I enjoy German / Austrian cooking, especially when Fall and Winter come as their recipes are nice and hearty comfort foods. Recently, I came across Karin’s Blog called, “The Austrian Dish.” What a lucky find, a site specific to Austrian recipes.
When I think of Austria, I remember the movie, “The Sound of Music.” Not long ago I was on a train going from Italy to Munich and sat next to some Canadian backpackers. They had just been in Salzburg and took “The Sound of Music tour,” which took them to all the movie locations. FABULOUS – they raved about it!
Now, back to “The Austrian Dish.” As I was going through Karin’s recipes, I started longing for a German recipe that a friend’s German mother would make on special occasions called, “Dampfnudel.” I put a request in with Karin for this recipe.
Well, I woke up this morning to see a post called, “Sweet Dampfnudel.” It was the recipe on her Blog. Dampfnudel, for those of you who have never heard of it, is a wonderful Bavarian yeast steamed dumpling that can be served savory or sweet. I have always had it as a dessert with vanilla sauce. Thank you Karin!!
History says a hungry Swedish army came to the town of Frakenfeld, Germany in the 1600s. They told the towns people that if they could feed their army a hot meal, they would not plunder the town. The head baker, Johanes Muck, saved the town by making 1286 Dampfnudels.
Guess what – last year the “The Great British Bake Off” had the contestants make dampfnudel. The Irish Mirror news site wrote an article, “Dampfnudels rule Great British Bake Off as viewers fall in love with the German treat.”
Wow — Dampfnudel went global!


Don’t you love it, when you find a great website by accident! That happened to me the other day. I was searching for an Italian recipe, but I wasn’t finding what I wanted. So, I kept clicking “here” and “there” and suddenly I came to a website for “learning Italian.”
As you listen to the story, you can hear how they pronounce the words. Excellent! If you have “no idea” what the reader is saying, there is a button that says, “translate,” if you click that the English translation appears.
I’ve seen rainbows in my life, but they have always been from quite a distance. The other day though, I saw a rainbow up close. I didn’t notice it until I heard someone yell out, “LOOK, a rainbow!” We all stopped to look up.
This weekend I wanted to get back into my weekly walking routine. I realized I hadn’t done much exercise in September. So, I dusted off my gym shoes and headed out.
Recently, I was taking a walk in a Chicago cemetery. It seemed like the normal cemetery with all sorts of tombstones, UNTIL I reached this statue of a young boy. It was so amazing! What a lovely young man, so elegantly dressed. I felt a mixture of sadness and joy as I looked at him. Sadness that he had passed away so young. Joy, because he was so distinguished, a real gentleman.
On the other side of the cemetery, I came across this group of geese. It seemed like a “male outing.” There were so many of them walking, eating and sqwauking at each other. I wished I knew what they were talking about.
Fall is here, days are getting shorter. I had a pile of magazines to go through this weekend. I decided to work on my vison board.

Isn’t there that saying that “you never know what you might find?” Well, I can say it is TRUE. I was walking on the beach with the goal of getting exercise. There weren’t many stones or shells, so I was walking at a good pace.
We’ve all been there, we are trying to make progress on our goals, but we feel there is too much “friction” around us. I’ve been feeling that way, I even looked outside last night to see if there was a Full Moon going on. I noticed the days are getting shorter already, summer is almost over. BUT Fall means we are in the “home stretch.” The count down to December 31 is approaching. WHAT will I still accomplish in 2017?