Cooking Challenges

I've had some fun these last couple months cooking some new types of cakes from the ordinary. Some of it has involved learning different types of European ingredients, or discovering that some seemingly European dishes are actually American in nature.

German Chocolate Cake is actually named for an American man named German, and is not German in origin. It is a delicious chocolate cake with a carmel coconut frosting. Yummy, but not German.

Apple Brambleberry Crumble is a classic British dessert. We made it with Bramley Apples, the large green cooking apples that I bought at the local farmers market, and wild blackberries that I picked in our park and along the canal where they grow in abundance over the summer.

Apple and Damson Pie is another classic end of summer pie. It is made with Bramley Apples and Damson Plums. They are small dark purple plums. They are often made into jam. When cooked in the pie, they color the whole pie a reddish color. I used a cherry pitter to remove the stones from inside the Damsons, but they were a bit of a challenge to remove. Sadly, I can't find a picture of it.



German Apple Cake. Coming back from Austria, I was inspired to make some cakes from that part of Europe. I made this apple cake using Braeburn Apples and Bramley Apples. I found the recipe on-line, and it was really delicious. Very cinnamony and tastey.





German Peach Kuchen. The recipe actually called for plums, but Tony doesn't really like plums, so I substituted peaches, which is probably a bit more of an Americanized version of the cake, but it tasted really good.






I even tried my had at a French Pear and Cranberry Galette. Actually a very easy dish made with a freefrom crust.







We bought a small Gooseberry Pie to eat. It was tart, and tasted a bit like Rubarb Pie. It is everywhere in the summer time, and goes particularly well with Ice Cream.


Marmalade. Even though the oranges came from Spain, Isreal, or Africa, and Marmalade is most likely a Portuguese invention, the British have made it their own, and it is a very popular spread for crumpets. I bought some oranges at the market, and decided to try my hand at making some. It came out great, very tastey.

There are some specific very bitter Spanish Oranges that come available in March. I plan to get some and make another batch then.

Not all of the cooking challenges have been sweets. I tried my hand at the classic Italian pasta dish, Penne a la Vodka. I made a large batch when we had a bunch of friends over for dinner. It was a lovely evening full of good pasta.

Halloween

Halloween is not a holiday celebrated as much here in the UK as it is in the states, but there is still plenty of Halloween spirit here.




There certainly is a lot of Halloween inspiraton from mossy gravestones in old cemetaries to the amber leaves falling everywhere.





Autumn is a beautiful time to visit London. The summer crowds have died down, and the kids are back in school. The weather is also usually dry. This year has been particularly warm and pleasant.






Tony and I have enjoyed just walking around our neighborhood with the dogs soaking it all in.









Even my main girl, Elvira, has been known to make an appearance here.



People do occasionally dress up in costume and go trick or treating, but it isn't as commonplace as in the states.

We didn't do much this year, except that I stretched my culinary legs and made my first batch of Pumpkin Soup. I cut up a whole pumpkin, then roasted it in the oven with rosemary and onions.






I then purreed it and added some sauteed bacon and cream. Delicious.

You can actually get canned pumpkin here, but it just isn't as commonplace.

Some festive Halloween Beers were the finishing touch. Hobgoblin Beer has proclaimed itself the Unofficial Beer of Halloween in the UK.

While in the Pumpkin mood, I also made some Homemade Pumpkin Cranberry Bread. Yummy.




Now, however, is the time to enjoy pumpkin everything, as come January, I won't want pumpkin anything for another year. . .

A Tale of Two Oktoberfests

During summer, I saw an ad for an Oktoberfest celebration that would be taking place near us in Shoreditch Park. It promised traditional food and music.





We've been wanting to go to a real Oktoberfest ever since we missed it in Munich by a week. Perhaps someday we'll just have to go back.









From the look of the poster, perhaps I should have known better. It did look fun enough, so I ordered us the full package including reserved seats, 2 mass (1 liter) biers, and dinner.







It proved to be a fun time, but it was mostly an excuse for people to get drunk and act silly. I know, what did I expect - that's London Oktoberfest.




We dragged Mark, who had just flown back from a business trip to South Africa that morning, along to the festivities.



The meal turned out to be a joke with hotdogs, instant mash potatoes, and canned sauerkraut. Oh well . . .









At least the bier, which was from a brewery I'd not heard of, was good and plentiful.








And after two of the giant biers, the food didn't really matter, and we were having some good laughs.



There was a lot crazy mayhem going on around us with people stealing other people's beer, and wrestling on the ground.






A few people were thrown out, but mostly, people were just having a good crazy time drinking and dancing.





The following weekend, our friends Jeff and Damien who live in Surbiton, which is just outside London invited us out for a bike ride, and an Oktoberfest style lunch at a German restaurant on the Thames River in Richmond.





London was having what they call an Indian Summer, which is when they get a late heat spell in the early Fall. There were all kinds of boats sailing around the water. It was absolutely lovely.







We biked from Surbiton to Richmond to a restaurant called "Steins". It is an outdoor restaurant right on the river, and they serve wonderful German cuisine.






Tony and I each had a mass of bier. Tony had the Hefeweisen, and I had the Oktoberfest brew. It was almost LA weather that day, and the cold bier was terrific.







For food, I ordered their wurst plate, which came with a couple great sausages, real sauerkraut, and some delicious German potato salad. They also had the sticky sweet mustard to go with it. Fantastic. I can't wait to go back there sometime for dinner. Except it is all outdoors. . . Perhaps they put up a tent in the winter. I'd love to try their apple strudel some time.





It was wonderful day. Great weather, good food, good friends, and good bier. Perhaps this is what Oktoberfest is really all about. . .