Sunday, December 09, 2007

Feuerzangenbowle

I thought that I'd gotten the best White Elephant gift evah a good few years ago when I scored this album:


It remains one of my all time fave cds & is frequently played as background music for social gatherings. I was willing to accept whatever crappy gift I might get in the future b/c I felt that I'd gotten my end-all/be-all gift and that was probably my quota for this lifetime as far as the Dirty Santa game was concerned. Fine.

Last night, however, lucky ol' me actually ended up with an extremely cool White Elephant gift that may outdo the Beastie Boys - we will have to see. First impressions, though, are high on the cool/unique/intriguing factor!

Here's a pic of the gift:


And, here is what is inside:


It is all the ingredients for a real-live-authentic Feuerzangenbowle. Aka - German Burnt Punch, Crambambuli...or "Flaming Fire Tongs Punch". A blazing spirited beverage which was made famous by a 1940's German movie called Die Feuerzangenbowle. Apparantly the show is all about a man who imbibed a bit too much of the firey drink, dressed up as a student and goes back to school at the urging of his drinking buddies.

Gotta love a good German Comedy....one that has (according to University of Google) inspired a cult following all over Europe. Have you see this one, Dad?

Anyway, sounds pretty cool doesn't it? Some of the key ingredients include fresh, organic oranges & lemons, cloves, juniper berries, a bay leaf and cinnamon sticks. Some of these:


Sugar Loaves....

And some of this:


Super, duper strong Rum (at least 54% alcohol). Whoa. Plus you add wine to that! Prost!

Ok, and that funky looking sheath-thing above the bottle of moonshine? That is an integral part of this entire process. It is called a "Feuerzange" and holds the "Zuckerhut" (or SugarLoaf) above the pot of punch while you douse it with the hooch and then light it afire.

Oh. My. God.

I found some great vids online of people engaging in the holiday Feuerzangenbowle - and it looks very cool. Especially if you like lighting stuff on fire...and then drinking it. Anyone know Deutsch?


(Contrary to the celebrants in this vid - you are NEVER supposed to pour the rum from the bottle onto the flame...ahem)

Stay tuned b/c you know that we are so going to blog this....now, who wants to come over????????

Alles Gute! Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

17 comments:

Joannah said...

I have never heard of that before. Is it like Farfegneugen? ;-)

Anyway... Do let us know how you like it!

atomic mama said...

I can be there in... 12 hours?

Dee said...

All that fun and THEN you get to drink it? Way cool.

walternatives said...

The Goober knows some German. You have his e-address, oui? Truly, that is an awesome W.E. gift, lucky girl. I'll be looking forward to that blog post...

Anonymous said...

What a fun idea. I'd be dead after a sip.

Donna said...

Ich mochte mit dir zu trinken! After a sip or two of that, I might remember some more Deutsch.

Irena said...

Holy Schitz! Very interesting indeed. I think it does top the Beastie Boy gift.

Jessi said...

Ohhh! That looks really, really fun. I can't wait to hear all about it. I think this warrants video!

Sleepless Stitch said...

I just wanted to say thanks for leaving me comments and reading my blog. I read thru yours, well only got the first page because I am procrastinating and should be doing other things right now ;)
Will be back though!
Have a great day,
Christina

Shannon said...

That's a totally cool WE gift! Enjoy, my little sugarloaf! =)

Anonymous said...

Thanks to this post, I just emailed my MIL (who lived in Germany and has her BA in German) to say "Let's have a German Christmas!". She makes some kick-butt schnitzel (sp?) that would go great w/this.

Frohe Weihnachten!

kitchu said...

I'd give it a try girl. I apparently will try anything (see current post- ha).

What time is the party?

Anne Marie said...

Very very cool! I cannot wait to hear about the outcome.

Cavatica said...

Awesome... and very pretty.

4D said...

Wunderbar!!! I could not hear the dialogue well enough to understand what they were saying. Just chit chat pretty much.

That is so frickin cool! I have never heard of that. And I am german! Where can I get the Feuerzange and the Zuckerhut? Must try!!!

Looking forward to your blog post on this.

Keep smilin!

Kristin said...

I want to see photos from the morning after the Feuerzangenbowle Fiesta!

Joelle and Chandler said...

I cannot believe that is a WE gift! That took some serious thought. Was this a straight exchange situation or did you have to fight for this one? I am definitely looking into this - looks like fun. Did you get a copy of the movie to go with it?