tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90218774881838724732011-11-28T01:59:47.220+01:00Between the Alps and the Chesapeake BayWhere food and culture intersectAbout Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-3313033511539548592010-06-27T11:06:00.074+02:002010-06-27T19:39:54.873+02:00The Charms of Suggestive, Deceptive BeautyI woke up Saturday morning to the sun shining through my window of opportunity—and I decided to grab my chance. Just possibly, this long-desired, rain-free day might coincide with the wild orchids blossoming along the path to the Elmauer Alm, a mountain meadow not far from Garmisch.Shortly before 11 a.m., the local bus dropped me off in Klais, a tiny village 20 minutes east of About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-76596825869106276662009-07-25T13:57:00.020+02:002009-07-25T16:53:05.543+02:00The Best Medicine? Laughter, Of Course!Crossing the bridge over the Partnach, the river that separates Garmisch from Partenkirchen, a thought crossed my mind: the threats and crises that we face, while different from those of earlier centuries, are no more serious than those problems of the 16th—or any other—century. Maybe there are even a few lessons we could learn from the way people coped.During the 1500 and 1600s in the WerdenfelsAbout Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-76707052584702785362009-06-23T12:17:00.028+02:002009-06-24T13:40:41.765+02:00Oberammergau Prepares Once Again to Honor 400 Year-old PledgeIn Bavaria, home of a world-famous sudsfest every September, preparations are well under way for another, less raucous event. In 2010, the Oberammergau Passion Play, first performed in 1634 in the small mountain town an hour’s drive south of Munich, will once more draw visitors from around the world to an unforgettable theatrical experience rooted in a southern German tradition of bringing the About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-23589074441999502962008-10-17T22:01:00.033+02:002008-10-18T12:22:07.237+02:00The Food CalendarThe Bavarian calendar seems to be calibrated more by food than by the ancient designations of the months: Starkbierzeit (strong beer time) ushers in the year with the higher-alcohol beers that eased the way through the strenuous Lenten dietary restrictions. Then, along with the first greening of spring comes Baerlauchzeit (wild garlic time), closely followed by Spargelzeit (asparagus time) and About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-78172763013425814092008-09-23T21:12:00.013+02:002008-09-28T19:50:41.045+02:00There Went the Sun!Listening to BBC early yesterday morning, I was jerked awake quite rudely when I heard the announcer talking about the sun crossing the equator, thus officially beginning autumn. Autumn? Where did summer go? Were those three or four sunny days several weeks ago our summer? And there is still so much that I wanted to write about for the blog—about the midsummer’s eve celebrations with the fires About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-89905129054768304612008-09-01T20:01:00.020+02:002008-09-02T07:30:04.499+02:00Oman in Garmisch20 JuneOn my way to the grocery store to buy milk for the weekend, I noticed a sign announcing a concert for this evening by a military band from Oman. A musical program in the park is not unusual—on almost every evening during the summer, some sort of concert is scheduled there: perhaps it’s the local brass band performing Bavarian music or an orchestra playing light classical melodies or Big About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-296833231501289292008-07-29T10:12:00.032+02:002008-12-09T18:35:35.857+01:00Munich: Happy 850th!June 14Munich is a city that knows how to celebrate. When it comes to planning an 850th birthday party, here’s a city with plenty of history to provide a focus and plenty of past experiences hosting huge events: think no further than the annual production of Oktoberfest! It’s no surprise then, that over the course of this summer, Munich has set aside three weekends to celebrate the anniversary ofAbout Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-13990583397482468142008-07-02T11:20:00.022+02:002008-12-09T18:35:37.193+01:00It's Spring . . . Somewhere!7 June I got up before the birds began their chorus this morning. Snug under my feather comforter, I opened my eyes to a leaden sky and a fine, penetrating rain and suspected the still-snoozing birds were smarter than I. But I had a schedule to keep and by 8 a.m., I was on one of the local buses, heading to Glentleiten, a folk life museum of Oberbayern, the Bavarian administrative district which About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-89395733593583928992008-06-28T15:12:00.020+02:002008-12-09T18:35:37.518+01:00Gathering the Daily Food5 June The end of the week is in sight, a signal that I must restock the refrigerator and pantry. Adherence to this weekly routine helps me to avoid waking on Sunday morning and realizing the main ingredient for the evening’s dinner is not in the refrigerator. If that happens here, you’re out of luck—almost every shop in town is shuttered until Monday morning. If I am missing an essential About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-57704746029609475122008-06-24T16:58:00.014+02:002008-12-09T18:35:37.902+01:00Sandstorms and Asparagus29 MayWe're in the midst of a sandstorm from the Sahara. The southern winds on which the sand is hitching a ride have brought very warm, humid weather--it's in the upper 80s during the day, very warm for here, although the nights are cool enough to use a feather comforter. Yesterday I mistook the sand for a haze and hoped we might have rain that would bring cooler weather, but instead I just haveAbout Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-33470883191349211442008-06-24T09:59:00.016+02:002008-12-09T18:35:38.074+01:00Leaving Home, Coming Home26 MayLynne dropped me off at Dulles Airport with plenty of time to spare. I checked in at Lufthansa, managed to negotiate my way through security, then settled down with Three Cups of Tea and a sandwich of Virginia smoked ham I had bought at Washington’s Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Good thing I had the sandwich—which was substantial—to sustain me through the next two meals of airline food.About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021877488183872473.post-76550547131090051942008-06-22T13:00:00.009+02:002008-12-09T18:35:38.289+01:00In the BeginningGruess Gott! In southern Germany and Austria, local people will greet you with these words. If you say "Gruess Gott" in return, you may not be local bred, but people will know you’re working on your qualifications! I’ve been working on mine since 1971, when I first set foot in Germany. On 2 September 1971, I arrived in Bavaria to spend my junior year at the University of Munich. I was smitten About Margiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05979511211386083453noreply@blogger.com0