I'm Back!

Did you miss me?

Things have been a bit crazy for me lately. I can't seem to get my act together.

I had book group last Monday and we discussed The Book Thief by Mark Zuzak. Since it is set in Nazi Germany, I decided to cook a German (inspired) meal. Here is what I served:

Appetizers
Pickle assortment including green tomatoes, baby corn, baby dills, and my sweet spears
Black Forest ham
Cheese--a German Tiltser and a Dutch Uber Kasse

Entree
Jagerschnitzel (fried pork cutlets with a mushroom gravy)
Weinkraut (sauerkraut, apples, and onions cooked in dry white wine)
Maple roasted carrots

Dessert
German chocolate pie

Beverages
2 different kinds of Reisling
coffee
sparkling water.

Everyone left, I cleaned up the kitchen and headed to bed. I woke during the night and messed up my back. I was in the floor for two days and still walk slightly twisted.

But on to better things!

We had a St. Patrick's Day party at work and everyone was supposed to bring green foods. I fixed a veggie pizza, making a crescent roll crust. I made a cream cheese and sour cream spread and added some green food coloring before spreading onto the crust. I placed a shamrock made from the bottom of a bell pepper in the middle and sprinkled around chopped bell pepper, scallions, olives, and fresh dill. I also made Irish Potato candy and colored it green.

We had a fruit tray with pears, kiwi, green grapes, Granny Smith apples, and a pistachio dip, pinwheels made with spinach tortillas, seven layer salad, devilled eggs with green filling, a chicken noodle dish (green noodles), another green salad, coconut cake (with green coconut on top) cream puffs with green custard, and fruit pizza with kiwi, green grapes, and mandarin orange slices. Plus, of course, the store bakery cookies that show up at every event.

I am currently on a quest to make an oatmeal cookie as good as Christie's Cookies. Thick, chewy, filled with raisins and toffee bits. I'm almost there.

I went to the local UPS office yesterday to pick up my free book (yeah!) and it was such a pretty day that I decided to ride around. I love the spring and yesterday's 78* sunny day was wonderful. Rural middle Tennessee is dressed in it's finest colors...verdant green hillsides, brillian blue forsythia and jonquills, electric coral Japanese quince, and azure blue skies set off by the delicate white of Bradford pears. There were horses running in the fields and bright red barns, old white farmhouses with wide porches.

Enjoy the season!