Dominic has been appointed to West Point!!!

We are so proud and so thrilled that Dominic has received an appointment to The United States Military Academy! The first step towards his goal of serving his country. Go Army!

Olympic Opening Ceremonies

AJ, Stefanie, Dominic & Rachel

For the opening of the Olympics in Sochi, we decided to continue our tradition of cooking traditional food of the country hosting. Luckily I found Olgas Flavor Factory to help me. Every single one of the recipes we tried the kids loved. Four new recipes, four new "make agains". Clearly Olga's website rocks! Rachel gets a special shout out as my sous chef. She was awesome helping me make everything!

We made Porcupine Meatballs with Cream Sauce, called porcupine because they have rice that sticks out of the sides like porcupine quills, Peppers with Potato Stuffing (the boys really liked these), Creamy Spring Garden Salad, and Apple Cookies which are incredibly delicious.

Then we had a fun night watching the opening ceremonies and trying to make sense of the Germany commentary! Go USA!!

Knödel Cooking Class

Some friends talked me into being brave and taking a cooking class in German this past week. Note, the class was in German not just in Germany.  Up until this class, my only experience with this type of food had been a plain, round, sticky dumpling somewhere between a golf ball and baseball in size. I really wasn't a fan. The class at Wirsthaus in der Au has changed my mind.

Work Table

The knödels we made were nothing like those sticky, white balls. This is not a great description but these knödel were something like a gourmet stuffing ball filled with delicious ingredients. The class was lots of fun and I even understood some of what the chef was telling us, maybe 30%, but my friends were translating and luckily a lot of cooking can be done by following the leader!

Partners in crime - Cheryl, Lana & Missy

We paired up to make five different kinds of knödel. That's when the prosecco started flowing. Definitely my kind of cooking class. My friend Lana and I made spinach, the rest of the class did beet, speck (bacon), cheese and a dessert knödel made with cookie crumbs instead of bread crumbs as a base. As a bonus we learned the perfect way to chop an onion as well as an awesome way to prepare spinach and get the water out of it.

Time to mix, with our hands!

Spinat Knödel

Andrea explaining that the dumplings will "dance" when they are properly cooked.

I have to say each and everyone one of them was amazing. The speck knödel was served in a soup. The next three were served together but each with their own sauce. The beet had a horseradish sauce, the spinach was topped with pesto and ruculoa, and the cheese was topped with a parmesan cheese sauce. They were incredibly amazing.

The dessert knödels were also terrific and served with our choice of schnapps. I tried hazelnut which did compliment it nicely.

It was a terrific way to spend the day, fun to learn something new and even a little fun to take the class in German.

Prosecco, Rot Wein oder Schnapps?

It didn't hurt that at one point this is what was sitting in front of me. Cheers!

Bar Mitzvah Fun

Rachel got to experience a special event this weekend. She attended her friend's Bar Mitzvah. This was a big deal not only for her friend Ilai, but for his friends. It was also a fancy event which meant shopping for "glamorous cocktail" dresses. Rachel and her friends had lots of fun shopping for fabulous dresses. I wish I had taken a picture of them at the store, or at least the dressing room carnage after the four of them were done!

Rachel & Mirsa

They attended the Bar Mitzvah and then a luncheon afterwards. Then in the evening it was time for the party.

Mirsa & Rachel

Rachel and Mirsa met all of their friends at the party since everyone lives all around Munich. It was held at a cool place called the Lensbach Palais in Munich and the kids had a blast dancing all night. Rachel wasn't thrilled with the extra accessory she had to wear but somehow she powered through the party!