Erna's Spraetzle

Serves about10 people

Ingredients

4 cups flour, sifted

1 1/2 cups of 2% milk

3 eggs

1/2 tablespoon salt

Boil water to drop noodles into. Add a little salt to the water.

Sift (important, so don't get lazy!) flour and set aside.

Beat together 2% milk, eggs and salt. Add this mixture to the sifted flour a little at a time, using a whisk, until it is the consistency of a very thick pancake batter.

Put the first batch through a spaetzle press and drop it into the boiling water. (Note: you should be able to find a potato ricer at a shop specializing in kitchen stuff, which works the same way. Either that or you have to make a trip to Germany).

When the noodles float to the top, they are ready. Scoop them out and place in a warm bowl and add batch 2. Continue this until all your batter is used up.

Serve with gravy made from the Rouladen.

Erna's Red Cabbage

Serves about 10 people.

Ingredients

1/2 pound bacon, chopped fine

1 onion, chopped fine

1 large red cabbage, sliced thinly

red or white wine or vinegar

salt

bayleaf

red pepper

1 apple, peeled and roughly chopped

In large pan, saute bacon and onion very slowly. Place cabbage in pan with sauteed bacon and onion and add salt, bayleaf and a small about of red pepper. Stir and cook slowly until tender and the cabbage looks shiny. Add the apple and continue cooking slowly. Adjust salt to taste.

Add the wine or vinegar to taste just before serving.

Edie's (slightly revised) Black Forest Cake

Cake Ingredients

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cup ground almonds

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Filling and Topping Ingredients

Scant 2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 1-lb cans pitted cherries, for pie filling

1/2 cup kirsch

1 tsp. cornstarch

chocolate curls

Lightly grease three 7-inch layer cake pans. Preheat oven to 350 F.

To make cake, melt chocolate in a double broiler over low heat; cool. Cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, almonds and chocolate. Sift flour and baking powder onto creamed mixture; fold in thoroughly. Spread batter evenly in greased layer cake pans. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans a few minutes then turn out cakes onto racks to cool completely.

To make filling and topping, empty cans of cherries into bowl. Take out about a 1/2 cup of heavy syrup and place in small pan with kirsh and cornstarch. Cook over low heat until thickened. Add back in with cherries. Whip cream until stiff, with a 1/2 cup of sugar.

Spread the first layer cake with 1/2 the cherries and top with 1/4 of the whipped cream. Place the second layer cake on top and repeat with cherries and whipped cream. Place the third layer cake on top and spread top and sides with remaining 1/2 of whipped cream. Pile chocolate curls on top of cake and some on the sides.