Stintessen, Kegel Spielen

The title of this blog means "Stint eating, Bowling". We were invited to a restaurant north and west of Hamburg to go eat tiny fried fish that swim up the Elbe river every year in March. This place also had a bowling alley for the kids (big and small). Actually, it is Kegel - a version of bowling with 9 pins in an a diamond pattern and balls with no finger holes. More on that below.

First, I thought I'd post a few pictures of our Wohnung (apartment/flat) in Hamburg. Above, Kina's room with drying rack. That's right! We dry everything indoors on big racks and, believe it or not, clothes dry as fast or faster than they do outside in San Diego. Kina likes the extra humidity in her room. Kina's bedroom is also the TV room where we can watch Remington Steele and Knight Rider 5 nights a week auf Deutsch!

Scott's Zimmer and home of the Monster Game. Nice light. The flat is quite snug and cozy. There is a door out to a little deck, but it has been too cold so far and we aren't comfortable with letting Aidan run around out there.

The hallway to the kitchen. Aidan's door is left, and just beyond that is the tiny bathroom with shower. The flat is in excellent shape, except for the shower. Yikes!

And the Kitchen. Washer, sink, stove, table/chairs, empty beer flasks. What's that in the sink?

Now on to the subject of today's blog: Stintessen! We were invited by Julia (pronounced "Yoo-lia") to go to a Greek restaurant with some other families and eat Stinte, which we know as Smelt. Julia brought her two kids, Lilly and Maxim (St. Pauli boy). We knew a bunch of the people from early meetings. I played soccer with a couple of the guys, but had to stop after I broke my toe. Luckily it was a small fracture, nothing serious. But no more Fussball except on TV.The Stinte migrate up streams to spawn every spring in large numbers. These particular northern european smelt are very small, almost sardine size. Above, a picture before cooking.


Here's a picture after eating! They clean the guts out, dip them in batter and you eat them bones and all. I ate the head off the first one before I realized everyone else skips that part. Meh. I really enjoyed them. Goes great with my new favorite beer: Jever Pils! That beer puts hair on your chest. I hated it at first, but now I'm a convert. Still, a poor choice for breakfast (jk).
Here's everyone playing Kegel, which mean's "ninepins". This was a lot of fun for the kids and adults. Julia is in the middle of the picture wearing green. I'm holding Lily, the sweetest little girl in the world. The parents are just happy to stand back and let the kids romp around. Aidan loved it of course. I bowled a couple and I wasn't bad, but it seemed much harder to get a strike than in 10 pin bowling.

Here's Aidan poaching a ball. The lanes are really skinny but beveled so that the ball rolls back to the middle.

Well that's that for posting. Bis spaeter!