Setting Daily Goals to Curb Hunger

A few days ago, I wrote about how filling a German breakfast is and how it stuck with me through the day while touring Munich.  One Sparker suggested part of that might be because I was distracted by my new surroundings and activities.  While I still believe a large part of it is due to the different foods I consumed, I think she may have a point.

I have noticed that when I'm very busy, I don't think about food.  I don't feel hungry.  This happens when I'm practicing piano for hours on end.  It happens when I've got a lot of things I need to accomplish at church.  It happens when I'm doing home improvement projects.  It happened while touring Munich.

When I've got some specific goal that I want to achieve that day, I don't seem to think about food as much.  Not even in Germany - where we were surrounded by biergartens, backereis, and delicious smells everywhere we went.

We know that boredom often leads people to the refrigerator.  So perhaps having goals for the day has the opposite effect.

I still plan to keep eating my German breakfast of meat, bread, and cheese.  I think I will also try planning some goals each day, and see what happens.

This Weisswurst Is Making Me Thirsty - Have You Drunk Your Water Today?

The title of my blog today is a reference to a Seinfeld episode.
"These pretzels are making me thirsty!"

We discovered weisswurst in Munich.  We liked it so much that my husband ordered it three times.  I ate it twice.  Of course, everywhere you eat in Munich, you have to drink their beer.  I mean, it's Germany.  You just *have* to drink their beer!  I am not much of a beer drinker, but even I liked it a lot.  We especially liked their Munchen Dunkel.  I ordered a liter at the Hofbrauhaus.

But now let me sing a specific praise of America.  Water.  I never realize how much water I drink daily until I go to Europe.  In American restaurants, the first thing the server does is bring everyone a glass of water.  Even if you're drinking something else, you can ask for water, and they keep refilling it during the course of your meal.

Not so in Europe.  And while their beverages are all very fine and delicious, what invariably happens shortly after my meal is I feel thirsty.  VERY thirsty.  Even after drinking a lot of beer.  I suppose being so used to water, beer and other beverages just don't quench my thirst.  

So on this trip, we each bought a big bottle of still water at the grocery store.  (In Europe most water you find in the grocery store is carbonated "with gas" and that doesn't quench my thirst, either.)  Every time we went back to the hotel, we drank water.  It still wasn't nearly as much as we drink on a daily basis here, but it helped.

Back home now, I realize how easy it is to get those 8 glasses per day that are so good for our health.  Have you had your water today?

A Breakfast Revelation in Germany

My husband and I ate breakfast four times in Germany.  On the afternoon of the second day, as we were walking around the city centre, I remarked to my husband, "It's already 11:00 and I'm not hungry at all."  He said he wasn't, either.

We ate a very European breakfast each day.  Cold cuts, an egg, cheese (camembert), brown bread (very dense), jam, yogurt, fruit, and coffee.  This is very different from what we normally eat at home.  Normally, DH eats a bowl of toasted oat cereal (they look like Cheerios.)  He gets no protein at all, and by 9 AM, he's really hungry.  I do a little better in terms of protein - I usually have an English muffin with peanut butter and blackberry jam.  Even so, I'm usually hungry by mid-morning.

So today I decided to eat a German breakfast.  I keep cold cuts and hard boiled eggs in the fridge all the time for lunches, so I had everything.

2 slices of ham, 1 slice of turkey.  A piece of wheat bread (toasted) with some butter and jam, yogurt, and coffee.  So far it's 12:30 AM and I'm not hungry.

I need to go to the grocery store today, so I think I will pick up some brie or camembert, and some dense brown bread.  Every time I've ever come back from Europe, we swear we're going to continue eating like they do, but we always fall back into our American habits.  This time, I'm really going to try to make it stick.  I think it's just a matter of not buying cereal and remembering to buy dense bread.  I've got everything else.  As long as I don't have to cook & clean up anything in the morning, it should be easy, right?  We will see.

(I should also say I greatly enjoy American hot breakfast food as well, but when a person works, it's really not convenient to get up early and cook, and then have to clean up.  So when we have pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc. it's usually "breakfast for supper.")

Munich Piano Marathon

Home, sweet Home!

We're back after spending four full days in Munich.  We went because I was invited to play a piano recital at the Gasteig in Munich.  It's a huge cultural venue, much like the Kennedy Center in D.C.  So of course I jumped at the chance and accepted!

I played the first of eleven recitals over the course of 3 evenings.  It was billed as a "Pianomarathon."  Here I am in the subway after my recital with fellow pianists Deirbhile Brennan (from Ireland) and Jorge Zamora (from Mexico.)  Those pink posters on the wall are promoting our Pianomarathon event.

We played in the Kleiner Konzertsaal, which literally means "small concert hall."  It seats 200 people.  I couldn't believe I played to a full audience - that there were 200 people in this city across the world who were interested to hear me play.  Every seat was filled.  You just don't find that in America.  The people who couldn't get in had to listen in the lobby on closed-circuit television.  Before my final piece, I spoke and thanked them for coming.  I talked about what it's like to re-enter the world of performing after being away for so long and having a job and family.  I told them sometimes my children come in the room while I'm practicing and ask for help with homework or how to cook dinner.  It's almost easier for me to play while talking at the same time.  I said if they wanted to get up and dance during the Hungarian Rhapsody like my kids did when they were little, to go right ahead!  I'd feel right at home.

Here's what a sell-out crowd looks like from the performer's point of view.  I took this from the backstage door after Jorge finished his recital.  The audiences were SO enthusiastic.  They clapped forever for every performer!  I don't know how many times I bowed.  Even between pieces.  I've never experienced anything like it.

After every recital, we performers congregated in the lobby area, and were greeted by those in attendance.  Here is Matthias Fischer of Germany after his performance.  At the right of the picture, you can sort of see the queue to get into the hall for the next recital (Julien Kurtz of France).

This was the fifth year of the Pianomarathon, and apparently the biggest success to date.  The organzier, Eberhard, seemed especially enthusiastic about my performance, so I hope he invites me back.  It was wonderful to see so many Cliburn competitors again.  Here we all are at a reception after the second night of performances.

In case anyone is interested to know who we are, from left to right:

Michael Slavin (USA), Sean Sutherland (St. Vincent/Grenadines), Xavier Aymonod (France), Julien Kurtz (France), Eberhard Zagrosek (Germany, concert organizer), Deirbhile Brennan (Ireland), Matthias Fischer (Germany), Jeanne Backofen Craig (USA), Gregory Knight (USA), Ken Iisaka (Japan/Canada), Carl Di Casoli (USA), Jorge Zamora (Mexico)

Up next... in May, I will play Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with my kids' high school Wind Symphony, which is a very fine group.  I am so excited that I can hardly wait for May 16th to get here.  Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres who won a silver medal at the age of 40 said, "Never put an age limit on your dreams."  If you know The Lord of the Rings, you've heard Gandalf say all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.  After 25 years away from performance, I don't want to waste a minute.  I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to continue to learn and grow, with the added bonus of making others happy.