Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Image: CaliforniaGermans
All Things German In California
Image: CaliforniaGermans
The holidays are usually a great time for some cozy family movie nights. And this year with so many restrictions in place due to the pandemic even more so; movies can transport us into a different world and let us escape these strange times for a good two entertaining hours or more, of course, if you like to binge-watch.
Justine Barda, CEO of telescopefilm.com, a company that promotes international films to American audiences, teamed up with German Films this year to create a German Films microsite on Telescope. This site offers audiences a database with an abundance of German films and series with information about where to watch them online in the USA.
Check out telescopefilm.com/germanfilms and build your own holiday list today. There are many ways to go about finding the perfect movie. Either choose the search function and look for a particular movie or get some ideas on what to watch by checking out the recommendations at Telescope’s Spotlight, which presents a new themed international film selection every week.
Either way, you can’t go wrong. Be it a movie from the wide international film selection or one of more than 30,000 German films. The choice is yours.
Here are a couple playlists for certain search terms we tried:
“Weihnachten”: https://telescopefilm.com/search?findfilm=weihnachten&x=0&y=0&searchby=0
“holidays”: https://telescopefilm.com/search?findfilm=holiday&x=0&y=0&searchby=0
Just get the popcorn and you’re ready for the show! Enjoy!
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Image: Pixabay
Invite Oktoberfest into your home. The perfect time for a Bavarian Pork Roast.
It’s Oktoberfest time, only that the traditional Oktoberfest in Munich won’t open its doors this year due to the worldwide pandemic.
We didn’t want this to deter us from enjoying some Oktoberfest vibes, however, and decided to celebrate with a Bavarian Schweinsbraten or also called Krustenbraten; simply a pork roast with a deliciously crunchy, crackling pork rind.
Most of the necessary ingredients are some we usually have at home already, like onions, carrots, and of course beer – lots of it. The challenge you might run into is to get the right cut of pork, particularly one with the skin on! We found the latter to be quite a challenge.
The perfect cut – Boneless pork shoulder with skin
After calling the best butchers in town, including some from which restaurants purchase their meat, we learned that we could get a hold of a pork shoulder but only with the bone still in and definitely no skin. One of the butchers even told us that unless we knew some independent, smaller butcher personally we will have a hard time finding a pork roast with the skin on. “It’s just not produced that way here and we all more or less buy from the same meat plant or big suppliers”.
Aha! Well, our next call was to a German butcher in town. They had to have what I needed, no?
Unfortunately, they didn’t, at least not on the day I wanted it. The lady however gave me a great tip: “Go try Stater Brother’s. Their party roast”. Really!?
How right she was! Stater Brother’s Party Roast fulfilled at least one crucial part. It’s a pork shoulder with the bone still in but with the skin on. Yay!! My crackling pork rind was saved.
How to get the famous Schweinebratenkruste = crackling pork rind
Now I had my meat and it was time to start preparing our feast.
The easiest way to give your pork roast’s skin the neatly shaped diamond pattern is to cut it after having put the roast upside down, skin first, into a pot of boiling hot water . Keep the water low so that you immerse only the skin and keep it there for about 15 minutes. After that take the meat out, tap it dry with a piece of kitchen paper and you are ready to get to work. Your knife will glide effortlessly through the pork skin to give it the desired diamond pattern.
Preparing for a hearty beer sauce – Use lots of dark beer
To get the yummy beer sauce that tastes so delicious with potato dumplings, have a few bottles of beer ready to use.
After you prepared the pork skin (see above), your roast is ready to be put in the oven. Have the oven preheated to about 350 F, season the pork roast on all sides with salt pepper, sweet paprika and cumin, put it in a roaster, and up it goes into the oven with the prepared pork skin facing up.
After the meat has roasted for about 10 minutes, place the onions, leek and carrots around the roast and add the first bottle of beer. Make sure the liquid is about one to two inches high in your roaster, especially covering all the vegetable. (Burnt onions make the beer sauce bitter!)
Keep the pork roast in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours while routinely adding more beer to the liquid.
Finally, to get the beer sauce’s smooth consistency, pour the liquid into a strainer once the roast has finished cooking. You will need the help of a fork to mash and push the vegetable mixture through the strainer. And, voilà, there is your savory beer sauce!
Don’t forget the Knödel & Brezen – Potato Dumplings & Pretzels, a MUST
In the meantime prepare the Knödel, the potato dumplings that make your traditional Schweinbraten- pork roast dish authentic. I didn’t make my Knödel from scratch, I have to admit, but used the “Rohe Klösse” mix, usually from Knorr. In this case, I only found it from Kartoffelland.
The last touch is a Bavarian Brezen (pretzel), which can’t be missing from a feast like this. If you are lucky you will have a German store near you that can help you stock up on this Bavarian treat. You can never have enough of this German staple food in your home anyway!
Your Bavarian Oktoberfest Pork Roast is ready. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your feast with a nice cool glass of beer!
Ingredients for the traditional Bavarian Schweinebraten – Pork Roast
Let us know in the comments how your Schweinebraten turned out in case you tried this recipe.
Images: All food images ©CaliforniaGermans; Oktoberfest lettering image©pixabay.com
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the Consulate General of Germany and the German American School Association invite to a special film screening of “Liberty Train – Next Stop Freedom” at the Alpine Village, Sunday, November 17th, 2019.
The documentary reconstructs historical events that started with Hans Dietrich Genscher’s announcement on September 30, 1989, that the East German refugees occupying the West German embassy in Prague were allowed to leave for West Germany. Special trains should bring the refugees from Prague to West Germany but via the GDR. Dramatic events happen when the trains travel through East Germany, with people trying to jump onto the ‘Train to Freedom’ to the passengers inside fearing they would be taken off the train when Stasi members are getting on the train and start collecting passports.
[Read more…] about “Liberty Train – Next Stop Freedom” DocuDrama at Alpine Village
In the Aisles, a German drama film directed by Thomas Stuber opens in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal on Friday, June 21. We have two pairs of tickets to Give Away! Details below!
In the Aisles gives an affecting and bittersweet glimpse into the shared connections of a motley group of nightshift workers at a warehouse superstore, with the reclusive Christian (Franz Rogowski, TRANSIT) and the charming but mysterious Marion (Sandra Hüller, TONI ERDMANN).
“The story’s main focus is Christian (Rogowski), a tattoo-covered loner with a troubled past and a socially awkward manner that borders on autism. Christian has just begun his probation period as a shelf stacker at an unnamed warehouse superstore in a faceless East German backwater town. His avuncular mentor is old lag Bruno (Peter Kurth), a chess-loving ex-trucker who misses the mundane certainties of the former Communist era. The young rookie also develops a shy crush on Marion (Huller), a flirtatious married woman 10 years his senior whose abusive husband commonly features in hushed workplace gossip.” (excerpt Hollywoodreporter.com)
TICKET GIVE-AWAY – If you would like to be one of the first to watch this movie then send us an email with “In the Aisles” in the subject line, letting us know that you would like to be considered. We will give away 2 pairs of tickets to 2 lucky winners out of the first 10 people emailing us. The winners will be informed by the end of next week per email. Good Luck!
“In the Aisles” is in German with English subtitles. It will open in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal on Friday, June 21.
Buy Tickets Here: http://gwi.io/oovflj
Image & YouTube: ©MusicBoxFilms
Pittance Chamber Music, known for featuring the extraordinary resident artists of the Los Angeles Opera pit and stage, presents A Tale of Two Émigrés with James Conlon. LA Opera Music Director James Conlon curates and conducts a unique program that tells the tale of Jewish émigré composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Arnold Schoenberg, who left their homelands and ultimately settled in Los Angeles as a result of the Nazis’ rise to power. The program will include a talk by Maestro Conlon, who will also conduct works by Korngold and Schoenberg performed by a large ensemble from the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. The concert takes place at Zipper Hall, Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, June 15, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
This special program features E.W. Korngold’s Sextet, Op. 10 and Arnold Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony #1, Op. 9. According to Lisa Sutton, Pittance Chamber Music Artistic Director, “Both pieces are extraordinary masterpieces of late romanticism, requiring a high level of virtuosity from the performers.”
James Conlon, Music Director of Los Angeles Opera and Principal Conductor of the Italian RAI National Symphony Orchestra, is one of the world’s most important and successful advocates for the music of composers suppressed during the Nazi regime. He is the founder of the OREL Foundation, an organization created to encourage interest in and, especially, the performance of works by composers suppressed as a result of Nazi policies from 1933 to 1945 in order to allow the greater musical community of today and tomorrow the opportunity to determine the place of these composers and their works in the history and canon of twentieth-century music.
Lisa Sutton, Artistic Director and Assistant Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra founded the Pittance Chamber Music in 2013.
Single tickets for A Tale of Two Émigrés with James Conlon are $10. Tickets are available online at PittanceChamberMusic.org or at the venue on the day of the concert if tickets remain. Zipper Hall is located at the Colburn School, 200 South Grand Avenue, downtown Los Angeles, 90012.
WHAT:
A Tale of Two Émigrés with James Conlon. (Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Arnold Schoenberg). The program will include a talk by Conlon, who will also conduct works by Korngold and Schoenberg performed by a large ensemble consisting of members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra.
WHEN:
Saturday, June 15, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Zipper Hall, Colburn School
200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
PROGRAM:
E.W. KORNGOLD Sextet, Op. 10
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony #1, Op. 9.
TICKETS:
Single tickets $10
Information:
www.PittanceChamberMusic.org
Image ©Los Angeles Opera
(Ein Gedicht von Friedrich Güll, 1812-1879)
Drunten an der Gartenmauer
hab’ ich sehn das Häslein lauern.
eins, zwei, drei: legt’s ein Ei,
lang wird’s nimmer dauern.
Kinder, lasst uns niederducken!
Seht ihr’s ängstlich um sich gucken?
Ei, da hüpft’s und dort schlüpft’s
durch die Mauerlucken.
Und nun sucht in allen Ecken,
wo die schönsten Eier stecken,
rot und blau, und grün und grau
und mit Marmorflecken.
(Friedrich Güll)
Image: Pixabay.com
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Vorhang Auf! It’s time for another production by the German Theatre Group of San Diego: “So Ein Theater – Oh, What Drama!” plays April 13 & 14 only!
Be prepared for an evening of German Cabaret about the quirks of daily life! Funny and thought-provoking skits and musical numbers about work, kids & family and getting older.
Tickets: General Admission $14 – Student (with ID) $10 – At the door (limited availability) $16 – Get your Ticket here!
The German Theatre Group of San Diego started out with “Ein Abend
Founded in October 2016 by Astrid Ronke, the group is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and part of the German American Societies of San Diego.
Image: Pixabay
Ready to brighten up your day with some classical music by German composers? February and March, the LA Phil have special German programming in place for you!
Check out the upcoming concerts below and note that violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will be in town on March 6th!
Anne-Sophie Mutter • Lambert Orkis – MAR 6 –
[Read more…] about German Composers Fill the Air – L.A. Phil Concerts in Los Angeles
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