Frau Baronin went every day to the Filiate of her favorite confectioner to eat all the Rollen and the Schnitten, the Kugeln and the T'orten that she had partially resisted during the winter in Vienna. The policy of the Filiate was a specialty each day, a different 'Yurie or Schnille, as well as the classic Sticker, Linzer, and Dobos Torten which remained in constant demand and were never permanently superseded by any new inventions. The Filiate offered freshly baked plain cakes and smaller pastries each day, but the chief attraction—the day's specialty—made the long walk or drive into town very exciting. The children conjectured and Fran Baronin hoped, and often hinted, for her favorites. When there was going to be a pink Punschtorte or a green and pink Fürst Pucklet Torte, Frau Baronin took the children in the opposite direction. not down into the valley, but up into the mountains to the Molkerei, the dair) shop. There they sat in a white-fenced garden in front of the tiny white Molkerei, with red geraniums in the window boxes, and ate less elaborate fare from red-and-white checkered table covers. A perfect lazy day with lazy cows grazing all around them and all the delicacies of the mountain dairy at their disposal. There were cold buttermilk, clotted cream—“Dicke Milcb”—little creamy cheeses, and great round loaves of black peasant bread. They could order the sweetest butter, large flat cheesecakes made with raisins and almonds, sweet milk, and fruit tarts with cheese pastry. The children played with the milker's children and Frau Baronin sat in the sun. First she had a glass of cold milk with a slice of buttered black bread; later she had Quark-kuchen with raisins and a little clotted cream with fruit. Finally they took the long walk down the mountain path in the setting sun.
When the Filiate planned a Kaisertorte as the specialty of the day, Frau Baronin forewent her Mittagessen so that there would be the maximum amount of room for this maximum pleasure. The shopkeeper, knowing her preferences, always bid in an extra Toste. Frau Baron in ate slowly and with gusto; she enjoyed every single bite and always ate until she felt that she had truly had her fill until next summer. When she returned home, she found six of the village children with flowers wreathed around their heads and bouquets in their hands. They had come to present her with a Kaisertorte from Herr Baron.
Toward the end of her visit, the Filiate manager, who had known her since she was a child, prepared to bake all her favorite pastries as an adieu for the season. By this time Fran Baronin knew that there were no long mirrors at the Scbloss and that they had never ordered any scales. She suspected the worst, five kilos, maybe even eight, but all that would come off after the month of Karlsbad rigors which lay ahead. It was necessary to fortify oneself with a layer of far on which to live during the diet. After all, how could Frail Baronin lose weight if there was no weight to lose?
On the way home from the last afternoon at the Filiate, the family passed all the peasant women knitting as they sat beside their great baskets of tempting fruit, arranged in white paper cornucopias. Frau Baronin stained her teeth eating glossy black cherries as large as plums. She took home greengages for a Frucbttorte and gooseberries for a tart. On the hill, walking home, she overtook a man loaded down with a suspicious, bulky white parcel; what could Herr Baron be up to now? She helped carry it, only to discover an enormous porcelain terrine of goose liver. Herr Baron wanted his love to ear it with green grapes, for she had just sent to him, by special messenger, green grapes from their arbors to eat with his goose liver in Vienna. It was to be the last spree and the last ounce for each of them. They would probably drive to Karlsbad with their open belts hidden under loose dusters and their vision of each other dimmed by black goggles.
A telegram from Herr Baron announced his arrival next day. He would be fescb, dashing, even if a little heavier—fresh from Herr Ober and his solicitations. They had compensated for their loneliness with wonderful food, but now that (hey were about to starve, they would do it hand in hand.
Kaisertorte
Grind 1 cup blanched almonds and pound them in a mortar to a smooth paste. Work in 1 ¼ cup sugar, 3 tablespoons brandy, 1 teaspoon almond extract, and 3 unbeaten egg whites, one at a time. Fold in 3 stiffly beaten egg whiles and 1 tablespoon flour. The mixture should be moist enough to pipe easily, but it should not run. Draw a 12-inch circle on a piece of brown paper, pipe the batter through a pastry tube evenly onto the circle, and bake the macaroon in a very slow oven (250°F.) for 30 minutes. Strip the paper from the macaroon and let the cake-cool. Moisten the paper, if necessary, to facilitate stripping it off.
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