This month's Secret-Secret Geography Club snuck up on us fast. We settled on Germany and it couldn't have been a more perfect country for November. Even though I had never eaten any of these dishes before, the food was very comforting and familiar.

For once, Dan didn't prepare the meat dish and instead made these Kartoffelkloesse, which are potato dumplings. It was like a mashed potato ball with fried bread crumbs and bacon crumbled over the top. It really reminded me of perogies. Very satisfying. Maybe that's why Germany tasted so familiar...it's touching home to my Polish roots.

Served alongside, was a Red Cabbage and Apple dish made by Joel. I'm not sure what it was called exactly, but it was basically fried cabbage and apples. I'm not a huge cooked cabbage fan (even though my family consumes tons of cabbage rolls)...I much prefer the crisp, crunch of a coleslaw. But it sure looked pretty though.

I decided to bring Rindergulasch, which is a German Goulash or Beef Stew. It had a lot of sweet Hungarian paprika as well as marjoram, which are two spices I've never cooked with before. It was a very delicious stew. Apparently I changed Dan's preconcieved notions about goulash.

As Lindsey researched recipes for our German night, she discovered that one of her Grandma's specialties was a German dish. It's called Rouladen and is basically a thin steak rolled up with onions, bacon and dill pickles (?) I know. It's a totally bizarre ingredient. I'm not gonna lie to you....as I searched for recipes I kept coming across rouladen and it's bizarre usage of dill pickles cooked in steak, and I thought it was going to be disgusting. But it worked. It was actually very tasty. I was pleasantly surprised. They don't look very appetizing floating around in the gravy, but don't be deceived.

For dessert, Lisa had whipped up an Apfelstrudel (apple strudel). There were almonds and rum soaked raisins and a crisp, flaky crust. So delicious.

Of course, throughout the night, German beer and wine (reisling) was served. Poor me, I couldn't partake and German wine is one of my all-time favorites. I love a good reisling or gewurtzreminer. But alas, I settled for Fanta Grape pop (which is also very German. For real.)


German fare was not the most flashy or fancy food, but like I said very comforting and familiar. It was so reminiscent of fall flavors and snuggling up on the couch. One dish we didn't get to eat, which I would still love to try is Wiener Schnitzel...or perhaps Jagerscnitzel (which is essentially a breaded, fried pork cutlet with creamy mushroom sauce...how can you go wrong?) Maybe sometime in the future it will show up on one of my meal plans.

We have already decided that December will be Indian Cuisine. Indian food tends to be cheaper since they make their curries out of an abundance of spices and not many other ingredients...kind of perfect when we want to be pinching our pennies for Christmas. I can hardly wait to taste Dan's homemade naan bread again. You should all be very jealous.


Oh and P.S. Did I mention how ecstatic I was when no saurkraut surfaced on our dinner table?