Stollen - yes' you can buy it in Singapore. At Cold Storage, Jellita, worldwide, or make your own.

Stollen - German Christmas cake, log shape, with a marzipan centre. In the huge Cold Storage at Jellita I asked an assistant to point out the stollen and on a large display I saw three varieties. 

Three types of stollen in a supermarket in Singapore. 

One packet trumpeted traditional. Another attracted me with almonds. The third mentioned marzipan. Ah! The picture showed the yellow centre. That was the one we bought. 

Photo shortly. When I find where the family have hidden it from me! 

How much did it cost? Eleven Singapore dollars or more, depending on the size and ingredients. 

(I had searched in vain for Stollen previously in other supermarkets, such as Fairprice in Bukit Panjang.) Last night at an online Toastmasters International meeting of the Nee Soon South Toastmasters, the President who was Topics Master of the Day asked, 'What is your favourite Christmas food?" 

For a moment, I thought, Christmas pudding. But I decided to mention stollen, which is less well known. 

I succeeded at selling the idea. The topics master asked me for the recipe.  I advised her to do what we do with French recipes. Go the country of origin, find a recipe, and run it through Translate Google. 

Simple English wiki says

Stollen (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtɔlən] (listen) or [ʃtɔln] (listen)) is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar. It is a traditional German bread eaten during the Christmas season, when it is called Weihnachtsstollen (after "Weihnachten", the German word for Christmas) or Christstollen (after Christ).

Simple wiki shows this picture

The general Wikipedia article has much more information. 

Stollen is stocked in supermarkets until Christmas. In Germany it was originally a pre-lent food. It is sold by the slice in the outdoor or indoor Christmas markets in Germany. If the shops are out of stock, or it is out of season, you can make your own.

You might want to allow time for the currants and raisins to soak overnight in alcohol, and for the bread to rise is using yeast. You can buy the candied peel and marzipan or almond paste, or make your own. 

Almond Paste

Almond paste has bigger chunks of almond but less sugar and is designed for spreading and cooking, rather than Marzipan which is sometimes sold as a thicker solid lump, texture like fudge, for carving (or spreading on top of cakes. 

Beware Of The Sugar Content

My late father was diabetic and loved marzipan. When I went to buy it, I was horrified to see that one month the blocks of marzipan were fifty per cent sugar. But the next month - even worse, 75% sugar!

What is Frangipane?

Frangipane is not just the Italian word for marzipan, as I used to think, wrongly, I have just learned. Frangipane has extra ingredients besides the sugar and almonds, flour, eggs and milk, maybe more. It is more like an almond flavoured yellow custard.

YouTube has many videos on how to make stollen and one on the factory in Germany which makes stollen.

Useful Websites

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen

My previous DIY stollen made using a Tesco kit, Waitrose bites and more.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/11/almonds-marzipan-stollen-and-costa.html

Recipes

Without the marzipan but with pecans (leave out nuts for those allergic to nuts)

https://recipes.fandom.com/wiki/German_Stollen_Bread

https://www.internationaldessertsblog.com/german-christmas-stollen-recipe/

Complete guide including the marzipan

https://www.daringgourmet.com/stollen-german-christmas-bread/

Recipes

https://germanfoods.org/recipes/dresdner-stollen/

Buy Online

https://germanfoods.org/shop-german-foods/?s=&bc-sort=featured&bigcommerce_category=christmas-cakes-and-stollen

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

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Saxony in Germany: containing Dresden and Leipzig

Problem
What or where is Sachsen in Germany? I'd never heard of it. I had a CD about it I'd never looked at, and when I did I was none the wiser, because they missed out what was obvious to them but a mystery to me in far off London, England (or anywhere else I might happen to be).

Answer
However, when I asked my old friend, Wikipedia, I found a knew Sachsen, called Saxony, very well.

The Free State of Saxony^[4] (German: der Freistaat Sachsen [ˈfʁaɪ̯ʃtaːt ˈzaksn̩] is a landlocked federal state of Germany, bordering the federal states of Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland (Lower Silesian and Lubusz Voivodeships) and the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Liberec and Ústí nad Labem Regions). Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig.

That explains why I know it. I had driven from England to Prague in the Czech Republic via Dresden and Leipzig, and seen both the German cities on the way back. They were both on my must see list.

Dresden is well known because the allies bombed it in WWII, a controversial subject. Leipzig is famous for its associations with music.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (More text and pictures shortly.)

The Dancing House At Prague, Must see outside and inside for dinner

Problem
We had hunted all over Prague for somewhere Michelin standard to eat and the top restaurants seemed too expensive. Then we found two in one day. The other one was the TV tower, out of town.

Answer
The most centrally located is the dancing house. If you are staying in or near the old town or spending the afternoon there you can walk to the dancing house (and save on a taxi fare).

Story
HISTORY
The building was a bomb site for many years after WWII. I won't say that's a sad story (don't know whether people inside lived or died) though obviously the landlord of the day would have been devastated, and it's a tut tut story for the Allies who apparently mistakenly bombed Prague thinking it was Dresden. (Why? Many armies, not only terrorists, drug soldiers sent on dangerous missions go give them courage and daring, so if you have to be drugged up to go on a flying mission, which in wartime is not for those with a fear of flying nor a fear of dying, that might account for a few so-called 'friendly fire' 'errors') But I digress. Let's stick to the jolly stuff.

ARCHITECTURE
The Dancing House is certainly a masterpiece. Out of disaster comes opportunity, as the motivational speakers want us to believe and here's a prime example. To fill the space in prime position facing the river (with a VIP living next door), somebody called in world famous architect Gehry (who designed the sail shaped Guggenheim art museum which is the focal point of tourism in the riverside city of Bilbao in Northern Spain). The Gehry effect is to attract tourism to any city or area which was in the doldrums.

I'd seen the dancing house in passing previously and considered it an oddity. Not as pretty as the curvy Gaudi buildings in Spain which are also more ornate. But it has many features which are more obvious inside. In my view a great building has the elements of:
1 Curves
2 Colours (or white rather than black)
3 Practical
4 Pretty
5 Surprising - the wow factor
6 Co-ordinating with surroundings, yet adding
7 Neat symmetry
8 Restful - eg a water feature such as a reflective pond or fountain
9 A focal feature, a centre
10 A grand entrance
11 Entertainment inside
12 Sensual surfaces
13 Glamour or luxury - such as gold or marble
14 A free element for the onlooker
15 Souvenirs
16 Safe
17 Welcoming
18 Friendly
19 Entertaining
20 Instructional - a learning experience.
Entertainment can be active or passive - watching others, letting them decide, entertaining you as you watch others pass, or teaching you a skill.

1 Curves (and 5 and 6). It's difficult for a building to both surprise and match the surroundings. The Dancing House scores on surprise. It does have curves, but unsettling curves in the supporting pillars. You wonder how it stays up. The supporting pillars are solid looking.

2 The colour is white. (How do they keep all that glass clean?)

3 Practical. Yes, there's a lift. No miles of walking. Terrace for smokers.

4 Pretty? The view of the floodlit hilltop castle is seen all over the city, but the view here is across the river, unobstructed - unless you are stuck behind the pillar as I was. We swapped seats half way through the meal so I got my share of the view.

I thought the Fred room with its white draped ceiling was prettier, larger, jollier. The glass Ginger room has only about five tables, so more secluded. We could not hear the people at the next table, although we could hear loud American voices and a shrill child, a high-pitch boy at the back.

5 Constant surprise. You keep noticing more things. The chair backs are wavy, diagonal, at least two different styles. Or maybe if you put two diagonal back chairs back to back you get the illusion of two different styles. Later we noticed some dining chairs had paintings of animals on the back.

The first surprise is the pencil with your knife and fork wrapped in a napkin. The second surprise is the place mat of thin card shaped like a palette. It is not for mixing colours but for you to draw on.

They should have give you a 2B pencil, not HB, and pointed out the water colours for sale upstairs.

Only when I went for a wander did I discover that the upstairs bar had souvenirs for sale and a cabinet displayed artwork done by visitors.

FRED AND GINGER
When I heard the name of the restaurant, Fred and Ginger, I thought that like Marks and Spencer, they were the names of the owners or chefs. No. Fred and Ginger are Fred Astaire and Giner Rogers, dancers, to match the name of the building The Dancing House.

A picture of the two dancers is in the building. We missed the significance of the picture on the way in, but noticed it after we knew what it meant. I also loved the quotation on the wall:

They were both great dancers. Fred was a great dancer. But Ginger danced just as well, backwards, in high heels.

FUN FACTORS
1 The outside of the building.
2 The drawing materials.
3 Animal pantings on the backs of chairs.
4 Odd shapes of chair backs.
5 Two different styles of dining room.
6 Upstairs bar / observation deck if you have no time nor money for dinner.
7 Cheese trolley shaped like a cow with cow's rear protruding at one end into the space between tables - from a nearby table I saw this first.
8 Ginger and Fred theme inside matching the exterior.

FOOD
Finally the food. Prettily presented. A small free surprise taste compliments of the chef. Plentiful portions. Enough for us to take some home for the next day. Every dish a delight to look at. Wonderful food with the wow factor.

Can't wait to go back. Next time I shall take my own pencil and watercolours.

Tips
If you are entranced by your partner, or family, you might not mind seeing the view on the way in and out and looking at your loved one(s). But if you want a view and are stuck behind the pillar, swap seats half way through the meal to give everybody a turn.

Which room? I preferred the Fred room, the concrete room which is cosier with its white draped ceiling. My dining companion preferred the picture window glass room, like a conservatory, the Ginger, which I thought looked colder and emptier. I'd like to be in the Fred room as a change on a second visit because I was in the Ginger room the first time. On a first visit either will do. I asked how they decided which room diners would be allocated. A waiter told me that it might depend when you booked and how many bookings they had when you booked, and other factors.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. Please like my posts and share.