"Excuse me sir, but there is a terrorist in my soup"

Although my first priority for being in Germany is to travel and experience different cuisines of Europe, sometimes its nice just staying put in Garmisch. Every week the temperature has dropped, and soon the roads will be covered in snow and getting places will be considerably harder. While weather is a really lame excuse not to travel, reading this article in the New York Times last week had me worried. I work at an American hotel and live in a large complex with my American coworkers...we're essentially a large, loud target for terrorists. Although there are 24/7 guards at both locations, they could only do so much if there was an attack. A few weeks ago when there was heightened security due to a threat, and I woke up and saw this outside my bedroom window:

This is the entrance to our dorm complex, The Abrams. Usually there are two or three Ponds Guards checking IDs at the gate, but today there were also 7 US Military Police guarding the entrance.

I figure after reading the article and with all the heightened security around Europe, I would lay low for awhile and wait until the new year to travel. If I'm going to be stuck inside because of snow and terrorists, what better way to get cozy than with some hot, homemade soup? The following is a carrot soup that my host mom showed me how to make when I was studying in France two years ago. I'm not a big fan of carrots, but this soup is to die for.

Authentic French Carrot Soup

(adapted from Thérèse Berthelot)

5 medium carrots

1 small white onion

2 tbsp. butter

1.5 liters (6 cups) water

1 bouillon cube

50 grams (1/4 cup) white rice

Salt

• Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat.
• Add onion and sauté until cooked and translucent.
• Wash carrots and chop into 5 or 6 pieces each and add to pot (make sure to remove the head of the carrot, but don't worry about peeling them)
• Add the water, bouillon cube and rice and cover with lid.
• Simmer for 1 hour on low heat, or until carrots are cooked all the way through.
• Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes.
• Use an immersion blender or food processor to purée the soup until smooth.
• Add salt to taste.

Since I am a curry fanatic, I also add some curry powder when I throw in the water. You really can make this your own recipe and add whatever suits your fancy! If you'd like to read more about my food adventures in France, read my post Manger Français that I wrote for the blog The Foodie Foursome.

A Little About Me

I can't just start this blog with a post on Nutella and not explain myself. Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I love food so stinkin' much?

When I was young, I loved to bake. My first cookbook was Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Cookbook: Favorite Recipes from Mickey and His Friends (I don't have the cookbook anymore, so if you want to buy it for me that'd be pretty cool). My favorite recipe in the book was for caramel corn. I made it several times, and would get so excited every time I baked the caramel on the popcorn for just the right amount of time, creating a buttery, caramel crunch. I was even more excited when my treats would quickly disappear. That means other people liked what I baked! Liked it enough to eat it! I realized that I could make people happy doing something that made me happy.

Doing what I do best with some pain au chocolat at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco

Unfortunately it wasn't until my junior year of college that I really got into baking. I took a job at a bakery on campus, and later the next year a second job at a french bakery in town. From 5am to 11pm I was either baking, studying, baking, at class, or baking. I loved it. That year I learned how to make laminated doughs, decorate cakes with fondant, mix large batches of bread, pipe intricate designs on cookies and so much more. I couldn't get enough. Around that time I also started my first blog, Cake 'N Bake. I chronicled all my baking successes and failures for about two years, and my friend Jessica even wrote about my blog in our college's annual journalism magazine.

Blogging is what I was born to do

After finishing college, I got a job at Bob's Red Mill in Portland, Oregon. Bob's Red Mill is an awesome company that sells anything and everything whole grain, and has a lot of gluten-free options as well. I was beginning to learn its not only about making things taste good, but its also about eating things that are good for you and treating your body right. It was then that a couple of coworkers, a friend and I decided to start The Foodie Foursome, a blog about eating healthy and living green. In the same month I became a contributor to Bob's Red Mill Baking Blog. Testing recipes, making cakes and blogging took over my life. My side business Pastel Cake & Pastry was getting busy too. I needed a break from it all, so I did what anyone would do...packed up my life and moved to Germany.

Enjoying my first Bavarian meal of dumplings, sauerkraut, pretzels and warm potato salad. Carbs anyone?

In addition to a passion for baking and writing, I also love to travel. My wanderlust extends far beyond my budget for exploring, so I decided the best (and only) way to travel around Europe was to also have a job in Europe. I was lucky enough to land a job with the US Department of Defense working at an R&R hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I'm essentially living in the heart of the Bavarian Alps for the next year. I plan on making the most of my good fortune and travel as much as I can, and also sampling as much good food as I can in preparation for my future bakery. The goals of this travel/writing/food blog, besides providing hours of mindless entertainment for you, is to:

• Solidify menu items for a future food establishment
• Give restaurant reviews
• Talk about local cuisine and where to go to eat
• Give out some really tasty recipes
• Share stories about the horrors of living abroad

If you have any other ideas to make my blog cool enough to hang out with the popular kids, let me know! Follow me by clicking on the link on the upper-right hand corner of the page.

The love of my life

Let’s talk about Nutella. I love it. So much so I’ve included it in the title of my blog. For those of you who haven’t tried it, Nutella is a creamy, rich chocolate-hazelnut spread. Oh, and if you haven’t tried it - what the f$%& is your problem???

You can put Nutella on anything. Bread, pancakes, waffles, apples, pretzels, crackers, bananas, ice cream, strawberries, bagels, crepes, celery, pizza…well maybe not the last one, but you get the idea. This stuff is good. On a recent trip to Amsterdam one of my travel companions dipped potato chips in it. Two years ago when I backpacked around Europe with a friend we were smearing Nutella on baguettes with hummus and banana. The possibilities are endless. I refuse to keep Nutella in my pantry - 50% of the calories are from fat, 40% of the calories are from sugar and only 10% of me can keep from eating a whole jar in one sitting. But despite the weight I gain from just looking at the nutrition facts, this chocolate-hazelnut heaven is 100% worth it.

Beyond digging into the jar with a spoon and going to town, there are numerous ways to use Nutella in everyday cooking and baking. My favorite medium is cupcakes, of course. I’ve made two different cupcakes in my baking past that have featured Nutella buttercream, and have been absolutely delicious. The first is a cupcake recipe I adapted from the blog Fields of Cake.

The original recipe is a dark chocolate cupcake topped with a banana rum and Nutella swirl buttercream, but I changed it up a bit. I made the dark chocolate cupcake (great flavor) and followed the recipe for banana rum buttercream, making sure to leave a few chunks of banana in it for texture. Instead of making a swirl with Nutella, I decided to fill the cupcake with the banana rum mixture and top it with an easy Nutella buttercream.

Dark chocolate cupcake filled with banana rum buttercream and topped with Nutella buttercream and a Valrhona chocolate piece

Nutella Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Nutella

Cream the butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Add Nutella a little at a time until desired richness is achieved. ***Note: Don't add too much Nutella or the buttercream won't set up on top of the cupcake.

Now, if you want more of a challenge, make a swiss meringue buttercream. This buttercream requires more effort, but provides a lighter, fluffier frosting that isn't as sweet. How To Eat A Cupcake's blog has a great tutorial on making swiss meringue buttercream. Just add 1/3 to 1/2 cup Nutella and voila! Another delicious variation.

On the right: Chocolate cupcakes topped with Nutella swiss meringue buttercream, miniature chocolate chips and Heath Bar pieces

If you still can't justify eating 100 calories per tablespoon, you are dead to me. But if you want an excuse to, February 5th is World Nutella Day. So throw caution to the wind and have at it!

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutella

http://calorieking.com