Hello from the hamlet of Lutzenberg, Switzerland. We’ve just arrived for the first leg of our “Around the World in 86 days” extravaganza. Having spent much of the past 6 months carefully crafting and refining the most challenging adventure yet, I am delighted and relieved to just start! My intention is to write more regularly (and less lengthily) so you can come along for the ride. You’ve never heard of Lutzenberg. Neither had I. But the location, at the crossroads (or cross-lake, more accurately) of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can’t be beat. Nor can the view from our oversized terrace facing Lake Constance, known here as Bodensee. If we look to the right, we see Austria. If we look straight across the lake, we see Germany. Meanwhile, “home” is in the bucolic canton of Appenzell in Switzerland. To give an example of how this four country thing comes into play,…
Have you ever wondered what might have happened if only you had made a different decision? A few weeks ago, I tumbled headfirst into That Place and while…
“Man muss die Feste feiern wie sie fallen”. This reminder, one of my mom’s many hand-me-down German expressions, was reverberating in my mind as the cursor hovered over the…
Red Clogs here, reporting in from Lower Saxony (Hannover, Germany) this Sunday morning. It’s raining lightly, the rowers are gliding (seemingly) effortlessly across the tree-encircled Masch lake, and the ducks are having it out with another. Should they stay on the right side with the yellow benches or should they swim out to the middle? Decision reached. They swim to the middle, quacking noisily. It’s the perfect backdrop for reflection; something I’ve had ample opportunity to do these past 2 weeks as I make my way across the autobahns and backroads of Switzerland and Germany. 19 days, 1200 miles in a rented VW Passat, 55 meals and just, ummm… me. “Wow, you’re brave”, “I could never do that”, “Really? You’re all alone?” were some of the comments I heard when explaining my planned trip. And it’s not without reason. Given the virus, the changing CDC guidelines (level 3 became level…
“Hey”, I say. “Well…hello…” “Sorry”, I mumble. “I WAS beginning to wonder,” comes the reply. “Everything ok?” “Well….” I venture, “not really. I haven’t been to a grocery…
It all started with a fairly innocuous question. “Hey Dad, what do you want to do for your birthday this year?” His answer – “go to Japan” -…
Hello Red Clog Readers, I’ve been thinking an awful lot about you – you who share in my adventures both around the world and in my home kitchen. I hope everyone is staying healthy and finding the silver lining in this imposed down time. I’m listening to the birds, looking at the flowers, organizing years of scattered recipe clippings and cooking up a storm. For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to tell you about a cherry blossom trip to Japan that took place exactly one year ago this week. I will do it, very soon. But for today, I find it easier to reflect briefly on a more recent trip and to spend my remaining energy in the kitchen. As many of you are aware, Bruce and I spent January 2020 circumnavigating the globe. 32,000 miles, 18 flights, 8 countries, 14 cities. We dodged Coronavirus in Vietnam – not…
After four visits to Berlin, three over the past seven years and one when the city was famously divided into East and West, I’m still no expert on…
I have a list of favorite German words. Some, like “Sauerstoff,” “Pfifferling”, “Aschenbecher,” “Schmetterling,” and “Schornsteinfeger”…well, I just like the sound of them. (They mean oxygen, a type…
I know, I know. You assumed that the next time you heard from the Red Clogger, she would regale you with interesting tidbits about the month and a half she spent in Europe recently: 6 weeks, 7 countries, a veritable tapestry of sublime experiences and succulent tastes. You’re absolutely right to assume such a thing. And we will get to that. But I’m just back from Texas and it’s high time to settle a score from 32 years ago. Let me come clean right off the bat. I’ve never much liked Texas. My first foray was on a family (mom, dad, me) cross-country trip in the back seat of a rental car. I was 13 — an age that really doesn’t go smoothly for anyone involved. What were my impressions of Texas? Well, we very nearly ran out of gas as we traversed the panhandle around Amarillo. We racked…