Kaiserschmarrn und Oma’s kisses

Mmmmmm, mmmm. Christian treated us to Kaiserschmarrn the other night, my favorite! So much for breastfeeding helping with losing those post-partum lbs. I am still eating for two!
Yesterday mom came over to visit, and to give me time to do laundry, shower, take a walk and to surf online (now considered a luxury!). She told stories about me as a baby/child, Amazing how much mom remembers, considering she gave birth to me exactly 40 years ago! Yep, the big 4-0 today…but caring for Hannah DE-ages me!

Orchids AND Schweinebraten? The perfect day.

Our little indoor garten at our apartment...

Yesterday I must have won some karmic lotto, because it was simply the greatest day. First of all, it was Friday, which honestly used to mean more to me when I was working full time, pre-pregnancy but it was still Friday; secondly, I felt physically great, and walked a great walk early in the morning; thirdly, met a great friend for coffee mid-morning…a friend who really knows how to get me going spiritually and emotionally; I found some amazing finds at the Jerusalem Grocery Store, an Arabic/International grocery store which ALSO sells GERMAN products!! Kinder Bueno, Jacobs coffee, Maggi spice mix, anyone?? I also got a variety of Arabic teas, soaps, soft drinks and pickled veggies there, too.
I made lunch and took it to Christian at his place of work, and we enjoyed a wonderful picnic meal outside in the gorgeous sunny-but-cool autumn El Paso weather; we spent a lovely and lazy afternoon cuddling and laughing when he returned from work; I had a great nap…
But I really, really wasn’t expecting to wake up to a gift from Christian waiting for me… my favorite orchids sitting for me at my computer table (by the way, the photo shows our high chair for Hannah, NOT my computer table, lol), with a note that simply said thanks for all the little things I do… they’re not taken for granted… AND the smell of schweinebraten, sauerkraut and semmelknodeln cooking in the little kitchen. Man, was I still asleep????
The best tasting dinner to end the best-ever day.
It isn’t often I have a day I can look back on and say, “Yeah, that was a perfect day in every way.” This was one of them.

Do you remember your last “perfect day?” Tell me about it! What made it so special for you?

You can take the girl out of Germany…

Mom checks out the plethora of pastries at International Deli

… but you definitely can’t take Germany out of the girl. Although I can’t join my husband on his two-week trip to Germany later in November, I’m determined to continue my quest to find or replicate as many German traditions and customs as possible, even here on the Mexican border. Unfortunately, most of the German restaurants (er, ALL of them), bakeries and the German Community Center are on the opposite side of town and not easy to get to on a daily or weekly basis, so I have chosen to take refuge at the International Deli, a deli (natch) and bakery not far from where I live. It was once owned by a German couple, but has been sold. Fortunately the new owners realized they had a heavy German clientele, alongside their Middle Eastern (mostly Lebanese) clientele, so with the Hiedelberg Rye bread and the Apfelstrudel one can find Baklava, Feta/Spinach croissants and just about everything in between. Their pastry rack and breads are plentiful and varied…. perhaps not as authentic as Marina’s German Bakery on the other side of town, but decent if you realllllllyyyyyy are jonezing for some fairly authentic Kaffee und Kuchen, as my mom and I were yesterday.
I’d already eaten lunch with my husband, so I opted for dessert while my mom had the bratwurst sandwich served with sauerkraut and potato salad (a decidedly AMERICAN potato salad, i.e, yellow mustard, pickle and mayo mixture), but to her a very good sandwich. She was quite surprised when I told her that no Bavarian would eat sauerkraut the way it is served here, however, straight out of the jar. When I told her it involved a long, slow cooking in lard, she looked horrified, lol.
I had a delicious strawberry shortcake slice of cake and abysmal coffee. What I would do for some Dallmayr or Jacobs, but I’ve bypassed my Germandeli.com budget for the month after ordering two Stollen cakes, Milka chocolates and a Bavarian Christmas Songs CD.
At least I got a little taste of Bavaria yesterday, enjoying Kaffee und Kuchen with my lovely mom, letting the world of frenzy, road rage and rushing-for-no-reason carry on without us just outside the door.

•••

Obatzda for Americans? Smoked Salmon spread at Famous Dave's

Last night Christian and I met my dad at Famous Dave’s for dinner and, while the barbeque is pretty good, Christian and I couldn’t stop raving about the appetizer… smoked salmon spread. God, does anyone have a recipe for that???? Really, if you ever go to Famous Dave’s, skip the entree, order the smoked salmon spread (comes with good pita) and a salad. Really a better deal and much better!

Comforts of home

It seems all Bavarian households have an orchid at their window...we do too, now.

I had never felt so AT HOME than I did when I went to go stay with Christian at his home in Rohr, Niederbayern. I was fortunate to have stayed with him and his family about 4 times, each time no less than two weeks, and twice for a month at a time. Despite the language barrier, I felt utterly at ease and at peace just sitting in the living room with his mom, having Kaffee und Kuchen in the back yard under the huge apple tree, and sleeping in Christian’s bed, his room having a view of the vast, rolling hops and rapeseed fields.
Christian’s and my niece Nina (the daughter of Frank, Christian’s brother) and her brother Dominik would come over almost daily for K and K and to play, and I guess that’s when (hindsight is 50/50) I knew I had it in me to actually have maternal and nesting instincts, as I loved so much to watch over them when their parents were occupied, and I was mesmerized by their rapid learning and growth. Their Oma’s home, Christian’s home, was a fortress of serenity, comfort, good food, good company, and a wonderful routine that never became mundane.

I grew up in quite the opposite atmosphere, never routine. I loved my childhood and my home, but I do admit I always wished I had more structure and routine growing up, and I got it rather late in life via my husband. I could show him spontaneity, and he could show me structure, discipline and a sense of routine that I find so comforting…to be safe in knowing that things will pretty much be in their place and as they always have been. I need a little (or a lot) of that.
We live in a 580 square foot apartment, and with the addition of one in January, space will be even more of a commodity. However, we’ve managed to begin to create a wonderful little home, filled with traditions from both sides of the Atlantic. Whereas Christian collects American sports team baseball caps, Homie figurines and books… I collect reminders of “home” in Rohr, with Lebkuchen tin boxes, incense smoker figurines, orchids for the window, family photos, garden gnomes and German language-learning books and tools. It’s a complete hodge-podge of American and German influences, and I just adore my home. I adore coming home and seeing what we’ve created with what we’ve got.
Sometime within the next few years we will make the permanent move to Bavaria but in the meantime, this is home sweet home.

A soupçon of soup

I wasn’t much of a soup eater until I met my husband. I don’t know…I’d always thought of soup as a “catch-all” for leftovers, or a very boring calorie source (why slurp when you can chew?). I guess I’d never been exposed to really good soup. I mean, I did like vichyssoise and borscht, but how often do you see that at the family table, and even at restaurants, at least in this neck of the woods?
It was when I was exposed to Griessoupe, wild mushroom broth, Goulash soup and more at the home of my husband’s mother that I realized I’d really done soup a disservice by dissing it so easily. It can be great. It can be simple. It can fill you up on pennies. And yes, it can be a great catch-all for all the leftover food items you just can’t seem to find something to do with.
Night before last, realizing we really only had food that was deep-frozen in the freezer, and some basic staples on hand, I wondered what I could bring to Christian for lunch the next day without going once again to the grocery store for the second time this week. I then remembered ALL the bags of lentils I had in the pantry (one of my WIC staples I get in my monthly package), the carrots in desperate need of cooking before they began to take a bow, some heavy cream that was once part of a recipe of weeks past, a gazillion beef broth cubes, and some tiny potatoes that were hiding in the pantry, waiting to do some serious sprouting.
So, I got out the trusty but woefully underused Crock Pot and got to work. I added one package of lentils, a handful of brown rice, three cups of water, a cup of cream, two sliced carrots, one sliced and diced onion, five beef broth cubes, one diced potato, a few pieces of leftover beef, curry powder, dried cilantro, a whole head of peeled garlic, onion powder and voila… a fantastic creamy, hearty soup in the making. It turned out surprisingly better than I had imagined, and was a healthy, filling and delicious meal in itself.

Creamy lentil soup

Served with baguette and salad, we felt like we were at a tiny rustic Gastehaus in Bavaria. And it was a fairly cold and blustery day here yesterday, the better to serve this bone-warming concoction.
The soup trend continued for dinner last night, with a big, steaming bowl of Pho soup at Saigon Taste, one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants in town. Normally I have the Banh Mi sandwich, a glorious thing that sounded wonderful to me last night but my ever-growing tummy just wouldn’t allow it. Instead I ordered the Pho and was blessed with a huge bowl of rice vermicelli, seafood (“Faked crab” it said on the menu, calamari cut up like a flower blossom and shrimp), fresh cilantro, sprouts, and jalapenos, and a sublime and mellow broth that was just like drinking a bowl of manna from heaven. Sounds a bit much in praising it, but when you’re pregnant, hungry and tired, a bowl of Pho is a godsend when taking a bite and chewing and swallowing seems like running a marathon.
Thank god for Crock Pots and Vietnamese restaurants. Both ensure leftovers for DAYS. I’ve got my folate taken care of for a month with the amount of lentils I’ll be eating in the next few days, and if I’m all lentil-ed out, there’s some of that phenomenal Pho broth to sustain me.

Now that the weather is nippy and hot and hearty food is making its seasonal debut, what is YOUR favorite soup and why? Is it an old family recipe? A restaurant staple? Something you just whipped together haphazardly and found it to be incredible?

A Pfann letter…

Here I am yesterday, at 27 weeks, 5 days, wearing the LAST pair of jeans I can actually button!

I’ve posted a recipe for Pfannkuchen before on this blog, but judging from the amount of hits I get for the recipe and all things related to that and Apfelstrudel, I will go ahead and post the recipe again, since that is what Christian made for dinner last night and I finally got some decent pictures of the luscious pancakes!
I request Pfannkuchen probably about once a week but it seems we’re always out of some element, be it flour, eggs, whole milk or the necessary jam to fill the pancakes. But last night I made SURE we had all of the above and besides, Hannah and I were in dire need of something light and sweet after a week of outdoor grilling, meats, cheeses and hot spices. Dear Christian obliged and even made extra pancakes to make pancake soup tonight. Probably the easiest recipe on the planet, once you have the pancakes. Even I can make that. (http://www.letscookgerman.com/starters-and-soups/pancake-soup-fladlesuppe.html)

And here’s the recipe that I trust will be used MUCH more often for us in the coming colder months, when my tummy needs something a bit more bland than habaneros and jalapenos, I get my sweet fix AND it’s not going to cause me to reach for the Tums five times a night…

Pfannkuchen
3 eggs
1 c. flour
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional)
A dash of salt
Pour a small amount onto hot skillet, pick up skillet and turn to spread batter. Cook to barely brown and turn. Serve with jam, rolled up like a burrito, with sprinkled confectioner’s sugar on top if desired. Typically served for dinner in Bavaria, not as a dessert like in the States.

•••

Yesterday I met Christian at his place of work to treat him to an outdoor lunch. The weather was fantastic and I’d yet to see him at work at his library. I myself felt a little like I was playing hooky, even though I’ve not been working for more than a month now. I still feel like I’m “sneaking around” during the day, so I’ve really been focusing on having a full schedule, busy days and no moping around the house. After I brought lunch to Christian (leftover curried chicken, rice and veggies for me, plus a Sharon fruit for dessert (what a good girl am I); and a ham/cheese wrap and leftover potato salad for Christian; I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up a curio (shadow) box for Christian’s ever increasing Homies and SpongeBob figurines. They were beginning to take over the kitchen “bar area” space, and I knew it was time to relegate them to a safe spot on the wall. Homies and SpongeBob figurines were never quite my thing, but once Christian started collecting them and getting so excited about getting a new and unique one when he put his 50 cents in the machines, I did too, and now I must say they’re a fun addition to our apartment decor, lol. And I guess with Hannah, I’d better get used to the notion of SpongeBob and/or (fill in the blank with this week’s flavor of cartoon character) filling up the house.
I found the closest thing possible… a jewelry holder. Does NO ONE carry curio boxes anymore? Not even Hobby Lobby did, and they are SUPPOSED to carry miniature-collectible boxes, no??? Uggh. Well, I made do and nailed the jewelry holder to the wall, and it works just fine. I am just praying Hannah doesn’t go for collecting Homies, lol. I wonder, wonder, wonder what she’ll go for. Me? I loved, and still love, seashells. But I guess Homies are a LOT easier to come by than seashells in El Paso, Texas. If we go back to Bavaria, she’ll be collecting those little toys that come in the chocolate eggs at Easter time (banned here in the states by the FDA, those party poopers)….

What did you collect as a child? Are you still at it?

Great things come in small packages

Last night Christian pulled off a culinary coup with a mix of foil-wrapped and grilled veggies and cheese that just blew me away. Continuing our outdoor cooking for every meal while we stay at dad’s house to housesit, we decided to go light on the meat and just play around with the best-looking veggies Albertson’s had on hand. That included zucchini, cremini mushrooms, garlic, onions, roma tomatoes, asparagus, and grape leaves. Oh, and more garlic. And with that, fresh buffalo mozarella cheese, jalapeno jack cheese and feta cheese.
In one packet, he made little “shish kebabs” of zucchini, bell peppers and cheese, and wrapped them each up, tamale style, in foil. In another packet, he wrapped garlic and feta in grape leaves, and then wrapped THOSE up in little foil “presents.” And in the last, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and mozarella. WIth that we had a large toasted baguette and that’s it. No side salad, no distracting appetizer or dessert. Just garlicky veggie goodness.
Not only was it fun to “unwrap” each parcel, but it was great to top toasted baguette with different elements, as well as to pop the tiny stuffed grape leaves into our mouths. A DEFINITE winner, especially great for vegetarians who feel left out at BBQs.
Today we leave dad’s and head on back home. Even though dad lives about 10 miles from us, it does feel like a little vacation to stay at his old house in his old neighborhood. But I must say, there’s no place like home, and I’m ready to tend to my four-pot garden, start putting Hannah’s clothes away in our new dresser we bought for her, and continue my nesting. Just under three months to go, and I KNOW it’s going to fly….

Cevapcici on a rainy day…

El Paso finally saw a rainy day like it hasn’t seen in years, allowing me to wear my new slate blue cord jeans and a turtleneck sweater (I love dressing for the fall!). It was pouring during the morning rush hour, so what normally would have taken me about 15 minutes took me about 50 on the slow, slick city streets. And it gave me a quick lesson in how important it is to have decent, non-bald tires on my Jeep. I fishtailed a few times, gratefully avoiding any accident, but that enough put new tires at the very top of my priority list. It’s always hard parting with $450, but we came away with four spanking new tires and a sense of relief.. oh, and better tires than we paid for, since the ones we asked for weren’t in stock, even though we’d already paid and signed for those. They HAD to upgrade us on the house.
So, ONE major expense on our list out of the way and to not fret about. Second one is the trip to Munich in late March or April. Of COURSE the price went up by about $200 for EACH of us in just one day, but I’m optimistically holding out and hoping that the price will again hover around the $800-per-person level again in the near future. And when it does, I’m pouncing on it.
I thought morning sickness was strictly a first trimester occurrence and gratefully I never had it. However, twice this week I’ve been utterly nauseous and queasy. I can tell that Hannah is DEFINITELY going through a MASSIVE growth spurt this week and, although I can’t see them, I can FEEL each and every future stretch mark make its, well, er, mark. It’s only a matter of time before those little buggers make their appearance, lol. As for the nausea and the ligament-stretch pains, I am more than happy to deal with them because of the ultimate outcome. Nothing to do but to grin and bear it.
Perhaps sensing my exhaustion, weakness and need for some homemade comfort food, Christian last night turned to a recipe his stepdad Uli had given him for Cevapcici, which I’d had in Germany a few times and just loved. It’s a basic Middle European meatball dish that is hearty, inexpensive to prepare, yet looks like it takes lots of TLC and effort. I managed to eat about 5 of the balls before my queasiness and my lack of tummy space took over, but I assure you, the queasiness did NOT come from the Cevapcici. It’s a great fall dish for the entire family and comes highly recommended by me!

Cevapcici (It’s even fun to say! Ce-VAP-Chee-Chee)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder

Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl and knead well to bind the meat and spices together. Shape into balls and cook on a grill so that they stay juicy. Turn only once and do not pierce. Serve with baguette or rice, with sauteed onions and tomatoes.

Oktoberfest, Part One…

I think I’ve got my baby Hannah’s message… she’s definitely on Team Bavaria! Christian and I went to the Fort Bliss Oktoberfest yesterday, and I managed to squeeze into the authentic Dirndl my mother-in-law gave me last year to attend. I was scared that one laugh, one sneeze, one cough would send carved bone buttons flying like projectiles, but I managed to button even over the widest part of my baby bump. I was close to chickening out, but I’m SO glad I wore it! Not only did all the German Air Force volunteers automatically speak German to me, I really felt a part of it all, and not some hokey tourist who has no clue about the traditions of Oktoberfest and that it’s not ALL about bier und schnapps!
So, why is Hannah already picking favorites, you may ask? When the band played the American anthem, she lay dormant as a log, with no movement at all. All of a sudden, when the Bavarian anthem began to play, she was dancing like a dervish, all over my tummy! She already knows how to express herself!
Yesterday was family day at Oktoberfest, meaning no dancing on the tables or Jäger shot contests, but more about eating, singing along to the band music, and shopping for souvenirs.
I ordered the Schweinebraten plate, which came with two slices of very tender but not so “roasted” tasting pork and gravy; very, very dry kartoffelsalat; and good sauerkraut, if a bit gray. Came with an outstanding Brötchen, however, and all in all it was a good meal. Christian ordered a dainty Schnitzel sandwich which he said was very good. Again, saying something if HE says it’s good. Unfortunately the German “Helping Hands” volunteer club had not yet set up its bake sale, so we couldn’t get any pastries or cakes, but maybe that’s a good thing, since I’ve got a 5-lb. blueberry cobbler at home I need to tackle.
Fort Bliss’ Oktoberfest is small, not full of eye candy like the real deal, and really can be navigated in less than two hours. But it’s a great family event, good food, good cheer, and definitely worthwhile. I consider it a great warm up for the Holloman Air Force Base Oktoberfest, which takes place next weekend at White Sands. And yes, we are going. And no, I don’t know if my Dirndl’s gonna fit then.
After Oktoberfest, we got in the Jeep, where I promptly unbuttoned my Dirndl for the ride home, praying we wouldn’t get pulled over and I’d have to explain why I was semi-undressed (couldn’t rebutton quickly if my life depended on it!). We got home, had a nice, luxurious nap, and then did a little baby gear research (me) and played some games and did some dual-citizenship research for Hannah (him). We’ll have to go directly to the German Consulate in Houston within a year after Hannah’s born to get her her German citizenship and passport, so we have to juggle the finances for our trip to Germany in the spring, a trip to Houston, four new tires for the Jeep, our medical insurance (my Medicaid runs out two months after Hannah’s born), whatever was not purchased on Hannah’s registry at Target, car insurance, etc…. Okay, taking a deep breath now! Christian managed to take us a way from planning worries last night by making the most delicious, delicious, delicious grilled pork loin, grilled zucchini/jalapenos, and potato salad (what SHOULD have been served at Oktoberfest!). This meal really was everything about early fall, with the weather JUST beginning to temper itself, the crispness in the air, and fall foods.
I didn’t do my 30 minute walk this morning. I had too much fun laying in bed, feeling Hannah thump to the beat of her OWN drummer this morning. This is what life is all about!

Here I am at 24.5 weeks...

Peace OUT!

Sunday…must be Schweinebraten time!

Believe me, after last night I should have taken a second “baby-belly” photo because this one didn’t quite look the same after our dinner feast last night!
I am now officially 20 weeks into my pregnancy and in just a few days, I’ll have completed 5 months. I don’t know where the time flew, but this is amazing to me how quickly it is progressing. It’s definitely “real” now, not only to me, but to others who inevitably come up to me at the grocery store to rub and pat my tummy as I’m rubbing and patting watermelons to check their ripeness.
After an early morning power walk and a healthy (i.e. hearty) breakfast, Christian and I chatted with his brother and sister and law and their kids back home in Rohr, Bavaria, Germany. We do that every weekend and, with Skype (God, I love Skype!), it really does feel like we’re all just sitting there in Frank’s living room, having coffee together, and looking out the window onto the hauptstrasse. That’s Frank and Kathrin on the screen of my laptop.


Since Christian had promised to make his beloved (to him and to me!) Schweinebraten for us last night, I prepared myself by eating a very light lunch, by my standards, anyway. A simple salad with anything I could find and no oil, as well as a toasted baguette, no butter. A very simple but satisfying lunch, which made me feel a little less indulgent and a little more allowed to stuff myself silly at dinner!
And then, after an evening of sporadic housecleaning, movie-watching, book-reading, self-spa-day-ing, gardening and napping, it was time…

Christian labored almost three hours to make what I AND he consider to be his best go at Schweinebraten EVER…and he’s made quite a few! His Semmelknodeln were perfect, compact and not gummy. His pork had a very crisp skin with a gorgeous smoky flavor. The interior of the meat was a perfect pale pink and full of juice. The gravy he made from a Maggi mix tasted JUST like his step-dad Uli’s gravy. And his Sauerkraut just ROCKED MY WORLD. Many pregnant women can’t live without pickles. I can’t do without a dose of Sauerkraut at least twice a week.

It’s Monday. Time for a new work week, new promises to eat moderately and healthily and to exercise more. But then again, we still have lots of leftovers…