Zoigl Bier

Saturday night, we got another taste of Germany that not every tourist gets when they visit. Zoigl bier.

Zoigl bier is brewed in two small towns here in the area where I live. It's brewed by communal brewers so it's also called Communbier.

Zoigl is a beer style going back to the times when brewing rights were granted to individuals living in a defined area of town. They place a sign outside the gasthaus, a star often called the Star of David, when the Zoigl bier is ready.

It is only available when this star is out, but oh what a party it is. My neighbors organized this outing. It was our upstairs neighbors, our next door neighbors and then a couple of American friends of mine from post. We hired a taxi for the 30 minute ride each way so that we could all imbibe.

It's called a bottom-filtered beer. Personally, I don't really know what the difference is, but I'm always up for a party. The place we went was a converted house and we were sitting in the garage. They also serve great snacks. I had the cheese plate for dinner. In the middle of the plate was sauer käse or sour cheese. It was actually cheese that was marinated in vinegar and onions. It was pretty tasty.

 They also made fresh pretzels in the same star shape as their signs, but I forgot to get a picture of that. Oops. It was too good and we tore into it right away. We had a good time talking, laughing, eating and drinking Zoigl bier.

As I said before, not many tourists get to experience this side of Germany. Not unless they know about it and can find the small taverns that serve it. I feel lucky, once again, that our German neighbors have taken us under their wing, befriended us and include us in these jaunts around the area. I can honestly say that when my time here is over, I will have experienced Germany as most Americans have not.

Oh, an aside. Armin, my neighbor upstairs told my friend Sabrina that though he had an accent when he spoke English, I've been learning a lot of German and when I speak it, I have no accent. I sound like a German. Cool, huh?

So, who's coming over to visit this summer to try the Zoigl bier?

Birthdays

Today is hubby's birthday. It's the big 4-0. It's funny how we react when we reach a certain age.

I remember when hubby turned 30. He had such a hard time adjusting to it. Me, it's a number. I still think I look pretty good for my age. Some people have mentioned I look younger. Okay, I'll take it. But I'm not particularly upset by getting older.

I wonder if it's because people start thinking of things they want to do and see their time ticking away, faster and faster. Perhaps that's why getting older doesn't bother me so much. I'm doing the things that I love to do. I'm married to a wonderful and supportive husband that I love, I have my puppy, I have an awesome family that has always supported and loved me, I'm pursuing a writing career and I'm working on my college degree (finally). Of course, there are other, smaller things I'd like to accomplish but I have time and if I run out of that commodity, the big picture is pretty rosy that I'm not going to shed any tears.

Last week was my puppy's birthday, as far as we know. She just turned 4. We got her from the humane society in Brownwood, TX and were told that the litter of pups was left with a note saying the mother had died the previous day giving birth.

I found her picture on Petfinder.com and convinced my husband to go "look" at her. As soon as I saw her, I had this feeling deep inside that she was meant to be a part of our family. Hubby knew that if we went to "look" at her, we were bringing her home with us. Oh, yeah, did I mention that Brownwood was about 100 miles from where we lived? Yeah, she was coming home with us.

She was 7 weeks old when we got her. 3 pounds of wiggly puppy that fit in my hand, she grabbed onto my heart and though she's 20 pounds now and quite the mouthy little thing, I love her as if she were my child.

So today I wish my husband a very happy birthday with many more to come and my puppy, Peanut, a belated happy birthday (although she did get her Frosty Paws last week). Thank you both for filling my life with love.

Fahrradrennen

As some of you know, Europeans are big on bicycling. Much more so than in the States. This fact was brought home to me again today.

I mentioned yesterday that my midterm for my Intro to World Religions class was today. When I showed up at the testing center at my appointed time, there was a snafu with the computers so I was almost an hour late taking my test. No big deal.

Afterwards, I ran over to the PX and picked up a few things, least of which was hubby's birthday present. Then on to the post office and home.

There was some construction work on the way in so I thought I'd be clever and take a different way home. This is where I ran into the bicycle race. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.

The race (Fahrradrennen) was in full swing with the Polizei running interference in front and bringing up the rear. Once the race passed the intersection I was on, I pulled out behind them and slowly made my way home.

I was surprised by all the people that had come out along the road to watch them go by. All the little dorfs (villages) that I passed through were teeming with people. The kids twirled their noisemakers around and waved their little German flags. It was really pretty neat.

Other than big, important races, I've never seen this kind of turnout for a bicycle race. I thought it was cool and thought I'd share.

Oh yeah, and because I was at the end of the procession, I got cheered and waved at too!

Touch of Celtic

Well, it appears my friend, Shelly, received her birthday gift. That means I can share here now.

I think I've spoken before about some of the crafting I do when I can find the time. My grandma taught me to crochet when I was young, maybe 8? Anyway, I've been doing it for a long time now. It's relaxing to me and a good way to keep the hands busy while watching TV with hubby rather than snacking.

So in January I started an afghan for Shelly's birthday. She likes all things Celtic and I found this pattern that had that kind of feel to it. Unfortunately, it took longer than I'd anticipated. Her birthday is in February. She just got it this week. She's very patient. I hope the wait was worth it.

My next project is almost halfway finished. I found this shawl pattern in a magazine and then found some great yarn at a German yarn store. It is so soft and the color is a light purple with a silvery shimmer. I'm making it to wear over my sleeveless black dress that I'll be sporting at the award ceremony at national conference. Hopefully I'll be posting a picture soon.

Tomorrow is my midterm exam for my Intro to Religion class so it's off to study for me. Hope you all have a great day!

Bummed

Yesterday was the day for general members of RWA to sign up for agent and editor appointments during the national conference in July. There were already two other waves of appointment-making. The first was for Golden Heart and Rita finalists. The second was for PRO members, which means they've completed a full-length novel and submitted to an agent or editor. Then the rest of us.

I had been excited because my top pick agent was going to be there taking appointments. At least before the change of venue. Now, she apparently won't be there. First disappointment. Then I go in to make my appointment. I got in early, hoping to avoid the server delay problems that I hear of every year. No problems there. There is one thing, though. Yeah, all the appointments were snagged by the previous two rounds so there was zilch for us lowly general members.

As you know, I'd been working to get my novel ready to pitch. I was nervous about it, but excited too. No pitching this year unless I skulk around the waiting area hoping to snare a spare minute. Which I may. We'll see.

The good news in all this is that I won't be rushing so much and I can make sure I'm confident that my book is the best it can be before I start querying. And query I will. I've given myself a self-imposed deadline of September 30 to send out queries. If the revisions and edits go faster, I'll definitely do it sooner. And if I don't have an agent by this time next year, I'll be a PRO member and then I can get in early myself.

What about you? Going to the national conference? Got an agent or editor appointment? Who'd you get?

Mission Accomplished

So you may have noticed that I wasn't around last week. It was an unscheduled leave of absence due to me being sick as a dog and not on the computer much at all. If you will recall oh, so long ago (read a week ago Thursday) I mentioned wanting to finish the first draft of Out of the Shadows and spend some time sewing.

I'm pleased to report that after keeping my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard, I did it. I wrote over 4k words that day and finished the first draft.

You'll notice that my word meter shows me 15k short for the total. I may still reach that 80k goal. I guessed on the total length. I originally thought 100k but I don't think I'm that wordy. Some of the scenes didn't come together for me as I wrote. I couldn't find the right words, etc. So I got the gist of the scene down with the dialogue. Now I have to go back and flesh those scenes out, adding description, internal dialogue, action, etc.

Plus, I've also changed the story arc since I started the book. That means that I have to add a bunch of stuff throughout for that. All in all, I'm confident that I'll reach the 80k goal or darn close to it. As you can see, I still have a lot of work to do, but now that the whole story is down on paper and I know what's going on with it, I'm hoping it will go quickly. I'm giving myself 4 weeks to go back in and add all this stuff.

I don't really know how long it will take but I'm going to be pushing myself these next two months to accomplish my goal of having it finished in time for RWA national conference so that I can pitch it to an agent. Today is the day for me to make my appointment so wish me luck that I can get in with my first choice.

By the way, I did reward myself with some time to sew and I made a couple of fabric journal covers. Here they are below. They fit over a composition notebook. They were fun and easy and I think I'm going to offer them as a class at work.

So what have you been up to? Please share your news!

Black Forest Cake

Okay, so the request was for something sweet and what better than the famous Black Forest Cake. I had this when I visited Titisee in the Black Forest Region and it was oh so good.

Pastry Ingredients
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Kirschwasser (cherry schnapps)

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 can pitted cherries, drained
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp Kirschwasser

Topping
1 square semisweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round pans with parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 tsp salt. Set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk. Beat until combined.

Pour into the prepared pans. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.

Remove paper from under the cakes. Cut each layer in half horizontally, making 4 layers total. Sprinkle layers with 1/2 cup Kirschwasser.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 tbsp Kirschwasser. Add powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat again. Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Frost the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate curls made by using a potato peeler on semisweet baking chocolate.

Guten Appetit!

Have a great weekend everybody!