Halloween at Castle Frankenstein

We orginally wanted to drive ourselves but, the tickets were sold out except for the USO

VIP Tour.  We boarded the USO bus on base and headed off with the other

brave souls to attend Haunted Halloween at Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt

on October 31st.

They say it was the Americans stationed in Darmstadt, who came up with the idea of a

"Fright Night" at the ruins of the very old castle.  Arguably, you couldn't ask for a more dramatic backdrop then this castle whose history includes a man named J. Konrad Dippel who  thought he could create an "elixir of life" by reducing animal parts and some say he did experiments on humans.  Whatever he did do, his gruesome experiments led to the town people

driving him away from the town.

We found the gates to the "haunted" area did not open until

8:00 so we headed over for our VIP Buffet at the Castle restaurant with the rest of our group.

The salad selection was amazing and tasted fab.  We didn't get the pictures of the other

courses, but it included pumpkin soup, pork, melt in your mouth beef,

a curry and rice and lovely veg.

There was an assortment of yummy dessert items.

This buffet was worth the money paid, folks.

The restaurant even had fun touches.  Here's a big hairy spider holding back their curtain.

This couple got our vote for best costumes in our group!

We headed out amongst the crowd waiting for the gates to open at 8 pm.

Once into the "Haunted" area we came across ugly trolls, zombies, deranged men and women.

Why don't I just let the pictures tell the story for us?

The monster dance on stage!

Poor old mac was choked by a monster and thrown into a casket

by a zombie!  He didn't mind though...should that worry me?

I was terrorized by this goul!

An evening of totally "frightening" fun.

Frankenstein bade us goodbye and said,

"Tell your friends to come back next Halloween, I'm DYING to meet them.

Mhhhhaaa hhaaaaa!"

USO Asian Cooking Course

Those of you who know me well, KNOW that I love to cook.

The kitchen is my favorite place in the house.

My goal living in Europe again, is to take as many cooking courses as I can.

I picked up the USO Kiosk magazine and discovered

an Asian cooking course on offer.  I'd never taken a cooking course with the USO

but thought, "Why not?"

I am so glad that I did!

Our teacher for the day Cecile was from the Philippines.

She taught us how to make pork egg rolls.

She had precut the ingredients to save time and

combined them in front of us in the USO kitchen.

She then showed us how to place the mixture on the egg roll

shell and

how to carefully roll the mixture up.

She finished by sealing with egg mixture.

That was the glue to hold the roll shut.

We all got "stuck in" and had great fun rolling

our egg rolls.

Cecile even gave us a bonus lesson in banana rolls.

She sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon over the banana

and rolled it the same way as our pork egg rolls.

Cecile then fried the egg rolls in about three cups of

Cannola oil.

Here she explains the technique!

The finished product!

OH MY, were they good!

I didn't want to give out Cecile's recipe, because people

paid a nominal fee for her course but, if you want to try

your hand at homemade egg rolls, you will find the

Lumpia wrappers in the frozen section at the commissary, near the frozen pizza.

On the back you'll find a pork roll recipe that is quite similar to

Cecile's recipe. If you don't have access to a commissary,

I'm told that any Asian market will have what you are looking for.

Last night I made these for Mac and he "raved on" about how good they were.

He gives them three thumbs up and says, "Give it a try, they were even better than the ones I've  had in restaurants!"

Marienhof, Flemlingen, Germany

If you want the best tips on excellent places to go in Germany,

always ask a local.

 We asked our friend Helmut where we should go that was pretty, interesting and

had good Neuer wine and Zwiebelkuchen.

This is the time of year for this yummy treat in Germany.

 Zwiebelkuchen is part of the autumn tradition in the Black Forest/Rheinland Pfalz area of the Germany. This onion tart was the very German food I sampled when we moved to Germany in September 1996. Our landlady made a divine Zwiebelkuchen to welcome us. It's similar to a quiche and besides the onions it also sometimes contains ham and sour cream.

Helmut told us we'd find what we were after at Flemlingen's Marienhof .

He said if you choose to sit on the terrace outside you enjoy a lovely view of the  mountains and the vineyards.

If you choose to sit inside the restaurant, you'll find it's honeycombed with interesting and

charming little rooms.

We loved walking through and seeing the different rooms.

It was hard to make a choice of where we wanted to sit and eat.

They even offer a playroom for children in a special little alcove.

I ordered up my Zwiebelkuchen and Neuer Wine.

New Wine is just that, new young wine, it's a bit sweet and not very alcoholic. 

It goes well with the onion tart.

It tasted wonderful and as always,

the first bite makes me wax nostalgic about our first four wonderful years in Germany.

Mac had the beef in a Spätburgunder wine sauce with

potato knödel. He said it was excellent.

This restaurant serves many of the typical

dishes from the Rheinland-Palatinate region as well, as being a

Winery. 

They even had their own song written in 1968 about wine from

Flemlingen up on one of the restaurant walls.

Mac says he gives this place a thumbs up.  Sorry I can't take his picture with his normal thumbs up,

he's busy wandering through the vineyard singing his new song!

Here's the info you will need.

Marienhof- Sylvia and Georg Minges

Bachstrasse 16

D-76835  Flemlingen

www.weingut-marienhof.de

Thai RAINBOW GARDEN, Böblingen

Mac knows how much I enjoy Thai food and

he found a real treat for me.

Set in this unobtrusive building near Panzer,

you'll find a lovely surprise.

This delightful little restaurant, decorated in bamboo

gives the impression, you've wandered into a tropical hut

in Thailand.

We shared an appetizer of

Mag Kea Yeat Sai

This was a deep-fried eggplant (aubergine for you Brits)

stuffed with prawn (shrimp).

It was served with a sweet and sour sauce.

Number 5 on the menu.

We thought this was very good.

Mac had the Ped Pad Kimau.

This is  a spicy dish of stir-fried duck

with bamboo shoots, green beans and Thai vegetables.

Number 46 on the menu.

If you like spicy, this was excellent!

Being the curry lover I am, I opted for the

Gang Kiow Wan Ped

This was a stir-fried duck served in coconut milk, green curry paste with vegetables.

Number 47 on the menu.

I've never had a green curry I didn't like, it was wonderful.

We enjoyed the nice touch of the warm towels after our meal.

Deciding to share a dessert, we threw caution to the wind and tried something that sounded a bit strange.  It was a warm concoction of coconut milk with what we thought was

tapioca and corn.

Yes, CORN.  It didn't taste bad at all and while I wouldn't order it again

Mac was quite taken with this.  I am sorry I didn't get the name of it.

They even have this back room that seats 60 for larger functions.

Mac gives Thai Rainbow Garden two thumbs up and says to tell you,

We found the restaurant child-friendly.  The owners and wait staff are

polite, friendly, attentive and speak excellent English.

If you like Thai food, don't miss this restaurant

located at Postplatz 8

Böblingen, Germany

71032