For the Love of Food

Way back when my husband and I were just married, we used to go on picnics all the time. My husband’s work route took him through a park, and after work on nice warm days, I would meet half way and we would have a picnic for dinner.

Now that we have two wonderful children, our picnics revolve around play grounds and sandboxes more than they do around food. So, since Foodbuzz asked us to blog about a meal on the go for this weeks Project Foodblog challenge, I decided to recreate a picnic for two.

On one of our previous visits to Prague, we discovered 94-year-old Deli in the heart of Downtown that has some of the most unique and delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Today, I would like to share the experience of a true Bohemian picnic with you.

The region of Germany that I live in is right next to Bohemia – which is in the western part of the Czech Republic, and much of the Bohemian culture extends into Bavaria. And, my butcher’s family just happens to be from Bohemia, so I asked for some advice as to what would be a typical Bohemian picnic meal to complement my potato salad and roast beef sandwiches. His mother-in-law came out from the back where she usually helps prepare take-away food, and shared some advice with me.  We settled on Brussels sprout salad, rice pudding with preserved, sour cherries, and elderflower spritzer.  My Bohemian picnic was starting to come to life.

And, with the surprisingly sunny weather we had this weekend, we were able to head on over to our community garden for a nice picnic dinner for two – while the kids played in the playground, of course!  I really love the scent of fresh air with my meal – it makes everything taste better.

Potato salad is a very classic picnic dish, but it’s much more fun – and delicious – when it’s in a sandwich.  It transforms a dry piece of bread into a deliciously creamy sandwich.  You can top it off with any deli meat of your liking; my favorite is roast beef because, not only does it taste good, but I have many wonderful childhood memories attached it it.  Then, go ahead and add some tomato, hard boiled egg, and pickle, and you have yourself the perfect Bohemian sandwich.

To complement the flavors and textures of my creamy potato salad and roast beef sandwich, I made a Brussels sprout salad.  I actually grew-up eating this same dish at home – even though I’m not Bohemian – with one major difference.  They add sugar.  I was really worried that this would over sweeten the Brussels sprouts and make them taste gross, but I was quite wrong.  And, although I still prefer my mother’s tangy version, this one is quite palatable and a really big hit with the kids.  My son was begging me for more after 2 helpings!

To help wash everything down, I chose to make an elderflower spritzer.  True, beer is very Bohemian, but I wanted something lighter that would offset the savory flavors of the sandwich.  This was actually the first time I had ever used and tasted elderflower syrup, and I was pleasantly surprised by its fragrant flavor.

To crown the meal, we enjoyed rice pudding topped off with the sour cheery pie filling that I canned this summer.  Traditionally, you would use sour cherries preserved in their own juices, but I find the creamier pie filling preserves the consistency of the rice pudding instead of turning it into a watery mess.

The general rule of a Bohemian picnic is to use what’s available to you.  Don’t have access to roast beef?  Use ham.  Or, go vegetarian and leave the deli meat out all together.  Not a big fan of Brussels sprouts?  You can make the same delicious salad using cauliflower.  Did you miss-out on the 3 weeks of the year when sour cherries are in season?  No problem, you can also top off your rice pudding with preserved plums, raspberries, or apples.  Use what you have in your pantry or what is in season and local.  Never heard of elderflowers and they don’t grow in your region?  Make a simple syrup with fresh petals and herbs available to you: rose petals, orange or lemon blossoms, lemon verbena leaves, lavender flowers, hibiscus flowers, mint leaves, vanilla bean …the list goes on and on.  Mrs. Willomitzer shared with me that when there was no wine they even made a simple syrup out of red wine vinegar and drank that mixed with water.  Creativity is key.

So, get your creative juices flowing, get cooking, pack your awesome Project Foodblog cooler or picnic basket, and take the time to have a Bohemian picnic. Continue Reading »

The project foodblog challenge has driven me to seek out new and interesting ingredients at stores and parts of town that I had never previously visited.  This week’s challenge brought me to a wig shop in Nuremberg.  When my friend told me that I had to go to wig shop for raw coffee beans, I took a double take at her email.  So, in the spirit of trying out something new, I made my way past all the wigs and hair weave and bought some raw Ethiopian  coffee beans.

A while back I had the pleasure of watching a colleague preform an Ethiopian coffee ceremony in our community garden, and since roasting coffee is not something we take the time to do everyday, I thought it would be a fun adventure.

I have to say that I really enjoy learning something new (and I bet you do too!).  Did you know that raw coffee beans smell like a cross between freshly pulled garden weeds and a far, far off hint of ground coffee??  I also learned that the coffee smell that sends all of us flocking to the nearest café does not come about during roasting, but rather while grinding.

This was definitely a lot of fun and easy to do.  The “hardest” part was finding the raw coffee beans.  Now, let me show you how it’s done!

Continue Reading »

Voting is now open!  Please cast your vote for me here. 

Now, I have hosted many parties in my short life: impromptu dinner parties, lunch parties, brunch parties, garden parties, winter solstice parties, children’s birthday parties, Thanksgiving parties…I could go on for quite a while.  But, I’ve never hosted a luxurious dinner party.  So, when Foodbuzz challenged us to host a luxurious dinner party I hit the web to get ideas on how to host one.

To my utter surprise, there is not a lot of information out there on how to host a luxurious dinner party – needless to say a small intimate dinner party.  There is plenty of information on how to throw huge and elegant wedding bashes, but since I cannot seat 100+ in my home, I had to turn to other sources.

I quickly emailed the two people I knew would have detailed thoughts as to what a luxurious dinner party would entail.  Could I hold it in my home since my dining table is in my kitchen?  Would I need a server?  These are just some of the questions I had.  Surprisingly – well, maybe not – I got quite different answers from both sources, but good advice none the less.

So, what do you need to put together a luxurious dinner party?? Continue Reading »

I am sorry to say that I haven’t cooked anything for 3 weeks!! We have all been sick with either the stomach flu or a cold. In my case I got the stomach flu twice with a cold in between.  Today I have a massive headache like I haven’t had in 2 years….

Because of that I have no recipes to share with you from the past weeks, but for those of you suffering from a nasty stomach bug, I have just the drink for you! Homemade Gatorade.  This is a re-post from June 2008 from my blog.  The recipe is bellow.

It’s not possible for me to buy Gatorade where I live in Germany. I can find Powerade, but it’s expensive. So, we make our own with some flavor packets that we picked up when we were in the US. They are very inexpensive and take up very little storage space. They also come in a wide assortment of flavors. My favorite is grape because it reminds me of the grape soda I used to get to drink, although rarely, as a child.

Anyways, we’ve been living off of our homemade Gatorade, crackers, pretzel sticks, and bland potatoes for the last three weeks.

I am still not feeling 100%, so I may be posting sporadically for the next few weeks. And, thank you in advance for understanding!

Continue Reading »

As promised yesterday…

This is a really cool gift my husband gave to me for my birthday. Three types of popsicle holders.

The yellow ones are traditional.

The blue ones are star shaped with an insert to make room for a second color/flavor.

And, the red ones are rocket ships with the same insert at the stars.

They work really well, and my almost 2 year old son is now in love with posilces.  These popsicles are made with 2 types of juice – a dark yellow/orange colored one and a red one – both not natural juices because we wanted really intense color.

After more trial and error we have found that pineapple juice not from concentrate works really well color wise for a dark yellow orange.  And, unlike many other juices, dose not end up becoming “watery” in flavor after being frozen like, say, apple juice.  And, for red, cranberry juice where you can mix a no sugar added cranberry concentrate with less water than is called for will give you a wonderfully intese color and tangy flavor.

Tomorrow: A tour of my (finally) newly renovated kitchen!!

I know that coffee flavored ice tea is not something you hear of everyday, and it’s probably not what you’re envisioning either.

This is, yet again, another recipe I am sharing with you from the month of September…back when it was warmer.

Back in August when we were in DC for a business trip with my husband, I decided to walk into Starbucks (for maybe the third time in my life) and by a Frappuccino for the first time – decaf and with chocolate flavor.

Being as hot as it was, and having just walked about 7 miles (for fun – yes) from the DC zoo south to Georgetown, we were sweating. I let my son taste this nice cold drink and, let’s just say, I never got it back. What can I say, it’s the 1/4th Colombian in him that loves coffee flavored things. Still…I will not let him drink caffeinated beverages until he is older.

So, to help beat the heat one warm September day, I decided I wanted to make a sort of Frappuccino – it seems like a simple enough drink to make, and it was. I used a tea that I have that actually tastes like coffee. It is made from roasted grains and fruits. So, I did not flavor the traditional American Iced Tea, but rather, I have a tea that tastes like coffee and I “iced” it. Then, I topped it with some homemade whipped cream. It tastes best if you stir in the whipped cream to your drink before you drink it all!

I imagine that you could also use this recipe (with or without cocoa powder) to make other great frozen tea drinks. Continue Reading »

So, I am back, kind of. I finally have a tiny bit of time to share with my blog, and I really want to address this contest.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated! And, thank you for your patience for waiting until now for my answer. It has been a rough last 3 weeks – I have a cold again – but I am back to my blog until Thursday when I go on vacation to Ireland! I am very excited!

So…before I tell you who the winner is, I’d like to tell you what I thought about all 39 suggestions that came in: Continue Reading »

I am a very visual eater/drinker.

I like pretty food…as do most of you. And, I will rarely try a recipe I have never seen a picture of before – unless it’s been served to me and I know the exact final product.

So, when I told my husband that I loved blue drinks, he came up with the perfect tropical-looking drink for me. It looks like the ocean, a swimming pool, a blue sky, Spring, an Summer all at once. Although the floating crushed ice in it reminds me of floating icebergs (and the Titanic), it reminds me more of lapping waves in a tropical coral reef (yes…Fall is beginning and my mind needs to travel to a sunny tropical location).

This is a very simple drink – two ingredients – 3 if you count the ice.

But, it has no name. I couldn’t find an exact recipe online, but I didn’t scour the inernets for hours looking either. If the drink already exists in the exact recipe bellow – who cares, we will have fun anyways.

So, on to the CONTEST: I would like some help naming this drink.

What you need to do: Leave a comment bellow with a drink name by Sunday, September 14th. Continue Reading »

Homemade Sports Drink, originally uploaded by my_amii.

Hi everyone, I’m back again. My stomach flu took a turn for the worse after being better for a day in a half. But, all is well again and I can finally eat.

I was pretty dehydrated with the lose of fluids, so my husband made a great copycat Gatorade recipe that he found (but cannot remember where he found it). All I know is that it really helped and tasted good.

Tomorrow I will share with you the first “meal” I had after not eating for a whole week…

Continue Reading »

Why not both? Actually, it’s tea that tastes like coffee. To be more specific, it’s fruit and grain tea that has been roasted to taste like coffee. It’s great because there’s no caffeine. So, if there’s no caffeine, why on earth would I want to drink it?? Because I love the taste of coffee, of course!

Don’t get me wrong, I love caffeine, but in small amounts…like the amounts found in most sodas and some teas. But, coffee just has too much caffeine for me. The last time I had half a cup of coffee diluted with half a cup of milk, I was unable to sleep. I had it at around 14:00, and by 20:00, I still felt like I needed a long 200 kilometer long jog! So, I exercised on my cross trainer for an hour, but that didn’t work. So, we went to dinner at our local Irish pub, and I had a few ciders, but that didn’t work. Neither did the extra beer I had after that. Luckily at 14:00 the next day I “crashed”. I was finally so exhausted from my 24 coffee-high, and I could finally sleep, but I was at work…and my brain was just fried. So, I called it a day early.

A coworker of mine recommended this tea to me. And it tastes great. I can get it at my local organic food store, and it comes in an instant stir-in version, and a coffee filter version for those of you who still want to use their coffee machines.

I made some for my mom last year, and she loved it. That says quite a lot since my mom’s Colombian and has been drinking coffee for as long as she can remember.

Well, all this talk has made me thirsty, so I’m going to go make myself a cup!