Adventures in Baking

I love baking. Love it. I also love eating baked goods, so it works out quite well. My mini me sous chef also loves baking…at least for the first 5 minutes until she gets distracted. But yet she always manages to show back up when it’s time to lick the bowl.

Christmas Party Dress and Glitter Cat Ears were perfect attire for making apple tarts...

Here’s the thing about baking in a foreign country. Your US recipes don’t always work.

I have made banana muffins a million times - that’s not (much of) an exaggeration. We really like banana muffins. Same recipe every time.

Butter
Sugar
Eggs
Flour
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Bananas

Problem #1: Butter

My recipe calls for 1/3c of butter. I know this as a little past the 5 tablespoon mark on the butter stick. Well, butter doesn’t come in sticks. It comes in a massive block with no lines on the wrapper.

Also in the US, butter is usually around 80% fat whereas the EU definition of butter is 82 - 90% butterfat. This difference in butterfat makes everything denser, so you either have to decrease the butter or increase the rising agents. Based on my research most people suggest using 75-80% of the butter your recipe calls for when using EU butter.

So I googled 1/3c of butter * 75 - 80% = approx 60 grams. At this point I decided it was a good thing I had an advance accounting degree and I busted out my kitchen scale and to weigh butter.

Problem #2: Baking Powder and Baking Soda

Both of these ingredients come in itty-bitty non-resealable packages. So when you open a new pack to take 1/2 a teaspoon out, you have to bust out a ziplock or some other containment device to not lose and/or spoil the rest of the package.

Problem #3: Flour

At home, it was quite easy. You went into the grocery store, you picked up a bag of flour, you took it home and you did whatever you wanted with it. It was the flour called for in every recipe known to man: all-purpose flour. And it would make sense that this multipurpose, good for everything flour is readily available. Flour translates to Weizenmehl. However, wait just a moment, every bag of flour has a different number on it. What the heck does that mean?

I talked to several coworkers some told me the number was how finely the flour was ground up (so 405 was very fine and 812 was more coarse), some told me it was something to do with the ash and other minerals and fiber in the flour because more of the wheat corns have been ground up into the flour (i.e., numbers are calculated based on the amount of ash in milligrams obtained from 100 grams of the dry mass of the flour). This hurts my head, however after extensive research, I found a chart!

I've gone with 550 flour, incase you’re wondering.

Problem #4: Temperature

Everything is in Celsius over here. I literally have this taped above my oven because I can’t remember the conversions for temperature (or anything else for that matter!).

I made all the conversions & worked through all these obstacles to achieve a beautiful end result of...

Thankfully my guinea pigs thought they tasted okay and were more than willing to allow me to try again.

Ski Lessons

I am a Texan. I was born in Texas. I was raised in Texas. Prior to moving to the UK I'd lived 29 of my 30 years, in Texas. And while there are many things a Texan can point to being known for, skiing isn't really one of them. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of ski seasons I've participated in my life.

My parents took me with the family when I was two and again when I was five. Apparently, I was much better at two then I was at five as we didn't go again until I was engaged 18 years later. And frankly I wasn't any good then either. Then for Christmas in 2013 Amanda and I went to Switzerland and I attempted to ski there as well. Didn't even make it down the mountain! At the time I had essentially decided that the sport just wasn't for me and figured I'd never see the slopes again.

Fast forward about a decade. It's winter in the Alps and our coworkers start asking us where we plan on taking our ski holiday this season and what school are we going to put the girls in. At first I politely indicate that skiing and I haven't gotten along in the past and none of my girls have shown much of an interest in learning yet so we would probably sit this season out. Generally this was met with a long pause, knowing grin and some statement along the lines of "okay, well you know it's easier to learn the younger you are." And after about the 50th conversation that we'd had like this Amanda and I finally decided that if we might as well see if Charlotte would like it.

So we found a local ski school (and by local, I mean two mountain tops to the south of where we live) that still had openings for children and signed her up for 6 weekends of lessons from mid January through the last week of February. Every Saturday for six weeks Charlotte and I would go spend 6 hours (4 in lessons and 2 for lunch) on the mountain together while Amanda and Olivia lived their best hot chocolate & gipfeli (Swiss version of a croissant) lives.

The first day of lessons started off with a warm-up song to get everyone in the right mood.

And it was probably a great idea because they spent the next 45 minutes essentially learning how to fall properly and then get back up.

But by the end of the days lesson most of the class had advanced to moving around on one ski.

The second week was cold. But the kids fought through it and were now on both ski's and starting to move!

If the second week was cold the third was freezing! As evidence by the parents huddled behind the ski shack to stay out of the wind!

But at times it was also quite beautiful.

When we weren't getting distracted.

But the class was continuing to improve, becoming proficient at turning and stopping.

By this point in the calendar, we are halfway through our lessons and while Charlotte is getting better, I'm getting significantly colder watching her. So Amanda and I talked and I decide to give skiing one last honest shot. So during the morning session of the fourth week, I had my own lesson to take. And while I'm no Alberto Tomba (I don't have the hair after all) it went much better than I anticipated! Maybe I'm going to like this after all.

When my lesson is over I ski back to Charlotte's training area and we go for lunch in our normal spot. This has become my absolute favorite time of the week during ski season. Charlotte and I walk over to a little chalet that serves pizza and schnitzel named Gitziholl and spend 2 hrs just talking and eating! It's warm inside, the food is okay and the prices are decent but nothing in the world beats this!

At the end of the fourth week I have her show me how she's doing and the progress to my untrained eye is significant.

The next two weeks go by very quickly with Charlotte continuing her lessons while I practice on one of the long green runs. And then it's time for the competition. At the end of the 6 week course all of the different classes come together for a slalom competition with the kids competing against their peers. As we made our way over to the slope Charlotte tells me she's had a lot of fun but is very nervous about the race so I reassure her that everything will be fine and that no matter the outcome of the race she has learned a new skill she can continue to build on and take with her for life. I'm not sure she fully comprehends how proud I am of her but then I don't know if I could put it into words anyway. And then the race happens!

And she gets the results!

And while winning was the objective and we would have learned from a different result there is no question that seeing a child succeed at something they want to be good at is an entirely different level of joy. And now we have well and truly caught the bug!

...some of us in different ways than others...

Bristol Fashion

Our first full day back in Bristol was planned to be a little less taxing so we started off by walking with the Ferguson's to their school in the morning. It's always a treat for the girls to make new friends and unique memories and the walk to school was adorable.

Kate then joined us in the morning for a walk around Clifton Downs and spot of tea to get out of the rain. One thing we always enjoyed in British cities are their green spaces. They are always expansive, accessible and a joy to spend time in. Clifton Downs is one of our favorites thanks to the views of the Avon river and Clifton bridge in the distance. Both of which are typically much better when the sun is out...which it was decidely not when we visited today.

By now it was time to try and get Olivia back down for a nap, something we struggled to achieve while in London and the poor girl was definitely in need of some rest. She managed to stay down for a couple hours while the rest of us ate lunch, rested and got re-organized for the final push of our holiday adventure.

After nap time the weather had started to clear up so we took the girls back to the bridge so that they could walk across it and so that we could all see the museum which had opened since we moved back to the US. If you haven't figured it out by now the Clifton Suspension Bridge is one of our favorite places in Bristol and those of you who visited us while we lived there probably received our personal tour. As we walked around and across the bridge with our guests a decade ago you may have learned that the bridge was the longest span in the world at the time of construction, or that the triple chain suspension design was largely untested in Europe when Brunel incorporated it into his design, or that despite construction having started in 1931 Brunel never got to see his bridge completed as it was finished in 1864 nearly 4 years after his death. However, for the younger audience we focused primarily on the views and general aesthetics of the bridge which, in my opinion, make it one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen.

Our last day was spent around Bristol Harbor. Another iconic area of the city with British engineering once again coming to the fore during it's design and construction in the early 1800's. Because of the extreme tidal range along the Bristol Channel (3rd largest range in the world at 31.5 feet) ships which harbored in Bristol during low tide needed to have stronger keels in order to withstand the weight of the ship as it was effectively "beached" during low tide. Thus came the saying "Ship-shape and Bristol Fashion" prior to the construction of the docks which began in 1801. The engineering around the docks required massive ground works to clear out the land that would eventually lie between the two locks, one at Netham in the east and the other at Cumberland Basin in the west. At a distance of more than 3 miles the canals, quay sides and docks that were constructed within this floating harbor helped Bristol to remain a relevant trans-shipping point in England for another 75 to 100 years until the docks at Avonmouth were fully developed and utilized.

Today, Bristol Harbor is a central place for Bristolians to gather for festivals, enjoy dinning along the quayside, visit the museums that pay homage to it's past and generally live, work and play throughout the year.

For our day at the Harbor we started at Millennium Square to visit with some of the famous locals:

We walked along the quayside past Pooles Wharf Court and the old Pump House at Junction Lock to the Cumberland Basin for a view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge from below, to learn about the harbor locks that keep the water in the harbor during low tide before crossing the swinging bridge to the south side of the harbor.

From the south side of the harbor are nice views of the flats at the top of the hill that run along Royal York Crescent, The more colorful flats along Ambrose Rd and Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill before coming to Brunel's other famous Bristol edition, the SS Great Britain.

Unfortunately the SS Great Britain was closed the day we were there so we weren't able to take the girls, but that just means a return trip is in order. So we continued our stroll along the quay on our way to lunch at one of our favorite pubs, Shakespeare's Tavern.

After lunch our focus was on finding some local artwork to commemorate our trip, pick out out some keepsakes for the girls and meandering our way back through the city to Millennium park before dinner with my dear friend Carmen from my MBA program and completing our final packing ahead of the flight home the following day.

We had a wonderful stay in Bristol and loved taking the girls to some of our favorite places while also catching up with old friends. We were only there for 22 months but they were some of the most exciting and memorable years of our lives so perhaps it won't be 10 years before our next return trip!