simmiecakes

This is the latest I’ve been up since I got here…

That’s right, the clock is rounding 12:30 AM and I’m pleased to say I’m still awake. Hopefully I finish writing this post before I fall asleep, but no promises.

Today we finally got to our finished product; the whole reason we’re here in Vienna. We spent a lot of the day playing with our big, shiny, new toys, learning how to use them, maintain them, and no break them. It was very cool.

After that we didn’t have too much time before everything started to close, so we took a quick jaunt out into the city. We first stopped at the State Room of the National Library because we wanted to see if it was as awesome in person as it was in the photographs. Turns out you have to pay 7 Euros to get into the room and quite frankly, 7 Euros is kind of a lot to stand in a room. So instead we wandered in like dumb tourists, took a quick look around, and skidaddled before we ticked off the workers there. But not before I took a quick and not-that-great photograph. It was a pretty impressive room, but we didn’t have much time to check it out.

By the time we finished that little adventure it was nearly 6 o’clock which meant everything was closed. We walked around for a little while trying to find something else interesting to see, but to no avail. We did go into the Augustinian Church where I took lots of blurry pictures and discovered it has a heart crypt in it. There are 54 hearts of Hapsburg rulers buried there, but (un)fortunately we weren’t able to see them. The above picture is the Rathaus (which is like city hall) and some horse’s butt.

We walk through the Museum Quarter nearly everyday to get to our hotel, so me and Maria Theresia have become tight.

We headed to this little Viennese pub near our hotel for dinner. The atmosphere was nice except for the excruciating amount of smoke in the place. We sat in the non-smoking section and still probably inhaled a pack’s worth of smoke. I got Zweibelrostbraten which is steak with fried onion straws and potatoes. It was so good! I’m not sure I was even that hungry, but I ate almost the entire thing. I also had some fruit wine which tasted like watered down Riesling, but it was enough to get the Asian glow going.

After dinner we headed down to this bar in town which is under a church. We hung out, relaxed, talked, and generally had a good time. The best (maybe most disturbing) part of the evening was getting stared down by a ridiculous accordion player while he played “Edelweiss”. It was awkward to look at him and awkward to look away.

Didn’t get to take too many photos today. I’m off to bed before another big day tomorrow. Gute Nacht!

It’s 30 Degrees Outside and 85 Inside

Let’s just say the hotel rooms are…a little warm. We’ve all turned our heat completely off and have been sleeping with the windows open, but man, the temperature in this room is HOT. In other news, the floors of the bathroom are heated which one wouldn’t normally think about, but once you’ve experienced it, I’m not sure I ever want to go back to regular old floors during the cold months.

Today was a pretty good day. After work we had a little time to walk around the city. Sadly I lost a mitten in the morning so I ended up with one cold hand. It’s chilly here. It’s not unbearable-I-can’t-open-my-eyes-and-my-legs-are-going-to-fall-off-cold, but it’s definitely still in the winter phase here. Just when it looked like spring was starting in DC.

We looked into going to the Opera but the only tickets that were available were either standing room only or the seats where you can’t actually see anything. We figured we’d try our luck at getting some standing room only tickets if we had the time, but a missed time dinner adventure sort of squashed those plans.

Look! It’s Hotel Sacher. They make cake. Or a torte. Called a Sachertorte. Betcha couldn’t have guessed that. I tried this last time I was here in Salzburg, but this is the original place. The cake is chocolate cake with an apricot filling and it’s kinda dry. Apparently it’s supposed to be that way. It’s also ridiculously expensive. I’m on the fence on whether I want to give it another try.

Dinner was…an experience. Actually, getting to dinner was an experience. It was suggested to us that we try this place called Salm Bräu which is this restaurant where they brew their own beer. Being that I’m with a bunch of beer appreciating fellas, this seemed like a good idea. The only problem is, we never really figured out where it was. Instead we hopped on the U-bahn, popped out at a station we thought was close, and started walking. And walking. And walking. And then we asked for directions because we had been walking for a really long time and it turned out we were walking in the wrong direction. So then we kept walking. And walking. And walking. And then we asked for directions again and it turned out we were sort of walking in the right direction. Then we all started losing feeling in our faces. But we kept walking. And walking. And walking. And when hope was almost lost, we stumbled upon the restaurant.

It’s this cool little brew pub where they have 4 of their beers on tap. Being that I was in Austria, at a brew pub, I figured I’d give beer another try. Yeah, being in another country doesn’t make me like beer more. I forget the exact name of my beer, but in the description it was “a beer for all ages!” We had pretzels with our beer and I felt very appropriately German. And then I drank a Coke.

For dinner I had spaezle. It was delicious and greasy and I couldn’t finish the whole thing. I asked for it to be wrapped up because I saw someone walking out with their meal wrapped like a swan and I was all about getting a bird-shaped doggie bag. Sadly, my leftovers were wrapped up in more of a…potato shape.

After dinner we came back to the hotel where I promptly fell asleep. I haven’t done a great job adjusting my sleep schedule here (which is apparent as I am writing this at 5:45 in the morning). However, I think I’m going to try to hit the sack for a few more winks. I wonder what kind of fun adventures are in store for us tomorrow!

I’m baackkk

Made it! Back in Vienna, pooped but excited. All and all, the trip wasn’t too bad. The lovely Andrew dropped me off at the airport and apparently with my big sweatshirt, my big jacket, and windpants, I look like a hooligan. I managed to make it through the ticketing line alright, but before going through security I got asked to step aside so they could swab my hands. They got a nice swab of vermicelli with fish sauce and some chocolate and vanilla swirl custard with jimmies. So apparently I’m not that sketchy.

The flight wasn’t too bad either. I had thought we were taking a United plane and I was going to have swanky seats in Economy Plus, but turns out we were just in a regular Austrian Airlines plane where all the seats are sized extra small. I actually slept for a decent amount of the trip rolled up into various shapes as the lady in front of me decided to recline her chair for THE ENTIRE TRIP. Thanks lady, I appreciated that.

As we were pulling up to the gate at the end of our journey, I looked over and noticed the lady sitting next to me was reading a book in Hebrew. So, somehow, I think I ended up sitting next to probably the only other Jewish person on the entire flight. We had some brief exchange about Hebrew and my knowledge of it, which inevitably lead to some confusion and then just some awkward silence. It was a fun fact to learn as the flight was ending though. Before that, she was just the lady who was compulsively putting on hand sanitizer all flight.

Getting into Vienna wasn’t too much of a hassle either. My giant, lime green suitcase was easy to find and everyone’s luggage made it Austria. Apparently my sketchy attire still looked sketchy in Vienna because I got stopped and given some extra special questioning about my visit to Europe by the customs folks.

But after that, the sketchy treatment stopped and the special treatment started. Being a girl, traveling with a bunch of boys means you get your bags carried for you by the taxi guy and the last room available when checking in early.

We didn’t do a whole lot today. After we got to the hotel, we sort of did a quick overview walk of Vienna. Having been here before, I did not feel the need to take a million pictures of all the landmarks again. This time I want to go and actually see stuff. Like the insides of the buildings. It’s a bit colder here than in MD and I’m glad I had my hat and gloves. Not everyone was so prepared so our walk was brief and ended with lunch in a cafe and a slightly testy Austrian lady.

No, this isn’t the testy Austrian lady. This is some ridiculous statue in the middle of the museum quarter. I don’t really get it. In truth, it sort of grosses me out. So naturally I had to take a picture of it.

After lunch, most of the crew went back to the hotel to relax, take a nap, and just hang. Calvin and I decided to press on, despite our tiredness and check out a museum. We headed to the Museum of Art History get our cultural fix.

It was a pretty cool museum as far as art museums go. We saw Egyptian art, Roman art, classical paintings, and best of all, there was an audio tour! I made sure to get all I could out of that audio tour. I learned fun facts about paintings like this one:

It’s called “The Bean King” and the dude on the right with the crown is, you guessed it, the king. The lady next to him is the prettiest lady at the party, so she’s the queen. The rest of the guys and the less-than-attractive women all play members of the court. It’s a big party and whoever finds the bean in the cake is king for the party. It sounds like a King cake for Mardi Gras. So, the dude behind the king holding the fish to his mouth plays the official taster for the court and the guy on the left, looking like he doesn’t feel so hot, is the court doctor. I felt the need to take a picture of this painting, because really, how many paintings are in museums of guys projectile vomiting?

After the museum we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the group for dinner. We went back to the same restaurant near our hotel that we visited last time. But this time we knew we had to pay for the appetizers.

Now I’m back at the hotel, sweating in my overheated room and falling asleep. In fact, I fell asleep for a few hours until I woke up and realized I forgot to post anything for today. So, internet, here you go. Or rather, mom, here you go. I’m off to bed now…a fun day of work tomorrow!

Just real quick…

I’m heading out shortly for a week-long trip to Vienna and Munich. It’s mostly for work, but I plan on having some fun along the way too. There will be incessant updates of every minute detail of my day, so be on the lookout for that. But, before I go, I just have to leave you with one thing.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream.

Please excuse the terrible photo. I’m working on it.

Let’s just say, that liquid nitrogen ice cream is…awesome. It’s smoother and creamier than regular ice cream and while making it, it’s practically required to stir while doing your best evil laugh. MWAHAHAHAH!

Then eat it with some of the best chocolate chip cookies ever…and well, life is complete.

Alright, gotta run! Catch ya on the flip side!

Hamantaschen

Today is Purim. Heard of it? It’s awesome. Purim is a holiday full of festivities, costumes, gifts, and general good cheer. The Purim story has scandal, manipulation, one really evil fella, a righteous dude, a cool queen, and plenty of intrigue.

That evil dude is named Haman and we hate him so much, when reading the Purim story we scream and stomp and bang to drown his name out. We also make cookies in reference of him. Hamantaschen are triangular cookies traditionally filled with poppy seeds or prune filling, but these days we also include our variety of jams, jellies, and other sweet fillings.

I whipped up a batch of these the other day in about an hour. But I forgot about the proper folding method for this specific recipe which led to some less than attractive cookies. So I raided some pictures from last year’s batch of cookies to show the proper way to make a pretty, and triangular, cookie.

Hamantaschen

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 3 oz cream cheese at room temperature 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1 1/3 cups plus 4 tsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• jams, poppy seed filling, etc

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Then add the sugar and beat for another minute. Add the egg, vanilla, orange zest, and salt and mix until well combined. Then add the flour until incorporated. The dough will still be a bit sticky.

Form the dough into a large disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm. Since I was short on time, I stuck my dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

After the dough has firmed up, roll it out on a well floured surface to about 1/4″ thick. Cut out circles. As you can see, I used an IKEA cup, which I think is about 2″ in diameter.

Spoon about a teaspoon of filling into to the center of the circles. Poppy seed filling is my favorite, but I also used raspberry preserves, and blackberry preserves. Apricot preserves are another popular filling.

To make them triangular shaped, fold up the dough on three sides and squish the dough together. As you can see in the picture above, I simply pinched the corners. This led to a big batch of cookie rounds with hot jam oozing out. My hamantaschen did not stay together. I realized I did not have this problem last year, so going back to my older pictures, I discovered my previous, and successful, folding method.

As you can see, I folded each third up and layered it down over the other sides at each corner. This horizontal squishing method seemed to work a lot better than my pinching method of this year. Live and learn I suppose (although, apparently live, learn, and remember is what I needed to do).

Bake them for 18-20 minutes in a 350º oven. Makes about 20-22 cookies. Yum!

Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon buns. What can I say about cinnamon buns? They are awesome. When I was little I would take a cinnamon bun and start unraveling it, eating it from the outside in. My strategy was that I would start with the fluffy, bready part, and make my way into the gooey, sweet insides. Is there really any other way?

These cinnamon buns are finger-lickin good. They take a while to make (which you can clearly tell by the lighting quality of these pictures), but they are so worth it. I’m telling you, all this snow is teaching me some baking patience, and man is it paying off.

Cinnamon Buns

adapted from The Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Dough

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp yeast
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg plus enough water to make 1 cup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp soft unsalted butter

Filling

• 1/4 cup soft unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Icing

• 3 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar

To make the dough, combine all of the ingredients, either by hand, or with a mixer until a smooth dough forms. Seriously, no special method with making the dough, I just dumped all the ingredients  together until I got something nice. Take the dough and put it in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until it doubles in size.

After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly greased surface and roll out into a rectangle that measures approximately 11 x 20 inches. Spread a thin layer of butter on the dough and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Roll the dough along the long edge into a log. Using a serrated knife, cut the log in half. Then cut each half in half (so you have 4 equal pieces), and then cut each piece into 3 pieces, so you end up with a total of 12 pieces.

Place the buns into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Cover the buns again, and let them rise for 45 minutes to an hour until they are puffy.

Bake at 375º for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown. Let them cool for 10 minutes or so before icing.

To make the icing, mix the heavy cream and powdered sugar together to make a glaze and spread over the buns. Makes 12 buns.

I made…pants!

My first sewing endeavor since the 7th grade when I made monkey whose head rotated around. It took me two hours and one  movie about pants, but with a bit of roommate help I’ve got some cozy new pajama pants.

This past week of snow has been rather productive though. I’ve made pretzels, white bread, French bread, macaroons, chocolate chip cookies, apple pan dowdy, and cinnamon buns. I promise I’ll post them all soon.

It’s a good thing these pants have an elastic waistband.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve always been at battle with chocolate chip cookies. Many a-recipe tried, many a-disappointment felt. They were always too cakey or too crispy or too dry. As a frequent baker, I have always felt a twinge of shame knowing the best chocolate chip cookies I make come from a package. Yes, that’s right. A MIX. Because sometimes mixes are dang good.

BUT. Yes, BUT. I’ve found my recipe. Actually, Melissa found my recipe a long time ago and I finally decided to get around to making it myself. So maybe it’s actually Melissa’s recipe. Let’s be fair, it’s the New York Times’ recipe. They know news and they know cookies. Who wouldda thunk?

These cookies are perfect. They are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. During this blizzard of ours, I want to wrap myself up in them. The ooey-gooey chocolate with a touch of salt (so elegant…even my salt-hating roommate likes it. I know, someone can hate salt??) brings these cookies to perfection.

They take a while to make. Perfection is found after a 24 hour waiting period, but it’s SO worth it. You can make them right away too, but the extra time makes a big difference.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from The New York Times

• 8.5 oz (2 cups minus 2 Tbsp) cake flour
• 8.5 oz (1 2/3 cups) bread flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
• 10 oz (1 1/4 cups) light brown sugar
• 8 oz (1 cup plus 2 Tbsp) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
• sea salt

I have a kitchen scale I use to weigh all of my ingredients. It’s definitely the more accurate way to go, but if you don’t have a scale, the volume measurements should work just fine.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. Then add each egg one at a time, making sure it is well mixed before adding the next. Then add in the vanilla.

Sift the bread flour, cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter (and eggs and vanilla) mixture until just combined.

Mix in the chocolate chips by hand so they don’t break.

Holy cow, this cookie dough is so good I kind of want to lick my monitor (is that weird? I don’t care, I’m sort of drooling right now thinking of this).

Now comes the hard part. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (so that it’s pressed down, touching the dough) and stick it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. I promise, it’s totally worth it.

Preheat the oven to 350º.

After the dough has thoroughly chilled, scoop out golf ball sized balls out dough and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet with about an inch between each ball. Sprinkle lightly with coarsely ground sea salt.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. I think I’ve already eaten at least 7.

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!

Snowverkill? Snowmaggedon? Snowpocalypse? In case you hadn’t heard, we’re getting a bit of snow around here.

We’ve been housebound for the better part of a week with a brief respite on Tuesday, but the winds continue to howl, the snow continues to fall, and the hysteria continues to be…hysterical.

No work means more time for baking. Oh, and baking I have done. We’re stuffed full of treats. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted…

Guitar Cake

Sorry about the delay in posting. But now we’re currently buried under like a foot and half of snow and since there’s nowhere to go, might as well finally get off my lazy butt and write this up.

So. Guitar cake. It’s rockin’. For real. This cake plays music. In fact, it plays “Freebird”. Check it out.

I started by baking two 9×13 vanilla cakes. I found a profile of a Gibson Les Paul which I cut out to make a template for the body of the cake. Using that I traced out the right shape.

I had to use some of judgment to get the entire shape correct. I sort of guesstimated on the shape of the head and the length of the neck.

After I cut out the shape, I went about adding the electrical components that make the cake play music. Just like the boxing gloves cake, I used a musical greeting card for the music.

I wired up the musical insert of the card to a switch. This time the switch was embedded in the cake though, so I had to make a little box for it to sit in. I used a straw as a conduit for the wiring.

After I got all of the wiring hooked up, I put on a layer of vanilla buttercreme icing. Then I forgot to continue taking pictures through the rest of the decorating.

I used red fondant to cover the body of the cake and black fondant for the neck. The accents were all done using fondant pieces and the gold parts were painted with an edible gold glaze. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to do the strings, but I ended up using this silver, elastic, thread from the craft store.

The gigantic rocker switch is what makes the music play.

And that’s about it! Easy-peasy…