meine Gute Landküche’)
1 day-old
bun
1 onion,
diced
3-4 T oil
1 egg
600 g
ground beef
1 t sharp
mustard
2 T fresh, chopped herbs (ie. Thyme, Parsley)
Salt,
pepper
1 handfull
sage leaves
approx.. 10
rosemary twigs
For the
dip:
1 garlic
clove, minced
2 T chopped
mint
300 g
yogurt
1 spritz
lemon juice
Let the bun
soak in warm water. Saute the onion in oil and then stand to cool.
Sqeeze the
water out of the bun and add it, along with the onion and egg, to the ground
beef.
Add the
mustard and herbs, salt and pepper. Form balls and in a heated frying pan cook
the meatballs for approx. 8 minutes until they are golden brown and completely
cooked through.
Let them
stand to cool.
Add the chopped
mint leaves, minced garlic and a pinch of salt to the yogurt. Stir in pepper
and lemon juice to taste.
Wash and
pat to dry the sage and rosemary. Then skewer the meatballs alternating each
one with a sage leaf. Or, take a small rosemary twig and stick one in each
meatball. Serve with dip.
Spring is
here. And, the low whistling of swans’ wings keeps me company. It surprises me
as I walk through the narrow gasse (lane) of the altstadt or as I water my poppies;
opened wide as if singing in a choir. The long, thin shadows, all of a sudden appear
overhead…the whistling makes me look up. I love that whistling.
'The ewes and their lambs, with the kids and their
dams,
To see in the country how finely they play;
The bells they do ring, and birds they do sing,
And the fields and the gardens are pleasant and gay.
To see in the country how finely they play;
The bells they do ring, and birds they do sing,
And the fields and the gardens are pleasant and gay.
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonnie ivy
tree,
They flourish at home in my own country.'
They flourish at home in my own country.'
-“The Oak
and the Ash”