Went to Austria again for dinner last night
… Like how nonchalantly I started that off? The käse spaetzle from that fantastic restaurant across the border was calling me and my friend, as well as another escape from Sonnenalp. The drive there is lovely. Up and down a mountain, the gorgeousness of Lake Constance, and variation of housing style from one region to the next. My friend likes to drive and enjoys the curves in the road especially on the mountain part. It’s no wonder Germans have created such amazing cars, for they had the roads with which to enjoy them. The restaurant has a pretty amazing over look of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany… I don’t think I could ever get tired eating there for both the food and view are just that perfect. We split and order and a half of the käse spaetzle. Every gooey, creamy, smelly bite…. My mouth begins to water at the mere thought of it! It really is that good and I am determined to figure out the recipe so that I will never be deprived of it when I go back home. The waitress kept walking past expecting defeat… her face of surprise said it all… We were defiantly (as my father would say) “doing the damage to that bowl of käse spaetzle. Last scoops were out of pure determination, and joy of watching the waitress’s surprised face, but most of all the duty of not allowing such goodness go to waste! But in the end, I felt hot and somewhat like a stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving Day. The two of us sat across from eat other…. Took a bit of time before we could say much more then... “Oh was that good,” and “Oh, I’m so full.”
If one finishes the whole bowl the restaurant offers the eaters a glass of their homemade schnapps to aid the digestion process. Unlike my glass of cold water, the schnapps was delightfully warm as it flowed down and by far the best taste of this beverage I’ve had here. A little bit longer sitting… even more time sitting….a still sitting. There was room for dessert. Fifteen minutes later a plate of Kaiser’s Schmarrn arrived. It looks like ripped pieces of pancake but with the texture of crepes. Topped with powdered sugar and served with a small bowl of a chunky plum sauce. In Germany it is served with a spiced apple sauce which is good, but in Austria they have it right with the choice of plums. I kept eating despite the pain… Just like the spaetzle the simple yet skillfully prepared ingredients… the joyful process of eating those hot pieces of Kaiser Schmarrn and the perfectly sweetened plum sauce was too much to resist. We couldn’t finish that plate (at it was a half portion!) and heaved ourselves up and out of our seats and back into the car, up and down the mountain and on to home.
But anyways onto the title of this entry. It’s actually been quite sunny here no rain for a few days… I just liked the idea of someone reading it and wanting to find out something creepy. But no creepies here. Hah… been here too long and need to do something a bit odd to break up my nights of typing. I knoooooow… weird. Sorry.
I have been swapped over to the pastry station. I enjoyed Garde Manger to a point, but the chopped liver moments were a more often than not. I did enjoy watching the science of plating. Garde Manger sent out the first course and it was often more complicated with more components that require more time and planning. We had to make stacks of plates pre-plated with the longer lasting items then at the last second drizzled with a sauce and add a stick of crouton. I enjoyed that… I really did, but Pastry…. Day 2… I’m smiling! Start time 6:30 AM…. No, this is not the smiling portion of my day, but hear this: I get out at 3 PM :) :) The chef asked me today if there was anything specific I wanted to learn… how awesome is that! Today I made strudel stretching the dough and rolling with a table cloth.. Watching the man with years of experience flip his hands this way and that... then telling me it’s my turn… I felt like a little kid learning new tricks and wanting to run home to show my parents. We dipped pralines in chocolate and then made chocolate rolls / sticks on the large marble table, decorating cakes, tasting the trimmings….The smell of strawberries, a line of tartlets and cakes… all those things pretty. Don’t get me wrong… there is definitely a beauty in the other plating I’ve been helping with upstairs. Much of Garde Manger was pleasing to make and look at, but here in pastry… it is the kind of pretty that just make you smile… Yes the chocolate doesn’t feel so good when you’ve eaten your 5th mistake… but so it goes.
I forgot how much I enjoy relaxing in the evening… I’m not head-down tired and walking back to my room at night smelling like cooked fish… Nope, I smell sweet like cake and chocolate and am able to take a shower and enjoy my pajamas, and not just put them on at a matter of protocol. Tonight I watched a movie. It’s given me more time to look up and around. No I’m not going to be loving the next few morning strolls since the weather is changing (even today my friend had frost on her car!!!!) but I like the idea of eating dinner and then relaxing. It’s the little things I have had the gift of noticing here… One good thing of not having that constant internet access... Actually it’s a very good thing and one thing I hope to keep up when I get back. I need more evenings and more time to absorb what I am learning since soon I won’t have times like this… soon it will be do this or get fired. Well, here I exaggerate… maybe... hehe... eh…hopefully not to that extreme.. but you get my meaning
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