> Last Insalata Caprese of the season. Cuore di Bue tomatoes and torn basil leaves (both grown in our own compost), buffalo (is there any other kind?) mozzarella, good…
> …the Death Panel. Given that we have socialised (compulsory, no less. Shock! Horror!) medicine over here, pensioners are a bit nervous. “Who’s that fellow over there on the right…
> And then they crank the roaster up to 150ºC (work out what it is in cubits and stuff yourselves…) and pay v e r y c l o s…
> It’s all very picturesque and stuff, but who has right of way? I think a bridge is definitely the right idea…..
..a bridge. Right here. This is the Middle Rhine Valley, an UNESCO Heritage Site. Because: Criterion (ii): As one of the most important transport routes in Europe, the Middle Rhine…
> Now doesn’t “Matured bread” sound just so much nicer than “Day-old bread”? I definitely like the price…
> ..bang in the middle of the fields on the way to Hechtsheim. I have NO IDEA what it’s there for. As you can see, it’s wall-to-wall bugger all out…
> …of looking at old roofs. This is 200 years old if it’s a day. You can keep your shiny lotus-effect blue tiled roofs. Our neighbour’s got one. It hurts…
> Last week, I showed you a picture of some coffee beans… (You’ll tire of this, I promise) The next step it to roast them in this highly polished roaster.…
> Back at Wagner-Stempel‘s open courtyard from the other day. (Shocking website and I’ve offered to do a words-for-wine barter translation deal, but he reckons that as they sell everything…
> The folk at Caffea Moguntia (the inimitable “Tin Shed on Wheels“) have their coffee roastery in a cool little precinct in Bodenheim, a hop, skip and a jump down…
> David Wagner took over the family vineyard in Siefersheim a few years back and did all the right things – canopy management, lower yields, old vines, focus on the…
> Rosemarie Jäger (left in picture, slightly obscured), a delightfully cultured lady, runs a gallery in Hochheim (hence NQM) in her used-to-be-a-winery house. Attracts top artists in almost any 3-dimensional…
> ..are a bummer” Almost (but not quite) captures the poetry and wit of the double-entendre*(And who said Germans have no sense of humour…) Elections coming up in 2 weeks,…
> This sounds almost mediaeval.. On the other hand, they might be trying to de-bed themselves Whatever.
> ..Snooty-Looking Person. In the Cathedral.
> Mrs jb’s been baking scones. “skʊn” as in “on” Not ˈ”ōn as in “disown”. The Americans call them biscuits, which is quite strange. They have them with gravy, which…
> ….and Freenet taketh away. In the process of switching ICT providers – Telekom for voice and Freenet for DSL to Freenet for the whole shebang (as-much-as-you-can-eat VOIP, 16-fold boost…
> Lena from the Bosporus told me about this one. This guy has a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria on the Ludwigstrasse, just around the corner from the Maria Ward school, for girls.…
> …or is it four. Telecom, the privatised SOE, tried to patent magenta as their brand colour. Fat chance. It pretty much has a monopoly when it comes to public…
> Used to work with a lady whose hubby was a Chief Superintendent at Scotland Yard. (Evil sod – used to beat her black and blue and “took early retirement”,…
> So Helen pops her head out of the front door and thinks: “Fog? It wasn’t foggy earlier on”. Then she smells the burning and notices the chappy frantically banging…
> ..bean That’s what people do say. They’re probably right. They mostly are….
> ..or up. And what do you do if you’re colour-blind, anyway? Escalator at Mainz Hauptbahnhof
> Those rascally Brasilians copy everything. Not content just to nick Carnival, they’ve even paved the Copacabana just like the Steingasse here in Mainz. Lacks authenticity, though. Their’s is populated…
> Schott Glass is very much a Local Hero around here. The company itself has been around for 125 years. Started off in Jena (which was East Germany from…
> ….Polish. And I think she was, too, from the accent. But doesn’t the cathedral scrub up nicely? Of course, they have to keep it spick and span, given that…
> No sooner have we got Karneval behind us than Easter’s just around the corner. Thinks: Would be, given that Karneval marks the start of Lent and Lent finishes at…
> Know a word without “c”? “Alohol” And I tell you what – Mainz went through copious quantities of this stuff on Monday Monday being Rosenmontag – Rose Monday: the…
> if you’re 25. And can add up without a calculator….. Signage at Mainz Main Station
> It’s not that I don’t LIKE Karneval. It’s just that I have NO IDEA about what’s going on. I’m rather partial to some aspects of the madness, though Apfelkrapfen,…
Mainz Daily Photo 