lifting of shops

Every month, we have to bring a snack for the kindergarten. Actually, two, since we have two kids in kindergarten. This month, against my better judgement, I signed up for both kids on the same day, specifically a Monday.

Sundays in Graz are quiet, and everything is closed. So I knew I had to do the shopping before then. Brian was in London all week, but then on Saturday we got some fruit from the farmer, and some cheese from the store, and I figured I'd bake bread on Monday morning, and bring it to the kindergarten by 7AM or so.

Fast forward to Valentines day night, Sunday night, we stay out late and have the fun of being out alone, thanks to my sister reading the kids to sleep.

Monday morning, I forget that I have to bring snacks, so I don't bake bread. At 7:30, I remember, oops, way too late to start that project. Quick, stop at the store on the way and grab some loaves of bread and hurry hurry.

So off I go, in the rain, on the bike. I run inside, grab my 2 things, and while I'm paying the cashier grabs my bag out of my hand and points at the cheese that I bought last week.

OH.

I didn't think of that.

I told him I bought that last week, and he asked if I could prove it. I couldn't.
He asked his coworker if she remembered me buying cheese last week. She couldn't. (of course not!)
I asked if he could prove I didn't have it with me on the way in the store. He couldn't.

So he let me go, thank goodness!

Whew, I was totally innocent of the wrongdoing, and yet I was nervous and stressed out. Imagine those people who are coerced into confessions for big crimes. I totally understand how that can happen. - You know, when you are stopped while driving, and your heart rate goes up up up, and you think of all the things you've done wrong in traffic?

Embarrassing ironic addendum to the story. Later that day, Felix accidentally helped me really take something from the same store. We bought some fruit, and he took one more than I knew about. I noticed when I got home and checked the receipt. Very oops. And very ironic.

corroboration

I didn't make everything up.

Amanda totally baked a cake with me last weekend. :)

A very special meal

Yes another post about food, and a little bit about philosophy - Phoodosophy?

We've been eating pretty much entirely local food. Because, well, it's available, cheap, and tastes amazing. All through the winter, farmers brave the cold, sometimes covering their delicate lettuces with blankets too keep them from freezing. But everyone hits a bit of winter blahs sometimes. I needed summertime tastes. In a cold snap in February.

This meal is not the most amazing meal ever, in terms of taste. But when we made it, the kids, who are used to brushing carrots, washing fruits, coring lettuce, noticed Mama just opening up packages. Why are we making this special meal?

Not photogenic, not the best veggies but.... Let's explain why this is so special.

First up, Quinoa, you traveled the farthest to be here. Produced in Peru, you were imported into the United States, and then brought in a Suitcase to Austria. You're a dry good, so you last a long time. Thanks!

Frozen basil. Probably Italian in origin, though you can't be sure.

This  cheese for garnish, somewhere between dry cheddar and parmesan, you traveled from Italy for sure.

Direct from China, packaged in Germany.

Broccoli "of unknown origin" but they are sure it's "harvest fresh" Hey that's one of our US brand names, what are you doing here?!

Corn from Austria. Ok that's kind of local. Kind of.

And my trusty Greek Olive oil. One of the only things that we regularly grab from out of country.

PLUS, not shown,  a handful of nuts from California, and some Tahini from Egypt.

Assemble them all. 5 continents. lots of countries. non-seasonal. = Underwhelming but overall VERY SPECIAL meal.

We are so lucky that we can have this kind of global possibility and chose not to use it.

Today? Fresh salad and fresh herbs and fresh potatoes and fresh eggs, direct from the farmer lady who calls me "Die Kleine" or "the little one" (debate is still open as to where that nickname came from)

Also green Oil from Pumpkinseeds pressed in the next town. The story's simpler and more boring, but you can taste the vitamins!

Cousins

So my cousins dropped by for a few hours (in January, yes, I'm behind). One from Germany and one from Switzerland. They were visiting their grandmother.

We went out for a few drinks starting at 10pm, and noticed we've gotten older.

Also, I found out that a martini in Graz is not a martini. I am not quite sure what it is though.

Breakfast and much needed strong coffee the next morning, then they were off again.

Somebody's Birthday

Somebody close to me had a birthday on the last day of January. :)

The end of January was pretty warm. It meant we could go for a walk on the Schlossberg, where we started off covered in warm winter clothes and ended up with me carrying all the coats and hats in a bag (I knew that would happen so I was prepared)
We had a dinner party for Brian, where he pretended he was surprised about everything.

One surprise highlight: Papa, don't look in the oven, there's a surprise in there!

Playing together, building ramps for their trains.

Brian has no idea what's in this one.

Or in this one...

Henry setting out with winter coat and hat and mittens...... and when we got there.......

We found crocuses.

And dandelions.

And right after taking this picture, a random guy came running down the Schlossberg barefoot.

This is the hazy view of the city.

Baking with Amanda, revamped

This time the recipe used no weird ingredients. Two different countries, two different styles.

5 eggs, 3/4cup sugar, 1cup flour OR 1cup ground hazelnuts .... whisk egg whites till stiff, add sugar, beat more, stir in yolks, fold in flour. cover with sliced apples and cinnamon sugar (if you want, or frost or do whatever) .... Go everybody! I cut mine into 10 pieces. Even with hazelnuts, each piece is only 150 calories.

Theodore and Felix beating

Folding nuts in at the end.

Henry showing off the cinnamon sugar for the top.

Amanda ready to beat with the beaters she found at her apartment. She seems to have everything.

Pre phonecall

Post phonecall

During phonecall

Taking a picture of someone taking a picture in another country. Ain't technology the best?

SOOOO GOOOD

a street scene from August

Our family went to some La Strada events, which is a street festival, all over the city for days, where the audience becomes the show somehow. This particular event was just down the street from us, and all it was a rotating pedestal for which there were no instructions. There was a tune playing on repeat, namely a children's rhyme, about a made-up-person named "Bi Ba Butzemann" The words are something like: A Bi Ba Butzemann dances in our house. He shakes himself and twists himself, then throws his bag over his shoulder. A Bi Ba Butzemann circles round our house."

There was a sign though that said you were on camera, From their website:

"For your security, this area is under video surveillance." Whilst, in former times, physical walls excluded unwelcome visitors and restrained them from hanging around in particular places, today other access restrictions are being brought to bear -  imposed over people’s heads by the cameras possessing a power, range and field of view that most people are unable to comprehend. With a fine touch and precision, Zweintopf explore the rapidly increasing monitoring of urban public space by invisible eyes in the form of cameras. Their installation renders boundaries and lines visible once more, actively includes the audience in the otherwise invisible communication and invites the question, who is actually working behind the scenes here, who is observing, comparing, evaluating? And above all, to what end?

Oh and video takes 100 years to edit, so I am actually ahead on this, even though as far as editing goes, this is relatively minimal.

Holidays

Well, happy belated holidays, everyone. Who's to say we can't celebrate every day of the year though? So, happy every day holiday, everyone!

Reading with Tante Centa. One of DudiDadi's (Uncle Rainer) books from childhood.

The Christmas tree appeared lit with candles late on Christmas eve. Before this quiet moment, where the children admired the tree, there was a spontaneous dance for joy that turned into an impromptu child-style contra. The mood was great!

Didi Patz (Mary) and Theodore. Theodore almost made it to midnight on New Years Eve.

Agnes not so much. 

A

See? Theodore was still awake when we were pouring the beer. And I mean... THE beer.

Martin pours Centa a glass.

I misstyped "beer" as "bear"about 5 times in that previous sentence. Perhaps you can tell which word I write more often.

word origins

It has come to my sudden attention that
Experiment and Experience are related words.

This is important because the connection between the words is a fixture in my every day life.

Trying new things,
Trying old things new ways,
Trying new methods on old ideas,

these all lead to our being experienced.

Without experience we have no past.
Without experiment we cannot grow.

The beauty of biking

I just have to say...... We LOVE biking everywhere.

Here's the top 5 reasons why.

Fitness: 
It's not a lot, but it's nice to say, I did nothing but drop the kids off at school and pick them up today. But still. 2 miles of biking. cool.

Parking:
Literally Anywhere. I went to a concert at a fancy place in the middle of downtown. And parked right by the front door.

"Keys":
No digging through pockets. Just combo and go.

Road Rage:
or lack thereof. It still exists, but it's hard to stay mad at people when you can see their eyes.

Money:
I've spent um...... $0.67 so far, on a new lightbulb. Since July. That's my bike transportation budget. Maybe if I'm unlucky, I might have to put in new innertubes sometime next year. ;)

a visit to our relatives

W went for a visit to Ingrid and Manfred's abode. As to how we are related, our mother and Ingrid's grandparents were siblings. but who cares, blood is thicker than anything else, right.

So we went for dinner, which we'll get to, but they live in this gorgeous suburb of Graz so before dinner, we went on a little mini hike around some castle grounds with lots of animals and such.

Brian teaching them to climb fences.

Felix being very successful at learning to climb fences.

The 4 boys running on a dirt path, to use up energy before stopping at the playground.

Theo and Felix sliding together. Henry close behind.

It's good that we arrived after some exercise and cold air to make us hungry. There were many foods made by Manfred, who is a fantastic cook, and who had been working at it all day.

We were greeted with champagne.

A bean salad, a green salad and a beet salad, with potato strudel. The kids ate a LOT at this course.

Then celeriac schnitzel (!) with turnip sauce, which was incredible.

Then potatoes au gratin with swisschard.  mmmm.

[side note: in german, swiss chard is called mangold, which is such an interesting name, but then, swiss chard is also an interesting name.]

Lots of wine bottles were emptied until here.

Then we had coffee and desert...

We lit the first candle because it was the first Sunday of Advent.

Dessert was an applecake.

Theo, Ingrid, Manfred, Centa and Brian

Of course, there was more wine and cheese and afterdinner dinking, delicious grappa, and the conversation was delightful the whole time.

Ingrid told us that the only thing we still had to do when we got home was get into bed. 

And she was right. :)

Not-French Onion Soup

Quick recipe I *had* to share. Easy and quick.

It goes like this:
chop lots of onions, big and small pieces
mix with some soysauce and oil

cook on medium heat till it smells unbearably good, add some water, and boil till all the onions are soft.

eat with a spoon.

Thanksgiving away

Grateful and happy was the resounding theme as we went around the table.

It was thus;
We grew up in a family of enormous numbers and are used to corresponding enormous thanksgiving parties. Often we absorbed "extra" people - that is, foreign exchange students who had didn't know about the holiday, people who's family lived too far away, or stragglers from other thanksgiving parties who liked our's better. ;)

Here there is no Thanksgiving, but they have St. Martin's day (see all about the Laternenfest) where it's traditional to roast a goose and have all the trimmings. Turkey goose same gander.

So my sister has been hosting Graz Thanksgiving for a few years, and she decided to do it in terrific style this year. There were two centerpieces of dinner. One the traditional brown stuffed animal (not a bear!) and one a manificent vegetarian (actually, probably vegan, I'm not 100% sure) stuffed gigantic pumpkin which slow roasted all day.
Chestnuts are quite common here, as are specialty mushrooms, and everyone who came brought something. Our table was stuffed to the gills, and eventually we were too.

Multigenerational, multinational, multitraditional and we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. Even people who were uncomfortable with being put on the spot had positive things to say. The rule was enforced for late comers too. All told, close to 35 people were there over the course of the long night. I only have some pictures from the beginning, when only a few people were there, and my dear sister was playing ultimate hostess. Carving.

And from the other side. 

My new friend Manuela had her trusty camera with her and got some action shots of our kids eating at the kiddie table:

All five of us. 

Their terrific chefs hats that we made ourselves with printer paper and wax paper. Fun project!

Felix struggling to keep awake.

No longer struggling. Now just snuggling. Yes, he's wearing an apron, and holding three stuffed animals and reading a book, and fell asleep pointing at something.

And what are we grateful for?? That our first Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving was full of welcoming people, whether they knew us or not. <3 p="">

Laternenfest

So I wrote already about skipping Halloween, and how it didn't sadden me much.

Here on November 11, or 11.11, is St. Martin's day, which is not technically a holiday, but gets celebrated in schools and kindergartens, with lanterns that kids make themselves, and walk around the town with.

Unfortunately, Brian had to miss it, because he was in London all week for work.

I got asked to take photographs for our kindergarten lantern festival, but that afternoon, all their lights stopped working, and I don't use a flash in the dark (I use it in the light for other reasons)

Anyways, that morning, Felix and I made a lantern so he wouldn't feel left out, and that night, we sang lantern songs and watched the kids walk around carrying candles surrounded by wax paper. No fires occurred, but cuteness was found.

That morning, with paint brushes.

Only a few of about 50 lanterns that the kids made themselves in kindergarten.

Theodore in the middle of his class walking around. Most kids were too distracted by the candles to sing.

Felix and Tante Centa, with his candle.

A proud Henry looking into the light.