Devil in a Blue Dress, uh hum, Kilt

JWise Photo of the Day

Dawn and Ian Gordon on their wedding day

Not long ago I mentioned a guy who gifted Caroline and me a sign from a military installation in Germany. Shortly after posting that I was finally able to find a phone number for him after thinking we had lost all contact. And now, Ian Gordon has sent me a relatively current photo of himself, seen here, with his bride – Gayle. I have a more recent photo where Ian has shorn his locks for a more “conventional” look but with only so much space to post photos, I felt posting this one highlighting his knees was more dramatic. Don’t worry Ian, I won’t share any of our old photos from our midnight trip to Amsterdam where you wore little more than that famous leopard-print silk thong, some skin-tight mini bike shorts, and that hot spandex muscle-T emblazoned with “Rock Hard Love” across the front – yowza man, that was some trip.

Visiting the Silvas

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Maria Guadalupe Madera and Bacilio Avila on their wedding day as painted by Maria Ines-Torres

Caroline and I finally made the drive down to Tucson, Arizona, today to visit the Silvas (Arturo, Guadalupe, Melissa, and Sophia) – although we were late, as usual. This photo of the day is of a painting inspired by a photograph from the wedding of Guadalupe’s parents. On the left is Maria Guadalupe Madera, and on the right is her husband, Bacilio Avila. These two were married in 1949 and are now retired, living in Nogales, Mexico, still a couple 57 years and ten children later. The painting was done in 1995 by Arturo’s mother, Maria Inés Torres, herself from a family of 13 children. Guadalupe prepared a great lunch that was so filling it acted as dinner, too. We brought down the Stollen and a couple of Advents Calendars for the girls while Guadalupe, Sophia, and Melissa gave Caroline a great gift of frog earrings.

Stollen

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

German Stollen, a Christmas treat available freshly made in Phoenix, Arizona

If you were in Germany this Christmas holiday season, you would more than likely try this seasonal favorite since around 1450 known as Stollen. Stollen is a bread-like fruitcake topped with powdered sugar and if you choose the marzipan version, there is a thick ribbon of the almond paste running the length of the Stollen. The best thing about this particular Stollen is that we did not have to go to Deutschland to fetch one; it is homemade right here in the desert at the local German store called Old Heidelberg Bakery, located at 2210 E. Indian School Road. This small but wonderful shop co-owned by two sisters offers up a full range of holiday sweets, spicy mustard (senf), jams and marmalades, sauce mixes to make Jaeger Schnitzel and Sauerbraten, almond horns, laugenbrotchen, German-style bread, meats, quark, Duplo and Kinder Eggs. Having a German bakery in Phoenix, Arizona is certainly a luxury that makes living here just a bit better – thanks, Heidelberg.

Long Wong’s

JWise Photo of the Day

The inside of Long Wong's restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona

While Caroline was having her biometrics taken for renewal of her Resident Alien card, I went over to Long Wongs for some Buffalo Hot Wings. This old joint is at 2812 E. Thomas Road in Phoenix and while not the same cool factor as the place that used to be on Mill Avenue in Tempe, where live music was a huge draw, this funky little corner still offers better grub than the multitude of generic franchises where the majority of the clones prefer to eat. I can’t stop in at Long Wongs without thinking of an old friend, Dion Terry who could probably live on these wings.

Sauerkraut

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

A crock of Sauerkraut being prepared

In my ongoing attempt to wrest control of the products that come into my life so that I should know how things are created, prepared, fashioned, tooled, finished, grown, or otherwise brought to market for my convenience, I am making sauerkraut. Fermented foods have a long history dating back approximately 9,000 years. Sauerkraut or Sour Cabbage, though associated with the Germans (Sour Krauts – hehe), was invented by the Chinese over 2,000 years ago. Gengis Kahn is thought to have brought the fermented dish to Europe a thousand years later.

Our Harsch 10-liter crock is made just for this fermentation job in Germany and costs about $125. I picked up 18 pounds (8kg) of organic cabbage, shredded it on a mandolin, and with about 4 tablespoons (55g) of sea salt, I packed the cabbage tightly into the crock, covered it with the supplied stone weight, put the lid on the crock filling the groove with water to seal and protect the cabbage on its 6-week journey of fermentation before it can be called sauerkraut.