Karin's Adventures

The local TV station wanted to feature a new citizen's first time vote, so they emailed me and asked if I would be available. On Sunday before the election I was interviewed for about half an hour at home. Then on election day they watched as I waited in line, and then cast my vote, and then interviewed me again on my way out.

Out of the roughly 45 minutes of footage they cut a 45 seconds report which then aired the next day during the 6:00 p.m. local news. I was surprised, that a few people actually noticed I was on TV and told me about it. 

Today's Journal Gazette featured a half page article about me (!) in Diana Parker's "Cook's Corner". The article was based on an interview that I had given on Monday. Samples of my German bread and Obazda had been consumed and recipes compiled.

I found this very flattering, especially since I am absolutely not your typical housewife/cook. A lack of healthy, tasty food choices within local reach forced me to discover the hidden "chef" inside. 

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121031/FEAT0107/3... 

Without warning our refrigerator in the kitchen quit working. I noticed it Sunday morning, when I started preparing breakfast. The incident, while not a tragedy, forced me to think about a commonplace appliance that I usually don't waste a thought on.

I remembered hearing about a recent study that revealed one unexpected possible reason for the obesity epidemic in the US: Barry Popkin, a professor in the school of public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes that the growing scale of home appliances enables families to stockpile convenience foods that minimize their time in the kitchen. The trend breads a culture of excess in which we buy more, eat more, and waste more, than ever before.

My refrigerator in Germany was huge, for German standards: 12 ft.³
My parents have a more reasonable one in their house: 7 ft.³ is considered a normal size for two people in Germany. The one that we just bought is the same size that we had: 21.7 ft.³ which is the current average in the US.

Just for a little while, until the new refrigerator is delivered, I'll have to exercise modesty and see how much food can be stored in the 4.4 ft.³ that we have in our bar in the basement.

I won't make it in time to watch the parade, but that's OK - I've seen it over 30 times already. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to participate in the world's biggest party, hosted by the world's most beautiful big city, once I get there on Sunday.

You may wonder why somebody (like me) who went to München's Oktoberfest every year for the past half a century doesn't get bored with it. It's easy to explain:
where else can you make about 7,000 new best friends within a couple of hours? 

When I started teaching myself how to yodel, using a CD by Kerry Christensen "U 2 can yodel", I never thought that I would ever meet Kerry in person, much less sing a duet with him - but here we are, doing just that at the Swiss Days in Berne where Kerry performed and I was watching.
 
We had not practiced anything in preparation, and had talked about not doing anything spontaneous right before the show, but then some people in the audience insisted I go up there and be heard.