Schnitzel!!

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of schnitzel pounding!

Today Hedwig taught me how to make Schnitzel- my all time favorite German meal. The recipe is similar to our chicken parmesan but you first have to pound the pork as flat as possible. Then rub with salt/pepper/spices mixture before dipping it in an egg/oil mixture followed by a coating of breadcrumbs. Then drop that bad boy into a frying pan of oil (I think I'm going to try it in butter next) and watch it pop and fizzle and fill the whole house with that delicious Schnitzel aroma! Make sure the Schnitzels are nice and brown and then keep them warm in the oven until it is lunch time. Lunch here is the major meal of the day. Dinner is called 'breadtime' and consists of breads, lunch meats, cheeses, pates, etc. Oh, and don't forget the beer!

No meal of Schnitzel would be complete without kartoffel salat- potato salad. Now I'm not a big fan of the American mayonnaisey potato salad but I love the German version. No mayonnaise involved. First boil the potatoes with the skin on and once they have cooled just a little, peel/rub the skins off and the cut into thin slices in your hand while playing hot potato trying not to get burned! After the slicing I'm lost, the next steps are quite an art that will take me a while to perfect. Add a little oil, add a little salt, a little sugar, some vinegar, onions, warm water, and on and on. I have no idea how much of each, Hedwig just kept adding here and there and having me taste it taste it taste it. The kartoffel salat ends up pretty close to mashed potatoes once its all said and done- all mushed together but still retaining its chunckiness (is that a word?).

Next- cucumber salad as well as BEET salad! Slice an entire English cucumber into thin slices and then add tons of salt and let it sit. Come back to it after a while to add more salt and to pour out the cucumber water that has drained to the bottom. Squish the cucumbers with your hands, drain more liquid and then start adding liquid sugar, pepper, dill, oil, vinegar, taste, add more of whatever, taste, taste, taste. Tada! Its delicious :) Hedwig added anise to the beets (?), onions, vinegar and I'm not sure what else but it ended up great!

Now we wait, must let the flavors settle and our stomaches grumble before we sit down to our köstlich (delicious) meal. I will do my best to recreate this at home Pat, but be patient- you know my cooking skills :)

What a perfect day and perfect life- it is gorgeous outside today, we finally get to see the sun. The record amounts of snow are melting and flooding this tiny little town. The soccer field is flooded, we're waiting for Hedwig & Heinrich's fields to flood, hoping it doesn't flood the kellar (basement). I'm a lucky girl and am so happy to be here and loving my life. Good choice KT, good choice :)

Schnitzel

Schnitzel, kartoffel salat, gurken salat, rota beete salat & bier