Amanda Arrives

Amanda arrived on May 10. (o.k.....I know I am three weeks behind here. I am truly trying to catch up.) She will be staying until June 9. Stay tuned for more updates of our time and travels with Amanda.

La Saison d'Asperge: Black Forest Edition

One Saturday in early May, Theresa, Gabi, and I went for a drive into Germany to check out cuckoo clocks in the Black Forest. Along the way, we stopped for lunch near the village of Gutach at a roadside Gasthoff.

The waitress did not speak much English and was having trouble explaining why she brought two different menus. One "normal"and one "spargel". A very nice German lady who spoke perfect English came up and told us that the second menu was for the "spargel", or asparagus season. Seems that the white asparagus is enjoyed on both sides of the river.

Our English-speaking-angel walked us through the menu and explained the different choices. One of the things she highly recommended was the "Bärlauch Suppe". She couldn't translate it...but described it as "a soup made from a little plant that grows wild in the forest on the mountains and is only found during this time of year and it tastes like garlic only not as strong and better." With an explanation like that, how could anyone pass it by?

Turns out the little plant is Bear's Garlic, which I had never heard of before. The German word - Bärlauch - is a literal translation. In French it is the same - l'ail des ours. There were about three weeks that we could find it in the farmer's markets and then it disappeared. Again, if you mentioned it to the locals their eyes would glaze over and they would give you 10 different recipes for it; from soup to pasta to steak.

Anyway, in the little gasthoff near Gutach the asparagus was excellent and served with either a hollandaise sauce or garlic butter. Instead of ham, the menu offered schnitzel or beef or salmon to accompany it. I had the pork schnitzel. This was very good. With the bärlauch suppe, I thought it could get no better.

Then came dessert. What else to have in the Black Forest but the Schwartzwalderkirschtorte....Black Forest Cake. The opening picture shows a slice of heaven. Dark chocolate cake, spiked with cherry brandy and cherry preserves, and then sandwiched between layers of whipped cream. I drool now whenever I think of it.

Two final comments:

First, the word "schwartzwalderkirschtorte" is an example of the German ability to make a hideously long word by gluing several other words together. I will never understand German. I weep when I hear it spoken.

Second, the cherries in this cake remind me of the sour cherries from the tree near the chicken coop on Grandma Weber's farm many years ago. Not Bing cherries but the tart kind that wake up your taste buds and make your toes curl. There are huge orchards of these cherry trees near Oberkirch, just East of Strasbourg. In springtime, the blooms go on for kilometers. Later in the summer, these blooms become cherries that end up in preserves or, more likely, in cherry wine. Much of that wine is fermented and distilled to make cherry brandy. (a.k.a. kirschwasser or kirsch schnapps).

Kirsch is the quintessential drink of the Black Forest in Germany and also of the Vosges mountains in France. They say that the woodcutters used to drink a tall glass of kirsch schnapps for breakfast each morning before going out to work all day in the winter cold. And I believe this is true because people have told me of memories of their fathers and grandfathers doing such things. In this day and age, one can't exactly pound down a double-cocktail before work in the morning. Me, I'd settle for a slice of the Black Forest Cake to start each day.

La Saison d'Asperge

May is the season of Asparagus in the valley of the Rhine river. In the weeks of late April, the natives begin to get a gleam in their eye and predict when the first sprouts will become available. Then, all of a sudden, the asparagus is everywhere. In the farmers markets, in the supermarkets, and in roadside stands. The employee services group even takes orders for delivery straight to the office.

This is not your common green asparagus. Rather, it is white or shades of pink. Seems that as the aparagus begins to sprout, the farmers mound dirt around it to prevent it from seeing the sunlight. The asparagus grows a bit more to reach the sun and the farmers pile a little more dirt to cheat it of it's goal. They continue this dance until the sprouts are 6 to 8 inches long and then the farmers harvest the asparagus, much like harvesting potatos I guess.

Seems that the lack of sunlight prevents the plants from turning green....kind of like a cauliflower. The result is a spear of white asparagus that is much milder in taste then the green variety. The locals seem to prefer this mild flavor. At any rate, you can see acres of asparagus being grown in the country side. Or more precisely, you can see the mounds of dirt or plastic over what is being grown.

Theresa and I were lucky enough to be invited to Bernard and Gabrielle Raulin's home for dinner one night. (Actually, this was the Sunday that Theresa returned from her Italian adventure.) The meal was a gourmand's dream. Boiled asparagus, sauce, and ham. And, of course, white wine.

Now, prior to coming to France I thought that gourmet meant a recipe that was complex with a million different ingredients and spices. In truth, the best food is normally just a few simple ingredients and is relatively easy to prepare. The secret is to find the perfect ingredients. Gabrielle did just that: White asparagus fresh from the farm, peeled and boiled to tenderness. A country ham from the village butcher. The sauce was a home-made mayonaise made by beating egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, and oil. To keep the sauce light, the left-over egg whites were beaten to a foam and then mixed with the mayonaise to make the final sauce.

Picture above is Gabrielle bringing the main course in from the kitchen. Picture below is the final product, ready to eat.

Springtime in Alsace

Spring comes to Alsace like a patio and garden show. Every tree seems to burst into bloom and every January dirt-heap becomes a flower bed in May.

For an allergy sufferer, springtime must be purgatory. The pollen is so thick in the air that it settles on flat surfaces overnight. In the mornings, I've had to turn on my wipers to kick off the yellow coating on the windshield of the VW. When it rains (and it rains a lot this year) the puddles are coated with a yellow froth of pollen. The trees, I believe, are mostly to blame for this.

The intro picture is the view from the Place de Republic looking toward the cathedral. Theresa and I are kicking ourselves because we failed to get a picture when the magnolia trees were blooming. For several days, the trees here were glorious. Then, a storm blew in one night and the next day all the blooms were matted on the ground. C'est la vie. Gather ye magnolia buds while ye may.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: End of the Road

After a week of touring the Italian peninsula and Sicily, the big adventure finally came to an end. In the process, Theresa and Gabi put countless kilometers on their rented 4-door Smart Car. They had come to know the adventure of driving in Italy and survived to tell the tale. One last Margarita on the final night and then up the next morning to catch the flight back to Strasbourg. For Theresa, at least. Gabi was on her way to Budapest to meet up with old friends Veronica Uribe (from Mexico) and Linda Edmond (from UK).

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: Taormina

Taormina was another stop on the tour of lost civilizations of Sicily. However, it deserves it's own separate, posting because of it's view of Mount Etna. If it were not for Etna, crossword puzzles would probably not be possible. Double click on the picture above to download a bigger view.

Taormina is a mix of ancient, old, middle-aged, and new. Enjoy the pictures.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: Lost Civilizations of Sicily

Sicily is like an old car that has passed through numerous owners....each of whom left her share of scratches and dents. The Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, and Spanish are amongn the notables that paraded onto and off of the island. Heaven knows how many others have been there before and between those times.

Villa Romana del Casale sports the best concentration of Roman mosaics in a single place.
Agrigento looks to be closer to Athens than it does to Rome.
At least eight states in the USA have a town named Syracuse. The original, in Sicily, gets much less snow than Syracuse, New York. The history goes back a bit farther too.

Of course, modern cities have grown over the bones of these old ones. For example, the following are from the cities of Cefalu and Catania, which Gabi and Theresa visited as they hopped across the island.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: Sorrento

Gabi and Theresa agree on one thing. If visiting the area of Pompeii, then stay in Sorrento and not Naples. Naples is the Detroit of southern Italy. Sorrento is posh by comparison. It is a city where people vacation. Naples is a city where they work.

Mount Vesuvius, the killer of Pompeii and Herculaneum, hovers over Sorrento's horizon on a clear day. (As shown by the intro picture.) The semi-tropical climate makes the area a garden of palm trees and lemon groves. Not suprisingly, the most popular export of Sorrento is Limoncello ...the after-dinner drink that is the mark of a true Italian restaurant.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: The Isle of Capri

Capri is an island off the coast of Naples. It's most famous gift to the world, of course, is Capri pants. (Actually, I have no idea if the pants come from there.). Other than that, Capri is known for jaw-dropping scenery and villages hanging from the mountainsides. In the world of synonyms and antonyms....Capri must be the antonym of Indiana.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: Herculaneum

Herculaneum is that "other city" that was wiped out at the same time as Pompeii. The two cities are the subject of Theresa's favorite episode on the Discovery Channel. Of course, on TV they re-enact the last days of the fated citizenry with great drama. One of the most heart-rending locations is at Herculaneum's docks, where hundreds of people met their doom hiding amidst the arcade - essentially boiled to death by pyroclastic flows from Vesuvius.

Theresa tells me that Herculaneum is much less excavated than Pompeii - owing to the fact that it is encased in a much harder rock crust than the ash layer that buried Pompeii. Despite the destruction, the city's remains suggest that this must have been a prime location for the real estate marketers. Nothing like a little villa in the suburbs of Rome.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure: Pompeii

In 79 AD, the ciy of Pompeii was buried by the volcano Vesuvius. Since then, it has inspired movies, and books, and more movies (with Steve Reeves, even !!).

Theresa has always been enchanted by the story of the city that vanished overnight. So, day 1 of her trip with Gabi was to fly to Naples. (If I say nothing of Naples in this post, it is because they had nothing nice to say about this blue collar city where everyone is hustling someone.). Day 2 was to make the short trip from Naples to Pompeii. It turned out to be everything that Theresa had hoped, and more.

They spend the entire day at Pompeii and Theresa shot nearly 400 pictures. Here are just a few.

Gabi and Theresa's Big Adventure

Once we got back to Strasbourg, everyone was looking to get some vacation in before the next big project milestones in June. Joe, Wade, and Patrick went to Egypt. Chris and Jill went to Austria and Czech Republic. Andrea and Tim went to Sicily.

Gabi wanted to go to visit Pompei and Sicily. Since I felt the need to cover the office, Theresa decided to go with Gabi on this grand adventure. She had always wanted to see Pompei and Herculaneum and such and this was the perfect opportunity. Their seven day trip included stop-overs at Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Agrigento, Syracuse, Catania, and Taormina. I won't be able to tell the story as well as Theresa. But I will try over the next few postings.

Bye Bye Frye

If you've been following our story, you know that we took our dog Frye with us to Strasbourg. He is a good little squirt and adapted well to city living. If anything, he really loved the city life and the other dogs he'd meet when we walked him in the park. Also, France is very dog friendly. We were able to take him into most restaurants and bars. This can be a great ice-breaker. If you want to meet people, then take a dog with you.

But, despite all these points of praise, the little runt was a limitation. You can't exactly pick up and travel at a moments notice when you have a dog that wants to go for a walk in the park four times a day whether it's raining, snowing, or the middle of the night.

So, we took Frye with us back to the US and left him with Theresa's cousin Lorri for the remainder of the year. Lorri, bless her always, is a saint with animals and has a big yard and other dogs for Frye to enjoy.

On April 19th we returned to France without Frye. To Theresa, he will aways be her little white loving ball of fur. To me, he will always be my wife's dog.

A Birthday Card to Amanda

Our baby girl Amanda turned 21 on April 18th. Hard to believe. By every measure now she is supposed to be an adult. And I suppose she is. But for Theresa and I, she will always be....

It's impossible to finish that sentence. If you're a parent then either you know the feeling or someday you will.

We had the good luck to be in Indianapolis for the big day. Amanda drove up from Bloomington with her friend Mark. That's them on the left. Then there are Stevee and Jake in the background. Baby Kali is in Theresa's arms. PF Chang's in downtown Indy is the location.

Back to Indy: You Meet the Nicest People While Hiding in the Basement

One more story from Indianapolis. During the week-end of the NCAA finals, on the evening of Sunday April 2, there was a big storm that I mentioned in an earlier post. Several of our group were coming back from the John Mellencamp concert together and decided it would be a good idea to hang out in the basement of the hotel and play some pool until the storm passed.

Anyway, when we arrived there was another couple hanging out down there with their big ol' black dog. Of course, you can't walk past a dog without petting it and you can't ignore the owner while you are petting his dog. We talked a little bit about the weather and the fact that he was in town for the basketball tourney and the fact that he comes to the finals every year. His name, when we finally got around to exchanging names, was Ian Naismith from Kansas City. I said something like "that's a pretty famous family name from that city." To which he said simply..."yep, I'm one of them".

That was about all at that time...I figured he didn't need to have his celebrity taken advantage of while the wind was trying to blow the building down. So I left him and his girlfriend and his dog alone.

A little while later he came up and asked if I wanted to see the official basketball rules. At that point, I made a brilliant deduction that he was the guy that sat at the scorers table with the official rule book in case the referee's needed to look something up. (Figured it was a ceremonial role or something.) Of course, my reasoning was not really very brilliant...as usual.

He said, "no ....the rules...the original rules of basketball". Turned out, he was carrying in a little gold brief case the 13 original rules of basketball that James Naismith typed out in 1891 and posted on the bulletin board of the YMCA in Springfield, Mass. He opened up the case and, sure enough, there under glass was an old piece of paper that had been typed out and then hand corrected in numerous places.

At this point, everyone had to come take a look and we had a nice chat about Ian's grandfather, the charitable foundations that Ian runs, and his work with the NCAA to try to keep the interpretation of the rules from degrading to the point that basketball becomes a game for thugs. Turns out, he comes to the finals every year to display the rules and keep the memory of James Naismith alive.

The intro picture was taken in the basement of the hotel as the storm was fading. Pictured are Ian Naismith (on the right) and Thomas Veith from Strasbourg. Thomas went to college in the US at Memphis and is a genuine basketball nut. He was thrilled, as you can see from the smile on his face.

Back to Indy: Reminders of Alsace and Darker Times

Living in a hotel in downtown Indianapolis for 7 weeks was strange experience. It is a much different city when you live downtown than it is when you commute from 15 miles away. Downtown is clean and friendly and safe at all hours of the night. And one of the pleasant surprises was walking along the canal whenever the mood to walk occurred.

One day when the sun was out I took a walk along the canal past the Indiana History Museum and the Eiteljorg Museum and the IMAX theatre. You can walk all the way to the Indianapolis Zoo and NCAA Headquarters and beyond to the White River.

Along the canal is the Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial. This is a simple little memorial made of steel and glass panels. The glass panels are etched with a record of each of the 3000+ who have received the Medal. The simplicity is what hypnotizes. Each etching bears simply a name and a place. That's all.

I figured that about 5 minutes was all that my interest would be held. This was history - people and places far away in another time. But as I walked from the Civil War section into that for the Second World War, it got to be a little more intriguing. Every 5th or 6th etching bore the name of a city, town, or village that is located in Alsace or the Vosges. Over the past few months I've become used to seeing these names on roadsigns.

The winter of 1944 - 45 must have been a difficult one in Alsace.

Kaysersberg is a beautiful little village nestled in vineyards that is a 45 minute drive from our apartment. We went there for the Christmas markets. Charles P. Murphy was there in 1945, the memorial told me. I know how cold it was in 2005 and shudder to think how cold it was in Kaysersberg back then.

Saint Hippolyte is a pretty little village where we stop to buy wine on the way to the Castle at Haute Konigsberg. Today it's like a corner of Disneyworld. Ellis Weicht was there in December, 1944. The asterisk beside his name on the memorial tells me that he probably never got a chance send pictures of Saint Hippolyte to family at home.

The intro picture shows the engraving for Audie Murphy who was, of course, the most famous person to have received a Medal of Honor in Alsace. He received his near Holtzwihr, which is now pretty much a suburb of Colmar. I have to confess that I stole the intro picture from this website because I didn't have a camera with me on the day I took my walk. Visit the link to learn more about Audie Murphy and the Indianapolis memorial.

Here are some of the others whose time in Alsace (or Vosges) was not as touristic as our stay. Bless them all.

ADAMS, LUCIAN Near St. Die, France, 28 October 1944
BELL, BERNARD P. Mittelwihr, France, 18 December 1944.
BERTOLDO, VITO R. Hatten, France, 9-10 January 1945
*CAREY, CHARLES F., JR. Rimling, France, 8-9 January 1945.
COOLIDGE, CHARLES H. East of Belmont sur Buttant, France, 2427 October 1944
*CRAIN, MORRIS E. Haguenau, France, 13 March 1945
DAHLGREN, EDWARD C. Oberhoffen, France, 11 February 1945
*DELEAU, EMILE, JR. Oberhoffen, France, 12 February 1945.
DUNHAM, RUSSELL E. Near Kayserberg, France, 8 January 1945
HAJIRO, BARNEY F. 19, 22, and 29 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, eastern France
HERRERA, SILVESTRE S. Near Mertzwiller, France, 15 March 1945.
*KANDLE, VICTOR L Near La Forge, France, 9 October 1944.
*KEFURT, GUS Near Bennwihr, France, 2324 December 1944
*KURODA, ROBERT T. 20 October 1944, near Bruyeres, France
MURPHY, AUDIE L. Near Holtzwihr France, 26 January 1945
MURRAY, CHARLES P., JR. Near Kaysersberg, France, 16 December 1944
*NISHIMOTO, JOE M. 7 November 1944, near La Houssiere, France
*PEDEN, FORREST E. Near Biesheim, France, 3 February 1945
SAKATO, GEORGE T. 29 October 1944, on hill 617 in the vicinity of Biffontaine, France
*THOMAS, CHARLES L. 14 December 1944, near Climbach, France
TURNER, GEORGE B. Philippsbourg, France, 3 January 1945.
*VALDEZ, JOSE F. Near Rosenkrantz, France, 25 January 1945
WARE, KEITH L. Near Sigolsheim, France, 26 December 1944
*WEICHT, ELLIS R. St. Hippolyte, France, 3 December 1944.
WHITELEY, ELI Sigolsheim, France, 27 December 1944

You can look up more on each, if you wish, at this site.

Back to Indy: Fast Forward

OK....I'm posting today about stuff that happened two months ago. I need to go fast to catch up. So here you go:

First week of March - Lots of rain, lots of work, and Theresa spends lots of time with grandbaby Kali. Lots of people downtown due to Big 10 basketball finals.

Second week of March - French employees arrive. Lots of cold and rain. Lots of work. Too many late nights going out downtown with vistors. Theresa continues to spend time with baby Kali.

Third week of March - More French employees arive. Lots of snow. Then lots of rain. Then sun. Lots of work. Too many late nights going out downtown with visitors. Lots of people downtown due to Indiana High School finals. By now, you know what Theresa is doing.

Fourth week of March. - Warmer weather. Rain. Maybe this was the week-end of the High School finals...I lose track of time. Too many late nights going out with visitors.

Last week of March & First week-end in April - Gorgeous weather. French guests begin to head back home. NCAA final four week-end in Indianpolis. TONS of people in town. Free concert by John Mellencamp on Sunday was very cool....they blocked off Monument Circle and built a stage for the week-end. Meridian Street was a sea of people. Tornado sirens went off just as concert finished. (Intro picture shows storm damage downtown...which people are still arguing as to whether it was tornado or just high winds.)

First full week of April - Remainder of French leave for home. Too bad because the weather is much better in Indianapolis than Strasbourg.

Second week of April - Work begins to quiet down. Spring in full flourish. Monster storms over the week-end with hail the size of golf balls. (Lucky for us...10 blocks away they were the size of baseballs.)

Third week of April - Greath weather . Amanada's 21st birthday on the 18th. Leave to go back to Strasbourg on the 19th.

So this is what we did over the month or March and April....

Just a couple of closing comments.

Overall, the French visitors were wonderful to spend time with. Though they were glad to get home, it seemed that all enjoyed their visit to Indianpolis as an adventure. For some it was the first visit. Things that they liked included the nighttime entertainment (especially blues music at the Slippery Noodle) and the shopping (several had to buy an extra suitcase to take back their purchases). Things that were very different to them were the roads (bigger cars, bigger roads, perpendicular streets.) and architecture (especially skyscrapers in Chicago) and the flat landscape (they missed the Vosges mountains on the horizon). Things they didn't like...at least what they admitted to...mostly concerned food. Portions in restaurants were much too large and desserts were much too sweet.

Back to Indy

On March 1, Theresa and I flew back to Indianapolis for 7 weeks of hotel living. Without getting too much into the details of work, our project here in France required that we go to Indianapolis for a task known as "Informal Integration Testing" or IIT. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle that has to be passed if we are to finish our project by the end of the year.

In truth, IIT is less of a business trip and more of an invasion. All of the expatriates as well as 40 Lilly France employees descended upon Indianapolis for the month of March. In addition, another 40 or so Lilly folks from Liverpool, UK and Prince William, Virginia had to come to town for the same reason. All were blocked into the Marriott Residence Inn Hotel on the Canal in Indianapolis.

One of the more surreal moments in our lives was coming back to Indianapolis and realizing that we wouldn't be living in our own house. Since we are gone for a year, we had a college student move into our house to look after things. Consequently, Theresa and I had to shack up at the hotel with all the rest of the visitors. The Residence Inn became our home for almost a month and a half.

Introducing Kali Cozette Weber McGraw

Early in the morning on March 1, Theresa and I were getting ready to fly back to Indianapolis for 7 weeks (for a business trip). At that time, we got a call from our son Jake announcing the much-anticipated birth of Kali Cozette Weber McGraw - daughter of Stevee McGraw and Jake. By the magic of time zones, this placed Kali's birthday on February 28. We had the good luck to land in Indy on March 1 and see our granddaughter before she had left the maternity ward.

I have no doubt that miracles occur and have had the blessing to see one in Kali.

Congratulations to Stevee and Jake. I can say no more...everything else is blurred through tears of joy.

Poulet de Bresse

Ok...one final tidbit from our vacation in Provence. Along the way there/back we passed through the area of Bresse - the chicken capital of the universe.

The French have a reputation for being serious about their food and that reputation surely well deserved. I had always thought that French cooking was all about the complexity of the recipes and the preparation. Quite the opposite. It is all about simplicity. In French cooking, good food is as simple as finding the best ingredients. And the best ingredients usually result from a combination of local climate and soil from a specific locale. The French government tries to help it's citizens by providing an exclusive name, or "appelation", to the place where the best stuff comes from. The best sparkling wine in the world comes from "Champagne". The best blue cheese in the world comes from "Roquefort".

Well, now I know that the best chicken in the world comes from Bresse.

The Bresse website, www.pouletbresse.com, is the most complicated website I have ever seen for a chicken. It is all in French, but check it out and you will love the effort that they'be put into this website. Just keep pointing and clicking. Or you can go to the simplified English site Poulet de Bresse (the chicken of Bresse).

The intro photo is the sculpture at the highway rest stop in Bresse.

Man, they do love their chicken. Anybody that traces the history of their chicken from 3200 BC must be taking things very seriously.

Pont du Gard

If you are an engineer and a geek, you gotta see the Pont du Gard. This section of an old Roman aqueduct is about 30 minutes from Avignon. Theresa and I made a stop there on our way back to Strasbourg. (Actually, I made a pilgramage and Theresa just came as a captive.) Click on the link to learn about the history, if you want. Otherwise, I will just leave this as the final note regarding our Provence vacation.