Germany Road Trip

Long ago, before we had children, i.e. 2002, we went on a road trip through Germany. This was before we lived in Germany. At some point we realized that our kids had not seen all the nice places that we had seen although they had lived in Germany for 9 years. So this Easter (2019) we took off to repeat our trip. This time it was a bit shorter and we didn"t hit as many places, but of those we did see we saw them in more detail.

Armed with a Lonely Planet and plenty of maps making our way through Germany in 2002

And although I would love for you to visit the Lonely planets top ranking place for 2019 I do understand that you might find it a bit scary to visit Sri Lanka. (To me Sri Lanka is home and it's never been bad enough that I would not go home.) So do come and visit second in line, Germany. Buy yourself a lonely planet and head out on a road trip to remember.

No. of days: 9 

Starting point: 

Dusseldorf or Frankfurt or anywhere in the west of Germany

Budget: Approx. 1,500 EUR

This includes hotels, food, petrol and admissions. Add on extra for getting there and away and for getting around. We spent as little as possible. Lunch consisted of self-made sandwiches and some dinners were instant noodles made in our hotel room (I took a kettle with me). If you can't self cater, but want to cut down costs, pick up a belegtes Brötchen, kind of like a mini sub, from a local bakery. They are delicious. For dinner go to a local Turkish fast food eatery. If you are a meat eater there are an abundance of options. If not, there are almost always falafel sandwiches. Some  places also make pizza and pasta. We rarely visited cafe's for a tea or coffee break. This really cuts down the costs. Snacks and munchies we bought from discount supermarkets.

Here is the route we took on google maps. Marked are points of interest, parking lots and our hotels.

Day 1: 

We drove southwards to Loreley. A lovely spot on the river Rhein that is famous for the myth of the Loreley who sings on the rocks to distract sailors and bring them to their deaths. Also the valley, which you will drive along, is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Rhein as seen from Loreley look out point; Loreley statue; Burg Maus

We rode the Sommerrodelbahn "Loreley Bob" here. You basically sit in a little cart and are pulled up to the top of the hill and then are let go to sail back down the hill at high speeds. It's a very German thing that I've always wanted to do but never got around to doing. Worth every penny!

There are plenty of places for a picnic lunch plus a restaurant.

Driving further South along the Rhein we landed in Heidelberg and walked along the Philosophers Way, which is a good way to stretch your legs after a day in the car, and to get wonderful views of the Rhein and Heidelberg Castle. Head down the "Schlangenweg" (winding path) to the old Heidelberg bridge and walk back along the river.

Heidelberg Castle in the setting sun from the banks of the river Neckar 

Day 2: 

We spent the day in Heidelberg. Getting early to the castle to beat the crowds is a good idea! You can't buy tickets for the castle or the tour on line. Tickets for the castle grounds include the large beer barrel and the pharmacy museum. Both well worth the price, which also includes a ride up (and down if you want!) the hill on the Funicular train (which is really anticlimactic). Buy general tickets at the foot of the hill at the Funicular station "Kornmarkt". If you want to go on a tour of the castle (photography not allowed inside the buildings) tickets can be bought at the visitors center on the castle grounds. These two tickets are handled separately. You can enter the castle grounds for free if you are on a tight budget and just want to look around.

A gate to nowhere in particular other than a fantastic view point

Most of the castle is in ruin. It's kept this way to preserve the romanticism 

The view from the above mentioned view point

One of the buildings in the inner courtyard. Accessible only with a ticket.

Inside the pharmacy museum. I'd love to have a kitchen like this!

View of the town from the castle

 As for timing we got to the castle just before 10. Booked our tour, viewed the inner courtyard and pharmacy museum, took the tour, had a picnic lunch, went to see the beer barrel and further ogled at the ruins, walked through the gardens and headed down to the town at 3 pm.

The castle from below

The old town of Heidelberg has a lovely atmosphere! We walked past the Kornmarkt to the main square (Avoid the ice cream parlor on the main church square. The ice cream was not great and the portions were tiny) and then down to the old bridge, were we saw the famous Heidelberg Bridge Monkey. You don't need to cross the bridge to see the monkey. He's actually not even on the bridge. Before you go under the bridge tower look for him on the left hand side on the parapet. The bridge tower was covered in scaffolding so I don't have any photos.

Kornmarkt

A quaint street heading towards the main square. If you like your streets a bit quieter just try some parallel streets. The tourists drop off very quickly

Day 3: 

Drive down to Freiburg. We checked into our hotel first (B&b Frieburg Nord). Plenty of free parking however, the buses past there don't run on Sundays and holidays. We ended up having to drive into town. Here is a walking tour around the town. It takes 2.5 hours and takes you past all the interesting sites. If you have more time you could visit more of the museums, but don't miss the Augustiner Museum. It's small but well laid out and you can see the original stained glass, gargoyles and statues from the cathedral up close. A fantastic exhibit.
Look out for the "Bächle" that are all over the old town.

Inside the Freiburger Münster

Historisches Kaufhaus on the square

Gargoyles and statues in the Augustiner Museum

Germany's first inn

Schwabentor

The Gewerbe Canal

Martinstor (McDonalds Tor)

Old Synagogue Square - the pool is a memorial to the synagogue that once stood here

One of the town halls - Rathaus

Day 4: 

takes us into the Black Forest. No longer a dark forest as you might expect thanks to the many years of logging that kept the winter industries running.

A good place to stop is at Höllsteig 74, 79874 Breitnau. There are a variety of shops which showcase German products including cuckoo clocks, watches, blown glass (workshop on site) and some more modern products. There is a huge price range so there is something for everyone. They have good toilets and a cafeteria style restaurant. There is also a hotel at this location. If you are like us, and not into shopping and eating, take a hike passing underneath the Ravana Viaduct and along the Ravana Gorge. Take a moment to photograph the St Oswald chapel and visit the customs house (keys for both places can be picked up at the Hofgut Sternen). Finish up ogling at the crafts people blowing glass.

Along the Ravana Gorge

St Oswalds Chapel

Continue on to Triberg (very touristy) where you can visit Germany's highest waterfall. It would have been a wonderful atmosphere if not for all the annoying people trying to take their perfect Instagram photos. Block out the photographing maniacs and enjoy the falls and the nature.

Part of the waterfall

We next went to see the worlds largest cuckoo clock. It was also anti climatic, but it's so close to the town that it's not worth missing! A bit annoying that they charge 50 cents for the toilets and that they didn't have a nice cafe. The shop was really well stocked and I didn't get the feeling that I was in a tourist trap.

The world's largest cuckoo clock!

We drove on to our next place of rest Tuttlingen. Now there may not be much in Tuttlingen, but there is a fantastic hotel called Charlys Place. They have fantastically priced rooms that sleep 4 people. In very comfortable bunk beds, not your hostel type bunks but proper bunks. Plus wonderful hang out areas one which included a billiards table, board games and a kicker (fußball) table for free! Try Diyar Kebap for a quick and delicious meal. The best falafel sandwhich I've had in Germany yet!

Day 5: 

Although we thought that it might be worth spending the day in Tuttlingen we voted to travel to Konstanz instead. Other options were to go hiking, visit a spa, or go and visit the famous Tittisee. This and many more day trip options can be found on my google map.

We first drove to Reichenau island and walked around half of the island. At the campsite on the far end of the island you can rent bikes and bike around, or rent a row boat and row around, but we were too cheap and just walked. Stop off first at the tourist information to get the lay of the land. Then drop into the fantastic churches and take in the scenery. Drop into the little bakery behind the tourist information (Inselbäckerei Peter) to pick up some cheap goodies for lunch.

St. Maria and St. Markus - just north of the tourist information center

There are pretty fields everywhere!

Yachthafen Herrenbrücke - North of the St. Maria and St Markus church

St. Peter and Paul - north-west corner

St. Peter and Paul - interior

After spending half a day there we drove of to Konstanz proper. I personally didn't see much because I was not feeling well. But here are some pictures of the things that the rest of the bunch saw.

Interior of the church in Constance. Absolutely beautiful. Too many pictures to post!

The alps across lake Constance

Day 6: 

Neuschwanstein from a different perspective

This was the big day. We went to visit Neuschwanstein! I seriously advise you to book your tour well in advance and find a place close to the castle to spend the night at. Tuttlingen is about 3 hours drive away and since our friends had to leave at 12 noon we booked one of the earlier tours. Booking here is a bit old fashioned. You have to go to their website and then send them a request for which tour you want. They will then hold your ticket which you have to pick up at the ticket counter one and a half hours before the tour starts. If you book a combination ticket they will schedule Neuschwanstein first and Hohenschwangau second. We requested that they give us tours the other way around and they did this without any problem. Although there are certain disadvantages to doing it "backwards" (the tours are set up assuming the other way around although they are independent and you don't need to have done one to get the other), the advantages outweigh them by far.

From the inner courtyard

When we got to the ticket counter at around 8 am it was full and the lines were long (although they moved pretty quickly) and this is just to pick up the reserved tickets. On the sales person's advice we walked up to Neuschwanstein. There were other people on the road but it was quite quiet. My daughter, who hates crowds, complained that it was way to crowded! However, we were able to get plenty of pictures without other people being in them :)

I had read that the tour of Neuschwanstein was horrible and it lived up to its expectation. The guide refused to answer any questions until the very end and then when asked at the end could not give any useful answers. But the inside of the castle was well worth seeing and the tour is the only way to get in AND it's not horribly expensive.

View from the balcony at Neuschwanstein

When we came out of the castle the place was packed. I don't know where the people materialized from but within an hour or so everything had become busy. It was not much fun navigating around people to go and see the Marienbrücke. In fact we just put our feet on it, peeked at the castle and then fled. There were way too many people on the tiny bridge all trying to take their perfect Instagram pictures.

Looking down from the Marienbrücke

The castle as seen from the Marienbrücke

My daughter was in shock until we got down the hill. Just way too many people for her. It also totally spoiled the atmosphere. One should definitely get up there early.

Hohenschwangau was not as busy owing to the fact that it is not as famous. But my the tour was excellent. The tour guide was a riot (although my husband knew all the answers to his questions since they were the same ones asked 17 years ago!) and we had enormous fun. We took the English tour and because some of the kids didn't understand English he even translated things that children would find interesting into German. Lovely castle with wonderful history.

View from a window in Hohenschwangau. Notice the alps in the background.

Keep in mind that everything around here is over priced although not exorbitant. We had a picnic out of the back of our car in the parking lot!

We drove on to Augsburg from here. Although Augsburg is beautiful, I suggest that you go to Munich instead. We've been to Munich and my sister-in-law lives in Augsburg so we went to visit her (free board and lodging!).

In Munich spend the afternoon at the English Garden and visiting the Chinese Tower. Watch out for the river surfers at Eisbachwelle (southern tip of the park).

Day 7: 

Take in the old town and visit some of the museums. The Glockenspiel on the Mareienplatz is a must see. It goes off at 11 am and noon. We saw it from up the tower of St. Peters! If you have time visit Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg). We really enjoyed our visit here. There is a large garden, the palace is not too large, the palm house is cool. We did it in half a day with little kids. Leave in the late afternoon for Weimar (4 hour drive).

Day 8: 

There is so much to see in Weimar because it's the home to Goethe, Schiller and Bauhaus. Buy a Weimar card to make your life easy ;). Our morning was filled with visiting Goethe's house and museum. We heard that it was very popular and one could only get timed tickets so we went there first. We were early enough that we could get in straight away. Almost all the places in Weimar have timed tickets and audio guides so if you want to see a particular place you have to get there early and book your tour. It's a bit of a pain in the you know what, but that is life. The visit was well worth it. After having lunch on the square outside Goethe's house we moseyed on off to the Park on the Ilm and visited the Römisches Haus and Goethes Gartenhaus. Then we headed to Schiller's house. It's much smaller and less tasteful than Goethe's house (and at times the audio is a bit boring) but an extremely interesting contrast given that they lived at the same time. And that was all that we had time for on one day. Don't forget that the town is very cute and just walking from one place to another there are plenty of other buildings, fountains, churches and squares to see.

Inside Goethe's house

Plaster of paris... Goethe had lots of these!

Goethe's garden house. His first home.

Goethe's garden house

Schiller's kitchen

Schiller's house

Day 9: 

We got up early to get in the line for the newly opened Bauhaus Museum. Bauhaus celebrates their 100th anniversary this year. There were no tickets on-line and the only option was to stand in line and get a timed ticket. We were able to get in after a one hour wait. I'm thinking that this line will get shorter as time goes on. The museum had not been open for more than a month when we went.

We were disappointed by the museum. We left still not knowing what exactly Bauhaus was. The audio tour was the only way to get any information. For that you HAD to have a cell phone. We were four and the kids had left theirs in the car so we had to share. It was a disaster. And what do you do if you don't have a phone? Just wander around?? Also the only reason we knew there was an app to download is because we was asked one of the security guys how we could get information about the exhibits! He had to help us figure it all out. There was way too much information in the audio tour and it was not clear which exhibit they were talking about. You'll not need more than 2 hours for this museum.
Across the road there are a couple of museums that are included in your Weimar Card. If you still have any energy you can pop in to see them or go for a walk in the park behind the Bauhaus Museum.

Staircase - A highlight for me in the Bauhaus Museum!

Across the road from the Bauhaus Museum

One of the other museums that I had no energy to see!!

Here our road trip came to an end and we headed home. However, if you are here from abroad tag on a few days in Berlin at the end and fly back home from there. It's a 3-4 hour drive from Weimar.

R2D2 3-D cake tutorial

I was stupid enough to agree to making a 3-D R2D2 cake for my daughters 12th birthday party. It was after refusing to make a 3-D C3PO so at that point I thought that I was up on the deal. It was so hard to figure out exactly how to make it that I thought I might as well just post all the details here so that other people don't have to go looking for everything and go through the timely process of making stencils. Of course for those artistic people or perfectionists this is not the place! This for those of us who can make a decent cake and know how to lay down fondant but apart from that are dependent on others helping us!
Beware, this is not an exact replica but it will pass as R2D2 if people don't look to carefully. Of course you can add as many details as you like to make it more life like!

What you will need:

For the legs (these are not cake)

• Thick cardboard
• Sharp scissors or a box cutter
• Leg stencil
• Strong glue
• Very thin cardboard
• 2 bamboo skewers (or something similar)

For the cake

• 2 6" round baking forms
• 1 6" spherical baking form
• 2 6" round cake card
• 4 bamboo skewers or dowel rods
• 1 6" very sturdy cake card or the bottom of your 6" round baking spring form
• 6" cakes (see below)
• Butter cream (see below)

For the decoration

(Sorry I don't remember the exact values of the fondant, these are an over estimate)

• 1 kg White roll fondant 
• 500 g Grey fondant
• 100 g Blue fondant
• Small piece Black fondant
• Even smaller piece Red fondant
• Silver dust
• 1 tbsp Vodka
• Paint brush
• Edible glue
• 4" tall jam jar or other glass container with a stable base.

The components:

For the legs:

These you can make well in advance since there are no edible parts! The stencil is for a 6" cake and for an R2D2 who is about 14" tall. The leg needs to be 1 inch thick. If you can find cardboard of this thickness it will reduce your work by one step, but it may not be worth it if it is too difficult to cut. I used the box that our freezer came in. It was very sturdy and since it's not coming in contact with the actual cake I didn't see a problem with using it. If your cardboard is not 1 inch thick cut out 4 legs, if it is 1 inch you only need 2 and can skip some steps. Make sure that at least one side has no print on it. Print might show through your fondant ruining the whole project.

Noticing that the stencil is not symmetrical use some strong glue to stick a square of cardboard between two cardboard legs to make the outside edges approximately 1 inch apart. Do this to the other pair of legs too and let the glue dry.

Once it is dry cut a strip of the thin cardboard, I used some thin card that was inside a tube of IKEA wrapping paper. The strip should  be as wide as the leg is because we will wrap it around the leg so that it can then be covered with fondant. If you don't do this your fondant will sink into the hole in the cardboard and have an unwanted texture.

Stick this strip onto the leg. Trim the strip with a box cutter to make sure that the edges are even. To reduce work I made sure one side matched up exactly and then trimmed the only the other side. You can also make sure that the side you are trimming is also in the back of R2D2, that way if you mess up it will not be noticed.

Set the legs aside to dry. Somewhere in the middle of the top section, on the inside (i.e. the worst looking side) poke a hole in the leg with a bamboo skewer. Make sure the skewer goes in far enough so that it is stable. This is what will hold the leg to the cake. You can have two such holes in each leg, although I found that one was enough to hold things together. Cut 2 - 4 skewers to 2 - 2.5 inches and set aside.

Roll out some white fondant and cover the legs. Use a single piece to cover each leg. Make the joint in the middle of the inside of the leg, i.e. where you put the holes for the skewers. If your fondant does not stick to the cardboard try dampening it with a bit of water. If that doesn't work you'll have to use edible glue. Allow the legs to dry. You can also do this step well in advance.

The ganache:

1 kg dark cooking chocolate
500 ml whipping cream

This needs to be made at least one day before you plan on making the cake. It's super easy. Cut up the chocolate into small pieces. Bring the whipping cream to a boil, remove from the heat and then add the chocolate pieces. Allow the chocolate to melt for about 5 minutes and then stir until all the chocolate is melted and well combined. Don't forget not to get any water anywhere close to the chocolate otherwise it will seize and you can't use it for your cake. I once tried flavoring it, but the flavoring seized it. I believe you can put alcohol in it, but you should check first. Let the ganache rest over night. Do not put it in the fridge! Once it is completely cooled you can cover it to keep any water getting in.

The cake:

Pick a light cake so as to keep the weight down, but one that keeps it's shape and can support the fondant. I used a chocolate mayonnaise cake. I made three batches, but that is because I messed up :( I think two would be enough. Unless you have four 6" round baking trays I would recommend that you mix one batch first and then when it is almost done baking you mix the second. Make four 6" cakes and one half sphere. To figure out if this is enough... the 6" round cakes should stack to 7.5" with the filling.

I filled mine with a simple chocolate butter cream (1 part butter to 2 parts icing sugar with a dash of cream and cocoa powder), but you can use any recipe you like as long as it hardens and can be left out for a few days without growing things. I probably made 375 g butter and 750 g icing sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa powder.

The fondant:

Get some good quality fondant that can be rolled. You might also consider getting some sugar paste to make the little nuts that stick out on R2D2's head especially if your fondant is very soft.
You should model any 3-D details in advance so that they get hard. There are only two important nuts. Both on R2D2's head.

Putting it all together:

Build up R2D2's body first. Place the first 6" cardboard round on your turn table fixing it with a bit of icing. Place your first layer onto this. I cut each of my 6" cakes in half to make it sweeter! Build up the cake to about 3.75" (halfway. I used 3 layers). Now stick in a bamboo skewer and mark the maximum height of the cake. Take it out and cut 3 - 4 pieces of bamboo all to the same height. Stick them in the cake at the corners of a triangle or square. If one of the bamboo sticks is too short you should take all of them out and re-cut.  Then place another 6" cardboard round on top of the skewers. The skewers will bear the weight of the cake that is to come decreasing the risk of the top part smashing the bottom part. Then put a blob of icing on the cardboard and stick the next piece of cake on top of it. Continue until you have a height of 7.5". End with butter cream.

Next put your cake in the fridge for an hour or so to get the butter cream to harden. This will make your whole structure a bit more stable.

Next ganache the side of your tube! https://vinitasfamilyblog.blogspot.de/2017/02/covering-cake-with-fondant.html . Let it dry a bit.

If you watch most of the tutorials with really elaborate fancy models you will see that they do the head separately. I just put the semi-sphere on top sticking it down with butter cream and then put the ganach on it.

Smooth the chocolate as best as you can. The smoother it is the better your end result. Any bumps will show through. Let everything harden. This should not take long.
The next thing I did was to place the cake on a glass jar. I did this so that I did not have to build a structure to support the cake. There are quite a few tutorials on how to build a structure. I didn't have the time for it and didn't think it necessary. I had to try out quite a few jars until I found the perfect height, which was a 4" tall German honey jar. The jar needs to have a large flat base.




The next part was covering R2D2 with fondant. I used shop bought fondant and did the bottom, white part first. Make sure that the fondant wraps a bit around underneath the body.

Next colour some fondant grey and cover the top. Use a very sharp knife to cut the grey fondant so that the joint is as clean as possible.


Mix your silver dust with just enough vodka to produce a paint. It should be thick enough to not drip but thin enough to spread evenly. Paint R2D2's head so it is silver.
I have no template for the accessories on R2D2's head. I just used this image for the front and this for the back. and cut them out free hand. You can see that my R2D2 is not exactly the same as the picture. (Image credit: Google cannot find the front image anymore. I believe it was a toy. If it's your image please get in touch with me and I will credit you or better still link your image to this blog. The back image is, I believe, a Lego mini-figure which also no longer exists.)

The next thing to do is to cut out all the bits and pieces and stick them on. Roll out your fondant and use this pdf as a pattern. I just printed it, cut out the pieces of paper, arranged them on the fondant and cut them out. Attach to R2D2's body with edible glue. If you use water the pieces may slip. You might have to hold individual pieces to the body until it's a bit dry if it slips.
Notice the grid on the front and how the background is dark? I achieved this by sticking the grid on an extremely thin piece of black fondant before putting it on the blue fondant.

I only cut out the pieces which were coloured. The white details I decided to score directly onto the fondant. I used the non-serrated side of a butter knife. The cake of course is not exactly the same size as the template and you can't help this because when you ice it it might come out a bit bigger or a bit smaller. Adjust the squares accordingly and don't worry kids are not going to look too carefully at the details.

Transport the body and legs separately and put them together on site.

ENJOY!

Perfect boiled eggs

Once upon a time I was so annoyed by my boiled eggs that I went out and found how to make the perfect boiled egg. I wanted a method that would not crack the shell and that would create less mess, use less energy and, of course, not make my yolk black (or green for that matter). And although I found the perfect method it was still not good enough for my daughters. They never liked eggs even before they knew what eggs were. My oldest would not eat cakes or quiches or anything with eggs in it when she was very little. And I mean so little that she didn't know what an egg was! After a lot of effort we managed to get them to eat eggs. Some times we just feel that they need a bit of protein and this is our quick fix. Up until recently one of them would only eat them scrambled and the other fried!

I still like my boiled eggs so I decided to make a few for dinner. I was feeling tiered so I only cut up two eggs. I figured only me and my husband were going to eat them so why spend the time and effort to make more.

So I was a bit surprised when the girls asked me to pass the boiled eggs. Since they were interested I passed them over and, after asking if it was okay to eat the whole egg since there were only two (they can be super sweet some times), they devoured them. I was okay with that. I trotted back to the kitchen and procured two more eggs for us adults.

I asked my kids, why now. What made them even want to try the eggs? The answer I got was that "well when they look that good how can we not like them". I mean I know people say that you eat with your eyes but this is a bit extreme. Going from "do I have to?" to "can I have more?"

So because of this surprise, and because Easter is around the corner, I figured I'll just share my egg boiling/serving method.

To boil your eggs place them in a saucepan so that the eggs are in one layer on the bottom. It's best if there are enough eggs to cover the surface. Pour in cold water until it covers the eggs + 1 inch or 2.5 cm. Put on high heat without covering and bring the water to the boil. Once it boils remove the pan from the heat, put the lid on it. Let it stand for 6 minutes. With a large egg this will give you an egg that is halfway between a soft boiled and hard boiled egg. For a hard boiled egg leave for 10 minutes.
Remove from the water, cool (to stop the cooking process), shell and eat.

Chocolate chunk cookies (soft)

This blog entry is written so that in the event that I lose my piece of paper with the ingredients on it I can reproduce my favourite cookie. It would be a waste if after weeks of work I lost the recipe!!
So please forgive the lack of information.

Ingredients:

125 g Butter, Kerrigold Sußrahm (really important)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. Sugar*
1 tsp. Goldsaft (molasses)*
1 lrg. Egg
1 cup Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking soda (Natron, sodium bicarbonate)
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
4 1/2 oz or 125 g Chocolate chunks (Rittersport each piece cut in half)
3/4 cups Dried cranberries
3 oz Walnuts

* Substitute with 3/4 cups US American style brown sugar (which is not the same as any other countries brown sugar as far as I can tell).

Method:

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add egg and beat until well combined.
Add Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix until combined (over mixing will make the cookie taste yucky).
Fold in chocolate chunks, cranberries and walnuts.
Cookies can be either 1 tbsp. of dough (small) or 2 tbsps. (normal). Make heaps and place in the fridge to rest and harden about 1 hour.
Set fan oven to 160 C.
Take dough out of fridge. Roll dough balls to make them evenly shaped. Press down lightly so that the edges are also a bit thick thus preventing them from burning.
Place 2 inches apart and bake for 12 - 15 minutes depending on your taste.

Notes:
Even if they are crispy when they come out of the oven after a day they become soft.

Sweet pie crust

A sudden urge to eat a bakewell tart turned in to an experiment with sweet pie crust. Usually I use one of two recipes. One which I learned from my mother many many moons ago (click here for recipe) and the other from my "Spago desserts" recipe book. As I was looking for my recipe for bakewell tart I discovered yet another pie crust recipe.

This one came from the same friend who gave me the bakewell tart recipe. It came with the note "you probably have your own recipe, but here's one just in case". Now I'm not too keen on recipes that use either just egg yolks or just the whites. I think that this is a waste of half an egg. I guess if you could coordinate things well you could make two things in parallel. One that uses the whites and one that uses the yolks. However, I usually only have time to make one thing and then the rest of the egg gets forgotten in the fridge until it is rescued by someone who asks who's science experiment it is! So I've never used my friends crust recipe. In fact, I must admit, I never quite got past the list of ingredients. Since I had some time on my hands I read through it and although I still did not like the ingredients I found the method to be rather intriguing. So I combined a dough recipe from "Spago" together with the technique I learned from my mum to make dough and the technique from my friend as to setting up the pie crust. And what turned out is definitely a keeper. It's delicious, crisp and light.

The smaller ones are a bit over done!

Preparation time: 3 hours (but if you don't let it sit then it's done in an hour); makes 3 9" pie crusts

Ingredients:

4 oz	Ground almonds
1 lb 2 oz	Flour
12 oz	Butter, cold
8 oz	Sugar
1	Egg, lightly beaten

Method:

Ground almonds or almond meal is readily available in Germany (which is where I live). In the USA you may have to make your own. To do this put your almonds in an oven at 375 F and toast until golden 12-15 minutes. You will need to turn them so that they are evenly browned so after around 6 minutes. Allow your nuts to cool completely and then grind them. If you are in a country where almonds are scarce you have two options either omit them completely or substitute with a different nut. Whichever nut you use make sure you roast it first so that the crust is crunchy. Also if you use a different nut and it works please let everyone know in the comments below.

Put the ground almonds (or other nuts) together with the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix briefly. Then cut up the butter into small pieces and work it into the flour mixture using the technique described here.

Once your mixture looks like bread crumbs add the egg and mix everything together until it is just combined. Don't over knead your dough. It will become tough and will not taste good.

Now roll your dough into a sausage, wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably overnight (If you are a busy mum use immediately. It won't be fabulous but it will be good enough for the masses).

About an hour before you plan on baking your pie take the dough out of the fridge. Cut it into thin slices and line your baking tray. Fill the gaps by pressing larger pieces gently together or by filling with small pieces of dough. The resulting pie will look like a most delicious patchwork quilt.

If you have the time put the pie crust in the fridge for another hour, or over night.

If you need to pre-bake your pie crust bake at 180 C (in a fan oven) for around 10 minutes (yes, this crust bakes really quickly). Fill your pie with filling and return to oven.
If you need just a pastry shell to fill with a cold filling then bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. The pie crust below is filled with lemon curd.

The recipe gives enough dough for 3 pie crusts. You can freeze the rest of the dough for later use. You can also just bake it in slivers for a crunchy cookie. 

Persian Omelette (Spinach and Potato Omelette)

Well now it is time for another one of those easy delicious meals. Fresh spinach seems to have become more available and less dirty. I remember using only fresh spinach in  the USA and not liking to cook with it, even though it was a favourite. It always took me so long to get all the sand out. And I do quite plainly remember that when we first came to Germany the spinach was equally as gritty. Thus I switched over to frozen spinach, but as I've said before nothing beats the fresh stuff. So if you have the time use fresh spinach to make this omelette. If you don't, it's still worth making it, because as my teenager said last night "This is really good" and I was using frozen spinach!

Preparation time: 3/4 hour; serves 2-4

Ingredients:

450 g	Fresh spinach OR
225 g	Frozen spinach
225 g	Potatoes
3 tbsp.	Oil
50 g	Onion
4	Eggs
1/2	Organic lemon
	Salt and pepper

Method:

First and foremost note that the preparation time does not include cleaning the fresh spinach. Depending on the state of it you can add on between 5 and 30 minutes!

Secondly note that this used to be plenty for the four of us but that was a while ago. Yesterday we ate it with a loaf of bread and it was enough food, but if this is all you are serving for a person with a normal appetite you may only get 2 portions out of it. You can also use it as a starter, in which case you should get 8 small servings. Another idea would be to cut it into cubes, stick tooth picks in it and serve it as finger food.

And a small third note before you get started. You need a lid for your frying pan. If you don't have one fashion one out of aluminium foil before you get started.

Fresh spinach: put the clean and still wet spinach into a pot with a lid and cook on medium for about 5 minutes or until the spinach is tender.

Frozen spinach: put in the microwave for 1 minute. Check if it is defrosted, if not put it in for another minute. Continue until the spinach is defrosted. The good thing about this recipe is that you don't mind if the spinach is cooked, or how well it is cooked. So you don't have to waste your time using the defrost setting of your microwave. If you do use the defrost setting you will be adding on a considerable amount of time to the preparation time.

While your spinach is cooking/defrosting you can peel and dice your potatoes and onions. The smaller you dice your potatoes the quicker they will cook and the better the omelette will hold together when cut. I cut mine really fine, maybe about 2-3 mm dice. ("Dice" just means cut into cubes.) The onions you can cut a bit larger.

By now the spinach is either cooked or defrosted. You now have to squeeze out as much water as possible. I use the method of squeezing it between two plates. It works especially well if your spinach is hot, as is the case in this recipe, because you don't have to touch it. Place all the spinach on a regular sized plate. Put an identical plate on top of it. The second plate should NOT be upside down. Put it in the same orientation as if you were stacking the plates for storage. Then hold the plates over the sink, perpendicular to the ground, and squeeze hard. I shake mine a bit to get the excess liquid out faster.

You can now let your spinach stand for a bit while you finish dicing the onions and the potatoes. Once you are done dicing them put a heavy bottomed frying pan or skillet on the cooker on medium high and add 2 tbsp. oil. Once the oil is hot add the potatoes and fry for 5 minutes. To make them evenly brown you will need to stir them every now and then. After 5 minutes add the onions and continue to fry until the potato is just tender. Here again, how long this takes will depend on the size of your dice.  For me it took 5 minutes but it could take up to 10 (unless you have REALLY large dice!). Remove from the heat and set aside.

Now while the potatoes and onions are frying it's the perfect opportunity to finely chop the spinach and put the rest of the omelette together.

In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs. Then grate the rid of half of the lemon and add it to the eggs. Because you are using the rind you have to check carefully if the rind is suitable to eat. If it is organic it probably is, hence I try to always use organic lemon. But even some non-organic lemons have a note on them saying that the rind can be eaten. If you use non-organic ones and it does not say anything I would be cautious and not use the rind. Then add the juice of half the lemon, the spinach and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything well and then add the fried potato and onion and mix.

If you like, once the omelette is cooked you can put it under a grill to make the top a bit brown. If you want to do this make sure that for the next step you use a frying pan or skillet that can be put under the grill. If you don't have such a frying pan, don't fret you can just leave the grill out altogether. It will do nothing to the taste.

Heat your frying pan over medium heat and add the oil if necessary. If you use the same pan that you used to fry the potatoes it is highly likely that you have enough oil in the pan. I usually do. Once the oil is hot add the mixture. Put a lid on the frying pan. If you don't have a lid cover it with foil. Cook gently until the egg is just set i.e. no longer soggy. The bottom of the omelette should not burn if you keep the heat on medium. It takes 10-15 minutes to set.

If you like you can now stick the whole thing under the grill to brown the top.

I served this with a fresh loaf of pumpkin seed bread and salted butter. It was a hit! But you could also serve it with a salad.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Chili

It's one of those days again. Parent teachers night together with the normal shuttling the kids to their normal after school activities. Added on to me wanting to finish the final book in Terry Prattchets discworld series. Well that is not happening tonight!

So I'm going for a single dish because we probably won't be able to sit down together as a family and eat it. Quick and easy mainly from cans. Not too big in the fresh veggie department although you could definitely substitute everything here with fresh stuff. It would just take longer (probably will taste better though).

Preparation time: 1/2 hour; serves 6-8 

Ingredients:

100 g	Onion
2 cloves	Garlic
360 g	Vegan soya mince
2 tbsp.	Oil
225 g	Red bell pepper (sub. w/capsicums or any other pepper)
2 cans	Tomatoes (dry weight 480 g)
1/4 can	Water
1 can	Black beans, drained (you could use kidney beans too) (dry weight 240 g)
1 can	Corn, drained (dry weight 285 g)
1 1/2 tsp.	Salt
1/2 tsp.	Pepper
1 tsp.	Chili powder
1 tsp.	Cumin, ground

Method:

This can be made very quickly and is great recipe to have when I'm stuck for time.

First dice the onion (or chop it, or cut it, or slice it!) and grate the garlic. Open up the soya mince and if it needs to be broken down, because it is all in one clump, do this now. The type I buy is in a clump and it is really difficult if you just put it in the pan and then try to break it up. The method that works best for me is to put the lump in a bowl and break it up with my fingers.

Then put a large pan on the stove on high heat. Once the pan is hot add the oil and then the onion and garlic. Stir all the time to prevent burning. 1 minute of frying should do. Next add the mince, reduce the heat to medium/high and fry it stirring occasionally.
While the mince is frying wash and dice the red bell pepper and add it to the frying pan. Keep stirring everything so that it does not burn.

While everything is cooking quickly open your tomato cans, roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan. Wash the cans out with 1/4 can of water and add this to the pan too. If you don't have canned tomatoes you can substitute with regular tomatoes of an equivalent weight. You should cut them before you start cooking though else you won't be able to get them to the pan quick enough to prevent burning. The redder your tomatoes the better your chili. Don't forget to stir to prevent burning. After about 3 minutes, once the bell pepper is sufficiently cooked add the rest of the ingredients. Stir and cook. You could take it off immediately or you could let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. If you let it simmer make sure that it does not burn by stirring it every now and then and adding more water if necessary.

You can serve your chili simply with bread, flat breads, rice or potatoes. We love it as a topping for baked potatoes together with sour cream, chives, butter and cheese. Or eat it out of a bowl as is. It's also a hit at pot lucks!