Heidelberg - Herald-Post

16 FAMILY & CULTURE
Thursday, March 6, 2008 HP
GERMAN COOKING
Colorful Easter Cake
(Bunter Osterkuchen)
Ingredients:
Cake:
10 ounces ground almonds
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
peel of one lemon
2 medium-sized carrots
2 small apples
6 fresh eggs
10 ounces sugar
1 pinch salt
Decoration:
4 ounces marzipan
2 1/2 ounces confectioners’ sugar
red and yellow food coloring
1/4 teaspoon cocoa powder
egg white from 1 egg
5 ounces confectioners’ sugar
green decorative leaves
decorative sugar flowers
Preparation:
wMix together almonds, bread crumbs, cornstarch, baking powder
cinnamon and lemon peel. Peel carrots and apples and grate.
wSeparate the eggs. Beat together egg yolks with 4 ounces of
sugar. Beat egg whites together with salt and rest of sugar. Mix
the grated carrots and apple with the egg yolk and carefully fold in
egg white mixture and almond mixture.
wLine a 10-inch spring form with baking paper and pour in the
batter. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven, loosen the cake from the form and allow to
cool on a baking tray.
wFor the decoration, break up the marzipan and knead it together
with the confectioners’ sugar. divide into three portions and color
each portion pink, yellow and brown (using the cocoa powder for
brown). Place the marzipan between two layers of plastic wrap,
roll out and cut out Easter eggs shapes and branches.
wFor the glaze, mix the egg white with the confectioners’ sugar.
Put the glaze in a plastic sandwich bag and cut a tiny corner. Use
the glaze to decorate the marzipan eggs with fine lines.
Sprinkle the cake generously with confectioners’ sugar and decorate
with the marzipan eggs and sugar flowers and leaves.
SOURCE: www.germanfoods.org
DEAR MS.
Vicki
Vicki Johnson is military
spouse and a clinical social
worker with more than 12
years experience working
with families in crisis. To
contact Ms. Vicki, e-mail her at
dearmsvicki@yahoo.com.
Dear Ms. Vicki,
I am currently living on Fort
Bragg Army base with my husband.
We are going through some hard
times relationship wise. It is to the
point where a divorce is the best
thing for both of us.
He convinced me to move here
in January because he wanted to
work on being a family. Well, this is
totally not the case.
I am looking for a job because
now I am in a bad situation that
my entire family warned me
against. I foolishly came because I
wanted my girls to grow up with
their father.
I am working on master’s degree,
but the down side is I do not have
enough work experience because I
stayed home for a while to raise my
three children. I was a caseworker
in New York where I investigated
child abuse, and I was only in
this position for six months then I
moved here.
I plan on getting my own place
here and not returning to New
York. I had a good salary there, but
cost of living is high and I really
didn’t have the support system for
the job. I worked 12 hours a day
from time to time and my children
didn’t have me around.
From: Army Wife
Dear Wife,
I don’t think it was crazy for
you to move to Fayetteville to
be with your husband and your
children with their father. That’s a
good thing!
I regret hearing the marriage
is not working out. Are you in an
abusive marriage? Are you safe?
Are you still in the home with
your husband?
I would never advise anyone to
stay in an abusive relationship. If
it’s not abusive, I hope your marriage
can be saved.
Don’t be so hard on yourself for
your decision. You have done a
great job and accomplished a lot.
In your case, you may have to
be ready to provide for you and
your children. You are going to
need to pursue a degree that can
provide immediate opportunities.
Would your husband consider
marriage counseling? I know
the Fort Bragg and surrounding
communities have much to offer.
I can send you some resources for
counseling and for employment.
If your husband refuses counseling,
then I think you should
consider speaking to a professional
counselor for support if
nothing else.
Please answer my questions
and let me know how I can help
further.
Ms. Vicki,
I am so happy to receive a response
from you – thank you. Yes, I
agree with the need for counseling
for my husband and me. He is, of
course, going to be very resistant
and see it as a waste of time.
My husband has many issues
that I can no longer deal with. He
doesn’t hit me, and, yes, I do know
that there are other types of abuse
out there. I’m to the point where I
will walk away and never look back
because he doesn’t want to change
and he swears he doesn’t love me
and he never did.
So when he says these things, I
ignore it because he has said it for
a while. He pushes me away and I
know it is because of his underlying
conditions from his past. He is very
successful career-wise in the Army
and defied all odds by only having
attained his GED.
I got stuck in this mindset that
he would change if I loved him and
was good to him. As far as my education,
I am tired of student loans
and if there was away to work on
my social work masters with some
assistance, I would.
I just moved here and have not
found a job, so what am I to do?
I will be 28 in a week and I really
hope for something great to come
my way.
Dear Wife,
You really shed more light on
the situation. How can you stay
with someone who says he does
not love you and does not want to
be with you?
I’m not sure what you are to do
if he doesn’t want counseling either.
In my position, I can’t make
the decision for you and tell you
when to leave your spouse.
Please contact some of the
resources I’ve sent to you for
counseling. If your husband
doesn’t go, I still think you could
use the support.
Also I would like for the counselor
to continue to assess your
situation. I’m sending you some
Web sites to visit regarding finding
employment. I understand
about the student loans, I’d hate
to see you get student loans to
finance a master’s degree that will
not render immediate employment.
I’m glad you are safe.
Lamb Faces
The Cotton Ball Game
Lion Cookies
Parent Tip
mom’s
good
cents
Nicole McGhee is an
Army spouse and a
stay-at-home mother of
two toddlers. If there are
things you’d like to see,
a kid-friendly recipe you
need for a picky eater,
a game for a birthday
party, a craft you can
make with paper towel
tubes, let Nicole know at
nicole_lynette@yahoo.
com.
supplies
directions
wCotton balls
wPaper plate
wPaper
wMarkers
wScissors
wGlue
wHave your little one help you tear each cotton ball
into a few pieces. When you pull them apart, they are
thinner and easier to work with and also make the
lamb’s face fluffier.
wCover the back of the plate with glue. Cover the
bottom first and work on it, then put glue around the
outside of the plate.
wDraw some eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears (which
look like stretched out ovals and hang down instead of
up) onto a piece of paper. Your child can color the eyes
and add other details to the lamb’s face (we glued a
little bow at the top).
wCut the pieces out and glue onto the lamb’s face.
There you have a lamb!
wTip: Little kids love to glue and it washes right off, so
let them have a chance at gluing.
supplies
directions
wCotton balls
wStraws (one for each
player)
wSet your cotton balls at
one end of the table (since
we’re playing with little
kids, a coffee table would
work best).
wEach player gets a straw
and a cotton ball.
wThe object of the game
is to be the first one to
blow your cotton ball to
the other end of the table
using only your straw. NO
HANDS!
ingredients
directions
w1 cup of sugar
w1 large egg
w1 cup of peanut butter
wPreheat oven to 375 degrees
wCombine sugar and egg in mixing bowl,
stirring until somewhat smooth. Add peanut
butter and mix in thoroughly.
Roll into walnut-sized balls.
wPlace the balls on ungreased cookie sheets at
least 2 inches apart. Use your hand to flatten
them a little.
wTake a fork and flatten the outside of the
cookie with the tines. (This is meant to
resemble a lion’s mane so use the tines to
make lines all the way around the outside of
the cookie).
wOptional decorations: For eyes poke the end
of a straw into the center of the cookie and use
a butter knife to make a small line for a mouth.
wBake for 10 minutes or until done. Let cool on
cookie sheet for one minute before moving to
cooling rack.
If you’re having a hard
time getting your
preschooler to help pick
up his toys, make it a race.
Kids love to do things
quickly, so countdown
from 10 and each of you
race to pick up as many
toys as you can.