Fleas, cakes and playing games.

Yesterday I visited a friend who lives in a village called Lintorf not far away from here, takes 10 minutes to get there in the car, traffic permitting. My friend and her Mum both live there. It was beautiful weather, ice-cold but with sunshine and blue skies, made a nice break from the cold, grey winter days. We started the day off with a good natter over breakfast, which lasted nearly 2 hours. We were planning on baking *Buchteln*, yeast cakes filled with jam, so I made the pastry so that it could rise, and then we set out for the flea market which they hold about 4 times a year there. Was a tiny market, but lots of interesting things on show; the usual household bric-a-brac, used books (we found some good ones!), records, toys, old china - you name it, they had it. And some stalls selling new goods, which ranged from life size animals to put in the garden to cheap sponges, ball-point pens and batteries which did NOT look as if they would have much energy left in them. And of course, all the stalls selling goodies to eat - sausages, coffee, bread and rolls, fruit, spices, nuts and dried fruits of all sorts, and - pop-corn!! It was soooo nice to walk home clutching our buys with a big bag of warm, freshly popped, sticky corn. We bought crystallized ginger, burnt almonds, salted cashews and Japanese crackers, too. After we had walked through the park back to my friend's place, I baked the *Buchteln* - recipe at the bottom! There are dozens of different recipes for them, this is just my one. You eat them hot with vanilla sauce - or icecream - but they don't taste bad cold, either. After eating our fill we played cards for the rest of the afternoon, drank coffee and ate nuts, ginger and crackers to keep up our strength. All in all a lovely day in good company, almost like a mini-holiday.



My recipe for *Buchteln*:
500 gramms of plain flour
Dried or fresh yeast
Milk
about 50 gramms of melted butter
Sugar
Pinch of salt
Jam or drained, preserved fruits
I egg
Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top

If using dried yeast, mix with the flour, 100 gramms of sugar, the melted butter, the salt, egg and about 3/4 cup of luke warm milk. If using fresh yeast, make a well in the flour, crumble the yeast into it, add a tablespoon of sugar and a little luke-warm milk, leave till it bubbles - about 10 minutes - before adding the other ingredients. Mix using the dough hooks of the beater till it forms a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead through, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour to rise. When the dough has about doubled in size it is ready. Divide it into about 12 pieces, and press each piece flat with the palm of the hand on a floured surface till it is about the size of a small saucer. Put a teaspoon of jam or fruit into the middle, and then pull all the edges together and twist them in the middle so that the jam cannot run out. Place the dough balls into an ovenproof form, pour about 2 small cups of luke warm milk over them and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake in a preheated oven (180°) for about 30 - 35 minutes till well risen and crsipy on top. Serve hot with vanilla sauce. Guten Appetit!