photos

This insect hotel is more like Bates Motel.

This is exciting - Nuremberg playing Fürth. Unfortunately Nuremberg have been playing better recently (I mean better than they were). Still, it would be shameful for a first-division team to be beaten by a second-division one.

LATER NOTE: Perhaps I should take back the word 'shameful'. Didn't mean to be rude.

At the Fürth Altstadtweihnachtsmarkt (posted with permission).

Suddenly a range of spices have become easier to find. This would have been the place to get mace for my pork pies a few weeks ago.

Speculatius-Gewürz speculatius spice
Lebkuchen-Gewürz Lebkuchen spice
Nelken cloves
Muskatblüte/Macis mace
Anis anise (probably star anise)
Pottasche potassium carbonate
Hirschhornsalz hartshorn, ammonium carbonate
Kardamom cardamom

The misleadingly named London Eats blog has something about Hirschhornsalz here:

Biscuits made, I did a little research on this stinky but effective raising agent. Ammonium carbonate was originally known by the more poetic name salt of hartshorn, and was apparently derived from the horns of the male red deer (!). If you’re worried this might be cruel, I’m happy to note the antlers appear in the spring and are naturally shed each year, and in any event, these days you buy the chemical powder in stores. It inevitably features in German and Nordic baking, given that these are the areas in which the red deer might be found wandering in the forest, and in a lot of recipes, nothing else will really do if you want the requisite lightness. If you’re a curious Londoner, and don’t have deer roaming in the back garden, then you can buy it here.

It sounds as if those two raising agents both work well for dry biscuits (in the US sense of cookies). I found a comparison of raising agents by David Manthey. He made biscuits (in the UK sense of scones) as follows:

Unleavened
Baking soda
Baking soda with vinegar
Baking powder
Bakers' ammonia
Potassium bicarbonate
Home-made potash
Home-made potash with vinegar
Active dry yeast
Sourdough starter

Since hartshorn (bakers' ammonia) and potash are not recommended for soft cakes, it is not surprising that baking powder came off best.

About.com on German language has some Christmas recipes in both languages for more information

Appropriate for the date, but I think I've seen a better one of these in Barcelona.



Meanwhile, the Rathaus is lit up for Christmas. I wonder about the very bright window surround - did they run out of the new dim EU bulbs, or did they forget?

I was excited to see this green public transport ticket machine. The last one was carefully painted bronze by restorers. One hopes the city council haven't got enough money to desecrate this one. For the restoring, see this earlier photo. The peculiar oval rubbish bins have been rebronzed.



This is a new machine, of course. They now accept credit cards, where previously they were trying to get people to have a particular kind of paycard called Geldkarte.



I am intrigued by the possibility of using headphones when using it. But it's probably for the people using braille.



My excitement waned slightly when I read a brochure explaining the new ticket fare system. I put it aside to read another time. I am dreading its being translated into English. The VGN website has not updated the English page (which gives the impression that you have to be unmarried to use a TagesTicket Solo:

Getting around on your own

Singles will find the "TagesTicket Solo" indispensable. For only 4,20 € you can enjoy whole-day travel in Nürnberg-Fürth-Stein.

Purchase of a ticket on Saturday qualifies you for free Sunday-travel as well. This means that you enjoy additional free travel on Sunday without paying one cent extra.

This is one of those times of year when Germans say everything should be besinnlich (thoughtful, contemplative, peaceful). It goes right up to December 24. Some excitement is allowed on December 25 and 26, then comes the time zwischen den Jahren (between the years) when it all goes besinnlich again. On December 31, however, you can buy fireworks and terrify the neighbourhood - rockets shot horizontally from first-floor balconies are the worst. It occurs to me that the violence of Silvester may directly result from too much Besinnlichkeit beforehand.



I don't usually experience the four Advent Sundays, where first one candle, then two, three and finally four are lit on the Advent wreath, but now I can. Yesterday I was queueing for a long time (is there any other) in the post office, to return a Philips radio alarm clock which doesn't work with your iPod Touch if it's in its case, when I was able to snaffle these four LED teawarmer lights, with a flickering effect. Price only 2.99 euros. I admit that my copy of Romain needs a bit of repair.