Tuesday, strudel ... Wednesday, Lake Konigssee
TUESDAY
Never say never. I went to a cooking class!
Last winter when I told The Mister I wanted us to take an Apple Strudel Cooking Class in Austria as part of The Grand Tour, he just laughed -- until I convinced him I was quite serious. Next thing you know -- Hello, star pupil of the Edelweiss School of Cooking in Salzburg, Austria!
Okay, not star pupil exactly. When the chef instructor said we were making the dough from scratch, I asked if we couldn't just get it from the store. The Mister was really the driving force for Team Jones.
The reason I wanted to take this class: my mom tried to make apple strudel for my dad the way his mother, Austrian-born Johanna Schaffenrath, had made it. Mom did a fine job but dad would mention that with my grandma's apple strudel, you could see through the flakes of crust. I wanted to take the class as another way of connecting with my Austrian heritage.
There were 8 students counting us and we learned the secret to really flaky crust. When the chef said you should be able to see through it, I knew we were at the right place!
Mine and Earl's strudel is the one on the left in the pan (below). The chef had used a piece of dough on the top to mark ours, but he did a circle shape and I said, "That looks like a ZERO!" so he moved the dough to make a ONE. (Another couple has the pretzel shape on theirs.)
Doesn't it look yummy! It was. (I can see the look of joy on the face of my college roommate and cook extraordinaire Pam Mock, seeing what Jane made! Pammy, I'll share some tips with you next time I see you.)
Did I manage the flaky crust that I wanted? Just look at the fork below. I was very pleased.
BTW, if you think the interior of the cooking school looks strange, you're right! It was in a cave cut into the mountain centuries ago. Cool atmosphere!
This is a photo (below) of the outside of the buildin
WEDNESDAY
Konigssee is a lake that's part of the National Park system in Germany, and today we took a boat ride on this gorgeous emerald lake.
The boats are electric -- very little noise, so you just glide along in peace and quiet. Row boats are the only other vessels allowed on the lake.
There's very little "shore" and this lake is compared to fjords.
During the boat ride, we pass through a good place for echo and they did a demonstration that blew me away (pun intended). The captain kills the boat engine and blows a trumpet (internet photo below). He blows three notes, five notes, whatever, and stops while we hear the perfect echo come back. He did about 10 sequences for us. I will always remember the demo!
Then the trip resumes, as we glide along this gorgeous clear water ... and we reach St. Bartholomew. What a sight!
We docked and could spend as much time as we wanted on this small area of land, which had a restaurant with a biergarten. Two families live on this section of land, we found out: the family of the head chef and the family of the "fish meister."
Oh, Mike Flood, here's another of those sundial paintings, like I promised you. It was on the restaurant building. The shadow shows it's 11:00.
Oh no! I asked The Mister if we could take a selfie and here's what happened (below) :
Just teasing. But if you put Earl Jones near water, he will test it out. We had fun walking around, visiting the church, and seeing mountains from many angles.
Soon it was time to catch another boat, to go back to the starting point.
The National Park Service in the U.S. does things so well. If this park is any indication, so does Germany.
Thanks for reading my blog!
Jane
Never say never. I went to a cooking class!
Last winter when I told The Mister I wanted us to take an Apple Strudel Cooking Class in Austria as part of The Grand Tour, he just laughed -- until I convinced him I was quite serious. Next thing you know -- Hello, star pupil of the Edelweiss School of Cooking in Salzburg, Austria!
Okay, not star pupil exactly. When the chef instructor said we were making the dough from scratch, I asked if we couldn't just get it from the store. The Mister was really the driving force for Team Jones.
The reason I wanted to take this class: my mom tried to make apple strudel for my dad the way his mother, Austrian-born Johanna Schaffenrath, had made it. Mom did a fine job but dad would mention that with my grandma's apple strudel, you could see through the flakes of crust. I wanted to take the class as another way of connecting with my Austrian heritage.
There were 8 students counting us and we learned the secret to really flaky crust. When the chef said you should be able to see through it, I knew we were at the right place!
Mine and Earl's strudel is the one on the left in the pan (below). The chef had used a piece of dough on the top to mark ours, but he did a circle shape and I said, "That looks like a ZERO!" so he moved the dough to make a ONE. (Another couple has the pretzel shape on theirs.)
Doesn't it look yummy! It was. (I can see the look of joy on the face of my college roommate and cook extraordinaire Pam Mock, seeing what Jane made! Pammy, I'll share some tips with you next time I see you.)
Did I manage the flaky crust that I wanted? Just look at the fork below. I was very pleased.
BTW, if you think the interior of the cooking school looks strange, you're right! It was in a cave cut into the mountain centuries ago. Cool atmosphere!
This is a photo (below) of the outside of the buildin
WEDNESDAY
Konigssee is a lake that's part of the National Park system in Germany, and today we took a boat ride on this gorgeous emerald lake.
The boats are electric -- very little noise, so you just glide along in peace and quiet. Row boats are the only other vessels allowed on the lake.
There's very little "shore" and this lake is compared to fjords.
During the boat ride, we pass through a good place for echo and they did a demonstration that blew me away (pun intended). The captain kills the boat engine and blows a trumpet (internet photo below). He blows three notes, five notes, whatever, and stops while we hear the perfect echo come back. He did about 10 sequences for us. I will always remember the demo!
Then the trip resumes, as we glide along this gorgeous clear water ... and we reach St. Bartholomew. What a sight!
We docked and could spend as much time as we wanted on this small area of land, which had a restaurant with a biergarten. Two families live on this section of land, we found out: the family of the head chef and the family of the "fish meister."
Oh, Mike Flood, here's another of those sundial paintings, like I promised you. It was on the restaurant building. The shadow shows it's 11:00.
Oh no! I asked The Mister if we could take a selfie and here's what happened (below) :
Just teasing. But if you put Earl Jones near water, he will test it out. We had fun walking around, visiting the church, and seeing mountains from many angles.
Soon it was time to catch another boat, to go back to the starting point.
The National Park Service in the U.S. does things so well. If this park is any indication, so does Germany.
Thanks for reading my blog!
Jane
Mama in an apron, whipping up a strudel...such a familiar sight!
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait for you to make all of your friends some apple strudel!
ReplyDelete