The German coffee hour has become a legend, and 250 people showed up this time enjoying Daniela’s famous cakes, desserts, and meat dishes. We have had other great coffee hours, packed with people, wonderful food, a fun atmosphere, but not a single one could top the abundance, quality, and taste of Daniela’s Bavarian dishes.
Just helping during the magic process of German food preparation has been excitement for me the whole day. Getting groceries (German ingredients one can find only at special places in Chambana, and most of them have been mailed anyhow in the form of care packages), cooking (the logistics it takes to cook 7 main dishes, 8 cakes, and 4 deserts is just stunning) and serving food (everyone in the crowd standing into the street got something authentic and we finished up every bite).
After celebrating German culture which goes through the stomach for one hour it was presentation time. Frederik managed somehow to concentrate the crowd in our central room and told us about Germany. In fact, I learned probably more about Germany in this half an hour than I could imagine. I did not know before who is the German foreign minister and even more important that the German soccer king Franz Beckenbauer will win the world cup this year for the third time, that Germany has so many scientists, thinkers and writers and that a German citizen earns on average an astounding 26,000 Euros.
There has been dispute among the audience who will win the soccer world cup, I will probably cheer for Cote d’Ivoire and many South Americans have had different viewpoints about the prime country in soccer. But anyhow we all unite about Daniela’s food. One thing we already know now that we will start next semester with a German coffee hour and that we will end the semester with a coffee hour on St. Nikolaus day enjoying one last time Apfelstrudel, Knoedel, Fleischpfanzerl, Schweinebraten, Kaesekuchen, Schnitzel, and Donauwellen before leaving Champaign for the break. I also heard rumors that Daniela is working on a Cosmo cookbook, so the legend continues…
Daniela Lindner is long-term Bavarian resident of the house and cooks fantastic food for us and the international community in Champaign-Urbana.
Rene and Jorge at the German coffee hour
