Miu Garden - Markham ON

 

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients
Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Frosting
16 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
16 ounces cream cheese , cut into 8 pieces, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Instructions

1.

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in small bowl until a smooth paste forms.
2.

2. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add one-third of flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of remaining flour mixture, remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally remaining flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, add cocoa mixture, and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, give batter final stir. Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
3.

3. For the frosting: With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4.

4. When cakes are cooled, spread about 2 cups frosting on one cake layer. Top with second cake layer and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 days.


To Dye For We prefer liquid food coloring to gel or paste colors; it is much easier to incorporate and better distributes the cocoa powder. Look for the large bottle of McCormick Red Food Color (found with the vanilla extract) so you won't have to buy the multipack and be left, like we were, with dozens of bottles of blue, green, and yellow coloring.

Risotto

1/3 stick unsalted butter
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 cup medium grain rice
3 tablespoons dry white wine
3-1/2 cup low salt broth - heated, maybe more
pinch of saffron
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
additional grated Parmesan

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add rice; stir 30 sec. Add wine, stir 1 min. Add stock and saffron and simmer until rice is tender but still slightly firm to bite and mixture is creamy, stirring occasionally about 25 minutes. Mix in 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve passing additional Parmesan separately.

Copenhagen, Denmark - Costa Atlantica Day 8

We arrived in Copenhagen. A sad day.  After disembarking we went to pick up our luggage. The problem which turned out to be a blessing was that Costa sent one of our luggage to the Airport. This caused some initial distress but when Costa said they would bus to the Airport at their expense, that saved us a ton of walking, money, and time plus we got to take photos along the way!

One of the subway stations.  Not too difficult but not that user friendly the first time around.

Tivoli Gardens

 

 



Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany - Costa Atlantica Day 7

We arrived at Warnemunde and took a long bus ride to Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate

Most if not all the German passengers had disembarked in the morning. This was our last evening on the ship and the last meal would be forgettable. The meals  on the cruise started out decent but as the days progressed, it just seemed to fall flat.








This was it, the last night. The next morning we would be in Denmark heading home.

Berlin, Germany - Part 3 of 3

Continued

Stature of Frederick the Great

Neue Wache Memorial - Kathe Kollwitz's Mother with Dead Son

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Ka De We - the largest and most magnificent department store



Berlin, Germany - Part 2 of 3

Remants of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War.

The double brick represents where the wall was

Potsdamer Platz

Guard station Checkpoint Charlie - a remnant of the Cold War. Now you pay to pose for a pic.

Berlin, Germany - Part 1 of 3

 

The Train from Warnemunde to Berlin would take 3 hours. Plus the runs were limited. With such time involved, we bit the bullet and took an expensive excursion to Berlin. After seeing all the sights that we did, I believe it was better to go this route.

At Sea - Costa Atlantica Day 6

It was good to get a break and be able to sleep in.

Lunch

Fish and avocado salad? I just remember this being good.


Pork - a nice mild flavor but dry texture.


Florentine cake - a cross between a pecan pie and fruit cake.


At the buffet - Squid, lamb, and a pasta dish

Farewell Gala Dinner. Another dress up dinner which this time was supposed to be formal but the people were even less dressy this time. They don't rent tuxes like other ships.

Tartare di manzo con pomodori secchi - beef tartare with dried tomatoes, taggiasche olives, and toasted pine nuts. I didn't bother to take a photo because I was stunned that a raw patty bigger than a McDonald's hamburger was placed before it. The few bites I took were good but I'm afraid of getting worms like everybody else. What I was expecting was a carpacio but I must have had a brain fart. No photo.


Bigoli con gamberetti e asparagi in salso al basilico - bigoli pasta with shrimps and asparagus in a basil sauce


Quaglia arrosto - roasted tender quails stuffed with savoury country filling, served with Lambrusco wine sauce, mashed pumpkins, and red chichory season with balsamic vinegar

There was no dessert selection but rather a farewell cake of what was supposed to be Baked Alaska but there was no ice cream in it. No photo taken.

St. Petersburg, Russia - Costa Atlantica Day 5

Dinner:

Dried meat with goat cheese. Pretty decent.


Lambshank.  It was average. I've had much better before.

Napolean. Semi flakey layers with creme middle. The ships certainly do desserts right.

St Petersburg, Russia

She had arranged for a tour apart from the cruise. I'm glad she did as we were the only party in what ended up being a private tour for us. It was already very warm in the morning. Our tour guide said it was very unusual.

One of the more famous hotels that was supposed to highlight the Cold War.

Everybody had living quarters and on the outside it looked good. But it was only a facade.

More photos taken as we toured the city.

 The archway just outside the subway station.

Heading down the subway.  We stopped at a number of subway stations.  Each had its own decor and each was wonderful.  Old but definitely the most magnificient architecturally of any subway I've seen.  It must have been grand when it was built.

This is late afternoon. I forget where. I'll have to do some research.

The city is huge. There was so much to see and so much history to learn.

Tallinn, Estonia - Costa Atlantica Day 4

Seafood Salad


Pappardelle. Without a doubt the best of all the pasta dishes of the cruise.


Sturgeon. It looks like something Linda Blair spit up.

Dinner below

Rabbit terrine. It was better than the terrine a few days ago.

Pasta dish. The name escapes me. Heavy texture.

Guinea fowl. I've never had it before and if you told me it was Cornish Hen I probably wouldn't doubt you.


This was the best dessert of the entire cruise. Moist, chocolaty by no overly, decadent but not heavy. I believe it was called chocolate murnie or something like that.