Christmas Shopping - German Style

Christmas in Germany is different. Since I can remember we have done the same thing year after year. There is no meat on Christmas day so we start out with a fish brunch with smoked mackerel, herring in yogurt sauce, eel, shrimp salad, eggs and buns from the bakery.

For Christmas dinner we have some fish soup (from scratch) with baguette croutons, breaded karp fish, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.

Since moving to Canada I have not really found the right Christmas meal to start a tradition with. I think that a turkey would be to much for our little family of three so we stuck to maple ham from Sobey's. It really is delicious and enough for two days.

This year I was lucky and got my friend Tatjana to be my motivator to take a trip to K&K Foodliner the German grocery store in Old Strathcona. She was kind enough to drive as our car has been fatally injured in an accidente and the West Edmonton Mall. When you enter you can already smell the fresh sausage and my little German heart starts to beat faster when I see all the goodies.

I tried to figure out what to buy for Christmas dinner on Sunday. I work until 3pm so not too much time to cook. I figured some Spaetzle with gravy would be nice and some ground beef (hunter style) with fresh mushrooms and red bell peppers. I think that sounds great.





My loot from left: Gluehwein (without alcohol), Spaetzle (egg noodles), Spekulatius cookies, Sweet-sour Chinese soup and the seasoning for my ground beef.



and my homage to our family brunch - Herring Salad!

After K&K we stopped at the Artistic Bakery on Calgary Trail. Seriously, they have the REAL German bread and cakes, cookies, pastries whatever your heart desires. I got some bread and some cake. Christmas shopping accomplished.

Kaesekuchen (Cheesecake) and Donauwelle (Vanilla cream cake with cherries and chocolate)

I will have a post about my Christmas dinner. For now, happy Christmas preparations...

Karolne