Germany - Oma's Oktoberfest Dinner and Torte

This week's dinner was a little bit different, but quite special. To celebrate this Oktoberfest, I didn't use recipes found online, but instead used a couple of family recipes, passed down from my Oma!

My Oma grew up in Germany and immigrated to Canada later in her life. She was an amazing cook, and many of my memories of her involve food, and especially this particular dinner. When I was a kid, every year for Oktoberfest we would wake up early and drive to see her. We would go out and watch the parade downtown, and when we got back, she would have this delicious dinner waiting for us. She would make sausages, sauerkraut mixed with apples, and my absolute favourite, German potato salad. Almost all of Oma's recipes have been passed through the family orally, and so none of the measurements are exact, and there is a lot of guess work involved. I got the recipes I used from my mom, and she gave me her suggestions. Oma's German potato salad is made up of yellow potatoes, onions, and some combination of oil, vinegar, and salt. Of course, I wasn't able to make it quite like hers, but I think I made a fair approximation, even if my sister thought I had added too much vinegar.

For dessert, I made torte, using another of Oma's recipes. This was a little trickier, for a couple of reasons. I have never actually made a cake by myself before, so that was a first, and also I had only eaten this torte a couple of times before. The recipe, again, is one that my mom adapted to be easier to follow. Torte is a white cake with mocha butter cream icing and strawberry jam layers. It is extremely tasty, and although it didn't turn out perfectly, I was pretty happy with this first ever attempt. My sister helped to decorate the cake once it was done to cover up some of the imperfections, which was greatly appreciated, and it made the whole thing look much better.

This was a very exciting and special experience for me to try and make some of my Oma's recipes and share them with a few people. Even if they weren't perfect, I was very proud of myself, and it was quite a lot of fun! I suppose all that's left to say is Happy Oktoberfest, and Prost!

FIRSTS THIS WEEK:

• made a cake
• made buttercream

RECIPES I USED:

• Unfortunately, since these are family recipes, I don't actually have permission to share them, and most of the measurements are approximate anyway. That said, I am sure there are similar recipes available online!