Birthday Surprise

Hubby recently celebrated the successful entry to a new year of life on this earth – I say successful, because life is promised to no one and well….he made it another year! Normally, I throw him a lavish birthday celebration but as I’m still getting my feet under me and am not truly confident I could properly convey my wishes in German to a restaurant or club manager, not to mention the innumerable cultural faux pas I’d be sure to make, I opted for simplicity.

Happy Birthday honey, I made your favorites!

Hubby, like me, loves Bahamian-style fish, so I fried up some of those red snapper steaks we’d bought the other day with his favorite Austrian-styled rice and his favorite vegetable side – creamed spinach with creme fraiche.  The rice is called riesipiesi (an old dialect term for rice and peas – think tiny farm far in the mountains) and pretty simple to make – cook rice, add green peas at the end, and steam to completion.  I made a minor alteration by making yellow rice and then adding the peas and some sweet peppers.  (I know, not really the same thing but have you EVER known me to stick to a recipe?!)  Hubby loved it! (I wonder, would he tell me if he didn’t?  Hmm! lol)

The original Sacher Torte and packaging is delivered worldwide and is celebrated as the most famous torte in the world.

To finish off the celebration, we enjoyed a slice of traditional Sacher Torte from Hotel Sacher. This desert, originally created in 1832 for Prince Metternich, is the pride of the Austrians, right up there with Mozart! One of the most famous torte in the world, the hand-written recipe is a “state secret”.  Each of the handmade, two-layer cakes have a thin film of tart, apricot marmalade between each cake, are covered with rich Viennese chocolate and, upon completion a round chocolate seal from the Hotel Sacher is placed upon it.

These guys take this torte seriously, it came with a manual on how to tell an original, at which temperatures to keep it, which knife best cuts it, and instructions that it should be enjoyed with unsweetened whipped cream and a cup of fine coffee.