memorial day in LA

We went to Los Angeles on Memorial Day to take S to the tar pits and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It was not a success.

This is the only photo of our very brief stroll by the tar pits. S thought the “funny water” was too smelly, so we headed next door to LACMA.

While we’ve had many successful museum visits in the past, this one was not happening for us. I completely blame this installation, which S dubbed “Noodle Forest.” It was too much fun to waste time looking inside, so Jon and I took turns.

The only thing she sat still for – sneaking sips of my coffee and the fresh “oreo” from Coffee and Milk (not pictured, because, well how long do you think cookies last around stressed out grad students three year olds)

Monday was a free Target family day, but if you’d like to take your kids to the museum, the NexGen program is great. Members must be under 17  and get free general entry for both themselves and an accompanying adult. I enrolled S when she was only a few months old and despite not living in LA (or, for a time, California) we’ve used it two or three times.

Of course, if your child is anything like mine, you’ll probably be fine just sitting by the  fountains outside of the gallery.

a little bit of Austria for mother’s day

This was my beautiful, wonderful Mother’s Day gift (a gift I actually received three days before Mother’s Day, despite this post being three weeks late).

Yes, it a cookbook. Yes, I did rib Jon a little for giving me a kitchen-inspired on Mother’s Day, but I think there was less of a message and much more sentiment behind the gift. Kurt Gutenbrunner’s restaurants are some of my favorites. I’m still on their email list even though I haven’t lived in New York since 2008; I can’t bring myself to unsubscribe.

After going through the book, I decided to start with one of the easier – and more traditionally Austrian – recipes in the book: Mohngugelhupf, a lemon poppyseed bundt cake. Gugelhupf was a favorite of Emperor Franz-Josef and as such became hugely popular during his reign.

Here’s mine fresh from the oven:

And here’s the insides. I don’t have any photos to show you of the whole cake. Unfortunately,  I lack a sifter and my powder sugar sprinkling was not very pretty.

The cake, however, was delicious… but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be willing to let Herr Gutenbrunner’s team do the cooking next Mother’s Day!

——-

If you’re interested in trying Gugelhupf yourself. Here’s the recipe

(adapted from Neue Cuisine by Kurt Gutenbrunner)

You’ll need:

2 sticks of butter, melted

1/2 c flour

2/3 c sugar

1 whole egg

8 egg yolks

zest of two lemons

1/2 c cornstarch

1/2 poppy seeds

powdered sugar, for dusting

First, prep your bundt pan and pre-heat oven to 350F.

Beat sugar along with the eggs (remember, one whole egg and 8 egg yolks) at medium speed until they become pale and creamy. Gradually fold in the zest along with the flour and cornstarch.

Last, but not least, add in the poppy seeds. Now you’re ready to bake! My oven gets really hot, so I leave mine in for 35 minutes, but the recipe suggests 45.

Substitutions: Because liquid fats can be replaced by liquid fats (and solid fats for solid fats), I sometimes make this cake with olive oil to make me feel a little less guilty. The result is extra moist, but be aware of your cooking time. The first time I did it, my crust burned; although, the insides were still tasty.

Note: Don’t throw away the egg whites! They can stay  in your fridge in an air-tight container for a few days. I usually end up having scrambled eggs for lunch the day after making this cake, but you could get more adventurous and try a meringue.

fresh bread in the land of constant dieting

California is famous for its sourdough, but what do you do if you don’t like sourdough and still crave fresh bread?

Enter sangak.

 Ok, so technically (according to Wikipedia) it is still sourdough, but its so much better. Doughy, chewy, some crisp edges and a healthy smattering of sesame seeds. In fact, its even been voted best bread in orange and one of the top 100 dishes.  No wonder the bakery has a two per person limit.

Weleda in den USA

Imagine my surprise, way back in January (gah, I really am suffering from some serious blog-block) , while searching through a pile of discounted gift sets in Target when I found:

Weleda is a Swiss-German, all-natural cosmetic company that’s widely available in Germany. I first came across it at our local DM (German rite-aid) and tried a bunch of their lotions and washes. While none of them measured up to my favorite brand back home, I liked the rose scent enough to make it my go to Pflegedusche (easily one of my favorite German words. No I can’t explain why. Just say it PFFFLAY-GUH DUUUUSH-UH)

The pomegranate set was the only one and there were no signs indicating where it had come from or where its companions had gone. Nostalgia – or possibly just the power of Target – took over and I tossed it in my cart.

Then a few weeks later, I read about another Weleda product on Refinery29. Their Hautcreme – oddly known as “Skin Food” auf English - was apparently the thing to use on overworked model skin, and apparently, readily available at my local Whole Foods. So I set off on a little recon mission to see what else I could find.

und..

It took me two trips before I could stop thinking about how much less expensive it is in Germany. I still can’t convince myself to pay their prices for Dr. Hauschka. Its expensive even in Germany, highway robbery here.

Despite the fact that I paid twice as much for my tube of Hautcreme, I’m very glad I did. Tis is the lotion to end all lotions. Wen your hands are so dry you can feel them cracking, when you think you can see scales, just slather this on (Its oily. Do it when you have a few minutes to wait for it to absorb) and in a few minutest our hands will magically look human again. Do it a few more times and your hands will look almost as nice as they did before you started potty training.

Of course, right after I gave in at Whole Foods, I saw this at Target. More Weleda! and much better prices than Whole Foods — as if that needed to be said.

I probably won’t buy anymore regular lotion – too thin for me – but I will still check back every once in a while to see if anymore of my regular german products pop up on American shelves. At least until I can get back to Germany. Then, I’m bringing an empty suitcase and stocking up. Vividrin Akut Augentropfen I’m looking at you…or not the pollen may have swollen my eyes shut.

german lessons

S’s german acquisition has been shaky at best. I don’t really mind (for now) since sharing a second language with one’s spouse is incredibly useful when raising a child. She’s three. How else are we going to coordinate our late night snacks?

But sometimes she surprises me. Like when she says she wants my to paint her Nägel or when she told me that “Blue’s Clues” is fantastisch! 

Then we had a breakthrough. We were driving down the coast when suddenly she asked “What’s poop in German?”

Did I mention she recently turned three?

  Kacke,S. That’s “poop” auf Deutsch. 

Then she started asking about the things she saw passing by. Die Strasse, der Baum, die Ampel. I’m so impressed. I think this is going to be the start of something amazing. I wonder if she’ll start answering back in German. Then, it all comes circling back.

- and POOP ATTACK! What means POOP ATTACK in Guh-mun?

Kid was just winding me up.

By the way, I think it might be Kacke-Anschlag, but Its possible that I just made that up.

Fukada, Irvine

I just realized today that I have never written about our favorite restaurant in Irvine. In fact, the only thing any of us missed while we were in Berlin.

 

S even uses chopsticks…she’s usually culinary utensil adverse.

Fukada is very family friendly place and you’ll probably see at least three or four families with small children there. You’ll also probably see a large crowd waiting by the door. Do yourself a favor and don’t go right at dinner time and avoid lunch all together. S and I showed up once 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a line 20 people long. We were not happy girls, but hey, it is the best soba in Orange County.

We’re also big fans of their iced green tea. I once look on in amazement while she downed two of those glasses, one right after the other. She was so hyped up on tea, that she even ate all of the spinach in her soup, but shhh! I won’t tell if you don’t.

So three (quiet) cheers for Fukada! And take your utensil-adverse, vegetable-refusing kids if you go.

 

 

The Orange Circle

Somehow the stars alined and I managed to finally get Jon to go down to Old Town Orange with me and possibly browse a few antique stores.

It was, however, too much for these stars to ensure that S would also be so willing. Either way, we still got to walk around a city’ish environment and poke around. We also got surprisingly good barbecue.

We just happened to park right across the street from Smoqued, a restaurant that bills itself as “classic BBQ with a California influence.” Although the only obviously California part of the restaurant was the list of local beers and the gentrified surroundings. Jon is counting the days until he can have the brisket sandwich again. I liked the smoked chicken – S liked it more – and I’m intrigued by the promise of hand rolled pretzels.

Having an almost three year old tagging along deterred me from poking around the antique shops that dot the circle and seem to be the main draw of Old Town Orange, if not for tchotchkes than at least for those pretzels.