Winding down our stay in Lübeck

Our daily walks around Lübeck are starting to feel poignant and bittersweet: we're leaving tomorrow, and are starting to do things for the last time. We visited the last of the Lübeck museums yesterday -- the natural history museum -- checked out our favorite thrift shop for the last time, and bought one last bottle of pinot grigio at Aldi for just 1,99 euros. (I never knew wine was so cheap in Germany! And it's very decent wine, too.)

One of our favorite lunch spots while we've been here is the Cafe Hansehof, a little cafe tucked away on the second floor of a courtyard in the heart of Lübeck. 

Yesterday we stopped there for lunch, and Gary had kohlrabi soup. I had never considered kohlrabi for a soup before (being new to real cooking as I am), and I definitely wasn't expecting it to be so good. I didn't ask for the recipe but this one sounds about right, from the About Food website:

Hungarian Kohlrabi Creamy Soup

2 T butter or bacon fat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and chopped
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups milk or cream or half & half
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions in fat about 10 minutes, until soft. Add kohlrabi and cook another 2 minutes. Add stock, milk, and bay leaf, bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 25 minutes, or until kohlrabi is tender. Let cool; remove bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, blender, or food processor, puree soup. Strain if kohlrabi is especially fibrous. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with hearty bread. 

As for me, I chose to have dessert for lunch while I still can, and chose the homemade pear tart, mit sahne on the side.

Here's the view out the window at our table, over some old tile rooftops.








And here's the proprietor, who gave us a jar of marmelade when we announced that it will be our last visit. When you're traveling, you need all the friendly faces you can get. 


Later in the evening, because it was our 11th wedding anniversary, we took our landlord, Peter (Herr Messerschmidt), and his partner Marin, out for dinner to a restaurant of their choice. They chose a fun Italian place on a boat anchored nearby, so we strolled over there, and had one last glass of wein in Peter's flat before saying goodnight. It so much more pleasant to go out for dinner when you don't have to drive on icy roads for an hour each way, and when you have these two to go with. Here we are, hoping I set the camera timer right.