What is Kaiserschmarrn? Kaiserschmarrn is a pancake with a difference. It’s a traditional Austrian and Bavarian dessert served in most cafes and mountain huts (Almhütten). It originated as a favourite dish of the Emperor (Kaiser) Franz Josef I of Austria, who lived in Vienna about 100 years ago. It’s a thick scrambled pancake with raisins,…
Food
The language of Austrian cuisine – what’s on your menu?
Eating out in Austria If you’re planning a trip to Austria, it’s useful to know the special names of a few foods and traditional dishes you’ll find in Austrian cuisine. On my own first visit, I missed out on some delicious foods because I didn’t actually know what they were. If you’re in London, you…
A French market on your doorstep: “France At Home” in the UK
French markets in the UK For a short time, in a small space, you can be in the UK but pretend you’re in France. You just need to visit one of these French markets coordinated and organized by Muriel Charles, the manager of the French company France At Home. They’ve been running since 1994, and…
Plumbing the depths of autumn
Autumn mists We’re getting deeper into autumn now and nature’s making it obvious. It’s easy to take beautiful tree photos this time of year, but this one’s rare: it’s a mist photo. I took it in our local park at around 8 am. The mist was hanging in a sort of ribbon which divided the…
French bakery in London: Aux Merveilleux de Fred
One thing I miss in the UK is good bakeries – especially places where you can buy really fresh brioche. The smell of baking drew me into “Aux Merveilleux de Fred”. It has branches in Paris, Nantes, Berlin, Geneva, New York….and London! “Fred” is Frederic Vaucamps, a skilled pastry chef based in Northern France. His…
A change of career: from Revolutionary to Biscuit Entrepreneur
It’s always exciting to see a friend featured on television. One evening in December 2017 we were very excited to see our friend Raffael featured on Südwestfunk (www.swr.de ) German TV. My daughter was doing her homework and I was reading my emails when suddenly an email from Raffael popped up: we should log onto…
Baking with languages: kids learn as they cook
If your child has more than one language you can have fun cooking in a minority language and learning a bit about the culture behind the food. When my daughter was a toddler we started by baking bread in English, our main language, and making breakfast in German or French. Now she’s 13 and we’ve…
Where to get German and Austrian food in London
This post is for when you’re in London, you feel peckish and you miss German or Austrian food. I’ve been looking at places where you can buy foods which might be hard to find anywhere else in the UK. Sausages and Schnitzel I know of two places in London where you can buy genuine German…
My cakewalk: cheesecakes and all sorts of Polish cakes
I’d been reading an amazing story about two Epsom-based painter/decorators, Joe Moruzzi and Brendon Parry, who set up a second business selling….. custom-made cheesecakes. Joe started off making cheesecakes for friends and family, set up an Instagram account, and now he and Brendon have 40K followers. They make the British/American type of cheese cake, with…
Pau, south-west France: 10 more tips for families
Carrying on from yesterday’s post about Pau, I’ve thought of 10 more tips for families visiting this lovely town. First of all you’ll need some food, either to enjoy on the spot or to take home with you. Specialist Food and drink includes Jurancon wine, fromage des Pyrenees, delicious patisserie and chocolate! We found this…
