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.]

Cookies + Markets

One thing I desperately miss about the US around the holidays is how everything centers around food.

It's an excuse to gather, to enjoy, and to eat a bit more than usual with pot-luck style meals and cookie exchanges.

Here people tend to do it all on their own.

I'm always impressed when we visit Stefan's family and there are an array of different cookies all meticulously put together and perfectly bite sized. His Mom has a legendary fondue, which has become a fantastic family tradition, too.

Each year I think I should organize a cookie exchange, because I love variety, but the holiday chaos usually gets in the way. It gets a little trying to make an array of cookies on your own. This year Stefan joined me for a glühwein and evening of baking, which was a lot of fun.

I try to make new recipes, old favorites, and learn some German varieties with lebkuchen and the standard Mürbeteig base.

There seems to be a distinct difference from celebrating in Germany and the US. As with many things I wish that I could meld the two together.

Here people celebrate oftentimes outside and away from their homes. They gather with strangers, neighbors, and friends for Christmas markets and festivals.

The US is a bit commercial with a strong emphasis on gifts, family, and individual traditions.

If we ever move away from Germany I'm certain we'll have an annual Christmas market party - complete with lebkuchen, glühwein, spiced nuts, spätzle, open fires, and undoubtedly our own traditions thrown in.

Here are a few photos from the Tollwood festival, which is an enormous organic around the world style Christmas market, similar to Yellow Springs back home. It takes place on the same grounds as Oktoberfest.

We had some incredible schupfnudeln and spätzle, which came in edible dishes. Isn't that ingenious? 

...and of course our fair share of feuerzangenbowle, which a glühwein with rum over pressed sugar that is then lit on fire. 

Gift guide: Cooking

1. Belkin Kitchen stand & wand for tablets - makes digital recipes easy to view even with messy hands.

2. Wesco Grandy bread box - keeps bread fresh and has a great retro design. We have this and love it. 

3. Bew Kitchen Mat - multipurpose mat for drying dishes or keeping bowls from sliding while mixing.

4. Crate & Barrel cheese and cracker server - an excellent way to display and serve. 

5. Weck canning jars - for storing, canning, or baking. 

6. Ring molds - make a variety of cakes at once.

7. Schnaps decanter - a great hostess gift 

8. Triple slow cooker - for entertaining or a variety of meals 

9. Sous Vide water cooker - home cooking with gourmet results

10. Thermapen - temperature precision for grilling and pastries

11. Adjustable rolling pin - great for pastries and pizza for uniform baking. 

12. Table top pizza oven - fun for entertaining and crisp crust pizza.

Pierre Hermé Macarons Cookbook - in English!

I can barely handle my excitement, because in just over a month Pierre Hermé's famed macaron book will be released in English.

Right now it's available for pre-order, which I of course did immediately. It will be so nice to create those beautiful and exquisite little pastries between trips to Paris (or London, or Tokyo).

This little Lékué DecoMAX is a great reusable way to pipe them out uniform sizes.
(If you live here in Munich, I've seen them available at Kustermann.)

Here is a listing of flavors.

[ETA: Here are some tips and the raspberry macarons I made using Pierre Hermé's recipe.]

Sweet Corn + Blackberry Ice Cream

We made our first batch of ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's cook book. The book is split into four parts according to season, so I chose to began with Summer's first recipe: Sweet Corn and Blackberry.

The results were absolutely wonderful. We're already looking forward to trying the next flavor, although it takes quite a bit of time to make our way through an entire quart of ice cream.

A variety of her recipes are available online, including the following flavors:

Vanilla Bean
Pistachio
Mint Ice Cream
Cherry Pit Ice Cream
Lemon Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Melon Sorbet
Sour-Cherry Lambic Sorbet

In Munich, we are fortunate to have excellent green grocers (my favorite being Gretel's). We also have the 'egg man' that brings fresh eggs to the city from Niederbayern every Friday, but incredibly these ice cream recipes don't use eggs.

Finding many of the other ingredients took a bit of work. Rather than using cornstarch or corn syrup, I opted to use tapioca starch and glucose.

Tapioca starch or flour can be found at the Asian grocery, while glucose can be found at some pharmacies or it's possible to make with traubenzucker. The glucose helps to add elasticity, but it isn't necessary.

jamie

Stefan and I love to cook together on the weekends. For my birthday I received a subscription to Jamie Oliver's magazine, which is phenomenal. From the recipes to the fonts, stories, photos, and city guides - it's hands down one of the nicest publications out there. I love it even more because we get to spend time together and enjoy the delicious results.

The great news is that it's also now available in German.

Oddly the first issue they translated is a year old.

Both issues have Italian themes and next month's English issue will be about Marrakech, which he's also previously done. There are so many other types of cuisine that I'm hoping he covers, too - like Indian, Asian, Mexican, French, German...

Maybe next month I'll find some more recipes to use my Moroccan spices.

[images courtesy of: Jamie Magazine Ltd. and Gruner + Jahr AG & Co.]

Spices

Since I've been cooking up a storm recently I wanted to reorganize my spices so they weren't taking up so much space and so they would be more uniform.

I first saw this idea on delicious days, however I modified it to suit our needs - changing up the colors of the labels so I could categorize differently and typing up each spice's name in both German and English.

These are the spice tins. They are perfect, because they are light safe, air tight, have screw on lids, and you can put expiration dates on the bottom. Now I can just grab the ones I need for my recipes and get cooking.

I ordered 60, so I can always create my own mixes or have a home for the new things I pick up in far away cities. We bought loads of Moroccan spices while we were in Marrakech, and now they are perfectly nestled in my drawer with my kitchen scale and the rest of my collection.

Persian Love Cake

We have had so much going on recently, but I've still managed to make time to make home cooked meals each night, which I really love.

Lately I've been making a lot of Indian inspired foods including this beautiful Persian Love Cake in honor of the pending Valentine holiday.

The flavors are very interesting: cardamom, rose water, lemon, saffron, and pistachio. I added some heart healthy pomegranates, too.

It's such a luxury to have good food, made from scratch, and to try new recipes that remind me of places we've been.

This is definitely a good recipe to surprise your sweetie with or to make yourself as a sweet and exotic treat.

Elisen Lebkuchen

Since not everyone is able to make it to Munich for the markets I translated this recipe and made a cute little card to match, so you can have some German Christmas cookies, too.

I've made these several times and Stefan claims they taste like his Oma's, which is clearly a good sign. Best of all they don't have flour or hirschornsalz (baker's ammonia) in them.

The illustrations were so much fun to draw. I'm working on a second edition of my cookbook and debating if I want to do use them as opposed to photos.

I'll post a recipe for homemade glühwein in the coming days as well... homemade is the way to go. The only trouble is it tastes better than most at the Christmas Markets, but the ambiance and warmth keeps drawing me back.

Thanksgiving + Lebkuchen

With the holidays quickly approaching we had a jump start on Thanksgiving, since we are unable to celebrate on the actual day. I decided to surprise Stefan with a small feast when he came home from work and I made everything on my own from scratch.

This was the menu:
Spinach Salad
Pumpkin Apple Soup
Apple + Onion stuffing
Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce
Whipped Sweet + Mashed Potatoes
Chestnuts
Turkey

...and dessert consisted of Pumpkin Delights sent from my parents in the US. I kind of ran out of time to make a dessert, because I've been trying several lebkuchen recipes.

So far they have all been relatively successful.

The biggest problem is storing them for several weeks so the flavors can intensify, because I keep making cookies and they are continually disappearing. I guess that's a good sign.

I'm planning on heading up to Nürnberg sometime during their Christmas Market to get some of their flourless cookies, which are fantastic. My flourless version are slightly less picturesque, but at least they taste good.

Gift guide: Cooking

I love giving gifts and the past couple years I composed gift guides with ideas for the holidays.

Here are some of the interesting cooking related things I've seen throughout the year.

There will be several more gift guides in the coming days and weeks.

1. Dr. Bird Juicer - A pretty hummingbird juicer to add some excitement to the mundane. (image imm)

2. Microplane Herb Mill - Quick and easy way to add fresh herbs to anything, plus fresh herbs smell delightful and I love microplane. (image microplane)

3. Lékué Decopen - This is a modern take on a decopen and had 4 interchangeable brushes, so you can make your meals look like the professionals. I like to write notes to Stefan on the edge of his plate. (image Lékué)

4. Quirky Waffler - This is in the pre-sale phase, because it was developed by an inventor. The waffle machine makes tiny cups, which can be filled with fruits or other breakfast delights. (image Quirky)

5. Jeni's Ice Cream - One of my favorites, and from my home state no less, is Jeni's Ice Cream. Even if Ohio isn't nearby you can order a few pints to have delivered. It's worth the splurge at the holidays and people tend to share edible gifts... (image Jeni's Ice Cream)

6. Carol Keys Measuring Spoons - Simple, yet beautiful and functional accessories to use while baking. (image imm)

7. Grass Holder - A fresh and beautiful place for letters or dishes. (image plastic land)

8. Norpro Bread Forms - An easy way to make canapés and shaped loaves of bread. (image Norpro)

9. Melamine plastic plates - 'Paper plates' that are great for a picnic or everyday use and recyclable as well. (image One Hundred 80 degrees)

10. Menu Stackable Cookware - Made by Christian Bjorn, these stackable oven dishes allow you to cook many things at one time and can go straight from the oven to the table. Form and function unite. (image A+R)

11. Bunny Dishrack - Chris Koens created this adorable dish rack, which would brighten anyones kitchen. (image design-3000)

12. Apron Cooking Guide - This is a great gift particularly for someone that lives abroad or does a lot of converting. (image John Caswell)

Happy gift giving!

Kumato

I'm always intrigued by unique foods from places I visit. I really try not to let living abroad become common place and I still find the odd thing that's new or exciting. The trend in Germany seems to have products 'nur für kurtze Zeit' (only for a short time), so I try not to fall in love with anything.

Thankfully I have been able to find these Kuamtos both this year and last. The first time I saw one I was intrigued by the color, which ranges from brown to green. They are firm, but flavorful, which makes them great for sandwiches and salads. The seeds easily scoop out and resemble a strawberry. Most surprising of all is they aren't genetically modified.

absolutely beautiful

I've been loving Jamie Magazine since I was sent a copy by a friend.

Being a book lover I appreciate the luxurious feeling of the uncoated pukka paper mixed with the photos from David Loftus and the incredible fonts. It certainly makes for an insanely gorgeous magazine.

Unfortunately I haven't found the magazine here in Germany - even at the international booksellers. (I found this magazine here in Munich. You can purchase it at the Hauptbahnhof International Magazine shop for 10.50€)

Stefan enjoyed reading it too, and I'm all for anything that encourages him to cook with me! I may just have to get a subscription from the UK.

You can flip through some of the back issues here.

In case you are interested, here is a list of some fonts that are in the magazine:

Monte Carlo Script NF
woodtype URW D
Fedra Serif B
Quimby Mayoral, which I purchased today!
Soho Gothic
Meta Hairline

We'll be heading back to London in May and have already made reservations at the River Café, where he was a sous chef. I can't wait for a great meal and to pick up his newest magazine!

If you're in the US, you can even check out the Food Revolution and sign his petition for healthier school meals.

Message Cookies

Remember my adorable cookies for my brother in law Uli's birthday?

It looks like Williams Sonoma now has a similar cookie cutter set that allows you to personalize your cookies, so they are now available stateside! I saw them in the stores, although it says they are unavailable online right now.

Evidently they also had a Christmas set. The only advantage to the German press is that it comes with a small stamp, so you can imprint any cut out as opposed to needing to be used with special cookie cutters to hold the ultra tiny letters.

If you stop by the store, you might want to check if they have my other favorites for animal crackers, which again I saw in stores but not online.

I just love them both!

As for a cooking tip - chill the dough before cutting it, so the letters / animals retain their shape.

(images Williams Sonoma)

Gift guide: Cooking

Last year I composed a gift guide with ideas for the holidays. Since I am gone for the holidays this year I decided to prepare this in advance (September 09), so apologizes if items are no longer available.

I had to get an early start on holiday shopping, so I figured I might as well share my finds.

Just as last year there are a variety of items at various price points, so there's something for everyone in every budget.



1. Ziploc style candy bowl - This is a cute gift for a candy lover and since it's made of glass it's reusable. (image perpetual kid)

2. Sommelier glasses - These add a bit of tongue in cheek sophistication to enjoying a glass of wine. (image Area wear)

3. Filigree cuckoo clock - A modern take on the famed German style clock. It's also made here in Germany. (image North Coast Imports / Ingolf Haas)

4. M cups - Cute nesting measuring cups that take on the matryoshka form. (image world wide fred)

5. Wine bottle thermometer cuff - an inexpensive and simply solution to figuring out the proper temperature each type of wine should be served at. (image catching fire flies)

6. iittala cookware - These beautifully designed pans are not only stylish, but also function wonderfully. (image iittala)

7. cheese knives - Colorful cheese knives that take the guess work out of figuring out which type should be used for a variety of cheeses. (image patina stores)

8. glass beverage bottles - Add simplicity and sleekness to all the drinks in your refrigerator - or keep one next to your bed. (image Crate and Barrel)

9. vinyl Lace place mats - a delicate and dainty way of sprucing up any table top and they are kid friendly and easy to clean up. (image dream in plastic)

10. IKEA fusion table - This table is great for small spaces and apartment living. (image IKEA)

11. Goldfish trash bags - Anything to make taking out the trash more fun... and you never thought trash could make you smile. (image perpetual kid)

12. Gaggenau Oven - A ceramic based oven that lowers to counter top level while keeping heat in the oven.

Again, I continue to do a lot of my shopping in the US, simply because I can mail things directly to people there and not deal with wondering if Deutsche Post is going to lose something again. (I apologize in advance to international readers, however some of these companies may ship internationally.)

There will be several more self published gift guides in the coming days or weeks.

Happy gift giving!

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)

Cooking with Beer

Since beer is plentiful and wonderful here in Munich, I often try to find new ways to cook with it. In this recipe I decided to combine it with another love of mine - cheese.

(click the image to enlarge recipe)

While fondue isn't typically thought of as a summer dish, this is not incredibly heavy and does not need to be served super hot. If it becomes too thick, simply add a bit more beer while on the stove.

I also used an herbed salt for a bit more flavor, but it's an easily adaptable recipe and leftovers can be eaten cold the next day.

If you live in Germany, I highly recommend it with the Provence style potato wedges in the freezer section - they are excellent.

animal crackers

I saw these cookie cutters and instantly loved them. Unfortunately they were only available at Williams Sonoma in the US.

My ever loving sister picked them up for me and I finally got to try them out. I made traditional animal crackers, which were another first for Stefan. My next mission will be making some that are savory.

The results are absolutely adorable.

Independence Day

Our day began with American spirit - both in clothing and in shopping.

We stopped at IKEA so I could get a frame for my new letterpress print, which is simple and inspiring.

I came prepared for their ice cream and brought my red, white, and blue sprinkles along to spruce things up. I can't think of a better breakfast.

At the grocery I needed to pick up a few last minute things for the weekend and I was beyond excited to find corn on the cob, which seems to be a rarity here.

Stefan kept commenting how delicious it was and I had to remind myself that there are quite a few foods that we both associate with family events or holidays that are entirely new and foreign to each other.

It's still unbelievable to me that he'd never had corn on the cob before.

Lunch, dinner, and left overs were, and still are, plenty. In addition to the corn on the cob, I made: baked potato salad, deviled eggs, fruit salad, wasabi crusted tuna, and an oreo dessert.

It was nice to talk to family celebrating at my Grandma's house. She sure was being the jokester and answered the phone saying, "city morgue, you stab `em we slab `em" as she hysterically laughed. It's good to see she was having such a great time and her sense of humor is alive and well.

Between serenading me with various patriotic songs, Stefan asked if people exchange gifts on the 4th. I gave him my smarmy response - the best gift of all, time together.

Hopefully your 4th of July was wonderful as well, even if you weren't celebrating the American way.

Lemon Flowers

The past week has been extremely trying and eventful for all the wrong reasons, however I am trying to stay positive.

You know the old saying of life giving you lemons and making lemonade... instead I made cute 'tarte au citron' cakes that look like flowers.

Things can only get better from here (hopefully!).