(Hillary is guaranteed to roll her eyes when she sees the title of this post.)
Day 2 in Frankfurt and its environs took us to Wurzberg, the start of the Romantic Road. My cousin hadn’t been there yet, so it was something new for all of us. My greatest amusement over the course of the day came from my fascination with the various toilet seat disinfectants in German restrooms, although the town was pretty great too.
We arrived in Wurzberg early in the afternoon and parked next to the Residence. When I’m on vacation it turns out that I can, and often do, eat all the time so unsurprisingly, I was already hungry. We decided to walk towards the Main River and stop at a place recommended in the guide book for lunch on our way down (the Ratskellar for anyone who might be curious). The restaurant served traditional German fare, so I tried the sauerbraten with potato dumplings and red cabbage. It was pretty tasty. And as an added bonus, I was highly entertained by the automatic toilet seat cleaner in the women’s restroom.
Following lunch we walked down to Old Main Bridge and admired the sight of Fortress Marienberg up on the hill. I was more than a little disappointed to learn that our visit to Wurzberg would not include a visit to the Fortress. I tried to convince various members of my family to hike up to the Fortress with me, but they were all more interested in visiting the Residence and as my cousin pointed out, we really only had enough time to visit one historic site that day and Frommers rates the Residence more highly than the Fortress. For some reason though, I’m always more interested in older, less adorned buildings/structures than in the highly ornamental, over-the-top constructions of later ages. After taking way too many pictures on the bridge (and becoming completely smitten by the most adorable German girl ever) we turned around and headed back towards the Residence.
One of the many nice things about traveling with my cousin however is that while there may not be enough time for hiking up to random old fortifications there is always enough time for dessert. We made our second food stop of the day at a little cafe where we each ordered a slice of cake and I enjoyed another German bathroom that provided a little dispenser of toilet seat sanitizer in each stall. I told Hillary she had to check out the toilet seat sanitizer if she used the restroom, but she didn’t initially understand the illustration on the dispenser and as a result, got a shot of sanitizer in the eye… which because I’m an unfeeling older sister, only added to my general amusement that day.
We made a quick stop at the Wurzberg Cathedral following dessert and then visited the Residence before calling it a day and heading back to Frankfurt. I have to confess that I was incredibly impressed by the Residence, so I’ll concede that my family members probably made the right call to forgo the Fortress in favor of the Residence. I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the Residence because photography was not allowed, but it was incredibly beautiful. I was also very interested in the fact that the building, and the city itself, sustained extensive damage during World War II so a great deal of restoration work has been done to restore it to its former state. They had some photographs of the damage and then the restoration process and it was very impressive seeing the lengths they’ve gone to to restore the building to its former glory. Following our tour of the building Hillary and I couldn’t resist goofing off a bit in the gardens. Based on the majority of photos we’ve been taking (most of which will not be posted to this blog, thank you very much), you’d think we hadn’t matured at all since our family trip to Europe in 1986.
Curried Cocunut Chicken with Rice
I wish I had a Germanesque recipe to leave you with tonight, but unfortunately, I was not quite (or even close) to that organized prior to this trip. However, as we’ve been reminded again and again on this trip, Europe is an international land, home to people from all over the world. For that reason I figure a recipe that plays with the flavors of Southeast Asia is a fair substitute. I tried to make this a few weeks ago for a couple of friends but they declared that they didn’t like curry. I was like, “Who doesn’t like curry?” I mean, that seems like blatant discrimination against a pretty important spice blend. But then, Hillary won’t touch Indian food and I’ve never been a fan of mushrooms (but I am at least trying to change), so to each his own… Should you also not be a fan of curry, let me encourage you to give this recipe a try anyway (just dial down the curry to maybe 2 T). Personally I think any recipe that uses coconut milk can do no wrong so I feel fairly confident that this recipe might just make you a believer.
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
4 T. butter
1 lg. yellow onion, finely chopped
3 T. curry powder (you can use a little more or less to taste)
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 14 oz. can of whole tomatoes
1 14. oz can coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 – 1 t. salt
Cooked Rice
Melt the butter in a large saute pan and add the onion. Cook on medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the curry powder and continue cooking on medium-low heat for approx 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly, as the curry forms a paste. Add the lemon juice and stir. Add the tomatoes, breaking them down once they are in the pan (I usually kind of mash them with a spoon until they are chunky). Add half of the juice from the tomato can and reserve the remainder. Continue cooking the tomatoes and onions another 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat. Add half of the can of coconut milk and stir. You can continue adding coconut milk and/or tomato juice until you are happy with the consistency of the curry (I think I added about 3/4 of the can of coconut milk). Simmer mixture for another 10 minutes, then add the chicken, add cook for another 5-10 minutes. Serve over rice.
