Christmas 2012

'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The treasured, precious, post-holiday peace - what bliss!

We've now survived our second Christmas in Germany. In many ways this was better than last Christmas, as we're more settled and have worked out some routines. In other ways, things fell through the cracks, as our lives are busy, with everyone more involved in school, work, and social circles. The first weekend of Advent I embarked on a wonderful weekend in London with my girlfriends. While I had a fantastic time (and you can read about on KettwigeFrau and Emma's Expat Adventures) it got me a bit behind schedule in launching into the Christmas season. The second weekend of Advent was my youngest son's 10th birthday, so not much Christmas prep happened then, either. It was the third weekend before I had some cookies baked, the house decorated, and the tree selected (once again with our lovely friends Rebecca and Sam and their three darling children). It was still several more days before we actually had the tree erected and decorated. That happened just in time for our annual Feuerzangenbowle party, the last weekend of Advent.

The in-laws visited for the holiday we sort of merged German and American celebrations by opening family gifts after our Christmas Eve raclette and then the Santa gifts on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day we took all the family out to the Flic Flac Circus in Dortmund. It was a fun afternoon outing, with a great performance, despite the scary fall of one of the performers. I do hope he's OK. So now three of the kids have returned to Hamburg with the in-laws and we'll catch up with them there on New Year's Day.

I regret not getting out any Christmas cards this season - for the first time in over 20 years. I bought the cards and the stamps and even drafted a Christmas letter for distant friends and relatives, but the evening I sat down by the fire with a glass of wine, prepared to write them, I saw the news of Sandy Hook and dissolved into tears over the senseless violent deaths of so many people not far from my home town, and was too grief-struck to send cheerful Christmas greetings. Instead I was glued to the news for several days, as were millions of others, I'm sure. I suppose I should try to send some out this week, but I fear that just isn't going to happen. I do promise to be back on the bandwagon next year (the first of my New Year's resolutions!) and will send out holiday greetings at the very least to those who kept me on their Christmas list!

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and wish you a New Year with good health and deep happiness!

Below is a little recipe I'll share in lieu of sending Christmas cards :)

Smoked Salmon Christmas Canapés


This year I experimented with some new party recipes and came up with cute Christmas Canapés that were fairly popular. The recipe is super simple:

• Start with prepared miniature tart shells (I found a pack of 24 at the grocery store)
• Add to each a spoonful of softened cream cheese.
  I started with about 1 cup of Philadelphia-brand sweet chili cream cheese into which I blended a tablespoon of prepared horseradish. (Chose your favorite flavor of cream cheese and zest it up any way you like - the onion & chive cheese would be good, too).
• Fold a small sliver of smoked wild salmon over the layer of cheese.
• Add a dollop of guacamole on one half of each tart.
  I made a small batch of homemade guacamole - using half a large avocado, some lime juice (lemon would be fine too), fresh pressed garlic, and some salt & pepper.
• Press a small slice cherry tomato next to the guac, round side up. I cut the tomatoes into sixths.
• Cut slivers of chive and insert then into the guac for added dimension and a darker pop of green color.

The result are lovely bite-sized green & red morsels that take about 30 minutes to prepare and can be chilled until you are ready to serve. I lined a platter with a bright red napkin for a pretty display. 

If you have suggestions for other twists to this basic recipe, please share! 

Cherishing Traditions: American Thanksgiving in Germany

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

Unlike Christmas, which is mired in commercialism and bears the "burden" of thoughtful gift giving, lavish decorating, and endless obligatory festivities (kids' school parties, your office party, your spouse's office party, the neighborhood cookie exchange, plus the parties with friends that you actually want to attend...), Thanksgiving is so SIMPLE.
Yet so special.

Thanksgiving is our closest loved ones gathering around a delicious meal to give thanks for abundant blessings. It is a time when we relish good food and celebrate life, family, and friendship.  That's it.  No gifts.  Not too much decorating. Not much to stress over. Just a time to reflect and be thankful.

There are many who criticize Thanksgiving. Some say the whole "Thanksgiving story" of a feast celebrated by European settlers together with the Native Americans they nearly obliterated is a myth; a fantasy to appease our guilty WASP conscience. The nay-sayers dismiss it as an outdated custom from a time that should not be celebrated for the brutality that came with colonization. Others bemoan the gluttony; too much food prepared and served to an overweight society. There are those who fret over the hormone-injected, caged turkeys raised on industrial farms and cruelly slaughtered. OK, I get it, there is always something to find fault with. To each his own.

For me, Thanksgiving is a beloved tradition of humble gratitude and grateful celebration. It's heartfelt and more true than anything else I celebrate all year long.  It's a time to say "thank you" even when life sucks; a time to put my pain and struggle in perspective, and acknowledge that whatever else we may suffer, my family is not hungry or homeless (anymore). We are are not living in a war zone. No matter how much we may have sacrificed since moving abroad, we are not impoverished or even terribly deprived. We have a beautiful home, have made wonderful friends, and we have our health and each other. That's quite a bit to be thankful for!

So once again this year, I made every effort to recreate the family traditions that have marked all the Thanksgivings of my life. The actual Thursday holiday was a normal school/work day here in Germany, so we postponed the feast until the following Saturday. But at the beginning of the week I set the dining table with my antique Gurley candle figures of Pilgrims and Native Americans that were part of a tradition passed on from my Mom who also had a collection of these candles for her holiday table. And I began to test out recipes and plan the menu for the celebration we would share with some of our exchange daughters and close friends.

It was our second holiday in Germany, and I'd learned a few lessons since hosting the feast last year. So this year's "adventures of American cooking in Germany" went off much easier and more relaxed. I knew what ingredients I could easily find, which ones I would need to hunt for, and which I would have to simply do without and substitute. I was able to order a fresh turkey from a wonderful local farm - thank you Buchholz!

I found fresh cranberries in a couple local markets, as well as sweet potatoes and sugar pumpkins. I discovered that the ground pork known locally as "Mett nach Thüringer art" made a fantastic substitute for the spicy sausage I used in my grandmother's stuffing recipe.

To my delight, I even found an adequate replacement for Pillsbury Ready-made pie crusts (Süßer Mürbteig)! Typically I bake at least 4-5 pies with fillings made from scratch, but I despise the tedious process of homemade pastry that never tastes as good as I'd like. So I was very happy to find that the Süßer Mürbteig worked well for the apple pies.

For the pumpkin pies, I got creative and made the "crust" from toasted walnuts, Leibniz cracker crumbs, butter, and brown sugar. The nutty crust, quickly concocted in my food processor and baked for about 15 minutes prior to filling, was a beautiful complement to the earthy flavors of a spiced pumpkin pie!

The food all came together very nicely, with much of it prepared ahead of time, so that on Saturday I had time to relax before our friends arrived for dinner. In my quiet time, I reflected, again, on how far we've come in the last year and how blessed we are.

This is the spirit of Thanksgiving, so unique from other holidays, which I dearly cherish.

                                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Spiced Cranberry Sauce


The homemade cranberry sauce was a first for me and I was very pleased with the flavors and textures. The recipe was simple and I'll share it here for you (measures are estimates)....

500g. fresh cranberries (about 3 cups?)

1 cup of light brown/raw sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup gelatin sugar (optional)

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 cup water

fresh orange zest

a cinnamon stick

2 anise stars

about 6 cloves

1/2 tsp vanilla or a package of vanilla sugar

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium-low heat for about an hour. Berries will soften and "pop." Stir regularly. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the whole spices and berry skins. Store the sauce in the fridge until ready to serve. The anise adds a mysterious and exotic hint to the flavor! If you want a whole berry sauce with more fruit pulp, you just need to be able to fish out the cloves, anise and cinnamon before chilling it, or spoon some of the fresh pulp back in after straining and ensuring that there are no spices.

Pizza Culture: An International Culinary Adventure

The other morning I sat down to breakfast with the morning newspaper and a flier for a local pizza delivery company fell in front of me. One glance at the pictured specialties and I lost my appetite for the eggs on my plate.

A large photo featured a pizza with hard boiled eggs, broccoli, corn, and curry sauce! Seriously? Does anyone eat that? With a little imagination I can believe people might like curry sauce with chicken and pineapple on their pizza - but eggs and broccoli?! No. Thank. You.

Glancing through the Joey's Pizza ads, I found several combinations that challenged culinary couth. How would you like steak, asparagus, and Hollandaise sauce on thin crust? Feeling a little dull? Try the sharp edge of a "Pizza Hot Conchita" with spicy BBQ sauce, hamburger, bacon, red onions, Mozzarella, and chili peppers. And call the fire department.

Flipping through more pizza menus, I had a flashback to the first meal I shared with my host family in Germany as a 16-year old Congress-Bundestag Exchange Student. The day I arrived, they took me to a festival along the beach near our home on the Baltic Sea, then out for dinner at a local Italian place. Since I didn't speak any German, I opted for the first thing I was certain I understood on the menu: Peperoni Pizza. I really couldn't understand why my host brother seemed so surprised and asked me if I was sure that was what I wanted. Until it sat before me. I quickly discovered to my horror that "peperoni" in German is not at all the same as "pepperoni" in English. Rather, in Germany, this is a hot green chili pepper. If you want the traditional American pizza topping, then you need to order "Salami." I've tried to warn unsuspecting tourists about this, but it never fails that visiting friends forget, and order a pie full of hot peppers.

After seeing the flier with hard boiled eggs on pizza, I jumped online and surveyed my Twitter friends for the strangest pizza toppings they've found outside the US.  I got some interesting feedback! Here are a few of the oddities people have encountered around the world:

• Dönerfleisch (shaved seasoned lamb similar to that used for Greek Gyros) with onions, peppers, and tzatziki (a cucumber and garlic-based yogurt sauce).
  
• Tuna fish, shrimp, salami, spinach, and garlic.
  
• Mixed seafood (including octopus, mussels, shrimp, and clams) with garlic.
  
• Pineapple, ham, and onions (although I've often seen this "Hawaiian" combination in the US, too).
  
• Turkey, artichokes, and onions.
  
• Olives, sardines, capers, Feta cheese, spinach, and garlic.
  
• Smoked salmon, spinach, peppers, and garlic.
  
• Eggplant, spinach, broccoli, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and artichokes.

I can be adventurous with food. So I'd be willing to try a few of these, but some topping combinations are just too much of a challenge to my open-mindedness.

What are your preferences for pizza? Anything you've seen that made your stomach turn over? I'd love for you to share your thoughts and experiences!


Photo Credits & Disclaimer: all photos are from advertisements for Joey's Pizza in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Joey's has not sponsored or endorsed this blog in any way. I have not actually tried any of the mentioned pizzas.

Tropical Treat: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My boys love the KitKat Cake I described in another post, but my oldest daughter prefers the fruity sweetness of my tropical pineapple upside down cake. This is also very simple to make and looks pretty. A friend recently suggested you might even make it with pears instead of pineapples, and I agree, that could be quite tasty, too - I'll have to try it soon and let you know.

I make my pineapple upside down cake in a large skillet. I like to soak the fruit in spiced rum. Usually, I make it with crushed pecans, but here in Germany those are harder to find, so I recently substituted chopped hazelnuts and they were great.  I also like to add shredded coconut to the topping, but had to skip that on this latest version.

The recipe below is converted into metric for my European readers*. I am happy to provide the American recipe using good old-fashioned cups and teaspoon measures to anyone who comments that they want it :)

Here's the basic recipe - as always, feel free to improvise!

Ooey-Goey Super Yummy Topping:

150 g. butter
250 g. brown sugar (if you can find the moist, dark brown kind available in the US - that's best!)
a few dashes of cinnamon
dash of clove
dash of nutmeg
200 g. chopped nuts (pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds)

50 g. shredded, sweetened coconut (optional)
Large can of pineapple in juice (you can use sliced or diced - different looks but both taste great)
cocktail cherries (optional)
raisins or dried currents (optional)
Dark Rum (optional, but so good!!)


Drain and save the pineapple juice. Soak the fruit in about 100 ml of rum (spiced rum is my favorite). Take a sip for yourself. Melt the butter in the bottom of a large, round saucepan. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and spices. Layer in the pineapple, then any other fruit and the coconut (if using). Some people like to layer whole rings of pineapple. I often prefer crushed pineapple for maximum flavor. On this occasion I spiraled half rings around the pan. Please, do play with your food - decorate your upside down cake any way you like!

Moist and Delicious Pineapple Rum Cake:

60 ml dark rum (you can use what's left from soaking the fruit, if you didn't drink that already)
60 ml pineapple juice (reserved from the can)
75 ml buttermilk
250 g flour
2 TL  baking powder (10 ml)
1 TL cinnamon (5 ml)
1/4 TL nutmeg (1.2 ml)
1/4 TL salt (1.2 ml)
dash of clove
100 g butter, softened
200 g light brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 EL (15 ml) vanilla extract (liquid) or 2 packs vanilla sugar

In a small bowl, combine the rum, pineapple juice, and buttermilk. Whisk flour, baking powder, and spices in another bowl. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour mixture with the sugar mixture in thirds, alternating with the liquids.

Slowly pour the batter over the fruit topping in the skillet. Bake in a 175 C or 350 F preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.

Place a large serving plate over the skillet and invert the pan. Let the pan rest upside down on the platter for at least 5-10 minutes, so all the warm gooey topping can settle onto the cake. When you remove the skillet, if there is still topping stuck to the pan, then gently remove it with a rubber spatula and either replace on the cake or lick the spatula clean :)

Enjoy!

*BTW:  I found a wonderful cooking measures conversions page online, that can convert from all sorts of American measures of volume to European measures of weight by ingredients like butter, flour, sugar, and oats. I have this bookmarked and reference it all the time!

Birthday Brunch with Girlfriends: Menu

This week I had another wonderful opportunity to break out the Red You Are Special Plate. One of my gal pals in the local expat community had a birthday on Monday. She's had a really rough go of it lately and had been feeling very down. Apparently, she's not celebrated her birthday for years and didn't have any particular plans for it this year, either. When one of our mutual friends started to organize a breakfast gathering for her (see KettwigeFrau), I jumped on the chance for my own "kitchen therapy" and asked everyone to meet at my place for a birthday brunch. Helping my friend feel special, loved, and very worth celebrating gave me a sense of purpose. Isn't that always true about giving? We get so much joy out of it ourselves. Anyway, I think the party was a success for us all: my friend was very touched as we all ate, drank, talked, and laughed for hours.


While I do love the traditional German Brötchen breakfasts we cherish here on the weekends (see Weekend Reprieve), for this special occasion with fellow expats, I wanted to break out some old favorite recipes I would make for holiday mornings back in the States.

Thus, our Menu featured:

• Smoked Salmon Pizza
• Baked Apple-Stuffed French Toast
• Ham & Mushroom Egg Casserole
• Chocolate Torte with Fresh Strawberries
• Chocolate Mouse with Slivered Almonds
• Brötchen & Coissants with a variety of jams, cheeses, honey and Nutella
• Fresh Fruit Platter
• Coffee, Tea, and Mimosas (Bubbly with Orange Juice)

I've been asked to share the Salmon recipe, so here it is as best as I can try to capture it. My problem is I cook by "feel" based on my mood and available ingredients as much as what is designated in the "recipe," which is only ever a guideline in my mind, anyway. So play with it and make it your own!

Smoked Salmon Pizza
Crust: Prepare a pizza crust ahead of time. You can make one from scratch, or use a box mix or prepared refrigerator-dough. Back in the States, I could keep it really simply with Boboli prepared crusts. Whatever crust you use, brush it with olive oil, season it with a little Italian seasoning (I used Krauter Salz this week and fresh Rosemary from my Garden), and some pressed garlic if you like, and bake it according to directions. You may do this the day before, as the crust needs to cool anyway and you will serve it cold.

Smoked Salmon Pizza

Cheese: I try to start with a package of about 6oz or 150gr  Philadelphia-brand flavored cream cheese. In the US it was Chive & Onion, here in Germany it is called "Kräuter."  I add about a teaspoon of prepared horseradish, a half teaspoon of Worstershire sauce and a few drops of lemon juice and stir it well. This, too, can be done a day ahead.

Salmon and Toppings: I buy a nice package of thinly sliced smoked Salmon. I've tried many varieties and have never been disappointed, so get what you like. You'll want about 8oz for a 12" pizza. I know these are American measures, but you'll figure it out - everything is approximate, anyway :)

For added color and flavor, I usually toss on some finely-sliced rings of sweet yellow or red onion and a smattering of capers. In most cases, if I have the time, I prefer to caramelize the onions, as I did this week. And if tomatoes are in season and looking good, a few slices of Roma are wonderful, as well - I omitted those this time.  When I have fresh dill, I like to throw that on, as well. Be creative :)

Assemble the pizza shortly before serving. Just pull out the prepared crust, spread the cheese mixture on it, and then layer the smoked salmon and other toppings. Keep this cold until you serve it.

Enjoy!!

Candy-coated Celebrations: KitKat Cake

Baking for other people is one of my favorite ways to celebrate life and express love. When my kids were little, I marked each birthday with a creative cake - staying up late the night before their special day to sculpt and decorate an elaborate choo-choo train cake, or an erupting volcano cake with dinosaurs for my boys and grand princess castles, sparkly rainbow fish, or barbie-doll cakes for the girls. When I went back to an office-job, I brought a cake each month in to celebrate colleagues' birthdays. And for the kids' school auction, I donated a cake-of-the-month club annually for many years. I love to be imaginative with flavors, styles, and shapes.

KitKat Cake

But one of the most requested cakes I make now is a ridiculously simple candy-coated cake that I privately dub the "Mike Kenney Memorial Cake." I first made this as a birthday present for my colleague, Mike, who had a KitKat addiction. My office mates were a fun-loving, friendly bunch who, on Mike's birthday, dumped about a hundred KitKat candy bars on his desk. And I found a cake design to match.

Since that time, it has become a favorite among my family and friends. Each of my boys asked for it on recent birthdays and on a trip back to the US this spring, my old colleagues begged for it as well. Frankly, I'm sick of making it :) But, because it is popular and so simple that anyone can make it with little time or effort, I'll share the concept here.

1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake in round cake pans - any recipe, even a box mix if you are so inclined. I prefer two 9-inch rounds I can stack with a layer of frosting in the middle, but if you are really short on time, go for a single deep spring-form.
2. Frost generously with your favorite chocolate frosting. Again, I won't judge - if you want, pull out a can of the pre-made stuff (but I strongly encourage you to try homemade, it's worth it! Here's a great one Chocolate Buttercream Frosting).
3. Next, press KitKat candy wafer bars into the frosting around the sides. (Break the bars of 4 thin sticks in half so you are pressing pairs of sticks). To help hold them together, tie a ribbon around the cake (even paper curling ribbon will do).
4. Finally, fill the top of the cake with small candies. I usually use Reese's Pieces, but have also made variations with M&Ms or Smarties. Wa-la - you have a candy-coated cake that will please almost any sugar-junkie.

Sadly, a couple years ago, Mike suddenly passed away of natural causes at a rather young age. Since then, each time I make this cake, I offer a little prayer for kind-hearted Mike and his family. May he rest in peace.

And may you and your family remember that life is a precious gift and every opportunity to celebrate it should be embraced!