My 2020 Valentine

Taking Turns

My spouse and I take turns planning Valentine’s day. The day after I made a little comment about how I planned it last year (hint-hint), I had a calendar item show up for Friday, Feb 14th night. A mysterious Valentine’s Day outing planned by my sweetie.

I was told we were going to Alameda and I was to dress business casual (good thing, that is mostly what I have). The surprise was dinner at a German restaurant called Speisekammer. We had reservations and arrived just a bit early, however they seated us very quickly.

Looking at their menu was like opening an old yearbook in a way. There were all the German beer and wine options, familiar foods and pairings, and German words everywhere. Instantly I was brought back to when I lived in Germany.

Appetizer

A note on the menu stated that appetizers were for 1-3 people so we chose a butter lettuce salad with a smallish sized pretzel that came with warm German dipping cheese. Both were great and here is the recipe for the surpsingly light and colorful salad.

• Wash and dry butter lettuce leaves, keep whole
• Place the smallish leaves on a platter, slightly overlapping
• Light drizzel of raspberry vinegar dressing over the leaves
• Top with ~2T pomegranate seeds
• Then add ~2T unsalted pistachios nuts
• Decoratively arrange peeled sections of grapefruit and orange
• Serve

The salad was so good, that our dinner neighbors commented on how great and tasty the dish was. We agreed.

German Braten

Braten means, basically, a roast. We ordered a beef and pork roast, that are both slowly cooked for hours to become very soft meat that you can eat without a knife. But it is the technique and seasonings that make it a German dish.

Of any German restaurant, the key to how good they are, is if they make a good Sauerbraten. This is almost a national meat dish that, at home, takes a few days to make. So of course, if offered, I always order Sauerbraten when going to a new German restaurant.

• While visiting Leavenworth, WA a couple of years ago, I ordered Sauerbraten and was appalled at the taste and texture of the dish. It obviously had not been marinated for any length of time and you had to use a knife to cut it. There was a limited sour taste and for a village that prides itself on being styled “Bavarian,” this restaurant failed miserably.

Sauerbraten

In this case the Sauerbraten and gravy were superb. It was served with braised red cabbage and spätzle. The meat they used was a surprise, tri tip instead of the tough roast meats usually used for this dish. But it tasted perfect and was meltingly great. The gravy was typically a sour brown gravy, just perfect for this dish. The spätzle was well made and the braised red cabbage was good; although I prefer the less floury kind of cabbage dish, but it was within traditional variations.

Usually Sauerbraten is a tough cut of meat. It is important that this meat be placed in a pickling-type brine to marinate for 2-4 days as a way to help soften the meat. Flipping it over once a day, at least, to assure the whole meat is marinated properly. After marinating, the meat is patted dry, floured, and seared in a skillet. Then placed in a slow cooker for up to ~6 hours, depending upon its size. The outcome is a delicious meat that is slightly sour, very tender, and quite tasty. Important to the German flavor of the meal, the gravy is made from just a bit of some reserved brine, and a key special added ingredient is German ginger cookies.

Schweinebraten

My spouse had Schweinebraten, or pork roast. With that meat came a brown (beer) gravy, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. Everything tasted superb, and authentic.

The meat used in this dish is usually a pork shoulder roast, and it too is slow cooked for 3-4 hours, depending upon size. But there is no marinating, instead, as I was taught, there is an application of a mustard-spice rub, searing, then slow cooking. The gravy comes from recovering the goodies left over from searing and the juices from the slow cooking.

The sauerkraut was very tasty and was not the usual overly sour, vinegary cabbage. It was light, and you could taste the flavors (cloves being one of them) of added spice. The mashed potatoes were light and tasted fine, especially with the gravy.

Dessert

I had the Apfelstrudel with a side of vanilla ice cream and a cup of cocoa. Per what my Oma would do, I put a dollop of ice cream into my very hot cocoa. Yum.

My spouse had 4 dark chocolate covered strawberries and a cappuccino. After seeing me add ice cream to my drink, a dollop was stolen from my plate and plopped into the coffee.

Left Overs

Both of us enjoyed the dessert and were stuffed. But, while we ate all the appetizers and dessert, we saved enough from the main course to have two lunches. The next morning, I rinsed off a bit of the gravy from the pork, and finely cut a small portion of the meat to add to both dogs‘ dishes — they seem to love German food too! Later, lunch was the microwaved left overs, just as good as the night before.

This was a special Valentines Day I will not forget for a while. I am already making plans to go back there on upcoming birthdays!! And I plan to take my son there on his next visit.

—Patty

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I had a limey week. What I mean here is that my lime bush is producing an overabundance of limes. Here are some of the lime dishes I made: Limey Rum Grilled Shrimp, Limey Grilled Tofu, Limey Cilantro Rice, and Limey Limeade.

NEWS: Inverse reports that 2k year old seeds from a date palm tree, found in southern Israel, have germinated! The old seeds are larger and thinner than current seeds, and are seedlings yet, so we cannot yet describe the fruit. I am amazed by seeds that can wait that long to grow.

NEWS: Inverse also reports on a new study that investigated the effect that diets high in sulfur amino acids have on our health. These foods are: eggs, fish, red meat and chicken. Now, sulfur amino acids are important to our health, but over do it and there are many negative possibilities: linked to a high risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Remember my mantra, all things in moderation when it comes to food intake.