Ringing in the new year with a bang

The folks of Vienna sure do like their fireworks. For the past month, we could hear the pops and bangs of small firecrackers almost as soon as it became dark -- which is between 4:00 and 4:30 these days. At times it sounded like a small battle was being waged at the park down the street from our apartment. But until today, we rarely saw any fireworks. Today we've been able to see and hear fireworks pretty steadily since about 6:00.

Apparently, new year's eve celebration (Silvester, as it's called here) is a pretty big deal in these parts. An article on Virtual Vienna Net, a website for expats in Vienna, explains why fireworks play such a big role in Austria's celebration.

New Year's Eve in Vienna is a loud and merry time. This is no accident, but the enactment of an established tradition: in the fourth century Pope Silvester, after whom the night is named in Austria, tried to purge the new Christian church of heathen customs, but the old gods proved to be extremely stubborn. They kept on returning in the form of scheming devils, evil spirits or artful demons, digging their way into people's souls until the man of God realized that one devil best drives out another and using the old believes announced that the only thing they couldn't stand was noise. This is the reason why the New Year is heralded in with pyrotechnics, firecrackers and loud bangs to make sure that it is free of dark spirits.

Hmmm... so those rowdy kids at the park who have been driving me crazy with the firecrackers every night are just trying to keep the evil spirits away? Whatever their reasons, I hope they run out of firecrackers soon.

Brian and I are having a peaceful evening at home this New Year's Eve. I did venture out to the grocery store earlier today -- along with at least 95% of the inhabitant within a 10 mile radius -- but we're not going to head into town. I'll just watch the fireworks from my window.

I wish you all a happy new year!

Downtown

Have you noticed the trend in naming posts after songs? I just can't help myself.



I'm not really sure where "downtown" Vienna is located, but I headed into the city today. Some might say, I went downtown. I don't know if I would say it. I think I have a bit of cabin fever and I just needed to get out for a while.

I've been thinking about sweet potatoes a lot lately and the only place you can find them is downtown -- no, wait -- at the Naschmarkt. This was my first visit since it's been really cold and I definitely noticed that the crowd was smaller. The last time I was there, the place was overflowing with sweet potatoes. You couldn't turn around without bumping into one. But this time they weren't quite as plentiful. I guess I should have bought them during the fall.

Oh well, there were enough. I loaded up on sweet potatoes and bought a new pair of mittens. I have gloves that I like, but I've been wanting a pair of mittens that have the top part that you can remove so you can actually use your fingers. I hope you know what I'm talking about because I'm too lazy to get the camera.

However, I did snap some nice photos at the Naschmarkt. They're not for the faint of heart. If you prefer a little mystery with the food you eat, maybe you shouldn't continue. because there's no doubt with this food.

I'll start you out with some cute bread -- just so you won't have to see anything you don't want to see. Unless, of course, you're just scanning through the photos. In which case, you get what you deserve.

The pig is a symbol for good luck, so you see all sort of pig-paraphernalia around New Years. One of the bakeries at the Naschmarkt was selling bread shaped like a pig's head. Pretty cute, eh?



But just a little further down at the butcher, you can find real pigs' heads. Notice the one on the right has a cigar in his mouth.



Have you ever had shrimp scampi and wondered what it looked like before it was on your plate? Wonder no more.



If you're more of a fish kind of person, here's your dinner. The one on the bottom looks surprised, the one above it is a little angry and the one above that one is just down-right sad.



If you're eating fish in Austria, it may not look much different when it arrives at the dinner table. I'm pretty sure they serve it with the head intact.

I've saved the most disturbing for last. This was actually the first thing I photographed at the Naschmarkt. I've never seen anything like it. I'm not sure what it was, but the hoof is still there!

Oh, I wish...

Are you singing it yet?

Sometimes I wish I had a really nice camera with lots of different lenses and could take all these amazing photos. But then I realize that I would have to actually learn how to use the camera and learn all that photography lingo like aperture and f-stop. And not just learn what it means, but how it affects the photo I'm taking. Plus, I'd actually have to get out and take photos! Not just hop off the u-bahn and snap some photos from the platform.

So I guess it's a good thing I don't have a nice, expensive camera. I don't think I could handle all that other stuff. Maybe one day. And my point-and-shoot does a pretty decent job most of the time.

Here are the latest photos that I took from the u-bahn platform. It's been pretty cold here for a while and the Alte Donau (Old Danube) is frozen over. It's quite a site to see.









If you look at the last one closely, you can see three people on the ice. There are areas where you can ice skate when the river freezes over, but I think these people just went out on their own. I imagine they're wearing shoes -- I doubt you could skate with the snow on the ice. I can't believe they're in the middle of the river! I hope the ice is thick.

Happy Christmas

So this is Christmas.

According to my mom, some people are feeling sorry for us because we're spending Christmas all alone in Vienna. Brian and I thought about capitalizing on this situation and finding a pathetic-looking Charlie Brown tree and posing for a Christmas photo. You know, to get more sympathy. But then we didn't, so I just photoshopped one instead.


But really, there's no reason to feel bad for us. Brian's sister sent us a lovely package, the contents of which allowed us to celebrate The Tradition on Christmas Eve. It wasn't the same without family, but it was still nice.


And then today, we enjoyed lunch with the Haskews. So you see, we weren't alone after all.

Even Sharkdog had a jolly Christmas.


Merry Christmas!

Christmas eve hijinks

It looks like Sharkdog has found someone who enjoys looking out the window just about as much as he does.

Around Christmas, my family always has sausage balls in the house. Despite my struggle with making peanut butter balls in Austria, I decided to continue with the tradition of making sausage balls. In the U.S., it's quite a simple recipe -- breakfast sausage, Bisquick and sharp cheddar. But everything is a bit more difficult here. First, I've never seen breakfast sausage. Second, I've never seen Bisquick or other biscuit baking mixes. (Or biscuits for that matter. Even KFC doesn't have biscuits!) And finally, I've never seen sharp cheddar -- though I have heard it's available.

So what's a girl to do? I imagine you can guess -- I went over to All Recipes. I used this recipe to transform ground pork (which is readily available and quite inexpensive) into breakfast sausage and this recipe to make biscuit mix. As for the sharp cheddar, I replaced it with mild cheddar, which (gasp) I had to shred myself.


The sausage balls turned out pretty tasty, though not exactly like the ones from the U.S. All in all, I'd call it a success.

Animal kingdom

Yesterday I had hippos on the brain. I know -- hippos -- it seems a little strange. But I ran across this website and had the song stuck in my head the rest of the day. I remember loving this song when I was younger. I can remember listening to it in the car. I'm pretty sure my dad sang along.

So yesterday when I saw cute pink hippos at IKEA, I was seriously considering buying one. But then I saw sharks and decided to get one for Sharkdog. Normally when Sharkdog gets a new toy, he's very hesitant about it at first. He'll dance around it, trying to sniff it without getting too close, and eventually he'll start playing with it. But when I showed him the shark, he tried to grab it immediately. And he played with it for quite a while. He even brought it to bed last night.


In other news, the Rushers started celebrating the holidays a little early. Check out Sharkdog's blog to read about today's happenings.

How lovely are your branches

Sharkdog really enjoys looking out the window. Especially when it's snowing. I'm glad our apartment has floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room.

We didn't get a Christmas tree this year. I kind of wanted a tiny tree just because I like miniature things. But Brian said no way. The conversation went something like this:

A: [kind and innocent tone] Brian, sweetheart, can we get a Christmas tree this year?

B: [loud and mean tone] No, wicked woman. No tree, and that's final.

A: But honey, it's Christmas. Just a small tree.

B: I said no tree. But I'm in a generous mood. You can have a branch.

Ok, so maybe that is a bit of an embellishment. But I do like all of the tiny Christmas trees. And Brian did tell me that I could have a branch. This is probably closer to the real conversation:

[walking past the Christmas tree lot after German class]

A: [casually] Those tiny trees are cute. Do you want to get a tiny tree?

B: [casually] No, I'm not really interested in a tree this year.

[We notice some branches laying on the ground.]

A: What about a branch? Are you interested in getting a branch?

B: Hmm... I like that idea. Yes, you can get a branch.

But I didn't get a branch. I'm pretty sure the guy would have given me a branch, but I didn't want to carry it all the way home on the u-bahn. Plus, I didn't want to try to have the "can I have a Christmas branch?" conversation in German.

Since we don't have a tree, I decided to decorate our crazy lamp. In Austria, Christmas trees are called Chirstbaum (baum = tree), so this is our Christlampe.


Every year, Brian and I get a new ornament. We haven't bought one yet this year, but I'm hoping to stop by a Christmas market tomorrow afternoon. This is the ornament from last year. I think it's my favorite.

The big disappointment

I've been so disappointed with Christmas baking this year. Mainly because I haven't done any yet.

I had big plans of making sausage balls and peppermint brownies. And I wanted to try some new recipes like this Raspberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprint recipe. Or possibly (in my more ambitious moments), this recipe for Brown Butter Spoon Cookies with Jam.

I had good intentions. Really, I did.

But it just hasn't happened. I actually tried to make peanut butter balls. But something went awry. I must have converted some of the measurements incorrectly. It's a little tricky to convert "1 package of graham crackers" into grams of graham-cracker-substitute. (For those in Europe looking for a graham cracker substitute, I used Leibniz Vollkornkekes.) So the peanut butter mixture turned out very sticky and not as firm as it should be. Even after refrigerating it, it was still softer than I'd like.

And I'm not going to start with the troubles I had melting the chocolate. After two failed attempts, I switched over to the melting chocolate you can buy in a little plastic cup. It was a sad day.

After all that trouble, I didn't have the heart to dip a hundred peanut butter balls into chocolate. So I decided to make peanut butter bars instead. I put some foil in a baking dish, added a layer of melted chocolate, stuck it in the freezer to harden the chocolate, added the peanut butter mixture, then added another layer or melted chocolate and stuck it all back into the fridge. It turned out ok, but not as good as I had hoped. Not good enough for a photo.

But here's the recipe if you want to try it. As you can see, the measurements are based on American packaging, so perhaps I'll have to find a recipe with actual measurements for next year. However, I've successfully made this recipe many times in the U.S.

Peanut Butter Balls

• 1 package graham crackers (this isn't 1 box, but one of the packages within a box), crushed
• 1 lb box powdered sugar
• 2 sticks margarine or butter, softened
• 1 lb peanut butter
• 1/2 pack chocolate chips
• 2/3 block paraffin wax

1. Mix crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar, softened margarine and peanut butter. Roll peanut butter mixture into small balls (about 1 inch) and refrigerate.
2. Melt paraffin wax and chocolate chips in double boiler, sauce pan or microwave. Stir until smooth.
3. Use a toothpick to dip peanut butter balls into chocolate.
4. Place dipped peanut butter balls on waxed paper and refrigerate.

Monkey on the lam

What's funnier than a sneaky monkey? How about a sneaky drunken monkey?

A hard pill to swallow

Alternative and homeopathic medicine seems to be much more popular here than in the U.S. I've known this for a while, but it really struck me recently during German class. Earlier this week we discussed subjects related to health -- body parts, common health problems, etc. During one of the exercises, we were given a list of health problems and a list of remedies and had to "prescribe" a remedy for each problem. Here are some of the more amusing remedies.

Headache -- drink coffee

Dizzy/light-headed -- eat chocolate

Diarrhea -- drink cola and eat pretzels

And everyone's favorite:
Stomachache - drink cognac

I couldn't sell the cookies either*

I know, I know. I promised some tales of Christmas goodies. But then I got caught up in this little thing called sewing. About two weeks ago, I had a crazy idea to make some Christmas presents. Then I decided to return my sewing machine because I wasn't pleased with it. And when I failed to buy a new one on Saturday as planned, I was left sewing machineless for the entire weekend since EVERYTHING IS CLOSED on Sunday.

Alisha, you're probably thinking, since you didn't have your sewing machine, why didn't you spend the time making those Christmas goodies? Well, it's because I also forgot to buy the powdered sugar and graham cracker-like cookies when I went to the store on Saturday. And the grocery store was closed on Sunday. Weren't you listening when I mentioned that before? I was practically yelling.

Okay, to be perfectly honest there is one grocery store open on Sundays. And it's not terribly far away. If you consider a 10 minutes walk and 20 minutes on public transportation each way "not terribly far away." Which, by the way, I don't anymore. Consider it far away, that is. But an hour to get powdered sugar and graham cracker-like cookies is a bit much. Especially when I have other things, like church, going on the same day. That leaves hardly anytime for candy-making.

But I will go ahead and tell you about a failed cookie making experiment. A while back, someone mentioned Girl Scout cookies on their blog. And that reminded me of a recipe on Top Secret Recipes. (I would link directly to the recipe, but I'm not sure whether that would violate the User Agreement I accepted which includes not distributing the recipe. It's a free recipe -- most on the site are not -- so just search for "thin mints" and you'll find it.) Peppermint is Christmas-y, so I thought I would give the recipe a try and possibly throw them into the Christmas goody mix.

Well, they didn't really work out. I don't blame the recipe. I probably should have added just a touch more water. The dough was very dry and impossible to roll out. So I decided to roll it into a log and slice the cookies rather than rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter. The cookie dough log was less than appealing.


But I continued. I think the big problem was that I didn't slice the cookies thin enough. After I baked them, they weren't crispy like the middle of a Girl's Scout Thin Mint. They were tasty, just not what I was going for. So in the end I decided to not dip them in chocolate and Brian and I just ate them plain.

I think I may still make some thin-mint type "cookies" for Christmas, but I'm going to stick with the Ritz dipped in chocolate method. I know, it doesn't sound good -- but they really do taste similar to Thin Mints.

* By the way, I never made it past the Brownies, so I didn't have the chance to try to sell the cookies. I'm sure I would have been a success because, really, who can resist the Girl Scout cookies?

Light reading and other ways to learn German

I thought that learning German would be difficult. And it is. But not in the way I expected. You really need to surround yourself with the language in order to learn it. You'd think that wouldn't be a problem -- living in Austria and all -- but it would be quite easy to go through the entire day without listening to a bit of German outside of class.

Don't get me wrong. I hear a lot of German. The announcement on the u-bahn with all the connections at the upcoming stop. The warning that the doors are about to close. Kids playing at the playground we walk past every day. People everywhere on cell phones. But all of that is just white noise. It plays in the background and is easy to ignore.

So Brian and I are trying to be more intentional about listening to the German language. Brian found a nice radio station that has a lot of talk. We generally turn it on while we're working on our German homework or surfing the internet. And I got a library card and have started checking out children's books. I try to read aloud when Brian is out of the house.

And I've just discovered another fun way to listen to German -- watch Scrubs in German. The Haskews recently bought one of the seasons that Brian and I own in English. So I'm quite familiar with all of the episodes. The Haskews loaned me their DVDs and I've really enjoyed watching the show in German.

And it seems to be helping. Brian says that listening to the radio has helped him understand more in class. And I've felt a little more confident speaking to the cashier at the supermarket.

Plus, it's kind of fun learning some of my favorite lines from Scrubs in German.

The obligatory post

When I told Brian the news, he said, "I hope there will be a post about this." And I told him there would be one. So here it is.

I've been sewing a lot this week. I plan on showing you some of the stuff (oh, it's cute!), but not until after Christmas. I'm not saying that anyone who reads this blog is getting anything handmade for Christmas. I'm not saying that at all. But this is all beside the point.

The point is I've been sewing. And perhaps I've tried sewing a bit more than my machine could handle. At one point, I tried sewing through a stack of about 4 pieces of fabric and 4 pieces of interfacing. The needle got stuck in a weird bendy position and it took a little work to get it out. But I checked the needle and it didn't appear bent and everything seemed to still work fine. So I pressed on.

Well, over the next day or two I noticed the fabric wasn't feeding properly. And it was pulling a bit to the right. And sometimes there was a popping noise. And, well, I didn't want to admit it, but I started thinking maybe I shouldn't have bought a sewing machine at a grocery store.

Last night I told Brian that I was having some trouble with the machine. He didn't say anything. I asked if he wanted to say something about it. He declined.

Today I packed up the sewing machine and returned it to the store. I was a bit nervous because I was afraid I would have to explain the problem in German. But the whole experience was very anti-climatic. After waiting in line for a few minutes, I had my cash and walked out of the store.

I'm hoping to buy a new machine tomorrow. I have projects to finish.

I couldn't resist

You've probably already seen the "Elf Yourself" videos floating around, but I thought this one was more fitting for Brian.

You'd better watch out

Remember how your parents used to scare you into good behavior by threatening to have Santa add you to his "naughty" list. Well, they do the same thing here in Austria. Only it's not a naughty list the parents are threatening.

On December 6th, you're likely to find two characters making their way around town -- Nikolo and Krampus. Nikolo is St. Nicholas. He gives gifts of candy and fruit to all of the good children. But if you've been a bad kid, you might get a visit from Krampus. Here's how one of my friends described Krampus:

Krampus is like the devil. He has black fur, hooves and a long tail. He is very ugly. The bad kids will be beaten by Krampus, who has a switch.

So much for the lump of coal in your stocking. If you're bad around here, you're facing a beating with a switch! And these aren't just empty words. There are some pretty scary looking signs and costumes. I'm hoping to see a Krampus or two tomorrow or Thursday. (Traditionally, Krampus makes his rounds on the 5th and Nikolo makes his on the 6th, but I've heard that they travel together often these days.) Until then, I'll leave you with some frightening pictures from Flickr.


1. Nikolaus und der Krampus, 2. krampus, 3. Perchten Schwadorf 2, 4. Krampus 06' (25)

I had to repost this because the photos weren't showing up. Sorry for the double-post to those of you using a reader.

Wish list -- Christmas edition

Updated -- 1/9.
Thank you for all of the lovely Christmas gifts. I'm rarely very good at coming up with gift ideas for myself. I'm going to try to keep the original Wish List post up-to-date in the event that someone wants to buy me something. Not that I want someone to buy me something. And not that I need someone to buy me something. But I know that this is what people do.

This year, I started a new tradition of making holiday gifts instead of buying them. I'm plan to continue this tradition (that's why I'm calling it a tradition) and am really excited about the ideas I have for next Christmas. I'm telling you this just to say that I also appreciate handmade gifts.

This is a very awkward update. I'm not asking that you send me something, but if you are here looking for ideas, check out the original wish list. Or make something you think I will like. If you think I'll like it, chances are I will. :)

Updated -- 12/4.

I've been asked to update my wish list. Honestly, it wasn't my idea. When I told Brian that someone requested an update to the wish list, he asked, "Was it my mother or your mother?" It doesn't matter. A request was made, and shall be fulfilled.

So, here it is. Some of this was lifted from the original wish list, but some of it is new.

Books
Jesus and the Victory of God, by N. T. Wright

Genesis: Interpretation : A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, by Walter Brueggemann

24/7 Prayer Manual: A Guide To Creating and Sustaining Holy Space in the Real World, by Peter Greig and David Blackwell

Amy Butler's In Stitches, by Amy Butler

DVDs
Seinfeld DVD, Volume 1 (Seasons 1 & 2) and Volume 2 (Season 3), Volume 8 (Season 9)

Scrubs DVD, Season 1, 2, 3 and 6

Any of the Nooma videos (You can buy these at Christian bookstores or online at http://www.nooma.com/)

Food Items and other stuff
Reese's Candy: Miniature Peanut Butter Cups or Reese's Pieces

Peanut butter (I may use most of our existing stash for holiday candies)

Sugar-free Jello powder (Strawberry, Cherry, Lime, Orange)

Velveeta processed cheese stuff -- I can't believe I'm asking for this, but it's the only stuff that makes good cheese dip :)

Plastic ice cube trays -- We've only been able to find the silicone ones here and you can't really pop the cubes out. I think it's slowly driving Brian mad.

------------

That's all I can come up with at the moment. The last time I posted a wish list I was all worried about getting multiples of something (especially the DVDs). But I've decided not to worry about that. We can always re-gift any multiples we receive. :)

Show and tell

Brian is really a sweetheart. I don't say that enough. We're not one of those sappy couples oohing and ahhing over one another all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just not us. But we do have our moments...

Over the next few weeks, everyone in our German class has to give a short presentation over their favorite object. A bit like show-and-tell. Brian was up first, but he refused to tell me what he was taking as his favorite object. He said he would probably take one of his books.

When it came time for his presentation, sure enough, Brian pulled a book from his bag. But it wasn't one of the books I was expecting. It was a small book of poetry. His poetry. You see, many years ago when Brian and I were dating, I asked if I could read some his poetry and I made the poems into a book. The book itself isn't all that impressive -- the pages are uneven and the words are crooked -- but it's a pretty special book.

His presentation was very sweet. One of the girls even cried. Then I gave my presentation, which was about one of our wedding photos.

Maybe we are one of those sappy couples after all.