Panilla

Not a real word.  Just the way Daughter Number two used to say “Vanilla”  when she was quite young.  Pretty sure she doesn’t do that anymore. 

It’s been two weeks since she was here.  She had to go back to work today.  Or as we are known to say,  “Bake to Hork”.   Long story.  I think I told it.  Once.  Maybe twice.   Just one of the little mysteries of working with folks whose first language isn’t English. 

The deli where she works doesn’t open again until tomorrow after a two week shut-down,  but there’s a lot of stuff to get ready. 

 

Just had to include the pic I took late yesterday of the State Symbol.   You’re welcome.

So,  what’s up with the Panilla?   Well,  I’m running out.  We shipped a container of Vanilla Extract when we moved over here,  just because we threw a bunch of stuff like that in with the kitchen goodies,  not realising that some items would be hard to replace.   I’ve managed to find baking powder and baking soda,  but the other day I thought I’d try and find Vanilla Extract. 

No dice.  Nope.   No such thing in Europe.  Well,  except maybe on the Air Force base up in Ramstein or something.  Not quite sure how I’d get on base though.  Could be a slight problem.

 

So,  there you see our dwindling supply of Vanilla Extract on the left,  and the stuff I think I can use on the right. 

Since my baking abilities are on about the level of Grade Seven Home Economics,  I’m never really too sure just what the hell I’m doing,  so replacing ingredients can be a bit of a crap shoot.  Never been a big gambler either.  And it sucks when you have to turf something out when it comes out of the oven looking like something out of a 50’s horror flick.   We haven’t had too many Blobs lately,  but still.

I suppose at some point in ones life,  you get to ask your Mom just what the heck you’re supposed to do,  but mine has been gone for more than a couple decades.

So instead,  we have THE INTERNET!   Yay!

This is what I found.

Vanilla sugar is when a vanilla bean has been added to white granulated sugar or confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar.  The bean is cut in half and buried in the sugar, covered, and left for a week or two to allow the vanilla to permeate through the sugar.  This vanilla sugar can be used in place of regular sugar and adds a wonderful vanilla flavour to desserts.  To make vanilla sugar place a cut vanilla bean into 1-2 cups (200-400 grams) of granulated white sugar or confectioners sugar and store in a covered container for a few weeks before using.  One tablespoon of vanilla sugar has the flavouring power of 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

OK then.  We’ll see how that goes. That last sentence is really the only one I was interested in.  It’s only for a bit of flavour when I make banana bread,  so what could possibly go wrong?    Don’t answer that.

 

That’s the big news for today.  Hope you were sitting down.

 

 

 

Oh and,  I SO want one of these for working on the house. 

 

No smarmy job segues either.  That crappy one from yesterday will have to do for the entire week I’m afraid.

 

The force isn’t with me today in the humour department.  Sorry.  Can’t rely on Chevy Chase everyday.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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When your job kinda sucks.

 

Although,  once you get used to the smell,  I’m sure it could be a fine way to make a living.   OK maybe not.  Forget that. 

We used to see them when we went to the races.  Busy busy!   Cleanin’ out them shitters.

 

 

Please indulge me as I hark back to a cherished moment in film making.

 

*ahem*

 

Probably best to move along.

Just another day here in good ole Wienerland.  A little on the hot side again,  but I suppose better hot than insufferably cold.  We’ll go with that.

Made a little discovery in this morning’s rag.  Turns out I’m not as mixed up as I thought I was when it came to getting on the train.

See,  back a couple years ago (I guess it was)  I had to go out the office of The Company that Cannot be Named (or, TCTCBN as you well know)  for some reason or other,  either to drop off the car?  I don’t quite remember.  Maybe it was the time T.C. forgot her glasses?  All I do remember was,  standing on the wrong platform and watching the train come in on the other side that was headed for Vienna.  Of course,  even if I could have hoofed it that fast,  there was no way I could have gone down the stairs,  under the tracks and back up the other side to make it in time.  Nor did I really want to.  There was another train in a half hour,  and I was in no hurry to get anywhere.

I just thought that was odd, was a little annoyed and slightly perplexed, and chalked it up to being rather inexperienced at some aspects of public transit.   I mean, there was one time there when I couldn’t find the stupid “I wanna get off here” button on one of the buses and had to walk about a half kilometre to get back to where I wanted to step off,   so if I make it to my destination on public transit without any unforeseen detours,  it is something I do consider as a minor accomplishment.

 

 

Do you remember seeing a couple photos of old cars that I took in Prague a couple months back?

 

Found it.  

See where the steering wheel is?

Remember how I said they used to drive on the left in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary?   Well,  that’s been the situation with train traffic as well up until now.   They said in the article that the engineers were Englishmen.  Really?  Like they’re to blame.

They’ve decided it’s finally time to make the switch from the left side to the right.

I was on the correct platform after all!  Just in the wrong country!  Not a blithering idiot!  OK well,  let’s just not got there. 

I mean,  I just went up on the platform to wait for the train, I never would have guessed it would come in on the wrong side!  Who would?   Welcome to Absurdistan.   On second thought, with it being Absurdistan and all,  maybe I should have known.

 

There’s the article in German if you care to browse.  I’m sure the head of the ÖBB is really delighted to have his mug plastered up there. 

 

Other than that big news,  I got nothin’. 

There’s a trip to a hardware store at some point in my future,  but it’s just a tad warm out right about now for any gallivanting.  And I don’t even know if they’ll have what I’m looking for.  Might save that one for one of these days when I have a set of wheels.  Just a thought.   The air conditioning in the car seems to be still working just fine.

 

 

Hope you’re keeping cool. 

 

Be careful with your shitter.

 

 

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That illusive definite article.

“Why are you reading that with an accent?”,  was the question that was put to me this morning when Travelling Companion gave me a little brochure that gets handed out to visitors to one of the far off plant locations of the Company that Cannot be Named.   The brochure was obviously written by someone whose first language was not English,  and whose mother tongue was of a Slavic nature.  I can’t be more specific or I’ll get in trouble here.  So it seemed natural that I should lay it on a little thick.

And I mean, that’s only because that’s the way it was written.  We won’t get into definite and indefinite articles here,  or how we use them in English while others find they can skip that little annoyance. 

The somewhat sad part is,  this was something they were handing out to visitors arriving at the site!  Oh boy.   So I dutifully made some corrections,  printed it out,  and Travelling Companion will take it to work tomorrow.   Hopefully these hard working folks aren’t too proud to put it to use.

I have say,  this isn’t the first time I’ve had a look at something and was slightly horrified.   This kind of thing goes way back to when I worked for yet another Restaurant chain,  and some of the guys I worked with,  while being pretty sharp operators,  hadn’t really honed their ability to write coherent English.  I never got around to asking,  but I would have guessed that half of the supervisory staff had barely made it out of high school.

It got to the point when all memos would find their way to my desk,   just to be given the “once over”.   I think the origins of that procedure started with me tentatively asking one of my associates,  “Um,  what are you trying to say here?”  I had to be quite diplomatic,  since these guys were my peers.  

Here in Europe,  crappy English usage is pretty rampant.  I can sort of tolerate it, mock it even, but in a large multi-national company like TCTCBN,  there’s bound to be someone with a pretty good grasp of English who is willing to help out.  The trick is to not be too proud to ask,  which I think is the issue with these “Slavic” folks?

 Is good enough. Da!

 

OK, ‘nuff of that.   

Pretty normal day here in Wienerland.   Had another vicious thunder storm move through last night.   I had the place buttoned up,  thankfully.   It’s been an air-conditioning day today though.    Whenever there’s full sunshine,  we get pretty toasty up here on the top floor.

So,  let’s see if you can figure out what one of the activities was today?

 

 

 

 

It was/is really good,  but I think I’m done eating for the day.  I put the ground beef in the freezer,  since there’s no way we’re making supper now.   Kind of had burgers in mind.

See,  when we were in Slovenia a couple weeks ago, (is it already that long ago?)  as the way these things go,  the cousin in Sava loaded us up with a bunch of veggies from her garden.   The fresh tomatoes (*drool*) and peppers were easy to dispatch,  but she gave us this honkin’ big zucchini…

C’mon. Seriously?  

There was no damned way we were going to simply give it the heave either.  That would be just wrong.  Bad Karma.  Venial sin.  Whatever.  Maybe it’s the “farmer Bob” in me,  but throwing out food just doesn’t sit all that well with me.

Smallish,  normal sized zucchinis I can handle,  since they usually end up sliced up and either added to pasta sauce or on the BBQ,  but handling this big one was a bit of a challenge.

T.C. thought she’d try to find a recipe on line,  and came up with this rather filling cake kind of thing.  Awesomely good,  but wow.  Like I said,  one piece just about did me in.   And yes,  I realise it doesn’t quite look like the one on the website,  so bite me.   When you’re trying to decide what bake ware to have the movers pack up and ship half ways across the world,  sometimes you forget stuff.  We probably have that particular style of baking dish back home,  but just not here is all.   NOT going out to buy more either.  Got enough stuff.   And instead of smearing the roasted ground up pecans on the outside,  T.C. just added them to the frosting.  Tasted mighty fine to me.

 

Trying not to slip into a food induced coma here.

 

Keep your elbows off the table.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

 

 

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