Spätzle und Strudel

Grüezi Dear Reader!

This weekend my mother came to visit me in Konstanz, and we happily munched our way through various different delicacies from the surrounding region.

Our food-fest began with trying Spätzle, which is thought to be a Swabian speciality and comes from the Baden-Wüttemberg Bundesland, which is where I live! It is an alternative carbohydrate source in German cuisine, formed from special noodle dough, and then quite often served with meat. The variety we tried was Käsespätzle, which is the Spätzle mixed with grated cheese (according to wiki, this is usually Emmenthaler). It tasted a lot like fried pasta and is relatively filling.

Next we moved on to Strudel with vanilla sauce, filled with delicious stewed apples, making it an Apfelstrudel, which is one of the most popular versions in the world. Although I acknowledge that this an Austrian speciality rather than a German one, Konstanz once belonged to Austria for over 200 years as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the influence does seem to have carried on here!

Today’s discovery was of a wonderfully quirky café (seriously, they had bird call serenading you in the lavatory) called Das Voglhaus in the Altstadt. Here we sampled Linzertorte – another Austrian traditional cake – which is made from a spiced dough with huge dollops of raspberry jam. Usually the top is a lattice pattern, but as you can see from the picture, this place decided to do it a little differently. The Linzertorte reminded me of Lebkuchen, a Christmas gingerbread here in Germany, and was most delicious. I think I will have to return back for more; just to ensure that each cake comes out the same, of course!

Other than chomping through Konstanz, we also visited the Rosgarten museum, which is filled with middle-age paintings and the history of the town. However, the sheer delight came from a visiting exhibition of hats…First one had to walk along a pathway with a mixture of hats suspended from the ceiling, for people to try on and giggle at. We then went into the main exhibition room to see all the various designs for hats of famous people from around the world – a few of the ladies hats boggle your mind as to what on earth was fashionable at the time! Here are our top three:

Hat Number One is definitely for those of festive spirit! Decorated with tiny Christmas baubles, there will be no need for a Tannenbaum this year...

Hat Number Two is for the man who likes to look good in a fight, but also likes to be seen by the enemy! Well an eagle beats a pigeon for image any day...

Hat Number Three is a natty little number right from the heart of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest), complete with handy padding for falling cuckoo clocks...

In all seriousness though, this is part of the Schwarzwald Tracht - the traditional clothing - for women in the Black Forest. I'm afraid my Dirndl wearing has not yet reached this level of commitment...

This was one last unexpected joy right at the end of the exhibition. I'd have played for hours and hours with it as a little girl, despite the lack of Barbie Pink-tastic-ness!