The good German.

I grew up in a German community. My grandparents (on my mother's side) were 100% German. I remember little things that were distinctly German. During spring break I decided that I needed to bring a little German into the house. To do this, I made knefla soup. It is a dumpling soup with a cream base. It was delicious. The problem is that no one else in the house liked it. I had offered my friend some but it didn't work out.

One of the other things I remember growing up is a German Weather House. Yes, you read that correctly...a German Weather House. It was a weather predictor (really it was a hygrometer) with a thermometer on the front. If the woman was outside of the house then it was going to rain. If the man was outside of the house then it was dry out. Not exactly magic but to a little kid it was as close as you could get.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to keep the little things I remember alive with my family. Justin is Italian (and some other muttly nationalities) and isn't a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. It is hard to have all of the foods I grew up on when the rest of the family is into middle-eastern, Thai and Vietnamese food. Oy, how I never thought standard German food would be hard to incorporate into my life.

With that said, there have to be other traditions to carry on (not just the food). Can you think of anything that you continue to do even though your parents aren't running the show?