My social life currently revolves around four couples:
The Mexicans- Rafa and his girlfriend Paola have an enviable loft apartment in a prime location- but its too expensive so they're looking for someplace new. We met them rooting with the Mexican fans at the world cup screenings in the schlossgarten, and they've hosted some wonderful dinners and drinks. Excellent cooks.
The Other Mexicans- are not really a couple. Alejandro and Alfredo are Mexican interns and roommates from Monterrey. If Alejandro had blond hair, he could almost be mistaken for German. His mom was a famous singer in Mexico in the 80s and he works part time as an instructor in her singing school. It's pretty obvious he's mostly here to explore Europe. With one month to go, his last day is friday before he takes off on a blisteringly fast tour of Europe. His itinerary reads something like this:
day 17: Prague
day 18: Prague
day 19: Budapest
day 20: Wien
day 21: Berlin
And he's mostly traveling by train, which means he's probably counting the hours he's going to spend in each city. I will miss him, he actually added a lot of fun to the office.
Alfredo met us at 9am sunday morning at his and Saori's office, somewhere between drunk and hungover. He mentioned something about eating two hamburgers around 4am after leaving the clubs. Alejandro had a Venezuelan friend in town, but Alejandro was sick, so Alfredo felt compelled to show their friend a late night on the town, regardless of the 7kilometer race we were all running the following morning. To our amazement, he ran with us, didn't get sick, and encouraged the knot of people running with us with random yells of "VAMOS!!!!!!!!" (let's go!) He is also a one-man crowd at the world cup mexican games.
It took me the better part of two months to figure out that the Tolli and Gio were the Greek couple one of my coworkers mentioned. They're two jaded Greeks about Saori and my age, and once I got to know them (they're actually really good friends with The Mexicans too), they've been delightful and Saori and I have gone over to their apartment a few times. At the last get together at The Mexicans they brought a greek dish called Mossaka which was like a meat lasagna made with bechamel and potatoes instead of noodles.
I've already mentioned Chandra and Shiva, my Indian roommates. When Chandra announced that he was moving. His family said "You don't drink alcohol and you don't eat meat. How will you survive in Germany???" Here I submit Chandra's recipe for "capsicum potatoes" a pretty simple dish which he referred to as a side, although you could eat as a main if you wanted:
-Slice into thin pieces 1 onion, 1 sweet pepper, and three peeled and washed potatoes.
-Pour into a large skillet enough oil to cover the bottom and heat on high.
-When the oil is hot, throw in 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 2 tsp whole cumin seeds. Give them about ten seconds to brown before adding the onion.
-Cook the onion on high heat for a few minutes and reduce to medium, stirring constantly to keep everything from burning.
-After the onion is sauteed and beginning to turn clear, add in the chopped potatoes and peppers, 1 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chile powder, and 1-2 tbsp of salt.
-Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for 10-20 minutes more until the potato is brown and breaks apart easily under a spoon.
-Serve with rice and butter.
The Mexicans- Rafa and his girlfriend Paola have an enviable loft apartment in a prime location- but its too expensive so they're looking for someplace new. We met them rooting with the Mexican fans at the world cup screenings in the schlossgarten, and they've hosted some wonderful dinners and drinks. Excellent cooks.
The Other Mexicans- are not really a couple. Alejandro and Alfredo are Mexican interns and roommates from Monterrey. If Alejandro had blond hair, he could almost be mistaken for German. His mom was a famous singer in Mexico in the 80s and he works part time as an instructor in her singing school. It's pretty obvious he's mostly here to explore Europe. With one month to go, his last day is friday before he takes off on a blisteringly fast tour of Europe. His itinerary reads something like this:
day 17: Prague
day 18: Prague
day 19: Budapest
day 20: Wien
day 21: Berlin
And he's mostly traveling by train, which means he's probably counting the hours he's going to spend in each city. I will miss him, he actually added a lot of fun to the office.
Alfredo met us at 9am sunday morning at his and Saori's office, somewhere between drunk and hungover. He mentioned something about eating two hamburgers around 4am after leaving the clubs. Alejandro had a Venezuelan friend in town, but Alejandro was sick, so Alfredo felt compelled to show their friend a late night on the town, regardless of the 7kilometer race we were all running the following morning. To our amazement, he ran with us, didn't get sick, and encouraged the knot of people running with us with random yells of "VAMOS!!!!!!!!" (let's go!) He is also a one-man crowd at the world cup mexican games.
It took me the better part of two months to figure out that the Tolli and Gio were the Greek couple one of my coworkers mentioned. They're two jaded Greeks about Saori and my age, and once I got to know them (they're actually really good friends with The Mexicans too), they've been delightful and Saori and I have gone over to their apartment a few times. At the last get together at The Mexicans they brought a greek dish called Mossaka which was like a meat lasagna made with bechamel and potatoes instead of noodles.
I've already mentioned Chandra and Shiva, my Indian roommates. When Chandra announced that he was moving. His family said "You don't drink alcohol and you don't eat meat. How will you survive in Germany???" Here I submit Chandra's recipe for "capsicum potatoes" a pretty simple dish which he referred to as a side, although you could eat as a main if you wanted:
-Slice into thin pieces 1 onion, 1 sweet pepper, and three peeled and washed potatoes.
-Pour into a large skillet enough oil to cover the bottom and heat on high.
-When the oil is hot, throw in 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 2 tsp whole cumin seeds. Give them about ten seconds to brown before adding the onion.
-Cook the onion on high heat for a few minutes and reduce to medium, stirring constantly to keep everything from burning.
-After the onion is sauteed and beginning to turn clear, add in the chopped potatoes and peppers, 1 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chile powder, and 1-2 tbsp of salt.
-Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for 10-20 minutes more until the potato is brown and breaks apart easily under a spoon.
-Serve with rice and butter.
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