Der Steinerwirt 1493

I have to say that my favorite restaurant for traditional Austrian food with flair is Der Steinerwirt. Located in one of the oldest buildings in Zell am See, much like their meals, they have combined modern elements with traditional, tastefully.

Jason and I have tried several things on the menu and have found everything we have tried to be delicious. Most recently I had a lemongrass-infused pasta with grilled shrimp, while Jason stayed the more traditional route with the Wiener Schnitzel. When Pinzgauer Käse is around then I usually default to the Kasnocken myself.

Unless you get the one tall guy with long hair for a server, you should be well taken care of. Before we had internet I would pop over during non-busy times where I felt completely at home having a few white wine G'spritzt. It was one of the favorite locations to get a drink after work for Jason and his colleagues.


During the summer months they have traditional Alpine Zither music on tree-shaded patio.


Goulash with "Semmel" (bread) Dumpling


Tyrol-style fried potatoes


Tafelspitz (Austrian/Vienna style of boiling meat)served with root vegetables, creamed spinach.

Jason typically drank the local beer that was made especially for the Wirtshaus, while I leaned to white wine spritzers made with the standard food-friendly Grüner Veltliner. While we hardly every spared room for dessert, we never escaped without a Schnapps.


I think my parents enjoyed it!

And I'm Back...

...but do I have any idea what I am doing? No. Not. Really.



I just got to Maputo, Mozambique a few days ago. Jason gave me his tour of the city that involved the "Wood Market", which is a weekend craft market complete with people practicing "Capoeira", the central market full of fruits and vegetables, the botanical gardens with it's bats, a walk along the coast for a beer, the central train station that has a lovely bar that combines art travel and history with live music, and a rick-shaw ride. Sunday was spent in the fish market eating red grouper and huge prawns.

In between my "musts" which are practicing Portuguese and working on an online course, I will be posting somethings that seem very out of order. As long as internet is working, God willing.

Hoosiers in the Hamptons

It was cheaper with a stop over in NYC. I met up with my BFFs in the Hamptons for a weekend, pre-phase 2 of our move.





Thanks to E for being an amazing host!

Berchtesgaden

We have had quite a few visitors lately and I have been fortunate enough to be able to show them around the area. One place I try to take everyone is Berchesgaden.
Wikipedia has a nice summary of Berchtesgaden and important links so I won't bore you with things you can google yourself.
This particular Sunday there was a celebration of the opening of the new downtown pedestrian area. There was a band, food and 1 Euro beers!
Berctesgaden has two lovely studios that sell traditional hand crafts. After my mom gave me the hen and the set of egg cups, I contacted the pottery studio, Töpferei R. von Hoesslin, personally and requested that the other pieces be made to match. Each time we have had a visitor, I take them to Berchtesgaden and pick up a new piece!
I have collected a container for garlic (Knoblauch) and onion (Zwiebel). I also now have a butter container.
There is also a studio that does hand painted wooden items like ornaments, boxes, figurines. It is located right next to the pottery studio. I try to support the traditional art because I think it is important to keep these aspects of the culture alive.

Cleaning Out the Pantry

So we are getting ready for our 4th international move now. We are a month away from departure and already I am a month behind on my "things to do timeline", namely, the start cleaning out your pantry. Here is where I need to get creative. I hate wasting food, but the things I have left really require other ingredient investments (Wok Noodles: I went through all my Asian spices), are time consuming (Thai Spring Rolls: are delish but take all morning to make), or go a long way (Polenta: is one of those things that makes a lot and you get sick of having as a left over).

Then there are our random bottles of adult beverages. These usually get taken care of at one of our wild going away parties. Although the older we seem to get the less wild we seem to be, and the less willing we are to risk a hangover. Just looking at our collection, I am sure each one of the bottles comes with a headache.

We once had a huge amount of Rumtopf left over from Christmas that got consumed with champagne at my "Jody is leaving creature comforts behind" going away party. Made people leap tall buildings I believe.

One of the blogs I have been following Austin to Africa, Brasil to the Bay has had some really good postings about life as an expat, so I have sort of been inspired to ask everyone,

What is the most random thing left over in your pantry before a move?

and

Any ideas of how to use 250 g of polenta in two weeks?

Programming Note

We are getting ready to leave Zell am See. I have been so busy dealing with international relocation fun, that I really have not had the time to reflect and commit to this blog. I still have pictures from our trip to Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania, my tour through Germany with the in-laws, my sister and brother-in-law's visit. I have a feeling that once I get to where we are going, I will have some free time to reflect and share. Will probably have more fond memories too.

Because so many things in this world make sense, I leave you with a picture of my latest creation: cheddar-cheeseburger with BBQ sauce, and homemade onion rings.

Cute Towns with Mountains and a Lake Competition: Bled, Slovenia

I had read rave reviews about Bled and since we already live in a cute Alpine town with a lake, we had to go research and compare. Sure the lake was bigger, and there was a cute church on an island that you could boat too, plus there was a castle that overlooked the lake. There seemed to be a lot of great possibilities for hiking and at the time, the World Championship for rowing was being held there.

We did not stay the night, but we did grab a bite and walk around the lake.

A Post About Food

This year has been a hard year. But, I should be happy. I have my arms and legs. I have food. Although it appears as if this post was posted sometime in June of 2010, it was really posted in April of 2011, and just shows up out of order because that is how blogging operates. I suppose that is a good way to stay on track with things. I have plenty of other things I should be doing, writing at the moment seemed right, and I wanted to write about something that makes me happy other than alcohol.

Food.

Although food and alcohol do go well together.

Observe Exhibit A: Jausen stuff.

Oh how I miss the Jausen. Jausen is typical Alpine Austrian food. You find it at lovely places like Ebenbergalm. This fine meat and cheese selection is from a local farmer and was made in our very own Zell am See. The meat and cheese is served on a wooden plate, and is served with mustard, pickles and horseradish.

Exhibit B: Bauernbrot

Also made from the same local farmer who produced the meat and cheese selection as seen in exhibit A. Delish with a big pat of real butter, which is the only way to go in Austria.

Exhibit C: Pinzgauer Kasnocken, Hausgemacht

That is right people. Authentic Kasnocken made with the real Pinzgauer cheese that is only made in Pinzgau and only in a certain season. I even made the spaetzle homemade and fried the onions!

Exhibit D: Pinzgauer Kasnocken made by a real Pinzgauer

In a big pan for Jason's birthday. This was consumed with a million beers and somehow we managed to find our way down the mountain, but not without herding a few cows.

Exhibit E: Spargel Zeit

My sister and brother-in-law visited in the prime of white asparagus season. We took advantage by purchasing kilos of it and consuming it with equal amounts of hollandaise sauce. Peeling them was some work but well worth it!

When there are bad times in life it pays to think of good. Thank goodness for food and photos.

Hot Pastry: Burek!

While in Slovenia I could not eat enough of this cheese filled goodness. They were only 2 Euro!

Our Very Own Schnapsbrennerei

Jason really wanted to be able to make his own schnaps. He does drink quite a bit (like any good Austrian/German) and in away I can appreciate the process as it does require some science. So I gave him a Schnapsbrennerei for his birthday.

Jason tried the first batch while I was traveling with my sister and brother-in-law. I came home to a strange black film all over the kitchen and half the dish soap was gone. I will chalk that up as a learning experience (FAIL).

His second batch was Marillen and it turned out a little better, flammable, but I am confident that we won't be going blind after drinking it.

Piran, Slovenia

On what coast of the Adriatic Slovenia has, lies this gem of a town, Piran.

Desperate for the feeling of summer and the kiss of sea air, we decided to check it out.

With it's narrow labyrinth-like streets and beautiful Piazza, Piran closely resembles Dubrovnik, Croatia, and several of the Italian villages that hug the coast of Italy. Autos are not allowed to drive in the town, so we had to park in a garage outside and carry our suitcases to our bed and breakfast, Miracolo di Mare, a lovely and newly renovated B&B with a charming garden to have breakfast and service with a sense of humor.

We really had nothing on the agenda except to relax, explore the maze of streets, dip our toes in the chilly water and enjoy Slovenian wine with fresh seafood, which we did.



An interesting fact for us Hoosiers, Piran is the sister-city with Indianapolis, Indiana.

I loved, loved, LOVED, Ljubljana!!

Jason and I had to escape the cold, rainy weather of Austria. We headed south for a perfect weekend getaway, a sunnier Slovenia. It was just what we needed!

We spent a day in Ljubljana, just walking around and taking in the mash-up of Germanic, Latin, and Slavic culture.

One of the main attractions is a castle that overlooks the city. We did not tour inside because we were not feeling the need to take any information in this day; we decided to save the history intake for another trip. We did enjoy a nice walk through the park up to and surrounding the castle that surprised us occasionally with glimpses of the city through trees.

There was a very laid-back Bohemian feel to Ljubljana. Most stores close by noon on Saturday, leaving the streets empty in the early afternoon. It reminded me of siesta in Spain; it's like Slovenia closes down in the afternoon for a nap, and by late afternoon and evening, people start filling the cafes and gracing the streets and the pedestrian areas again.

For a capital city, it is not particularly large, I guess with less than 300,000 population. It did not give me a feeling of being overwhelmed, like most large cities do.

The combination of renovated buildings and those wearing history I found very poetic. It is the first city where even the graffiti seemed somehow tastefully placed. The architecture was a combination of Baroque and Art Nouveau, reminded me of Salzburg and Vienna, but also slightly of Slovenia's neighbors Croatia and Italy. The occasional building built during communist times added something, and I appreciated how pieces of communism and history were integrated to create something new and unique.

Another thing I noticed, almost every building in Ljubljana had flag holders. Ljubljana seems to enjoy honoring it's famous people by having Bust Sculptures made and placed on buildings, there were several, some very interesting (Jožef Blaznik is a book publisher from Slovenia, the heads below are from the door of Stolnica svetega Nikolaja).
We did not find Ljubljana to be unreasonably expensive; it was nice not to have to worry about going to a nice-looking place and then being surprised by prices. Jason and I had a very pleasant evening of drinks and dinner for less than 40 Euro and stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast very close to the downtown for less than 100 Euro, breakfast included.

Despite the many choices of cuisine, we decided on some Balkan Ćevapčići. Was the best Ćevapčići I have ever had, and went so well with beer! The restaurant Harambaša (which we learned about from our city guide) was a little off the main road, has a quaint and cosy dining room, complete with old photos, antiques and a Balkan soundtrack.

We only spent about 24 hours in Ljubljana, but you could easily spend a relaxing week! There are several museums and art galleries, not to mention parks to explore and shopping opportunities. I personally just found it to be the most relaxing city, perfect for people watching.

I really cannot say enough wonderful things about Ljubljana! We used the Destination City Guide, published by In Your Pocket and found it to be a perfect guide. We used their suggestions for where to stay and where to eat and could not have been more pleased!

More Vacationing in Austria: Klamms!

Here in the middle of the Alps we have a ton of gorges to explore. There are a handful less than 20 KM away that we have been checking off our list. Here are a few pictures from the Seisenbergklamm. It is directly in the town Weißbach bei Lofer in an area called the Saalachtal (Saalach Valley).

The Seisenbergklamm, much like the nearby Vorderkaserklamm that we went to when my parents were here last summer, had a nature trail where you were informed of the flora and fauna of the area.



The Liechtensteinklamm is near St. Johann in Pongau is one of the deepest and longest Klamms in the Alps.

I have had a lot of free time of late, so I have been trying to learn new things. One of the things I have been reading up on is the Ayurvedic diet. I learned that I have a "Pitta dosha", and when it is "imbalanced" things like walking around water help. (I can feel your eyes rolling. :) )



It even has a little legend:

The blacksmith of Oberarl, in the Plankenau area of St. Johann, had promised his crippled daughter to the devil if the devil would deliver the famous Gastein hot springs to his doorstep. The deal would have to be completed before the rooster crowed in the morning. The devil agreed and went to work in the dark of night. However, the blacksmith’s wife, a sly old woman, found out about the deal. To put an end to her husband’s boundless greed, she dunked the rooster into the drinking trough, causing it to crow before daybreak. The devil, who was at that moment flying through the Klamm with the hot springs, heard the rooster crow at Oberarl and realized he was too late.
Filled with rage, he threw the hot springs into the Klamm where no human being would ever find them again. Indeed, to this day, no one has been able to capture the healing waters and pipe them out of the gorge.

I do not know why I am so obsessed with waterfalls! I am sure most people will not find 7 pictures of rushing water quite as interesting as I do. But the feeling of being in these Klamms just makes me tingle. I do not know if it is the cool blue of the water, the changes in speed and levels, or the general beauty of this earth that just moves me.