• Baking,  Germany

    Plätzchen Plätzchen

    Further to my Advent Advent post, here is the result of our weekend baking activity. Lots of wonderful Christmas biscuits – called Plätzchen in Germany. The word Plätzchen (according to Wiki) comes from either the diminutive of Platz – round flat cake – or from the latin word placenta which means cake. Placenta means CAKE? Why had I never heard of this before? It makes sense though, because in Germany the placenta is called the “Mutterkuchen”. At the beginning of Advent, many families in Germany bake Plätzchen, often using old family recipes. My mother-in-law uses the same recipe for the Xmas Plätzchen as she does for the Easter biscuits, a…

  • Scotland

    Advent, Advent …

    … ein Lichtlein brennt, erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier. Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür. I know, I know. It is not yet December, and I have been ranting on Twitter about creating a vigilante group called the #grinchpatrol to wander around tearing down the Christmas decorations in shops. Christmas should not start in November. However, half of our little family is German, and one of the BEST things about Germany at Christmas time is the Adventzeit. Advent is not really marked in UK, aside from the calendars filled with pretty pictures, or if you are lucky, with chocolate. In Germany, the Adventszeit is almost better…

  • Food

    Banana Cupcakes with Caramel Fleur de Sel

    When I renamed the blog, I decided that I would make Salted Caramels and perhaps use the photos for the blog logo. Easier said than done, I discovered. When I searched for a recipe, I found that almost all of them called for what the Americans call “heavy cream”. This is a cream with a fat content of 36 to 38%, in between single cream and double cream. The closest I can find in Switzerland is Vollrahm, in French Crème Entière, with 35%. For making caramels, it is incredibly important to have a candy thermometer, which I did not have. I bought what I thought was a candy thermometer but…

  • Blogging

    Baking Disasters – Life Disasters

    A comment on Twitter today (you know who you are) about Mummybloggers and I suppose bloggers in general made me stop and think. Mummybloggers are “tweeeeeee” and full of “oh, I cooked this cake today crap”. I guess she is right. We do present ourselves in a good light. Just as we sort though the holiday snaps, discarding the pics in which we look like Moby Dick, we discard projects that don’t turn out very well. Most of us bloggers have baked, cooked or made things that have been utterly shit. Or have spent a day telling readers how to be a great parent, only to run out of energy…

  • Expat

    You just can’t get orange cheese…

    An American friend was chatting to one of his countrymen, who said that they liked living in Geneva, but ‘You just can’t get orange cheese!’ Cheese capital of the world Switzerland does not sell orange cheese in a spray can. For expats this is one of the biggest gripes – that some favourite food stuffs are just not available in the host country. Which is why the American/British food stores thrive in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. It is the taste of home, the comfort food that we crave, no matter how good the food here is. I have been an expat for 18 years – it was my expat…

  • Food

    How to make friends and bake fabulous Fairy Cakes

    The good thing about blogging (and twitter, not to mention Mumsnet) is that you can ask any question and you generally receive an answer. Whether you are looking for relationship advice, ideas for a birthday party, wondering where to apply for a passport or recipe advice, there is generally someone somewhere willing to help. Added to that, I have met so many people online who I am truly blessed to count as my friends. Whether the friendship stays online, or we manage to meet up in Real Life, these are people I can count on to help when times are tough or I need a new recipe. Cooking was always…

  • Food

    Birthday Cake for Football Fan

    My daughter helps to sieve the sugar – still in PJs This week my son reached the grand old age of 6 years old. For the past few weeks he has been avidly following the World Cup so I decided to make a football themed cake. He is Scottish/German so has obviously been supporting Germany (as Scotland did not qualify, no surprise there). Thankfully Germany stayed in the tournament long enough for us to celebrate his birthday. I would have felt a bit daft making a German Flag cake now. My lovely friend at Kitschnbake provided a recipe for Vanilla Yoghurt Cake that is good for birthday cakes. It is a…