Tortes of Austria

Cakes are a big deal in Austria. There are konditoreis (pastry shops) everywhere. And it would've been a shame to leave all those cakes uneaten at the end of a meal, wouldn't it?

Cakes at the Cafe Dommeyer:

From Austria

A particularly appetizing Erdbeer (strawberry)-Souffle Torte:

From Austria

The cake we actually ate at Dommeyer. It was a nutty chocolate layer cake. I can't remember the name though:

From Austria

Cakes at the Cafe Demel:

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

The last one is not a cake, but marzipan.

The official cake of Vienna is the Sachertoarte, which is this amazingly rich and dense chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam. It turns out that a while back there was an issue about its origins. Both the Hotel Sacher and the Cafe Demel claim to have invented it. So Sacher wanted it to be called the Sachertorte while the Deme wanted to call it the Demeltorte. Obviously Hotel Sacher won the lawsuit. Now Hotel Sacher now proudly drives their Sachertorte Van all over Vienna to deliver these delicious cakes:

From Austria

And yes, there are Sachertorte Vans. Apparently the tortes can be delivered all over the world. Best present ever? Perhaps.

And now Cafe Demel has to call their cake Demels Sachertorte. Sad.

From Austria

On my last day there, Chris and I finally shared a piece:

From Austria

It was amazingly delicious. The chocolate layer cake's texture was less moist than the conventional American chocolate cake and more crumbly. But the flavor was rich and chocolate-y but not overly sweet. The layer of apricot worked perfectly with the dark chocolate flavor despite my initial doubts about the flavor combination (I'm usually not a huge fan of fruit preserves with chocolate).

PS Let it be known that I will happily provide my mailing address should you feel the inclination to send me a Sachertorte.

Knodel

Austria is amazing. I want to retire there. I’m pretty sure I’ve had the best time of my life in that week after school. The scenery was gorgeous, the company wonderful, and the food was totally out of this world. Who know that eating nothing but meat and potatoes and cakes for a whole week could make this “crunchy” blogger so happy?

I guess I could start with all the meat that I ate, or the delicious cakes vying for attention behind every single konditorei (pastry shop) counter, or the kraut that they serve in buckets at markets. But nope, I’m going to write about balls of boiled white dough. I’m pretty sure this dish is going to be a staple of my diet as soon as I figure out how to make it. I swore that I’ll serve it every week in my future home and if my future kids don’t like it I will actually consider disowning them.

Seriously, knodels are amazing. They are just boiled dumplings (the Western kind) made of wheat flour or potato. My first real encounter with them was in the middle of my trip, when Chris and I spent the day walking through Tiergarten. By the time we reached the top of the mountain we were both starving. Conveniently, there was a restaurant right by serving traditional Austrian fare of slaps of meat with the usual sides. After sharing a bowl of barlasche (some kind of mustard green) soup, we both got our respective slabs of meat with sides. I got a plate of ham, kraut, and of course, the lovely knodel. Maybe it was just because I was hungry and could have eaten anything, but I think that was one of the best meals I had in Austria. It was simple but absolutely delicious. The ham was cooked perfectly and not dry or salty at all, the kraut was crunchy and flavorful, and the knodel was filling and tasty.

From Austria

From Austria

It must be something about mountains, because the second time I had knodel was also on a mountain, this time in the Alps. Chris and I had just escaped a potentially disastrous thunderstorm on the Alps by running into Thaur Alm, one of the cabins set up along the trails for the exact purpose of providing shelter against the unpredictable mountain weather. The fact that they served delicious knodel was a definite bonus. This time, both Chris and I got knodelsuppe, essentially knodel in a clear broth. I got the kaseknodel, which is a knodel filled with cheese, and it was delicious. Exactly what you need after racing through the mountains with a thunderstorm at your back.

From Austria

And it turns out that knodeln aren’t hard to make at all. All you have to do is to sauté some onions, mix in some breadcrumbs and milk and whatever else you want, shape them into balls and boil them. Perfect.

Chicken of the Woods

I keep meaning to write about my week in Austria, but I just keep forgetting with the crazy hours that I work in this lab. But meanwhile, I've been introduced to something else really cool.

The food at Mountain Lake Biological Station is comparable with Sharples, except with less variety. Today, after eating two stuffed pasta shells and the same spinach salad I've been eating since forever, I was looking for something else. And this was when two girls from the station brought in woks of these orange slices that looked like chicken stir-fry from far away. It turns out that they found a huge shelf fungus in the woods called chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus).

From Edacious Eatings

The fungus has the same texture as very lean chicken but is like most mushroom in that it tastes like whatever it's cooked in, which in this case, is salt, butter, and a little bit of garlic. It was super filling and super delicious. Look out for it in the woods!

Improving the midnight snack since 2009

The quality of living in Room 116 just improved. Vastly improved. Instead of scrounging around for leftover Tarble snacks when the midnight munchies hit, Carey, my roommate, and I, just make fried rice in our own room.

The idea was inspired by a not-so-recent article in the NY Times about using the rice cooker for more than just rice. As soon as I started to see the rice cooker as a wok in addition to a unitasker that only cooks rice, the possibilities became endless. The first idea, however, was a simple egg fried rice.

You start by making rice as you normally would:

From Fried Rice

Remove the rice, oil the pan if the bowl isn't non-stick, and turn the cooker back on:

From Fried Rice

Drop some eggs into the wok (the general rule of thumb is 1 egg per cup of rice, but this is a personal preference):

From Fried Rice

Add the rice back in:

From Fried Rice

Voila!

From Fried Rice

The fried rice in itself has infinite possibilities. Scallions, obviously, can be used to make it more flavorful. I've recently started to add peas and spinach into the rice as well for a more nutritious version. Or for a sweeter snack, adding cream and spices and sugar to some rice for rice pudding! Aside from rice, I was thinking of cooking other grains in it (perhaps quinoa, for a breakfast cereal?). I recently bought some quinoa and will let you know how that goes.

About effing time

Obama!

In which Helen eats and eats and eats... and forgets her camera

Last weekend Chris (!) came (!) to visit (!). And we ate so much good food that I hesitate to post about them without picture evidence. But nonetheless, the food and company was too good to not blog about.

Our first stop was Mixto, a Cuban/Latin restaurant near Market East station. There was a lot of meat on the menu, and unfortunately, after a bad experience with burger bar earlier in the week, I had to go for the only meatless option, a vegetarian platter. Chris, on the other hand, ordered Churrasco Argentino Con "chimichurri," a grilled skirt steak with a zesty herb sauce. The veggie platter was surprisingly good and hearty, with lots of roasted vegetables and plantains and little cheesy polenta blocs, and rice and delicious black beans. Chris' steak was flavorful and done to perfection. And the sauce that came along with it brightened the meat up considerably. Awesome.

The service at Mixto, however, was quite shoddy. As soon as we didn't order an alcoholic beverage, our waiter turned on us and did everything in his power to rush us out, ending with the act of bringing us the bill before I even had a chance to wonder about dessert. But, that turned out to be a good thing soon after, since the bitter, bitter cold brought us into the Naked Chocolate Cafe. We were much smarter this visit than our last and ordered only their delicious drinking chocolate. I got the Aztec, which was very robust and full of spices. But my order paled (both literally and figuratively) in comparison to the rich, dark, almost-pudding like European Bittersweet sipping chocolate Chris got. It was served in a little espresso cup and you had to use a tiny little spoon to "drink" it.

The next day we gathered up a large crew for dim sum at Joy Tsin Lau in Chinatown. Despite the fact that our options were not as varied as other larger establishments, the food was quite good. Lots of meat and shrimp, but light on dessert stuff -- there were no egg tarts! And like all dim sum experiences, you had to look very carefully for anything green to fend off that scurvy you've been worrying about ever since entering Swarthmore. Regardless, it was pretty cheap for so much food -- about 12-13 dollars for a bunch of ravenous college kids. Not bad.

After dim sum we went walking around in Reading Terminal Market, bought a half gallon of apple cider from the Amish and wondered around a bit. We pondered buying an ugly fruit for the next meeting of the society of exotic fruits, but decided against it. After that, we went to the Northern Liberties to possibly check out galleries and such. But the only gallery we found was one that featured an exhibition called the "Obamarama" and another called "Guilty Pleasures." The rest of our time was spent walking around this slightly run-down but charming little neighborhood filled with interesting little cafes and shops. We walked by a Paraguayan restaurant with featured a prominent sign that said "NO MICROWAVES." As we were looking, a man beckoned us in for a lesson on microwaves. Inside, we found a lady who told us about a study where they watered two plants (great sample size, eh?), one with cooled microwaved water and one with regular water (at least they have a control...). And lo and behold, the plant watered with microwaved water died within a week. Moral of the story -- don't go near microwaves! Duh. She also told us that a hot "baked" potato cooked using a microwave will ruin the molecular composition of your stomach, or something scientific sounding like that. She used the word "molecular," and I was immediately sold. But despite their silly "science," the menu to cafe looked really good. Maybe next time.

Anyway, a light dinner happened at Soy Cafe (2nd st), where we ordered two delicious and filling salads (I got the grapefruit avocado, Chris got the crab and seaweed). Their signature ginger miso dressing was some of the best I've had. Plus, the serving size of a very large mound of fresh veggies was the perfect thing after a meat-heavy dim sum meal.

We got back to Swat fairly early since I had to study for macro. And Chris left the morning after. Despite how short it was, the weekend was probably one of the best I've had this school year. Definitely need to get into Philly more often.

Ice and Snow

Sometime last week Swarthmore woke up to a day of wintery-mix. It was warm (well, warmer), foggy, humid, and raining. As much as the rest of campus complained, I stand by my opinion that it was wonderful. Everything was iced over and you can barely see anything.

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

The slippery snow looked perfect for sledding.

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

Even the bamboo outside Kohlberg fell and iced over.

But the weather changed for the (much) warmer yesterday. It was warm and sunny and spring-like. Being able to run in a T-shirt was spectacular, although the iced over sidewalks all through the borough was not.