Comments on: Sweet suggestions http://gmc.onelane.org/2008/04/09/sweet-suggestions/ The Greater Middletown Chorale in Vienna. And Salzburg. And Prague. Oh, my! Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:32:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Matt McCaffrey http://gmc.onelane.org/2008/04/09/sweet-suggestions/#comment-36 Matt McCaffrey Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:21:19 +0000 http://gmc.onelane.org/?p=42#comment-36 I really <em>really </em>tried to keep your suggestions in mind, Patricia (and I loved reading about them!). But when I was in Vienna, especially, and they had everything on display, and it all looked so good, and it <em>was</em> good, and all I had to do was point, and they handed it to me…oh, that was sooo much easier. Two things struck me: <ol> <li>What we think of as the "art of pastry" in this country is really just an everyday routine in Austria. It's part of the environment — there is no thinking about "what kind of pastry should we make today?", no novelty to it. They're just everyday-good at it. Like we're good at McDonald's-style hamburgers.</li> <li>You can go to a cafe or bakery and order one serving of apple strudel (yes, even with vanilla ice cream!), and eat it, and then walk away for two or three miles. While there are some bakeries here that will let you do that as well (though the walking-away part is usually problematic), most want to sell you the whole cake, or pastry, or pie, or whatever. Ignoring the deeper issue of over-processed ingredients…no wonder our proportion of overweight residents is so much higher!</li> </ol> Thanks again for the tips, Patricia…looking forward to a gathering that includes your recipes! :) I really really tried to keep your suggestions in mind, Patricia (and I loved reading about them!). But when I was in Vienna, especially, and they had everything on display, and it all looked so good, and it was good, and all I had to do was point, and they handed it to me…oh, that was sooo much easier.

Two things struck me:

  1. What we think of as the “art of pastry” in this country is really just an everyday routine in Austria. It’s part of the environment — there is no thinking about “what kind of pastry should we make today?”, no novelty to it. They’re just everyday-good at it. Like we’re good at McDonald’s-style hamburgers.
  2. You can go to a cafe or bakery and order one serving of apple strudel (yes, even with vanilla ice cream!), and eat it, and then walk away for two or three miles. While there are some bakeries here that will let you do that as well (though the walking-away part is usually problematic), most want to sell you the whole cake, or pastry, or pie, or whatever. Ignoring the deeper issue of over-processed ingredients…no wonder our proportion of overweight residents is so much higher!

Thanks again for the tips, Patricia…looking forward to a gathering that includes your recipes! :)

]]> By: rickpug http://gmc.onelane.org/2008/04/09/sweet-suggestions/#comment-35 rickpug Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:01:23 +0000 http://gmc.onelane.org/?p=42#comment-35 I had a cheese strudel of sorts in a thick vanilla sauce one morning with Margaret and John Tyler, along with coffee in Vienna. While the tour we missed might have been wonderful, the gastronomic tour was phenomenal. And yes, nut rolls, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream, chocolate anything, a nut torte with cream frosting, sharing desserts in Baden with Colin, Kelly and Jen...what a trip! I also had some kind of strawberry cream roll with whipped cream...the other one I looked at was a cheescake looking deal but the waitress could only say it was filled with what sounded like 'butter'; could have been and the guy next to me was very large and eating it and I thought that my coronaries and belt would have busted! Thanks Patricia...good choices that made the trip even better! I had a cheese strudel of sorts in a thick vanilla sauce one morning with Margaret and John Tyler, along with coffee in Vienna. While the tour we missed might have been wonderful, the gastronomic tour was phenomenal. And yes, nut rolls, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream, chocolate anything, a nut torte with cream frosting, sharing desserts in Baden with Colin, Kelly and Jen…what a trip! I also had some kind of strawberry cream roll with whipped cream…the other one I looked at was a cheescake looking deal but the waitress could only say it was filled with what sounded like ‘butter’; could have been and the guy next to me was very large and eating it and I thought that my coronaries and belt would have busted! Thanks Patricia…good choices that made the trip even better!

]]> By: Matt McCaffrey http://gmc.onelane.org/2008/04/09/sweet-suggestions/#comment-24 Matt McCaffrey Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:41:26 +0000 http://gmc.onelane.org/?p=42#comment-24 Thank you for all the suggestions, Patricia--we'll miss you, too! Thank you for all the suggestions, Patricia–we’ll miss you, too!

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