Ursula Heinzelmann, Wein- & Essenschreiberin
The crazy days of carnival aren’t my cup of tea at all. The time after Ash Wednesday fits in much better with the winterly grey that stubbornly clings to Berlin until way into March. Unfortunately that mood also befits my cheese of the month. Sadly this has to be the obituary of a real character amongst German cheeses, Maria Pott’s Nieheimer. » Weiterlesen…
I’m that rare thing, a native Berliner. In a series of earlier lives (allright, I’m not that old, I heard JFK’s famous „Ich bin ein Berliner“ as a baby in my pram, but unfortunately can’t remember it at all – but perhaps that’s why I wrote a book on Food Culture in Germany for American highschool students…) I started cooking even before I learned to read, later on studying and working as a chef and sommelier, including running my own hotel and restaurant on Lake Constance. After this self-imposed exile I returned to Berlin and built up an exclusive French wine and cheese shop. » Weiterlesen…
What do I know about Slowakian Riesling? Embarrassingly little, such as that this one, the 2011 „1“ from Elesko, grows in the small Carpathians in the Modra region, not even two hours drive east of Vienna. And that with 12% alcohol it is light in a very pleasant way, but in the depth of winter also quite refreshing due to the characteristic Riesling acidity! » Weiterlesen…
In an ideal world this website would have a button with a little Union Jack or a star-striped banner and with one click all my scribbles would be there in English. Unfortunately that magic click isn’t (yet?!) within my technical reach. » Weiterlesen…
I was really happy to see Jan Dirk van de Voort again at the Berlin Slow Food Cheese fair in November. I met him during my extensive research trip on Gouda in 2009 (read about it in Effilee #13). Actually, to mention him together with what at least in Germany is mostly used as a vague collective term for firm cheese of the unexciting kind is not doing him any favour. The Remeker cheese he is producing near Utrecht in the western part of the Netherlands belongs to a completely different class. » Weiterlesen…