If you’ve been hanging out at this blog for long, you know I’ve been quite intimidated by the yeast, and usually don’t care for baking…all that measuring and mess and waiting, typically not for me. Lately, I’ve been more adventurous.
So this 5 minute artisan bread was all the talk several years ago, the bread baking world nearly imploded with the widespread bandwagonism of 5 minute artisan bread. Everyone thought is was so great, everyone except me, who really didn’t give a rats ass because it still required…ugh, yeast, measuring, waiting…baking.
Now that I’m trying to expand my yeast, measuring, waiting, baking self, I thought I’d give it a go round. I dug up a recipe posted in the NY Times, the recipe was adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007).
It was surprisingly easy. My first loaf I made was small and it was perfect, yeasty, adorable, crusty, chewy. The second loaf, the one pictured, I made much larger. It ended up being a little bit doughier. I would have cooked it longer, except my stone broke…boohoo.
I would definitely make this over and over. The dough is good for two weeks, which is great. It does take way longer than 5 minutes. It takes 5 minutes to mix, 10 minutes to clean-up and you still have that whole rise and bake thing. But in the world of yeast breads, this one is right up my alley.
And now for something completely different. I’ve decided to take a break for the holidays. I struggled with whether I was going to post or not but I didn’t get my ass in gear and line some up to be scheduled. Also my family is visiting and I really like to focus on enjoying their company. So I’ll be mostly MIA until their gone. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday and is as lucky as me to have family or someone(s) special to share it with.
Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
Cornmeal
Instructions
In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).
Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.
Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.
Wednesday is the day that I post a black and white food related photo. This week, I’m getting in the Christmas spirit and sharing an ornament from my tree. My glass ‘chef’ ornament came from Germany. Did you know that the Germans were the first to create glass ornaments for the tree? And that Queen Victoria made them immensely popular when she had a of her glass ornament decorated tree in the London paper. The tree was decorated in glass ornaments in honor of her husbands home country, you guessed it, Germany.
If you are interested in seeing more culinary black and white photos or participating, head over to my hostess Susan’s site, The Well Seasoned Cook. Note: We are officially not doing anymore BWW till next year, but I did anyways (good practice for me).
Boy, have I been busy! Getting ready for Christmas, family visiting and the par-tays (of which I have one tonight), it feels like I have no time to do my blogging thing (I am hopelessly behind in my Foodbuzz inbox and Google Reader). What I did find some time for was making some hot cocoa mix.
I totally stole this from Monica at The Yummy Life (with permission). A couple of months ago I started following Monica’s blog when I got her as an assignment for Secret Recipe Club, she has great gift giving ideas and recipes. Two weeks ago I ran across her post for Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix. A perfect gift to give around here. Hot cocoa on a cold winter’s night, made for Montana!
Monica had a few stir in suggestions, I tried the cinnamon one and that was it. Chocolate, cinnamon, and a wee bit of cayenne made my kind of hot chocolate. Instead of suggesting the cinnamon as a stir in, I added it to the mix and called in Mexican Hot Chocolate.
I packed my hot chocolate mix in cellophane bags topped with marshmallows, tied them off and used a cinnamon stick and ribbon for decorations. I put the mix in some mugs that were on clearance or ones that were acquired from the dollar store, for a super inexpensive yet tasty gift. I didn’t get as fancy as Monica and print her labels or even bother to make my own printed labels, I just wrote on the back of a gift tag. It makes a great hostess gift!
Mexican Hot Chocolate
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-process recommended)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Add sugar and cocoa to food processor. Pulse until well-mixed. (Or, combine ingredients in large bowl and whisk until well mixed.) Add salt, cornstarch, cinnamon and cayenne; pulse until mixed. Add powdered milk; process for 20-30 seconds until well mixed. Transfer mix to bowl and stir in chocolate chips. Store in airtight container.
TO MAKE ONE MUG OF HOT COCOA:
Mix 3 tablespoons of the hot chocolate mix in an 8 ounce mug with hot water or milk and stir until mix is dissolved. Top with mini marshmallows if desired.
You may think that this is a strange title for a food blogger’s post. How could you hate cooking when that is what you obviously love to do? Come on now, with every job that we love there are things that we just hate about it too. Like parenting is great…when the kids are good, disciplining them sucks! Teaching is fun, grading hundreds of papers, not so much. Riding my motorcycle is a blast, washing it, well that’s why I married McGyver. Like all things in life that require the paperwork or some other dirty job, so goes my cooking…
Just for fun, here are the 9 things that I hate most about cooking:
1.The mess! Oh God, the mess. Dirty dishes, counters, stove, oven, microwave and don’t even look in my fridge. Stuff spilled on the floor. Burnt on, caked on, flour turned to glue on…help, I need a maid. I do clean up a bit as I go on but it’s probably because I keep hearing Gordon Ramsey’s voice in my head saying “this is an F-ing disaster”.
2.Putting the groceries away. Sit me down to make a menu and a grocery list, yes, please. Shop for food, I’m all over it. Hauling it home, sorting it and finding a place for it…no thank you. I’ve been practicing trying to twitch my nose like Samantha from Bewitched (after all I am a witch) so that they’ll magically all just get from my car and *poof* be put away…so far no success.
3.My kitchen is too small. Okay I said I wanted to downsize, I meant it really…then, three years ago. Now that the reality is here, I have to confess that it’s not as nice as it sounds. I have too much stuff to fit in my kitchen, hence trips out to the garage in below zero temps, china stored in the basement and other odd ball plates, props etc. stored in a hall closet. And more stuff than I care to have sitting out on the counters. Whenever poor McGyver or the Baby boy puts dishes away, it’s always “where does this go”? FYI, it’s amazing how hard it can be to find stuff in a small kitchen, it’s amazing where stuff gets ferreted away.
4.I hate to measure. I’m naturally an ‘eyeball’ person, and pretty good at it too. But that just doesn’t work well when you’re posting recipes or *ugh* baking. (I almost added baking to my list, but lately I ‘m enjoying it more). Can you imagine a recipe that says add a half palm full of chili powder? probably no workie. And what comes with measuring? More dirty dishes: wet ingredient measuring cups, dry ingredient measuring cups, measuring spoons, little spatulas to get the stuff out of the cups, shot glasses..(well, maybe only in my kitchen). Frankly I’d rather free pour into the pot or dump stuff in my hand then wipe ‘em off on my pants and call it good.
5.Things don’t turn out the way you planned. I seem to have an overinflated sense of my abilities…at times. I picture perfect looking dishes, layered cakes, the creamiest whatever, the fluffiest, prettiest, most eye appealing food ever. In my head I’m always hoping for the best crust, the juiciest meat, the most orgasmic food experience ever. Oh and while I’m at it…the perfect light for photographing it. Hello, reality check, not happening ever! (Even if it did, I’d find something not perfect about it).
6.I have expensive taste. I can’t afford myself. I drool over the finest ingredients, I want to travel to the edges of the earth and bring home the best of the best. Until this blog starts paying off or I win the lottery I never play, I won’t be using the best of the best anytime soon…heavy sigh!
7.I’m impatient. Which absolutely explains, numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 and why baking has been a tough love for me. What, wait for it to rise? Let it cool? I want it now, I tell you, NOW!
8.I don’t enjoy eating out as much. Seriously, you want me to pay how much for that when I make it better at home? Maybe I would feel different if I lived someplace that offered some fine dining, but considering my taste for the finer things I probably couldn’t afford it.
9. I am what I cook. I over compensate for not having the finer foods by having more of the really good comfort foods. I’m talking bacon, cheese, butter, BBQ, cocktails, etc. All this has equaled an expanding waistline (and other areas). I know, I know, I’m in total control of that part..maybe what I really hate is that I don’t have some miracle metabolism..all cooks should be gifted with one. Who knows maybe Santa will bring me one this year or at least bring me some willpower. Man, I need it!
Although there are several things that I just hate about cooking, next to my family it is still the love of my life. Recently I was talking with my baby boy, and he said that he thought that photography was my hobby and I said no, cooking is. He replied with this:
Photography is your hobby. Cooking is your passion.
It’s no secret, the Secret Recipe Club, reveal is one of my favorite blogging things. Amanda from Amanda’s Cookin is the brain behind all this. There are four groups, I am in group C which is hosted by the warm and friendly Angie of Big Bear’s Wife. Each month we get an assignment to secretly cook another bloggers recipe and than post it. It’s a great way to meet other blogger’s, especially some that you never would have thought about meeting.
For example, this month I was assigned Heidi, from Heidi’s Verden (World). Heidi is from Denmark, so her blog is all in Danish…no worries, she has a Google translate button. Within 30 seconds I was reading her blog. Man technology is awesome.
I was actually on the hunt for a good recipe to take to a Christmas party we were invited to. With that in mind, I honed in Heidi’s word cloud and picked up on what she seemed to cook the most of, seafood. A couple of her posts were about a guest meal she was preparing. In part one she served artichoke crème on little round crackers and salmon crème on fish shaped crackers (biscuits).
Serving the salmon on fish shaped crackers was so adorable, that settled it, I wanted to make salmon crème and serve it on fish crackers.
Problem is, I could not find a fish cracker (except tiny puffy little goldfish) anywhere. I was determined, so I decided to make my own. I began searching for a fish shaped cookie cutter, grrrr foiled again. Not to be outdone, I cut out a little paper fish and used that as my template.
I cut out 2 dozen little fish…I quit after that. Talk about tedious! Admitting a small amount of defeat, I cut up the rest of my cracker dough into little squares. Besides my fish weren’t nearly as cute as the ones Heidi used (insert pouty lip here).
The fish crackers may have been more work than I bargained for (and certainly weren’t as pretty as Heidi’s) but the Salmon Crème was excellent! As a matter of fact the Salmon Crème was to die for, in fact it was so good it never made it to the party…slap my hand! Heidi’s recipe called for 100g of smoked salmon; I used a can of smoked salmon, it was 176g. I adjusted the recipe to work with the can size and added a pinch of salt, otherwise I did nothing else different (except sprinkle some dried dill on top but that hardly counts).
Please head over to Heidi’s site, she has a lot of great recipes and it’s really fun to read the Google translations . Thanks Heidi for my new favorite way to eat smoked salmon.
Note: I got the cracker recipe from another blog, if you are interested in trying it out you can find it here.
Salmon Crème
1 can (6 oz./176 g) smoked salmon
1/2 tablespoon mildly grainy mustard
3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
3 teaspoons lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
Mix all the ingredients and pipe onto crackers (I used a food processor). Can be made 1 day in advanced and piped onto crackers just before serving.
For more Secret Club Recipe reveals, check out the links below.
In the world of olives, the poor California ripe olive has taken a back seat to the amazing olive selection at the olive bars that are so readily available now. Truth is, even with all the exotic olive choices I have (even here in Great Falls, MT), the California ripe olive will always hold a special place in my pantry.
Recently I did a post on Olives stuffed with Boursin and mentioned how I loved to put the giant pitted olives on my fingers and eat them right off the tips of my fingers, talk about real finger food. Besides being able to eat them off of my olive decorated fingers, California ripe olives have many other perks.
Let’s start with the fact that they are grown right here in the United States, when you buy them you’re supporting the good ol’ U.S. economy. What about the cost? They are ridiculously low in cost versus kalamata or other more exotic olives. Convenience? Can’t be beat, whole and pitted in sizes from small to jumbo and you can also get them sliced or chopped making them a snap to use in recipes.
For my ravioli, I capitalized on the convenience of the canned chopped olives and purchased wonton wrappers. Although the recipe itself looks like it may be a lot of work, with the help of a food processor you can make quick work of it and have the meal on the table in 30 minutes.
When I served this to my family, I didn’t see their faces the whole meal. they had their heads down, dishing up spoonful after spoonful, only coming up to say “you can make this again and again and again”. Anyone who has ever served food to their family knows that when they want something over and over, it’s a good recipe.
Using a food processor, mince onion and garlic until almost pureed. In a large saucepan over medium heat , sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomato sauce , chicken stock, wine , oregano, thyme and salt. Simmer 20 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the ravioli: set a large pot of water on to boil. In a medium bowl mix olives, mushrooms, and ricotta add salt and pepper to taste. Using a large melon baller or teaspoon, place a dollop of the olive filling into the center of the wonton wrapper. With your finger moisten all edges with water. Place a 2nd wonton wrapper over the top and lightly press on the edges to seal. Repeat until all the wonton wrappers and filling is used.
Drop ravioli into boiling water a few at a time (don’t crown or they’ll stick together). boil for 3 minutes. Place ravioli in a shallow bow and ladle tomato sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped parsley, grated parmesan and olives if desired.
Ugh, gift giving, it’s both a fun thing to do and an overwhelming task. Lets face it, some people are so hard to buy for. This year try sending them your love through their tummy.
I’ve put together a couple of homemade food gifts that super quick and easy to assemble. No special tools or crafty skills required! Please head over to Pig of the Month and check out my post on Homemade Foodie Gifts.
Way back in the 70’s when I was a little girl, not much shorter than I am now, my parents used to take my sister and I out to dinner. Sometimes it was Shakey’s pizza, or maybe a burger joint but every now and then they would take us out for Chinese. Going out for Chinese was fine dining in my little girls eyes.
The Chinese restaurants that I remembered were exotic and wonderful. At the entrance, on either side of the door, you would commonly find giant sized golden dragons or maybe Buddha’s to greet you. An indication of the riches you were going to find inside. We would always be met by some little old Chinese lady, (I’m pretty confident she was Chinese, back in the 70’s Chinese people worked in Chinese restaurants, now it’s a ‘fusion’). Then we would be escorted to a beautiful high glossed cherry wood table. The table would invariable be outfitted with a built in lazy-Susan, can you believe that…built in. Spin, spin, oops there goes the soy sauce.
My eyes danced around the room, soaking in Chinese art of dragons, maidens and koi all gilded in gold. Lanterns with red tassels hung from the ceiling, everything seemed so rich and wonderful. I could have sat at the table all day fantasizing about what its like to live in China.
Each place setting had a paper place mat, you know the one with the Chinese zodiac. I’d search out my birth year hoping that I wouldn’t be anything gross like a rat or a snake! In case you’re interested I turned out to be a snake, sounds very uncomplimentary. It’s not all bad though:
Characteristics: philosophical, organized, intelligent, intuitive, elegant, attentive, decisive…and this cracked me up: Women under the sign of the snake do well in housework but are irritable (Source).
My parents would drool and slurp over the menu. Ultimately we would get number something, the family meal for four. Pretty standard, egg rolls, egg drop soup, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and some kind of stir fry vegetable all served family style. In addition to our family meal my parents always ordered the Chinese barbeque pork (Char Siu). It would arrive thinly sliced on a plate with a trio of condiments in a small saucer: Chinese hot mustard, ketchup and sesame seeds. As you can tell, I grew up with very fond memories of Chinese food and of Char Siu.
Many years have gone by and it seems that my childhood Chinese dining style experience is more difficult to come by. Rather its been replaced with buffets and take-outs. I had to resort to learning to make it at home, one of the things I made at home was Char Siu, but I used a packet mix (this is straight from my pantry).
You can only imagine my excitement when I found out what the Daring Cooks challenge this month was,. Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!
It was a balmy38°F, here so I actually went out and grilled…it snowed the very next day. I was lucky to sneak in one last grill time.
Knowing how much my family loves Char Siu, I doubled the recipe, I was sure that we would get a little piggy with it, plus I wanted to freeze some. In the spirit of my childhood days, I also made Pork Fried Rice, with the Char Siu. Plus we had some sweet and sour chicken (not pictured), it was a frozen P.F. Chang package, it was surprisingly good.
I did not grow up eating Char Siu Bao, truthfully, I hadn’t really experienced them until 7 or 8 years ago when McGyver took me out for Dim Sum for the first time. It was love at first taste, the steamed buns were these wonderful soft pillows of dough stuffed with a barbeque pork mixture. While we lived in the Saint Louis area I got to enjoy these babies on a regular basis.
Now that we have located to the Northern tundra which happens to be the 22nd coldest city in the United States (true fact just found out today), there isn’t a Dim Sum place any where nearby. There may not be one in all of Montana for all I know. This challenge was a perfect opportunity for me to learn to make my own.
The Char Siu part was a breeze to prepare and cook but I have to confess that I had some trouble with the dough for the Char Siu Bao. My first batch was way to dry and tough. I let it rise anyways and gave it a go, but it just wasn’t working like it should. I redid the dough, the second time using only 2 1/2 cups of flour versus the 3 cups the recipe called for..ahhh perfection! No worries though, I fried the other dough and put some powdered sugar on it and viola, dessert.
Chinese Pick-up Sticks
Wednesday is also the day that I post a black and white food related photo. This week, to go along with my post, I did a still of Chinese chopsticks. The way they are arranged reminded me of the children’s game called ‘Pick-up Sticks’. Because I can’t resist a great pun, I titled the photo “Chinese Pick’-up Sticks”. I know, I’m killin’ you! If you are interested in seeing more culinary black and white photos or participating, head over to my hostess Susan’s site, The Well Seasoned Cook.
Note: The recipes below are the ones that were provided us, the few changes I made are in red.
1 pork fillet/tenderloin (roughly 1-1.5 pounds)
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon (3 gm) ginger, grated
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 ½ tablespoons maltose (you can substitute honey)
1 ½ tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine
½ teaspoon (2 gm) ground white pepper
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon (2 gm) five spice powder
½ teaspoon sesame oil ½ teaspoonpillar boxfew drops ofDuff red food coloring
(1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)
Trim the pork loin to remove fat and tendon and slice lengthways so you have two long pieces, then cut in half. By cutting the pork in to smaller pieces to marinate you will end up with more flavor some char sui. If you want to leave the pork in one piece you can do this as well. Place in container that you will be marinating them in (I used a zipper lock bag).
Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine. I placed my maltose in the microwave for a few seconds to make it easier to work with. Maltose is quite a solid hard sticky substance.
Cover pork well with ⅔all of the marinade mixture. Marinate for a minimum of 4 hours, I find it is best left to marinate overnight. Place the reserved ⅓ portion of the marinade covered in the fridge. You will use this as a baste when cooking the pork (I used the marinade left in the bag).
For all methods, let pork rest before slicing it.
Cooking Method 1 – Oven
Pre-heat oven to moderate 180˚C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cover a baking tray with foil or baking paper. Place on top of this a rack on which to cook the pork. Place pork on the rack and place in oven. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, basting and turning. Turn the heat up to moderately hot 200˚C/400°F/gas mark 6 for the final 20 minutes as this will aid the charring. Cook until cooked through.
Cooking Method 2 – Seared in pan & then into the oven
Pre-heat oven to moderate 180˚C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cover a baking tray with foil or baking paper. Place on top of this a rack on which to cook the pork. Place pork in a hot frying pan or wok. Sear it quickly so it is well browned. Remove from pan/wok and place pork on the rack and place in oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, basting and turning until cooked through.
Cooking Method 3 – BBQ
Place marinated pork loin on the grill of your BBQ, Cook on a medium heat, approximately 15 minutes, until cooked through. Be careful to watch that you don’t burn the pork. (The last 5 minutes I turned my grill on high, marinated and turned the pork repeatedly until I got a nice char.)
1 cup milk, scalded
¼ cup (60 gm/2 oz) sugar
1 tablespoon oil
¼ teaspoon (2 gm) salt
2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
3 cups (420 gm/15 oz) plain flour (I used 2 1/2 cups) (1 cup=240 ml, 1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)
Filling Directions:
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or pan. Sauté the shallots for one or two minutes until soft. Add diced char sui to the wok/pan and stir. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and sesame oil to the pork mixture, stir fry for one minute. Mix cornflour and stock together and then add to the pork mixture. Stir well and keep cooking until the mixture thickens, 1 or 2 minutes. Remove mixture from wok/pan and place in a bowl to cool. Set aside until ready to use.
Bun Directions:
Scald milk and then stir in sugar, oil and salt, leave to cool until it is lukewarm. Once it is the right temperature add yeast, leave until yeast is activated and it becomes frothy, about 10 – 15 minutes. Sift flour in to a large bowl. Add milk/yeast mixture to the flour. Bring the flour mixture together with your hands. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly elastic.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rise until it is double in size. This will take from 1 – 2 hours depending on weather conditions. Punch down dough and divide in to 20 equal portions. Roll each dough portion in to a 7 – 8cm (2¾ – 3 ¼ inches) round. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the centre of the round, gather the edges together at the top and place on a 8cm (3 inch) square of baking paper. Repeat until all dough has been used. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
Place buns in bamboo steamer, leaving space between the buns. Heat water in a wok until it is simmering and place steamers one on top of each other in the wok. Place lid on top bamboo steamer and steam for approximately 12 minutes.
Last week I posted Day 8 of our journey, we ended up in Italy and stayed in fabulous hotel, and I had one of the best dining experiences. Today is Day 9 and we make our way into Switzerland, we’re heading to a hotel that we just happened upon the year before. We also continue to work on our “ABC’s of Touring” (completing the alphabet with town/country names). If you are just now joining our journey, you can catch on our prep days here and here, and days one, two and three, four, five, part 1 of day six, part 2 of day 6, day 7 and day 8 by following the links.
Wednesday July 2, 2003
McGyver was up all night. Bad food, virus, whatever he got the “Italian” revenge. Tis is the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in so far and McGyver spends all his time with the porcelain. We’re not sure if we’ll make Oetz today with both of us tired and McGyver not feeling well – the sun is out, the wind has died down – we’ll see how it goes.
First order of business was to get some meds. We went down the road to the local farmacia where the entire geriatric population of this town seems to congregate in the morning. You can’t just grab a product “over the counter” style you have to have the pharmacist pick it out for you. It was too hot and smelled of old people for me to hand in there-hope McGyver makes it out okay.
Off we go, we gas up and head for Switzerland. We are hoping that there will be good signs for both countries. Not all the borders have signs and some of them are located in too dangerous of an area.
After a dozen or so turns in a 5 mile stretch we hit the Autobahn. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. right through farm country with mountains on either side of us. We passed Milan on the ring (ronda) road then off to Switzerland. Again no sign so we talked the border patrol into letting us have a picture in front of the Italian and Swiss customs offices. We bought our Autobahn pass, 30 Euros just to drive through Switzerland.
It was up through the Alps, our most picturesque ride yet. As soon as McGyver mentioned it was going to get cool, the temperature dropped at least 15 to 20 degrees. It was a long slow ride up through the mountains but it gave us plenty of time to enjoy the view.
We stopped in a small town for lunch and had some good ol’ schintzel (German comfort food). We gassed up and made our way to Lichtenstein, we went through a myriad of tunnels and passes. One tunnel was about 10 miles long.
We saw a turn off for Lichtenstein and rode down the bike path of a bridge to get a snap shot, then we turned around and saw a great sign for Switzerland and drove down the bike lane on the other side for another photo.
We stopped Vaduz where the Prince of Lichtenstein lives. We visited his personal wine cellars, tasted the wine and left with a couple of bottles. We had 28.20 Swiss francs to spend and thought that was the best way to get rid of it. We missed our exit for Austria but got back on track with minimal problems. Again no sign, so we pulled over at the border and the guards let us take a picture of the painted flags/crest on their door.
That last leg, for the day or the trip always seems the longest, and this was no exception. We rolled into Oetz about 6:00 pm. We didn’t have reservations but were hoping that the Post Hotel had a room. We stayed here over a year ago when we were coming back from the European H.O.G. Rally in Italy. It was such a great place that we knew we wanted to return but never thought we would.
It is a 4 star hotel but has been the cheapest so far at 54 Euros. We got a room, brought up the gear, changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool. The pool was equipped with a Jacuzzi and jet sprays that took the days weariness out of us. We went back to the room, changed and went to the restaurant for some beers and a great dinner.
As a child of the 60’s and 70’s, Jell-O was a regular part of my life. There was nothing strange about an oddly colored gelatin molded with weird looking fruit, vegetables and even meat in it.
There wasn’t a family, church or funeral gathering that was complete without a molded Jell-O salad. As a child I kind of liked Jell-O, I did not like weird Jell-O salads. Even at that tender age, I knew that it wasn’t quite right.
Bill Cosby himself couldn’t convince me that there was anything good about Jell-O gelatin salads, even if his sweaters often matched a Jell-O salad mold. Now Jell-O pudding….that’s an entirely different story.
As I grew up I pretty much figured that Jell-O was for small children, people with no teeth and hospital patients. Even with the adaptation of Jell-O into Jigglers, I wasn’t that impressed (although the idea of playing with your food is tempting). It also seemed to be a food better suited to the trailer park than your average home.
Many, many moons ago a friend of mine made a pretzel Jell-O salad and I actually enjoyed it. I got the recipe, filed it away and forgot about it. I recently rediscovered it and thought why not? I am certainly not a food snob, as reflected in my post Redneck Breakfast Sandwich.
I decided to update the recipe, attempt to give it a little sophistication. Maybe I could help shred some of the Jell-O salad’s bad rap? My vision was a layered salad with a pretzel crust, a sweet cream cheese layer topped by mixed berries suspended in Jell-O, but still molded. I turned to my spring form pan to help out. I was a bit afraid that the Jell-O portion would run out of the spring form so I lined it with parchment paper.
I chose parchment paper over foil because I wasn’t sure how aluminum foil and gelatin + fruit would react. Remind me to work on that chemistry degree… The parchment paper was not ideal, the sides were too crinkly/wavy. I also think I was a little too impatient and poured my Jell-O fruit mixtures into the pan too soon.
In retrospect I would skip the parchment paper all together, wait longer for the Jell-O to be more set or double the pretzel crust and push it up the sides. Regardless if my vision came to fruition, the Jell-O salad was worth revisiting. In fact it’s more of Jell-O salad dessert with it’s salty and sweet combo than a side.
It also happens to be a very pretty color, it would make a perfect holiday celebration dish. For your next family gathering, try going retro (it is the in thing) with Jell-O salad.
Note: I used frozen berries, but fresh could be substituted if they are available to you. The original recipe called for a 9×13 pan which can be used instead of a spring form pan.
Pretzel Jell-O Salad
2 cups crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 large box, strawberry Jell-O
2 cups pineapple juice
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup Bing cherries
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 8 oz. container whipped topping (like cool whip)
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12” spring form pan if desired… Mix crushed pretzels, sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Press the pretzel mix into the bottom of the pan, bake on the middle rack for 10 minutes. When done let cool completely.
In a small saucepan bring pineapple juice to a boil, add fruit and return juice to a boil. Stir in Jell-O until Jell-O completely dissolves. Chill until set but still pourable. Meanwhile with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth, add whipped cream and beat on low until well blended.
Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over pretzel crust, top with Jell-O and fruit. Refrigerate until completely set (I like to chill mine overnight).
. Thanks Heidi for my new favorite way to eat smoked salmon.
zodiac. I’d search out my birth year hoping that I wouldn’t be anything gross like a rat or a snake! In case you’re interested I turned out to be a snake, sounds very uncomplimentary. It’s not all bad though:
