New Apartment, More Rhubarb Goodness, and Letters of Thanks

Miss Manners and Emily Post would definitely not approve but we wrote our Thank You cards almost a month after the wedding. However, they would approve of the individualized, handwritten cards that were not pre-printed or pre-engraved. And despite what Ms. Post says about letters of thanks for wedding presents ("Although all wedding presents belong to the bride, she generally words her letters of thanks as though they belonged equally to the groom, especially if they have been sent by particular friends of his." [1]) we decided that we would share all presents and therefore also the task of writing all letters of thanks.
Suffice it to say, my grandmother's friends were delighted with the card and enclosed photograph.

Two days ago we finally got the keys to our new apartment and we are very excited! The first thing that DH did was to put in light-fixtures and light bulbs. Then off to the hardware store for a shower-curtain rail, screws and anchors, and milky film to make the bathroom window (which looks right into our bathtub) less see-through. Then we went to IKEA to buy lamps for the hallway (with halogen spots), as well as an under-sink cabinet and mirrored cabinet for the bathroom.

Tomorrow we go back to IKEA to order our kitchen.

And we found a great recipe for cream cheese rhubarb muffins which we made for mothers' day:

Rhubarb Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients:
250g rhubarb
250g flour
3Tbsp baking powder
80g liquid butter
200ml milk
1 egg
120g sugar
10 g vanilla sugar or 1tsp vanilla flavoring
100g cream cheese
100g curd cheese (or substitute with cream cheese)
1Tbsp vanilla pudding (custard) powder
1 pinch of salt

How To:
1) preheat the oven to about 180°C
2) clean and peel the rhubarb before cutting it into small pieces
3) cream the egg and sugar together
4) add milk to egg-sugar mixture
5) sift together flour, baking powder, and salt before slowly adding to the egg-mixture
6) cream together the cream cheese and curd cheese with vanilla flavoring and pudding/custard powder
7) grease muffin pan or fill with cups
8) fill each cup 1/3 with dough
9) add some of the cream cheese mix
10) sprinkle with rhubarb chunks
11) and finally cover with more dough
12) bake for 25 minutes or until golden-brown
13) let cool before sprinkling with confectioner's sugar or topping with frosting
14) enjoy


[1] http://www.bartleby.com/95/27.html

The Orange Duck is back!

We went to Prague. It was lovely. My mother paid for everything... she was planning to go with friends from Seattle... but because of the infamous Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull they were unable to get to Europe... so, lucky us! We stayed at the truly beautiful Iron Gate Hotel with its professional and helpful staff and lovely rooms.
A lot of fun was had, good food was enjoyed, and the cultural programme was excellent.
The highlights included:
1) Kampa Park Restaurant with a beautiful view of the Charles Bridge and delicious dishes.
2) the Castle and Cathedral. The audio-guided tour is totally worth it!
3) Prague on Segway was lots of fun and a great way to see the city.
4) the Lobkowicz Palace with its amazing collection. Take the audio-guided tour!

At the Kampa Park DH had the duck trio which included duck á l'orange. And so he finally figured out what it was supposed to taste like (he wasn't too happy with his first attempt on April 18). And yesterday he made it with the breast of the organic duck we bought and froze two weeks ago. Below you can see yesterday's creation: duck á l'orange accompanied by duck liver tempura with crème fraîche and celery mashed-potatoes with home-made potato chips.

It was very good. And the sauce was much more delicate than in the first attempt.
Ah, I am so lucky.