Eurovision 2008

We had a little party for the Eurovision finale again this year. At least half the guests came reluctantly... either not having heard of Eurovision at all, or wondering why in the world I'd want to throw a party for such a ridiculous event. But everyone had fun whether they liked it or not, even though Germany's entry embarrassed themselves with a horrible performance which left them tied for last place.

It amuses me how popular the Eurovision Song Contest is among other expat bloggers, as well. Adam publishes his list of favorites yearly. Beth did some live blogging not only for the finale, but for the semi-finals, too. Hard core. Snooker's heart was stolen by the pirates. Brian is not so convinced he loves Eurovision, but blogs about it all the same. There's always some scandal or other involved, such as this year's English-language entry for France (as noted by Mark).

Despite my feverish voting for Azerbaijan, the winner was Russia' s Dima Bilan, with this performance featuring a Stradivarius violin and an Olympic skater. What's not to love?

Chocolate chips for expats

As ubiquitous as they are in the US, chocolate chips are practically unheard-of in the rest of the world's supermarkets. Sometimes the clever expat must improvise:

1. Unwrap a bunch of dark chocolate bars (extra bonus step - freeze them first)
2. put them in a ziplock bag and seal it
3. break up the chocolate in the manner of your choosing (drop the bag on the floor several times, take a wooden mallet to it, etc. etc. Be creative!)

This little tip isn't new... in fact American expats have been making their own chocolate chips using this method for decades, if not centuries. But when a fresh-off-the-boat gal from Florida asked me about chocolate chips the other day, it reminded me that not everyone knows this ancient expat secret.

Here's a little bonus tip: in place of brown sugar, use white sugar plus a tablespoon or so of molasses. Now go forth and make cookies to dazzle your host countrymen!

Bonus tip #2: don't even think of using those vanilla-flavored sugar packets sold in Germany as a substitute for vanilla extract. In my experience, real vanilla extract is one of the very few food items still worth smuggling over from the US. Unless you live in Zurich and can buy it at El Maiz, that is. If someone has a source in Munich that isn't absurdly expensive, please share!

I made these cookies for our Eurovision party tomorrow night. I can hardly wait! I think so far Azerbaijan is my favorite, but I haven't finished watching part two of the semifinals yet. How can you not love this act?

Coming events in and around Munich

• The Eurovision Song Contest is coming up this Saturday, with the preliminary rounds on Tuesday and Thursday evening. If you love cheesy euro-pop, you won't want to miss it. Will the Eastern European countries continue to vote as a bloc and piss off the West, who has been voting in much smaller blocs since the contest began?

• Munich is turning 850 years old this year. To celebrate, a lot of activities are going on here this summer, including the Long Night of Music on May 31st.

• The Regensburg Expat Weekend meetup is coming up on June 21-22.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Eurovision mania

It’s like the World Cup, except that it involves only Europe (and Israel and a bunch of former Soviet Republic) and instead of a soccer team, each country fields a singer or a band. And the winner is determined by voting. And there’s no off sides.

The Eurovision Song Contest was ABBA’s big international break, as well as Celine Dion’s (she sang and won for Switzerland in 1988. Don’t ask me what she has to do with Switzerland). I learned to appreciate the fun of watching this event when I lived in Germany, where a group of my friends would get together to watch, critique the bands (and the dancers’ butts), and vote multiple times for our favorite asses acts. There was also a lot of Rotkäppchen drinking involved.

Last night we invited a few friends over, blended up several batches of margaritas (thanks to Ali’s tedious but successful search for bagged ice), and gathered around the TV for a fabulous evening of good old-fashioned Euro pop. Twenty-four acts banged out their performances, and then the home audience was given a few minutes to call in our votes. This was then followed, as always, by the tedious reporting of results live from each country (although we were told that this was nothing compared to the tedium from back in the day, when results were called in over a crackly phone line and repeated in a ridiculous number of languages).

The highlights this year included the German country-western entry called Texas Lightning and the rubber-mask-wearing Finish metal band Lordi (who became the evening’s surprise winners). But the song I annoyingly can’t get out of my head this morning is the sing-songy and repetitive 'We are the winners of Eurovision' performed by the Lithuanian group. Damn you, LT United!