Oma - Amsterdam to Lübeck

Holstentor, Lübeck  (Wikipedia )

One of the reasons I started this blog is so I could record my mother's incredible life. Whenever I tell anyone an Oma story, it always leaves them asking for more. It is a long, difficult story, but with Mother's Day around the corner and one hundred posts behind me, I suppose there is no time like the present to start telling the story, little by little, whenever the mood strikes me. Oma's Birth

Singelgracht and Munttoren,  Amsterdam (Wikipedia)

Oma was born out of wedlock in Amsterdam in 1926 to a German mother, Alma, and Dutch father, Gijsbertus. 

Soon after, Alma brought her baby back to Lübeck, her hometown in Germany. One can only imagine the terrible stigma associated with single motherhood in that era, which may have played a large role in Alma's decision to drop her baby off at the local orphanage, but more likely, she was either incapable or unwilling to raise my mother. Whatever the reason, it is clear that Alma never bonded with her baby. Oma still speaks sadly about the time she walked across town to ask for money to see a movie but her mother refused to give her even a pfennig.

Marienkirche, Lübeck  ( M+MD at Flickr)

Fortunately for my mother, her grandmother, despite being already very old and almost blind, couldn't bear the idea of having her grandchild in an orphanage so she rescued Oma and raised her until she was eighteen. About Lübeck Lübeck is a beautiful ancient city, settled soon after the last ice age. Its impressive tower gate, named The Holstentor, is the last remnant of the Brick Gothic wall that once surrounded the city 500 years ago. The Holstentor appeared on the former 50 Deutche mark note as well as on the 2006 special edition of the German 2 euro coin and it is featured as a landmark in the popular computer game Simcity 3000. But my favorite depiction of the gate is on the logo of the famous marzipan brand Niederegger. My mother tells a wonderful story of how marzipan as invented:

“Once upon a time, Lübeck was surrounded by the enemy. Luckily, the city was fortified with an impressive wall and the enemy could not enter the city. But, of course, this meant that nobody in the city could get out either. The enemy was patient because Lübeck was a beautiful, strategically-located harbor town worth waiting for. Unfortunately for the enemy, Lübeckers are very stubborn and strong people so it took a very, very long time before there was no food left and the citizens’ resolve began to waver. The only foods left over were some almonds and sugar, found in the basement of the town hall's reserves. They ground the almonds and sugar together to make mandelbrot@@, almond bread, and doled out these final pieces of "bread candy" into rations for the whole town. One little boy, decided to go to outside the Holstentor gate to talk to the enemy. "Are you still here? You know you are wasting your time because we still have lots of food left over. In fact, we have so much food, we even have candy." He took the mandelbrot out of his pocket and started eating it right in front of them. Disillusioned at the prospect of a prolonged wait, the enemy decided to leave. The little boy was declared a hero and the town lived happily ever after.”

I always loved this story because it was so empowering for children.

In my opinion, Niederegger marzipan is the best tasting marzipan because they guarantee that their product contains two third almonds by weight and they add a small amount of the bitter almond extract and rose water to give depth to its flavor. It is often thought marzipan has Arabic roots, and some may say that the rose water is proof of its lineage, but I choose to believe my mother's story. If you ever have the good fortune of being in Lübeck, Café Niederegger is an essential culinary stop where you feast your eyes with the beauty of the marzipan sculptures:

Niederegger Cafe display window, (M+MD at Flickr)

Niederegger marzipan fruits, GaijinSeb at Flickr

have a cup of coffee with marzipan cake,

Niederegger Cafe

and visit the museum upstairs to see the life-sized marzipan sculptures representing those who played a major part in the history of marzipan, from Magellan to Father Christmas.  Not pictured: “The Persian”.

Marzipan Salon, Niederegger Cafe (GaijinSeb at Flickr)

I just looked at the title of this section and realized that I didn't tell you much about Lübeck but I told you a lot more about marzipan. Now you know where my priorities are.