Fröhliche Weinachten! Merry Christmas!

Lulu ended up falling asleep on the drive home from Christmas eve services last night around 8:30ish and we put her to bed without dinner because she could barely keep her eyes open.  (one of the benefits of no nap, I guess?)

So, we put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer ourselves before turning in for the night.  I also made cinnamon rolls and put them in the fridge to rise overnight while we were sleeping while Gropius made blaue zipfel for dinner.

Lulu slept until 7:40ish this morning...which was awesome.  She was excited to see the new stroller and baby doll Santa brought her and to hug her new teddy bear to hear Umpapa's voice wishing her Merry Christmas.

And then we got around to the serious business of stockings and opening presents.  Note:  I was taking pictures, so there aren't really any of me opening *my* presents.  This is not a representative sample.

Stroller, bear, and baby doll with stockings and tree.

Awwww!

to keep our strength up for the arduous task ahead...

new shiny shirt from Oma and Opa

unicorn slippers from Mommy and Daddy
(in a size 1!!)

alphabet and numbers books from Oma and Opa

new puzzle from Oma and Opa

New book from Oma and Opa

Gropius got a new set of lager glasses from me

baby doll getting changed into her new clothes from Nanny

new underwear from Oma and Opa

new book of Grimms Bros fairytales from my Mom and Dad

new self-locking tongs (very cool!) from me

Lulu wanting to try out her baby bjorn carrier from Mau-Mau and Umpapa

More accessories for the new baby doll

Afterwards, Lulu decided to change into her matching pajamas and push her new baby doll around the house in her new stroller.

very proud of her new presents!

And then we got down to the task at hand:  eating cinnamon rolls!

ingenious--hadn't thought of putting them in a muffin tin before!

look at all those rings!  so pretty.....

Elisenlebkuchen

Gropius and I tried our hands at baking a special kind of lebkuchen this past weekend:  Elisenlebkuchen.  These are very similar to the lebkuchen that we purchase every time we're in Nürnberg from Düll (down the street from the Altbrauerei and the Tiergartnertor).  I found this recipe on Essen und Trinken's website and we decided to give it a whirl because we had some candied orange and lemon peel that was taking up valuable refrigerator space.

So, first up was assembling our mise en place (notice computer in background for recipe instructions--and helpful video!):

Marzipan, candied citrus, egg whites, cocoa powder, sugar, lebkuchen gewürz (spices),
flour, almond meal, hirschhorn salz, salt

Interestingly, the woman in the video grates her marzipan which was something we've never seen before:

Candied peel on the left, marzipan on the right

We put it all in the food processor and gave it a spin to mix it all together.  Then, I put it all in a gallon-size Zip-Loc bag and snipped off one corner to make an ersatz pastry bag:

Oblaten and lebkuchen dough

I had to cut the Oblaten (literally, "the Host" wafers that they pass out for Communion in the Catholic church) down to size--each sheet made four rectangular cookies:

ready for their dough

The next step was piping the lebkuchen teig (dough) onto the oblaten.  I will warn you though--this next photo will remind you of something else!  After this picture was taken, we wet our fingers with some water and then smoothed out the dough.

I swear, Dido was NOWHERE near the kitchen!

See what I mean?  But, once it was smoothed out and baked, the finished product does not resemble anything a dog or cat might produce--I promise!  (This does remind me of the time I made Hungarian chocolate-chestnut "potato" truffles at Christmastime and Gropius thought I had been raiding Dido's litter box.  Why do all my special Christmas projects look like poo??)

finished batch on the left/back and ones ready for the oven on the front/right

The finished product is square instead of round (different Oblaten) and would look even better covered in chocolate or a sugar glaze, but the taste is divine!  We have made lots of Christmas cookies this year to share with friends, but these aren't leaving the house!

finished product

DELICIOUS!!

Oktoberfest

We went to Oktoberfest at the local Turnverein this past weekend.  We went on Saturday afternoon once Lulu woke up from her nap, but the rhythm of the celebration seemed off.  We kinda felt the same way about going on Saturday last year, so I think we're going to go on Fri evening next time, made crush of college students and all.

Lulu actually agreed to wear her dirndl with its matching shirt (as opposed to Maifest last spring) and its apron!  Gropius wore his lederhosen and I wore my dirndl, too.  Here's a post-Oktoberfest photo once we got home.

nominee for awkward family photo??

When we arrived, we went ahead and found a spot and ate dinner.  Lulu and I had sausage and sauerkraut while Gropius had the ham knuckle (eisbein?).  And of course, there was beer and wine to drink.

hamming it up for the camera

After we finished eating, we went downstairs and enjoyed the music and dancing.  The Schuhplatter dancers were there again this year as well as the Al Gruber family band.

the main hall is always full of people...

someone wanted to watch the dancing until....

....she decided she had to join in the dancing.

children fascinated with the "alpine horn"
(aka a modified beer bong)

And we wandered outside to the biergarten to see what was going on outdoors.  Turns out that they had music outside, too, as well as food.

perhaps I can put that clarinet to good use after all....?

Before we left, we wandered back upstairs to enjoy a slice of cake and finish off the last of our tickets, but we got home in time to put Lulu to bed around her usual bedtime.

Sacramento Beer

I was reading in the latest issue of Sactown magazine (while on the treadmill at the gym, no less), that prior to Prohibition, Sacramento was the nation's largest hops-growing region.  Unfortunately, once Prohibition passed, it never regained its national prominence and the Pacific Northwest took over.

But apparently, a local entrepreneur is trying his hand at making a fully Sacramento beer.  Including locally grown hops.  And he's having quite a bit of success:


After reading the article and watching the video, Gropius was anxious to try it and our local Whole Foods just happened to have a BIG display of it, too.  So, he busted out this one to enjoy:

And I think we might be getting a few more before they sell out, so we can let our visitors enjoy some of Sacramento's beer, too.

And it just so happens our local Whole Foods has 20% off beer for today only....better motor!

Quinoa Pancakes

Before we left for Stockton, I tried out a new recipe at breakfast:  Quinoa Pancakes.

No, wait!  Honestly, they were tasty!

I used a mixture of white and red quinoa (but mostly white)

I can't remember where I came across the recipe (from someone's blog I'm sure), but I thought they would be tasty and I was right.  The only tricky part was cooking the quinoa the night before so that I didn't have to worry about it that morning.

Just a thick pancake batter...

The dough was on the thick side, but well within the normal pancake range.

doesn't that look delicious?

And they cooked up like you would expect.

best of all, the recipe made enough for all three of us!

And best of all, they were higher in protein than our normal pancakes, thereby keeping us fuller longer, and they were only sweetened with maple syrup.  Actually, there was more quinoa (1 cup) than flour (3/4 cup) in the there.  Lulu's only complaint was that I didn't make her the usual "Minnie Mouse" pancake this time.

Hurrah for quinoa!

Purple Cauliflower/Lila Blumenkohl

Apologies--this week has been full of last-minute errands and furious preparation for the beginning of the semester on Monday.  I have been taking pictures and doing things, but not necessarily fun things that I thought people might enjoy reading.

We made a new recipe from Essen und Trinken magazine (or should that be Magazin?) earlier this week.  Gropius couldn't refuse a pretty purple cauliflower in the grocery store and I found a tasty Rezept online for it.  It was delicious, easy to prepare (just involved multiple steps, but they were easy ones), and hit the spot!

puff pastry cut, par-baked, filled and ready for final baking....

purple cauliflower, creme fraiche, Gruyere, and thyme

The final dinner:  grilled pork chop, cauliflower, green salad

doesn't that look beautiful?

We also made a special meal with a recipe in honor of Julia Child's 100th birthday.  Not on the actual birthday, mind you (we aren't that organized), but we certainly stated our gratitude to her when we tasted our dinner!

buttering the pan for baking, béchamel sauce cooking on the stove

zucchini,  parboiled rice, parmesan cheese

Hellen came over for dinner that night because Derek was out of town and brought a tasty Provençal rosé that we enjoyed with dinner.  Everyone thought it tasted like a much heavier, calorific meal than it actually was.  I never would've thought to use the zucchini's expressed water as a base for the béchamel.  No photos of the final meal because we were too busy talking and having a good time.

Veggie Tart

simple ingredients:  olive oil tart crust, zucchini, tomato, onion, eggs, cheese. sunflower seeds.

amazingly tasty result: