Orange-Scented Date Rice Pudding

Happy Christmas Eve Day!!!

I decided I wanted something a little special for breakfast this morning. I seem to always have rice on hand which must be a symptom of living in Turkey because there was never rice in my cupboard in the US. With the rice there it seemed only sensible to make rice pudding. So with one of my favorite Christmas movies (Elf) playing in the background I set to work.

More than any other day of the year, Christmas Eve is when I feel the most homesick. Although a 40 degree (F) temperature drop last night caused huge winds and massive power outages...

For as long as I can remember Christmas Eve has always been done at my parents with an assortment of family, friends, and neighbors coming. Mom would spend the day running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to cook and clean while we lounged around watching movies and maybe moved around a few things to pretend we were helping with the cleaning.

 Then it was off to the children's Christmas Eve Mass! Which is seriously, the same exact thing year after year. My mom managed it once and tried to make it less bad but as bad as it is people go crazy if you try to change it. Today for me marks one year of singing the Psalms at my church here in Istanbul. I feel so much calmer about it this year than I did last! I was freaking out last year and I know it didn't go well but I think (knock on wood!) that I've got it this year. This is the only time of the year that more than a dozen people turn up to my church so hopefully being faced with packed pews and Turkish curiosity seekers standing in the back won't throw my game!

Even though I'm not in Michigan pretending to help get the house ready for tonight's party I still have plenty of prep of my own here. I've already cleaned and mopped, have to "work" for a few hours, try on all my red dresses, do my nails, practice the psalms for tonight and tomorrow morning, and watch the digital Christmas presents roll in! Oh and clean up the rice pudding mess...

I had a few wee problems with this recipe and it wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be. I prefer the takes longer but also seems to taste better rice pudding methods. However aspects of this recipe still have merit.

Recipe (adapted from My Gourmet Connection)

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

• 1 3/4 cups (whole) milk
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• a few dashes of clove
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 8 ounces vanilla yogurt*
• 1/4 cup cream
• zest of one orange
• 1 1/2 cups chopped dates 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

1. Combine liquids and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and add the spices, honey, vanilla, and salt. Once combined add rice, cover, and let simmer until almost all the liquid has been absorbed (about 30 minutes).
2. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir in remaining ingredients. *I did not have vanilla flavored yogurt on hand so I used Turkish süzme style yogurt and a little additional vanilla extract.
3. Serve room temperature or cold.

Arthur Christmas and Turkish Hot Chocolate

Happy Epiphany/Twelfth Night! And Merry Christmas to our Orthodox friends!

For the last day of hot chocolate and Christmas movies I chose a new favorite movie and tried a Turkish twist for the chocolate. The movie was great. The hot chocolate...eh not so much. Arthur Christmas is adorable and the movie has a great cast. It's worth the watch alone for Cutie McScottish (otherwise known as James McAvoy).

I thought for the very last hot chocolate I'd do something mocha-style but with Turkish coffee. This seemed like a really good idea in my head. Not so much as it turned out. In fact less of a good idea than putting jam in hot chocolate. Turkish coffee and chocolate flavors do not mix well, not like everyone else's coffee and chocolate. I added some sugar and a lot of cocoa powder in an attempt to blend the flavors a little more. It didn't come out undrinkable...but I wouldn't really recommend it.

My suggestion, if you want to make a mocha hot chocolate, would be to either just substitute some milk for fresh-brewed coffee or, better yet, steep some whole coffee beans in milk for like an hour, discard them, then whisk in the coffee as per usual.

This was fun! Since it's fracking cold and snowing here I'm going to continue to make hot chocolates even if they don't go up on the blog. Hope you tried and liked a few of these! I'm thinking a series of lemonades for the summer.

Happy Christmas to all!

Twas the Night Before Christmas and Nutella Hot Chocolate

I think maybe a lot of people don't remember 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Much like the Micky Mouse Christmas Carol, this was aired every year (on CBS of I recall) and was always one of our favorites...until it disappeared from air. But then my clever little brother found it. The singing is slightly less annoying than it is in other movies. It's also kind of amusing the way the humans and rodent communities live on concert with each other. Plus the Santa is cute.

I also (half) watched the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer during which (while fast-forwarding through the truly dreadful songs and anything involving the ridiculous elf, Kirby) it really hit me how truly bigoted this movie is. The song is one thing because we all know kids are cruel so them not letting Rudolph join in any reindeer games is not surprising. The poor little calf's just been born and his parents are practically rejecting him. Were reindeer Greek they'd probably have left him out in the snow for the fates. Why do we watch this?!

Really, could there be much better than Nutella hot chocolate? Other than the Nutella raspberry frappuccinos they make in DC's Pound pretty much the answer is, no. Really if you're in the DC area go to Pound on the Hill and  try one. In the meantime this will tide you over. Oooo...you could use raspberry flavored chocolate (not jam as we learned with the raspberry hot chocolate attempt).

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• 50-ish grams dark chocolate, chopped*
• 2-3 great heaping Tablespoons Nutella. 

1. Heat milk and cream to hot but not boiling.
2. Whisk in chocolate and Nutella.
3. Add more Nutella as desired :)

*I ran out of dark chocolate so used milk chocolate but added cocoa powder. It needs the dark chocolate (or cocoa) otherwise it tastes too milky.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Coconut Hot Chocolate (take two)

The good version of course. Generally I'm behind anything Christine Baranski does; but it takes a lot to trump Boris Karloff. Watching his version of The Grinch and getting that song stuck in your head is a time honored seasonal tradition.

And who doesn't love the part when his heart breaks the magnifying glass, growing to a truly unbelievable size given the proportions of his chest cavity. No wonder he was able to lift the sleigh with all the gifts; he was on some sort of roided out high. Even I'd likely be able to lift more than a wine glass if my heart were that big.

It is not wine that we're talking about today though; it's hot chocolate and my second attempt at a coconut version. Not that the first one was bad, not at all, but because coconut and chocolate together makes me feel like this:

And since there are multiple ways to achieve the goal of coconutty chocolate goodness it would be irresponsible to not explore them all. In the name of science, and ... Christmas. Or whatever.

Recipe Version 1:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• 55 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
• 1.5 Teaspoons sugar
• 3-4 Teaspoons powdered coconut milk*

1. Heat milk and cream to hot but not boiling.
2. Whisk in sugar and powdered coconut milk.
3. Whisk in chocolate.

*Asian food stores might have this. Coconut milk in Turkey is outrageously expensive so I bought a couple boxes of powdered milk in Kenya (for all of $1 each).

Recipe Version 2:

• 1 Cup coconut milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• 55 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
• 1.5 Teaspoons sugar

1. Heat coconut milk and cream to hot but not boiling.
2. Whisk in sugar and chocolate.

Recipe Version 3:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup cream of coconut
• 55 grams dark chocolate (chopped)

1. Heat milk and cream of coconut to hot but not boiling.
2. Whisk in chocolate.

So it appears there are more than two ways to pull this off but I don't have access to cream of coconut or enough days before Epiphany left to try them all. Pity.

Miracle on 34th Street and Raspberry Hot Chocolate

As we go into January and winter rears its ugly head here in Istanbul, this hot chocolate experiment seems to be an even better idea than I thought it would be and will likely continue long past Twelfth Night*. It's cold, windy, wet, and miserable here. And my apartment, which is totally fine nine months of the year, is basically an uninsulated marble and cement box with drafty windows and doors.

Miracle on 34th Street, the remake (because Dylan McDermott) is usually one of the first Christmas movies I watch during the season. For no other reason than that the movie begins with a Thanksgiving parade so it always seems like a nice segue. And so I did this year but I bust it out again for this. It's no hardship (again because Dylan McDermott). What is a hardship though is that my Carrefour has recently renovated and it seems to no longer stock a lot of things I used to go there specifically to buy; like frozen raspberries. My hot chocolate plans took a little stumble because of this so I had to get a little creative. Incidentally the lack of frozen raspberries has also thrown off my oatmeal game.

It wasn't bad really. It was interesting to say the least. However I think I will hunt down some raspberry flavored chocolate or bite the bullet and give up one of my arms to pay for some Chambourd before I try this again.

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• 2-3 Tablespoons raspberry (or what you will*) jam
• 55-ish grams dark chocolate, chopped

1. Whisk jam into milk and cream.
2. Heat milk mixture to hot but not boiling.
3. Whisk in chopped chocolate.
4. Enjoy!

*Haha, see what I did there?

Elf and Mint Hot Chocolate

Really is there any other flavor for hot chocolate more appropriate to accompany Elf? Really, what else would Buddy drink? Well maybe maple syrup flavored hot chocolate but...ew.

Lacking extract I thought it would be a good idea to steep mint leaves in milk for a while. It may have gone well had one thing and the other not got in the way. I stripped and bruised the leaves, added them to the milk, and put it all back in the refrigerator with the intention of only letting it steep for half hour or so. Just before the 30 minutes were up I got a phone call from my priest and ran out to meet him. 40 minutes later I got home five minutes before a schedule teleconference with Palestine.

Long story short, by the time I got around to making the hot chocolate the leaves had been steeping for  at least three times as long as I'd intended. Whether it was that or it was simply a bad idea to use leaves the mint hot chocolate did not turn out as well as I was hoping. I got a brief hint of mint at first sip which quickly transitioned to...leaf. So my mint hot chocolate was more like leaf hot chocolate. Which was an interesting if utterly unintended flavor.

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• 50-ish grams dark chocolate
• Mint leaves*

1. Wash and strip mint leaves from 6-7 stalks. Bruise with your fingers.
2. Steep in milk/cream for half an hour or so.
3. Heat milk until just hot then remove mint leaves.
4. Whisk in chocolate, add a little sugar if desired.

*Of course you could just use peppermint extract :)

Love Actually and Orange Clove Hot Chocolate

In the spirit of what is apparently a British tradition of Christmas truth-telling I must confess...I'm a genius.

Putting chocolate, orange, and clove together is one of the most brilliant flavor combinations around. Clove is tricky to work with sometimes because there is a fine line between that tantalizing hint and being completely overpowered.

I paired this one with Love Actually. Despite the bizarre British desire to tell everyone the truth at Christmas (what is that all about?), I love this movie. Who doesn't want a Prime Minister who uses Harry Potter and David Beckham to charmingly tells the sleazy US President to frack off? And Colin Firth with his adorably bad Portuguese is my favorite part. I hope my bad Turkish is that adorable. I got some giggles when I took my cat to the vet and told them that "I want her to not be able to have babies." I thought that was a logical compromise for not knowing the Turkish word for "spay" but they thought it was funny.

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• Zest of one large orange
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon ground clove
• 50-ish grams chopped dark chocolate 

This isn't a recipe to make when you've a whim because the zest has to steep for a bit.

1. Steep the zest in the milk/cream combination for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how impatient you are. I don't have a zester so I used a vegetable peeler to take off the zest in large strips. It's easier to remove the zest from the milk if you do it this way, just make sure to remove any pith.
2. Heat the milk, cream, and zest on low until hot to the touch or you see bubbles forming around the edge. As ever, do not let boil! 
3. Remove zest from milk.
4. Whisk in sugar, clove, and chocolate until everything is smooth an incorporated.
5. Give it a bit of a taste and add clove as desired. Remember, you can always add but you can't take out!

If you're not a zest person and/or don't want to take the time you could instead use and orange flavored chocolate.

Merry Christmas! Cardamom Hot Chocolate

A few weeks ago my priest asked me if I would start singing the Psalms during Mass.  Usually only about a dozen people come to my Mass so I figured, why not? Embarrassing myself in from of 12 people isn't the end of the world. Unfortunately my debut was none other than Christmas Eve Mass. Santa Maria is a fairly small church but once you pack people into pews, set out a couple dozen extra chairs, and crowd people standing in the back there must have been at least 200 people there.

I got the Psalm and the music on the 23rd so I had a full day to practice. Which I did much to Sherlock's displeasure. I was nervous as anything but figured if I could just get the first note right then I'd be ok. Naturally I'd stressed myself into a migraine (which put a kabosh on my plans for liquid courage). To make it worse, being a high holy day the priests bust out the incense. Incense makes me sick under the best of circumstances and they got really enthusiastic with it. It was like someone had fogged the alter with it. Unfortunately the clouds of nauseous incense that were intensifying my migraine did nothing to obscure the several hundred people staring at me; nor did they hide me from them. Needless to say I did not get the first note right. I think I got it together by the first verse though.

If that weren't enough I also went to Christmas morning Mass so I had only a handful of hours to learn a new Psalm. It went much worse this morning. Much, much worse. I should have had Gluehwein with breakfast instead of coffee. I didn't manage to pull things together until round about the third verse. At least there were less people this morning.

While I couldn't go home to my family again this year, at least modern technology makes it less depressing (no more crying during Home Alone). My sister and I talked via Skype when I got home and she and my brother-in-law taunted me by showing me the ham he prepared for dinner. Then at about 1.15AM my brother set up a Google Hangout so I could talk to him, my parents, and the cousins who go to my parents' for Christmas Eve.

It being actual Christmas day and all of course we're going to talk about a hot chocolate! I enjoy cardamom in coffee so why not in chocolate? Like cayenne, cardamom is not to be used with a liberal hand. Taste and add as you go! To accompany the hot chocolate, today I'm watching my other favorite version of The Christmas Carol-Micky Mouse's.

We used to watch this every year of TV when we were kids. Then it disappeared and you couldn't find it for love or money. But Disney, not a company to miss the chance to make money any way it can, finally released it on DVD some years ago. In addition to the Christmas Carol is a short with Chip and Dale creating a ruckus with Mickey's tree and some cartoon about a donkey that we never fail to skip.

I can never decide which version I like better; the Muppets' or Mickey. The Muppet version has the fantastic ghosts and Gonzo...but it also has singing and puppets. Shudder. Mickey's version has Goofy and is what introduced Uncle Scrooge to us. I don't really like Donald (or Huey, Duey, and Louie) but I love Scrooge McDuck. I'm also less tempted to smack the Mickey Tiny Tim. I'll just have to keep watching them both year after year until I decide!

A Merry and Blessed Christmas from ParMieux Adventures!

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4-ish Cup heavy cream
• 50 grams milk chocolate (chopped)
• 1 big Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
• 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon cardamom

1. Heat milk and cream until hot or just bubbling around the edges.
2. Whisk in chocolate, cocoa powder, and cardamom.
3. Add more cardamom (or not) to taste.
4. Enjoy!

The Muppet Christmas Carol and Aztec Hot Chocolate

Today I'm watching what is, surprisingly, one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Muppet Christmas Carol. Why is that surprising? Because puppets are fracking scary and Muppets most of all. Full body Kermit gives me nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, someone on the Harry Potter team has to have seen this movie. The Muppet Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is clearly a Dementor precursor.Equally scary is a singing, dancing Michael Caine.

Let's talk about today's hot chocolate. I imagine it was very startling and probably even off putting the first time someone was served chocolate that had chili in it but it's not an uncommon thing anymore. There's something really special to me about it because I think when you get other flavored chocolates, caramel, mint, what have you, that second flavor shares as much space on your tongue as the chocolate. Chili is different though simply through its nature. I mean the amount of chili you're going to put in chocolate is a heck of a lot less than the amount of caramel you'd use. Chili brings chocolate to the next level and then kind of kicks you in the face during the finish. It's like a bonus.

You do have to be careful with it. I especially did since my bottle of cayenne pepper didn't have one of those perforated tops that helps you sprinkle spices. This could have gone full on disaster for me. I suggest sprinkling a little bit at a time then taste an mull. Did the chili kick you in the face? No? Add a little more. And so on.

The very timely Lauren sent me this link to an article about the history of hot chocolate. It's fascinating.Authors Brett & Kate McKay talk about how chocolate came to Europe, the difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa, and how many a drink hot chocolate is. Even though we didn't write it, it's totally worth a read! The Surprisingly Manly History of Hot Cocoa

And speaking of a kick in the face; does anyone else ever want to punch Tiny Tim?


Recipe:

• 1 C milk
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 50 gr chopped dark chocolate
• 3 TSP sugar
• 1 heaping TSP cocoa powder
• 1/2 TSP cinnamon
• few pinches (to taste) cayenne pepper

1. Heat milk and cream until just barely bubbling around the edges.
2. Whisk in milk and dry ingredients.
3.  Enjoy getting kicked in the face :)

Home Alone and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

With almost two years in Turkey under my belt now I have learned that Istanbul is not as completely devoid of everything Christmas as I thought it was. There are actually quite a few places that sell Christmas trees, ornaments, and various other decorations. However I have decided to remain decorationless. Sherlock loves too much climbing the hanging closet organizers, wood support beams, my leg...I am not about to tempt fate with a shiny, sparkly, potentially fragile decorated tower of climbing wonder.

 However there are some Christmas traditions that can be celebrated wherever you are and regardless of your demon cat situation. The easiest of these...movies. I have a pretty extensive collection of Christmas movies and no Christmas is complete without the classic Home Alone. Yes, Home Alone. Macaulay Caulkin's 1990 masterpiece. My first Christmas away from home was 2002 when I was living in Taiwan. At the time I didn't own the movie, nor did I have any Christmas movies with me. Our cable package included several English HBO channels and the day Home Alone was on was my holiday low point. Even though my awesome mom spent a fortune sending me gifts and candy I was so depressed to not be home and to not be inundated with Christmas everything everywhere. That scene at the end when Catherine O'Hara has finally made it to Chicago and walks into the house to see it all decorated and the tree, you know that part, I lost it. Burst into tears and sobbed my way through the rest of the movie. Thank goodness it was already near the end. Low point.*

I keeps your DVDs warm for you

Crying over movies that aren't sad at all isn't the only great way to celebrate Christmas though. While not really a Christmas tradition, winter + holiday calories (which we all know don't count) is the perfect time to enjoy hot chocolate!

My dwindling supply of pb

 I love that people are getting experimental with hot chocolate recipes; although I question the taste of the person who invented lavender lemongrass white hot chocolate. No. But to the genius who decided to put peanut butter in hot chocolate, I tip my hat to you ma'am.

 Recipe: (slightly adapted from The Messy Baker)

• 1 cup milk*
• 1/4 cup heavy cream*
• 60 grams dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 TBLS cocoa powder (opt)
• 1 TBLS sugar (opt)
• 2 big TSPS creamy peanut butter

*vary  measurements depending on taste

1. Heat the milk and cream over low until hot to the touch or bubbles form around the edges. Do NOT let boil.
2. Whisk in the chocolate, cocoa, and sugar until everything is smooth.
3. Whisk in peanut butter.
4. Enter chocolate peanut butter Nirvana.

From now until the end of the Christmas season check in and see what other movies and hot chocolates with which we're celebrating!

*Remember the part when Kevin is walking down the street and his grocery bags break, spilling everything all over the sidewalk? His face is so perfect. We've all been there, Buddy.

Turkish Wine of the Week - Sava Calkarasi Merlot

It's December and yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent which means that it's officially time to start playing Christmas movies and music and, more importantly, start drinking Gluehwein! Which for me means that it no longer matters that Turkish wine generally isn't good.

Also luckily, good wine is neither needed nor recommended for Gluehwein (and in case you need a good recipe for it check out Lauren's old post!) so for the first time I bought a bottle of the cheapest wine (10 TL / 5 USD) on offer here: Sava. And while I meant it from the beginning for Gluehwein, it is Monday so I thought I'd make a proper tasting of it.

Everything has at least one good point, right? So that's where we'll begin. The Sava 2013 Calkarasi/Merlot is a really pretty color-a jewel garnet red that glows a bit when held up to the light. Glows in a good way; not a possibly toxic way. The nose was actually fairly decent as well; full of red fruits and spice.


Then I tasted it and that's when it's true nature kicked in. It seemed to have a fairly high level of acidity with medium tannins. The flavor was tart verging on sour, so much so that it took me a little while to establish the flavors around the tartness. Unsurprisingly, when I thought about it, the main flavor I got was that of sour cherries with black pepper in the back. THIS is what a Merlot tastes like. A 10TL Turkish Merlot. Comparatively, even the 2013 standard Suvla Merlot was like ambrosia up against this bad boy.

I can't recommend a Sava for actual drinking (unless you give it to someone you really don't like or have no taste buds) but it made a pretty great Gluehwein. Although with twice as much sugar as the recipe calls for.

Speaking of things you should probably stay away from...I was grocery shopping the other day and came across this:

A jar of goat's milk caramel. Of course I had to buy it. I'm not entirely sure I know how to describe it. It's the darkest caramel I've ever seen. It doesn't smell overtly goaty...but it really tastes like it. I like, nay, I LOVE goat cheese. I make goat cheese cheese cake and ice cream. I eat soft goat cheese, hard goat cheese, and every other kind of goat cheese that exists.

But this...the first time I tried it I felt like I got kicked in the mouth by a goat. I had a cheese once in Sarajevo that was possibly the only goat cheese I have tried and not liked. It tasted like licking an actual goat. That's kind of how the caramel tasted. However I put it in the refrigerator anyway rather than throwing it away and today I decided to get it out again today and give it another try.

It's still undeniably goaty but now I'm more intrigued by it instead of repulsed. I need to get some chocolate or a make a cheesecake or brownies and try the caramel on those. I feel like I wouldn't be going wrong to dip pretzels in it either. Future testing will tell!

A Glazed Almond Cookie Adventure

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so I hope that you've enjoyed reading about Andrea's Iron Chef victory with Garlic Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches. I'm glad to know that they were a hit, especially because I hope they don't reappear at home. I don't ever want to smell 3 heads of roasting garlic in the middle of the night ever again. It made for some strange nightmares. But I digress, we're talking about Christmas cookies, right? Yes...and it's March, so I'm right on time, of course. So let's get started!

My grandma (by way of my stepdad, but grandma just the same) used to send dozens of cookies around to her children/grandchildren every year at Christmastime. She doesn't do it anymore, and I really miss it. One year, I asked her to send me her recipes, and she did! Now, I try to make two or three different kinds each year.

I read a blog called Eat, Live, Run on an almost daily basis. The author's name is Jenna, and I love the way that she presents her recipes. She usually begins with a mise en place, meaning everything in place. I think this is a great way to start out all cooking, because your prep is done, and everything is lined up happily waiting for you to use it. Sometimes, however, there are lots of steps involved before your mise en place is complete.

For these cookies, the almonds first need to be blanched.

See grandma's hand-written recipe back there?!

In reality, this is my favorite part of making these cookies. I boil some water, drop the almonds in for 1 or 2 minutes (you don't want them to lose their crunch), and then strain them out, and submerge them in a bath of ice water. Then, strain them again, pop the skins off of the almonds one by one. I love this part because it's like taking a jacket off of each almond, and what emerges is a beautiful, perfect almond.

Next, we chop!

In this picture, you see the almonds in every stage: un-peeled, naked, and chopped.


After that, we gather all of the other needed items, and assemble our Glazed Almond Cookie Mise en place!


Now we can get started. First, we cream the butter and sugar:


Then, we mix in the flour, eggs, and chopped almonds, until you get this lumpy dough with almond pieces:


Once it's all incorporated, roll it all together into a dough log. Since the recipe has so much butter in it, I find that the dough tends to melt really easily. So i like to roll it into this log, and pop it into the freezer for 30-45 minutes until it's firm enough for me to start hacking at it with my tablespoon measuring spoon.


I take my measuring spoon and roll each cookie into a ball. This is the perfect size for them. Then, you drop them into egg whites before placing them onto a buttered Cookie Sheet. Then, you press a plain almond into the top of each one.


Bake them in the oven until they're golden. Make sure that you take them off the cookie sheet as soon as possible, because the combination of the egg-white and sugar on the hot cookie sheet will cool into a something as hard as a rock. Put them on a cooling rack if you have one. Since I don't, I just do what my mom always did, and just lay the cookies onto some paper towels on the counter or table.


And that's it! Enjoy!

Shanghai Old City

On our second day in Shanghai, Lauren and I hopped on the little shuttle from our hostel to go to I don’t remember the name of the park. You love my attention to detail and ability to retain information don’t you? Go on, you do. The little bus dropped us off on the side of a dusty street seemingly nowhere near a park. We were, however, near a lot of shops (like two full streets of them) selling, you’ll never guess, Christmas decorations. Christmas in Communist/Capitalist China is garish, full of glitter, shiny tinsel and streamers, fake trees, Santa Clauses, huge plastic candy canes, funny hats, and even a few angels.

One over our horrified fascination (and after Lauren pulled me out of a store of “sparkly” jewelry) we accidentally stumbled across Shanghai’s “Old City.” While it was on my to-do list I had no idea it was anywhere near park what-its-name. It also was not what I was expecting. Honestly I am not sure what I was expecting. I knew it was a shopping area but I guess I thought that the Old City would be, well, old. And while beautifully reproduced in the Jingnan style…this was clearly a modern area. I fell in love with it here and took an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures.



















































We were quite thrilled to discover Dairy Queen!! Although, tragically, it was far too cold that day to really seriously contemplate getting a hot fudge shake.



(Told you I went overboard with the pictures. This isn't even a quarter of them.)

We also saw, although did not visit, the tea house on the lake where the famous Willow Ware china pattern was inspired and became popular (if Frommer’s can be believed over Wikipedia).






































In our wanderings we finally did find the entrance to the park (I looked it up, it’s the Yuyuan park) but declined to go in. The entrance fee was far too steep to pay in the winter but if you ever get there in spring/summer it is supposed to be fabulous.

After we left Old City we started wandering. The little bus from the hostel dropped us off here and we were not exactly sure how we were going to get anywhere. Using the not to be trusted Frommer’s city map as a guide, we wended our way out of Old City, past yet more Christmas shops, a McDonald’s McCafe (we don’t even have those!), across several frightening cross walks, eventually a large bridge after playing tightrope walking on busy street curb, and FINALLY found ourselves dumped out on the pedestrian area. Exactly where we wanted to be so…yay us.