San Francisco

We opted to avoid the holiday travel chaos, which meant a delayed trip to the US.

This was the best option after having several airline mishaps in the years past - driving from Washington DC to Ohio on Christmas Eve three years ago, and nearly getting stranded in El Paso two years ago.

Thankfully this year the weather decided to also cooperate with us.

Before our biannual Ohio visit, we stopped in San Francisco for 5 days to visit our dear friends, Emily & Jeremy, and their new pup - Banjo.

Having visited San Francisco twice before, it was so nice to see the city from our friends' view points and to simply catch up more on life after Germany. We sure miss them.

San Francisco is a great city;  fog swept rolling hills, inventive restaurants, creative people, and a lot of high tech industries. The only downsides are the amount of homeless people and dog poo littered sidewalks.

There are also many public parks speckled around and warm weather year round to make it incredibly livable.

Oh, how we missed the variety of American food. The portions may be larger than in many places, but it's the best way to enjoy a meal - by sharing great company and delicious foods. We did a lot of eating and this is certainly the city for that.

A few of the restaurants we visited included:

Tartine ... this is the legendary pastry shop with long lines that are worth the wait.
Nopa ... for a great New Year's eve dinner
Umami Burger ... waygu burgers
Tacolicious ... I will dream about these tacos and margaritas for a long long time. They are perfection. The tuna tostadas were my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong.
Mosto... the tequila bar right next to tacolicious, making waiting time that much better.
Beach Chalet ... as close to a California beachside biergarten as it gets - with a veggie hops burger.
Tornado Pub ... an endless array of beers from around the world.
Mission Chinese ... this pop up restaurant has caused quite a stir and is now here to stay - don't miss it! The food is crazy good and the rap music is a hilarious blast from the past. The salt cod fried rice and the thrice cooked bacon were probably my favorites.

Bi-Rite Creamery ... delicious ice cream, which is extra sweet to enjoy in Delores Park with great weather in the middle of Winter. They also have an ice cream cook book coming out later this year! 

Chantal Guillon macarons... a touch of France in California. 

Ici ... (Berkeley) I'm not sure what the deal is, but sadly it was better the last time we went

Saigon Sandwiches .... Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwiches

If you are planning a trip check out the following:
Jamie Oliver's San Francisco tips... We visited many of his recommendations, although the magazine came out a month after our trip.
7x7 Big Eat List of 2012... plenty more restaurants to try
7x7 Big To-Do List... 100 quintessential San Francisco experiences

Not all of our time was spent eating... we also did a lot of walking. I always seem to forget - or mentally block out - how impossibly slow and archaic the public transport is even in the biggest US cities.

With the California sun shining brightly and only needing to wear a jacket I wasn't sure if I was in some sort of alternate reality. A heavy dose of sunshine in the middle of the Winter is really is amazing and was the perfect way to start the new year. Those year-round beaches are such a luxury, too.

Fort Funston ... this beach is so unique. Dogs and their owners stroll along, splash in the waves, and find little treasures washed ashore. I'd go to take it all in even if I didn't have a dog, but I really can't wait to get one.

Tilden Park... for incredible Bay area views and a nice nature stroll.

Street art... lots of self expression around town 

St. Mary's Cathedral... home of the "two o'clock titty", at two o'clock the sun's channels its own Mary Katherine Gallagher to give the church it's own perky bust. 

What a great place to start the new year. Even the fog couldn't hold those fireworks back this year. 

Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream goes with everything, especially in the Autumn.

As with many recipes using chocolate, coffee is used as a flavor carrier. I don't drink coffee, however the flavor is not noticeable.

There are several other variations in the book, including one using zinfandel and another with mint.

I enjoy it most with a sprinkle of sea salt or crushed pretzels.

Bangkok Peanut Ice Cream

Stefan chose this flavor, which brought us back to our Thailand travels.

It's reminiscent of Pad Thai with peanut butter, coconut, lemon grass, and ginger with a bit of an unexpected finish - a cayenne kick.

My in laws were also able to visit, so we could share this with them. They seemed to enjoy this unusual flavor, too.

Sweet Corn + Blackberry Ice Cream

We made our first batch of ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's cook book. The book is split into four parts according to season, so I chose to began with Summer's first recipe: Sweet Corn and Blackberry.

The results were absolutely wonderful. We're already looking forward to trying the next flavor, although it takes quite a bit of time to make our way through an entire quart of ice cream.

A variety of her recipes are available online, including the following flavors:

Vanilla Bean
Pistachio
Mint Ice Cream
Cherry Pit Ice Cream
Lemon Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Melon Sorbet
Sour-Cherry Lambic Sorbet

In Munich, we are fortunate to have excellent green grocers (my favorite being Gretel's). We also have the 'egg man' that brings fresh eggs to the city from Niederbayern every Friday, but incredibly these ice cream recipes don't use eggs.

Finding many of the other ingredients took a bit of work. Rather than using cornstarch or corn syrup, I opted to use tapioca starch and glucose.

Tapioca starch or flour can be found at the Asian grocery, while glucose can be found at some pharmacies or it's possible to make with traubenzucker. The glucose helps to add elasticity, but it isn't necessary.

Ice Cream Making

Lately I can't stop thinking about gelato/icecream/sorbet. It's partly because summer with no air conditioning makes cool treats a necessity and partly because I was able to go home to Ohio for a visit and some of the requisite Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.

My best friend Ryan and his pup Rufus joined us making our visit that much more sweet.

Since I can't get Jeni's shipped over here I'm very fortunate that she has a new cookbook so I can recreate her creations at home!

Our beautiful little red refrigerator has one fault - the freezer. It's not large enough to accommodate the section that needs frozen, so we need one that's automated and self contained.

Here are a few accessories that help to make it more fun.

[1. Jeni's Spendid Ice Creams Cookbook 2. Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop + Stack 3. Ice Cream Bowls 4. Unold Cortina 5. ASA Ice Cream spoons 6. Edible Silver Jimmies/Sprinkles]

Here's to hoping your Summer has been delightful! I'll write about all of the fun we've been having as soon as possible.

Thanksgiving + Lebkuchen

With the holidays quickly approaching we had a jump start on Thanksgiving, since we are unable to celebrate on the actual day. I decided to surprise Stefan with a small feast when he came home from work and I made everything on my own from scratch.

This was the menu:
Spinach Salad
Pumpkin Apple Soup
Apple + Onion stuffing
Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce
Whipped Sweet + Mashed Potatoes
Chestnuts
Turkey

...and dessert consisted of Pumpkin Delights sent from my parents in the US. I kind of ran out of time to make a dessert, because I've been trying several lebkuchen recipes.

So far they have all been relatively successful.

The biggest problem is storing them for several weeks so the flavors can intensify, because I keep making cookies and they are continually disappearing. I guess that's a good sign.

I'm planning on heading up to Nürnberg sometime during their Christmas Market to get some of their flourless cookies, which are fantastic. My flourless version are slightly less picturesque, but at least they taste good.

4th of July

We took full advantage of being in the US last month and even bought some sparklers to have some fun with once the fireflies had disappeared for the evening. I always buy extras when they have them in Germany - at my other favorite holiday - New Years.

I love uniting holidays. I think it's a combination of the fire works, cook out foods, and the fact that people gather with the community that make me love it so much.

There are several events going on in Munich today -

The Amerika Haus has a cookout with live music.

The International neighborhood festival in Haidhausen at Johannisplatz starts at 14:00.

There is also the Thai themed Khao-Pansah-Fest at Westpark.

It looks like there are plenty of options to enjoy the day for those that want to celebrate.

We'll head to one of them until the heat becomes too much and then it's time to come home for more American foods.

red, white, + blue

So I have a little secret I've been keeping... we're spending much of the World Cup representing Germany all the way over in the US.

We only told a couple friends in town that we were coming, because it gets awfully old rushing around trying to visit everyone. Somehow people easily forget we traveled roughly 4500 miles / 7200 km and expect us to travel to visit them once we get here. It's exhausting. The short trip doesn't make us feel so guilty. Our only full weekend in the US is being spent at a wedding, so we won't be here long.

The good news of being on a mini-vacation is spending ample amounts of time with family and the dogs. We're also enjoying the food, of course. Oh, how I've missed Mexican food.

This is also a great excuse to share photos of Josh + Mieka wearing their German leis and American bandanas. They are bipartisan soccer supporters.

Now that I've shared our secret I'd also like to share some of the red, white, and blue fun through M&M's. I was able to track down a few small bags of pretzel, coconut, and cherry (I didn't even know cherry existed).

Anyone can win - both the M&Ms and the World Cup, so simply leave a comment stating which team you're cheering for and check back on June 23rd when a winner will be chosen randomly.

Best of Luck!

[The giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Cliff1976!]

World Cup M&M's

Germany is going absolutely crazy for the World Cup. Everything is African themed and there are displays in virtually every store window - some have even gone as far as having TVs to broadcast the games in their shop windows.

'African' food is also everywhere, although splashing animal prints and Serengeti scenes on the packaging doesn't make the foods authentic.

My favorite part of the world cup is seeing German patriotism, which is typically not displayed due to their past. It's even come through in things like these Peanut M&M's in German colors.

You'd think they would have at least made things more exciting with the new pretzel M&M's that are available in the US. Germany loves pretzels!

I also wish they would start carrying the iridescent premium M&M's that the US has, too.

Maybe I just have to move to Japan where they always have interesting twists on global products. At least the M&M's people are trying - they even have Coconut M&M's coming out (again in the US)!

Chipotle in Europe

If you're an American living abroad, or perhaps someone that likes quick and decent Mexican food, you will delight in knowing Chipotle is making it's way over here!

My friend Caitlin tipped me off. Chipotle opened it's first branch outside of North America last week in London, and we were fortunate enough to visit on Sunday (see that double decker red bus in the window reflection?).

I asked the American guy, from Austin, who is helping with the openings, all kinds of questions...

This is what I know:

• 75% of the visitors in the past week are from the US... people still don't quite know what it is.
• Everything on the menu is roughly 7£.
• The food tastes as close as it could to the US Chipotle. The chips even have that lime salt.
• The soft tacos had a wheat looking tortilla. I'm not sure if that's also available in the US or some kind of Euro twist on things.
• The branding and signage was slightly different - a little less corrugated stainless steel and more of that rusty red color.
• The next one will open in Paris by Summer late Autumn 2011. They are currently scouting locations, but the 16th sounds promising.
• I put in the best word I could for Munich. You can always write them, too!

So if you live in Europe you can hop a relatively inexpensive flight to London and sample it yourself.

To get there go to the Tottenham Court Road station on the Central Line and walk up Charing Cross Road.

[september 2001 update]: Another London location is open at 101 Baker Street on the corner of York and Baker.

The Paris location is rumored to open early summer  late Autumn at 20 Boulevard Montmartre in the 9th arrondissement.

Also, be sure to check out Chipotle's newest venture into Asian cuisine: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen.

Independence Day

Our day began with American spirit - both in clothing and in shopping.

We stopped at IKEA so I could get a frame for my new letterpress print, which is simple and inspiring.

I came prepared for their ice cream and brought my red, white, and blue sprinkles along to spruce things up. I can't think of a better breakfast.

At the grocery I needed to pick up a few last minute things for the weekend and I was beyond excited to find corn on the cob, which seems to be a rarity here.

Stefan kept commenting how delicious it was and I had to remind myself that there are quite a few foods that we both associate with family events or holidays that are entirely new and foreign to each other.

It's still unbelievable to me that he'd never had corn on the cob before.

Lunch, dinner, and left overs were, and still are, plenty. In addition to the corn on the cob, I made: baked potato salad, deviled eggs, fruit salad, wasabi crusted tuna, and an oreo dessert.

It was nice to talk to family celebrating at my Grandma's house. She sure was being the jokester and answered the phone saying, "city morgue, you stab `em we slab `em" as she hysterically laughed. It's good to see she was having such a great time and her sense of humor is alive and well.

Between serenading me with various patriotic songs, Stefan asked if people exchange gifts on the 4th. I gave him my smarmy response - the best gift of all, time together.

Hopefully your 4th of July was wonderful as well, even if you weren't celebrating the American way.

Preparing for the 4th

The Fourth of July is right around the corner and I am really excited. This year it even falls on a Saturday, which makes the festivities even better.

I'm still debating on what foods I will be making, because I love an excuse for a cook out and feeling a connection to home. Fortunately while I was in Ohio I was able to buy some of my favorite sprinkles and now I just need to decide on a menu.

I'd love if I could get out to pick some blueberries and enjoy some fresh summer foods.

What are your favorite things to eat on the 4th of July?

Uli's Birthday

I decided to try out my new cookie press for my brother in law's birthday. I love the personalization and it's nice being able to use one of my Mom's old recipes for a touch of familiarity.

The biggest hassle is cutting each and every one of those little letters and characters out, so that they can fit into the press. After that there's the task of washing and storing them, since they are easy to lose, but the results are totally worth it.

The blind debossing reminds me of stationery - which I love. I think they are a fun little way to make a big impact and I'm looking forward to making unique Thank You's and other fun surprises.

Birthday

The holidays are always action packed with Christmas, New Years, and my Birthday all falling around the same time. This year I celebrated my birthday twice. Once with family in DC, and again when we were back in Ohio.

After all, who doesn't love an excuse to eat cake?

In Ohio, we decided to go to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant to celebrate. I really liked the variety and small portions, although once the chocolate fondues came out we were feeling very full. It was a great way to spend the evening.

My sister made some wonderful cupcakes to my exact specifications and even Mieka enjoyed some 'frosty paws' (ice cream for dogs).

I really love being able to spend my birthday with family. That was very much my favorite gift of all.

Soon I'll write about the other fun things I received during the holidays as well! Thanks to all of my friends and family for making it such a fantastic visit home. The time always passes too quickly!

Heirloom cookbook

While I was on the internet hiatus I was able to really work on a rather large project.

I decided to make an heirloom cookbook filled with our favorite recipes as well as family favorites from Stefan’s family and mine. I have had this in mind for some time and thankfully I had a large stock of photos that I have taken of various dishes over the years. At the last minute my Grandma gave me some of her recipes that I didn’t have photos for. I improvised by taking images of ingredients and her.

Once I was finished making the book, I decided to add photos of the people that gave me the recipe, as well as little quips about occasions when we eat the particular food or what it reminds me of. After that was completed I added a simplified family tree in the back. It’s rather amazing, but I can track some of my mother’s family back to the 1500’s!

Rather than tackling this again, because it was much more time consuming than I could have ever expected, I will continually make pages of new favorite recipes and combine them for a second book once I have enough.

My sister said the book has already arrived and she said it's absolutely beautiful. She sent me these pictures until I am able to pick it up next month. I'm so excited!

Thanksgiving comes early

Stefan and I decided we would prepare a Thanksgiving feast this weekend since we won’t be together on Thanksgiving Day. He surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers, which was super sweet of him. It was really amazing how fast we were able to make a rather large (and delicious) dinner together.

Our menu included:
Wine we brought back last year from Liechtenstein
Pumpkin soup
Turkey
Blood orange cranberry blueberry sauce
Knödels (a stuffing substitute)
Asparagus
Chestnuts in a sauerbraten sauce
Sweet potatoes
And pumpkin pie cups

We were very full at the end of the night, and had plenty of leftovers the next day - just like Thanksgiving should be!

Purple potatoes

My mom has cooked purple potatoes before, however I had never seen them in Germany and I knew Stefan had never tried them.

While they do seem to be a bit of a novelty, they are all natural and loaded with antioxidants due to their dark color. I guess I don't exactly need an excuse to eat potatoes, but it's nice that there is some kind of health benefit.

They are very similar to more traditional potato types and could easily be used in any recipe that calls for potatoes. The only difference I noticed was that these seemed to be more firm with a slightly different taste after I cooked them, but we really enjoyed them.

Lauren's here!

I absolutely love having visitors, of course it helps when it's someone you enjoy having around. I went to pick Lauren up from the airport at the dark hour of 5:15am. I was overjoyed to see her.

Not only that - she brought me some of the amazing Vosges cookies that I have dreams about. How sweet is she? I've already put them in the freezer so I can have them around for a while. The Naga cookie is my favorite, but she also brought the newest - Bianca, which is white chocolate + coconut + lavender flowers + Australian lemon myrtle. I can't wait to try it.

We took naps before hitting town and had a very successful day enjoying the Bavarian way of life - complete with dirndl shopping, enormous pretzels, seeing pig heads in Viktualienmarkt's meat area, and tying up the evening with homemade schnitzels, knödels, and weißbier. It was quite a busy day!

I'll get some photos of Lauren and myself exploring Munich in the coming days.