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!

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!

Hot Pastry of the Day: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!

So as I mentioned before desserts are just not as sweet as they are in the US. This is fine, and actually Jason prefers it this way, but I on the other hand get obnoxious cravings for desserts that are entirely too sweet for me.

I have been experimenting with yeast. I have never been very talented at baking. I had a go with this cinnamon roll II recipe from allrecipes.com and paid special attention to some of the comments, in particular I let the initial dough mixture rest for 10 minutes before kneading it (a French method known as autolyse).



Voila! Beautiful, disgustingly gooey and way too sweet for you cinnamon rolls that were better then any I have ever had!

Happy Birthday Mommy! (belated)

So I realize that this post is VERY late. Your birthday was on the 10th, and I did make an attempt to go out on your birthday and get Kaffee und Kuchen, but I went to the local Konditerei and the best cakes were almost gone, the server was rude, and I was all by myself!


I recruited Jason to come with me to have Kaffee und Kuchen in honor of your birthday! I had no idea what kind of cake I was ordering, but it ended up delicious! Mine was a coffee flavored whipped cream and caramel cake and Jason had something that tasted like it was made with rum and lady fingers! YUM!

I have always wanted to do this.......

And by "this", I mean go to the bakery and say...

I will take one of everything!

Which is exactly what I did while my parents where here.

Can you just imagine my poor mom and dad being forced to try all of these hot pastries?

You can tell that they are probably just terrible?
Unfortunately I do not have the names for them all at present, I will have to come back and fill them in later.

You can imagine the sugar crash we experienced later in the day!

Hütte Essen!

No trip to Austria would be complete without visiting a Hütte! Hütte are rustic, "rest stops", if you will, on the mountains. They are usually very high up, offering the most remarkable views, and some of them are only reachable by hiking. They are places to go to get out of the weather, warm up, relax, and have a drink or snack before finishing your hike or ski day in the Alps!



Behold Hütte Essen! It is grilling your own meat at the table while smothering it in broth. I am not sure if it is called Hütte Essen because we are eating it in a Hütte, or because the conicular shape of the thing you cook the meat on resembles a Hut, or hat, in German.



Needless to say all of this goes very well with many beers and a schnaps at the end.

Spaghetti Eis is Awesome

One of our favorite treats from our childhood is Spaghetti Eis. There is something so delicious about the combination of strawberry, sahne, and vanilla ice cream. This one is kind of lame because it is missing the cookie.

Eierschwammerl

A friend of ours gave us a bunch of wild Eierschwammerl that she picked herself. The restaurants are all serving them so I decided to give cooking them a go.
I found a recipe in German for Eierschwammerl Goulash on the internet. In red at the top of the page, it stated, "NEVER EAT MUSHROOMS THAT YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE".
Washing them.
Cooking them.
Eating with spaetzle! YUM!

The Stadt Museum in Zell am See had these antique cards so that children could learn the mushrooms and knew which ones were editable or poisonous. I thought they were interesting and fitting with this post!

A Lazy day in Pinzgau

Today we spent a lazy Sunday around Zell am See, enjoying the sunshine and tastes of the region.

The Paragliding World Championship was being held in Zell am See this past weekend. Paragliders would "jump" off the top of the Schmittenhöhe and glide their way down towards the lake. Once they were above the lake they would do tricks for judges and end their performance by trying to land on a little floating target on the lake.


For lunch we took them to my favorite restaurant.Landgasthof Schlosskammer, which is outside Zell am See. Like most places I often frequent, I forgot to take a picture! The Schlosskammer is a little castle that was built in 1582 but is currently a restaurant and hotel. They serve local specialties and use fresh vegetables from their garden. They have a lovely outdoor garden but the inside has traditional character too.


After lunch we went to an Alm on the mountain on the other side of the lake to enjoy some Kaffee und Kuchen(coffee and cake). There is a spectacular view of the mountains and lake, and we could continue to watch the paragliders from a different view.

Hot Pastry of the Day! The Krapfen

I grew up knowing this treat as a Berliner in Germany, but in Bavaria and Austria, they are called Krapfen. It is comparable to a jelly-filled donut in the US, but I would say it is a bit lighter and not as greasy (maybe healthier??...yeah right:)).

These were my favorite as a kid (and are still my favorite... I was so excited I forgot to take a picture before sinking my teeth into this one)! This one had apple flavored jelly, but I have also had them with strawberry, apricot, and raspberry.

Mom and Dad Across the Pond!

We picked them up early at the München Flughafen.

We wasted no time getting to one of my favorite things about Europe...food!! Here Dad is enjoying Weisswurst, traditional Bavarian sausage, with susser Senf and a Bretzel (sweet mustard and pretzel). Usually this sausage is eaten early, sometimes for breakfast!

After a stroll in the Viktualienmarkt, we watched the Rathaus Glockenspielon the Marienplatz. I have seen it so many times and always forget to take a picture!
We wasted no time visiting another popular destination, the Hofbräuhaus.

Where is the hot in this summer?

So it has been raining so much this past month. I have yet to shed the sweater and scarf for shorts and tank tops.

We have been addicted to spicy food ever since Ajaz, Jason's Pakistani roommate cooked for us. It only worsened in Guyana where they don't make joke with dem "pepper sauce" deh....
Of course there is no such thing as "hot" in Austria. So I make my own from our own peppers we grow on the balcony.

It is sort of funny. Everyone here does a lovely job with their balcony flowers, but we just have hot pepper plants!

In Pinzgau it's called Kasnocken

Kasnocken is by far my favorite local dish. It can be best described as a glorified version of macaroni and cheese, topped with crispy fried onions. In Germany it is known as Käsespätzle.

It is a simple and delicious dish, made of mini egg-dumplings and a ton of cheese, served in a cast iron pan.

Butterkuchen!

As far as I am concerned, the German cookbook was right. Here das Mehl ist anders. Although the birthday was in May, I thought I would post a picture of the happy guy with the best ever Butterkuchen I managed to make. Butterkuchen is basically a cake made with a lot of butter, sugar and almonds. It is from northern Germany.

Hot Pastry of the Day! The Schokokrapfen

Most European sweets and desserts in comparison to those in the US are not as sweet. There are some things that I really miss about the US, namely copious amounts of ice in my soda and how easy it is to obtain the occasional sugar high.

This glorious pastry is the sweetest thing I have found in Europe so far. It is a like a donut with a dark chocolate bar inside and delicious super sweet icing generously smothered on top! It comes with its own sugar crash guarantee!!

For obvious caloric reasons I do not eat these often. Do you like how I put a peach and banana in the picture to try to give the illusion of a balanced breakfast??

Hot Pastry of the Day! The Vanille-Schoko-Hörnchen

Yum, semi-sweet chocolate swirly goodness mixed with vanille pudding surrounded by buttery croissant! An excellent way to start the 2 hour-study-filled commute from Innsbruck back to Zell am See. Makes learning about forward and spot rates in German so much more enjoyable.