Tartine Brioche bread pudding

This weekend we set out to make our own bread pudding à la San Francisco's Tartine.
The brioche came from a bakery to save time (... if you live in Munich you can find it at the French stand in the Schrannenhalle or at Brot- und Feinbäckerei Neulinger, but you might have to order it in advance).

We made use of the blueberries that are everywhere right now; I'm assuming because it's summer in the Southern hemisphere.

This recipe would be great with any in season stone fruit or berries though.

The Tartine cookbook is nothing short of incredible and the recipes truly taste like the ones from the original bakery. They aren't incredibly fussy or difficult, but the results are something special.

[Here is Tartine's Savory bread pudding recipe and also their famed Morning Buns recipe, which I think we might try next.]

San Francisco

We opted to avoid the holiday travel chaos, which meant a delayed trip to the US.

This was the best option after having several airline mishaps in the years past - driving from Washington DC to Ohio on Christmas Eve three years ago, and nearly getting stranded in El Paso two years ago.

Thankfully this year the weather decided to also cooperate with us.

Before our biannual Ohio visit, we stopped in San Francisco for 5 days to visit our dear friends, Emily & Jeremy, and their new pup - Banjo.

Having visited San Francisco twice before, it was so nice to see the city from our friends' view points and to simply catch up more on life after Germany. We sure miss them.

San Francisco is a great city;  fog swept rolling hills, inventive restaurants, creative people, and a lot of high tech industries. The only downsides are the amount of homeless people and dog poo littered sidewalks.

There are also many public parks speckled around and warm weather year round to make it incredibly livable.

Oh, how we missed the variety of American food. The portions may be larger than in many places, but it's the best way to enjoy a meal - by sharing great company and delicious foods. We did a lot of eating and this is certainly the city for that.

A few of the restaurants we visited included:

Tartine ... this is the legendary pastry shop with long lines that are worth the wait.
Nopa ... for a great New Year's eve dinner
Umami Burger ... waygu burgers
Tacolicious ... I will dream about these tacos and margaritas for a long long time. They are perfection. The tuna tostadas were my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong.
Mosto... the tequila bar right next to tacolicious, making waiting time that much better.
Beach Chalet ... as close to a California beachside biergarten as it gets - with a veggie hops burger.
Tornado Pub ... an endless array of beers from around the world.
Mission Chinese ... this pop up restaurant has caused quite a stir and is now here to stay - don't miss it! The food is crazy good and the rap music is a hilarious blast from the past. The salt cod fried rice and the thrice cooked bacon were probably my favorites.

Bi-Rite Creamery ... delicious ice cream, which is extra sweet to enjoy in Delores Park with great weather in the middle of Winter. They also have an ice cream cook book coming out later this year! 

Chantal Guillon macarons... a touch of France in California. 

Ici ... (Berkeley) I'm not sure what the deal is, but sadly it was better the last time we went

Saigon Sandwiches .... Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwiches

If you are planning a trip check out the following:
Jamie Oliver's San Francisco tips... We visited many of his recommendations, although the magazine came out a month after our trip.
7x7 Big Eat List of 2012... plenty more restaurants to try
7x7 Big To-Do List... 100 quintessential San Francisco experiences

Not all of our time was spent eating... we also did a lot of walking. I always seem to forget - or mentally block out - how impossibly slow and archaic the public transport is even in the biggest US cities.

With the California sun shining brightly and only needing to wear a jacket I wasn't sure if I was in some sort of alternate reality. A heavy dose of sunshine in the middle of the Winter is really is amazing and was the perfect way to start the new year. Those year-round beaches are such a luxury, too.

Fort Funston ... this beach is so unique. Dogs and their owners stroll along, splash in the waves, and find little treasures washed ashore. I'd go to take it all in even if I didn't have a dog, but I really can't wait to get one.

Tilden Park... for incredible Bay area views and a nice nature stroll.

Street art... lots of self expression around town 

St. Mary's Cathedral... home of the "two o'clock titty", at two o'clock the sun's channels its own Mary Katherine Gallagher to give the church it's own perky bust. 

What a great place to start the new year. Even the fog couldn't hold those fireworks back this year. 

Tartine

While I actually prefer savory foods, I do have a weak spot for really well made pastries.

They tend to be time intensive to make and slightly difficult to pare down, which can be troublesome if I'm baking for just the two of us. Those factors never usually stop me.

A few months ago Emily and Jeremy sent us the kind of care package that makes your heart skip a beat. It was filled with many treats from home, handmade items, and the Tartine cookbook.

The morning after our arrival in San Francisco we stopped at the actual location to sample Tartine's legendary array of foods. Despite having ample time to decide due to a line that wrapped around the building, I felt overwhelmed deciding exactly what to get. Since there were 5 of us it helped in being able to sample and share, so we ordered a lot of food.

[Here's the Tartine Menu if you want to plan in advance!]

As we waited we saw the pastry chefs working their magic through the window. Sometimes I think it would be so much fun to be a pastry chef, while other times I have to remind myself the job doesn't only entail eating all day and baker's hours aren't great for someone who loves sleeping.

Not one thing we had was just mediocre. I loved all of it.

I'm really looking forward to putting that book to work until we make it back to San Francisco again. Hopefully I can achieve similar results! 

Here's a video about the dedication and passion that goes into it all from the shop's owner. 

Live the Language 2

Earlier in the year Live the Language released several videos that were so inspiring. They have followed up with Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Sydney.


Live the language - Sydney from EF Intl. Language Centers on Vimeo.

When is Munich going to be in the mix?!

We have so much to offer...

Viktualienmarkt
Pretzels, Beer, Weißwurst
The Isar River
Festivals (yes, Oktoberfest, too)
Biergartens
Walking the Olympic Stadium roof tops
Nude sun bathing at the Englischer Garten
Christmas Markets
Lakes
Skiing in the Alps

... and plenty more! I even know a few things first hand about living the language.

(thanks, Yagmur!)

pretty maps

Seeing this website just made me happy...

Aaron Straup Cope created a really neat website aptly called Pretty Maps. He has one for sale on 20x200 of lovely San Francisco.

You can also make maps on the site... here is one of Munich.

Another artist that is taking to the maps is Eric Fischer. His maps designate areas of the city that are visited by tourists vs. locals by using geodata from photo sites. People taking photos of the same city over a period > than a month = locals (blue), tourists (red), and uncertain (yellow).

Here is his from New York City. The Munich map isn't as exciting. Perhaps that's due to people like me that don't have photos on flickr.

(photos courtesy of : Aaron Straup Cope + Eric Fischer)

Jeni's

A long while back I read a list of the 10 best ice cream shops in the US. I've since visited 2 of them... Ici (in Berkeley, CA) and Jeni's (here in Columbus, Ohio). They are both incredible.

I have to be honest- I'm kind of envious of both places. How cool would it be to have an ice cream shop? Sometimes I jot down lists of potential flavors that would be a lot of fun to make.

Ici is owned by the former pastry chef of Alice Water's Chez Panisse and Jeni's is in the charming Short North area of Columbus, which has great murals featuring Grand Wood's American Gothic and the ubiquitous Mona Lisa. I bet you didn't realize Ohio is so cool!

Whenever I'm home I love to make a stop at Jeni's for her unique flavors and adorable shops. There is a lot of seasonal variety and many locally sourced products, too. Last night I went for a short visit with my friends Cat + Beth.

I ordered the 'study', which is 4 small scoops. My chosen flavors were: Pistachio + Honey, Wildberry Lavender, Goat Cheese with Cherries, and Meyer Lemon Blueberry. Believe me, it's not easy to decide.

My parents are savvy to my love of ice cream, so they surprised me with a Zoku ice pop maker. I'm looking forward to testing it out once we get back to Germany.

The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy

I read about the Secret Society at the San Francisco Chronicle and it just made me so happy.

It's great to hear about people doing good things, just because.

A few days ago I met with some friends and we were discussing how in Germany it's not typical to say excuse me, I'm sorry, or to hold the door for others.

If you do, it's typically met with a 'nichts (or in Bavaria nix) passiert' - "nothing happened". One person mentioned she thought this summed up the German culture, while someone else went as far as to tell me once I lost my manners I would be integrated into the German way of life.

3.5 years and counting and I refuse to let that happen, even if it gives me away as a foreigner.

It's really interesting how hesitant people become when you offer to do something nice. They instantly think there must be a catch.

German readers - don't forget today is the last day to enter for the Amazon.com 50€ gift certificate! Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite ways to save when you travel!

Max Wanger - Los Angeles

It's such a wonderful honor to be featured on 100 Layer Cake and Max Wanger's blog. Thank you Jillian + Max!

It was the perfect way to round out our trip and have some beautiful photos from such a special time in our lives.

Remember the subway dress that I fell in love with? Well, you can see it in some of the sneak peek photos.

Most of the photos were taken in Venice, California, while the roof top images were taken at the beautiful SLS hotel where we stayed during our fabulous time in Los Angeles.

Max and his lovely fiancée Margaux enjoy traveling too, so if you can't make it to LA they can always come your way. We're looking forward to crossing paths with them again - somewhere in the world!



(photos courtesy of the ultra talented Max Wanger)

organic

Whenever I go back to the United States I quickly notice the food differences. I go through this each and every time I return, but it never fails to catch me by surprise. Some ways I am pleasantly surprised -here in Germany the food is so meat and pork heavy (which I'm not a fan of), while other times I crave the produce stands and markets that are quintessentially European (and don't get me started on craving the cheeses).

My old roommate, Julie, just finished working with Americorps at an organic farm in Maine. I also worked in Maine - about 7 years ago, which is when I fell in love with it.

Julie would write to tell me about waking up early to go the farmers market and hanging out with the farm dog. I have a slight envy every time I hear about her adventures - not to mention the blueberries, lobster, puffins, and that gorgeous coast line. She has sent me so many postcards and little packages of things to let me know she's thinking of me, which is so very sweet.

If I had to cash in my city life, I really think I'd love to live on a farm. I know I have romantic notions of what it would be like, but the idea of eco friendly sustainability and having my hands in the soil sounds wonderful. I'm sure it's a thrilling feeling to know you can completely feed yourself on what you grow. Fresh ingredients direct from the plant have become such a luxury.

When we travel back to the Unite States, this winter, I would really like to check out the 'slow food movement' started by Alice Waters of chez panisse. I admire her because she has a fire in her home kitchen that she uses to cook and she encourages having an 'edible schoolyard' where she teaches children to interact with their food - to cultivate it and to be proud that they can grow things. It seems so empowering.

After first moving to Germany I saw a TV show here about the school children here that could not recognize vegetables. I'm not talking a rutabaga or kohlrabi (I didn't even know what that was until I moved here) - they couldn't even recognize carrots. It made me so sad to watch the children run up to the table with excitement when the were told they would able to take these fresh foods home. When they visited one child's home his mother talked about McDonald's and frozen pizzas. Nearly every child could differentiate which fast food restaurant something came from and what it was called. Is that not absolutely heartbreaking? To me it's important to learn how to cook, and to teach early on what healthy eating is.

The Whitehouse / Obamas tried to get in on having an edible landscape. It was planted on March 20th on the south lawn and was 1100 square feet organic herbs, fruits, veggies. The idea is great, but the soil was found to have very high levels of lead.

Sometimes I step back and really consider how much progress has been made and how much things have changed in the last century, but it comes with obvious disadvantages. People no longer need as many children to work on the farms. They've traded family for a faster pace of life and even then there are still population issues. Everything has gone prepackaged and people don't even take the time to feed themselves or their families healthily. Foods (meat especially) are injected with growth hormones. I listen to my friends whose parents are farmers and I know that it's not an easy job to be a small town farmer, especially now that factory farming has entered the game.

I really want to see the movie Food, Inc., which addresses these issues and more.

Although my sister, Stefan, and I went to Maine in March 2008, I dream of going back.

I'm very curious what types of foods I will be encountering through the next few months on our trip. I hope I don't come home too skinny!

(image: food, inc. poster - magnolia pictures)