Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Of all the things in Wisconsin, I will share rhubarb coffee cake

I am at Mark and Laura's with the family (except for my sister) this week to celebrate Rachel's graduation from Hurley High School. We are having a great time and I made rhubarb coffee cake for breakfast today (Memorial Day) to general approbation. Here's the recipe so I have it later and I can share it with you.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

For the cake
2 c flour
2 c whole-wheat flour
1 t salt
2 t baking soda
2 c sugar
1 stick (4 oz.) butter, softened
1/2 c oil
3 eggs
2 T molasses (or 1 T blackstrap)
1 t vanilla extract
1 T vinegar
2 c yogurt (I used part Greek yogurt, could also use buttermilk)
5 c diced rhubarb (or maybe 6 c...)

For the topping
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease a large sheet pan (9x13 might be too small, 11x17 probably better) or line it with parchment paper. Or use a 9x13 and a smaller pan for the overflow. 

Whisk together flour, salt, soda, and set aside. 

Mix the topping, set aside.

Beat sugar and butter until light with a mixer in a large bowl. Add oil and beat smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat well each time. Beat in molasses, vanilla, and vinegar. Beat in yogurt and continue mixing until smooth (a couple minutes). 

Mix in the flour blend a third at a time. Fold gently. Add rhubarb while there are still many flour lumps and fold together until evenly mixed and most visible flour is gone. This helps prevent overmixing. Pour/spoon (it is thick) the batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle with topping. 

Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Less time if you have spread it thinner. Maybe only 30 minutes in two pans.

Notes: I reduced the sugar in the original recipe and you could even cut back more. I used small rhubarb stalks and diced them finely so they melted into the cake. Very good that way but if you wanted distinct rhubarb chunks you would need bigger pieces of rhubarb. Next time I would try a streusel topping instead of plain cinnamon sugar.

Here's the last half-pan of coffee cake. The rest was gone before I got to my camera! 

Monday, May 25, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Embassy Run, or make that #EUEmbassyRun

I ran the EU Embassies on May 9...well some of them. 28 in a day would be a lot more work. It was an organized event by Capital Striders and RUNINOut.

Here's the list of embassies:

  • Austria
  • Slovak Republic--bobbin lace
  • The Netherlands--cheese and licorice 
  • Czech Republic
  • Hungary--cheese biscuits and vizslas 
  • Poland--pierogi and insects in amber
  • Finland--picture with the Ambassador (a lady) and tasty food
  • Italy--chocolate eggs
  • Denmark--rest on the grass and eat a marshmallow-y thing coated in chocolate and coconut. They tossed us water bottles as we left--Yay! 
  • Ireland--step dancers outside (didn't let us in)
  • Greece--baklava and tzatziki (super nice!)
  • Latvia--rye bread, recipe book, and info on Black Rooster Bread in DC. Here's a reviewer on why that is so exciting. It's like the bread I ate in Latvia! 
  • Sorbetto--not an embassy but a really nice break (pink grapefuit and strawberry flavors if you're wondering)
  • Sweden--oat crisps, ginger cookies, SÖTSAK KAKAOBOLL, and elder flower fizz from IKEA. And they put up a finish line for us!

Kori and I did 10.5 miles according to the calculation by Runkeeper. We deviated from the official course to see Latvia and Greece. My legs were darn tired after all that running!

If you want to see more pictures exercise your social media skills and search for #EUEmbassyRun on Twitter and Facebook.

Milling around in front of Austria
A selfie at The Netherlands
Tired at the end of the day but she's got a flag in her hair
So do I
I know, I know, 2 of my 4 faithful followers are waiting with bated breath for the tales of Latvia. I'm working on it but that will take longer than a quick post about Saturday. The Google App came back with my file so I do still have it...I just had to suffer 36 hours of heartburn over it. But I'm really glad it came back!  

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Lost file!

I spent hours on the airplane yesterday writing all about Latvia. Alas it seems that the Google Docs app on my iPad lost the file. I haven't been able to find anything to help so far. If you can help me recover the file you will get to read about my trip to Latvia sooner. Otherwise you'll have to have patience while I try to recreate it.

I'm so mad at Google right now!!! Don't trust the Google Docs app in offline mode.

Update: After 36 hours of heartburn the app and the iPad managed to get it together and my file reappeared. I don't know what went wrong, but I'm just glad to have it back. I immediately saved a backup!