Food

Beets and quiche don’t rhyme – or do they?

| Green Card Gardener

For the longest time, I disliked beets. It was a bunch of freshly pulled spring beets from a friend’s garden that turned me from a beet hater to a beet lover, and now I grow them every year. Since we don’t have a root cellar, I roast or cook the beets right after harvest and freeze them. The beet leaves, if they are still young and tender, go into the freezer as well.

My favorite beet recipes that I make often are Martha Rose Shulman’s Mushroom and Beet Borscht from The New York Times, Beet Green Risotto – and this Beet Quiche. Continue reading →

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Thank you, local farmers!

| Green Card Gardener

We are skipping the turkey this year. Instead of spending my time basting and stuffing, I want to give a shout-out to the local farmers and producers who have filled our table with such wonderful foods this year.

When I moved to rural northeast Pennsylvania in 2001, it was a real culture shock. Yes, the culture shock did not happen when I moved from Germany to New York City three years prior. It happened when I moved from the city to the country. It was not only because living on a rural hilltop and telecommuting is an isolated and remote lifestyle, it was also because I realized that my image of country life was a bucolic fantasy. Continue reading →

Spoonfuls of Germany is part of The German-American Friendship Year

| Green Card Gardener

Twenty years after I immigrated from Germany to the United States, my ties to my native country are still strong. From the red and black currants I grow in my garden, to the bread, cakes and pastries I bake, there is a taste of Germany, a little bit of German customs and traditions in my life every day.

That’s why I am happy, with my German food blog, Spoonfuls of Germany, to be part of The German-American Friendship Year (Deutschlandjahr USA). The campaign officially kicks off on October 3, 2018, and runs for an entire year.

On Spoonfuls of Germany I explore Germany through its food from the American vantage point. Based on the concept that many foods and dishes have a fascinating story behind them, the blog provides a personal window into Germany’s history, society, culture, politics, arts, and more.

During Deutschlandjahr, the blog will focus on German food culture in the United States, tracing its German origins, how it evolved, and profiling the people behind the food.

The art of the barter

| Green Card Gardener

In late July, my friend Lise gave me a large bag of wild blueberries that she and her boyfriend had picked. Picking wild blueberries, which taste unlike any of the cultivated varieties, is backbreaking and tedious. In exchange for the wild blueberries, I gave Lise a couple of jars of my homemade elderflower jelly.

Also by bartering, this summer I obtained other fresh local produce, including some horseradish I needed for pickling beets, and a load of peppers when my entire crop failed. I received all these bounties in exchange for my homemade jams, jellies and pickles. Continue reading →