K is for kuchen.
Kuchen is the German word for cake. I love cake (and have the figure to prove it).
And while many cakes appeal to me, I think perhaps a favorite that might appeal to our friend Fool is blitz kuchen, which is German for lightning cake.
I was surprised a few years when I was googling recipes for blitz kuchen to realize it was actually a kind of generic term meaning any sort of quick-to-whip-up-with-few-ingredients kind of coffee cake. Because the recipe I knew and was handed down from my grandmother was a rather labor-intensive kind of affair that required meringue folded into the butter-rich cookie-like dough which was spread thin on a cookie sheet, then covered with another layer of meringue, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and thinly sliced almonds. It’s not something I casually whip up, but rather save as a once or twice a year treat.
I always thought the blitz/lightning part of the expression referred to some alchemical magic that occurred turning the ingredients into such a delicious concoction. I’m sure Fool is having a good laugh at me for that one.
I thought of lightning, blitz, a couple of days ago. I’ve been on retreat in a wondrous magical mountainy place which overlooks a deep valley. It’s gorgeous no matter what, but when storms arrive it’s truly spectacular. I woke up one night and saw the most extraordinary lightning ever, and it’s one of those images that I imagine will stay with me forever. Love that!
I also thought about what Visar Zhiti, the Albanian poet who spent many years as a political prisoner enduring great hardship, wrote about sowing lightning:
“Seize
Bolts of lightning from the sky
And plant them in fields of life.
They will grow like tender sprouts of fire.
Charge somber thoughts
With unexpected flash,
You, my lightning in the soil!”
I also thought about fulgurites, those amazing “tubes” formed when lightning hits sands and melts/fuses the silica. I have a beautiful specimen, and it feels very magical to me.
And somehow it feels like a perfect symbol for Fool as well, don’t you think? In a split second things can transform dramatically. What bolts of lightning do you want to seize and plant? Have a favorite kuchen? Love fulgurites? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
I’d like some of your “meringue folded into the butter-rich cookie-like dough which was spread thin on a cookie sheet, then covered with another layer of meringue, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and thinly sliced almonds.” Please! It sounds so delicious.
LOL. I want some too.
By the way, drove home a few months ago and there was a lightning storm ahead of me. Made for quite a spectacular drive I must say with the unexpected flashes in the sky! Love watching lightening.
Nature’s light show are extraordinary!
I am not particularly fond of cakes, however I do like german chocolate cake. 🙂 Lightening, on the other hand, is so magical! Sometimes you can just sense the intense force of its magic making you look even when you do not want to. I love lightening storms. I so hope we have one soon. I am do for some magic in that type of form. 🙂
Lightning storms are incredible aren’t they – all that power and magic? Hope you get to experience on that delights you soon.
I just love black forest cake that also is of German origin.
Evalina, This and that…
Oh yum.
I like cake recipes that have few ingredients. Yes, please. My friend from years ago gave me her recipe for a white cake. It has more than a few ingredients yet I keep returning to it because if is a no-fail number. Always works out. It is usually the first things my two make when they come home from college, too. I don’t make it much when they’re away – I’d eat the whole thing.
No-fail recipes are the best, and having a go-to cake sounds ideal.
The retreat sounds so relaxing and dreamy…
It really was. I’ve come back in such a fabulous relaxed and inspired state!
I remember my own lightning storm. I had just gotten out of a dental appointment and stood, swollen-cheeked, in the parking lot staring at the leaping sky. Lightning bolts corrugated the air, vertical stripes of white against purple clouds. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our bolts are seldom so distinct. I’d never before seen the shape of lightning, only its flash. I was stunned, and of course, clueless: Get in the car or not? Decision made: Stand and further stare until the show would end, and all those long performers of light would shuffle again behind the clouds.
What a beautiful description Harmony. And what a lovely gift to receive after enduring a not-so-fun dental procedure.
For me, its the sound of the raindrops and the thunder. So soothing. As for the cake, I would love some!
Nothing better than a piece of cake during a rumbly rainstorm. 🙂
Not a big desert eater (or baker) but do enjoy those lightening storms. So perhaps, that makes me more akin to your fool than your kuchen feature :-). I used to relish those lightening storms that would whip across the New York farm (not NYC – go far west from there) and miss that charge. Haven’t seen one since I left not so long ago. Never heard of fulgurites (didn’t spend long in a sandy soil locale). How cool! I’ll look for them in the future.
Lightning storms across wide open spaces can be so amazing – I imagine those you watched on your farm were awesome. Thanks for stopping by Nanette, and hope you find a fulgurite someday.