Unlike me, my husband does not enjoy cooking. His repertoire nonetheless includes two dishes where I yield the kitchen to him without hesitation: grilled cheese sandwiches and American pancakes. The emphasis is here on American because German pancakes are quite different, in ingredients and size, and they are also eaten at a different time of the day. Continue reading
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
Spoonfuls of Germany 