On a hill overlooking the city

Photos taken from Kahlenberg, a mountain in the 19th district of Vienna.



Get a better view here.

The season of giving

I noticed this image on the sidebar of a friend's blog and kept meaning to take a look. But I always got sidetracked. Today I noticed it on another blog and finally got around to checking it out.


Click on the image to go to their website.
Right now, Soles4Souls is trying to raise funds for 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days. For $5, Soles4Souls can help get 2 pairs of shoes onto the feet of people who need them. They still have a long ways to go to meet their goal and only three days left. It's easy to help. It took less than a minute to donate through PayPal.

If you have a lot of shoes sitting around that are still in good condition, Soles4Souls will gladly take them. You can find a list of locations online where you can drop off your shoes.

Merry Christmas!

I think this is our first year to spend Christmas day on our own. Last year we joined some friends for lunch, but this year we wanted to make the holiday our own. So we initiated what I hope will become a tradition: Photobooth Christmas. If there was a real photobooth here in Vienna I might have tried to persuade Brian and Sharkdog to venture out with me. But since the only photobooths in the city are not the traditional type that prints a strip of four photos, I decided to stay in our warm, cozy home and use Photobooth on Brian's Mac.



It's tough to get a good photo of all of us at the same time.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Conquering marshmallows

Christmas really sneaked up on me this year. I haven't decorated the Christlampe or made any of the traditional goodies like sausage balls or peanut butter balls. And Christmas is only three days away! But I did manage to get most of the Christmas gifts made and some of them actually in the mail. And today I finished making some goodies for neighbors.


This year I wanted to make marshmallows. I've had a recipe from Martha tucked away for years -- probably at least 4 years -- but I've never attempted them. This year I've seen several bloggers showing off their lovely marshmallows and I wanted to join in the fun. But conquering the marshmallow wasn't as easy as I had hoped.

I decided to use this recipe, but referenced a few others. Since I don't have a candy thermometer, I figured I could just let the liquids boil for one minute as Chef Keller recommended. But other recipes recommended boiling up to three minutes, so I wasn't very confident in this method. I really believe this was the source of my problems. Problems which could have been resolved simply by purchasing a candy thermometer.


Nevertheless, I persevered.

The first batch turned out way too gooey on the bottom side. I couldn't salvage them. The second batch turned out just a little gooey, so I had the bright idea to let them sit out overnight again. That seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, what had been the gooey side didn't look too pretty.

But I was thinking about dipping them in chocolate anyway, so I wasn't concerned. In yet another unfortunate turn of events, I discovered I'm not a very good chocolate dipper. But I'm a decent chocolate spreader, so this is what I ended up with: the Christmas S'more. It's a graham cracker-like cookie, with a layer of melted chocolate, marshmallow, more melted chocolate and topped with cookie crumbs (to hide the imperfections in my chocolate spreading).


I also just added chocolate to some of the marshmallows. I think they'll be quite tasty in hot chocolate. I hope to try making marshmallows again next week when I have a candy thermometer. Despite my difficulties, it's a pretty easy recipe.

The Sharkdogs

People often ask about Sharkdog's name, but no one seems to be familiar with Sharkdog's namesake. Two weeks ago, a woman at church asked about his name and I explained it was from a cartoon. Then Last week, she showed up with a special treat for Sharkdog.


That's the original Sharkdog right there. And below is the new Sharkdog. Can you see the resemblance?

Round 2

I thought that Sharkdog and Daisy would get tired of playing with each other all the time, but they still like to have a few wrestling matches every day. I've been trying to capture some of Daisy's signature moves with little success. My favorite move is when she puts practically Sharkdog's entire head in her mouth. Sharkdog has tried to copy this move, but Daisy's head is much too big.

Here is the only move I've been able to capture. Daisy uses her massive paws to hold Sharkdog down then tries to chew his head off.


But she has to be careful. Because this gives Sharkdog the perfect opportunity to go for her jugular.

Get her Sharkdog! Go in for the kill!

I think I enjoy watching the dogs fight as much as they enjoy fighting. But don't worry, there's nothing illegal going on here. The two fight very gently. I think Sharkdog will miss his buddy next week when she goes home.

It's that time again

Last year I wrote about Austria's tradition of Nikolo and Krampus. In case you missed it, instead of bad kids going on Santa's naughty list, they get chased around and whipped with branches by a devilish figure called Krampus. Krampus traditional shows up on the 5th or 6th of December, but tonight the Krampuses (or is it Krampi? I think I prefer Krampi.) were out in full force.

The photos below are from Krampuslauf -- or Krampus Run. As far as I can tell, it's basically an event where adults enjoy scaring the bejeebers out of their kids by exposing them to these frightening creatures. Be warned, these really are some frightening images.

The first group traveled with Nikolo. They looked scary, but they didn't taunt the crowd too much.


This guy doesn't look too bad. Look, he's smiling.


That is, until he started yelling in the face of the guy standing right in front of me. I was a little too scared to stand directly next to the barrier because I didn't want to get so close to these creatures. Moments later, the Krampus was hitting this guy's backside with his switches. But don't worry, the guy was laughing the whole time. The kids, on the other hand, had run away screaming.


Here are a few more Krampi. They don't look quite as festive, but they certainly look scary. I think seeing one of these guys would be enough to make me want to behave the whole year.

It's serious business

People 'round here take renovation very seriously. When new neighbors moved in downstairs there were months of drilling and other loud noises. There were many occasions when it sounded like something was going to break through our floor.

And it's really no wonder. Because when you move into (or out of) an unfurnished apartment, you have to bring (or take) everything and the kitchen sink. And I mean that literally. Many unfurnished apartments have no counters, sinks or cabinets in the kitchen. Boy were we glad to find a furnished apartment.

But it's not just apartments. Several times a week I walk past a store that is being renovated. First, the workers tore everything out of the building. Then I assumed they were going to put all new stuff in, but they kept tearing more stuff out. Last week when I walked past the store there were men standing on the awning and others standing on the ground, all with sledgehammers and having the time of their lives breaking out every single window in the store front. The ones standing on the awning were actually breaking some type of marble-looking facade. A few hours later I walked past again and noticed all of the workers standing around laughing. I'm pretty sure that was a fun day on the job.

I don't have a "before" photo because I had no idea it was going to be such a big deal, but this is where it's at now.


I'm really curious about what they're putting in here. I hope it's something good!