Congratulations to Marc and Megan!

In Celebration of your special day,
help yourselves to a fancy dessert!

Here are some ideas but feel free to make suggestions!

-Stu & Mark

Donostia 

Donostia is a Basque inspired buttermilk cake filled with fresh rose and cardamom infused pear jam.  The cake is topped with a sweet whipped goat cheese and candied pine nuts. A Blue Ribbon winner at the New Mexico State Fair.

Belgian Chocolate Tart

Sublime Belgian chocolate tart with a sweet short-crust pastry. Seemingly simple, this tart is very decadent.  It is an absolute favorite.

Berry Meringue Slice

A simple cake slice with fresh berries and a light meringue. 

Buckeyes

Essentially a homemade Reese cup—only a lot better.  A Blue Ribbon winner at the New Mexico State Fair.

Chocolate Cake with Rosemary and Juniper Infusion

This moist chocolate cake has ground juniper berries to accentuate the chocolate flavor  with a complimentary deep infusion of rosemary syrup. 

Tart Au Citron

A classic French lemon tart with a sweet shortcrust pastry.  It has a nice pucker without a cloying sweetness.  Awarded best dessert at a Santa Fe NA fundraiser.

Pick Two Curds

Choose from fresh raspberry, lemon, lime, lemon-lime, grapefruit, cranberry, or even passion fruit curd.

Gevulde Koekjes

Its hard to find a cookie more Dutch than these almond-filled cookies.  Oversized and buttery, These cookies are an absolute favorite of Richard Marshall.

Pasteis de Nata

These seemingly simple Portuguese custard tarts are by far the best dessert in the entire country.  It is by no surprise you can find them absolutely everywhere in the country.

Pavlova

Pavlovas are a traditional Christmas dessert in Australia at the height of summer.  It consists of fresh fruit curd, berries, and whipped cream on a bed of marshmallowy meringue.

Pear and Goat Cheese Tart

I translated this Flemish recipe and entered it in the State Fair.  It won best in show.  Nobody had ever tasted anything like it.  It has a touch of sweetness from the pears and honey with a counterbalance of time, nutmeg, and goat’s cheese.  It is Stu’s absolutely favorite.

Pecan Chocolate Stout Tart

This tart combines the intense flavors of non-alcoholic creamy stout and dark chocolate.  The toasted pecans make it that much more decadent. 

Pittsburgh Burnt Almond Torte

This was always my birthday cake growing up.  It is a buttermilk cake filled with fresh crème patisserie covered in Italian Buttercream and sugared almond slivers. It won a blue ribbon at the New Mexico State Fair.

Stu’s Birthday Cake #62

An obscene yellow lemon cake filled with fresh raspberry jam and covered with French lemon buttercream.  It is then covered in luscious raspberry dust and fresh berries.  A Blue Ribbon as well as a Gold Rosette at the New Mexico State Fair.

Rose Apple Tart

A classic apple tart with a great presentation.  A great choice if you are looking for something not too sweet or heavy.

Stroopwafels

Homemade Dutch waffle cookies filled with a fresh buttery caramel.

Whoopie Pies

A New England classic sandwich cookie consisting of two pieces of cake and a rich filling.  Pumpkin cake with honey-flavored cream cheese and chocolate cake with vanilla cream filling are two favorite choices but I have several dozen recipes to sift through!

Chocolate Mousse

Decadent pots of rich homemade Belgian Chocolate Mousse.  

Congratulations to the Happy Couple

 

In Celebration of your special day, help yourselves to two fancy desserts!

-Stu&Mark

Donostia 

Donostia is a Basque inspired buttermilk cake filled with fresh rose and cardamom infused pear jam.  The cake is topped with a sweet whipped goat cheese and candied pine nuts. A Blue Ribbon winner at the New Mexico State Fair.

Belgian Chocolate Tart

Sublime Belgian chocolate tart with a sweet short-crust pastry. Seemingly simple, this tart is very decadent.  It is an absolute favorite.

Berry Meringue Slice

A simple cake slice with fresh berries and a light meringue. 

Buckeyes

Essentially a homemade Reese cup—only a lot better.  A Blue Ribbon winner at the New Mexico State Fair.

Chocolate Cake with Rosemary and Juniper Infusion

This moist chocolate cake has ground juniper berries to accentuate the chocolate flavor  with a complimentary deep infusion of rosemary syrup. 

Tart Au Citron

A classic French lemon tart with a sweet shortcrust pastry.  It has a nice pucker without a cloying sweetness.  Awarded best dessert at a Santa Fe NA fundraiser.

Pick Two Curds

Choose from fresh raspberry, lemon, lime, lemon-lime, grapefruit, cranberry, or even passion fruit curd.

Gevulde Koekjes

Its hard to find a cookie more Dutch than these almond-filled cookies.  Oversized and buttery, These cookies are an absolute favorite of Richard Marshall.

Pasteis de Nata

These seemingly simple Portuguese custard tarts are by far the best dessert in the entire country.  It is by no surprise you can find them absolutely everywhere in the country.

Pavlova

Pavlovas are a traditional Christmas dessert in Australia at the height of summer.  It consists of fresh fruit curd, berries, and whipped cream on a bed of marshmallowy meringue.

Pear and Goat Cheese Tart

I translated this Flemish recipe and entered it in the State Fair.  It won best in show.  Nobody had ever tasted anything like it.  It has a touch of sweetness from the pears and honey with a counterbalance of time, nutmeg, and goat’s cheese.  It is Stu’s absolutely favorite.

Pecan Chocolate Stout Tart

This tart combines the intense flavors of non-alcoholic creamy stout and dark chocolate.  The toasted pecans make it that much more decadent. 

Pittsburgh Burnt Almond Torte

This was always my birthday cake growing up.  It is a buttermilk cake filled with fresh crème patisserie covered in Italian Buttercream and sugared almond slivers. It won a blue ribbon at the New Mexico State Fair.

Stu’s Birthday Cake #62

An obscene yellow lemon cake filled with fresh raspberry jam and covered with French lemon buttercream.  It is then covered in luscious raspberry dust and fresh berries.  A Blue Ribbon as well as a Gold Rosette at the New Mexico State Fair.

Rose Apple Tart

A classic apple tart with a great presentation.  A great choice if you are looking for something not too sweet or heavy.

Stroopwafels

Homemade Dutch waffle cookies filled with a fresh buttery caramel.

Whoopie Pies

A New England classic sandwich cookie consisting of two pieces of cake and a rich filling.  Pumpkin cake with honey-flavored cream cheese and chocolate cake with vanilla cream filling are two favorite choices but feel free to make a suggestion!

Chocolate Mousse

Decadent pots of rich homemade Belgian Chocolate Mousse.

My Sh(**)’rona: COVID Edition

Well, they **had** XL

Yup.  We got the ‘rona virus here in Tenerife.  The wind is in from Africa (cue Joni Mitchell) this time of year and brings with it a haze of dust.  Initially, we thought it was fog but it is actually a light coating of dust.  I *almost* have asthma and I could feel something.  We just assumed it was the dust.  Walking around town I felt a little punky but Tylenol cleared it right up.  I then noticed I had a slight hint of nausea.  It turns out, those are both symptoms of Omicron.

We decided to test me.  The app wouldn’t let me register. Sorry for the inconvenience. Pandemic. Working on it.  Well, at least you sounded sincere. Eventually we discovered you can take the test via a website.  Abbott really outdid themselves with their foreign call center.  The voyeur with an exotic voice had me test on camera.  For the life of me, I could not understand this person. There may have been a positive line or was I being a hypochondriac? Sir, you must tell me what you see! I heard repeated over and over.  I said, I’m not going to tell you differently because you keep asking, I replied.  Two days later, that puppy was dark.  I had the ‘rona.  We decided Stu should go home so that I would not infect him.  Boarding passes ready, he tests positive.  Woo hoo! Ten more days in Spain together.

If you are going to do it, do it right.

 

We were at a cheesy department story last week and they had these bizarre sweat-pant-union-suit-with hood thing that we decided would be killer for an evening out at Walmart.  It looked comfy but what the hell do you do with it?  We chuckled. We chortled. Dare I say we mocked it?  Well, ours friend’s house is an amazing turn of the century Spanish colonial-style house with 17 foot ceilings—and not heating or cooling.  In addition, you can see the stars from the exposed staircase.  Although mild, it is still Winter here as well as the rainy season. Where’s your onesie now B****?  I so wanted enveloped in that snuggle-able, warm thing. Before Stu got sick, he discovered my size was sold out.  When I recovered, I discovered his size was sold out. It wasn’t meant to be.

I'm pretty sure my personal Lord and Saviour had something to do with this coffee machine.

 

The fridge was stocked and we settled in.  Ironically, I worked on the Castilian version of Babbel to pass some of the time.  (The Latin American version is plain awful).   If you lisp really hard, the software appreciates your authentico Spanish accent.  Stu has been on zoom calls and we have taken turns eating everything in the fridge.  Afterall, I still had my sense of taste. Had.  Today I tried some banana yoghurt.  I told Stu, it didn’t even taste yellow.  I contemplated the best way to describe the flavor and settled on damp.

The Quarantine View

 

There have been a few sunny days in the last week so I have taken to podcasts and sunbathing on the roof. Seriously, I have been blessed, yes blessed, with a very mild case of COVID.  Stu’s is very similar but a few days behind mine.  After completing my isolation, I walked all over the sloped neighborhood above the waterfront and the went swimming in the chilly water at the city pool.  I’ve had labored breathing and feel fatigued but not very challenging. The mask, OMG I can’t breathe! I suspect Stu will be the same way shortly.

 

Flying right now has some serious caveats; Under no circumstances, buy a basic economy fare.  If we didn’t have air miles, we would have coughed up a lot of money to fly home.  The seats had absolutely no changes whatsoever. If you plan on leaving the country (where you need a test to come back), make sure you have a place to stay on the other end. And most importantly, make room in your suitcase for a jersey onesie—it might make the difference.

The Catholic Church

(The Pretty Churches)

I thought I would end this trip (more or less, I haven't decided if I am going to keep writing) about the Catholic Church. We've been inside so many glorious churches throughout Europe reflecting different periods in artistic style as well as theology.  Granted the Church is changing faster at the moment than ever before.  Ironically, in Europe, religion in general is on a steep decline although they clearly have the rich history.  Inversely, Evangelicals in America can't seem to tell us enough about Jesus (odd, since they seem to be so in tune with the Old Testament.)

I didn't want this post to be a smug reflection for atheists or others with staunch opinions about the Church in general.  Clearly most of the money that has gone into building churches could have fed the poor and prevented corruption in the name of the Lord.  Something else to consider is the exuberant love in many cases that went into celebrating God. It would be hard to make the argument that the money could be better spent on holy wars.  Why do we love to fight with people who worship the same God differently?  It baffles me.

Whenever I go into a church, I always ask myself, "Does God live here?"  Sometimes it feels as though a rich person was trying to buy their way into heaven (which they were) or trying to impress everyone with their riches (which there also were).  Other times, I can feel the love of the artist and his relationship with what he is doing in the name of the Lord.  I am so touched and can tear up by indescribable beauty.  I am able to experience God through love expressed in art.  Where else could such divine inspiration originate?

I have also been blessed with seeing churches in many styles from many nations.  Each one does it their own way.  There are incredibly austere (boring, just kidding) churches in Holland reflecting local values to embarrassing riches in Rome made from lavish amounts of gold.  We saw a church yesterday that was gilded in upwards of 100kg of gold here in Portugal!  If you want to see a shining example in America, go visit the Basilica in Saint Louis.  It is done in the Byzantine mosaic style and is astonishing.

Why did they create these buildings?  In the early days, many cathedrals were used as expo centers or malls.  Each guild would sponsor an alcove and sell their goods before or after mass.  It just held everyone.  Many buildings were built to make you feel the awe of God by their sheer size.  Something we saw in Madrid was a church essentially converted into a homeless shelter complete with water fountain out front.  Pews were covered in blankets with the needy sleeping inside away from the elements.  In Belgium, we saw part of a church used for day care.  Why not use parts of churches as senior center or gathering places for arts and crafts?  I don't think the church is antiquated; it just needs to evolve with the times.  If a program takes care of people, why not try it?

Byzantine Style Church in Rome

One weird part of the Church in Europe is payment to enter a place of worship.  A part of me just cringes at paying to enter a church.  A sublime church here in Porto, Portugal was close to 7$ each.  I feel like I should get a plenary indulgence with my ticket.  In Bulgaria, churches charged you to take photos or a couple in Rome charged you to light up a painting.  I'm fine with paying to be a tourist.  At the end of the day, these building have to be burdensome on a declining congregation.  Imagine keeping valuable items safe from crime or the elements as well as paying priests or cleaning art and fixing leaks.   I also feel that these buildings are now testaments to the story of humanity.  I read some incredibly smug and callous rebuttals to repairing Notre Dame.  Notre Dame is more than a church—it is part of our story.  Not all stories have happy endings or only heroes.  The powerful Italian Medici family murdered a Pope so they could name a family member as Pope.  Two days later, the new Pope was made a priest.  The poor at times have also rose up against Papal corruption and burdensome taxes. 

School of Athens located in the Vatican Museum

The Church is going through a lot right now and it deserves it.  No one is above the law—God's or otherwise.  In the end I hope the Church gets its shit together.  Maybe they will take a new course.  My dad is still spinning in his grave over Vatican II.  Maybe it's time to have married priests like the Byzantine/Ruthenian Catholic still have in the Old Country. (G A S P) Who cares? I'm more interested in people sleeping in pews, being fed, and treated with dignity. 

Actually, a Bulgarian 5th Century Orthodox Church

Orthodox Icon

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Ravenna, Italy

Ravenna, Italy