Monaco

Above, close-up of the Casino de Monte Carlo

During our Spring vacation we made several trips to Monaco. It’s literally 5 minutes down the road from where we stay, and there’s always something to see (or, should I say, to gawk at).

Casino de Monte Carlo, at night

Monaco is a sort of Disneyland for adults. It’s full of exotic gardens, Michelin-starred restaurants, plenty of games and $20 USD ice cream sundaes.

Gardens near the casino, complete with dragon topiary

In front of the Hôtel de Paris

Regardless of the time of day, there’s always plenty of activity around the Casino de Monte Carlo.

Casino de Monte Carlo, during the day

I love taking pictures of the casino, especially during the transition from day to night, as it starts to “glow”.

Casino de Monte Carlo, at dusk

The Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament was taking place during our visit, which explains why this enormous tennis racquet adorns the landscaping in front of the casino.

Of course, the event that everyone is talking about these days in Monaco are next month’s nuptials between Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock.

Saint Nicholas Cathedral where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace were married

Though Prince Albert's wedding will take place in the courtyard of the Prince’s Palace, plenty of renovation was underway thoughout the Old Town.

Repaving the area just next to the cathedral

Upgrading the Prince’s Palace’s façade

Fake stone wall (assume it’s covering a soon-to-be gleaming stone wall)

You can’t get away from photos of these two

Official engagement photo

In an antique store’s window display

And while most Monegasques prefer to travel by boat or Bentley…

… we did happen upon this electronically-powered Smart car & charging post just outside the palace.

I’ll close this post with a picture of a $20 USD banana split, just in case you wanted to know what one looks like…

Aix-en-Provence

La Rotonde (above)

In order to break up the trip from Roquebrune back to Paris, we stopped in Aix-en-Provence for one day / night. Aix is a city full of fountains, tree-lined boulevards and squares, plenty of outdoor cafes and boutique after boutique selling regional specialties and handicrafts.

On the Place Richelme

Approaching a 16th century clocktower on the edge of the place de l'Hôtel de Ville

On the place de l'Hôtel de Ville

In the footsteps of Cezanne

There are plenty of statues and monuments, from this statue of René of Anjou...

...to this angel-topped obelisque (don't you think every parking lot should have one of these?)

Cookies, Provence-style

Queueing up for Calissons d'Aix, a local confection

Saturday afternoon on the Cours Mirabeau

Eating cake in Budapest

Every year in December my husband and I try to spend a long weekend in a new European city. There are always good flight deals in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and though the weather can be chilly, it's usually a fun time to be out and about because the holiday season not only lightens everyone's mood but also ensures that you'll have some pretty decorations to look at.

This year we went to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is a very large, beautiful city with amazing architecture. We went to Vienna, Austria, a few years back and you can definitely see the Austrian Habsburg influence on some of Budapest's most prominent buildings.

On our second day, we awoke to discover that it had snowed heavily overnight, blanketing the city and causing the airport to close. It was all very beautiful but also very cold, which gave us the perfect excuse to take refuge in cafés in between our visits to the sites. I love coffee and cake and Budapest did not disappoint. Here are some of the local specialties that we tried:

- small individual cakes: the cake with the white tree on top was chocolate with a hazelnut filling, the one with the yellow bell was chocolate with coconut and the cake decorated with holly was actually two hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with berry preserves (it tasted a bit like a linzertorte).

- Dobos torte: a well-known Hungarian speciality made up of multiple layers of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream, topped with caramelized sugar

- Gerbeaud "Valrhona" torte: chocolate cake with chocolate filling / icing, flavored with candied apricot (my favorite of them all) (the second dessert in the picture is an apple strudel)

We enjoyed both the Dobos torte and the Valrhona torte at a Budapest institution, Gerbeaud cafe. This cafe was very elegant and reminded me of some of the coffee / cake shops we went to in Vienna. They were out of the sachertorte on the days we went or else I probably would've forced down a slice of that too...

- kurtoskalacs: a Hungarian pastry that tastes like a sweet, thin but dense bread and comes in a hallowed-cylinder form (we bought the cinnamon and sugar flavored version)

- Gundel palacsinta: yet another Hungarian specialty, these are crepe-like pancakes filled with ground nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon and rum and topped with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar

Wow, only in doing this post did I realize how much pastry we consumed over the course of four days. We did a lot of sight-seeing too, I promise!

Brussels at Christmastime / Speculoos

For those of you who celebrate it, Happy St. Nicholas Day! Speaking of places where this is a major holiday, last weekend we were in Brussels, Belgium, visiting with family. During a stroll in the city Saturday afternoon, I decided to resume my search for a baking tool that has long eluded me but which I know to exist: a carved wooden St. Nicolas speculoos mold. Being the Christmas season and all, I figured that if ever there would be a time to find one, this was it.

Speculoos is a crunchy, stamped cookie made primarily of butter, flour, brown sugar and spices. They are perfect for dunking in coffee or milk, crushed over ice cream or just by themselves. You can enjoy speculoos year-round in Belgium, but they are especially popular on St. Nicolas Day.

Between last Saturday's jaunt and past visits to Brussels, I've searched high and low for a St. Nicolas mold, in kitchen supply stores and department stores, amongst the Christmas market stands and those at the Sablon Antiques Market. Unfortunately, it looks like the search will have to continue. I had no luck last weekend, but did chance upon one of wooden windmill mold and another with a ship and what I believe to be a rooster, which I used to make the speculoos pictured below (recipe at the end of this post). 

I may not have found the speculoos mold, but I did take some pictures of the windowfront at Brussel's most well-know purveyor of speculoos, Dandoy. They had some amazing St. Nicolas speculoos on display, with one that must have been at least 3-4 feet tall.

And let us not forget Brussel's most appreciated export: chocolate. I just love looking at all the windowfronts at Christmastime.

And of course no trip to Brussels is complete without a visit to the breathtaking Grand Place. We arrived just in time to see the light and sound display on the Town Hall. I took a short video with my camera but am having trouble uploading it. Here is a link to a video of this year's show. 

Spekulatius / Speculoos / Speculaas

Adapted from the 1997 version of the Joy of Cooking

Yield: 1-2 dozen cookies, depending on size

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a medium-sized bowl. Beat the remaining ingredients on medium speed until well-blended. Stir in the flour mixture until well-blended and smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Shape the dough by either using a mold or by rolling it out and cutting with a knife or cookie cutters. If using a mold, be sure to dust it with flour between each impression. Space the cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart and bake, one sheet at a time on the center rack, for 15 to 25 minutes until the cookies are tinged with brown at the edges. Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand until the cookies firm slightly. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

Loot from London

Last Thursday and Friday I was in London on a business trip and instead of hopping on the first train out after the workday had ended, I decided to take the last one instead. I had promised a colleague that if I had the time, I would pick up a Westie Shopper Bag from Harrods for her, plus I thought I would do some strolling in the city as well.

Now the only reason she even asked me for this favor is because she knows that I am crazy about these Harrods bags. I bring one with me nearly every day to work. The medium bag is the perfect size for my laptop computer, magazines (ahem, paperwork) and anything else that I can't fit into my purse. And to top it off, they're made of oilcloth (read: waterproof).

So off I went on the Tube to Knightsbridge to the lower level of Harrods, which I can confirm still has the Diana / Dodi memorial, ensuring lots of escalator exiting fun. Of course, after finding the bag I had come for, I just had to take a look around to see if there was anything I couldn't live without. Not surprisingly, I fell hard for one of the current prints they carry -- cakes on a pink pastel background, what's not to love?! -- and decided against my better judgement to get not only the bag but the matching mug and tea cosy as well (I've always wanted one of these and would try to knit my own if I thought it wouldn't take me 3 years).

Now I wish I could say that it stopped there, but I simply can't leave England (or most grocery stores, much to my husband's consternation) without buying some tea. The food halls were calling my name, and I obeyed them. I bought a few boxes of black tea to bring to work as we've recently acquired a tea kettle for our office, and I picked up an infusion for home.

I also forgot that it's impossible for me to leave England without buying some Marmite, Cadbury and winegums. The Marmite I can rationalize -- I can usually only find teeny-tiny jars here in France and they're always expensive because they're imported. I can't really justify buying the candy, but I had a chunk of spare change and, let's face it, its boring waiting for that Eurostar to board.

Unfortunately, I never got to the strolling part of my itinerary. Two stations away from my intended stop, the line was suspended due to a smoking train or something of the sort. I ended up having to take 3 different lines to get back to my destination, leaving me very little time to do anything other than pick up my bags and head to the train station. Which is a shame really, since there's much more to see in London than the inside of a department store.