When a recipe starts with this much chocolate and butter, you know it’s going to be a good one. It comes from Baked, a Brooklyn-based bakery. I haven’t visited the shop, but I discovered the recipe for their famous brownies from a friend. And I’ll tell you what. These brownies make me want to hop on a train to New... Read more
Happy St. Nikolaus Day to those who celebrate! And if you don’t, well, you should consider joining in on the fun next year. Just place your empty shoes outside of your door on December 5th and, if you were a good boy or girl, St. Nikolaus will fill them with treats! Last year we got German goodies, and this year... Read more
Yesterday brought the first snowfall of the season. But we didn’t mind! We had our Christmas tree and holiday music, NFL, hot chocolate from festive mugs, and chicken and dumplings. This is the first time I’ve made chicken and dumplings, but I think my mother and Aunt Esther would be proud. It’s a classic dish and one that we included... Read more
When our friends, Nick and Marcy, invited us to a dinner party/box wine tasting earlier this week, I was skeptical. I pictured cardboard boxes with liters of chardonnay and sangria. Because that’s the extent of my experience with box wine. But I should have known better. Nick is quite a connoisseur, after all. (Other Nick, not my Nick. Though we... Read more
Four years ago my parents hosted an oyster feed on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since then we’ve spent the holiday in Savannah and New York City and have not been able to gather everyone together for a repeat event. Until this year. My dad spent days scouting the best regional oyster varieties and most competitive prices. And on Friday morning,... Read more
Despite all the pumpkin we’ve eaten this fall (from pumpkin pecan waffles to pumpkin sausage pasta to pumpkin oatmeal cookies), we haven’t had enough. (In fact, we still have to share our recipe for pumpkin macaroni and cheese.) For the Rowlands’ Oyster Feed on Saturday, I tested another pumpkin recipe — the prettiest one to date. There’s just something so... Read more
500 miles. Two families. An inch of snow. Two brined turkeys, one roasted turkey, and one deep-fried turkey. Six football games. Raw oysters, steamed oysters, fried oysters, and oyster stew. Pumpkin pie bars and a pumpkin-gingerbread trifle. We’re exhausted. And stuffed. And so thankful. On Thursday morning we drove from Duncansville to Bethlehem to spend the holiday with Nick’s extended... Read more
2007 in Savannah with the Wileys 2008 in New York City with the Rowlands 2009 in Pennsylvania with the Bomgardners We wish you a very happy Thanksgiving wherever you may be today! Read more
(Previously: Cannstatter Volksfest and the German Jonas Brothers.) We decided to leave Germany a day early. To go to Switzerland, that is. Isn’t that one of the most attractive aspects of Europe? It’s just so easy to jaunt across the border and into another country full of its own cuisine and architecture and charm. We drove two hours south from... Read more
(Previously: We see family in Stuttgart.) Stuttgart’s city district of Bad Cannstatt hosted its first harvest festival in 1818, and just over 30,000 people attended the celebration. Today Volksfest is the biggest carnival in the world, attracting close to five million people for the 16-day event, and it is the second largest beer festival in the world after Munich’s Oktoberfest.... Read more