Blaue Zipfel

Last night for dinner, Gropius and I had a Frankish delicacy:  Blaue Zipfel.  Unfortunately, Whole Foods let us down and didn't have the bratwurst that we wanted (in hindsight, I should've gone to Corti's for Nürnberger bratwurst), so the sausage had a smokier flavor that we wanted.  But the saure was spot-on!  It's basically thinly sliced parsley root, leeks, carrots, and onions cooked in a broth made of wine and apple cider vinegar (with a splash of chicken broth) and spiced with pepper corns and juniper berries.  Towards the end, sausage is added and allowed to slowly simmer until it's cooked through.  Delish!

We enjoyed it with a nice (relatively) local white wine blend from Brassfield that we've taken to calling, "Serenity, NOW!" in Seinfeldian fashion. It's got a nice zing from Gewurtztraminer and is a change of pace from the usual Alsatian riesings.

This website has a nice recipe/rezept for it under another name.

A few more garden pics.

chives

marigolds

future tomatillo

lemon balm (the rabbits LOVE it!)

inside a potato tower

parrots beak

ocotillo waiting to bloom

rangpur lime blossom--smells delicious!

rangpur lime and friend

"hot lips" salvia

Some recent garden pictures

taken this weekend:

a few succulents Lulu and I transplanted into different pots

Gropius watering his potato towers

old spinach seeds = iffy germination rates

chard ready to bolt from last week's heat

Lulu's version of a sand box (notice buckets and play toys)

someone honing her gardening skills

the herb garden

rosemary, marjoram, sorrel (2 types), chives, tarragon, thyme, parsley, cilantro, oregano, and sage (2 types)

Gropius's radishes are coming in nicely on the right

the new bed:  heirloom corn, squash, and beans from seed

red and blue corn, french and italian squash, and indian bush beans

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

This past weekend I also made a rhubarb crumb cake from one of my favorite food blogs.  I ended up not having quite enough rhubarb, so I supplemented a bit with strawberries to get the requisite amount of fruit.  For my first attempt (ever!) at a crumb cake, I was quite pleased with how it turned out and left wondering why I waited so long??

And even better, Lulu didn't want to touch it--I think the rhubarb was too strange for her--so Gropius and I got to enjoy it all by ourselves.  It was still tasty the next day, esp after we popped it under the broiler a bit to crisp up the crumble topping...

all that's missing is a little schlagsahne...

Maifest

The dancing around the May Pole

In the better late than never category of blog posts, last weekend we went to the Maifest at the Turn Verein.  We met up with Tina, Shaya, and Tina's boyfriend, Karsten.  Lulu was really excited to see Shaya and then doubly excited to see that her new friends Joanna and Sarah were also there!  Things were a little crazy with the traditional German dancing, food, drink, and four small children under the age of three running around, but I did manage to snap a few shots.

contemplating the sauerkraut (which was delicious!)

Lulu and Shaya enjoying some warm, spiced almonds

Shaya, Karsten, and Tina

And for those of you who think I'm exaggerating about the size of Lulu's feet, here is Shaya's foot in one of Lulu's shoes for comparison:

crazy, isn't it??

Food Fail.

Gropius and I tried out a new recipe from a favorite blog and it was a failure. Utter and complete failure. I think the problem was that it wasn't fully sweet OR savory, just an odd combination of the two. Gropius pointed out that it was "very French."

I just thought it was very nasty.

Did I mention that the crust was made with olive oil?

On Saturday, I redeemed my menu choices somewhat with a recipe from the latest issue of Southern Living magazine. I described it as a "naughty" recipe to my mother-in-law because when you're cooking southern food, calories are no object!

a little fuzzy but the finished product.

I didn't have a 10" tart pan though, so I had to make do with a springform pan instead. I also cut back on the cheese and substituted sliced cheese for grated--not two things I would recommend when making it a second time. The cheese is necessary to hold it all together and once you pour the egg/half-n-half mixture over the top, they floated around. Still tasty but frustrating because you got the sense that it wasn't nearly as tasty as it could've been!  Should've added more bacon...

Everything's better with bacon...

Spoonbread

Gropius and I experimented with spoonbread last night for dinner.  I remember eating spoonbread in Texas when I was little and I was excited to discover this recipe that lightened it up a little (less fat, calories) AND used sweet potatoes (possibly my favorite food).  We paired it with some spicy chicken cilantro sausages and frozen veggies for a very tasty dinner!  (the picture below doesn't do it justice btw)

I liked it enough, that I could definitely see playing around with it and trying out different ingredients (southwestern spoonbread with corn and green chiles, anyone?).