Ebbelwoi and handkase mit musik.

It has been a relatively quiet few days here. The weather has changed, DRAT, and the sun and warm temperatures have been replaced with clouds, drizzle and cooler temperatures. My internet situation is still not worked out- I know I seem to harp on this, but I truly feel cut off from the world when my screen suddenly reads 'you are not connected to the internet' at some random time late in the afternoon. Jens, the nice computer gentleman from the Uni (as the University is called here), came by on Thursday afternoon (he works Mondays and Thursdays) and was quite flummoxed by the situation. He had placed a call to the actual computer office folks, inquiring as to where the router for the building is located. Of course they had not yet returned his call. As near as we can tell, my computer is still connected to the router, as it thinks it is still on the network, but alas, the router seems to be disconnected from the actual 'information superhighway'. Due to the random nature of the shutoff time, it seems likely that someone is shutting it off, either purposely or inadvertently. Hopefully Jens can find out where this critical router is located and we can get to the bottom of this soon!

I did make my way to the Main for a run yesterday. I am not sure how far I went, but I headed south, crossed the river and then ran west. At 30 minutes on my watch I turned around and returned home. My knee wasn't too bad, but it did begin hurting a little around 50 minutes. I am trying to be careful about not taxing it, so I will wait until tomorrow to go again.

Last night I met Fabian and Almut and some friends of theirs in Old Frankfurt for dinner at a German pub. This part of Frankfurt is rather upscale with trendy boutiques and posh restaurants. As I mentioned earlier, applewine or ebbelwoi, is the local speciality and most of the pubs serve it. Pubs with a wreath hanging outside are establishments that make their own applewine. For many of them, once you enter the door on the street you find yourself in a covered passageway that leads to a small open air courtyard filled with tables. During the better weather this is clearly the area to be, but last night in the drizzle we went inside. Here, like the outdoor area, the room was filled with long tables and benches. It is German custom to fill the tables, with multiple parties sitting together at the same table. We were seated at the end of a table currently being used by three older Frankfurt women and partway through out meal, two older men were seated between us and the women at the end. Once seated we order some applewine. It is brought in a large container called a bembel. These clay pitcher are found all over Frankfurt, they are gray with a blue design on the outside. Many establishments have decorative bembels hanging outside to indicate that they serve the local beverage. Similarly, there is a traditional glass in which to drink applewine, it is called a gerippte. These small glasses have a distinctive pattern, sort of a cross-hatching, on the outside. The pattern goes up to within an inch or so of the top of the glass. According to Jaques you are to pour the applewine up to that line and then put a dash of water on the top. So, the applewine comes to the table in the large bembel and we are brought glasses and a bottle of water with some bubbles. The taste of applewine is a bit like apple juice gone bad, and I suppose that is essentially what it is. I must admit, I do find it rather refreshing.

We then turned our attention to the menu for dinner selections. Everyone was thrilled to see that the pub offered an appetizer of the three local Frankfurt food delicacies; grune sauce mit ei (green sauce with egg), tafelspitz (soft beef) and handkase mit musik (cheese with onions). Needless to say, this was the first thing we ordered. I will say that I did try all three samples and I wish I had a camera to show the handkase! This is the low-fat cheese covered with onions, oil/vinegar, carroway seeds and salt and pepper. One eats this by taking a knife, NOT a fork, and spreading a bit of the cheese and onion mixture on brown bread covered with a thin layer of butter. Sounds good, no? I think that best that I can say for this one is that I didn't hate it. I actually had a second bite, but I will admit that is where I stopped. I am thinking that handkase must be a acquired taste. The other two dishes were much better- the green sauce is a mixture of fresh herbs and yogurt and it is served with hard boiled eggs. My main course, schnitzel, also came with green sauce on the side and I did enjoy it with the pork also.

We spent the evening at the pub. It took us a while to finish the bembel of applewine. As the night progressed, the pub filled quickly, with many groups coming in. There was a large party celebrating someone's birthday and a women with a HUGE dog. The dog feel asleep under one of the tables and I didn't see it again before we left. It was a fun evening, and we plan to do it again when the weather improves and we can sit outside under the trees.