tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70049230669414119522009-11-03T21:28:14.703+01:00Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-90979965096596835942009-11-02T22:17:00.003+01:002009-11-02T23:14:10.522+01:00

For some reason I always thought scones were really hard to make and I was determined to some day make a batch of them. Last week I saw fresh US cranberries at the supermarket and grabbed a bag right away as I was worried I may not find them again. Turns out several stores do carry them.Anyways, here I had this bag of cranberries and didn't know what to make. After going through recipes online I

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-79306290265631861162009-10-28T23:35:00.003+01:002009-10-28T23:39:12.909+01:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's taken me to start writing this post. Summer vacation was loooong ago, but I still want to share the rest of my CA food stories.For the first time in I don't know how many years I tried a new restaurant in Pacific Grove, called Passionfish. I had read about it and wanted to try it because they serve sustainable seafood. It was quite difficult to choose from their

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-87540105050917203492009-09-30T20:42:00.004+02:002009-09-30T21:47:47.763+02:00

I was so excited about the prospect to be able to eat California food again after having had to go without it for a year. Many of the places we went to on our two week trip were places I had heard or read about. The first one was Ella's in San Francisco. We went there the morning after arriving at the SFO airport the night before. It was pretty packed but we were able to get a spot at the bar,

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-2104260696256738392009-08-26T22:26:00.004+02:002009-08-26T22:51:10.839+02:00

Mexican food in Europe -- it doesn't really work. I've tried it a few times, but it never got close to the Mexican food I'm used to from California, which, obviously, isn't the real Mexican food, but it's what I know and love.My prayers for finding good Mexican food here in Switzerland were finally heard when my coworker and I went to lunch at La Fonda about two weeks ago. I ordered a vegetable

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-84722570746472769032009-08-09T19:18:00.001+02:002009-08-09T19:18:44.693+02:00

I had been wanting to visit Vienna ever since I read a newspaper article about it 2 or 3 years ago. I had already been to Vienna when I was a little kid, but who honestly remembers anything from those trips your parents took you on when you were little?So last month we finally headed off to Vienna for a couple of days. In preparation for the trip I read up on restaurants and, most importantly,

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-26401587505296171572009-06-29T21:29:00.003+02:002009-06-29T22:33:25.643+02:00

Lately I've been in the mood to try new recipes. During the week I usually don't take the time, but on the weekends I like to cook something more elaborate. Last weekend I was in the mood for lamb. So I got out my cookbook "Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, & Lebanon" by Claudia Roden and looked at different lamb recipes. I finally decided on tagine of lamb with dates and almonds (although I

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-71117337022206239392009-06-18T22:00:00.004+02:002009-06-18T22:36:03.769+02:00

My sister came to Basel two weeks ago to see the van Gogh exhibition (which was great, by the way). Right away we decided we would have to bake something together while she was here. After going through several possible recipes we finally settled on Sherry Yard's "Campton Place Coffee Cake" from her book "Desserts by the Yard". I had been wanting to make the recipe ever since I saw it in the

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-18238668044492263112009-05-24T19:17:00.012+02:002009-05-25T23:23:41.048+02:00

London is fabulous. It really is. The shopping is great and, even more importantly, so is the food. In the four days we just spent there it was impossible to try all the places I had heard and read about since my last trip to London in 2007, but we did find five places that definitely deserve to be mentioned:1. Spaccanapoli2. The Grocer on Elgin3. Ottolenghi4. Princi5. Coco Momo1. SpaccanapoliWe

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-86772106074258319942009-05-03T21:27:00.004+02:002009-05-03T22:06:55.722+02:00

This year I've gone crazy for rhubarb. Until recently I couldn't have cared less for the bitter stalks. But now I'm addicted to their taste and texture once cooked with a bit of sugar and paired with strawberries or raspberries or even better: both. The first idea I had when I was picking out my rhubarb at the store was to make a rhubarb compote with just rhubarb, sugar and water. Then I decided

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-37858931688837016462009-04-20T21:34:00.003+02:002009-04-20T22:32:39.788+02:00

Ever since the weather got warmer and therefore more reminiscent of California, I have been missing all the places I used to eat at in California. I miss all the ethnic foods, Mexican and Thai especially, and I miss the abundance of fresh produce. Last but not least I miss getting good food for a good price! Here, when I'm hungry but too lazy to cook I don't really have many choices for grabbing

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-80042915920399477952009-02-26T20:55:00.006+01:002009-02-26T22:51:14.403+01:00

I thought moving to Switzerland would be similar to moving to France, meaning I would be surrounded by sweets left and right. But, unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately), that was not the case. I'm not exactly sure how I got the impression that Switzerland would be a sort of candyland. Maybe because Switzerland is a country known for its abundance of chocolate. And there is lots of chocolate.

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-37472893431735639542009-01-31T20:29:00.013+01:002009-02-03T23:04:42.650+01:00

Finally I get around to writing a new post! I have just recently moved to Switzerland to start my first job post-university. The funny thing is that towards the end of my master's program I started wondering: "Hm, should I look for work in the US or in Germany? US or Germany? US or Germany?" And now, as fate would have it, I am in Switzerland! That pretty much took care of the tough decision of

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-42079657300505339872008-12-28T20:48:00.008+01:002008-12-29T23:28:55.132+01:00

If there's one recipe involving yeast dough that is really worth your time it's cinnamon rolls! Oh my, I had no idea homemade cinnamon rolls tasted so much better than any purchased cinnamon rolls (at least any I have ever had). A while back I was searching the Saveur website and found a recipe for Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls. I showed it to my sister and we immediately decided we would have to

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-36407697892667654502008-12-15T20:14:00.016+01:002008-12-18T18:04:02.515+01:00

Last weekend my mom and I went to Würzburg to do some Christmas shopping and to see the Christmas market in nearby Sommerhausen. Würzburg has lots of nice little shops, for example Sinus Shopping and Eckhaus Wohnaccessoires. We also stopped at Café Michel and bought a piece of poppyseed strudel (Mohnstrudel), a piece of cherry strudel (Kirschstrudel) and a piece of poppyseed cake (Mohnkuchen) to

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-87500463621224259092008-11-24T23:40:00.005+01:002008-11-25T00:10:24.699+01:00

I just had to have something chocolatey and dense today. What else is new, right? I was getting kind of sick of making hot chocolate. It just didn't taste the same anymore. So I decided to search for lava or molten chocolate cakes on epicurious and found a recipe I had made a few years ago: Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cakes with Rum-Ginger Ice Cream. The title itself is enough to make your

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-21247813875519900682008-11-05T18:57:00.006+01:002008-11-11T11:59:44.737+01:00

For a while now I have been craving a really good hot chocolate. And what I mean by a "really good hot chocolate" is a thick, smooth, velvety, chocolatey drink that leaves you intensely satisfied and happy. The last time I had a really good hot chocolate was this summer at Ginger Elizabeth's in Sacramento (see previous blog post). You must be thinking "Who is crazy enough to drink a hot chocolate

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-31996385985897897072008-10-29T15:24:00.005+01:002008-10-29T16:06:27.961+01:00

I have a lot of blogging catching up to do. Hopefully once my thesis is turned in there will be more time for blogging. For now I am going to share a wonderful chocolate almond torte recipe from the Bon Appétit May 2002 issue that I made for my mom's birthday two weeks ago. The recipe is simple and the cake is wonderfully moist. There is no flour in the recipe so the cake is dense, but not as

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-4020941737671803892008-10-11T22:48:00.004+02:002008-10-29T16:03:56.727+01:00

I have been pleasantly surprised by a fairly new restaurant in Nürnberg called Klara. It opened in October 2006 after previous restaurants at its location (next to the "Neues Museum", the museum of art and design) had failed. Since its opening I had been to Klara a few times, but I was never thrilled until my last visit a few days ago. I think I know why. As of May of this year the restaurant has

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-50139601679810889742008-09-25T20:30:00.002+02:002008-09-25T20:53:25.237+02:00

Sherry Yard's "Out-of-This-World Brownies" are the best brownies I have ever made! They are dense and smooth almost like a truffle. The recipe is from her book "Desserts by the Yard" and is the first recipe I have tried from this newly acquired treasure.Here's the recipe. I have condensed the words to a bare minimum and have left out the salt since I never put salt in my desserts unless I am

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-60488682023030055822008-09-22T18:39:00.003+02:002008-09-22T18:59:37.977+02:00

I never liked fresh figs until this year. I used to think their leathery skin and their slimy insides were pretty gross, but now I'm their biggest fan. When I saw Jamie Oliver's recipe for a fig salad the picture looked so tasty I had to make it. Here's my version of the recipe for two people:2 ripe figs1/2 mozzarella2 slices Parma hamDressing:3 tblsp olive oil1 1/2 tblsp lemon juice1 tblsp

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-48388643051772338082008-09-13T04:06:00.006+02:002008-10-29T16:05:42.591+01:00

I now have a favorite restaurant in Sacramento: Ella Dining Room and Bar. The food is outstanding and the interior design is very nice as well. What's fun about the food at Ella is that the portions are small (or should I say normal) so you can choose a couple of different plates to share as we did. All dishes were delicious, fresh, and cooked to perfection, but probably the BEST one was the

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-80724584190334645502008-08-27T06:54:00.004+02:002008-08-27T08:32:57.503+02:00

I set foot in America for the first time in over two years last Wednesday. After having already flown on two flights for 9.5 hours before landing in Philadelphia and with a 5 hour layover and an additional 6 hour flight to California ahead of me I knew I was going to need some caffeine. First stop: Saxbys Coffee, a coffee chain I had never seen before. I ordered a low-fat iced mocha and got

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-83408867190375560282008-08-13T21:15:00.006+02:002008-08-13T23:21:42.655+02:00

Writing a master's thesis has done all sorts of weird things to my diet. First it made me addicted to coffee (for me that's one to two coffee drinks a day--if I drank more I'd be bouncing off the walls). Then it made me start craving sweets even more than usual. And I don't mean just any sweets. I'll have a particular craving. For example, today it was chocolate. What I really wanted was some

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-26797424146485508822008-08-10T13:27:00.006+02:002008-08-10T14:08:50.908+02:00

I have always loved crumbles. There is something fabulous about having the sweet gooey caramelized fruit on the bottom and the crunchy crumble on top. I also have always been a huge fan of berries. So when I saw Aran's new post on her blog "Cannelle et Vanille" with the title "Saturn Nectarines, Red Currants and Raspberries" I was immediately swept away and had to try the recipe ASAP. Until I saw

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004923066941411952.post-66242664918065046432008-07-28T18:43:00.007+02:002008-07-28T23:41:06.339+02:00

Summertime is Biergarten time! Now, if you had asked me a year ago I wouldn't have agreed with that statement since I just recently started actually liking beer. I know, it's shocking! Back when I lived in the US people would have a cow when I told them I didn't drink beer because I didn't like it: "But you're German! You have to like beer!" Nyah nyah nyah. Well, things have changed now. I've

Adriana Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14140118152218011533noreply@blogger.com2