LukeMertens.com

Epic Bike Ride to REI Mountain View

Luke — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:55:02 +0000

The epic bike trip to the anniversary sale at REI Mountain View is complete! We started in Sunnyvale and our first stop was an estate sale in Mountain View. Unfortunately they only had a few Rolexes and Breitlings that weren’t in such great condition so we biked onwards. We rode up the Steven’s Creek Trail over to the Hetch-Hetchy trail and through a Google complex to reach the Hacker Dojo. I needed to check it out for potential co-working space for future startups. It’s is a nice place but has a little bit of a funny smell. After the quick detour we headed back to the Stevens Creek Trail and took it all the way up to Shoreline Park for some frisbee and a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers. We watched a few little sailboats circle around the lake while we ate. With a full stomach we peddled slowly over a Sunday traffic jam on 101 and arrived shortly at REI. The place was packed and there were sale items all over the place. I picked up a backpack and a little backpacking stove and then we were off again. On the way back home we made a slight detour to look at on open house for a typical Bay Area overpriced $750,000 three bedroom townhouse and then we celebrated a successful trip with a Napoleon and Tiramisu at the Olympus Cafe & Bakery.

Marzipanning a Cake

Luke — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:47:34 +0000

I’ve made a few cakes in my life but never really focused on the presentation. After watching Billie and Annabelle from Confection Perfection a few times I decided to give it a try. My friend Anthony made a buttermilk cake and then came over to my kitchen to direct and supervise the marzipanning process. Read on for a photo journey through our first marzipanning. Disclaimer: I am not a professional baker and I make no guarantee that you will be able to perfectly marzipan a cake after reading this. Marzipan at your own risk.

We started with a simple two layer cake and chocolate filling:

Next the marzipan was rolled out using a rolling pin with spacers:

The cake was covered in apricot jelly to help the marzipan stick (the jelly was boiled, strained, then cooled):

The most difficult part of the procedure is picking up the marzipan and centering it correctly on the cake. Our marzipan was 1/4 inch thick and stayed together pretty well when we picked it up. We did use two people though for the lifting.

At first we didn’t quite understand how to flatten out the waves but after watching Billie and Annabelle one more time we got the lift and flatten process figured out.

I think I cut the sides off a little too close to the cake. I should have cut them a little further out so that they could be tucked under to make a straight side. In production we could wrap it with a ribbon or put something around the bottom so you wouldn’t see it anyway.

Next up is some practice making flowers with the left over marzipan.

Ok maybe we got a little carried away…

The first piece!!! You can see on the sides that we didn’t push in the marzipan enough because it was not fully adhered in some places. We were very gentle with the marzipan since it was our first time but next time we will have to make sure the sides are done properly.

Thanks for reading, good luck with your marzipanning!

AHHHHHHH!!!!

Almaden Quick Silver Park Mountain Bike Ride

Luke — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:54:13 +0000

Almaden Quicksilver County Park is nice place to go for a short, non-technical mountain bike ride. Wide fire access roads without much rocks or gravel make the riding pretty easy. The loop that I like starts with a steady uphill climb to the ridge top. The climb is followed by a fun downhill ride to the reservoir and then finishes off with a mixed up and down section. You could of course do the same in reverse but I like to get the big hill climb out of the way first. I almost ran over a big snake that was sitting in the middle of the road so be careful.

See this ride on Everytrail

Schloss Hohenbaden, Baden-Badens Old Castle Ruin

Luke — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:24:11 +0000

From the town of Baden-Baden you can sometimes catch glimpses of an old castle ruin on the top of a nearby hill. A little past the Caracalla baths there is an inviting path that compelled me to walk higher and higher up that particular hill until I reached the ruin, the remarkably well preserved Schloss Hohenbaden. Construction of the castle was started in 1100 and restored in 1830. They did a very good job with the restoration. The stonework is very impressive and it’s fun to notice all of the grounding cables and rods they installed for lightning protection. Entrance to the castle is free and there are all sorts of stairs, pathways, and walls to explore inside the ruins. After walking up and down all the stairs you can sit down for some coffee and cakes in the castle restaurant. Be sure to go on a clear day to see the panoramic views from the castles tallest tower.

Pinnacles National Monument

Luke — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:13:59 +0000

It’s a bit surprising that I’ve never I had never been to Pinnacles National Monument before this weekend. It’s only two hours away from San Jose and it has some great hikes and nice rocks. I went down with some friends for an over night camping trip and it was a lot of fun. We hiked around the reservoir on Saturday and then up to Chalone Peak on Sunday.

Pinnacles Reservoir Hike

EveryTrail – Find the best Hiking near Greenfield, California

North Chalone Peak Pinnacles

EveryTrail – Find the best Hiking near Soledad, California

Yosemite and the Moon

Luke — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:52:40 +0000

The moon greeted us on our way in and waved goodbye on our way out. We also saw a coyote in the middle of a field but didn’t get a picture.

Rothaus Brewery

Luke — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 03:12:30 +0000

The Rothaus brewery in Germany’s Black Forest is a must visit. There are a few reasons why they are one of the most successful and profitable regional breweries in Germany: their beer tastes great and their brewery is full of cutting edge beer technology. The brewery tour gives you a little of both. For less the 20 Euros you get a movie, tour of the operational brewery, two beers, and lunch. The movie and tour are in German but if there is a large enough group of English speakers they will give an English tour. It was really interesting to learn about the technology they use to make the brewing more efficient and it was even more fun to sample the product of that technology. Check out some pictures after the break!

Sunset and Night Photos

Luke — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 03:14:34 +0000

A few sunset and night photos from Germany.

Lucern

Luke — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:19:42 +0000

A short cloudy day in Lucern. Unfortunately the day photos were not too exciting because it was so gray but at night the lights were very beautiful.

Point Reyes

Luke — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:59:21 +0000

Point Reyes has some amazing scenery and beautiful green colors. The drive out to the lighthouse is quite long but if you’ve never been out there it is very worth the time. We arrived right before the lighthouse closed for the day so we got to see the light element, which I believe is one of the only original lights that is still in the lighthouse and fully functional. We also stopped by the Point Reyes Earthquake Trail to learn about seismic activity in California and then we had to get some cheese at the Cow Girl Creamery to finish off the day.