Monday, July 30, 2012

Austrian food and good company

Saturday July 28th, 2012

Most of Saturday was spent unpacking and doing laundry. We also did some yardwork and cleaning to prepare for a barbecue the next day.

My austrian mother made some sweet dumplings for dinner. They were filled with apricot and covered with a cinnamon/suger mixture of some sort.

Mmmmnn. A pan of homemade dumplings.

Inside of dumplings


Sunday July 29th, 2012


Finally, the day of the barbecue! I spent the morning on the lake with the kids and then we headed back to the house when the guests (more family) arrived.


Most of the food was already cooked by my austrian mother but my austrian uncle had brought some mushrooms that he had picked. He cleaned them and then fried them. I learned that to properly bread something you must (in this order) dip it in flour, egg, and bread crumbs.

Austrian uncle posing with the breaded mushrooms. I believe the type of mushroom is a parasol?

Frying the mushrooms

My austrian father got some meat going on the grill and the alcohol was brought out. The food was laid out in a buffet style and we would take our plates and pick what we wanted to eat.

Salad, potatoes, garlic bread, some sort of cucumber and sour cream sauce (always is present at a barbecue). Later a small sausage covered in bacon and filled with cheese would be added to this plate.

Usually after the main meal the adults sit and talk but the kids tend to run off to burn off some energy. I managed to collect them all at one point and we watched the "Wallace and Gromit" shorts in English. They were somewhat resistant to the idea of watching it in English at first but since none of the movies I brought from the U.S. have german subtitles or dubs they didn't really have a choice. They seemed to understand most of it though.

Later in the evening, people decided to go to the lake for a short swim. Most of the party went except for myself and a few others (including my austrian cousin).

Shortly after they left a heavy rainstorm hit and we actually got hail coming down for awhile.

It's hailing! Commentary by my austrian cousin and I.

After it stopped hailing it was still raining. My austrian cousin and I watched the family run back to the house in their swimsuits.

The size of the hail.
And of course you can't have a party without some dessert. My austrian mother made some sort of cream and apricot dessert (along with fruit sauces).

On the left is some sort of mild coconut cream/ricotta mix and on the right is a light cream with apricot gelatin filling.

The kids had a dancing party before bed and my austrian parents had the dishwasher going to work on the barbecue clean-up.

I've noticed that the dishwasher washes anything from pots and plates to silver and wineglasses. I'm not sure if this is typical of all austrian households but it is nice to not have to hand wash the pots (as I would do at home). :D


Monday July 30th, 2012

Monday was fairly quiet and I made some salsa for my austrian family. My austrian brother and cousin aren't very big on tomatoes and tried to get away with just eating the chips *hides the chips*. My austrian sister responded more favorably and my austrian parents seemed very happy with it. Maybe tomorrow I will try dutchbaby? Usually anything sweet seems to work for the kids although my austrian cousin can be a little picky. We shall see....

The weather wasn't bad but there wasn't much interest in going to the lake. The kids worked on their treehouse although occasionally they would disappear and I would go on a hunt for them. Typically they would turn up in front of the t.v. or computer.

*walks around and sees austrian brother and sister at computer*

Me: "I thought you (austrian sister) were going to the toilet?"
Austrian sister: "I was on my way to the workshop and I saw my brother at the computer so I had to stop by."
Me: "So you had to stop by? Hmm....."

I manage to distract them from the computer though with an offer of watching Wall-E in English. As always they complained a little about watching it in English, but alas, my dvds have no german sub/dub option :D It was their first time watching Wall-E and they seemed to understand most of it (the first half is mostly just expressions and sounds so they enjoyed that, they had a little more trouble following the ship scenes where you get people and more speech).

My austrian mother came home and made some dinner (sausage, and some sort of bread dumpling that was in the shape of a loaf). The kids worked on their treehouse some more and then we headed down to the lake in the evening for a boat repair and swimming. I was a little wary of going to the lake since not only had there been thunder and a few raindrops, but the hail incident was still fresh in my mind. Sure enough, we reached the lake hut and it started to rain. The kids jumped in to the lake and it started to pour, while my austrian father and I huddled under an umbrella. We decided to head back to the house and get ready for bed.

Right now we are not only getting heavy rain but also some wind. Hopefully the weather will clear up for tomorrow. That is all for today, ciao!

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