Duvel

There is plenty of SV red cabbage recipes in the German-speaking internet, but very few with the cabbage being left intact or in wedges. This one cooks the cabbage, simply seasoned with salt & sugar, for 2h at 70 oC. After that it should be yielding, but not disintegrating and you could butter it and gratinate …

I love this !

Hey … there is a fruit yoghurt.

Anytime, @TdeV 🤗

Sure. It is pretty straightforward: You sweat 2-3 onions in (a little more) oil until caramelized, reduce the heat, then add some mild curry powder, followed by smashed garlic & ginger and some tomato paste. Stir, stir, stir. Then add crushed tomatoes (maybe one cup), more curry powder and some sweetener (I like apple sauce, or honey, or brown sugar) and a tiiiny splash of vinegar. You want to have a sweet & sour interplay. Simmer for 10 min, puree with a hand mixer and start adjusting the spices. Maybe more curry powder, definitely more salt, and a little chili. Mix with a grilled & slices sausage and dust with more curry powder.

It starts only after the hospital …

My mom is home now, and that’s what counts. It is not her first herniated disc, but with age recovery times go up while options to permanently fix things go down. But she’ll pull though 🤗 I am sure that “Danish carrot casserole” (Dänische Möhrenpfanne) is a similar authentic German construct as the famous “Toast Hawaii”. It is easy to make: you use half-half sliced carrots and sliced potatoes. Cook them in a large pan with a little vegetable stock until they are almost tender, then stir in creme fraiche (or sour cream, or fresh cheese - some fatty, non- curdling dairy) mix well and let soften a bit more. Add your blue cheese (be generous) in crumbles on top, cover for maybe 10 min and let melt in the residual heat. Add chives and enjoy.

I think they use a mixture of belly (Mett should be fatty) and shoulder. Spices are salt, pepper, punched of clove, nutmeg or mace and garlic. Make sure your meat is free of Trichinella, though.

Last day. Breakfast was “the same”, as it basically always is and noone ever complains … For lunch I made Szegediner Gulasch with freshly made Spätzle. I made a lot. Froze some in individual portions, just as I did with the Tafelspitz. Additionally, I made a huge batch of Pickelsteiner Eintopf, his favorite stew, frozen as well in individual portions. He likes these kinds of long simmered dishes a lot and I know he will be able to warm them up, even without my mom 😝 Luckily, the day after I left my mom was released from the hospital - with crutches & a family pack of painkillers, but at home ! My sister is now at their place to take care over the weekend and me and my little family will drive up again the next weekend. All good 👍

Lunch was a repetition of the pasta & carrot dish, respectively. As my father could get a visit permit to see my mom in the hospital, we had to get a freh Corona teat certificate. In the area of the test center was a great place for Currywurst, that my father wanted to go to. Unfortunately, it was closed. So while he was entertaining my mom in the hospital (only one visitor allowed 😶), I went shopping and he got a Currywurst at home. My mom asked where the extra iron was hidden in this dish, but smart as I am we got it from the fruit juice with EXTRA IRON.

Breakfast: a roll with my two favourite sausage: “Weisswurst” (not the Bavarian type, this is the spreadable Northern German type: basically fat, onions and finely ground intestines) and “Schwartenwurst” (essentially the same, but higher meat/intestine content and pieces of boiled skin). Talk about energy ✊

And because it was Sunday, there was pizza. My parents oven setup is a bit … tricky, so I made a family style salami, ham & mushroom one. Happy faces 😜

More of the same breakfast, and some more beef broth for lunch. By now the appetite seemed to cone back and my father asked for some cake, which I simply bought: the seasonal favourite plum cake with whipped cream …

Dinner was pasta with creamy spinach (iron !) sauce …

Next day breakfast looked exactly like the first day. For lunch I had presalted a Tafelspitz, so I simmered that in the beef broth I had made. It got even better. Served with braised carrots and potato Knödel …

For dinner he requested „Danish carrot casserole“, which is a bake made from carrots, onions, sour cream and blue cheese. I used Gorgonzola picante, so it might be better called „Italian carrot casserole“ …

At lunch the beef broth was done and served with some of the meat, little Maultaschen, veggies and egg pancake. I know he loves that stuff and he ate a lot ☺️

Breakfast with some local sausages I purchased in the morning, proper coffee (not that hospital murky water) and bread rolls … Mettbrötchen, of course. Remember: meat is king !

When I arrived at night, I set up a hige pot of beef broth. Shin, breast, all veggies - you name it - to simmer over night. In the meantime, he got a snack of Weisswurst, that I brought from my local butcher and a Brezel. It was an easy start …

In the last week, both my parents had to be hospitalized. They had just finished with „their“ Corona infection (from a lovely multiday boat trip on the Rhone on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary), when my father just couldn‘t get moving anymore. One ambulance and many tests later acute anemia was diagnosed, together with a benign cause and he stayed 5 days in hospital. One day after his admission, my mom suffered a herniated disc, resulting in 9 days hospital admission. Visits in hospitals are still very much regulated, so on the day of my fathers hospital discharge I drove up there to take care of him a bit. As hospital food isn‘t that great and he couldn’t eat for some days due to some „invasive“ examinations, he was quite weak and in dire need of some proper food, that should be caloric, red meat centered (for extra iron) and lastly something he‘d eat even though he doesn’t feel like eating. So, this is his „anemia recovery“ food, Duvel edition …

Unfortunately, my parents had both a short stint at (two different) hospitals last week, so I can contribute at least the breakfast and dinner in those establishments (no need for two pictures each, as they were identical …). The theme here is „Vollkost“, so no dietary restrictions - although it might be hard to believe from the pictures 😉 Breakfast Dinner

Green carrot 😜 ?!

Good that you can get proper stuff delivered now - hope it helps with your recovery. I haven’t seen so much fresh peppers in gōng bǎo jī dīng - it that a “regional” deviation ?

Yeah … it’s a thing here as well, for the last year or so. Marketed as more digestible, fewer calories, less heartburn - you name it. I haven’t gotten around to try it yet, but there are frozen ones on offer and they seem to be pretty popular ☺️

So sorry … I did not mean to belittle your tastes. So far, I haven’t considered pimping up my Leberwurst rye, but I will give your suggestions a try 🤗