Sheer Delightful Gluttony - Demel

I was lucky enough to be with Holly for her birthday while she was on her year-long round-the-world trip, and since we were going to be in Vienna staying with her friend Kristin, I knew we had to go to a konditorei - a cake and coffee shop - for a slice of celebratory cake.

After a long and lazy morning, we headed to the centre of town to do a little sight-seeing beforehand. We wandered through the streets behind the Hapsburg palace but it was a terribly dreary day. Then it started to rain so we didn't really have a choice but to head inside to Demel.

Demel is the place in Vienna for a slice of cake. It's where the well heeled go for their afternoon kaffee und kuchen - coffee and cake. It has been around since 1786 but didn't become Demel until 1857 when the original owner's son sold it to his first assistant, Christoph Demel.

We started with a bowl of goulash to warm us up, and though I haven't eaten a whole lot of goulash (sorry, I didn't get a picture), I can say definitively that this was excellent.

When I was in Vienna two years ago, I went to Demel everyday for a treat and one of the cakes I really wanted to try was the Anna Torte. I couldn't quite bring myself to skip lunch for a fifth day in a row for a slice of cake, so I decided I would just have to come back one day and try it then.

Well, that slice was worth the wait. The Anna Torte is a chocolate sponge cake layered with a chocolate truffle and covered in an amazing chocolate-hazelnut fondant layer that they sculpted over the top of the cake. I also got a mélange - an espresso-based drink that I still don't understand in what way it is different from a latté, all I could tell was that it was the cheapest of the coffees.
Holly decided to go for a classic Austrian dessert - the Apfelstrudel, a very thin pastry filled with apples, cinnamon and raisins. I got to see a demonstration on how to make it, and I tell you, it's not easy. Just check out Hilary's struggle with it! Holly had a chili-spiced hot chocolate to go with her apfelstrudel and we wiled away our afternoon being a little gluttonous and exceedingly happy.

Demel
Kohlmarkt 14
A-1010, Vienna
Austria
+43.1.535.17.17.0
Open daily 9 am to 7 pm

Dobostorte - The Real Thing

While Holly and I were exploring the beautiful Castle Hill in Budapest, we inevitably needed to stop for a snack. I was particularly pleased to see that the afternoon coffee and cake ritual I had experience in Austria a couple of years ago extended to Hungary.

We turned a corner and found Ruszwurm, a cute cafe with old world elegance - dark wooden chairs and tables and lace doilies never go out of style in this kind of establishment. It opened in 1827 and has been making treats ever since (though it was closed between 1922 and 1960). I was particularly excited to try a slice of Dobostorte. I needed to try the real thing after my own particularly extravagant shortcomings when I attempted to make the dessert.

I have to say, I think I actually did a pretty good job in comparison. This one had much more chocolate flavour than my own, and I liked the caramel on this one better, but really, I got the basics. I gave myself a little pat on the back and sat back and enjoyed.

Make You Banana Pancakes

After four intense days in Munich, Holly and I headed to Budapest to discover the city Josh hasn't been able to stop talking about in the two and a half years that I've known him. It was beautiful, just like he said, and full of an incredible history, which adds to its romance.

But what was really beautiful about the city was the fact that we'd found a room in an apartment to rent for the few days we were staying there, which meant there was a kitchen and we could cook again! And then I got Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes song in my head, and really, when that happens, what can you do but make some?
Not having proper measuring cups, measuring spoons, or a cookbook wasn't going to make it easy, but this kind of thing is all about proportions, right? And a tiny bit of extra baking powder isn't going to make that much of a difference in the tastiness of the things, right?

So we picked up the smallest package of flour we could find, along with a little pouch of baking powder (they sell it in little pouches in Europe! Sorry I didn't get a photo), and a couple of pats of butter that they sold individually at the grocery store. Along with the eggs, milk, sugar and banana we had back at the guesthouse, I set to work making the batter the night before.

I've heard that letting pancake batter sit for a while before using it makes a difference. Does anybody know why? Does it change the texture? I was just doing it to save a little time the next morning - we had places to visit, you see.

Lucky for me, there was a period of time in my third year at university that I made pancakes on a pretty regular basis, so I still had the recipe memorized. I used it as the basis for my 'pancakes on the fly in Budapest' recipe. Using what I presumed to be an 8-ounce cup, along with a teaspoon from the cutlery drawer, I muddled my way through.

They turned out better than I'd hoped. Despite making pancakes more times than I can count, I never really got them right, I'm embarrassed to admit. They never puffed up right, and we're always slightly undercooked in the centre. Oh, I'm turning red just typing this. It really is kind of pathetic. And the thing is, I was pretty sure it was because of my own impatience. I'd put the heat up too high, which made them cook too quickly, so I'd have to flip them before they were really ready for it.

Well, I've finally tamed my impatience and turned down the heat. I waited for the edges to dry, for a few bubbles to show up in the middle of the pancakes, and then flipped perfect fluffy golden cake after perfect fluffy golden cake. I think Holly was pretty happy with the results!

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Banana Pancakes on the fly in Budapest
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk, approximately
1 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 well-ripened banana, well mashed
Butter for the pan

Note: Because I made these without using a proper measuring cup, I made sure to use the same cup for all of my measurements to ensure the proportions were correct. The above recipe should work if you have the right tools, but the instructions I've included below follow the method I used in Budapest.

Combine flour, baking powder and sugar in a small mixing bowl. In your 8-ounce cup, crack the egg and beat lightly with a fork. Top up the cup with the milk until it's just under a cup and mix in with the egg. Add in the butter.

Mix milk mixture with flour mixture until well combined. Add the mashed banana and mix until banana is evenly distributed. The batter should be thick enough that it doesn't stream off the spoon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove pancake batter from fridge so it can return to room temperature. Heat a large frying pan over medium-low heat. If you put a couple of drops of water in the pan, they should bounce slightly and then evaporate when the pan is ready. If they evaporate really quickly, turn down the heat.

Add a little butter to the pan to grease it. Again, your pan is too hot if the butter begins to brown. It should take a few seconds to melt and then sizzle a little.

Pour in enough batter to make a 3-inch round pancake. Once the edges start to look dry and a few bubbles start to appear in the centre of the pancake, flip it and cook until the second side is golden.

Serve with sugar and lemon juice.

Yield: approximately 15 3-inch pancakes

Hot Nuts or, The Food- Oktoberfest part zwei

Ok, so there was beer at Oktoberfest, that's a given, but what of the food?

Well, since there were fair grounds, there were a lot of offerings - gelato, cotton candy, fried fish on a stick. I'm not kidding about that last one.

But the one thing that really drew me were the hot nuts. Yes, I laughed, too. But these were delicious. Ok, seriously, get your mind out of the gutter and think about the food now.

Right, so really, they were candied. And like I said, delicious. The smell wafted through the fair grounds, and there was no way we were leaving without trying some. There were all different kinds - almonds and macademias and pecans, and they were all covered in a candied caramel coating and then sprinkled with cinnamon. And they were served warm!

And, yes, there were pretzels. Huge, dense, bready pretzels sold by pretzel wenches. They would wander up and down the aisles of picnic tables providing beer-drinkers with the perfect accompaniment to their drink. This particular pretzel wench was wearing a necklace with pretzel-shaped pendent. How cool is that?

This was probably the weirdest food trend of the whole festival. See all of those cookies up there? The massive heart-shaped ginger cookies on strings? Those were to be bought and worn as necklaces. That's right. You don't eat your cookie. You wear it.

The cookies have sweet things written on them, and you're supposed to buy one for your sweetheart and hang it around her neck as an affirmation of your love. My sweetheart wasn't there, so I didn't get one, but it was great walking around the grounds seeing old couples with massive hearts hanging around their necks.

100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - Oktoberfest

So there was beer.

Lots of it.

I guess that’s to be expected, what with being at Oktoberfest and all. But it certainly was not what I expected. I had pictured a big open field filled with large white tents – the kind you rent for a wedding, really – that were full of picnic tables packed with people drinking huge glasses of beer. A couple sightings of lederhosen and dirndls and probably some pretzels for sale, but that’s about it.

Well, that’s not the half of it. The fair grounds are huge. And there’s a ferris wheel. And roller coasters. That go upside down. Not what I’d call the best idea after downing a few litres of beer, but I guess the Bavarians have a different view of these things?

Holly and I met up with Trev, Bronwyn, Chad, Ryan, Taylor and Greg, a group of friends from home who were going to Oktoberfest as part of their vacation. On our first night in Munich we went to Hofbrau House, a mandatory stop for experiencing Bavarian drinking culture at its most exuberant.

Masses (1L) of beer were ordered, along with dinner consisting of meat, bread, potatoes, and more meat. It was there that we were told of the weekend’s goal – to consume 100 litres of beer between us. The team had been divided into categories, and I, thankfully, was in the lightweight category. The others had been preparing for this day for months, going through practice sessions, tasting different beers. But Holly and I added Munich to our itinerary pretty late in the game, after we'd realised that we would be there at the same time.

We arose early on the Friday, September 25, ready to face a day of heavy drinking. The plan was to find a table in the unreserved section of one of the tents serving beer from one of the six Munich breweries (Lowenbrau, Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hofbrau, and Hacker-Pschorr). Despite Chad's best efforts, we didn't stand a chance at getting a reserved table. They go fast. And unless you've been coming to Oktoberfest for years, you're not going to get one. So we got in line with the other Oktoberfesters hoping to find some seats, but were quickly shut out as all of the unreserved tables swelled to capacity. We split up and searched wildly for another tent that would accommodate us.

Luckily, the Augustiner beer tent, widely considered to be the best beer of the Munich Breweries, had yet to open. We got in line and crossed our fingers. Shortly after the doors open, we realised that there was a side entrance where a few people were managing to trickle in. We made a bee-line for it and Trev scored us a table. We readied ourselves to drink the delicious golden liquid.

It’s a strange thing to start your day with a litre of beer. Not a habit I plan on keeping. It was delicious, though, I must admit. And really, when in Rome, right?

It took a while for the festivities to really begin, but once things got going there were pretzels to be eaten and songs to be sung. Dirndls and lederhosen everywhere. And litres and litres of beer.

It's hard to remember all that transpired over the course of the day. There were beer wenches and pretzel boys and roasted chicken and 6 euro plates of radishes.

After six hours in the beer tent, and a mere two and a half litres of beer under my belt, we were spent and stumbled home for a much needed nap, and swearing, as one always does after those incredibly beery nights, that we wouldn't be drinking any more beer for quite some time. That lasted six hours.

Self-Catering on the Road

There are a few things I’ve learned while hostelling my way through Europe. One, a Swiss Army Knife is indispensable. Two, a spoon is your next best friend. Three, never expect to be able to cook exactly what you want – the kitchen won’t be equipped or the grocery store will be missing one too many key ingredients. But a cook should be able to make a delicious meal in whatever situation, right?

After two weeks in Spain with Josh without a kitchen in sight, I was itching to cook like you wouldn’t believe. He had to go back home to work, but I, newly unemployed, stayed on and met up with my friend Holly in Barcelona. We flew to Berlin where we lucked out and were able to stay in a friend of a friend’s apartment. There was a kitchen, full of pots and pans and a stove! I spent my first day dreaming of what I would make for dinner that night. We were both badly in need of a vegetable fix, and a break from two weeks of cured ham in Spain, so we settled on a salad with caramelized onions and warmed goat’s cheese.

Being able to cook, even the simplest things, felt wonderful. The following night, Holly made pasta, which is really the staple of the traveller’s diet since the ingredients are cheap. We decided to add a little oomph to our pasta, mixing in lots of veggies tomato sauce and pesto. Our veggie cravings hadn’t been completely satiated, and we had to store up on vitamins before our Oktoberfest marathon of beer, meat, and bread.

We had a huge amount of pasta left over, though, and we were leaving shortly. Not wanting to waste the food, I decided the best thing would be to make it all in to a delicious breakfast frittata. It’s amazing how a few eggs can transform something. Now, I know it’s not a conventional frittata, what with pasta being a major component, but it was delicious, which is what counts, right? And being simple, quick and filling is always a benefit when heading out for a strenuous day of sight-seeing, right?

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Pasta Casserole

Note: the amounts aren’t specific because this all depends on the availability of the ingredients in the grocery store. Adjust the proportions to the amount of pasta you are making.

1 pkg bow-tie pasta

1 head broccoli, broken up in to bite-sized florets

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, sliced thinly

1 green pepper, sliced thinly

1 zucchini, sliced crosswise

1 jar tomato sauce

1 jar pesto

1 can diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Mozarella to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Boil a large pot of salted water. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Add the broccoli florets to the boiling water three minutes before pasta will be done. Drain water and rinse with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking. Return to pot and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the peppers and zucchini and cook another 3 or 4 minutes, until softened. Add vegetables to pasta and mix in with tomato sauce, pesto, and diced tomatoes until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Pour everything into a large casserole dish and top with grated mozzarella.

Put dish in preheated oven and bake about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4-6 servings

To make the leftover pasta into a delicious frittata (there was about 1/3 of the pasta left), preheat broiler. Beat 4 eggs with a couple of tablespoons of milk and a little salt and pepper. Heat a little oil in a large, oven-safe frying pan over medium heat, add the pasta and cook until slightly warmed. Pour the eggs evenly over top and cook until eggs have set on the bottom. Place frying pan in oven and cook until eggs set. I didn’t know how to use the gas oven in the apartment we were at, so I simply covered the pan with a lid and continued cooking the eggs until the top was set. Slide frittata out of the pan onto a plate and slice into wedges. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 large servings

Sa Rascassa

Boy, oh, boy do I have a diner to tell you about.

Before we left for Spain, Josh and I (ok, Josh) did some research on where we were going and what we should do while we were there. After reading a New York Times article on Costa Brava, he became fixated with the idea of going there, and I've got to say, I've never really doubted the NYTimes before...

So after Barcelona, we made our way to the Costa Brava, or the North-Eastern Coast of Spain. We decided to stay in a small fishing village called Begùr. A village so old that trying to park at Hotel Rosa, the hostel we were staying at, proved much more difficult than using the public parking situated at the very edge of this small, walkable town.

After our less than memorable meals in Barcelona, we were determined to eat well here, and since a recommendation had already been made in the article, we figured, why look any further. Later that evening we found ourselves on the beautiful terrace of Sa Rascassa, a very small bed and breakfast that also has a public restaurant in the evening.

Our first indication that the food here was going to be good came with the olives. Now, the little bowl set before us could easily have been an appetizer for six people. We were just two, and had no problems polishing them off.

I can honestly say that these olives were the best I've ever eaten. Medium in size, green in colour, and bursting with meaty flavour. We later found out that they were from a blace not too far and the reason for their excellent flavour was that they were macerated with anchovies. It certainly wasn't my first guess as the flavour agent (besides the way they were grown, I'm sure) but it resulted in a wonderful, not too salty green olive that I'm sure I will remember for years.

Besides the olives, the bread was warm, and the fish excellent. We were in a fishing village, so not having fish really wasn't an option. Josh had the special, and here I am, cursing not having taken more notes to tell you about what kind of fish I had. Regardless, it was pan fried until crispy on the outside, then finished in the oven. A few simple market veggetables accompanied it.

For dessert we had house chocolate gelato, and strawberries dipped in white chocolate. I have to say, that when these desserts came out of the kitchen I was a little disappointed at their simplicity, but the combination of perfectly ripe strawberries with good quality white chocolate was something I hadn't experienced before, and I'm happy to report that I am now a convert.

So, if you happen to be on the Norht-East coast of Spain and decide to brave the exceedingly windy roads along the coast, I highly recommend a stop at Sa Rascassa. You will be well fed.

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Hotel Rosa
Pi i Rallo, 19
17255 Begur
hotel-rosa.com
+34 972 62 30 15

Sa Rascassa
Cala D'Aiguafreda, 3
17255 Begur
hostalsarascassa.com
+972 622 845