You're the one for me fatty!

When I was here in the cold, cold, coldness on February and March, I would punctuate each day with a bowl of home made soup for my lunch.

As I work from home, I felt it was important to move away from my desk for slightly longer than it took to make a sandwich each lunchtime to prevent me going a bit cross-eyed and so standing in the kitchen, peeling and chopping, onions, celeriac, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers (... you get the idea) seemed preferable to wandering outside in the windy chill of the Obkirchergasse.

This slightly ritualistic, or obsessive behaviour, depending on how kind your worldview is, resulted in me losing quite a lot of weight. Quite a feat in the land of dumplings, believe me!

Now, when I returned, I was eager to give the soup regime another go (cheaper than Champney's anyway) to shed the pounds I had regained upon returning to the land of the pasty. But alas, it is too hot to even contemplate boiling the kettle during the day because of the extra degrees it adds to the ambient temperature!

I have been further thwarted by the discovery of Ruccola Frischkase and Rote Ruben Frischkase at Radatz, the deli round the corner. This is basically cream cheese (probably 100% fat judging by its general deliciousness) mixed with rocket and beetroot respectively (the latter having the marvellous addition of horseradish too and being the most glorious colour of pink as to make you question all the declarations of the lady behind the counter insisting that it is "100% bio" (German for organic)) and it has become a regular occurrence at breakfast (and other indulgent snacky) times, replacing light cottage cheese and curd cheese as the breakfast bread spread of choice. Yum yum!

My trousers certainly don't feel quite as loose as they did when I arrived but I think I am retaining water in the heat.

A vegetable epiphany

I can't believe that I have got through, ahem, mumble mumble, years of my life having never eaten kohl rabi.

I feel I have missed out somehow and will need to make up for this immediately (fyi: I am munching a piece as i type)!

Green or white?

The Austrians, like the Germans, have a penchant for asparagus, especially forced asparagus, the thick, pale almost translucent spears which are kept white by depriving it of light are a common sight at the moment in the supermarkets, market stalls, and local greengrocers.
We bought some, to try as an experiment last night. Now, it turns out, we found out part way through preparation and cooking it, that preparation and cooking white asparagus differs quite a lot from that of green asparagus.

While green asparagus can be steamed to a tender delicacy in a couple of minutes, white apsaragus needs about 15 minutes steaming or boiling to stop it becoming stringy. It also needs peeling, which came as an even greater surprise!

Thank goodness at times like this for the omnipresence of the Internet. A lesson to take from this is that seemingly inconsequential blog ramblings can actually be very useful. So think on!

We had it served with serrano ham and a sauce made from mayonnaise, yoghurt and fresh dill (a Tim creation), and it was delicious!

NB after effects of white asparagus are just as pungent as green.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Tasteful bits courtesy of Antonia and Tim. Thank you, yum!

To market to market

On Friday we went to an Easter Market on Freyung (one of the large squares). There were, amongst other things, lots and lots and lots and lots of eggs: painted eggs, dipped eggs, marbled eggs, sprayed eggs, patterned eggs, plain eggs, dark eggs, pale eggs.
Here's some of the "other things" there were too.I turned a corner between the Easter cake and the Easter biscuit stall, and happened upon this bloke. I think he must be a bit lost...

First fruits

I noticed this morning whilst reading the Bezirk's Magazin (a locale mag for locale people) that the "first fruits" of this years local harvest are already in. They are being promoted by the local media and local supermarkets in a way I can't imagine happening in the UK.

These "first fruits" aren't fruits at all but are actually root vegetables; radishes to be precise.

Their health virtues are extolled (a key part of your "5 a day") alongside their green credentials (being locally grown they have traveled only a short distance and therefore only have a small carbon footprint etc etc).

I think there is something quite comforting that something as unassuming as the humble radish can enjoy such adulation.

A change is as good as a rest

The day after our return from Chicago, the lovely Bridget came to stay.

It felt odd when we were in America and getting ready to "come home", that the home we would be coming back to was Vienna rather than the UK, and I don't think either of us was really looking forward to it. Having a visitor to stay however does make you focus on "nice" and "interesting" things to do rather than the mundane or irritating. We had a very jolly few days in the end.

B hasn't been to Vienna since the late '70s, so there were a lot of "architectural walks" to keep us busy and re-familiarise her (and us) with the delights of the city, including several stops along the way for a drink and something to eat.
The weather wasn't great. It was cold and windy most of the time, and we even had a flurry of snow at one point (on Thursday I think). The 14 degrees celcius promised for Friday didn't materialise much to our disappointment (until Saturday) and so planned trip up to the Kahlenberg to survey the city and its environs took place in pouring rain and low cloud. On arriving we took a very cursory glance at the the gloomy city wrapped in mist below, and almost immediately scurried back to the bus before it left and went into town for another drink and something else to eat.

The best in town

Last Saturday, on our last night in Chicago, our plan had initially been to go back up the Hancock Tower to say goodbye to the city over a G&T and then grab a bite to eat, after packing though, we realised that we were a bit behind, it was bitter cold outside again and swirling with snow on the still northerly wind.

Now, there is a swanky little arcade below the hotel, with boutiques (Chanel!) and up market giftee shoppees, a bar and a restaurant called the Cape Cod Room. It had come recommended and had had good write-ups in all the guidebooks we had by now accumulated and it seemed a bit silly not to investigate it, not least as it would mean we wouldn't have to get wrapped up to go out in the cold again (pathetic I know, but sometimes it's just too much effort).

I'm glad we did investigate. We had planned to pop out for a gin, then pop back, but hey, we were there, we were tired, and we were seduced by the smells, and a particularly fine G&T too. Oh, the food was delicious too, by the way.

I'd recommend the Lobster Bisque if you're ever in the vicinity and a bit peckish.

Less is more

It might be vaguely sacrilegious to say, but I/we really didn't enjoy the deep dish pizza we had for lunch at all, sorry.

Didn't enjoy the dry, vaguely biscuity, yellow (corn?) dough that made up the base.

Didn't enjoy the sloppy sloppy topping.

Didn't enjoy the fact that we had to wait 45 minutes for the the strange abomination to cook.

I did enjoy the lemonade though, and thank goodness for garlic sticks with dip (almost a meal in themself!).

Thou shallt have a fishy

Last Thursday was, for Tim a day of conference stuff so after a perusal of the guidebooks I decided to re-trace (more or less) yesterday's steps and visit the Shedd Aquarium in the Museum Campus, then back via the Millennium Park. The weather was bright and sunny like yesterday, but rather colder and the walk was brisk to prevent me freezing solid.

I've always been slightly obsessed with these places and feel the thrill like a little boy at the sight of the big fishes, the crocs and turtles squeal (inside) and tingle with unease when you finally do spot the spiders and cockroaches after peering round their glass enclosures for ages (I didn't take piccies of the insects ~ sorry).
I spent most of the day there amidst the screaming kids and "live" coral reef dive exhibits and finished my visit with a delicious meal in the (thankfully now) quiet restaurant in the basement with an amazing view over the lake.

I didn't have the heart to have the fish!

It is big, and it certainly is Clever!

Normally I would steer clear of food products with novelty names as, in my humble opinion, anything that's had excessive time spent thinking up a catchy, with it, fun, humorous, trendy name is probably going to be, well, erm, rubbish.

Clever food may have just made me reconsider my jaded food perspective.

Clever tomatoes ended up in my shopping basket as something of a fait accompli. The only other tomato option on offer at the time in the local Billa, was a peeled and primped and preened and chopped and be-herbed deluxe "Gourmet" version of tinned tomatoes somewhere in the region of £1.50, which I just wasn't prepared to pay.

I'm glad I didn't! My newly purchased Clever tomatoes were big and sweet and helped me make an almost perfect bolognese sauce.

Whether eating said sauce has made me any more intelligent is questionable, but I certainly feel cleverer (groan) for trying the brand out.

Do It Yourself

Before we left home, I was given some strict instructions.

One of which, was that when we had a piece of Sachertorte, I was to take a photo and post it on my blog. Well I've been here for quite a while now and haven't come within biting distance of a piece of the world famous chocolate cake but I have however found a way you can all enjoy your very own, whole Sachertorte complete with its own handwoven doily! All you need to enjoy this special treat is a steady hand and a pair of scissors.
The secret ingredient is Pritt Stick apparently but don't tell anyone, it's a secret!

I am soooo lazy

I have been told off for not being blog-prolific in the last few days.

I must say dear readers, that I have no excuse (although I have been ridding the flat of dust at an alarming rate just recently since it became warm enough to open the windows), I am just wicked and bad and lazy; which I am sure you had probably worked out for yourselves already.

I am aware that some people have signed up for blog feeds so really feel obliged to post something pretty damned quick. As a short term win I thought I would post some pictures of, erm, things I have encountered along the way which I haven't been able to incorporate into any of my posts yet. There are more "proper" entries to come, I just haven't finished writing them yet... So in the meantime, here are some pictures :)

Some very noisy crows in a tree in the gardens of the Belvedere Palace
A big bunch of cayenne pepper chillies from the Naschmarkt
The TV tower and topiary
Give your seat up if you see any of these people!
A poppyseed paste ring (Mohn Kuchen)
The scaffolding surrounding the steeple of the Stephansdom and it's resident hawks nests to keep the pigeon population down
Part of my daily breakfast
For those days when the eggs demand make up
A bag of nationalist crisps (sadly no longer with us) from Slovakia
An amazing painting by Fernand Khnopff of an asymmetrically positioned white hydrangea and a woman in a hat

My carrots are called Sweet Susi!

There is something of a thrill in foreign supermarkets when you happen upon everyday items that have amusing names! I know several people called Suzy, Susi, Sue, Susan, Suzanne, Su and at least one of them is reading this, whether this is wise way to spend her time online, or foolhardy, I can't decide, but it's most definitely sweet.
I may post some funny sounding/looking sausage pictures at some point, but until then, you will have to be content with root vegetables...

We need to contain this mess...

With a little judicious recycling we are now alost fully equipped with storage containers for, well, things that need containing!

We actually bought the can for the coffee when we first arrived, it was something of a priority.

Plastic pots we bought olives and humous in from the Naschmarkt are enjoying a dual existence as herb pots. The dried herbs, we bought at the same time in crammed plastic bags, were crammed so full that once they were opened they proved more less impossible to reseal or stand up, so that their contents didn't spill across the *shelves/work surfaces/cupboards (*delete as appropirate). The placcy pots aren't fantastically serviceable, but until we have emptied more pesto jars (one so far), they'll have to do, and at least we're not having to wipe everything down every time a cupboard is opened too quickly!

My favourite re-purposing so far has been the little wooden crate that the (rather delicious, Hungarian) mushrooms arrived in from the local Inter Spar that now houses our eggs on the work surface for all to see.

I wonder sometimes whether I oughtn't to credit Biddy Baxter for our resourcefulness. Although I haven't solved the "spewing muesli bag" problem yet so perhaps I'm not worthy of a Blue Peter badge anyway.

I haven't got a stitch to wear

We're going to the Waldviertlerhof for dinner tonight with friends. There are fish specials in January and February and it looks like it will prove to be a very enjoyable evening. I fear however that whatever I wear, I be upstaged by the waiting staff.

I think I'll wear black!

High on a hill with a lonely erm... chicken

There was something about this picture on the eggbox I bought the other day that reminded me of the seminal scene where the innocent young Maria belts forth.. . "the hillllls are aliiiiiiive... with the souuuund of muuusiiiiiic!" before delving into the sordid underbelly of the local aristocracy.

I hope these chickens enjoy as unfettered a hilltop life as the carefree Maria did.

Haven't you got work to do?

Wow! We've been here for 2 weeks!

We've settled into some semblance of routine now and it's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to change. Initially it felt a bit like we were on holiday (but with laptops), exploring pastures new(ish) and exotic(ish) and while some things still maintain their novelty, and probably shall forever (I may speak of them at a later date when more jaded, world-weary and in the mood to mock... but not yet), once the dust (yes, they have dust in Austria too, and it's just like at home!) starts to gather in the corners of the room, you reailise that you have to tackle the same mundane tasks as at home (unless of course you have a cleaner in either location to do them for you).

I complied a list of inconsequential little observations that I may add to from time to time.

You know you're no longer on holiday when:

• you can finally work the cooker hob
  
• you have to get the hoover out
• you have to do the washing
• the milk goes sour
• the woman in the bakery recognises you
• you know the time the bus/train/tram is due to arrive before you leave the house
• you know which of the three local supermarkets sells the best tomatoes
• you realise that E1.50 for a single leek is quite expensive
  
• you have to buy bathroom cleaner

That's grotesque

Spent most of the day Saturday afternoon in the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK - Museum für Angewandte Kunst) on the Ringstraße. I suppose an equivalent in the UK would be the V&A in London but on a smaller scale. We wandered through rooms of baroque pomp and mirrors, exquisite lace and glass from the 16th century and rooms of chairs from from one of the first ever mail order catalogues in Europe (date), and past full size sketches by Klimt of the famous wall frieze in the Palais Stoclet in Belgium.

The main reason for my wanting to go to the MAK, was an exhibition of ornamental prints I had noticed in one of the listings sites. These prints were taken from bookplates, illustrations, pattern books, architectural drawings and other ornate designs (for jugs etc) and are all grotesque. By that I don't mean they are horrible. "Grotesque" refers to a style of decoration that is wild and fanciful and features fantastical mythological creatures with swirls and arabesques. It originally became fashionable following the discovery of Emperor Nero's villa (Domus Aurea) in Rome in the early 1500's. The villa was covered in this kind of fanciful decoration.

This might sound really dull, but this kind of stuff has fascinated me since I was a little boy, though I can't remember where I would have first seen it, maybe in the Manchester Museum? I don't know.

This was a lovely exhibition and one where. Some of the exhibits were so detailed and so small (Christmas postage stamp size) that there were powerful magnifying glasses available so you could see them properly without going crosseyed. Thank you Mr/Ms MAK for that.

We retired across the road to the Café Pruckerl and although the air inside was thick with smoke and it took an age to get served, we persevered and I eventually had a fantastic potato goulash, topped with a Debreziner (a spicy hot-dog sausage from Debrecen in Hungary).

What more could a hungry boy wish for?

We are the egg men

I've been asked several times by friends "what are you actually eating while you're there?" and I think it's safe to say that our diet has changed (almost) entirely.

Gone is the porridge or muesli for breakfast to be replaced by an egg (boiled, scrambled or poached), with bread and ham. I mentioned on Wednesday that we don't have an oven or a grill in the flat which is proving challenging when it comes to making dinner. There's no more baked fish or roast vegetables or pizza (waaah!) or other mainstays of our diet. I think we're rising to the challenge though.

Last night though I threw some sliced, lemon juice marinated chicken breast into a frying pan with some delicious oyster mushrooms I'd bought from the Naschmarkt earlier and a handful of fresh dill (which you can buy here in huge bunches!). It was delicious and tasted far better than I could possibly have imagined.

The mushrooms have been a particularly good find, they're really firm and have an amazingly meaty texture and taste.

The meat we've had so far (chicken, beef) has been really tasty too. It makes you realise how sanitised produce is in the UK now and that it doesn't actually taste of anything. It's been quite strange to eat chickeny chicken when you're used to chicken (even organic, free range or corn fed) that's really quite bland. I suppose this means we're not using as much seasoning either, although some products, like muesli and cottage cheese for example, seem to have a higher salt content generally than at home.

Did I mention the eggs? Oh my! I've never tasted the like. They must come from very, very happy chickens!

As far as poncey food goes, I've found punnets of Physalis (chinese cherries) in the local Hofer (a supermarket a little like Lidl) for an amazing E0.59 (about 40p). Needless to say, being a sucker for a bargain, especially one that's so tasty, we're eating quite a lot of them too :)