Ruby Hotel - Lean Luxury

Booking your hotel has never been easier, checking in and out even more!

I find it hard to believe sometime, how easy I get used to amenities in life and how much we all know about the good side of life. BUT?

What is Lean Luxury?

Luxury is by all means a personal thing, for some it is luxurious or expensive items such as diamonds, an expensive holiday, sleep or the new smart phone, for me it is dinner with my husband and a one on one time. For a lot of my friends it is time in general ! For you it might be something entirely different. But what is a hotel that offers "lean" luxury" like the Ruby Sofien Hotel?

Here is what it is not:

- no concierge
- no room service
- no reception queues
- no laundry service
- no in-room minibar
- no parking facilities in-house
- no fitness or spa facilities
- no restaurant
- no phone or offline reservations

This might still be on your list for luxury if you book your hotel stay in Vienna. The masterminds behind this concept said: Ok, we save on what is commonly stressed in hotels such as the list above and share luxury where it benefits the independent guest who loves privacy, who travels on a budget and who enjoys comfort, high quality materials and out of the box thinking most. And their guest list gets longer and longer.

Here is what Lean Luxury is:

Print the access card to your room with a click

• free WIFI throughout the hotel
• great organic breakfast buffet at only 9,50 per person
• a great bar and café serving food and drinks 24/7
• streamlined self-checkin for super-fast check-in
• digital Vienna City Guide with insider tips and special events
• galley kitchen with free hot drinks and snacks vending machine
• multi-functional in-room sound system
• in-room tablets to surf and explore the Rubyverse (coming soon)
• free bikes
• free guitars
• ironing facility (in galley kitchen)

Nooks to enjoy your organic breakfast

Book your room online and check in at the bar/reception which is open 24 hours.

Ruby Hotel has 77 rooms with 5 STAR rooms in the heart of the city, 2 STAR space with 3 STAR rates!
There are IMACs and the possibility to plug in your e-guitar any time of day or night and set the tone for your own party! No worries, the rooms allow uninterrupted sleep for the guest next door, due to the soundproof structure of the rooms. 

Antique pieces of furniture, Thonet chairs and a living room atmosphere.

The breakfast offeres everything fresh and  organic. Self service of course.

Ruby Sofien Hote,l open only since May, is a young and fun concept and soon there will be a second hotel of that kind. I will come with  friends one day just to have breakfast and maybe do some Christmas shopping later. I love the the bar area especially because one looks into the beautifully restored Sofien Saal. A ballroom, a bath and a concert room. Now back to its original beauty after a devastating fire ruined the building, it was nearly torn down

Foto by Wikimedia

Denisa Becker Is your contact for group inquiries and
would love to welcome you at RUBY Hotel & Bar. 

denisa.becker@ruby-hotels.com

Garlic Confit – Tamed and Sweet

Confit is to deep frying what Barbecue is to grilling - a slow low heat affair to preserve taste and minerals, vitamins, keeping bacteria away.

You often read in my recipes that I do not use fresh garlic, I have a glass of garlic, something like a confit that has been heated and preserved with salt and olive oil and keeps in the fridge for a long time. When I looked at our recipes I felt kind of bad that I let you wait for so long for something as delicious as this. Some people cannot eat garlic at all but this one they can and will enjoy.

Peel your garlic and collect them in an oven proof dish. Preheat the oven to 99°C.

Ok! I know I peeled 2 kg of fresh French garlic for my post but you might get really annoyed at peeling so much garlic, teary eyed and with sticky fingers, and lots of dry garlic paper sticking to them if your garlic is older than mine. I found this neat trick on Saveur and you should check it out, it's a bit courageous, but it seems to work best and is really quick: How to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds. You can also put all your cloves into boiling water for 20 seconds back into ice cold water to stop the cooking process and when the dry skin has softened, the ends cut off the garlic will slip out of its skin easily. I like the other version, its more fun!
Pour the olive oil over it and add the spices and the thyme sprigs.
Set the dish in the oven for 2 hours up to 2 1/2 hours. When done the garlic should have a pale golden color and be soft and tender, the oil only bubbling a little then you can remove the dish carefully, the hot oil is very dangerous, so please be careful! - and set it somewhere safe to cool a bit. Fill your prepared clean jars with the help of a ladle, close them and cool them quickly to help the preservation. 

You can leave all the spices in the oil with the garlic, it looks pretty I even added more red pepper and if you spilled some hot oil it is best to wash the glasses on the outside under running hot water.

The garlic infused oil is delicious over salad or a tender boiled fish and the garlic can be spread on a bread as well as used in all other recipes. Your breath will be fine - promise!

For your jars I recommend adding a fresh sprig of thyme and extra red pepper maybe a fresh small chili will look nice as well. Those make great gifts, I gave one jar to my neighbor and she was a but suspicious in the beginning but today she said she is already addicted to it!

You Need:

1,3 kg of peeled garlic cloves
1 liter of olive oil
2 tsp of salt
1tbsp juniper (Wachholder)
3 tbsp red pepper
2 tsp of madagascan pepper, or black pepper
5 bay leaves
8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme

How to use it?

I would use it instead of fresh garlic, and if the recipe calls for 1 clove of garlic you can use 3-4 from the garlic in your jar: Salad dressing, pasta, on toasted bread with avocado or tomato, in your mayonnaise and endless more possibilities. It will keep fresh in the fridge for a month, if you use a clean spoon each time, but I bet it will be gone in a few days!

Please bring the confit back to room temperature before you serve it, as the oil can harden up in the fridge.

Sunday Snapshot 2. Advent

Second candle on the Advent Wreath and we are excited to announce 9 months of doubledippingblog !!!!

9 months of fun and joy and many mistakes and many happy moments - most of them from your feedback! Thank you all for supporting us and spending your precious time with us. Sophie and I know how much that means that you choose to read our blog on a busy day. There are many blogs to choose from and you choose to come along with us on our journey through the foodie world and the lifestyle we love. 

You are amazing and Sophie and I want to say it out loud:

Thank YOU !

It is a challenge to post every day and we will reduce it a bit from now on. 

Stay tuned we will still keep inspiring and sharing.

doubledipping  is our passion!

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Sometimes the city get's a little overwhelming, especially towards the end of the school semester, but New York never fails to disappoint with its range of experiences. The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens are only 20 minutes outside of Manhattan, but feel like a different world entirely. I think my favorite was the Japanese Zen Garden, I felt like I was in an autumnal version of Monet's Gardens in Giverny, which I visited earlier this year. It's so much more peaceful than Central Park, with people leisurely strolling through the gardens and children playing in the leaves. I'll definitely be back in spring and summer to see the cherry blossoms and the water lilies.

Matcha Tea Pralinés

1st of December 

We decided to treat you with an inspiring Advent Calendar this December and invite you to SIGN UP with us to slow down your day for just 3 minutes and let the photos take you someplace cosy. The only thing we cannot manage is to send along some fragrances while you enjoy. The smell of hot mulled wine, a perfumed candle with pomegranate or fir tree fragrance.

Maybe you might just think you can even smell it while you read the post ... 

The old, old trees below our house are the most beautiful ones to me!

I was recently asked for fail-safe Christmas Eve menu, easy to prepare and less stressful for everyone. I have an answer, and I promise I will share this one with you soon!

      For now I am so excited to show you some recipes I made with my friend Claudia, who is a raw food chef and comes up with the most delicious recipes, that are simple and taste delicious.

Remember the Palatschinken or the Gluten-free Apricot Cake from June this year?

No cooking, just guilt free healthy goodness

You Need 

120 gr/ 1 cup  macadamia nuts raw
1 tbsp matcha tea powder
2 tbsp agave sirup
2 tbsp coconut butter melted at 42°C
A pinch of salt

All goes into the food processor and done!

Chocolate Glaze:

60gr/ 1/2 cup cocoa butter melted at 42°C
60gr/ 1/2 cup cocoa powder sifted
2 tbsp agave sirup
pinch of salt

Mix all well until smooth in consistency.

Mix in a food processor even more until very fine

Your food processor must be much better than mine, I had to transfer the mix to my PacoJet and then I was happy with the consistency!

The mix can be easily formed into small balls between your palms and then you first pierc them with a toothpick dip them in chocolate and place them with the help of a second toothpick onto a plate or even better on a parchment paper, so you can remove them easily after they dry.

Serve them with some black tea no sugar or milk and enjoy