Eating with my Host Family, the Hubers

Despite being warned that my family is always on-the-run and hardly ever at home, I'm pleased to say that I still get the chance to eat dinner with them and breakfast on the weekends. My host mom M-, like I said is really into organic foods and has a garden in the back yard where she grows vegetables. There she grows peas, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, char, and some other things too. I think that that's really cool that the food we eat at dinner is grown by them. It's sort of like what the city of Detroit is trying to implement in all the vacant zones to feed the city.

So, last Friday, in commemoration of N-, my host sister, and my arrival, we had a special dinner where M- made risotto in a tall frying pan. To make it she dumped the risotto into the pan, and let it simmer with some vegetable stock, white wine, and water. After continuously stirring it for 15 minutes, she then added the char, onions, and more liquid. The liquid is the key to making the risotto grow in size and not having it be burnt. It took about 30 minutes of continuous stirring to make the risotto. In the last 5 minutes we grated about 2oz. of parmesan cheese into the pan so as the risotto would stick together.

In addition, M- had prepared two types of fish, Sea Bass and Salmon. N- prefers salmon. She backed the fish (exposed) with some dill, tomates, onions, leeks, and lemon in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Also, we had salad. It was a simple spinach salad with some hard boiled egg whites. My family eats very little meat and so I assume the eggwhites are for protein. They're not vegetarians though, but I think that they are careful not to eat farm-raised animals.

Then on Sunday we also had a family dinner. It was more simple, but still very good. We had band noodles (thick like 1cm) with fresh "herb mushrooms" (Krauterpilzen). We also had a salad to go with it.

Also on Saturday, my host Grandmother (M-'s mother) came to visit and she had specially prepared me a Zwetschkenkuchen (plum pastry cake). It was very good. She had also made Käsekuchen (or cheesecake à la German).

Next Saturday it's my host Grandmother's birthday, and we will be going out to dinner with the whole family and some close friends. It's very nice to know that I'm included in everything that they do. M- asked me to do something very specials for her grandmother which involves playing a 4-stringed instrument. So this week I've been practicing. (More on this in another post). Then on Sunday, we will celebrate her birthday at home as well, and we each are in charge of making something for dinner. I elected to make dessert. I want to make Jewish Coffee Cake, so if you Aunt Jane want to send me your recipe you should do so, otherwise I'll just have to find one online.