Though sometimes overshadowed by the warmer climes of Southern European countries, Holland is a beloved place to visit throughout the year and there are some incredible sights and events that are occurring while 2008.
Over the Easter weekend gourmands could venture to the Museum of Chocolate in Cologne, under three hours' drive from the Hook of Holland. Chocoholics will be dazzled by the three metre high chocolate fountain and the assorted shows on how chocolate shapes and truffles are made.
Spring is the perfect time to see the incredible carpets of tulips that are iconic to Holland. Established in 1949 Keukenhof Gardens is the world's largest flower orchad and is a must-see in spring when more than seven million buds bloom. On 30 April, Holland celebrates Koninginnedag or Queen's Day, one of the most leading dates in Holland's calendar. Throughout Holland everyone dresses in orange costumes, and eats and drinks orange-coloured food and drink, and even some of the water in fountains is dyed orange! while the day, in Amsterdam and throughout Holland there are many open-air parties and concerts which can attract up to 800,000 visitors.
Holland is also celebrated for its incredible network of cycle paths and cyclists can take benefit of this by exploring the country via bike. May is bicycle Month in Holland, while which there are many bike connected activities, perfect for families and friends to get away and enjoy an active break.
During the summer months visitors can palpate some of the fabulous sandy beaches that are dotted along the Dutch coastline, or head to Amsterdam in August for the annual Grachtenfestival when classical concerts are held on the canals. As autumn approaches holidaymakers can see Holland in all its autumnal glory; while in September, Schevingen beach in The Hague hosts the annual Scheveningen Kite Festival.
November sees the arrival of Sinterklaas, Holland's version of Father Christmas. After Sinterklaas arrives in Amsterdam he embarks on a festive parade through the city; this truly is a magical event for the family, especially those with young children. In December avid shoppers can load up their car with a option of Dutch goodies from the Christmas markets present in Holland's main towns and cities.
Getting there is easy, with a quarterly ferry to Holland [http://www.stenaline.co.uk/stena_line/stena_line_uk/gb/harwich_-_holland.html] departing from Harwich to the Hook of Holland twice daily.
If you're looking to get away from all the other Brits heading abroad to the beaches of Spain and France, a holiday in Holland is the perfect alternative, with abundance of culture, nature and fun to be found.
Call of the Clog - Holidays in HollandSophia Grace & Rosie Perform 'Moment 4 Life' Tube. Duration : 2.80 Mins.
Years ago when I was a young girl I remember being entranced by the movie "My Fair Lady". Adorable Audrey Hepburn played the character Eliza Doolitlle, a cockney flower girl with no education who after being schooled in the finer arts of speech was transformed into a lady of breeding and manners, at least in the eyes of the face world. One scene in single struck my fancy, it was when Eliza and Professor Henry Higgins visited the Ascot race track where all the blue bloods congregated for horse racing.
A striking Eliza (Audrey Hepburn) dressed in a white and black gown and substantial hat was surrounded by Higgins and the other gentlemen arrayed in top hats and tails. It was only when the irrepressible Miss Doolittle shouted her true, cockney slang at a horse, that her real character upstaged the pretentious character she portrayed. Needless to say the whole movie was a optic feast of a by gone and glamorous era. In today's world possibly you are a bride who adores the old world charm and mannerisms of long ago. If the Vintage theme is what you are striving to produce for your wedding it's now time to come up with ideas to make this breathtaking event happen. First off let's determine on your style, location and flowers.
Location:
If you are finding for a venue to marry your beloved, select an old church, ball room or a garden. These were natural places for weddings in the Victorian and Edwardian era to take place. Colorful blooms and gilded fixtures embellished these venues and set the stage for elegance. If anything, manners and tradition was highly important during this era. Remember, vintage weddings could be quite detailed and showy, depending on papa's earnings and position.
Flowers and Reception Decor:
Floral arrangements in the latter 19th century were dramatic and lovely. Roses, dahlias, zinnias, sweet peas, violets, buttercups and freesia interspersed with baby's breath and ferns. Brides often carried nose gays or tussy mussies, balls of ornate blooms tied with ribbons. Reception tables were laid out with glass or silver vases over flowing with dramatic and lovely flowers. Tables were adorned with lace doilies, fine crystal, china and cups. Rooms, carpeted with Persian and oriental rugs were lit up with chandeliers and lamps topped with fringed shades. Underneath these sparkling chandeliers, couples waltzed and danced quadrilles.
Vintage Apparel:
Vintage wedding gowns could be quiet justify depending on the bride's status and income. Silk, tulle, cashmere or satin. Bustles were replaced with small trains in the latter Victorian era. Brides typically wore veils crowned with orange blossoms. One important thing to remember was that before Queen Victoria, wedding gowns were often any color depending on the bride and her culture. Bridal accessories included white gloves, silk stockings, beaded purses, cameo pins and pearls and flat shoes adorned with bows. Men typically wore stripped trousers, white shirts and waist coats of gray or white with bow ties. Tail coats were cut away in shades of black and grey. Last but not least, no gentleman of breeding would be seen with out his elegant top hat. Groomsmen wore similar apparel as the groom and bridesmaids and children were arrayed in white or pale colors of pink or mint green tied with fascinating satin sashes. Often little girls wore muslin and boys wore knee trousers.
Food:
A vintage wedding served food fit for a king! Oysters, filet mignon, roast duck, salmon, truffles, sugary cakes and a fine option of champagne and liqueurs were offered to toast the happy couple. After dinner, gentlemen would slip away to the study or library to enjoy fine cigars and brandy. Wedding cakes were justify fruit cakes embellished with sugary flowers and scrolls and cut to be sent home in boxes with the guests. In fact their could be three cakes, one for the guests, one for the groom and the other for the bride.
Wedding Favors:
If you are searching for ideas for a vintage themed wedding keep in mind that Victorians loved giving gifts. Lovely silk fans, sachets, letter openers, ornate boxes, cigars, handkerchiefs and cameos were popular favors of choice.
If you are now ready to plan your own Vintage wedding seek out aged and second hand shops. Study customs and traditions of the duration you have in mind. Alert your guests if you wish them to dress in old Vintage clothing, big hats, pearls and tuxedos. get ready invitations on vellum in ornate calligraphy or font. Most of all have fun. This is your dream wedding come to life.
Top Hat and Tails - Ideas For Planning A Vintage Themed WeddingFlo Rida - Wild Ones ft. Sia [Official Video] Tube. Duration : 3.97 Mins.
As a cake decorator who sells their cakes or a home baker who prepares desserts for friends and family, it is foremost to know all of the facts about fillings, which ones need to be refrigerated and which can be left out at room temperature. Your prestige can depend on it, and you legitimately do not want to make anything sick.
We know that butter cream frosting does not hold up well in the heat. Think about a fondant covered cake with a filling. Do you think it's safe to be out in the heat? Maybe not. Chocolate ganache filling melts if left in the heat for a duration of time. Did you know that? It's deceiving. It sets firmly so you can use it as a filling in sculpted cakes and are able to shape it into truffles that are appetizing to eat but when a ganache filled cake sits out in the heat, the ganache gets soft and starts to disintegrate which, if it is a stacked cake, could come tumbling down.
Do some expand planning. Make sure that your clients or hosts are educated about the types of fillings that would be best grand for their events.
Fillings can be made from scratch or bought. The fillings made from scratch are extremely perishable and should remain refrigerated. New filling recipes should not be tried the night before an event. If you have to do something new, test the method out two weeks before. That way, if you need to make changes, you have time to do it or get help.
Fillings that come in sleeves at your local cake store can be used right out of the sleeve as they are and the remainder can be refrigerated up to 6 months.
If you decree to use fresh fruit in your filling, please make sure to use the freshest fruit you can find and get ready it as close to serving time as possible. If you must put the cake together the night before (for example, strawberry cake with fresh strawberries in the middle, cut the fruit in half. Smaller pieces will get mushy overnight and not make a good presentation.
Not sure how to properly whip the cream for your filling, use the aerosol can version, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and add your fresh fruit and cover with more canned whip cream and more confectioner's sugar.
If your cake has a fresh fruit filling and the cake is covered in fondant, stack the cakes at your venue. The fondant will get gummy if you stack them sooner.
Refrigerated Fillings
If your event is held indoors either it is a big hall or someone's home, feel free to use a filling that has to be refrigerated. Cream cheese, custards, pastry cream, whipped cream, puddings, and any mousse type fillings that consist of fresh fruit are excellent for these venues. Cakes can remain refrigerated until right before serving. Let habitancy know when they ask these fillings that there needs to be space in the refrigerator to store the cake until serving. A lot of habitancy fill the refrigerators with everything else and then have to scramble to find room for the cake. It cannot sit out for a long duration of time or there will be a disaster.
Speaking of disaster, please do not mix up a batch of the pudding mix as it is instructed on the box and use that as a filling for your cakes. Unless it's made like a mousse, it will not hold up to the weight of the cake on top and will ooze out and make a mess.
When in doubt, make a test cake to see what happens when you refrigerate your cake with the intended filling and frosting/fondant. You don't want to be surprised about this.
Refrigerated fillings are delicious, though sometime they are a double-edged sword. Butter cakes do not taste their best right out of the refrigerator. Join them with a refrigerated filling, and you have to make a choice. Cold cake or warm filling. either one is not good. And, you don't want habitancy telling the host/hostess that the cake was "dry" because it was cold. Switch to a different cake method or use sugar syrup on your cake layers before assembling to help the cake maintain moisture so it doesn't dry out while in the refrigerator.
Remember that gum paste and royal icing decorations on a cake will be ruined if it is refrigerated.
Non-Refrigerated Fillings
Any of the sleeves of fillings bought at your local cake decorating store should be fine at room temperature. So are the jellies, preservatives and ganache. Whenever using the fillings in the sleeves, remember the dam of frosting around the edge of the cake. You don't want it oozing out once the cake settles. Trust me on this one. That is why it's best to use the following technique for fillings.
Make sure that you have a thick dam of frosting going around the edge of the cake. Add no higher than a 1/4" high layer of filling. For example, whenever I use lemon filling, I split the cake layer in half, add the dam of frosting, spread the lemon filling and then put the two layers together. Frosting goes between the cake layers so it will be:
Thin layer of frosting that covers entire cake:
Lemon cake
Frosting dam - Lemon filling
Lemon cake
Middle frosting layer
Lemon cake
Frosting dam - Lemon filling
Lemon cake
Cake Board
Always refrigerate to let the frosting set. Once it's set, cover the cake in fondant. Set your cake in a cake box that has room for it to fit without the fondant touching the top or sides of the box. Refrigerate again to set. This is your guarnatee policy when you deliver the cake. If the party is at your house, and it's cool inside, you can leave it out. Refrigerating this kind of cake makes it easier to slice so that the filling doesn't ooze out of every slice. You want a nice presentation.
When you cake is removed from the refrigerator, please remember to give it time to "sweat." Don't touch it while this duration or you will leave a mark. Let the cake come to room temperature. Usually, by the time you voyage to your destination, and it's time to serve the cake, the fondant will be okay to slice and the dewy, shiny look will be gone.
What Kind of Filling is It?
Lemon, chocolate, caramel, banana, apricot, chocolate chip, and some other fillings are legitimately recognized in a cake just by seeing at them. Don't make your guests guess what they're eating. Make tent cards for each table that includes this data or add it to the menu card. With so many food allergies out there, you don't want to be remembered for development someone sick.
To freeze or Not to Freeze
Never freeze a cake filled with a custard filling because it will separate. Whipped cream cakes have been frozen. It depends on the type of whipping cream used. Check the package to see if it tells you that it can be icy because you do not want your cake to weep. Rose Berenbaum, in her book, The Cake Bible, shows you how to stabilize the whipping cream with gelatin.
Enjoy using your cake fillings to take your cakes to higher levels. Just be safe.
Cake Fillings - What You Need to Know Now That It's WarmMaster Chief vs Leonidas. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2. Video Clips. Duration : 2.20 Mins.The cream cheese cups method is exquisite for parties or when friends drop by. They are easy to make although they look like a pro baker made them. When it comes to taste, these are unbelievably delicious!
Ingredients
Cookie dough:
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, softened
2 packages (3-ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
Filling:
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 container (8-ounces) almond paste, softened and cut into cubes
Sliced almonds
Hardware
Large bowl
Medium bowl
Miniature muffin tins
Mixer
Step 1: In a large bowl, with an galvanic mixer cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Step 2: moderately add flour. Mix until just combined.
Step 3: Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Step 4: After removing dough from refrigerator, preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Step 5: Roll dough into 1-inch size balls. Press dough onto the bottom and up the sides of ungreased dinky muffin tins; set aside.
Step 6: For filling, beat eggs in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.
Step 7: Add granulated sugar; mix well.
Step 8: Beat in almond paste.
Step 9: Spoon a rounded teaspoonful into each cup.
Step 10: Top each cookies with three almond slices.
Step 11: Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and filling is set. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to cups and transferring them to a cooling surface.
Makes about 3 dozen cups.
For more information on baking procedures and hardware used in this method see our Baking Tips section.
Important: Feel free to republish this article on your website. However, you are not allowed to modify any part of its article and all links should be kept active.
Cream Cheese Cups methodColdplay - Charlie Brown Tube. Duration : 4.77 Mins.There is no shortage of places to eat in Orange County, California. Romance abounds with the cliffside views of the Pacific Ocean on one half of the county and the hills and valleys on the other half. Depending on your funds and individual preferences there are so many to chose one that I had a very hard time pinning down the ten here. according to the Gayot restaurant guide, Ocregister.com and a personal polling of 20 long-time residents of the area here are the ones that "made the grade" as places to go when you want romance to fill the air (they are in random order):
Starting with the "inland" choices:
Anaheim White House-an convention in Anaheim. Northern Italian cuisine is combined with French touches in an actual white house in very elegant decor.
Orange Hill Restaurant-in the city of Orange. The restaurant has been host to numerous weddings, anniversary celebrations and proposals. The cuisine in American. The restaurant and bar overlook the sweeping valley below. The lights of the cities in the distance are incredible. So high on the romance charts, I even suggested to my sister that this would be the excellent spot for her wedding. The food is excellent, but the guests seem to stray over to the windows to enjoy the view as much as the catered reception.
Golden Truffle-Costa Mesa. While the restaurant doesn't have any views and resides on a major street, what makes this restaurant extra is the willingness of the chef and his staff to personally cook up some of the county's most exotic cuisine and serve it in an unintrusive way.
Cedar Creek Inn-San Juan Capistrano. This restaurant is in the old town area, right over the road from the Mission. Again, no view perse but the patio lights and the ease of taking a stray straight through the quaint city and shop in the anitque shops is worth it. The cuisine is Californian.
Five Crowns-Corona Del Mar. The main element to this very well known eatery is that it is an exact replica of England's oldest inn. The Lawry's owned restaurant serves American dishes, but the waitstaff serves you in period English dress and manners. Obviously, if you chose here, eat the steak ribs.
The Ritz restaurant and Garden-Newport Beach. Continental cuisine served by a marvelous wait staff that want to make sure that whatever you are celebrating becomes special. Our son sent my husband and I here for our 23rd anniversary. He had taken his girlfriend and was not only impressed by the frightful food, but that the assistance was quiet, attentive and respectful (some eateries are not so with couples who are 20-somethings).
The remaining restaurants all have sweeping Pacific Ocean views. Except for Las Brisas which serves Mexican fare, the all serve American cuisine.
Las Brisas-Laguna Beach. Best bet, stick with the seafood. This restaurant has been colse to a long time. While the food may not undoubtedly be up to the same standards as the rest of the choices listed, the view and regularly the assistance are what keep this place on the "romantic" map.
The Chart House-Dana Point. Many the wedding and reception has taken place here. Even wanted to add our own daughter's to the list. When we want a very romantic evening, this is where my husband and I go. The food is excellent, the staff expert and while you wait (and you will)you can enjoy a stray in the "backyard" or just sit outside with a glass of wine.
Cannons-Dana Point. fullness of directions to crane your neck at the view up here. I prefer brunch on a spring or summer Sunday, but of the long-time residents I interviewed, they're sold on this hotspot for a extra evening out.
Salt Creek Inn-considered Laguna Niguel. distinct and eclectic. assistance can be spotty, but the younger crowd I talked to seem to undoubtedly enjoy eating here.
These were the chosen few, but I would be remiss not to mention if time and funds allow, try eating at any of the venues at the Laguna Beach Montage Hotel. The hotel is romance personified, the grounds are beautiful, the menus assorted (alas a small steep for my budget)and sound delicious. Those who had eaten there couldn't stop raving about how tasty every was and how beautifully it was served. One gentleman took his wife of 30 years there to celebrate their anniversary and the staff helped "hide" her pearl necklace in a specialy made dessert!
Now all whatever needs to do is put on the dress up togs and come and visit-during dinner! Oh and reservations are suggested!
The Top Ten Romantic Restaurants in Orange County, CaliforniaSUPER BOWL 46 2012 HALF TIME SHOW MADONNA!!!! Video Clips. Duration : 12.80 Mins.
