I am just too excited about this so I have to share it with all of you. Check out who is the Guest Mom on Design Mom this week. I will have posts all this week. Hope to see you over there!

Nate and I made sure to get some real German food yesterday. We are in Germany, after all. We found a great restaurant called Lindenbräu. We were the only ones there speaking English, so we figured that was a good sign.

We ordered the Brewery Plate Special (below), some pretzels (we’ve discovered Germans really love pretzels) and some goulash.

I am not a fan of sauerkraut, normally. But even I have to admit this sauerkraut was good. WAY better than anything I’ve tasted in the States. I’m very glad that we ordered it. Nate’s favorite food from the brewery special was the falscher hase (the meatloaf-type food on the top left) and I liked the nürnberg sausage. (Please note, our entire menu was in German and they didn’t exactly describe what was in the special. So, in a quest to bring you all the news that’s fit to print, I just walked around the cafe where I’m typing this and asked a few Germans what is in the picture. Since the the falscher hase is out of focus, they’re just guessing. Bascially, there’s a chance it’s NOT falscher hase, but we’re pretty sure it is. Crazy American.)

The pretzels were so fresh and yummy. And the mustard was even better. The mustard on the left is sweet, right spicy. I couldn’t get enough of the sweet mustard. Oh, and the goulash was delicious.

The best part of the restaurant was the huge mugs of beer. Too bad I don’t drink. That could be fun. Seriously, 1.5 L of beer in that there mug. Pretty awesome. Although, it was around $16 US, so I take solace in knowing my bill is much lower than that guy’s.

Oh man, I am so addicted to Kettle Sea Salt & Ground Black Pepper potato chips. This trip to Europe was going to help me break the addiction. Until I stopped at the grocery store in Berlin today. Needless to say, I’ve relapsed.

When Nate and I lived in Boston, we always joked about how “Dunkin’ Donuts is taking over the world” because there was literally a DD on EVERY corner. Then we moved to California, where you can’t find DD anywhere.

Well, our original suspicions have been confirmed. We’ve already seen TWO Dunkin’ Donuts in Berlin. It’s true, they ARE taking over the world. I guess California is last on the list.

Hello from Berlin! That’s right, I’m in Germany! After many many many hours of travel and some serious jet lag, we have successfully landed ourselves here in Berlin. Besides being unbelievably tired yesterday, the trip went without a hitch. Baby Anna was a real trooper and didn’t cry on the red eye flight, which was what I was most worried about.

Our hotel is RIGHT NEXT to this famous church, in what used to be East Berlin. And I’m sitting on the sidewalk at a cafe typing with a bunch of Germans around me. So fun.

A few things I’ve learned so far:
– Germans love Abercrombie and Fitch.
– Soda costs as much as food (or more in many cases).
– The sound of sirens make me feel like I’m in one of the Bourne movies. Although, I’ve yet to seen Matt Damon. Bummer.
– Germans are SO nice. All the Germans on our flights were awesome, including the flight attendants. Of course, having a super cute baby helps.
– You can’t talk in the airports. Okay, I don’t think this is a hard and fast rule, but Nate and I were shocked at how quiet the airports were. It was almost creepy. We had to whisper or we would have felt like loud, obnoxious Americans. Seriously, if I had spoken with a normal voice I would have been loud. Sure it was early in the morning, but STILL.

Our first meal in Germany was Italian. I know, that’s dumb. But it was close to the hotel and inexpensive. And an Internet hot spot (hello 17 euros a day for Internet at the hotel!??!). And we were so tired we couldn’t taste our food anyway. Actually, the food was really good!

Now that we’ve had a good 13-hour night’s sleep (yes, we went to bed at 5 pm local time), we are ready to really see and taste Berlin!

Please post your menus. I know you’re not all on vacation in Europe right now because most everyone I meet is German. And I know you’re still eating, so get your menus up here!

Hello, friends! We made it safely to NJ and our first meal here was, oh so surprisingly, pizza. And it was good! Nate, Anna and I hop on the red eye tomorrow for Berlin. Yea! Sorry posts are light this week, but once I hit Europe I will have all kinds of lovely pictures and food to share with you. Keep checking back!

To keep you busy while you anxiously await my Europe reports…watch Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. This show is addictive. I warned you. But it is GREAT. So fun to watch these people (artists, really) create masterpieces – from a little sugar and flour! And the Ace of Cakes crew from Charm City Cakes are fuh-nny..

I’ve been using your summer meal suggestions and have not disappointed yet! I am so glad I did that ‘Call for Recipes’…you guys know what you’re doing. 🙂

We had this Asian Spinach Salad on Sunday. It really was the perfect summer dinner.

All I have to say is…YUM. Thank you, Kristy, for sharing the recipe!

Featured Recipe: Asian Spinach Salad

 

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This asian spinach salad is perfect for summer!

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Side Dish, Salad

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 1 small bag of spinach
• 8 oz. bowtie pasta (cook, strain, cool)
• 2-4 Tbsp. Sesame seeds
• ½ C. Sunflower seeds
• 1 can sliced water chestnuts
• 3 chicken breasts – season heavily with lemon pepper, grill and cut into bite size pieces
• (I didn’t have lemon pepper, so I cooked the chicken on the stove top with olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, S&P and that worked nicely as well)
• 1 C. bean sprouts
• (I also added green bell pepper and green onion b/c I had them and they were yummy)
• Dressing:
• ½ C. Canola oil
• ½ C. sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice vinegar (unseasoned works too)
• ½ tsp sesame SEED oil
• 1 tsp grated fresh garlic

Instructions

1. Toss together salad ingredients. Then mix all dressing ingredients and store in fridge. Return to room temp before combined.

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As I was making dinner tonight, I couldn’t help but think how much I love bagged spinach. Pre-washed, super healthy, good hot or cold. Perhaps the perfect food?

This week’s menu is very short…because we are going on VACATION! East coast-bound on Wednesday, then off to BERLIN on Friday. Yup, you heard me right. Berlin for 1 week then Paris for 1 week! I can’t wait! Anyway, I’m only cooking one night this week. That may be even better than traveling. Just kidding.

I am going to keep posting while I travel, so please keep visiting the blog. I’m excited to share my culinary adventures with you!

MONDAY:
– Pasta Salad a la Kristy Tayler (click here and see Valerie’s comment)
– Good crusty bread

TUESDAY:
– Packing…therefore eating out!

WEDNESDAY:
– Flying!

THURSDAY:
– At my mom’s

FRIDAY:
– Dinner at JFK waiting for our red-eye flight to take off

SATURDAY:
– HELLO BERLIN!

SUNDAY:
– More Berlin! 🙂

I’m counting on all of you the next few weeks to share your menus…you need to inspire one another! Show us what you got! (I’ll still do the weekly menu post even if my menu involves a lot of eating out…which it will!)

The zucchini ‘Call for Recipes’ yielded so many great recipes, I don’t even know where to begin. Actually, that’s not true. I know right where to begin…with the chocolate.

Thanks to reader Elise for a fabulous Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe. We love it! Very moist, just chocolaty enough, great blend of flavors.

Just one question, does anyone have a good technique for squeezing water out of shredded zucchini?

Chocolate Zucchini Bread Success!

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 3 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3 C flour
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 3 C sugar
• 1½ C vegetable oil
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp almond extract
• 3 C grated zucchini (squeeze water out)
• ½ C sour cream
• 1 C chopped nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Melt chocolate and let cool. Sift dry ingredients. Beat eggs, add in sugar, oil, chocolate, and extracts. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in zucchini, sour cream, and nuts. Bake in greased bundt pan or 10”³ tube pan for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
3. Enjoy!

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