Christmas in Ostfriesland

In my family Christmas is all about food and spending time together, sitting at home cosy when it is cold and windy or even stormy outside, sipping a cup tea and having a nice chat. In the following I will show you a few aspects of winter-time in Ostfriesland.

A picture of my home village in winter

 

A picture of Harlesiel in Winter:
source: http://imagesus.fewo-direkt.de/mda01/722fbcd8-846b-45be-bfb4-9601b24b8938.1.6

Ostfriesland, which is called East Frisia in English, is way up at the North Coast of Germany. Even though you can find it at the Dutch border of Germany, which is in the West, it is called East Frisia. This is because West Frisia belongs to the Netherlands and thus it might not be east from the German perspective, but from the Frisian perspective.

Christmas time is a rather relaxed and quiet time which is mostly spent with family and friends. Christmas markets are very popular and the favourite drinks apart from mulled wine are “Heißer Apfel” which is hot, spiced apple juice or many people enjoy a Grog (rum with hot water and sugar). The most important drink, however, is tea – at all times of the day. People gather for a “Klönschnack”, sit together to talk and drink a cup of tea. If you order tea, or get tea served at a friend’s house, you usually get Ostfriesentee, which is a kind of black tee. Before the tea gets poured into the cup, make sure to put in the Kluntje (big sugar rocks) first, so that they crack when the hot tea hits them. To make it perfect a spoon of cream is added…and tea can be enjoyed. I have to admit this is not particularly special for Winter, since we drink tea all year :)

source: http://www.teeverband.de/presse/presse_bilder/rezepte/images/TeezeremonieinvierAnsichten

 

            When it comes to food on Christmas, many people follow the traditional meal consisting of Bratwurst and potato salad. Apart from that it is also common to eat Labskaus which in the simplest way is made from potatoes and corned beef mashed together until it looks like puree. Traditionally, there are fish and cucumbers mixed into it as well, but it depends on who makes it how, since many people dislike the fish. Another popular meal is Grünkohl with Kassler and Pinkel. Grünkohl is kale, and is cooked until it looks pretty much like spinach, just a bit more firm to bite. This is served with salt potatoes and meat: gammon steak (Kassler) and Pinkel, which is a local sausage in which meat is mixed with pearl barley. It all may sound strange, but I assure you, it tastes delicious!

Grünkohl with Pinkel and Kassler

 

Labskaus with Egg and Rollmops

            On New Year’s Eve I spent my time also with my family. Sitting together and watching films. At midnight we all went out to watch the fireworks around us, which were surprisingly many for the small village I am living in. To me it is the nicest time of the year, because I do not see my family very often.