Something that my family and I learned and became accustomed to during our time in Germany: “kaffee und kuchen”.

A wonderful tradition in most German homes. Around 3 in the afternoon you sit down to coffee and one or two (usually home baked) cakes, or possibly an assortment of cookies, or both. It’s a great way to stop in the middle of the day (especially on the weekend) and just enjoy a moment together as a family or with close friends. We just enjoyed our first U.S. kaffee und kuchen at a new friends’ house today (they are German in case you were wondering) and it was just as fabulous as we remembered. Two kinds of cake, fresh pressed coffee (dark and strong…yum!) and an assortment of cookies, all served with fresh made whipped cream. Is your mouth watering yet??

I’ve decided as of today that we will bring this tradition back into our home from now on (on the weekends) even though we are back in the U.S. Maybe next weekend I will be baking up a pflaumen kuchen, or a NY style cheesecake, to enjoy with our own strong coffee and an assortment of cookies for the kids to enjoy…and maybe we’ll invite a few friends to spread the tradition and make it our own.

Guten appetit!