Food and New Year's!

What I remember best about New Year’s Eve is the food. Even though it was the middle of the winter and money was tight, Mutti made canapés every year. When we were poorer, they consisted of square cut pieces of rye bread (the cheap kind we ate every day) spread with margarine and tiny cubes of the cheapest cheeses Mutti could find.

Eventually she added bits of ham, and when I was a teenager and we had a little more money, she added fish. Our canapés were covered with anchovies and pickles, pickled herring and boiled red beets, cheap caviar and sometimes bits of sardines. Besides the fish, Mutti still made cheese, ham and salami canapés, garnished with green and black olives, pickles and bits of apple and grapes. How I liked to taste the different flavors and let them melt in my mouth!

Today I still love to make my own version of canapés for New Year’s Eve. I just go easy on the fish, since that’s not so popular with my family.

As a child, I slept through many New Year’s Eve celebrations, but when I got older, I joined the family. At twelve o’clock, or a few minutes earlier, we went outside our carnival home to watch the spectacle.

If you’ve ever been in Germany on New Year’s Eve, you know what I mean. I’ll tell you more about what still happens in Germany at twelve o’clock on New Year’s Eve tomorrow!