When I stepped in to the Klosterkirche (Monastery Chapel) in Weltenburg, it took my breath away. The chapel contains a masterclass in Baroque Architecture. Every surface decorated with carvings and paintings…gilding and statuary… all from the minds of the Asam Brothers.  Now, while planning my trip to Germany in 2019, I stumbled across a suggestion […]

You probably won’t find Fanta Cake in a fancy German Cafe, but don’t scoff at this super easy and quick to make Fantakuchen Recipe. When my kids were young, I loved having what I called “afterschool cake” recipes. Snack cakes, that could be whipped up without too much fuss. And this one is done in […]

German food often gets stereotyped as consisting mainly of large hunks of meat or sausage. But that really doesn’t tell the whole story of German Cuisine. I grew up eating German Soups, Stews and Eintopfe. At least once a week my mother would cook a hearty soup or Eintopf  that, along with with a slice […]

Deep in the Alpine region of Germany, the Christmas Season is bookended by two frightening beings, Krampus who roams on December 5th, and Frau Perchta is associate with Berchentag, the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th. But Who is Frau Perchta? Or WHAT is Frau Perchta? Is she an evil hag who kills lazy women […]

In Germany, especially around Christmas and the New Year you see them everywhere… Toadstool ornaments, Chimney Sweet figures, Marzipan Piggies with coins or 4 Leaf Clover in their mouths. These German good luck symbols didn’t just come out of nowhere… they all have history and legend to explain why they are lucky. Some luck charms […]

German New Year’s Eve traditions are a nice mix between staying in with family and friends… and sending the old year out with a BANG and Fireworks! How you celebrate depends on you. Personally, I’m a big fan of stay in… but ever since I was a child, we’ve made noise fireworks and cheers when […]

No one does Christmas like the Germans, so it’s no great shock that many Christmas Traditions from Germany found their way to America. Still, it’s interesting to see HOW many of the Christmas traditions arrived in the United States… and how they were changed or modified to fit in with their new country. Christmas in […]

Even though 2020 is a strange year with Pandemic Lockdowns and Restrictions on Visits, we are going to do our best to put together the traditional German Christmas Dinner menu for Christmas Day. When I was growing up, we would alternate Christmas dinner between our house, and my god-parent’s house.  All of us dressed in […]

I held off sharing this Honey Cake Recipe for a long time because of its origins. You see, I  got it from my friend Josephine, who got it from her Russian-German Grandmother (after MUCH arm twisting and spying). The cake didn’t look like the flat square Honig Kuchen I saw in my Dr. Oetker.  Now… […]

We’ve all sung it hundreds of times, in German, Stille Nacht or in English, Silent Night.  It’s THE Christmas song in most German households… the last song before the end of the Christmas Eve church Service, the last song before the Bescherung. Silent Night is a song we all know the words to in German […]