One of our yearly cake hour events is when we have the traditional Christmas Glühwein. This is the hot spiced wine that is a big treat when trolling around the Christmas markets in the cold weather. This year we made a trip to Germany and visited quite few of the markets in Munich including their pink or LGBT Christmas market. There wasn't much going on there but still it was fun to see.
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| Entrance to the pink market! |
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| It wasn't as bustling as the others but it was pink! |
We hit two of the popular Glühwein stands - the one outside the Frauenkirche in Munich and Omas Glühwein stand in the thick of the market. Both are good and fun to see. While tasting the Glühwein at Omas another patron passed around a tin of Christmas cookies which was a nice touch. It get you right into the holiday spirit. Oma does not mess around with Glühwein. The card at each bar table says: "Our Gluuhwein is prepared fresh daily with much love, exquisite spices and unsprayed Oranges and Lemons. Also with no flavor enhancer." Sound like you have to give it a try!
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| Notice the twin towers of the Frauenkirche on this stand! |
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| A perennial favorite is Oma's or Grandma's! |
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| Oma takes Glühwein very seriously! |
One of the most famous Christmas markets is in Nürnberg. I happened to see some Glühwein from the Nürnberger Christkindlmarkt in a local store so I bought some to bring back to the States for our lab celebration. On the back of the bottle it explains :
For over 40 years, people at the Nuremberger Christkindl
market have enjoyed this delicious Glühwein specialty together with Lebkuchen
or roasted bratwurst. The balanced and harmonious spice mixture, only from
natural spice extracts, for example blueberries, anise, cardamom, mace, nutmeg,
cloves, orange and lemon zest, allspice, and cinnamon among others, has allowed
it to become the most beloved Glühwein in Germany.
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| Straight from Nürnberg! |
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| This is the human embodiment of the Christkind at the Market! |
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| The most beloved Glühwein in Germany!! |
As mentioned before, in Germany at the holidays they feature P
lätzchen - their version of holiday cookies. These tend to be more bite size but very varied in what they are made of. I brought some back to go with the Glühwein but did not have to serve them. We had an intern - sort of - from Germany who baked a bunch of P
lätzchen in anticipation of our cake hour. Since we had the real thing I didn't have to break out the commercial stuff although they are very good.
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| The full spread!! |
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| The oranges go with the Glühwein. |
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| Some American "Plätzchen"!! Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! |
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| Brought this stuff back but it was unnecessary!! |
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| Our baker from Germany, on the left, did some baking!! |
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| Some Linzer type cookies! |
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| Half moon shape butter shortbread and Italian almond cookies - homemade!! |
So our Glühwein cake hour was especially authentic this year though we still should be standing out in the cold some where for it to be truly genuine.
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| From Taiwan and Japan but loving the Glühwein! |
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| Hungary and the UK also join in!! |
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| Holiday Glühwein cheers!! |
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| Always glad for an excuse to drink! |
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| Now we're into the holiday spirit! |
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