Once in a while, someone asks me whether I ever thought of turning my love of German cuisine into an eatery of some sort. My usual answer is a clear “no” – much better for me to cook for friends and family and write about my passion than being exposed to the grind of running a food business. Continue reading
Ham on buttered pumpernickel with halved Mexican sour gherkins
German Schnittchen, the open-faced, bite-sized sandwiches served on a board, instead of a plate, at dinnertime, are cultural manifestations of the square, fuddy-duddy German lifestyle known as “spießig” in German. In the same ilk as garden dwarfs, if you know what I mean. Continue reading
Last Saturday I woke up to snowfall. It was pretty to watch from my friends’ fifth-floor apartment in a quiet residential street in Berlin. Yet my mind was elsewhere. More than 80,000 refugees have arrived in Berlin, and I wondered how they managed in this weather. In the newspaper I had just read about a scuffle in front of a warming tent at a refugee camp, and about the controversy surrounding new temporary container housing for 7,000 refugees near the former Tempelhof Airport. Continue reading
Spoonfuls of Germany 