We wish you a lot of fun and a relaxing summer break:
to the vacationers – nice rest
the others – little stress
and to ALL – nice memories of the summer 2023
We are there for you as usual also during the summer break!
Our world is becoming increasingly globalised, varied, and interlinked – despite all the issues that confront us daily.
And we are ready to play our part in all these changes – with an expanded range of linguistic services, not least for our conference interpreting clients.
NEW in our service portfolio: languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Hebrew, and Vietnamese
We’ve just demonstrated the effectiveness of our services at an outstanding dealer event for Skoda in Prague. We are delighted about the positive feedback for our on-site services and our international interpreting team comprising members from numerous countries. We are also grateful to them, of course.
You can count on our expertise for your language needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or queries regarding our language services.
We look forward to getting to know you – in person or online, the choice is yours.
We reckon that the incorporation of new technologies should be celebrated with a new design. If you share our opinion, why not browse through our website and tell us how we’ve done.
We are confident that the use of intelligent solutions, such as machine translation (MT) with post-editing performed by experienced editors and the implementation of interpreting platforms (RSI) for your international meetings, mean we can respond faster and more flexibly to your specific needs!
They save time and money. Of course, the security standards we employ here remain of the highest order. We will dedicate ourselves to the achievement of your projects – we’ve been doing for it for 40 years already – and we look forward to your feedback and inquiries. Thank you 👏
40 years of Allround Service – from a one-woman show to a professional agency – the journey and development is clear from looking at our business card. And here’s our newly designed website with helpful information about our innovative service options and our current standards.
Ricotta gnocchi is not a recipe special to my family. Although the dish is eaten in almost all parts of Italy, it is frequently unknown to some people. To me, it recalls sweet memories of my childhood. It takes me back to my summer holidays at my grandparents’ in the mountains of Trentino, a place where I was simply just happy. A bit like Marcel Proust and his beloved Madeleine. These ricotta gnocchi awaken my mémoire involontaire.
Unlike the big city where I was raised, in Trentino they still always use fresh products sourced from local suppliers.
As a child, I loved going shopping with my nonna to buy fresh ricotta in the dairy shop. And then I’d often eat it straight away for breakfast. I’d spread it on bread with a bit of sugar – a great way to start the day.
I rang my nonna a few days ago to ask for her ricotta gnocchi recipe.
A very simple, yet tasty dish. Here’s the ingredients you’ll need, and how to prepare it…
Bring some water to the boil (salted to taste).
While the water heats, put the ricotta, egg, some of the flour, salt and grana padano into a bowl. Knead everything together with your hands to make a dough. If it’s not firm enough, add some more flour.
Once the dough is ready, put it out on a work surface dusted with flour, and roll into medium-sized balls (or any other preferred shape).
Sprinkle some flour on the shaped gnocchi, and immerse them in the water.
Add the butter and sage to a frying pan, and heat until the butter turns brown.
As soon as the gnocchi have risen to the surface of the water, remove them from the water using a skimmer spoon, add to the pan and fry in the sage butter.
Sprinkle with grated truffle or grana padano according to preference.
Buon appetito!
Our recipe for this Week comes from Austria, and it’s introduced to us here by Jessica May.
I can still clearly remember how my grandma often made apricot dumplings during the holidays. I always found this quite special, and it seemed like grandma’s very own indulgence routine.
Nowadays, apricot dumplings are usually eaten as a dessert. They used to be thought of as a main course, as indeed were the majority of Austria’s other pastry dishes.
Did you know that this one-time luxury dish, which then became part of the menu of ordinary households everywhere, is now protected as part of the nation’s culinary heritage? Unbelievable, but true!
It is one of the traditional dishes to have its recipe kept in a safe in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, so as to preserve it for posterity.
So, here is grandma’s very own indulgence routine:
This is enough dough to make 10 dumplings.
Knead the curd, eggs, butter and salt into a smooth dough, add approximately 1 – 2 tbsp. semolina, and knead again thoroughly. Chill for about 1 hour to allow the semolina to swell.
Pit the apricots You could use plums instead of apricots, if you prefer.
Shape the dough into a roll, and divide it into 10 equally-sized pieces. The dough can be a little sticky, so always dust your hands with some flour when encasing the fruit in the dough. The dough casing should be about 1 – 2 cm thick depending on the size of the fruit
Steep in slightly salted, gently simmering water for about 20 – 30 minutes (depending on whether you are using fresh or frozen fruit). The dough should rise nicely, and the fruit be soft on the inside.
At the same time, melt some butter in a pan, add the bread crumbs and sugar, and brown slowly over a gentle heat. You can decide how much butter, bread crumbs and sugar to add. It’s all down to your individual taste.
Once cooked, drain the dumplings, add to the browned bread crumbs in the pan, coat all over and serve hot.
If you like, you can sprinkle them with some icing sugar and cinnamon.
Enjoy!
The New Year is just around the corner, so what better time for a very traditional Jiaozi recipe from our Austrian sisters, Qionglin and Yuru WU.
Jiaozi is a well-known dish throughout China. The recipe varies from one region to the next. There are also different folding techniques, and the filling can be prepared according to varying tastes … using vegetables or seafood, for example. The Jiaozi we are showing you here, are made using mixed minced meat, carrots and oxheart cabbage.
Jiaozi is a dish traditionally prepared and eaten together by the whole family at New Year – and that’s how we do it in the WU home, too. Our grandparents and parents, and we the children, all gather round the dining table, and everyone has a part to play:
Papa, head chef of the WU family, prepares the filling, while Mama gets the dough ready. Then, once it’s all ready, Grandma rolls out the dough in the traditional manner, while we siblings fold the Jiaozi into their dumpling shape.
As a family, we all really enjoy it, and it’s a great way to start the New Year together.
for 4 – 6 people
For the dough, simply mix the flour, salt and water. When you see lumps beginning to form, knead the dough well with your hands. To test if the dough is soft enough, press it with your finger. If it regains its shape without any indent forming, then it is ready. If this is not the case, simply moisten your hands with some water, and continue kneading the dough. Once it has been kneaded, allow the dough to rest for a while. Do this by spreading a cloth or some cling film over the dough to prevent it drying out.
NOTE: The longer the dough remains wrapped in the cling film, the softer it will become, BUT don’t let it get too soft, so keep a close eye on it!
Now, let’s turn to the filling.
Add the carrots and oxheart cabbage to the minced meat, and season everything with the soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. Mix the filling well. Now, heat the oil and add the finely chopped garlic and ginger. After 30 seconds, or once you can smell the aromas, mix the garlic and ginger, together with the oil, into the filling.
The filling can be varied according to your own particular preferences. For vegetarians and vegans, we recommend substituting the meat for vegetables with low water content.
Now it’s time to shape our dumplings. Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface, and put about a third of the dough onto the surface. If your work surface is large enough, you can put all of the dough out in one go. Cover the rest of the dough. You need small round discs of dough to make the dumplings. There are two ways of doing this:
Now for the filling.
Place about 1-2 teaspoons of filling into the centre of the disc of dough, and seal. Take a look at the video to see how to fold the dumplings properly. You’ll soon get the hang of it with a little practice.
Place the sealed dumplings on a tray dusted with some flour, and cover with cling film to stop the dough drying out.
Now you just have to cook the dumplings in boiling water for about 7 to 9 minutes.
Finally, serve with a small bowl of soya sauce. And they’re ready.
As we say in the WU household, 请慢用 [qíng màn yòng] and 新年快乐 [xīn nián kuài lè]!
(Bon appetit and a Happy New Year!)
Christmas is just around the corner and for all of us who enjoy a sweet treat or two, Elisabeth Feulner has just the very thing for those grey, rainy days … streaming Christmas songs while baking yummy cookies. A sure way to get in the Christmas spirit, and you won’t be able to wait for the festive season by the time you’re cutting out these cookies.
The recipe I’m suggesting is one that I’ve been using for a long time now. There are two things going for it. First, you don’t necessarily have to be a baking maestro to make these cookies, and second – and the main thing, of course – they taste truly delicious. Just be sure to reserve enough time, because depending on the size of the biscuits you cut out, it can take a while to spread out each of the layers. I always tend to use relatively small cookie cutters, because I find this makes the cookies taste even better, and it looks like there’s more of them too.
Happy Christmas and happy baking!
Combine the flour, sugar, butter, egg yolk and a pinch of salt, and knead into a dough. Roll out thinly and cut out the cookies. Bake in the oven at 200 °C for 5 – 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
Spread some apricot jam on the cookies, and add a piece of marzipan. Then cover with the chocolate coating and decorate with a walnut kernel.
Tip: You can use up the white of the eggs by making some macaroons later on.
I was born and raised in Munich as were my parents and grandparents before me, so, as a veritable child of Munich (or Münchner Kindl as the locals would say) when it comes to relaxing and enjoying some downtime, I’d recommend a convivial breakfast of white sausage.
Who invented the white sausage? There have always been numerous stories surrounding its origins, and they are all there to be read online.
And what is the basis of the old saying: “White sausage must never hear the chimes of the midday bells”? Well, back in the days before refrigeration, if the sausages were not pre-cooked, they would have to be eaten quickly otherwise they would spoil. Today, this rule is no longer applied quite so strictly. The important thing is to make sure you have some sweet mustard and pretzels to hand, and a beer is the perfect drink to accompany the meal.
For me, eating white sausage is also a way of life. Going to a traditional inn, you’ll often find yourself sitting and conversing with strangers at a table, and it’s a nice way to meet with friends, too.
Boil some water in a saucepan – add salt to the boiling water.
Now place the white sausages in the saucepan and remove pan from the heat. Simply let the sausages cook in the hot water for about 10 minutes – and you’re done.
By the way – some families still retain the tradition of eating white sausage for dinner on Christmas Eve night.
Enjoy!
Petra Schmidt
Our fourth recipe comes from Ghana in West Africa and is presented by Theresa Messerer.
You may well be thinking that my name has nothing to do with Africa … but Eric, my partner’s, does. He was born in Togo and grew up in Ghana, and I love his recipes and cuisine.
Fufu is without a doubt the dish that is most typical of West Africa. Fufu is a mash made from warm water and cassava flour that can be served with a variety of sauces. But believe me, mashing fufu to make it nice and smooth and getting just the right balance between water and cassava flour can be hard work without a bit of know-how. I’ve therefore decided to show you a different, but equally delicious dish instead – beans and gari with ripened plantain.
Gari (also spelt “garri”) and beans are pretty much staple foods in West Africa. Gari, obtained from cassava, is used in a wide variety of different ways: fried, boiled, mashed, grated or ground. When my friends ask me what cassava is, I often say that it looks like an African potato. Cassava is also very commonly found and extremely popular in places like Brazil, Mauritius and other parts of Africa.
There must be a thousand variations of this dish and various ways of preparing it and pepping it up with other ingredients.
Here’s my recipe – I hope you enjoy giving it a go too:
Black-eyed beans are cooked in the same way as rice, with plenty of water and a little salt. If the water boils away too quickly, simply add some more. A lot of water is needed to ensure that the beans turn out nice and soft. Simmer the beans for a total of 45–60 minutes (+/-) until they are soft.
While the beans are cooking, cut the onions into half rings and fry in plenty of vegetable oil. The onions should swim a bit in the oil, which we will be using again later.
Slice the plantains and fry in the vegetable oil until golden brown. It best to use a little more oil here too, so that the plantains stay nice and moist.
Once everything is sizzling and cooked through, serve.
When serving up, Eric is very particular about the order of things: First the beans. Then drizzle some onion and some of the oil used to fry the onions over the beans. This gives the gari a nice crispy texture. To finish off the dish, place the plantains on top.
Bon appétit!
to our Homepage