One more look....

Greetings! It has been awhile, but I am still here...

 Today I would like to share with you pictures of our weekend outing to the "big city" (we live only 20 minutes by car away from downtown Berlin). That´s right only 20 mintues by car and yet we seldom take the time to go into the city...well unless we have guests than we are all over the city showing them the hightlights and soaking in the history. WELL, we had another reason to go into the city this past Saturday. The Pergamon Museum closed its main attraction this past Sunday. They are doing extensive renovations to the museum and so the main attraction---the Altar has to be closed for the next FIVE years. My unborn great nephew Jacob  will be entering 1st grade before they are done with the renovations. Wrap your brain around that one. Now mind you, we have had all year to go to the museum, but typical for us we waited till the last minute. OUr fist last minute attempt was on Wednesday afternoon......(that is a long story that I will save for another day) Our second attempt was Saturday morning! We left the car at home, took our bikes and off we went. We also took advantage of public transport. Getting up at the crack of dawn was soo worth it. First of all the Pergamon is an amazing place and secondly no line. We still had to wait about 30 minutes before the museum opened, but with the help of coffee and smart phones we  along with the other 8 people survived.

So sit back and enjoy the pictures..... if you want the history info too, well you know where to go!

The Alex....still in the fog it was that early in the morning.

The Dom

Ischtar Tor

Markttor von Milet

Ready to move..... what a job packing up a museum

Pergamon Altar

A Cupcake Tutorial...How to make Cupcakes from Scratch

 My first Tutorial......this one is for my niece Jessica

I. Equipment

 Cupcake Pans(there are mini-regular-large sized pans. For this recipe I use the

 regular size 12 cupcake pan

 My favorite cupcake liners are american ones....the germann ones do not quite cut it!

 

 Place one liner in each of the 12 cupcake

 Measuring Cups and Spoons

 Important Tools.....a whisk, a spatula and a ice cream scoop

 A cooling rack

 very important......a timer

 my mixer of choice....a Kitchen Aid

 Another important item....an oven glove. I got my pretty pink oven glove from my girlfriend Adriana  who lives in California

 The Ingredients

 

 

 Filled and ready to go in the oven

 The cupcakes need about 20 minutes in a 350° F oven

Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes

  

Frost with your frosting of choice

Take some cool pictures...

ENjoy!

Rolls and Mushrooms......

This Sunday I would like to share with you all not one, but two recipes.

The first one is for all you THermomix Fans out there: Spelt Flour Rolls.
The second recipe is for all you veggie fans out there: Grilled Portobell Mushroom Burgers

Spelt Flour Rolls

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Spelt Flour Rolls

Ingredients:   500 g Spelt Flour

                      1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

                      250 g warm water  (must admit I forgot to make sure the water was warm :)  )

                      40 g fresh yeast (i used 2 bags that equal about 40 g fresh yeast)

                      a pinch of sugar

Directions:    Mix all ingredients for 2 min on the yeast cycle

                      Form rolls and place on baking sheet. Now you have 2 choices: 1. place rolls in a cold 

                      oven and bake at 200° C for 30 minutes. 2. let the dough rise for 15 minutes then place                         a preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes.

 Grilled Portobell Mushroom Burgers

Ingredients:    portobello mushroom caps

                       2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

                       1 tbsp soy sauce

                       1 tbsp olive oil

                       1 tbsp chopped rosemary

                       1-1/2 tsp steak seasoning like Montreal Steak Grill Mates

                       red onion slices

                       swiss cheese slices

                       tomatoe slices

                       avocado slices

                       baby spinach

                       spelt flour rolls

Directions:     In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, rosemary, and steak seasoning. Place the 

                       caps in the bowl and toss with sauce. Let stand at room temperature and marinate. The 

                       recipe I found online said to marinate 20-30 minutes. I of course got side tracked and 

                       ended up marinating for almost 2 hours! Grill the mushroom caps for 5-7 minutes per 

                       side. During the last minute of cooking, place the rolls on the grill, as well as the red 

                       onions.

                       Now to the fun part: assembly!  Place the spinach and grilled mushrooms on the buns

                       and top with the grilled onions, sliced tomato and avocado.

This meal was sooo good, I think I might just go vegetarian! 

Happy Sunday Everyone....see you later this week for Tablescape Thursday