Our German Cooking Class

Janet and Bob have another exchange student living with them. Luke is German, from Berlin, and will be staying with Janet and Bob until the end of the school year, in May or June. He has already had quite a few new adventures and experiences, with lots more to come.

Luke is enthusiastic about life in the United States. While Luke is learning about life in the United States, he is also teaching us about life in Germany. Last night we all did our part to make a truly authentic German meal, in honor of Luke. We made spatzle, a first for all of us, including Luke, and sausage with sauerkraut. I brought a German tomato, cucumber and onion salad, and a German coffee cake for dessert. Luke had a lot of fun laughing at all of us because we could not pronounce spatzle properly. It’s a mouthful for non-German speakers. 🙂

We got to Janet and Bob’s house about 5:00 PM. Janet already had the sauerkraut on the stove cooking, and Bob was busy cooking up the sausages.

Janet had all the ingredients and tools all ready and laid out for us to make the spatzle. The spatzle tools were a gift from Luke’s mom, from Germany.

Luke and I made the spatzle batter according to the recipe, then let it set for about 30 minutes before adding it to the salted boiling water.

We spooned small amounts of the batter into the spatzle sieve, then spread it over the holes until it all dropped into the water in the form of little dumplings.

The spatzle only took a few seconds to cook and was done when it started floating up to the top. Then we “spoodled” it out and let all the excess water drain off.

When all the spatzle was cooked we sauteed it in brown butter for a few seconds, just to coat it.

Some of the spatzle got tossed in with the sauerkraut and some stayed out to eat by itself.

Janet had beer and Bob and I enjoyed a delicious Malbec with our dinner. Luke and Larry took a pass on the libations.

And after a round of Farkle, it was time for dessert.

Janet and Bob are friends who are really family, and have been for many years. Luke is now part of the family as well. So it was a deliciously, fun-filled family evening, filled with good food and new experiences for us all. It was a family meal that we all took part in cooking and preparing. Larry was the photographer for the evening. As I have said many times, life is good, and we definitely live the good life. 🙂

As Wolfgang Puck would say, “Live, Love, Eat”. I couldn’t agree with him more. Have a great day and make everyday great. And it is always better with good friends and good food. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.