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Oktoberfest…

Last night was our Oktoberfest dinner party I began planning for a month ago. Bottom line…it was a success and a lovely evening.

Our dinner party included our friends and neighbors Buzz & Tabetha, owners of the Arlington Inn—the guys from next door, David & Arthur, and of course, our good buddy, Martin.

I am glad I took photos of the food as I made it and some before our friends arrived. The table setting was a modern take on harvest time. 

Like other dinner parties, I didn’t take photos of my food. I realize now I probably never will since I like to be present when we have guests, not on my phone.

My menu included a relish plate with quick pickled beets that came out great for a first try and not using a recipe.

I made up a drink called a Kirsh Cocktail, which was cherry brandy and a maraschino cherry in the bottom of a wine glass, then topped with Prosecco. It was a hit.

After everyone had a cocktail, I served silver dollar potato pancakes with freshly made applesauce and sour cream. I purposely made just enough; I didn’t want everyone to fill up on an appetizer. Everyone loved them; if I made double, they would have been gone in a flash.

I set up a buffet for dinner in the kitchen. The menu consisted of pork schnitzel topped with lemon, spätzle with mushroom cream sauce, red cabbage, and weisswurst with sauerkraut, apples and onions.

My friend Arthur doesn’t eat pork or beef. I made him chicken schnitzel with lemon, sausage with apples, and brown sugar. The sausage was delicious, something I will buy for us again.

I was pleased with how the food came out. When Chef Martin was making his plate, I said to him, “German food is really brown, isn’t it?” We both laughed in agreement, not that Irish food is any better.

For dessert, I made black forest cupcakes, which were too big since they were rich and filling. I was delighted with the result. Note to self: next time, make smaller cupcakes, Julz.

I’m writing a post next titled Nailed It, describing the trials and tribulations of my dessert if you are familiar with Nailed It, you will know what to expect.

Klaus and little Nelly were well-behaved after the Initial excitement from guests arriving. I was smart and put away all their toys except for things they could chew on.

This was the most brilliant decision I made for our dinner party. Usually, Klaus is a pain in the ass, shoving toys into people’s legs because he wants to play fetch. 

On the other hand, Nelly loves to play with Klaus, stealing the toys from him and making them run circles through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. 

Instead, Nelly and Klaus laid on the floor while people were talking, each chewing on a chewy toy. This was a revelation and something that I will do whenever we have people over.

That’s two dinner parties in the books for 2023. I love planning and cooking for my friends and family. I told Martin I know you know how great it feels to host and cook delicious food for people you love. He smiled, nodding, saying he did. There’s nothing quite like it. ☺️

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Sunday morning…

My view from my favorite seat in our home.

I woke up at 7 am and came downstairs to let Klaus out. I left Marty and Nelly, who had their heads on pillows in the same position breathing softly.

I grabbed a blanket and snuggled with Klaus and wrote a blog post about our dinner party last night. I still have to edit and let my laptop charge.

When the sleepy heads emerged, things got crazy fast since Nelly is always happy to see Klaus and vice versa.

My tiny Halloween corner in the kitchen.

They played while we sipped our tea and coffee. I put on a soft jazz playlist and lit a apple cider candle and began emptying our dishwasher and drying rack from last night.

I wanted a cozy breakfast that sticks with the porridge type food I’ve been craving. I made creamy grits with over easy eggs. It was satisfying and perfect on a chilly morning.

As I am looking out our back room windows, the foliage this years is nothing to write home about. The pounding rain took down a lot of leaves.

Tourists still visited our area for a fall getaway or one of the many weddings this holiday weekend.

Our friends Buzz and Tabetha, new owners of the Arlington Inn, reopened the old Deming Tavern after a complete, much needed, ceiling to floor renovation, opening up the tavern to accommodate more people.

The tavern is beautiful! Tab did a wonderful job sourcing the appropriate time period pieces that makes the place ooze with charm.

They purchased the Arlington Inn last year and have done non stop renovations bringing the neglected Inn back to life.

We were invited to the soft opening which was wonderful! We are so happy to have a place to go to once a week again!

Bottoms up Martin!

My laptop is charged! I’m ready to edit my next blog post! Have a great day guys! The good news for us is the skies are turning blue and the sun is coming out! Yay!

*** I didn’t edit this piece so it’s a case of it is what it is.

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It’s go time…

A few weeks ago, I invited our small circle of friends to an Oktoberfest dinner party. The theme makes sense since do have a German food business.

As soon as the replies came saying our friends could come, I made my menu. Marty asked if I was going to start cooking already. 😂

I dislike rushing around and began picking up ingredients last week. I was so excited on Thursday because I could start making a couple of things in advance.

Yesterday, I baked and cooked many of my menu items, the ones that only get better when made a couple of days ahead, like red cabbage and sauerkraut with apples and onions.

Today is all about cooking, tidying up, and setting the table, my favorite thing to do.

I’m taking photos of my dinner party food this time; the last one we had was in January, I forgot to.

The last detail is what I’m the hell I’m going to wear. Always important to me since I was a little girl.

Back then, I wanted to wear my Mary Jane’s every time we went out. I still have a pair, just not patent leather.

Have a great day! 🍂

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Pumpkin milk porridge…

This post has three topics: culinary, history, and literary. All that for oatmeal? You, betcha.

I love food anthropology. It’s the one thing I would have gone back to school for if I didn’t hate going to school so much.

Marty and I watched a program on YouTube that talked about what people ate at different points in time. 

The guy whose show it is also covers what the rich, the poor, and the working class people ate.

We watched an episode on 18th-century breakfasts the other night. They have records of what people ate since they kept journals and wrote these things down.

Ben Franklin’s writings are most famous for his love of bread and cheese, which he lived off of when he wasn’t in other people’s company.

In the episode, the guy talked about oatmeal. It is also known as groul, water, milk groul, and porridge made with water or milk. All three classes of people ate plain oatmeal or groul.

Ah, so that’s what nasty old Scrooge was eating. I always wondered about that. Did anyone know what groul was? It sounded awful.

The literary piece is how you name a menu item. There is a way to add romance, such as calling pumpkin oatmeal pumpkin milk porridge with maple syrup.

We named our business The Vermont Spätzle Company because it was the first thing that came to mind and because the word Vermon adds romance to the name. 

For example, how would the Ohio Spätzle or NY Spätzle Company sound? However, if it was The Saratoga Spätzle Company, you have the romance in the name. 

As a food service director at school, I wrote the menu with the same feeling for the menu items. Such as a three-cheese focaccia melt with tomato and pesto. 

Another example is calling a ham and cheese bagel melt a cowboy bagel with ham, cheddar, and BBQ sauce. See?

The culinary part is simple. It is pumpkin, oatmeal, toasted nuts, warm spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, milk, and water. 

The rest is up to you and your taste or a recipe you found. I read a few recipes to know the quantities, then did my own thing. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

This would be on the menu throughout the fall season, along with Apple Cider porridge topped with diced apple, toasted nuts, and cinnamon sugar in my pretend restaurant or cafe. 

Those menu items scream autumn, especially here in VT. They would be a home run, unlike just writing just oatmeal.

Here are some recipes to try: Pumpkin Oatmeal by Well Plated and another recipe from Del’s cooking twist.

I’m in a hurry to publish this piece; please excuse the grammar. Have a great day!

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Yet another lesson; part two…

Free Image.

Soon after my encounter with Turtle, I wasn’t expecting to journey again so soon. The veil to the other side gets thinner this time of the year, so it shouldn’t have surprised me.

Lately, after all my years of Shamanic Journeying, I have gone to new places, which frightens me when it happens. 

I was scared shitless when I was led through a dark forest where Wolf was waiting for me. I was even more frightened when he started stalking me. So I ran.

This journey led me to another dark place. I was walking into pitch-black darkness. I was terrified. I wasn’t sure if I was in the middle or the lower world; I didn’t know how I even got there.

I stopped, trying to understand where I was and why. I telepathically heard a voice say, “Take my hand.” Um, no, thank you.

I was frightened to take the hand and didn’t. My mind was racing about what to do. Why wasn’t this a happy journey? Why was I in the place?

I kept hearing over and over, “Trust me, take my hand.” I was afraid to, but then I got the courage to do so. 

As soon as I reached out and grabbed that hand, I was back to the loveseat in our back room. I understood what that journey meant.

In addition to overcoming my worrying and anxiety, I forgot about depression, which I have been battling significantly since my lung issues began. 

When I think I’m climbing out of deep, dark depression, I am shoved back down the rabbit hole. 

The night before this journey, I finally called a dear close friend of mine who moved to Washington state close to five years ago. 

She and I were very close. She was about 15 years older than me and a great source of answers to many questions I had as a woman. 

I never had someone I could confide in before this way. She explained a woman’s middle-life crisis and how I wasn’t alone in things I felt about this and that.

She texted me a few times asking if I was ok. She worried about me since I never posted anything about me on my Facebook page. No news is good news.

She said the stuff I have been sharing on my page is somewhat cryptic, and she was worried. I finally called her back. 

Kaaron is someone I should have called months ago, but answering questions about my lung disease is very depressing to discuss with people. 

That’s when she said, “Give it to me.” I started talking and talking about my physical and mental health issues. Everything just poured out of me.

She knew exactly what to say after she listened to everything I said. Kaaron was my stand-in mother for years since my mother, Eileen, was not that kind of mother or person.

In a very assuring, quiet tone, she said what I’d been waiting for someone who knew me to say. 

I mentioned how I pretended to “get over” my lung disease prognosis and move on. She said, “Sweetheart, you don’t have to get over anything. Why would you think that?”

I told her because it made people close to me feel better, and I knew people were sick of me wanting to talk about it. 

In her best Karron fashion, she said, “Well fuck everybody else. This is not something you get over.” Finally, those magic words filled with love and experience.

I cried and told her I felt like I was swimming in a dark sea alone. She said that’s because I was. She was right, I was.

She told me this was how she felt when her oldest son ended his own life 12 years ago. People thought she should get over it; she swam in her own dark sea alone.

I thanked her and told her I wanted to keep in touch because I missed her; she made me feel better about how I was handling my situation and to honor my feelings and not everyone else’s.

I am crying while writing this because that phone call meant so much to me. I am so grateful to have her in my life, even if she is across the country from me.

After I hung up, Marty asked if I was ok. I told him precisely what Kaaron told me. She was the only one who said what I’d been desperately waiting to hear. 

The next day, I had that metaphoric journey. It took me a while to realize that the voice that told me to take their hand and to trust them was either Jesus or God. It freaked me out.

I still feel like I am still swimming in a dark sea alone, but I know a hand is always ready to grab mine when needed. 

Talk about fucked up, right? I haven’t shared this with anyone because it’s weird to casually mention this type of shit without people thinking I am totally off my nut.

On my blog, I promised myself and my readers to be honest, genuine, and authentic, which is not easy. I feel like these journeys are necessary to honor and talk about.

These posts are difficult to write and even harder when I lose readers because of them.

I never said this journey would be easy, but I seem to be progressing slowly and steadily regarding a fraction of my life’s lessons.

Thanks for reading and even more for sticking around. 🖤

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Yet, another lesson; part one…

My crystal and gemstone turtle collection.
They were freshly charged during the full moon.

I must be a slow learner regarding my path on this journey in this lifetime. My spirit guides and power animals are probably sick and tired of trying to get this lesson across. 

I have different power animals for different lessons. Sometimes, they all try to get the same lesson through my thick head. Like this one.

Turtle is my primary or constant power animal. In my “letting go of worrying” lesson, Hawk and Wolf recently tried. I understood what they were saying, but being able to let go of my constant worrying is something else.

A few years ago, I learned about giving your worries to God or the universe. I’ve posted that at bedtime when my worries flood my mind, I would tie a balloon string to each of them and watch them float away. 

While this has helped a lot over the last ten years, I now find myself back to giving away each of my worries a few times a day. I thought I had this; it turns out I don’t. I was a bundle of anxiety that was getting out of control again.

It took a visit with Turtle on Thursday afternoon while I was meditating to learn another piece of this lesson. I always thought I had Turtle as a spirit animal because I was always fast and on the go. This was true, or so I thought.

What I learned the other day wasn’t about how physically fast I was but how fast my thoughts and worries were. Hmmm? 🤔

Turtle is always gentle and friendly with me. He may not look like a creature giving you the warm fuzzies, but his personality does. Then this happened.

Turtle sternly told me I was NOT living in the now, even though I thought I did sometimes. Not at all. I must say to you, I was surprised by his frankness; Hawk must be rubbing off on him.

I asked him why in a defensive way. It’s what I do when I know I will be proved wrong. He was more than ready to do so. My ears were wide open for this lesson.

He started by saying I’ve come a long way in this life experience, but I still didn’t have the not worrying thing down yet, by any stretch of the imagination. OK, now what?

He said in a now gentle voice, “By giving away your worries one by one, you aren’t able to live in the now.” It started to make sense at that point. Listing off my worries numerous times of the day was the opposite of living in the now.

He continued by telling me my worries are about past and future things that I fear. We all do that, don’t we, even if we don’t talk about it?

To live in the now, I need to give whatever worry I have at that very moment. For example, in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, I can give away my concern about the appointment and the outcome, not all week or month like I was doing.

This made perfect sense to me now. A lightbulb went off in my head; Turtle was correct on all levels! I’ve been able to convert to this more straightforward than I imagined. Here is what is working for me.

I can wish myself and my family to be safe and get a good night’s sleep at bedtime. Period. Nothing else. I can disregard any other thoughts by saying to myself, no!

This is true during the daytime as well. When worrying thoughts enter my head, I focus on what I am doing at that very moment, like yesterday when I was washing the livingroom windows and window treatments.

These two stared at me most of the time I was cleaning. 😂

I focused on how clean the windows were and how fresh and clean the curtains smelled. While prepping and cooking dinner last night, I focused on the knifework, smell, and taste. I didn’t let any negative thoughts take up any head space.

If you are a worrier like me, this may be something for you, or everyone, to take a hard look at. It takes a lot of training, but I am slowly getting it. I am saying no often, but it’s getting easier.

I know I may not be ready for another lesson until I learn this one. I feel less anxious and calmer by practicing this new way of thinking. I can do this, especially for my health’s sake.

Of course, you can plan, make reservations, and have an agenda or goals for yourself in the future; you just aren’t worrying about it all week or month. This is a massive thing for me; whenever I added something to my planner, I started worrying about it.

I hope this is something for you worriers to think about and try. It is truly working for me. I know that another part of my spiritual journey is to teach people what I learn and share it with them.

Thank you, my sweet Turtle friend! 💚

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Hi…

The Acorn Spice candle from Mrs. Meyers is lovely!

Hi! I am still here guys just busy during Oktoberfest season and filling orders.

Fall is here and I am enjoying the cooler temps but holy shit, this has been the worst fall allergy season in our area!

A summer of rain and hot humid weather made for a breeding ground of mold and bacteria.

As the leaves are falling, so is all of that nasty shit. 🤧

Fall is also a time when the veil to the other side gets thinner. I’ve been able to journey easily and have learned a few new things to help me on my journey.

I can’t wait to tell you about them, I am sure they will help anyone seeking to calm their mind and worries.

Gotta run, it time to make the spätzle. I’ll catch up with you again very soon!

Have a great day guys! ~julz

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Hygge…

I’ve lived in the Northeast my entire life, with four definitive seasons. I’ve always loved fall and got married on the sweetest day of the year, the third Saturday in October. 

Last week, I felt it coming, and so did Klaus. We both entered grizzly mode this week, always hungry and tired no matter what we did. I have been saying this for decades.

Think about September, the month when we begin to prepare ourselves for winter.  People crave pumpkin spice, fuzzy boots, flannel shirts and hoodies, warm, cozy blankets, harvest decor, and warming soup bowls. 

I’m guilty of all of it. I got out my mini pumpkins and a small amount of Halloween decor and carefully placed them around the house. 

This is our body telling us to prepare for winter, not because we see so much fall shit in every store we go in. 

You begin to see comfort food recipes and photos on magazine covers near the checkout areas in grocery stores—those clever bastards. 

I am guilty of loving all those things in September; I feel it inside, not because Amazon, TJ Maxx, or Better Homes and Garden magazines convinced me.

The Danish and Norwegian people have been living the Hygge way; it’s the way they can make it through a long, dark, and cold winter.

New Year’s Eve dinner last year at Martin’s place. How beautiful it looked, very Hygge.

The togetherness part of Hygge, I feel as well. Last week, I invited our friends to come for an Oktoberfest dinner party. I need to see my friends not only because I love to entertain, I need to.

In the invitation, I said I wanted to get everyone together to have cocktails or wine while eating some delicious, seasonal food made with love. 

Right away, I got texts from our friends telling me they could come. Menu planning started before the invite, but now it was full steam ahead. I already have my shopping list ready. Yay!

Many people think all this fall and winter shit is ridiculous, but say that to any women at Home Goods, they will flatten you instantly, screaming, “Get the hell out of here!”

Do whatever makes you and your family feel warm and cozy—buying everyone new slippers or matching pajamas for Christmas or making Hygge baskets as gifts with items like tea, socks, a book, knitting needles and yarn, hot chocolate. You get it.

I love fall and winter candles, which make me feel the warm fuzzies. I am a person who enjoys good smells; Sam is the same way. 

I was bummed that I can no longer burn any old seasonal candles. Their smell makes me cough my head off and gives me a headache. This never happened until my lung issues started.

Candles made with essential oils, as I use in my diffuser, are okay, and they are better for our home environment and my health.

I ordered a couple of fall-scented candles from Mrs. Meyers; winter scents are not available yet.  Seasonal scents of candles, soaps, and cleaning products are only available for a limited time. I can’t wait until Iowa Pine is out, my favorite.

I’ve started to crave comfort food and have been freezing servings for two when I make our dinners now. Perfect to pull out of the freezer for quick and easy winter dinners. I feel like a squirrel storing acorns for the winter.

Right now, I’m drinking tea while wearing my fuzzy blush pink robe with a fuzzy blanket on my legs; Nelly is curled up beside me. It’s 44 degrees outside this morning. Hygge.

We eat by candlelight on many nights; I burn scentless pillars all year, but now, I want them in every room since it gets dark so much earlier. The warm glow is so cozy. Hygge. 

I am meal planning, which I do on Sundays, choosing mostly cozy and comforting food. I’m eating oatmeal for breakfast since I am craving it big time. Hygge

I’ve picked up my Kindle again and started looking for new books to read this winter. Hygge. 

I’ve switched back to two fingers of bourbon as a nightcap and want old-fashioned cocktails instead of margaritas and gin & tonics. Hygge. 

I want to bake pumpkin bread, popovers, and scones. I don’t enjoy baking as much as cooking, but there is something about this time of year and the urge to bake. I love the smells from baking when it fills the home. Hygge.

I moved my flannelly-type shirts, sweaters, hoodies, and jeans front and center, tucking my shorts and tank tops behind them. I organized my scarves, hats, and gloves. Hygge.

Before 2017, when Hygge became an international hit, it was an instinctive thing we had been doing all along, just like the Danish and Norwegian people.

Happy Fall y’all. 🍂🍁

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Oktoberfest recipe # 1…

Sauerbraten meatballs, buttered spätzle, and maple glazed carrots.

Our presence on social media for our business was practically non-existent this year until a month ago. Depression makes you do many things, like not wanting or caring to do anything. This was me.

When I finally pulled my head out of my ass, I apologized to our followers on Facebook and Instagram for the lack of posts. Then, I got posting like I used to. People love it when we post things on our pages.

Whenever we speak to customers, especially during Oktoberfest season or around the holidays, they tell us how much they love sauerbraten but don’t want to make it.

We tell our customers about sauerbraten meatballs and suggest looking online for a recipe because there are tons of them. What a lame thing to do as a cook and recipe writer. There is no excuse except laziness or lack of motivation on my part. Boo.

Traditional sauerbraten takes three days or so to marinate a beef roast in red wine, vinegar, and spices. Then, it is braised for hours. Finally, a gravy is made.

My recipe for sauerbraten meatballs takes about an hour from start to finish. Now, whenever you have a hankering for sauerbraten, you can make it that same day without all the muss and fuss.

We first heard about sauerbraten meatballs about three years ago. I searched a ton of sauerbraten meatball recipes and didn’t like them. Notice how this always happens?

The problem is that home cooks sometimes write the recipes, and other bloggers copy and paste the same recipe using the same photos. Oh, how I despise that.

I read some recipes from Betty Crocker and other trustworthy sites and combined a little of this and a little of that. I made the meatballs, and they were meh at best.

I decided to try again just in time for Oktoberfest. This time, I went to an authentic sauerbraten recipe and remembered the red wine in the marinade. I have a great palate and the ability to duplicate recipes by taste. That’s how I came up with my sauerbraten meatballs on Saturday.

I tested my recipe and made minor tweaks. I knew exactly what I wanted them to taste like, and finally, I was satisfied. We had them for dinner that night, and they were right on the money and delicious.

My meatballs had the flavor of real sauerbraten, unlike the other recipes that were more like sweet and sour meatballs with a hint of spices.

I typed up my recipe and emailed it to Marty with a photo. He will print and laminate a copy for our farmers market table and put it on our website.

I have a few delicious original Oktoberfest recipes I will share with our customers over the next couple of weeks. I am super inspired to write recipes for our business again, even if they aren’t spätzle recipes but sides and mains.

Next up, my red cabbage recipe, which I served to a bunch of Germans from Germany at an LGB train meet at our house. I’ll tell you about it next week.

Below is my recipe for sauerbraten meatballs in case anyone wants to make them this fall or over the holidays, which is another popular time for people to have sauerbraten.

Guten Appetite! 🇩🇪

Sauerbraten Meatballs

Ingredients

Meatballs

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or meatloaf mix
3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp oil

Gravy

1/4 cup flour or 2 Tbsp potato starch
2 cups beef broth or stock
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 red wine
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 bay leaf
3/4 Tbsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp black pepper
Kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

In a medium-sized bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly with your hands. Shape into small meatballs.

Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet or nonstick pan. Add a few meatballs at a time to the hot pan. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. Brown the meatballs on all sides and remove them from the pan.

After removing the meatballs from the pan, sprinkle flour or potato starch over the drippings. Whisk flour or potato starch into the pan drippings, creating a roux. Add a tbsp of butter or canola oil if there aren’t enough pan drippings to make a roux.

Add the beef broth, apple cider vinegar, and red wine to a large measuring cup or bowl. Stir to combine. Whisk the ground ginger, cloves, and allspice into the roux. Cook until the roux is bubbling.

Whisking briskly, add the beef broth, apple cider vinegar, and red wine mixture to the roux. Whisk until smooth, getting rid of any lumps.

Add the brown sugar, black pepper, and bay leaf. Cook until the gravy thickens. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding kosher salt & pepper to taste. Use water or beef broth if the gravy is too thick, 1 Tbsp at a time.

Add the meatballs to the gravy and stir to coat the meatballs thoroughly. On low heat, cook the meatballs for 30 minutes in the gravy, stirring often and gently. Add water or beef broth 1 Tbsp at a time if the gravy becomes too thick.

Remove from pan. Serve with buttered spätzle, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Serves 4-6


*** please note in gravy it is 3/4 Tbsp not cup. I edited the recipe. Thanks Dianne. 🤦🏻‍♀️