family

29: Recipe | Spritzgebäck (German Spritz Cookies)

November 29, 2020 filed under: baking, family, food, holidays, NaBloPoMo, nostalgia

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2020

This post has been years in the making. Spritzgebäck is the traditional holiday cookie in my family. Everybody gets involved. My Mom prepares the dough, my Dad and the kids (first my sister and I, then my cousin, now my niece and nephew) make the cookies. My Dad used to have a manual meat mincer and cookie inset that he used for years and years, but they upgraded to an electric food grinder attachment for a stand mixer a couple of years ago (which makes it much easier). Everybody in the family brings a cookie tin that gets filled to the top with spritz cookies and in recent years, when I couldn’t go home for the holidays, my Mom always sent me some in her Christmas package. It’s always the most coveted item.

We decided that this year, with the pandemic and unreliable postal service times and outrageous postage prices, we wouldn’t send any packages for Christmas. So, finally, after talking about it for years, I invested in a meat grinder attachment and cookie inset to make my own. I guess it was about time.

The trick for these cookies is to chill the dough overnight, then prepare the cookies the next day by pressing it through the meat grinder into thin strips which bake into extra crispy, hard cookies. My niece and nephew can demonstrate it much better than I could because they’re experts now.

If you are “team soft cookie”, I still recommend you give these a try. Maybe they’ll change your mind. Although, you will have to invest in the equipment first… but it’s worth it, IMHO. Jon is also a fan. The cookies are crisp, but not too sweet. Just perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Great for dunking, too. Our family traditionally makes them ‘plain’, but you can also dip on end into melted chocolate if you’re into that.

If you try them, let me know if you enjoy them. Meanwhile, I’ll sit here with my nostalgia, nibbling on a cookie.

Ingredients

500 g unbleached wheat flour
250 g sugar
250 g butter (unsalted) — softened
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 pouch vanilla sugar

Beat the soft butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and eggs and keep beating. Add the rest of the ingredients and form into a ball. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.

Bring dough to room temperature before proceeding. Add dough to your meat grinder and press through the cookie attachment and line the cookies up on a cookie sheet (you can line them up tightly as they won’t expand much, but you still might have to bake in a few batches). Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool down on a cooling rack.

Spritzgebäck (German Spritz Cookies)

500 g wheat flour
250 g sugar
250 g butter ((unsalted))
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 pouch vanilla sugar

Beat the soft butter until fluffy.
Add the sugar and eggs and keep beating.
Add the rest of the ingredients and form into a ball. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.
Bring dough to room temperature before proceeding.
Add dough to your meat grinder and press through the cookie attachment and line them up on your cookie sheet.
Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool down on a cooling rack.

6: My parents’ Oktoberfest-themed birthday bash

November 6, 2019 filed under: birthday, family, Germany, home, NaBloPoMo

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2019

My family

Contrary to popular belief, Germans do not run around in Dirndls and Lederhosen on a daily basis, not even in Bavaria. So this is not a picture of how we usually dress. However, as it has become popular in other countries, September and October are the months of Oktoberfest-themed parties everywhere.

So my parents got with the program and organized their birthday party Oktoberfest-style. I mean, the food alone is reason enough, but my parents also asked guests to dress up in Bavarian-style clothing.

I personally don’t own a Dirndl, but I got lucky as my sister had bought a new one and said that I would probably fit into her old one. (True. It’s nice to be able to share a closet with your sister.) I was also surprised to see how many of the guest also follow suit and showed up in Dirndls and Lederhosen.

The party was on October 3, which is a public holiday in Germany, so we started the celebrations at 11 in the morning. As you do.

We were super-lucky with the weather, as it rained most days when we were in Germany. My parents had set up a pop-up canopy tent in the backyard, hoping we could make use of the extra space and luckily, it was mostly dry and sunny on the day of the party.

My parents didn’t want any gifts, as they’re planning to come visit us here in California again next year with my sister, BIL, and the kids. But nevertheless, my sister and I organized a little “presentation” that included a few games and gifts pertaining to the US-trip that they’re planning for next summer. (Honestly, I cannot wait to have them back here in California.)

The whole day was a lot of fun, but I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Brothers

Sisters

Friends

We were about 35 people and the whole day was full of good food, conversation, love and laughter. We had a blast and Jon and I were so happy we could be part of it.

How to pull off a birthday surprise

October 21, 2019 filed under: birthday, family, Germany, travel

Remember when I said that I was keeping a secret?

You probably didn’t notice that it was quiet around here for the last couple of weeks. I had prepared a couple of posts to automatically post during my absence (I am not always that prepared, mind you), so you couldn’t know that Jon and I were actually spending time in a different time zone.

On October 1, J and I got on a plane to Germany to surprise my parents for their 70th birthdays. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought that it was a possibility. I had just been in Germany in May. My parents’ birthdays are 2,5 weeks apart and there was no way I could get time off long enough to be there for both their birthdays. But when my Mom called at the end of August, saying that they had changed their minds about not having a party and were planning one for October 3rd (her actual birthday and a German public holiday), the wheels in my head started turning.

70 is a milestone birthday. My parents are not getting any younger (although I’d like to think of them as perpetually young-ish). I remembered that I was in Germany for their 60th birthdays. How could I miss this big event in my parents’ life and not go? So, I decided that we would go. Just like that.

Well, not really ‘just like that’. I talked with Jon (he was instantly on board!), I talked with my supervisor at work (to request time off), I checked flight prices, and then we just went ahead and booked tickets.

When I told my sister that we were planning on coming, she was beyond thrilled, as she hadn’t really thought that this would be a possibility either. My parents, of course, had no clue that we had booked tickets. In fact, nobody knew anything besides my sister. We were so paranoid that someone would slip up and ruin the surprise.
Believe me, it was hard enough to keep the secret for about 4 weeks myself, as I talk to my parents a few times every week. I made sure to complain plenty about the fact how much we hated that we weren’t going to be there for the party, that we would miss out on the amazing food, and how much it sucked sometimes to live so far away. At the same time, I hoped that I wasn’t coming off too strong and making them suspicious.

Finally, the day of our departure was here and as far as we could tell, the secret was still safe. We arrived in Germany on October 2, my sister had arranged for someone to pick us up from the airport and take us to her house, and then we surprised my parents in the evening before the party.

We had first thought about just “showing up” at the party the next day, but a) I didn’t want to give my parents a heart attack on the day of their party and b) we didn’t want to take away the focus from their birthday celebrations, as it was their day, not ours. (I mean, plenty of people still were surprised to see us, but at least my parents weren’t completely emotionally overwhelmed and could focus on their other guests instead of just us.)

My sister drove us and the kids over to my parents’ house in the evening, but dropped us off at the street corner so that she could see them alone first (pretending that she was bringing over some last minute things for the party). We had taken a picture with the kids in her backyard earlier in the afternoon, which she was going to show them. Since J hadn’t been in Germany with me for a while, they’d hopefully notice instantly that the picture was very current.

Meanwhile, we and the kids had walked up to the front door of my parents’ house and were waiting for them to realize what was going on.

Of course, I wish I could have actually seen my parents’ faces when they caught on to what was happening. My sister tried to capture the moment while trying not to seem suspicious when she started filming them. Haha.

Finally, the door opened and they came outside. My Mom was crying and I could tell that even my Dad, even though he doesn’t get emotional quickly, was moved to see us. I’d like to think: the surprise was a definite success and it felt amazing that we had been able to pull this off!

When I asked my parents if they had suspected something… anything… they said no. Of course, they had hoped and wished that we could be there with them for their birthdays, but both of them didn’t think that it was a possibility because of my limited amount of vacation time (comparatively speaking), the fact that I had just visited for three weeks in the spring, and the fact that flying in from California is not a simple train ride into town.

I am just so, so glad we went. I cannot explain how much it means to me to know that we were able to spend this time with them. I’ll tell you all about the actual birthday party (Octoberfest-themed!) and the rest of our stay (we stayed for 11 days) in another post, but just wanted to let you in on my little secret.

Recap | My nephew’s first communion

July 15, 2019 filed under: family, home, recap

Just a heads up, this post will be photo-heavy.

Just like I did two years ago for my niece’s communion, I planned my visit back home this year, so that I could attend my nephew’s first communion. It’s one of these once-in-a-lifetime events for which I had to try and be there. I miss out on too many events as it is.

We had an amazing day that started at 9 a.m. and went late into the night. Germans know how to party, is all I am saying. If there is something big to celebrate, we make it an all-day event.

First thing in the morning, we headed over to the local church for the church service. When Greta had her first communion two years ago, multiple congregations had to share one pastor and the service was held in one of the bigger churches in the city. It was crowded and we couldn’t really see or follow what was going on at the altar.

Luckily for Tom’s communion, the service was held at a much smaller, neighborhood-church which meant that less first communion goers and less people overall were in attendance, which in turn made for a much more pleasant ceremony.

After the service, our family (and friends) gathered in front of the church for some pictures and then we headed over to my sister’s place for a reception.

My aunt, my uncle, and cousin.

My aunt and cousin.

My cousin and his girlfriend.

My aunt and uncle.

My Mom and I.

My cousin, my sister, and my cousin’s girlfriend.

Lunch was catered from our favorite Italian restaurant in town, Alla Scala.

… but my sister made the beef bouillon herself. Including bone marrow dumplings and custard royale (I had to google that and hope it’s the right translation). She used my great-aunt’s recipe and so it felt like she was there somehow.

Lunch seamlessly morphed into afternoon “Kaffee und Kuchen” (coffee and cake). The cakes were homemade by different people and one was more delicious than the next. I almost tried them all.

We were super-lucky with the weather, as it had been raining a lot during my visit, but the day of the communion was dry and the sun came out a few times! All the kids were able to play in the backyard for most of the day and as you can see from the pictures, we had to squint quite a bit.

Father and son.

Just as for Greta’s communion, the dinner buffet was prepared mostly by my parents: a variety of pickled antipasti, salads, pickled salmon, turkey and pork, bread and herb butter. Delicious!

My sister’s beautiful family.

#proudaunt

My parents and my nephew.

Tom and his two godfathers.

Germans know how to party and we preferably use any occasion to make a whole day out of it. The celebration went late into the night.

Haha. Not sure what’s going on here.

Sisters. ♥

It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful that I was able to be there and spend precious time with most of my extended family.

My trip home

June 17, 2019 filed under: Expat stories, family, food, Germany, reminiscence, travel

I can’t believe it’s been ~~four~~ almost five weeks since I returned from my long-anticipated visit back home with my family. Time just won’t slow down and it’s been hard to get back into my blogging game (as you can tell).

I had an absolutely wonderful time and soaked up every minute. I can also say that I was able to almost check everything of my Germany Bucket List.

Like,

… spending time with my niece and nephew (and the rest of the family)

You know what was really, really nice about this trip? That I really enjoyed being at home at my parents’ house and that I was part of everyone’s daily routine. Since my sister and BIL were working and the kids were in school, we didn’t do a whole lot of “adventuring” or “vacation stuff”, but it was nice to pretend that I was always part of their daily routines for a while.

I took my niece to her riding lesson and we had a movie night at my sister’s house and various afternoons and dinners where we just hung out together.

… spending time with my best friend

I didn’t get to spend as much time with my friend as I had hoped to. Shortly after I arrived, she left for an almost two-week stay at a pain clinic (for chronic headaches) where a spot had just opened up. Of course, she had to take it. I wish I could have spent more time with her and build her up a bit more, but I am glad we got to see each other at all. Every hour is precious.

… attending one of my best friends’ wedding

I was stoked that I was able to attend one of my best friend’s wedding during my visit. We met many moons ago on the Internet, but have become really close over the years and to be able to be there for her (and her new husband) on their wedding day was such a treat (for me and for her!). (Separate recap to come.)

… my nephew’s first communion.

Last time I visited for my niece’s first communion, so of course I had to make sure that I am there for my nephew’s as well. So glad I could make this happen. (Separate recap to come.)

… eating all the food

My Mom went above and beyond to fulfill all my food cravings. Every day, I made a new request for lunch or dinner and she made it all.

Mettbrötchen (rolls with freshly minced meat, salt, pepper and onions – OMG!) – pork roast with crackling with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes – Schnibbelskuchen (baked potato wedges with eggs on whole grain bread with sugar beet syrup)

potato pancakes – green bean soup with sausages – herring in cream sauce with potatoes and bacon bits

meatballs with kohlrabi and potatoes – waffles with strawberries and ice cream – bratwurst with red cabbage and potatoes

Not pictured: goulash and dumplings, pizza, and ALL THE FRESH BREAD + ROLLS all day, every day.

… walking with my Mom

My Mom has been getting into a regular morning walk routine since I last visited and I did not only join her for one, but many walks (I think five!). It was so great to get out and walk with her, which also gave us the opportunity to talk and just spend time together. I ended up only running once, but the walks were far more important to me this time.

… going for a run with my cousin (and maybe my sister?)

Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I blame two things: a) bad weather (it rained a lot while I was there!) and b) timing (my cousin and my sister had to work, so there wasn’t as much opportunity), but I still got out for a run around my hometown!

… working out with my Dad

Unfortunately, that also didn’t happen, because my Dad had issues with his shoulder and couldn’t go to the gym with me (and subsequently had surgery scheduled two weeks after I left).

… having some quality time with my sister

I got to spend two nights at my sister’s house and I wish I could do that more often. It’s just so nice to hang out, sleep in the same bed and then have breakfast together the next morning (including fancy out-of-the-shower-towel-turbans, ha!) – as if we do that every Saturday. I mean, at least it felt like that… even if in reality, it’s such a rare event.

… seeing an old friend from high school

Timing was difficult because she had to work and my weekends were already filled up with family stuff, but I did get to see my high school friend for a few hours one evening during the week and I am so glad we both were able to make the time to reconnect.

… spending a day with a dear friend in Köln

I did get to meet up with one of my longest, dearest friends in Cologne again and we got to spend some time in our favorite city. (Separate recap to come.)

… seeing a few other dear (family) friends (BONUS!)

I was able to squeeze in a couple more friends (I got to have coffee with an old pen friend that I hadn’t seen in 20 years and I also was able to reconnect with a dear friend, who lives in Hamburg now) and we saw two family friends for a few hours and I am so glad we were able to make it happen.

… shopping for items to bring back to my US home.

Of course, I did shop for some stuff to bring back home (I believe, every expat does!) and even though my must-get list has gotten shorter, there is definitely a few things I always bring back. Wanna know what these things are? I might write a separate post about it, if you’re interested. (Or you can hop on Instagram and Facebook to see the “Germany hauls” some people post, although I am not bringing half of that stuff that other people are bringing back. Just sayin’.)

My time back home was packed full of awesome people, awesome food and I returned to the US with a really full heart.