Black Forest .. Not the cake.: *Insert impressive title here*

Elfie is a colleague of mine here at my new job in St. Blasien, Germany. I received a letter from Elfie and her husband inviting me to join them for a tour around the area (since I'm new and too lazy to explore it on my own) that would follow a typical German lunch (I'm now aware that such thing doesn't exist).

With great joy and a warm heart I posted back "Love to" in her post box in the Lehrerzimmer (teacher's room). We set up a meeting for a Saturday (not actually sure, but it's nice to have a name on my day) and when Saturday came, I was accompanied by her and her husband up a long hill to their home. I arrived there exhausted from the walk and out of breath and feeling a little embarrassed because I was so out of shape.

We cooked together a great meal consisting of steak heavily drowned in onions, potatoes, and vegetables (a la moroccan NOT German way). We enjoyed our meal and some drinks and laughs and then they said: Sollen wir jetzt spazieren gehen? (Shall we go for a walk). We walked to a nearby cafe and bakery, where she placed an order for a Schwarzwaldkuchen.

The Schwarzwaldkuchen is the sweet of the region. Schwarzwald meaning Black Forest and Kuchen meaning cake. I still wasn't able to make a connection that I already KNEW this cake, I already ATE this cake on so many different occasions, I HAVE tried it before! In all honesty though, even if I didn't, I wouldn't want to burst this amazing lady's bubble by telling her "Oh yea, I eat that all the time. Not really my favorite thing on earth".

2 hours of walking up hills (Mountains of pain for me) and reaching the highest one (Still mountain for me), we decide to get back to pick up our treats and head home for the German Tea Time (Those wicked buggers stole our specialty! - a voice with a British accent in my head said). As they were struggling to make their coffee machine work (It wasn't tea after all), I was having my own war with both my desire to be polite and show them that I knew how to cut a cake and serve it without getting my hands dirty with all the cream and my desire to get this shit over with so I can sit, eat my cake, and leave, as I was now hating them more and more for the 2 excruciating hours of hiking.

Thank you oh merciful coffee machine for working and making us coffee!

I ate my cake and left. I did get lost in the ol' Schwarzwald and almost reached a Swiss border but I was able to get back home and enjoy ranting to my friend about how they tried to kill me (Oh drama, what would we do with you). Walking home that night, I pondered the happenings of my day and then took a long pause which was followed by me smacking myself on the head.

I have been here for 2 months. 2 months + all the times I said Schwarzwald + all the times I've ate Black forest cake before, has been the time I've spent completely oblivious to the fact that:

Schwarzwaldkuchen IS The Black Forest Cake. I'm at the home of that cake. I KNOW THIS PLACE.

Why is this important? No clue.

And as a reward for sitting down and reading my stupidity I give you a picture of and recipe of the Schwarzwaldkuchen.