The art of Austrian shopping

I'm just going to come out and say it -- shopping in Austria is strange. If you're looking for a one-stop-shop, well, you're not going to find it. For example, if you're looking for cornmeal, try the drugstore. But if you're looking for medication, skip the drugstore. Any type of medication, prescription or over-the-counter, can only be found at a pharmacy. Do you need cooking spray? Well, you can find it at the grocery store, but out of the six or so chains I've shopped at, it's only available at one.

And while you may not be able to find the groceries you want, you can find some other really strange things at the grocery store. Let's just say that Brian wasn't exactly thrilled the day I came home from the grocery store with a sewing machine. Not because I had bought a sewing machine (I already had permission for that), but because I bought it at a grocery store. I tried to convince him that you can buy nice things at a grocery store by pointing out the Dyson vacuum cleaner at our favorite grocery store. (Because, really, who can deny the goodness of a Dyson?). I'm not sure he's convinced.

Some other things I've seen at grocery stores recently: ski pants, boots, sandwich maker, tool set and, my favorite, a chocolate fountain. These item are usually found in large bins, not on shelves. And mind you, this is a store about the size of your neighborhood Walgreen's. So you may not be able to find what you're looking for, but you're almost certain to find something interesting.

I can be a little crafy sometimes

I've finished my first sewing project. Can you tell what it is?



Why, a coaster, of course!


I actually made four. One coaster would be pretty sad, indeed. I used this tutorial and think it was a pretty good first project. Quick and easy. Next I'm going to try some coasters and matching place mats from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. And I have a few other things I'm going to try to complete before Christmas, but I can't really talk about them yet.

And in other craftiness, I'd like to point you over to my sister's blog, Two Little Princesses. She requested a banner with pink and brown, so I whipped up a little something and stuck it on her page while she wasn't looking. I hope she likes it -- and I hope she doesn't mind that I hijacked her blog to set it up.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention my other sister's blog, Just the Two of Us. She designed her own banner after a brief Gimp tutorial by yours truly. But she figured out how to make the photos black and white with just a splash of color all on her own. She's pretty good. Some might even call her a genius.

Utter chaos

Amanda and I made our second trip to a textile shop in a nearby town today. Our first trip was several weeks ago and it was so completely overwhelming that I didn't take any photos. And I can't possibly describe this place without photos.

First, let me say that I have visited many fabric shops in the U.S. I'm not sure what exactly I was doing there since I only recently started sewing, but I've been there. I have a vague idea of how things work and how to find what I want. But this textile shop was like nothing I have ever seen. Take a look.


And this was a tidy aisle! Take a look at some of the other aisles.



Most of the fabric is on these huge rolls you see in the second and third photos. And most rolls do not have any information about the type of material. However, they do seem to be grouped together, which is somewhat helpful. The aisles are incredibly narrow and long. And you can only get in and out of the aisles from one end -- they're not open on both ends. There were two floors of this chaos. I'm sure you can tell why it was so overwhelming on the first visit.

In addition to the huge selection of fabric, the shop also had tons of buttons. No really, tons. I cannot even begin to imagine how many buttons are available.


This is just a small sample of the buttons. There were probably at least three or four walls stacked with buttons from floor to ceiling. Plus several more that were from the floor to about half way up the wall. The buttons were much more organized than the fabric. The colors were grouped together and the buttons were stored in plastic vials with a sample attached to the front. Here, have another looks.


I like the buttons.

There were also lots of ribbons and more zippers than what could possibly be necessary. I should have taken a photo of the zippers. You'll just have to imagine.

Even though there is a whole lot of fabric in this shop, a lot of it is not something you would be interested in using. Well, it's not something I'm interested in using anyways. But there is some nice stuff (at a very nice price) there if you're willing to look. I'll post some of my projects when I get a little more finished.

Our feast

Yesterday Brian and I got together with the Haskews, Hensals, and Lockwoods for a Thanksgiving meal. A girl Kari met in language class also joined us. So there were 9 adults and 5 kids -- a pretty big crowd in my opinion.

The Lockwoods hosted our celebration. I took this during the calm before everyone arrived.
I was really looking forward to this meal not only because I like typical Thanksgiving food, but also because this was the first time I had a big role in preparing a Thanksgiving meal. Our menu consisted of turkey, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, dressing, bread and pies.

I'm always overly picky about the foods I prepare, but everything came out acceptable. The macaroni and cheese wasn't creamy because I wasn't paying enough attention to the recipe and used about twice as many noodles as I should have. But it was still good. I thought the dressing was a little dry, but after eating some leftovers today I think the problem was that the cornbread was a too dense. And I went a little overboard with the bread. I made crescent rolls -- which had been specifically requested for this meal -- as well as cornbread and biscuits. Originally I was making cornbread only for the dressing, but it was so tasty I decided to make a second pan. The second pan was a bit denser and that's the one that ended up in the dressing. If you try the recipe, I recommend that you switch the measurements for the flour and cornmeal (2 cups cornmeal and 1.5 cups flour). I switched the measurements on the first pan, but only had 1.5 cups of cornmeal for the second pan. Also, make you sure mix the batter at least 5 minutes. I should have mixed the second batch longer. Kari and Ira made three pies: pecan, pumpkin and a reduced-sugar apple. I sampled all three and they were delicious.

Okay, enough with the words, here are some pictures.

The feast. This was after everyone had filled their plates. We had enough leftovers for another full meal (and then some.)

Meal time. Click on the links to see the photos in Flickr: 1. Dinner, 2. Kids, 3. conversation, 4. Kari and Zaden

Carli is really growing up. She loves holding Zaden.

Zaden loves to play with the doors on the dog crates. He's growing up too -- look at all his teeth!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and friends!

Giving thanks

I woke up this morning and thought, "Today is Thanksgiving." But it's not really the same when no one else seems to notice that it's a holiday. So today has just been a regular day. Class. Grocery shopping. Cooking. Laundry.

Thanksgiving is usually one of my favorite holidays. Of course, there's the good food, but it's more than that. It has always been a nice time for family. I have a lot of memories of visiting my grandparents in east Texas when I was young. All the aunts and uncles and cousins were there. Being one of the youngest of the grandkids, I never had a chance to graduate from the kids' table. But I didn't mind. The last few years, Brian and I have spent Thanksgiving with his family and grandparents. This year, Thanksgiving just isn't the same without family nearby.

But still, there are plenty of reasons to be thankful. This Saturday we're getting together with the Haskews, Hensals, and Lockwoods for a belated Thanksgiving celebration. I'm really looking forward to it.

We'll even have the traditional Thanksgiving fare. I'm making my mom's dressing, macaroni and cheese, bread and gravy. I really wanted to make squash casserole -- a staple at my Nanny's table whether it was Thanksgiving or not -- but I haven't been able to find squash. But I think I'll have my hands full with everything else, so maybe it's better that I can't find the squash.

I'll tell you how it goes on Saturday. And yes, there will be photos.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Move over Allrecipes

If you've read this blog much, you've probably figured out that I really like Allrecipes. You can find practically anything and the reviews are a great help in deciding which recipe to try. But lately I've run across some food blogs that I really enjoy. It's not just the recipes, but the writing. Like the Gluten-Free Girl blog. I'll probably never make any of the recipes on this blog, but I love reading it. And I love what Oliva at Anything But Spaghetti is doing -- you'll just have to check it out. And I haven't even mentioned the photos yet! Even if you don't like to cook, you'll love the photos. So lovely.

Another one of my new favorites is Organette. Like Gluten-Free Girl, Organette is a good read whether you're going to make the dishes or not. But I'll actually make some of these dishes -- and already have.

Last night I tried the Touch-of-Grace Biscuits recipe. At first, I wasn't sure I would be able to make them because Molly goes on and on about the importance of using Southern self-rising flour and I was sure I wouldn't be able to find it here. Then I read that Southern flours are milled from a soft wheat -- same as European flour. So I decided to give it a try.


And I'm oh-so-glad that I did.

They were so easy and I love that you don't have to roll them out. The whole biscuit-making process is much faster that way. I just used the flour I use for all of my baking and added some baking powder and baking soda since it's not self-rising. (But as I said earlier, the flour here is milled from soft wheat like the Southern brands. If anyone tries this with your run-of-the-mill all-purpose flour, I'd like to know how the biscuits turn out.) I substituted butter for shortening since I haven't quite figured out where to find shortening. And I used a big ice cream scoop to scoop the wet dough into the flour. I also had to use a square baking dish because my round ones are out on loan. I think a round would have given a little extra room, which would have been nice.

So, there you have it. My new favorite biscuit recipe. I have a feeling I'll be making them quite often this winter.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Actually, it's been looking like Christmas around here for a while. I first spotted Christmas candy in the grocery store in September. SEPTEMBER! Decorations started appearing in October. Vendors selling roasted chestnuts showed up about the same time. And now that we're approaching the end of November, the Christmas season is in full swing.

One of the most famous aspects of Christmas in Austria (and I guess in most parts of Europe) is the Christkindlmarkt (literally, Christ-child Market) or Weihnachtsdorf (Christmas Village). All over Vienna, small villages of wooden stalls are set up where vendors can sell their wares -- whether it's wooden toys, hand-painted ornaments, or fresh-baked sweets. Most of the Christmas Markets opened last weekend and the remaining are opening this weekend.


Sunday evening I met Kari and Kim in the city to visit one of the Christmas Markets known for it's "artistic" handicrafts -- whatever that means. But silly me, I forgot to look up the exact address and we were never able to find it. So we headed over to the Rathaus to visit the largest Christmas Market. As we were approaching, before we could see anything expect the lights on the top of the Rathaus, Kim said, "I smell cotton candy!" And she was right. As we approached, the smell was heavenly. I first noticed the scent of candied nuts. I wasn't sure what I was smelling, but it was sweet and sugary and it made me interested in the food stall. (The fact that it was about 7 p.m. and I hadn't eaten dinner yet probably also contributed to my piqued interest in food.)

There were other smells too. Chestnuts roasting. Sausages and various types of fried potatoes. Sweet baked goods. And the punch. I didn't try the punch, but I could smell the berries. One stall had a chocolate fountain and you could get a waffle bowl filled with fruit or nuts or marshmallows covered in chocolate. I tried bananas and pineapples and they were delicious.

Some of the stalls were very nice, but many were a disappointment. Many sold the same items you can find in tourists shops. But then again, this particular Christmas Market is the one most visited by tourists. I'm hoping for more authentic goods at other markets. I liked the stalls with hand-painted Christmas ornaments. The one below is my favorite. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the glass is clear and on the front is a picture of a window and the girl standing in front of the tree is painted on the backside. So when you look at it from the front, it's like you're looking at the scene through the window.


And, of course, I also enjoyed looking at the stalls with Christmas sweets. The heart-shaped cookies you can see hanging from the stall in the picture below are very popular. Well, I see them everywhere, but I've never actually seen someone buy one. I believe you are supposed to buy one for your significant other. (They have messages like "I love you" on them.) They're on a long ribbon, which your significant other can use to wear the cookie around her neck. Maybe someone who is familiar with these cookies can give more details because I'm not sure what they're called or whether I have the story straight.


Even though some of the stalls were a bust, I had a lot of fun checking out the scene and eating the food. I'm sure I'll visit more before the season is over.

In the kitchen

I've always been a box-mix-brownie kind of a girl. The brownies from a box are so easy and they always come out delicious. When you start fooling around with ingredients and trying to come up a brownie from scratch -- well, you're asking for trouble. From-scratch brownies are okay if you're wanting cake. But if you want a brownie, only the box will do.

You can find brownie mix here in Vienna. But there's only one brand. And forget about options -- double chocolate, chocolate chip, cheesecake brownies -- no way! You're not going to find them. The one brand I've seen looks awfully cakey. I'm pretty sure there's an American flag somewhere on the box, but this isn't the type of brownie you eat in the U.S.

But, don't fret, I have found a recipe I like. And I like it a lot. Best Brownies from (of course) allrecipes.com. These are ooey-gooey chocolaty goodness -- and they're almost as easy as making brownies from a box. I usually double the recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan.

I don't know -- if I had the box mixes available, I might stick with them. But if you ever find yourself someplace that doesn't have box mixes (perhaps your kitchen late Friday night when you have a hankering for some chocolate), you should check out the recipe because you probably have all of the ingredients on hand.

I'm really looking forward to holiday baking -- I have lots of recipes I want to try. So expect to see a lot of food over the next month and a half. And lots of talk about Christmas. Consider yourself warned.

The weather outside is frightful

Well, not really. But we did get more snow. It started yesterday morning around 11 and continued through sometime today. It didn't stick much yesterday. When we left for class today there was a good bit on the ground, but the streets and most of the sidewalks were clear.


Poor Betty, sitting out there in the cold with no protection. We keep meaning to cover her up, but we only think about it when the weather is bad.

On our way home, there was something wrong with the u-bahn. Fortunately, we were stranded in the middle of the city, so it wasn't really a problem. We walked over to Pizza Bizi for some lunch and then headed back to check on the u-bahn situation. On the way, I snapped a few photos around Stephansdom. It's so hard to get a good picture of Stephansdom because it's so large and everything is built up around it.


I just love the thought of a horse-drawn carriage ride in the snow. But in truth, I'd probably just be cold. These carriages were lined up outside Stephansdom.


Notice anything unusual about this photo? The city is doing some work on the section to the left and the scaffolding has been covered with a picture of Stephansdom.


This is the best I could do. You can still see a bit of the fake Stephansdom (the picture covering the scaffolding) on the tower in the left corner.

I think it has stopped snowing, but I don't know whether it will be warm enough tomorrow to melt the snow. It's hard to believe that it's 70 degrees in Oklahoma today. Sharkdog wanted to poke his head out of the window to get a better look at the snow. He was shivering the whole time, but he sure seems to like the snow. For more of his antics, check out his blog.

I can relate

My favorite lines from the most recent episode of The Office:

Stanley: "I took an extra shot of insulin in preparation of this cake today. If I don't have some cake soon, I might die."

Oscar: "Why don't you just have an apple?"

Stanley: "Why don't you just mind your business?"

I know exactly what you mean, Stanley.

Old Man Winter

This morning when we left for church there was a mixture of rain and snow, but it quickly turned into big flakes. By the time we reached the end of the u-bahn line (about 40 minutes and 10 miles later), the plants and cars were covered in snow. And by the time we got off the bus about 15 minutes later for the last leg of our trek to church, the sidewalks were covered as well. It looked very nice, but I didn't like getting my feet wet.

Several hours later as we made our way home the snow had turned back into rain and the walk to the bus stop wasn't so fun. I've got to get some boots.

There wasn't a lot left by the time we got home, but we might get more tomorrow and Tuesday. Hopefully I'll have my camera with me.

Don't worry about me

You may remember a while back when we all got the awful news that The Office and other NBC shows would not be available on iTunes. This isn't really a huge problem for those of you in the U.S. who can watch The Office on TV or on NBC's website, but for those of us who live outside the U.S. it can be a real pain. Sure, there are plenty of places to watch episodes that have been recorded and uploaded to the Internet illegally. But I like to keep things on the up and up whenever possible.

This is where VeohTV comes in. VeohTV is a program you download that allows you to watch episodes of shows from several TV stations, including NBC. I don't know exactly how it works (even after reading the "How VeohTV Works" page on the website), but it works well. When I hit the play button, it starts playing immediately! No buffering! No waiting!

However -- there are a few drawbacks. There are commercials. Usually one at the beginning and two or three during the episode (depending on the length of the show). But there are commercials on regular TV, so that's not a big deal. The second drawback is that it looks like only the five most recent episodes are available. So you have to stay current. And then the other drawback is that it takes a bit longer for the episodes to show up. For example, The Office isn't generally available until Friday evening or maybe Saturday, but you can find it on those *other* sites Friday afternoon.

But still -- it's a pretty good deal. So don't worry about me and Brian. We're staying current with The Office -- and several other shows.

Getting it done

We get home from school around 3:15. Within the hour, it's pretty much dark outside. Usually when it gets dark so early it makes the days feel really short. But right now it's having the opposite affect on me. And I'm rather enjoying it. It makes me feel like I have a lot more time to get stuff done.

It's a bit past 8:00 right now. Since I got home from school I have...

...figured out how to use my new sewing machine. The manual is in at least 4 languages, none of which are English. While I couldn't find the manual in English online, I was able to find a manual for an older model that seems to be almost identical. I got as far as I could without any fabric to work with -- but that should be remedied tomorrow after Amanda and I visit a textile shop.

...prepared and eaten dinner. Curried Honey Mustard Chicken. So easy and so delicious. I've been thinking about it every since I tried the recipe a month or so ago. I forgot to decrease the amount of butter like reviewers suggested, so it turned out a little saucy. But the sauce is great over rice. And who doesn't like it a little saucy sometimes?

...cleaned the kitchen. Not just washed the dishes, but put away the cartons for recycling and cleaned the counters. I love it when there's nothing on the counter except the things that are supposed to be there -- the bread board, coffee maker and canisters. And in case you're wondering about the towel laying on the counter, I also...

...started on some bread. I love baking bread. This is the Sweet Dinner Rolls recipes. I made them half-size because the last time I made them they were huge. Good for sandwiches, but too big for dinner rolls. You want them to be small enough that you can eat two. :) I used Kräuter Butter (butter with herbs) instead of regular butter on half of these. (You can see the flecks of herbs on some of the rolls in the photo.) I'm excited to see how they turn out.

... completed my German homework. Well, it's almost complete. We have to translate a recipe from our home country into German. I translated the recipe yesterday, but I need to write it out today.

Now I'm off to bake the bread and finish my homework.

When it rains, it pours

Today as Brian and I were leaving for our German class, the postman met us at the front door -- with two packages! And yesterday he delivered a package, too. So that's three in two days!

And look what I found on one of the packages.


In case you can't make it out, it says, "Missent to Sydney Australia." And the shipping address even specified that Austria is in Europe.

I'm not going to detail the contents of all of the packages because I want to show you some things later, but I will tell you that Sharkdog was especially excited about the contents of one of the packages. Emily, a friend and former co-worker, and her family sent Brian and me some candy and cookie mixes and other goodies. And they included some goodies for Sharkdog as well.

Look at that! That one that's called "Bark Bars" -- I love it. It reminds me of Clark Bar and Kramer on Seinfeld.

I'll show you some of the stuff from the other packages later this week or early next week. I promise.

And a special thank you to all of you who have sent encouraging notes or emails or care packages. It's so nice to know that the old adage of "out of sight, out of mind" isn't true. We truly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers and know that you share with us in this ministry.

Feline tendencies

Sharkdog can be a little cat-like from time to time. Okay, most of the time. Maybe it's because we trained him to use a litter box. Maybe not. Here are a few shots of his cat behavior.

When we lived in OKC, Sharkdog loved to lay on the back of the couch and look out the window. Here he is sleeping on the back of the couch. He doesn't get on the back of the couch in our apartment in Vienna, but he has jumped over it a time or two.

Is it normal for a dog to curl up like this? I've only seen cats curl up this tight.

And here are some photos just for fun. The one below shows one of Sharkdog's favorite toys. (His favorite is a shark toy -- isn't that cute?) And the one below that... well, you'll just have to see.

More photos

I wrote earlier this week about our trip to Schwarzwaldeckhaus last weekend. We went with the Haskews and the Hayes family and a two individuals from the Inzersdorf congregation. Alex, one of the Hayes' boys (the middle one -- after all, the middle child is often the most talented, right?), took some amazing photos. There's a little sample below. Click on the links to see the full shot and check out his other photos on his Flickr account. He has several photos of sites in Vienna, but also some other interesting subjects.

1. a dash of hope, 2. Fairyland, 3. transience, 4. reliance

By the way, all three of the Hayes boys seem to be quite talented, not just Alex. Movie editing, photography, piano, classical guitar, cooking -- between the three of them just about everything is covered.