If a local tells you that you must get up at half past five to drive for an hour so you can have a bath, your best course of action is to believe her. Our friend Sabine said we needed to be there at daybreak and repressing our skepticism, we believed her. It was in …
We spent our first night in Tuscany at the home of an old friend of a friend, Hannes, and his wife, Margit. They have a midsized farm where they rent out holidaycottages and they grow olives for oil. Shortly after we arrived we were in the barn helping Hannes clean the leaves out of that …
Last year when Christian and Sabine tried to take us on a little walking tour of their nearby city, Steyr, it poured with rain. Instead of sightseeing, we ate cookies and read books to their little girls and frittered away the afternoon in a gemuetlich (cozy) way. This year we did that too, but in …
Sunday morning we went up the hill to have a little lunch and to hang out with some folks who own a restaurant up there. The husband has been friends with these folks, well, forever, the way you are friends with people in a small town where you all go to tiny schools together. It’s …
Christmas eve Cream of leek soup with toasted brown bread croutons Warm rolls right out of the oven Beet salad with horseradish dressing Green salad with pumpkin seed oil dressing Deviled eggs with anchovies Paper thin slices of ham with rosemary Smoked saibling (lake trout?) from the Grundlsee Tomato and garlic bruchetta spread Brie, blue …
Austria is a land of high mountains. No, it’s true. And at this time of year, those high mountains tend to be covered with snow. That is also totally true, I am not making it up. In the summer, ordinary people like you and me can drive our cars up to high parking lots and …