Mozart is an venerable 250 years old today. The feeding frenzy in Austria leading up to this event began some time ago. My favorite odd by product of this marketing extravaganza is the Mozart-Wurst, a violin shaped sausage made from beef, pork, and pistachios. The creater, butcher Stefan Fuchs from Groedig, said the idea came to him in a dream. Now we know what butchers dream of.
For sometime, Salzburg has been a festival of kitchy Mozart based souvenirs, so they must have really had to stretch to come up with anything new. There’s a whole lot of mention of a bra that plays Eine Kleine Nachtmusik when unfastened, but I can’t actually find one online.
On the cake front, there’s the new Mozarttorte, described as a symphony of ultralight chocolate-hazelnut batter filled with exquisite pistachio marzipan and delicious nougat in soft chocolate icing will stay put in your memory just like the sounds of Mozart’s “Little Night Music” did. Maybe your memory of this music depends on who was wearing the bra and what was happening while it was being unfastened.
You can also purchase a Mozart Scent, though I can’t help but wonder why you’d want to smell of the 1700s, a time before extensive indoor plumbing. There’s Mozart Liquor, maybe the same thing as the scent, who knows? There’s a broad selection of fridge magnets and teddy bears and t-shirts and oh, yeah, CDs. Of course.
Last, but certainly not least, there are Mozartkugeln, unfortunately translated as “Mozart Balls.” The classic Mozartkugel is an incomparable taste experience consisting of a marzipan centre,surrounded by layers of light and dark chocolate praline cream, coated in finest rich dark chocolate. Actually, they’re freakin’ delicious and there is little to stop a person from plowing through a whole bag of them in one sitting. In a few weeks we’re meeting up with a friend that lives in Italy and what did she ask us to bring? Mozartkugeln.
Wolfgang, who knows what you’d have made of this? We all saw that movie and remember how they tossed you in a common grave at the end. Would you think it funny to see us photographing ourselves in front of your old house in Salzburg, buying baseball caps with your likeness on them? (I’m trying to imagine that myself. Dead 250 years, I come back and see tourists lined up in front of that place I used to live.) Maybe you’d just laugh at us?
Es is dir ziehmlich wurst, sicher. (An Austrian expression meaning, it’s sausage to you, you don’t care.) No matter. Austria embraces you on your geburtstag. Slice off another bit of that Mozarttorte for me, wouldja?
Excellent. I am especially in awe of your skill in working Mozart Balls and a sausage snark in the same posting.
You should really be paid the big bucks for these travel vignettes. Seriously. Could you take a look at the Austrian fun calendars and write about what’s coming up – National Ledenhosen Week, Drindl Derbies, etc. – and then submit your publish-worthy pieces?
I swear, I am not kissing your butt.
Our local paper was out of production for about a month during the Xmas break. (What kind of newspaper takes a Xmas break and how do I get a job there?) I was DEVASTATED by this not because I am so dependent on the Ennstaler Woche for news, but because they publish a weekly calendar of local events. I am forever dragging the husband off to see, oh yeah, an entire village replicated in gingerbread or some such crazy thing. I LOVE that stuff.
I get small to medium bucks from time to time for stuff like that. Thank you for appreciating my undiscovered talent. 🙂