Recipe : French Almond Cake

Our pantry is a little bit strangely designed and jammed with stuff, so I often find myself buying a new ingredient and then finding another one wodged in a box in the pantry.  This is how I found myself with two half bags and one full bag of almond meal.

The beauty of Google is that you can just type in "recipes with almond meal", and you get a bunch of recipes.  I had a look at a few and the decided on this one, mainly because I had everything I needed in the house already and it looked incredibly simple.  My favourite recipes involve throwing everything into one bowl, giving it a mix, and then whacking it into a greased tin - this is the recipe for that!

Double bonus?  It makes your house smell amazing!

I pinched the recipe from Happy Home Baking, and they pinched it from Easy Cake by Linda Collister.  Happy Home Baking tweaked the original recipe a bit, and I tweaked it again so I could get rid of the remnants of a bag of cinnamon/vanilla sugar.  I guess that's how recipes evolve ...

Let's cook!  As usual, my comments in italics.

French Almond Cake

• 110g unsalted butter left to soften (I always use salted butter because I prefer it)
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten (I forgot to beat mine)
• 90 ground almonds (almond powder/almond meal)
• 40g self raising flour (or 40g plain flour + half a teaspoon of baking powder + pinch of salt)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon flaked almonds for sprinkling (I didn't measure mine, I just sprinkled until I liked the look of it)
• Icing sugar for dusting (I sprinkled on a mix of cinnamon/vanilla sugar that I found in the pantry BEFORE I put it into the oven)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180c.
2. Grease and flour the sides of 20cm pan, line base with parchment paper (I only greased with that melty butter stuff you use for frying, and I didn't flour or line with parchment paper.  I also used a loaf pan instead of a 20cm pan.)
3. Place butter, sugar, eggs, almond powder, flour, milk, vanilla extract in a bowl and beat with mixer or whisk.
4. When light and fluffy, spoon into prepared pan and spread batter evenly.
5. Sprinkle flaked almonds over the top (this is where I sprinkled the mix of sugars as well)
6. Bake at 180c for 30-35 minutes, or until the sponge springs back when pressed (I inserted a knife to see if it came out clean).  NOTE - cover top with foil about 15 minutes into the baking to prevent the top from over-browning.
7. Run a thin bladed knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool.  Dust with icing sugar before serving.  I'd already sprinkled with the sugar mix before baking, so I didn't dust with anymore sugar.

New York : Big Onion Walking Tours

Recently we were lucky enough to spend 5 days in New York, and thought that we'd take the opportunity to do some proper exploring, as well as some proper eating and drinking (more on that in future blog posts).

We did a bit of research beforehand and found out about Big Onion Walking Tours, who are really well reviewed by everyone who's taken them.  Big Onion have been around since 1991 and lead walking tours through NYC's historic districts and ethnic neighbourhoods.  Their tours combine the history, architecture, people and events that make NYC one of the greatest cities in the world.

You don't have to book in advance for their tours (except the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour - YUM!), you just turn up at the right time in the right place, pay your ticket price of $US20/each (concessions available for students and seniors) directly to your guide (cash, correct change appreciated), and you're good to go.  The tours are roughly two hours long and the guides hold advanced degrees in American history from leading universities, including Columbia, CUNY and New York University.

We did two fab tours with Big Onion - the Historic Times Square, and the "Official" Gangs of New York.  We had two good female guides, but the Times Square guide was better than the Gangs of New York one, despite the fact that she was VERY pregnant and walked and chatted with a bunch of strangers for two hours on quite a hot day (I was jiggered by the end and I wasn't pregnant!).

Historic Times Square Tour blurb:-

Before it was known as "The Crossroads of the World", Times Square was "Longacre Square", an area best known for the harness shops and horse stables.  Come see how much has changed as we visit a potter's field turned reservoir then elegant city park; the one time centre of the city's vice district, as well as a host of legendary theatres, grand hotels, and movie houses.  We will see how redevelopment has changed the neighbourhood and we'll look for traces of "old" Times Square hidden in plain sight.  Stops may include The New York Public Library, Astor Hotel and sites associated with the Shubert Family, Flo Ziegfeld, George Gershwin, Elvis Presley, and Damon Runyon.

Official Gangs Of New York Tour blurb:-

A tour that goes beyond Martin Scorsese's landmark film "Gangs of New York" or the current BBC America series "Coppers".  Come explore the legends and lore of Five Points and Herbert Asbury's 1927 classic "The Gangs of New York" - the inspiration for the film - and learn about the REAL history of the area.  Stops could include Paradise Square, "Murderers Alley", the African Burial Ground, the lost intersection of Five Points, and the sites associated with Bill "The Butcher" Poole, William M. Tweed, Master Juba, and the 1857 Police and 1863 Draft Riots.

So if you find yourself in NYC with a bit of time on your hands and you want to find out something more about this amazing place, as well as getting just a teensy bit of exercise to walk off those Cronuts and Shake Shack frozen yoghurts (you know you want to!), get yourself on one of Big Onion's tours.  They really are quite fascinating and we'd definitely do some more if we're lucky enough to visit again.  At the time of our visit, they were offering 27 different tours - you WILL find something to rock your boat.

Big Onion Walking Tours

www.bigonion.com

Phone:- 212 439 1090, or 888 606 WALK (9255)

Um, Is This What Popular Means?

My little blog seems to have been garnering a teensy bit more attention of late, and a lot more people are dropping by to have a read (here's a big HELLO to you new folks, it's great to have you here!).  But I seem to have become popular in a new and interesting way, I'm getting a lot of comments that are being caught in my spam filter, by people advertising odd things in links attached to their comments.

I thought I'd grab a few spam comments and put them down here for you to see the stuff I'm getting asked to read ...

Greetings from California! I'm bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog 

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cell phone .. I'm not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, 

fantastic blog!

Yes, because my blog is about living in Germany and travel, so having a US cell phone with amazing 3G capabilities is right up my street.  As are the fat melting tablets "Anonymous" is also pushing.  I so wish that fat melting tablets were actually a thing that worked ...

If you have room in a basement or spare room,

the Bowflex would be a nice piece of equipment to have.

To buy travel insurance USA coverage, you do not 

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source of Omega 3 believe that this is the best way to get 

it.

Um, not actually sure which thing they're pushing most here - is it a Bowflex, USA medical insurance or Flaxseed Oil?  All of which I apparently need.  Or not.

Hello to all, the contents present at this website 

are truly amazing for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.

This strangely worded congratulatory message to me and my team (I don't have a team, maybe they mean the dog?) leads me to a link for stick on fat melting patches.  Fat melting?  I'm getting a whole lot of body image snark in my spam comments.  What is the universe trying to tell me?!?!?!  Giggle.

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Riiiiiiiight.  Because I'm obviously a techie.  Not.  Oh, and your link leads to last minute hotel bookings?  Oh, and my blog platform is fairly obvious from the URL at the top of the page.

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Um, what?  And I'm not looking for cheap hotels in Washington.  Or at least I think that's what you're pushing me to.

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Possibly the best I've seen.  Fat boy indian porn blog?  Charlie brown comic spanish word for?  I think I'll just NOT click on that link.  Ever.

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of this Spam either ...

Royal Park Hotel, Rochester, MI, USA

Yes, it's a coaster.  A cocktail was about to be placed on it.

Back in July we stayed at the Royal Park Hotel in downtown Rochester MI for a conference.  The Royal Park is only about five minutes away from where we used to live, so it was a fab location for me to catch up with our old friends from the area - yay!

Rochester is a pretty little town with a good main street, a bunch of restaurants and cafes, and my fave store, Arizona Saddlery of Rochester - where they are happy to let me drool over their huge cowboy boot selection for as long as I like.

I'd never stayed at the Royal Park before, though I'd eaten there several times when we were living in the area and the food has always been really good.  The service is also prompt and friendly.  The hotel is a bit of a legend around the area and the public areas are well populated by locals and visitors.  Here's a link to their dinner menu, the Hydro Bibb Salad is brilliant.

Our room was what I imagine their standard rooms are like, a king sized comfy bed, air con, closet, mini bar (empty but working), big bathroom, nice L'Occitane smellies, and complimentary bottles of water and apples at turn down.  The windows opened, but only a little way, and they didn't stay up.  Let me just say, if one of those windows dropped on your hand, you'd lose it - they are HEAVY.  We were there in the middle of summer and I wanted to keep the windows open, so I improvised by wedging the spare rolls of toilet paper under the window, classy!

L'Occitane in the bathroom - posh!

There's a good, small gym with a stack of towels and a water dispenser.  I was obsessing just a little bit about the Royal baby (aka Prince George) who was due to be born during our stay, so it was great to be on the walking machine with a telly right in front of my nose, watching CNN thrash itself to death all flipping day when it had no more information than anyone else.

I had breakfast in the hotel dining room one day and it was absolutely nothing to brag about.  I had coffee and eggs benedict.  The coffee was bog standard filtered stuff that I later found you could get in a little room off the lobby for free (yes kids, free Starbucks until 10am) that they charged me around $3 for.  The eggs benedict was utterly tasteless (how is that even possible?) and was over $10.  I think my total bill, with taxes and tip, was around $18.

Necessity, it's the mother of invention.

Talking about it later with my lovely local friends Rebecca and Beth, I was pointed firmly to Paul's Family Restaurant around the corner, where I had breakfast the next day and it was BRILLIANT!  Go there.  It was half the price of the hotel dining room and the food was great and in big portions, the coffee was hot and bottomless, and the staff were friendly.  It looks like nothing at all from the outside, but it's really friendly and good inside.

Hotel parking is free and there's lots of it.  Wifi is free, and so are the coffee, apples and newspapers (if you can class USA Today as a newspaper) in the library off the lobby of a morning.  It's within walking distance to the main street and the only bug bear I had was that there's no swimming pool.  I know that seems a bit trifling, but it's a very posh hotel and it's not cheap, you would expect a swimming pool.

Royal Park Hotel

600 E University Drive

ROCHESTER  MI  48307

Phone:- 248 652 2600

www.royalparkhotel.net

Hero Product : Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick

I had seen an ad for this new Rimmel Kate Moss matte lippy in a magazine but couldn't find it anywhere around where we live in Germany, so was VERY excited to see it everywhere on our last trip to the USA.  I grabbed two tubes in Walgreens so I could try it, and test it against my fave MAC matte lippies.

Well, there's no real comparison.  The Kate Moss stuff is great.  It doesn't clump as much as the MAC lippy and it's about 70% cheaper than the Mac as well.  I put it on after my Boots No. 7 lip liner and it seems to last for ages.  There's still a fair bit on when it comes around to me taking my makeup off at night, after eating several meals.  Granted, if you're not spending your days with dogs or horses, and actually have to interact with people, you might want to swipe a bit more on throughout the day, but I'm thrilled with it.

I'm sure Kate had minimal input to the product, and I've never quite understood her appeal, but she's managed to get her name on a great thing here - so whip along to your Rimmel display and drop $5.50US to give it a try.

Oh, just in case you're wondering, this is NOT a paid advertisement for Rimmel and I'm not getting any freebies - I just love this product.  Though, if Rimmel is reading and want to drop me a box of goodies, I'd be more than thrilled!

Delta Airlines : The Dog Experience

You all know that we are dog lovers.  We've got Archie the Lab whom we adore, and you can pretty much bank on us patting and talking to any dog we meet.  Even the dog that I'm about to write about would have gotten a pat from me if I wasn't so concerned that my hands might veer away from it and fasten around the throat of its owner.  Here goes ...

As we were in the long line to check in at Zurich for our Delta flight to JFK, we were behind a three women with a small white dog (I'm thinking it was a Bichon) in a brand spanking new Burberry dog carrier.  I don't think the dog was terribly old and it was barking constantly throughout the whole check-in procedure.  It was also panting and appeared to be frightened.  I remember thinking "I don't think that dog's ever been in a carrier before", and said to my hubby as we walked away that I would be surprised if the dog made it to wherever it was going in one piece.

We found out where it was going after we'd boarded our flight.  It was going to JFK, and it was sitting directly behind us.  Of course.

It barked pretty much non-stop for the entire eight hour flight.  High pitched squeaking barks.  Distressed barks.  This kicked off before we'd even pushed back from the gate.  Everyone was complaining to the flight attendants and nothing was done.  Apparently they tried to have the dog offloaded before push-back, but the ground staff refused to take it.

One of the FAs said that the lady had to stop the dog barking, and the lady gave it a tranquilliser which had totally the opposite effect - it made it even more hyper.  And the barking continued.  And continued.

I went up to the galley after about two hours and asked what on earth was going on.  Understandably, Delta doesn't fly live animal cargo through June, July and August as it just gets too hot in the hold, and if your animal meets the weight guidelines, it can fly with you in the cabin instead.  This dog was the right size and weight, but had obviously never been in a dog carrier before and the staff were out of options.

Eventually, after death stares from the entire plane, the woman lifted the dog out of the carrier and put it on her lap to try and calm it, which kind of worked.  The dog didn't bark nearly as much as when it was in the carrier, but then the FAs told her that for safety reasons the dog had to go back into the carrier.  Which started the barking anew.

Wearing earplugs made absolutely no difference, and by the time we landed at JFK I had a searing headache and my whole body was taut with nerves.  We couldn't get out of the plane fast enough and basically sprinted to Customs to get away from the dog.  But then the dog arrived in Customs, we could hear it coming down the hallway, barking its head off.  And it barked for the hour that it was in the line at Customs.

So, basically, it was the flight from hell on a grotty old plane full of stressed people with a yelping dog less than a metre from my head.

If you're thinking of travelling with your animal, and it will require crating/staying in a carrier, please practice at home first.  Don't think your dog will be thrilled with being wedged in a cute little designer box for 8 hours if it's never done it before.  Dogs are fabulous and very accommodating, but I'm guessing that dog was frightened and distressed.

When we had to relocate Archie from Detroit to Germany, we did as much homework as we could so that he wouldn't be distressed.  He'd been crate trained since he was a puppy, as we knew that we would have to fly him at some point when we relocated.  I went to the vet (multiple times) to make sure he was healthy enough to cope and asked about tranquillisers, to which the vet said it can go one of several ways - your dog goes to sleep, your dog goes hyper, your dog dies.  We chose not to risk it, and as Archie was so used to the crate, he wasn't bothered at all - he just went to sleep, and then arrived perfectly happily.

So, think about your dogs welfare and do as much pre-work as you can before flying it anywhere.  And SERIOUSLY think about the welfare of every other paying passenger on a long haul flight.  Please.  Pretty please.

Airline Review : Delta Long Haul

Oh, Delta.  Where do I start?  We flew them from Zurich (ZRH) to Detroit (DTW) return last time and it was just a mess.  Check-in at ZRH was a nightmare of logistics and a game of 100 Questions (which I know is normal if you're flying to the USA, but I always grind my teeth a bit).  Don't even get me started on the dog and family that checked in before us - that'll be a whole separate post when I'm calm enough to write it.

We got good seats on the plane due to FF status, exit row in Economy which isn't vastly different to Delta Business Class leg-room wise, but the plane was old.  Really old.  And rattly and not particularly clean.  Bits of the seat were wobbling and there was no window blind, it'd been ripped off leaving jagged plastic edges - yay for safety!

But what about the inflight entertainment?  What entertainment?  Delta take all the worry about that and throw it right out the window.  There are no seat-back screens and you get the thrill of watching year old movies on big screens on the bulkheads.  Or no movies at all, and just random bits of telly.  It's like flying was 20 years ago.

The meals were okay, nothing terrible or fantastic.  You get a blanket and a pillow, but the blanket is the thinnest thing I've ever seen (slightly thicker than a tshirt), so if you feel the cold, you'll need to rug up a bit more.  I asked for a second blanket and was told there is only one per passenger (sigh), but they did manage to rustle up one for me from somewhere.

We transited through JFK - and we will NEVER do it again.  JFK was utter madness.  It was like the end of the world had been announced and no-one told us.  There was no organisation, staff weren't bothered by the chaos surrounding them, no-one took responsibility for anything, it was grotty, and there were people EVERYWHERE.

We were in the Customs line for an hour, and then in another line to re-enter the airport through security for half an hour (once you exit Customs you have to pick up your bag, exit security, then re-enter after re-checking your bag).  Then in a line to transfer to another terminal for half an hour.  Oh yes, we missed our connecting flight whilst we were in that line - SURPRISE!  Then we had to go to the counter and get on the next flight, which they only did because of FF status.  Then stand in an un-airconditioned bus on a 40c degree day for 15 minutes whilst waiting for stragglers.  Then be driven less than 300m to our plane.  Then sit on the plane for half an hour because we'd missed our departure slot, though the staff on that plane were rather lovely and very apologetic about all the delays and heat.

We finally got to DTW a few hours late and were VERY surprised to see one of our cases trundling around the carousel and the other in luggage collection office.  At least the bags had arrived, so no complaints about that.

When you add in the whole "dog experience" on the plane (I'm still shaking), it was one of the worst flights I've done.  My advice?  Avoid Delta long haul unless you know you're going to be on a newer plane.  8 hours on a cold, rattly old plane with no entertainment system is a pain in the butt, even when you've got your own book and magazines.  It's how I imagine it would be like flying Aeroflot.

UPDATE:- Since writing this, I've done another Delta flight to the USA out of Zurich and the plane was lovely and new and fabulous, so it's obviously just the luck of the draw.  The new plane had great seat back entertainment systems, with up to date movies and whole series of TV to catch up on - I started watching "Veep" and am now hooked!

Only one downside to the sparkly new entertainment system, and it's that it's a touch screen system, so you have to tap the screen to get it to function.  Anyone who thought flying long haul with a 4 year old repeatedly tapping the screen that's at your back whilst you try to sleep must have been utterly insane.  We had adults sitting behind us, but I had to turn around and give the guy the evils at one stage when his tapping turned into whacking, and got a bit seat jarring.

All in all, it was a MUCH better experience than the last time.