An Engagement Party fit for a queen

      Every Christmas Season, my girlfriends Petra and Petra come to visit....it has become a traditional thing and I look forward to it every year! After a few visits filled with just Christmas Markets(do not get me wrong the markets are great), but afterwhile...well a girl needs more than just glühwein!!!! Plus Berlin is a city filled with history, why not enjoy it? So, this visit we decided to go to the Charlottenburg Palace. According to Wikepedia, it is the largest palace in Berlin. For more history info just go to Wikepdia!

Okay, so as any castle, this one had a gazillion rooms(bedrooms, sitting rooms, libraries etc) Funny, you never get to see the kitchen(for that matter the bathroom)! I wonder what kind of take away you got back in the 18th century!??

One may not get to see the kitchen, but in this palace you got to see ALL the dishes! There even was one room where the walls were covered.(Will post about that room later). The pictures I would like to share with you today, show you a tablescape that was done for an engagement party! The last pictures are just my favorite dishes....I asked a museum person if I could borrow them for a dinner party I was having, can you guess her answer?!

Still trying to figure out why one needs sooo much silverware!

Happy Thursday Everyone. Be sure to stop by other great blogs for more tablescape inspiration!


Tablescape Thursday
The Tablescaper

Cookbooks Anyomous

Yes that´s where I should be....at a CA meeting! Quick where´s my sponsor.....oh I know where she is, she is asleep in her bed as it is only 07:25 am here in Germany. And to be honest the best sponsor she is not, as I am sharing my bed with cooksbooks from her kitchen........maybe she needs to be at a meeting!!!!!


This Christmas I bought "the smitten kitchen Cookbook" for my sponsor and I am now just getting to read th book myself. I NEED MY OWN COPY! What a great book and so many good ideas and awesome recipes.

So, if you have some time today, go to your  local bookstore and pick up your own copy of the smitten kitchen!

Potato ala Pioneer Woman

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman and my niece for this weeks entry for new recipe sunday! Pioneer Woman....for the recipe and my niece for doing the first test run!

Crash Hot Potatoes!

Although I have just about ever gadget you can imagine in the kitchen, a potato masher I do not have!!!(I will be changing that soon). So we did as the pioneer woman suggests, we used a glass. So, they are not so prety, but the crash hot potatoes sure did taste good.

You can find the recipe on her website: http://thepioneerwoman.com
or  in her cookbook: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Happy Sunday Everyone

A New Years Day!

Today I would like to share with all of you a tablescape I created years ago. I think this is one of my favorites!

Wishing you all a great week.

Linking to following parties: The Tablescaper, Tablescape Thursday,

Fresh Baked Bread

New Recipe Sunday would like to share another Thermomix Recipe with you this Sunday.

Vitalbrot (Bread)

Ingredients:


200 grams Spelt or regular flour
300 grams regular flour
40 grams yeast
40 grams oil (I used olive oil)
250 grams warm water
1 1/2Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Honey


Directions for those with a thermomix:

Place the grains in the thermomix and grind the grains for 40 seconds, speed 10
Add the rest of the indgriedents and using the bread key, pulse for 1  1/2 minutes.
Place the bread dough in a form and let rise for 15 minutes before baking for 45 minutes in a 200° C oven.


Directions for those without a thermomix

Use a food processor to mill the grains, or use ready flour. Add the yeast, sugar, salt, honey, and water to the flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a form and let rise for 15 minutes before baking for 45 minutes in a 200° C oven.

ENJOY!

Tulips are pink!

Roses are red,
                  vilolets are blue,
                                        I like tulips
                                                      how about you?

Okay, a poet I am not!!! This Pink Saturday, I would like to share with you the beautiful tulips I bought recently.

Be sure to stop by Beverly´s How Sweet the Sound for more pink! And if you have time, please do stop by tomorrow for New Recipe Sunday

Reunions are sweet

My years at the University of Illinois were probably some of the best years of my life. Not only did I get a great education, was lucky enough to be a member of the Marching Illini,but best of all, I met some of the greatest women I know. 

Jennifer lives in Baden Austria

DyAnne lives in Seattle Washington

and I live in Berlin Germany

But for one great day, the three of us reunited in Baden Austria......just 23 years later.

We spent part of the day sightseeing through Baden, as DyAnne had studied there long ago and ended our day at a winery.....