Red Forest Cake

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Black Forest Cake is a popular dessert over in Germany especially in the Black Forest., It is one of my favorite desserts. This dessert usually uses chocolate cake, but since I didn’t have the right cake mix, I decided to add my own spin on it by creating a Red Forest Cake using red velvet cake. This recipe is super easy to make, and is a great treat for dessert, a snack, or a special occasion. It is also a great recipe to get kids involved.I look forward to reading your comments!

Things you will need:

1 box red velvet cake (I used Betty Crocker)

1 ¼ cup of water

½ cup of vegetable oil

3 eggs

Toothpick

2 8 inch round cake pans

2 21 ounce cans of Cherry filling (I used Great Value)

Cool whip (16 oz)

Instructions for Cake:

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Spray pans with cooking spray
  3. Divide batter between the two pans
  4. Bake cake as directed on box until toothpick comes out clean
  5. Let cake cool

Instructions for decorating:

  1. Once cake is cool, cut the two cakes in half so you have 4 circle slices.

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2. Spread cool whip over first slice.

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3. Take some cherries and lay on top of cool whip.

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4. Take second layer of cake and lay it on top and repeat steps 2 & 3 until all four layers are complete.

5. Put some cool whip in a bag and decorate cake as shown in the picture above.

6. Enjoy!!!!!!

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Note: If cool whip starts becoming too soft, place in fridge or freezer for 15-20 minutes.

© 2018 Sundown Pointe

 

 

Pizzeria Tortuga (Venice, Italy) 🇮🇹

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Buongiorno! Venice is an island city in Italy that is surrounded by water. The only transportation visitors can take to get around the city is to travel by boat or walk through the cobblestone streets. Vehicles are not an option. Venice, is filled with a variety of delicious pizzeria and pasta restaurants. However, I recommend visiting the smaller local mom and pop restaurants, to experience the atmosphere with traditional Italian dishes.

My favorite mom and pop restaurant in Venice, is Pizzeria Tortuga, where many of the locals eat. Pizzeria Tortuga is a small Italian restaurant that is located on Salizada dei Spechieri, around the corner from the ferry to Murano Island. They serve a variety of pizza, pasta, and wine. When customers walk in, they will find a variety of seating throughout the dining room, bar, and outside. The food was very delicious from start to finish. A few of my favorites included the Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce, Cannelloni, and Gnocchi with red sauce. 

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Customers will find the food very fresh and reasonably priced, which makes it definitely worth it. Best pasta dishes I’ve had! The owner was very friendly and attentive to our needs. This restaurant was open extended hours between lunch and dinner, when all the other restaurants were closed, . Finally, customers who dine at Pizzeria Tortuga will find the atmosphere very relaxing in both the dining room and the bar, and full of activity outside. I look forward to coming back to this restaurant the next time I visit Venice.

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Ciao!

© 2018 Sundown Pointe

A Day in Verona, Italy 🇮🇹

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Verona is a city located in northern Italy, which is well known for William Shakespeare’s story, Romeo and Juliet.

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In fact, one of the popular attractions in Verona is Casa di Giulietta, also known as Juliet’s house. It is best to go first thing in the morning before the crowd arrives. People still write notes to Juliet hoping she’ll answer. However, it’s Juliet’s club that respond to the letters. A good example of this is the movie Letter’s to Juliet. The movie, Letter’s to Juliet, is set in Verona, Italy where a girl named Sophie visits the wall where all the people write to Juliet, until she finds a letter in the wall that was written years ago by a girl named Claire. She then takes it upon herself to respond to that letter, until one day Claire’s grandson Charlie stops by the secretary of Juliet’s office asking which one of them wrote the letter to his grandmother. Sophie is surprised Claire received the letter, and in return follows Charlie to where his grandmother is waiting in front of the wall where the letters lay. Sophie then asks Claire if she can help her find her long lost lover Lorenzo. So, they travel all around Italy to find him until they find him on a wine vineyard farm right outside Siena, another beautiful town in Italy.

Today in Verona, people cannot stick the letters up on the wall outside Juliet’s balcony anymore because they have been damaging the structure. In fact, if a letter is found stuck to the wall, people can be fined 500 euros.

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Inside the museum, you will find each room has time period artifacts depicting their way of life as well as photos and writings from William Shakespeare.

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There are many piazzas throughout the city with wonderful restaurants including the historic area of Verona called Centro Storico.

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Piazza delle Erbe and the Torre Dei Lamberti which you can walk or take the elevator to the top to get a beautiful view of the city.

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I suggest wearing comfortable walking shoes on the cobblestone streets and piazzas. Finally, another popular attraction in Verona that gets used for a lot for performances is the Arena di Verona. Arena di Verona in Piazza Bra, is a Roman amphitheater that was built in the first century, and is used for Italian operas. I truly enjoyed my time in Verona, and look forward to visiting again someday.

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© 2018 Sundown Pointe

Bernina Express

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Wow!! Do you like trains? Do you like adventures? Do you love some of the most beautiful scenery in the world? Or perhaps the coolest thing ever, do you want 15 minutes to take a selfie knee deep in one of the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps? If so, then the Bernina Express is your ticket!!! Traveling through Europe, the Bernina Express is definitely a train ride that shouldn’t be missed. Viewers will experience a breathtaking view of the Swiss Alps covered in snow, making the trip one of the most unforgettable experiences of a lifetime. The train winds through the mountains of the Swiss Alps providing a beautiful view of the landscape. The engineering marvels of train travel are inspiring when the cars traverse through the difficult terrain of the mountainous region. The spectacular scenery of snowcapped mountains provides breathtaking views of the stunning landscape of steep glacial mountains with quaint villages in the valley. One of the things I loved about the Bernina Express were the very large side and top windows in the train that has a panoramic view with a first class ticket. This allowed viewers to get amazing pictures of the scenery as well as enjoying the scenery as you pass through the alps and tunnels. The train offers free WiFi that I used todownloaded their iPad app that provided an audio guide with great information that provides facts and stories of the region as the train travels through the mountains. Throughout the ride, the train passes through 55 tunnels, and 196 bridges while going 70 mph. Customers also have the option to purchase a glass or a bottle of wine, champagne or coffee as well as some local cheese platters, pear bread, nut bread. I would definitely recommend the Bernina Express to anyone who is interested in heading down to Italy through Switzerland. Tickets can be purchased directly or through eurail.com. Here are the links:

https://www.rhb.ch/en/home

https://www.eurail.com/en/get-inspired/trains-europe/scenic-train-routes/bernina-express

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© 2018 Sundown Pointe

Triberg, Germany 🇩🇪

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Triberg is a quaint town in Germany that is filled with many shops and cafés including the House of 1000 Clocks. The village of Triberg is in the mist of the Black Forest. It is home to the highest waterfall in Germany at 163 meters. The waterfall is definitely a must when visiting Triberg. Visitors can choose to go during the day or at night. On my recent visit to the waterfall, I went at night. I didn’t hike all the way to the top since it was dark. I went to the lower area of the waterfall, which had an amazing view of the waterfall all lit up. Although, I would recommend taking a flashlight if you visit the waterfall at night and plan on hiking up to the top. Next, the House of 1000 Clocks is a store that carries a variety of cuckoo clocks made in the Black Forest area and are available in a variety of sizes. The winding mechanisms on the cuckoo clocks are available in either daily or weekly winds. The smaller clocks require daily winds, and the larger clocks require weekly winds. This store also offers worldwide shipping to customers who buy a cuckoo clock that aren’t from Germany. Finally, some of the classic treats that are popular in the town of Triberg include Black Forest Cake and Pretzels. I went to Café Schäfer that isa small café that sells everything from pastries, pretzels, and cakes. On my recent visit, I decided to try the delicious looking Black Forest Cake. I wanted to share the piece of cake because it was so big, and the lady wasn’t very accommodating. She rudely said to me, “one cake, one fork.” The cake was good, but extremely heavy on the liquor which overpowered the flavor of the cake. I have also included the links of the Triberg Waterfall, the house of 1000 clocks and Café Schäferdown below.

Triberg Waterfall: http://www.triberg.de/index.php?id=159

House of 1000 clocks: https://www.hausder1000uhren.de/index.php?language=en

Café Schäfer: http://www.cafe-schaefer-triberg.de/englishversion/index.html

 

© 2018 Sundown Pointe