On a recent trip to Germany, my husband and I had to switch trains in the city of Bielefeld. “Look,” he said, pointing to a large billboard as the train approached the station, “Dr. Oetker.”
In our almost 18 years together, the prominent German food brand has not only become a reference for my husband but he has also learned to slowly pronounce the name with its consonant cluster, Doc-tor Oet-ker, without stumbling, which is not so easy for an American. Continue reading
The Easter eggs dangling from forsythia branches are like a virtual family reunion across time and space. I would not want to trade them for any Fabergé eggs in the world. The oldest of these hollowed out eggs were painted by my mother’s cousin when she was a young girl in the 1950s. Continue reading
It seems that our son has finally succumbed to German chocolate. In the past he had rarely asked me to bring anything back from my trips to Germany but last time he requested a few bars of the iconic square-shaped German chocolate. In an ingenious move, Clara Ritter, the wife of the manufacturer, had suggested the square shape in 1932 so that it would fit in any men’s sports coat pocket without breaking. It became one of Germany’s favorite chocolates. Continue reading
Spoonfuls of Germany 