The reason why there have been no new entries on this blog for a long time is not that I have lost interest in German food—on the contrary. I still bake every single loaf of bread we eat, and real bread for me of means German bread. And I also tend to my German herb garden and my German berry patch, which again rewarded me with a bountiful harvest of red and black currants, gooseberries, and raspberries this year. My favorite dessert will always be Rote Grütze (Red Berry Pudding) with vanilla sauce made from scratch.

With the beginning of the pandemic, however, life changed drastically for most of us. Since I had been working in a home office for many years, my daily routine didn’t change much but everything else did. And I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was ready to take a break from regularly writing about German cuisine. At that point I had cooked my way up and down through Germany for almost 20 years for the three editions of my cookbook, Spoonfuls of Germany, which led to this blog.

I had been blogging about German food for almost ten years; during this time I wrote a series of pieces for the Year of German-American Friendship 2018/2019. I found numerous hidden gems, both recipes and stories behind dishes and ingredients and probably learned more about German history than in my high school in Frankfurt, Germany. In the process I became a much better cook and also a better writer. I connected with many readers such as my long-distance friend Donna. I made other virtual friendships with people who love German food just as much as I do, including German Girl in America who has become a leading voice in the German-American community in the United States since I interviewed her in 2015.

In the past couple of years, I was able to fulfil a kind of dream. As an independent copywriter and editor by trade I had been taking on whatever work came my way. I currently work solely in the two areas that are my big passions: food and gardening (see my articles on The Spruce and Food52)

There’s been some German food in the mix, too. The top photo shows Käsesahnetorte, a German classic that is part of a special on the German Kaffee und Kuchen tradition for Allrecipes. To answer the frequent question I get about Quark substitutes, yes, you can bake scrumptious German cakes using Greek yogurt.

Between work, family, and volunteer commitments, plus almost every free minute between April and October spent gardening, there are just not enough hours in the day. So I am putting this blog in storage for now, not unlike that cherished heirloom that is brought out for special occasions.

When there is a special occasion, a German food topic of interest to me that I am burning to share, I will open a new page in my blog story and write about it here, In the meantime, I leave you with the dozens of German recipes on this blog, ranging from my way of coaxing green asparagus into a silky soup that almost tastes like German white asparagus soup, to homemade marzipan which is a year-round item, not only Christmas. My recipe offering is for Plum Sheet Cake with Marzipan Streusel (if you are lucky enough to find Italian plums).

The ebook edition of my cookbook is, of course, still available both on Amazon and its international sites (search for “Spoonfuls of Germany Kindle edition”). I continue to donate the entire royalties to a local food bank, which I have done since the pandemic started. There are massively over-priced copies of the print versions of Spoonfuls of Germany available but I have no hand in that nor benefit in any way. If you’d like to get my book, the ebook is the way to go.

Sometimes I receive specific German food questions, which I will happily answer if I can. You can find me through the Spoonfuls of Germany Facebook page, or email me. You can also follow me on Instagram to see what I am up to.