Recipe: Donauwelle Cupcake Version

Since my apartment doesn't have an oven and it's quite small, I bought a microwave-oven combination to save some space. Unfortunately, I can't bake any cakes anymore because the center won't become solid, while I have to be really careful with the top because it can burn easily. It's a mess!

Well, but I still like baking, so I switched to making muffins and cupcakes instead. This is how I make Donauwelle, a very famous German cake, as cupcake version.

Ingredients for the dough

• 150g of butter
• 150g of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200g of flour
• 1/2 pck of baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1-2 tbsp cocoa
• 2/3 glass of morello cherries

Ingredients for the Buttercream

• 400g of sweetened condensed milk
• 250g of butter

200g of chocolate coating

 

Instructions

1. Stir the butter and sugar until it's foamy.
2. Add one egg after the other.
3. Mix the baking soda, the flour, and the salt.
4. Add it to the dough. Stir everything.
5. Divide the dough into two parts.
6. Add the cocoa to one part.
7. Drain the cherries.
8. Make the buttercream by mixing the sweetened condensed milk and the butter.
9. For each cupcake, add 1 tbsp of dark dough to your muffin cup, then 1 tbsp of light dough, and some cherries (about 5).
10. Bake them in your oven. 30min on 175°C. For my microwave-oven combination it takes 2x20 min on 150°C but it should be a lot faster in a normal oven. The second time it goes inside, I need to cover it up with aluminum foil.
11. Let your cupcakes cool down before the next step.
12. Pipe your buttercream with a pastry bag on top of the cupcake. If you can, you could form roses, but I'm not gifted enough...
13. When you're done with the buttercream, melt the chocolate coating in a water bath.
14. Coat each cupcake with 1 tbsp of chocolate.

Hope you like my cupcake version of the famous Donauwelle!

 

[Job Applications] Case Study

I would like to introduce a new category, matching my situation right now: Job Applications. I will start off with an example from a former job interview.

A new inhabitant of a little village goes to the next butcher to get some fresh calf's liver. The butcher tells him that the calf's livers are very popular because they are from his own cattle ranch of 300 cattle and he guarantees for their happy life on the alp. He only sells calf's liver once a week. Is it possible that he sells calf's liver for the whole village? Or was it a lie and he bought some more from a retailer?

My questions and assumptions were:

1. How many inhabitants does the village have? - About 500.
2. I assumed about 5 calf's livers are sold each week. That makes 20 a month which still sums up to 240 a year.
3. From 300 cattle, I assumed half of them to be female, out of which maybe 100 could be pregnant.
4. I assumed a cow to be pregnant for a year.
5. Every pregnant cow carries only one calf.

6. Not all of them can be butchered.

My conclusion was that there is no way, the butcher only used his own cattle, because his cattle herd isn't big enough to produce this amount of calves that would be needed to supply the whole village with calf's liver.

 

There are a lot of similar case scenarios. The most famous is probably the task of estimating the amount of gas stations in a given country or city. One can exchange gas stations with anything else, like with cattle in my case.

 

The feedback from the interviewer team was quite positive. They liked my analysis and conclusion.

 

I made a bunch of assumptions which might be wrong because I still haven't checked them online but I don't think, it's important... The case studies are supposed to show the line of thoughts and the problem solving skills of the applicant. Actually, I think, everybody can solve that adequately. It's not that much about facts because that's something you can look up online.

 

What I didn't like about the case study was the fact that the interviewer tried to hide the obvious case study. He told me, he and his wife just moved to the alp and really thought about that question and if I could help them, insisting on the severeness of their question... Come on!!

Little Lantern for Tea Light

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting in a long time. I have been quite busy. Anyway, I'm trying to get back on track...

I bought this at Aldi recently. Isn't it adorable? It is made of white ceramics and gives nice lighting for under 6€. Since it's kind of rainy and uncomfortable outside, it should be even nicer inside...

 

Running for the first time since forever

I can't even remember when I went running the last time. It must have been more than a year... I barely find any pleasure in it but I know it's quite effective when I'm trying to lose weight. So that's what I need to do. Since my boyfriend and me will replace another couple in a dance, he will have to lift me twice for an 8 count. I don't want him to crash - that would be quite embarassing... ˆ.ˆ

Anyway, do you know the app "Runtastic"? << click >>
I just tried it out today because I wanted to know how many km and how much time I would need. It's quite fun to have a little gadget. Not only useful for music but also for recording the whole process. I know it's kinda stupid but I feel better seeing the statistics afterwards - it's like To-Do-lists ;)

First you will need to log in, then press start. You can chose between different sports. While you're running, it'll tell you after each km how many you got. Because of the GPS it'll also be able to tell you your exact route. Next time, I'll try to run 2 laps or maybe around the lake...

 

I was sooo slow... Almost 25 minutes for almost 3km. I used to run 5km in under 30min. That'll take some time, until I get there again. I really don't understand why the hell I'm not fitter. I dance 3-4 times a week. Each time for about 2 hours. Last Monday I went to a breakdance workshop. Three hours and the pain lasted 3 freaking days.

If you have a heart rate monitor, it'll show up as well. I don't have one anymore, so I just listen to myself and to music ;) but it's good for beginners because otherwise you might be in pain.

So far I don't know the difference between the normal and the pro version. I think it's the lack of advertisement.

Negativity

For about two months I've been looking for a job now but it's a long process. I don't complain, I know it takes time. Rumor has it to be 4-6 months.

Yesterday at the party there was a guy from human resources of a company who asked me about my situation. (Last time we met, it was before my phd exam.) I told him, I was still looking. His response was: "I don't think, you'll find a job - the economy is really bad right now. We don't hire anyone right now."

Really nice... Thank you for over sharing. I didn't apply anyway but thanks to you, I know your company isn't doing too well! Isn't that like classified information? After that, I didn't even want to talk to him anymore.

One of my best friends also work for human resources but for a different company. She told me the exact opposite. Her company is almost desperately looking for people to hire...

Later that night the host told me, I should talk to that guy because he's in human resources and I should show him my application and what not... No thank you, not interested. I'm fine. I've had a couple telephone interviews and the first interview in person is coming up as well. I think, I'm okay. So far I don't panic, it's not that long and I treat it like vacations. I can sleep in, meet my friends, even finish up some research work for my upcoming publication... The last thing I want to hear is negativity from some random guy that I don't even know. I can't rush companies to interview me. And I don't want to be or look desperate because it might drive me to accept something I don't really want to do.