Our friends and family ask us all the time what stuff we miss from Germany and what we want them to send us. Normally my answer is “nothing”. Because every time someone asks that question, I can not think of anything I miss so bad that I want someone to send it to me. One of my american friends told me that there is a shop called “World Market” that sells a ton of foreign candy and other stuff. Yesterday we happened to be near one of those stores, so I decided to check it out real quick. And guess what: Even if I had kind of forgotten about most of the stuff, I totally had to buy a ton. After 30 minutes in that store, I ended up buying a candy stash that will last us for a few months!

Before we moved here I always tried to figure out what I might be missing! But as always: Reality wants to go in a different direction. And for us it decided to (mostly) spare us all the missing and craving. But it’s still nice to have some stuff at home that reminds you of your old home!

* BTW: Most of the german stuff at the World Market is kind of okay priced. The Haribo stuff costs us about 2 Dollars each and for the Candy Bars we paid 50 Cent to 1 Dollars! So if you are german, miss stuff from back home and happen to see one of those stores: Don’t miss to check them out!

On Friday I had a girls night with two of my friends and somehow we began talking about german traditions. Right at that moment I realized one thing I totally miss here in LA (at this time of the year): Weckmänner. Weckmänner are a german kind of bread that you eat for the Saint Martin celebrations. Weckmänner look like bigger Gingerbread People, but are made of a really soft and kind of sweet dough.

On Saturday morning the first thing I did was to google a recipe for Weckmänner and today Flo and I decided to bring this little german tradition to Los Angeles. So we got all the ingredients at the grocery store and began baking. Long story short: The Weckmänner came out great and really taste like the ones in Germany. I will definitely bake this kind of break soon again, so Flo and I have a little german feeling over here from time to time.

If you want to try the Weckmänner for yourself, here is the super easy and fast recipe…

You need:
- 5 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- a package yeast
- a little salt
- 1/3 cup butter

1. Mix together the milk, yeast, sugar, butter and salt. Pour the mix over the flour and mix together with the 2 eggs. Mix everything together well and let the dough stand for about 20 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°. Form little people shapes with the dough or just divide it into little breadrolls and spread some egg yellows over it.

3. Let the Weckmänner bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. Enjoy!

*If you want to, you can also mix some chocolate into your Weckmänner! Or spread some Nutella on them when they are done! Super yummy!

The Halloween season has been in full spring for quite a time over here already, but today Flo and I did our first Halloween activity. We went to the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. The Hayride happens every year in the old Los Angeles Zoo, which is located in Griffith Park. Like the name already gives away it’s a Hayride. You sit on a Hay-carriage and get pulled by a tractor. But for sure you don’t get pulled through a field. The tour goes through the empty old zoo that now is full of scary people and amazing build horror sceneries. We had a lot of fun on the ride, got quite a few scares and were even an attraction for the actors I guess, because one of our friends was screaming like a lunatic.

If you are in town right now you should definitely take the chance to visit the Hayride. But be prepared: It’s scary and the actors/horror creatures come kind of close to you. Besides the Hayride they have a tiny Freak Show Circus going on. You can also walk through a maze, in which freaky people are waiting to scare you.

If you are not into Horror stuff like we are, you should still visit the old Zoo once the Haunted Hayride is gone. It’s creepy but at the same time really amazing to see the empty cages and walk around this former Los Angeles landmark.

BTW: Happy Halloween. I will try to bring you some more Halloween action in the next days!