Lentil salad with root vegetables. Apple, walnuts, smoked trout filet from the Black Forest and chips from the Allgaeu mountain cheese

Medallion of venison “Baden-Baden” with spaetzle and red cabbage

Small, fried apple ring cakes with apple syrup and cinnamon parfait

For a stress-free cooking day for the Christmas menu, I recommend to prepare the red cabbage, the cinnamon parfait as well as the sauce for the medallion of venison one day before the actual preparation. It makes it much easier to work with the actual menu!

As I mentioned, I'm a fan of pumpkin everything, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin ice cream, you name it, I love it. I love the pumpkin spice lattes you can get at Starbucks or East Street Cafe, but sometimes I don't want to drive all the way to base, and sometimes they're out, and sometimes I'm too busy to wait in line, and sometimes I'm picky...so, my solution was to create a homemade pumpkin spice latte! This recipe is easy to follow, can be made with an espresso machine, a French press or a regular drip coffee machine, and requires simple store bought ingredients. Feel free to alter the recipe to your liking (I like my coffee with a lot of cream and sugar).