Glimpses of Austrian Culture by Ruth Paget

Glimpses of Austrian Culture by Ruth Paget 

When I was the vice president of the Young Executive Program of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris (France), I organized monthly networking cocktail parties for members as one of my duties. 

At one of these networking cocktails, I met Ms. S. who did public relations work for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I immediately told her that I watched the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s Christmas concert with my French in-laws. 

“That’s a good tradition and an Austrian contribution to building European culture,” Ms. S. answered. 

That comment led to a discussion about all the Habsburg queens of France who had Austrian heritage such as: 

-Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII and mother of Louis XIV 

-Maria-Theresa of Spain, who was a Habsburg and wife of Louis XIV 

-The famous Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI 

“The Austrian daughters-in-law were not always popular,” Ms. S. noted. 

“The French like Austrian desserts, though,” I said. 

I took this opportunity to note that I had just gotten my first food article published in newspapers in Rhode Island and New Zealand about Catalan food for the upcoming Olympics in Barcelona. I asked Ms. S if there were Austrian food traditions I could write about. 

Ms. S. said that her favorite holiday was the Catholic celebration of Advent, the 24 days before Christmas, which is a time for reflection and simple, but good eating. 

During Advent, Austrians do “jause,” coffee breaks with pastries. The Austrians like “Kaffe mit schlag” – coffee with whipped cream on top and a slice of Linzertorte. Linz is a city in western Austria. A linzertorte is a wedge of jam pastry with a lattice-work pie crust topping. 

On Sundays during Advent, Austrians eat wiener schnitzel, a breaded and fried veal cutlet served with lemon. It is accompanies by sliced cucumber salad, potato salad, and French fries. 

I thanked Ms. S. for the information and introduced her to several Young Executive Program members who worked in media. I noted down what she said and added the notes to my “to-do” list at home. The to-do notes have survived several international moves. 

Finally, about 40 years later after this meeting, I am getting the notes written up in the versatile blog format. The food information is still relevant. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is still magnificent and easy to attend now thanks to online ticket ordering. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Anaphora Poem for Dad by Ruth Paget

Anaphora Poem for Dad by Ruth Paget For Laurent 

Father’s Day 

June 19, 2005 

You are the Star  

You are the Star 

  of restaurant reviews 

  of books about Virginia, France, and Wisconsin 

You are the Star 

  of baguette buying 

  of Costco capering 

  of Asilomar hiking 

You are the Star 

  of Big Sur Drives 

  of dim sum lunches in San Francisco 

  of French teaching 

You are the Star 

  of our hearts 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Acme Coffee Roasting Company by Ruth Paget

Acme Coffee Roasting Company by Ruth Paget 

I buy my locally roasted Acme Coffee at Star Market in Salinas (California) after doing recycling of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles with the parking lot recycling center. 

My husband Laurent and I use our recycling earnings to buy some specialty grocery items such as the following:

-Road Dog Acme Coffee by Acme Coffee Roasting Company – a local roaster located in Seaside, California owned and operated by veteran Chuck Thurman

-French cheese like pont l’évêque 

-Californian cheese like Point Reyes Farmstead Blue 

-Italian 00 semolina flour -Ancient grain flours like quinoa, amaranth, and einkorn 

-German chocolate like Ritter-Sport from Stuttgart, Germany 

-Progresso French onion soup 

-Large, juicy white grapes that taste good with espresso strong Road Dog Coffee from Acme Roasting Company 

Acme Coffee headquarters, located across town from Salinas in Seaside, sells coffee, coffee beans, and cool merchandise to nearby auto mall employees (sellers of and mechanics for Chevrolets, Jaguars, Land Rovers, Porsches, Teslas, and BMWs) and denizens of Obama Way with its renovated Louisiana look. 

The Acme Coffee website lists several kinds of beans for sale that can be ground while you sip a coffee: 

-the espresso strong Road Dog beans I love 

-Valve Job 

-Ninety Weight 

-Motor City Espresso 

-Power Glide 

-Acme Decaf 

-Roaster’s Choice 

-Uganda Sipi Falls 

Acme Coffee Merchandise includes:  

-Acme logo T-shirts 

-Cold Brew Tees 

-Acme logo zipper hoodies 

-Acme coffee tees 

Neighborhood locals mingle with tourists and California State University Monterey Bay students for news and coffee in Acmes convenient location off Highway 1 near Embassy Suites Hotel and Googie’s Restaurant. 

I like to think of Acme Roasting Company as Seaside’s Café du Monde and feel part of the community even if I am drinking Acme’s Road Dog Coffee at home. 

It is also a great souvenir.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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French Cakes at Paris Bakery by Ruth Paget

Paris Bakery Cakes by Ruth Paget 

My family has been going to Paris Bakery in Seaside, California for more than thirty years to buy baguette bread with a five-year hiatus when my husband Laurent and I lived in Stuttgart, Germany. 

What a lot of people do not know is that Paris Bakery can make French, Austrian, and German cakes and pastries with advance notice for parties. They often have snack size versions of pastries available for purchase for tasting as well. 

Some of Paris Bakery’s beautiful and delicious confections include: 

-Diplomat Cake- 

This round cake that is served in wedges is perfect for watching the Diplomat TV series with tea or coffee. It is made with croissant pieces and golden raisins in a Grand Marnier egg custard and topped off with a maraschino cherry and a whipped cream rosette. 

-Fraisiers (Strawberry Cake) or Framboisiers (Raspberry Cake)- 

This yellow layer cake is filled with mousseline cream and strawberries. It is iced with whipped cream and garnished with toasted and sliced almonds. 

-Opera Cake- 

This cake is perfect for theatre nights. It is made with two layers of yellow cake and one chocolate layer flavored with coffee syrup. The alternating layers are filled with mocha buttercream and chocolate ganache. Ganache is creamy, fudgy frosting. 

-Napoleons- 

Mille Feuille dough filled with pastry cream. Mille Feuille means 1,000 layers. 

-St Michel- 

This dessert is made up of one layer of chocolate mousse topped with a layer of Grand Marnier mousse. 

-Linzer Torte- 

This Austrian pastry is filled with jam and has a lattice piecrust topping. 

Two holiday cakes you might want to try are the bûche de Noël (Yule log) and the galette des rois (kings’ cake). The galette des rois is eaten two weeks after Christmas and comes with a crown for the person who finds the fève (porcelain figurine) in their piece of cake. 

These cakes will get you started on a French cake tasting adventure. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Ferdi's New Orleans Fare in Seaside, California by Ruth Paget

Ferdi’s New Orleans Fare in Seaside, California by Ruth Paget 

I used to eat lunch at Ferdi’s, a New Orleans café, in Seaside (California) when I was in graduate school at San José State University in library and information science.  

I would go to Ferdi’s with my up-and-coming filmmaker friend C. We ate Po’Boy Sandwiches with spicy fried fish or oysters on the left side of the restaurant. The right side of the restaurant was a “sit-down” restaurant for dishes like Shrimp Creole. 

We were on the Cajun or country side of the restaurant. We drank icy cold Coca-Colas with our Po’Boy Sandwiches. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the gastronomic capital of Cajun cooking, which features many deep-fried dishes. 

The gastronomic capital of Creole cuisine is obviously New Orleans, Louisiana. Like the city’s architecture and gardens, the food of New Orleans has both French and Spanish roots. 

New Orleans has several dishes that can be made in large quantities that caterers might be interested in trying. Some of these dishes might even be suitable for freezer storage, which might make New Orleans cringe, but Paul Bocuse in France made a fortune on his frozen food. I found several dishes among the 288 recipes in The New Orleans Cookbook: Creole, Cajun, and Louisiana French Recipes – Past and Present by Rima Collin and Richard Collin that could be adopted for frozen or refrigerator storage such as: 

-baked and breaded oysters – warmed up these would taste good dipped in sriracha mayonnaise for a modern twist 

-Creole shrimp and crab gumbo that is thickened with gummy okra slices. This stew uses a classic Creole flavoring combination of onion, green pepper, and shallots to flavor it that many other Creole dishes also use such as Shrimp Creole. 

-Cajun oyster and sausage gumbo thickened with filé. Filé is a powder made of dried sassafras leaves 

-navy white bean soup seasoned with onions, shallots, and green peppers and pieces of French garlic sausage 

-red bean soup seasoned like the white bean soup 

-spicy red beans and rice 

-white beans, rice, and smoked sausage 

-jambalaya – a rice dish whose Spanish ancestor is paella. Rice is the major cash crop of Louisiana 

-crabmeat au gratin – a baked dish of crab, heavy cream, and cheddar cheese 

-crawfish étoufée –a one dish meal made with crawfish tails, onions, green pepper, celery, and shallots over rice. Crawfish is pronounced “crayfish.” 

-spicy shrimp Creole is called shrimp sauce piquante in the cookbook and is served over rice 

-trout amandine is served with a sauce made of butter, sliced almonds, and lemon juice 

-New Orleans Trout Sauce Normande – made with butter, poaching liquid, and Calvados (apple brandy) 

You can try dishes like these at Ferdi’s in Seaside, California or make them at home using the very useful 288 recipes in The New Orleans Cookbook by Rima Collin and Richard Collin. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Starburst Cookie Recipe by Ruth Paget

Starburst Cookie Recipe by Ruth Paget 

Makes 12 cookies 

Ingredients: 

-1/2 cup softened butter 

-1/4 cup sugar 

-1 tablespoon almond extract 

-2 mashed, hard-boiled egg yolks 

-1 cup flour 

Steps: 

1-Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2-Blend butter, sugar, and almond extract together in a bow. 

3-Add hard-boiled egg yolks to butter mixture and blend thoroughly. 

4-Add flour to egg mixture and blend thoroughly. 

5-Use two spoons to scoop and push cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

6-Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on a rack. 

Source: Rose Pennington – circa 1950s 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Iowa's Catering Classics by Ruth Paget

Iowa’s Catering Cuisine by Ruth Paget 

Crossing the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to DuBuque (Iowa) is a rather enchanting experience, because the road is elevated downtown and passes through a forest of church spires that are level with the car. Houses along the way are substantial and remind you that the Amish and Mennonites worship at home. 

Immigrants to Iowa have included Germans, Dutch, Czechs, and the Swiss. They have overseen the production of food that feeds the United States and the world with the production of corn, oats, soybeans, hogs, beef cattle, popcorn, poultry, and dairy products according to the Best of the Best from Iowa Cookbook edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. 

This cookbook has many traditional recipes that could be catered by personals chefs for extra cash. Some of the farm dishes that I thought would work well for catering include: 

-baked Reuben dip made with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, sour cream, brown mustard, onions, cream cheese, and corned beef 

-chive and black pepper corn bread 

-Depression-era potato soup made with potatoes, onions, celery, noodles, and evaporated milk 

-Dutch lettuce made with potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, lettuce, chopped onion, and bacon 

-spinach salad with bacon -blue cheese-artichoke salad 

-marinated tomatoes which are chilled 

-marinated green beans which are chilled 

-cabbage and apple slaw with walnuts 

-card club chicken salad made with chicken, macaroni, boiled eggs, carrots, peas, celery, onions, green pepper, and pimientos

-garden club salad made with chicken, water chestnuts, grapes, celery, almonds, sour cream, mayonnaise, curry powder, and pineapple chunks 

-corn cheese casserole 

-sour cream and cheddar supreme potatoes

-baked stuffed tomatoes made with chives, mushrooms, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese 

-asparagus the Dutch way made with asparagus, potatoes, smoked ham, eggs, and nutmeg 

-ham, cabbage, and noodle casserole 

Recipes for these classic dishes and 400 more can be found in Best of the Best from Iowa edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. 

Happy Reading! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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