nachher.

29 December 2014

40!

I turned 40 this year and Ethan decided that this is a very good reason to throw a party. I'm not one for celebrations that feature me in any way but he did a fantastic job! Jeannie sent beautiful flowers since she couldn't join us. I have some very sweet and fun friends here in Vienna and was thrilled to see so many of them make time to get together. We laughed a lot, had good food and stayed up way too late. I feel like one very lucky woman!

24 December 2014

heiligabend.

Lovis helped me make creme bruelee.

Würstchen und Kartoffelsalat. A traditional German Christmas Eve dinner.

And yes, midnight mass at the Sankt Elsiabethkirche. We were all soooo tired. This family is most definitely not good at staying up late. Well with the exception of Ethan. :-)

sissi kapelle on christmas eve.

Perfect, perfect, perfect afternoon.

christmas eve breakfast.

I found this recipe on dashandbella

BAKED BAGUETTE FRENCH TOAST

serves 4

You can soak this overnight but the texture will be more like a soufflé. If you do it 30 minutes before baking, it's a bit crunchier. But both techniques work well. You want the baguette to be stale but not as hard a a rock. You could save scraps in the freezer for a few weeks until you have enough for this dish.

ingredients:

1 baguette, a bit stale

3 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

pinch of kosher salt

3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

powdered sugar for the top

directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Trim 1/2 inch off of each end of the baguette and feed scraps to the dog. Slice baguette in half. Cut into serving-size pieces (4-5" long). Place bread cut-side up in an ovenproof dish and butter the top of each piece. Don't overlap the bread.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs. Add milk, vanilla extract, orange juice/zest, and salt. Whisk until foamy. Pour over bread. Flip the pieces around every 10 minutes or so to make sure both sides are soaking up the liquid . Leave in the liquid for about 30 minutes total. You want the bread to be wet but not soggy and falling apart. When you bake it, the bread should be resting in a small pool of the liquid but not drowning in it. You might need to pour off a few tablespoons of the liquid if the bread doesn't soak most of it up.

Make sure all pieces are cut-side up. Sprinkle turbinado sugar all over the top. Bake until the bread is puffed up and golden (30-40 minutes). You might need to throw it under the broiler for optimum crispy crunchy caramelized beauty. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat right away (but it does reheat nicely).