Last April, Annette Ogrodnik-Corona, author of The New Ukrainian Cookbook, and I met for a German-Ukrainian cookout. Not long afterwards, Rinku Bhattacharya, author of The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles, also published by Hippocrene Books, contacted me. She liked the idea and wondered whether we could do something similar together. This developed into Hippocrene Books & Cooks, where five cookbook authors review each other’s books and blog about it. Continue reading
During my visit to Berlin a few months ago, I stayed in a modest boarding house at the fringes of the Prenzlauer Berg district. I found it hard to believe this quiet neighborhood of unpaved sidewalks (but with high-speed Internet connection) is only a short bus ride away from bustling Alexanderplatz. Next door was an allotment garden. I relished at the sight of the neat flowerbeds with garden gnomes and impeccable lawns on the small lots. Living in rural America, I had forgotten all about this phenomenon of the German urban landscape. Continue reading
It was the photo of a wedding cake in the shape of a Louis Vuitton suitcase that had my cousin’s girlfriend in Germany in stitches a few years ago. I had emailed her the link to show her how outrageous some American wedding cakes are. Back then I decided that when she and my cousin got married I would make them a wedding cake. Continue reading
Spoonfuls of Germany 