Family Vacay

Tomorrow morning, we are headed to Miami. We are meeting G's parents, flying in from Frankfurt, and from there, taking a Caribbean cruise together. I'm soooo excited to visit Belize and Honduras!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Beef Tips, Potato Pancakes, & Ribs

We started last weekend off right - on Thursday night, we met up with our friend and fellow blogger Maria, for Denzel's first Doggy Happy Hour. Cute, right? We were impressed with the spacious outdoor set up and Denzel was ecstatic to meet so many friends. He also woofed down (ha ha) his appetizer of beef tips and peas. We had such a cool time hanging out and just catching up, I know we'll be back this summer.

On Saturday, we went to a DC United match. We took the train into the city for a change, so that G could enjoy himself. And he did. It was sponsored by Volkswagen and when we walked into the company suite, it was full of German beer, wine, and food. G was in heaven. But I was in rare form - I seriously ate about 40 Kartoffelpuffer. Good times.

Sunday evening, I made a soul food dinner for our friends from Leipzig. I made Baby Back Ribs, Macaroni and Cheese, Greens, Cornbread, and Peach Cobbler. It was my first attempt at ribs - I slow baked them for 4 1/2 hours. And I didn't even taste them - I've officially taken the plunge into vegetarian life but, according to G and our friends, they came our perfect. Yaaah!

My Donauwellen

Wow, it's been two years since my first "From Scratch" post. It's funny to think of my life then - living in Munich...planning my wedding...learning German... Well, as I promised in that post, I will continue to post photos of my baked creations - no matter what the end result. This attempt at baking the popular German cake, Donauwellen, is a good example of my honesty! Donauwellen is named after the longest river in Europe, the Donau, that begins in the Black Forest in Germany. It's a marble batter filled with cherries that you bake, allow to cool, and then spread a pudding/creme mixture over the top. You're supposed to add a dusting of cocoa powder as the final touch. As you can see, I forgot the importance of the final touch. I also used the wrong baking form. My cake is double the height of an authentic cake. BUT, G and my nephew loved it. That always makes you feel good when you know you kinda messed up the cake!

Moroccan Style

After three attempts to have dinner at Marrakesh, we finally made it! We were hoping for a fun night - a six course authentic Moroccan dinner featuring live belly dancing - and we left happy and full to capacity. It was our first experience with Moroccan cuisine and it was refreshing to taste some unusual flavors and new spices. The couscous with acorn squash was my favorite. G loved the lamb with honey (sounds strange and smells even stranger) and he couldn't believe he enjoyed the combination of chicken with cinnamon and almonds. He looked at me with wide eyes and said, "It's like a dinner and dessert wrapped into one!"
The belly dancer was intoxicating - we both watched the show in silence!