Sacher Torte, Apfelstrudel, Lippizaner Stallions, and Composers

April 18, 2011- Vienna is a city is so steeped in history that the entire city could be a museum.  Very little of Vienna was bombed during World War II, but those buildings that were bombed were torn down and replaced with newer buildings that just seem out of place.  Our guide explained that after the war, there was no money to spend repairing them to their original design.  So newer, less expensive buildings were built in their place.

This is the city of music.  Even if the Danube isn't quite as blue here as Johannes Strauss' waltz would have us to believe, music is in the air in this city, and concerts are held almost nightly.  Vienna was once home to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, and there are monuments and statues of each of them.

We visited St. Stephen's Cathedral (and yes, there is one in Linz and Passau, as well).  It is so beautiful to see the palmbuschen in vases around the cathedral commemorating Palm Sunday and Easter Week.  All of the crufixes are covered in purple, but will be uncovered on Easter Sunday and draped in white.

Vienna is also the home of the Lippizaner Stallions and their stables are in the heart of Vienna near the Stephensplatz (St. Stephen's plaza). 

But, Vienna is especially known for their Viennese pastries, especially the sacher torte.  We had to make a stop at Demel, the bakery for the imperials, the oldest and most famous bakery in the city of Vienna.

Keepers of the original Sacher torte recipe, Demel was the official bakery for the Emperor and has existed since 1786. It's a must see, the interior of the store has maintained its imperial style and is full of goodies such as strudels, tortes, chocolates and more. We had heard of their superb hot chocolate made with real chocolate and slowly heated milk! It was topped with whipped cream, and I mean real whipped cream, not the stuff we think of in the U.S.  In fact, Charlie ordered a double espresso with cream, and instead of a pitcher of cream, he was served a healthy serving of this delicacy.

Demel is worth visiting just to look at its artistic cakes, confectioneries and chocolates, which are now all prepared for Easter. 

What an incredible day we had just roaming the streets in beautiful 68 degree, sunshiny weather!!!

Chicken Salad Days

We love to entertain, and last Friday, twelve of our preferred suppliers were invited to lunch at our office.  We did this for two reasons:

• We wanted to show appreciation to those suppliers who have supported us in the past year and show off our new office.
• These reps travel on business almost every week.  They get tired of eating in restaurants, so I made all of the food, except for the chocolate and pecan pies that LaDonna, one of our agents, made.

Our menu consisted of chicken salad on croissants, a Mediterranean orzo salad, beefsteak tomatoes with mozzarella and homemade balsamic vinagrette dressing, a melon boat, and of course, LaDonna's wonderful pies.

I had a lot of requests for the chicken salad recipe.  This is a recipe that I got from a friend of mine, Linda B, and that I modified a little.

So for those interested, here it is:

Chicken breasts with the bone in and skin on - as many as you want to cook
Hellman's Mayonaise
Durkee's Sauce
Pecans, chopped
Celery, chopped
Red seedless grapes (optional), halved
Lemon juice
Lemon Pepper

Stew the chicken breasts for at least two hours in a large pot.  Cut the tops off the celery and throw them into the pot.  Add two chicken bouillon cubes per chicken breast.  After the chicken has cooled thoroughly, pull off the bone, shred, and discard the bones and skin.

Chop up as much celery and pecans as you want to add to the salad.  Same with the grapes.  Mix some of the mayonaise with a small amount of Durkee's - I used 9 breasts in the batch I just made up and it took about 2 cups of mayonaise and less than a teaspoon of Durkee's.  Add some lemon juice and lemon pepper to this mixture and mix into the chicken, celery, pecans and grapes.  This will distribute the flavors evenly.  Add more mayonaise if needed.  It's better to start out with a smaller amount of mayonaise and add more after you initially mix this up. 

That's it.  Pretty easy and the best I've ever had.  Thanks, Linda B, for this wonderful concoction.