Recipe of the day...

Today I'm going to cook Ribs with Whipped Garlic Potatoes and Bavarian Blaukraut...  YUM!!!

Ribs:
Buy 1lb for each person.  There's a lot of bones.
I buy flat pork ribs, but you can buy Baby Back Ribs too.

Salt and Pepper them, rub them with cayenne pepper and smear them with balsamic vinegar.  The vinegar helps to make the meat soft and caramelized.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the ribs meaty side down on a baking sheet that's lined with wax paper (this way you don't have to clean so much).  Roast them for 40 min., then brush them with a Creme di Balsamico.  Turn them over and bake another 20 min.  They should be brown and caramelized on the meaty side and oooohhh so yummy.

Whipped Garlic Potatoes:
125g of Potatoes for each person...
Peel Potatoes and one clove of garlic.  Cut into smaller chunks and place in a pot with just enough water to cover them.  Add the garlic and a pinch of salt.
Cook about 25 min. until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a knife.
The trick is you have to mash them with a potato masher and then whip them with your hand blender.  Warning:  don't puree them, use the whipping attachment!
While you're whipping, add a pad of butter and heavy cream.  It is up to you how much you add.  Keep tasting them until you've found a consistency and flavor you like.  I like mine less creamy, but to each his own!  Add salt and pepper to taste, and Voila!  Whipped Garlic Potatoes.

Bavarian Blaukraut:
1/2 head of Red Cabbage
1 Large Onion
2 Apples, peeled and cored
2 Cups of dry white wine
1/4 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
Cinnamon
5 Cloves
1 large bay leaf
Salt and Pepper

The first and hardest thing to do is to grate the Red Cabbage, the Onion and the Apples, SEPARATELY.  I have a fantastic hand held grater thingy that comes with all sorts of different attachments and gadgets.  A food processor would certainly work.  Be careful, you want to grate it all, not hack it into unrecognizable pieces.

Sautee the onions in a bit of olive oil in a large sauce pot.  After about 3 minutes, add the red cabbage and cover the pot.  Stir this occasionally for about 10 minutes.  Add apples, one cup of white wine, half the vinegar, salt, cloves and bay leaf.  Braise the cabbage with the cover on for about 20 min.  When you see the pot is dry, add more wine.  Add the rest of the vinegar and the cinnamon.  Continue braising for another 20 min.  Salt and pepper to taste.  This dish is so famous here in Bavaria, tastes awesome and goes well with meat and fish dishes.

ENJOY!!!  and let me know how it turned out for you.

Romping Part 3: San Benedetto, Italy

Part 3

San Benedetto, Italy:

Sometimes theory can be put into practice. After unpacking and re-packing and organizing and eating and re-organizing and giving the kids a bath and getting them to bed, and doing 100 other things I can't remember right now, I crashed. The problem was, I crashed at 11:30 at night. I couldn't imagine that I could wake up at 2 am and drive to Italy. But I did. We met Tina and Maria downstairs and packed the car and piled in, all 5 of us, and drove. The kids slept and Tina and I talked and drank cappuccinos and talked about what had gone on in our lives over the past month of being separated. We talked and drove and drank and before we knew it the sun was coming up as we were driving out of the mountains in Bozen. We arrived at Susan's at 8:30 am happy, refreshed and HOT. The first thing I did was take off my Uggs and put on flip flops. It was stunning. The resort was even more beautiful than I had remembered, the sun was shining, the blue water of the olympic size pool was sparkling and the air was ripe with the scent of morning dew and fresh Cornettos (Croissants). The early birds were arriving at the pool and as we were checking everything out, I heard a familiar voice from somewhere up above greeting us. It was Susan. Anticipating our arrival, she was setting up breakfast on the terrace. It was soooo great to see her! She always looks great, but after 6 weeks in Italy, she looks even better. We spent most of our days in the same fashion. We would have breakfast on the terrace, already in our bikinis and swim trunks. Then Tina and I and the kids would go to the pool while Susan did her laps and yoga and all the other relaxing fabulous stuff that keeps her happy and looking 10 years younger than she is. One or the other of us would go back to the apartment at around 2 pm and prepare a big fresh, yummy lunch that usually consisted of healthy salads, local cheeses, fish, and something undeniably whole grain. We would then linger by the pool-side again or play water games with the kids until dinner time, which for the Italians isn't before 9 pm in the evening. After which, the kids would fall asleep and we would continue our drinking and eating festivities well into the night. We would, at some point go skinny dipping and then fall into a happy slumber, full and knowing that we could do it all over again tomorrow! Needless to say that after just 10 days of this routine, I firmly believe that Tina and I also looked at least 10 years younger than upon arrival. Well, even if we didn't look 10 years younger, we certainly felt it... We've already made plans to do it again.

Romping Part 2: New York City

Part 2

New York:

After a sad goodbye and a short 4 1/2 hour flight we landed in New York. I could hardly wait to see Josef and Helmut and of course all those special to me in the big apple. My parents picked us up at JFK. Unfortunately, Helmut and Josef were landing 2 hours later at Newark. My sister Tricia was picking them up. One of the perks of having a large family. It was a sweet reunion! and the best was that we got to stay in my sister's apartment, that was currently between rentors... totally cool. We immediately started having fun. One of our morning rituals is to be the first customers in the bagel store. We always order sesame bagels with tuna. We went for long walks in Riverside Park with Uncle Kaya, enjoyed sunset roof-top BBQ's and days at the beach with our girlfriend Theresa. We spent whole afternoons in Central Park at the Meadow. I showed the kids the bathrooms at Tavern on the Green and explained that you can always use the restrooms in restaurants even if you aren't a customer. I enjoyed working with long time colleagues of mine on several fabulous events while Helmut visited FAO Schwartz and the likes with the kids. We visited our friends Don and Michele on Long Island, swam in their pool and BBQ'd big American steaks. We went with Grandpa (my Dad) to his fitness studio and swam for hours in the roof-top pool. Afterwards, we would go home and cook gourmet meals together. The highlight had to be that Helmut and I celebrated 9 years of knowing each other. Our night out started at Quest, a fabulous American bistro, with $15 Grey Goose Martinis and plain green salads with some magical salad dressing that topped any other I had ever tasted. I moved on to home-made raviolis while Helmut reveled in heaven eating the thickest pork loin I'd ever seen over a pool of dark brown beer sauce that would make any German the happiest person alive. We couldn't actually leave without sharing the molten chocolate souffle, which was a good thing because I don't think my mouth had ever actually watered like that before when eating. I wanted to burst out laughing due to how happy my taste buds were. We then walked hand in hand through the East Village over to the West Village, through Washington Square Park and back over to Astor Place. A very comprehensive tour of my romping grounds in my 20's. I was happy. Helmut was happy. It was time to fly home. I decided to pack Helmut's bag separate so that I wouldn't have to do too much packing for Italy when I got home to Germany. The plan was that after returning home to Abensberg at around 3 pm, to rest and sleep a little and at some point in the very middle of the night, to drive to Italy with Tina and her 3 year old daughter Maria...