Eine Wucht!

Wuchteln are the ultimate comfort food! They are basically little yeast buns stuffed with marmalade, served with warm vanilla custard. Heaven!

I have been talking to one of my flatmates recently and tried to explain this traditional Austrian dish, which is actually served as a main course. So I decided to give it a go and show her what I mean.

I never made Wuchteln before. Usually my grandma makes a huge quantity of them and then the whole family’s having a feast. But I consulted her 24h-telephone service for grandchildren abroad and used the homemade marmalade I had saved for a special occasion, so essentially nothing could go wrong.
They turned out just as they are supposed to: fluffy and absolutely amazing. I got really nostalgic when I tried them, they tased just like home!

Now I’m really proud of myself, as I’m one step closer to being a really good grandma, but I’m also kinda food-induced homesick.

XX, Angie

A completely incompetent observation on style

One thing I observed while being in Spain is that Spanish women are so absolutely elegant. I can’t say I’ve travelled Spain far and wide, but I’ve seen it wherever I’ve been, Malaga, Barcelona and now in Coruña, and it just stuck with me. I also can’t exactly say I’m an expert, but to me it seems to be the attitude. A certain nonchalance and airiness. And I wish I could ever look as effortlessly graceful as the young woman I saw in one of the narrow streets of Coruña, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

I’ve seen it in some Italian women too, elegance and sophistication. “Beh, I’ve just put on what I had on hand…” But the Italian women do love a bit of sparkle and wear those glitter applications on tops, hats and shoes with pride. Oh, and some high heels of course.
But again, it’s that style. Noting too fashionable or tight. Just the right bit of daring. After all, it always seems to be so very tasteful.

According to me the British ladies on the other hand seem to compensate what they lack in style with fashion. No belly button will ever be hidden, if fashion dictates otherwise. And what about the Austrians? Well, ask my sister! 😉

There you go, that’s my completely unasked two cents worth on fashion and style.

XX, Angie

An Austrian summer

Basically I’ve spent the whole summer at home. Two and a half months: from the beginning of July to the middle of September. I guess that’s the perks of being a student! 🙂

I haven’t spent a full summer at home since I left for my Erasmus 5 years ago. Of course I usually came back for a couple of days during summer at some point, but I never spent that amount of time at home. And let me tell you: it was beautiful. I actually had time to arrive at home. I do confess that I never actually did empty my suitcase and it was just a messy little island in my room all the time, but I had time to breathe while I was home. Usually when I come home, it’s for a certain occasion, such as a wedding or Christmas, and then generally lots of appointments and catch-ups are involved in a rather short time. What I mean is that this time there were days in which I had nothing to do, when I went to my grandma’s for lunch, baked yet another cake or lied in the sun reading. I had time to do nothing.

And while I was home, I had time to reconnect with the little pleasures, that started to slip my mind. Like a late swim in the lake on a hot day or a spontaneous barbecue on our terrace. I had almost forgotten about the fireflies. I had time to rediscover and be astonished by the beauty of our region. I stared to suffer from that particular case of homesickness which I mentioned before: it always ever strikes me when I’m home.

Here’s some things that happened or which I enjoyed while being back home in Austria (and be sure it’s not an exhaustive list):

• My amazingly talented sister got her degree in traditional dressmaking and the whole family dressed in our traditional costumes and celebrated
• I did an internship in a web marketing agency
• My dad and me got soaked at the open air concert of Zucchero
• Having ice cream with Kathi in Salzburg
• Hiking with my dad
• We went to see the famous play Jederman and mingled with the rich and famous
• My dad, Kathi and me went to Italy over Ferragosto and had lots of cappuccino and cornetti and saw a fantastic firework
• Lots of barbecues on our terrace, some planned, some impromptu
• Lots of baking
• Lots of coffee with friends and family
• My grandmas cooking for me
• Making marmalade myself for the first time: apricot and whiskey flavour
• Motorcycle rides with my dad and Kathi
• Lots of bathing in our beautiful lakes
• Kathi tailored a bespoke and absolutely beautiful Dirndl for me
• Meeting up with my high school friends
• I got a new pair of glasses
• A blitz visit to Vienna, to participate at a Trekkie meeting, me being dressed as an intergalactic hitchhiker
• The leaves started to turn orange and slowly but surely autumn kept coming
• A weekend in the spa with mum and Kathi
• Lots of reading
• Seeing the Rolling Stones live in concert.

After seeing the Rolling Stones (!!!) live in concert (!!!) on a muddy race track and sleeping an estimate hour and a half, I left to Galicia early in the morning on the 17th of September. But that’s another story and shall be told in another blog post. 🙂

In the meantime enjoy some summer photos of my hometown, my family and some mountains.

XX, Angie

My family in our traditional costume

the commute to my internship

Burg Clam

Zucchero!

A little summer rain couldn’t break our moog

Dirndlfreitag

Hiking with my dad

Cathedral of Salzburg

Beach treasures

Italian breakfast

Caorle with my dad and sister

Ferragosto view ^^

the apricot tree in our garden…

… and what I made out of it 🙂

Kathi tailored this incredibly beautiful dress for me

sisters ❤

Salzburg in the rain

NOT the caribbean

Autum is coming

a girls weekend in the spa

May you live long and prosper

The obligatory Vienna tourist shot

I LOVE YOU MICK!

 

Pre-holidays

I have to admit I did a bit of a crazy thing: right in the middle of the exam session I went home to Austria for a whole week!

Well, let me explain: The main reason for going home just before exams ended, was my cousin getting married. Otherwise I’d probably waited until exams are over in order to go on holidays (like any sane person would…) But given the facts and the circumstance that I happened to have 13(!!) days without any exams right in the middle of June, I decided that instead of coming home just a couple of days for the wedding and stressing everyone out (including me), I’d stay the whole week. Easy.

It was a gorgeous week of early summer, filled with a beautiful wedding, barbecues on our terrace, motorcycle rides, a fashion photo shoot, many coffees in the sun and lots of cake, a walk in the narrow streets of Salzburg, going to the ballet with my sister, hiking with my dad and just being home. ❤

I suffer of a very particular case of home sickness – I only ever get it when I’m at home. When I am away, I’m mostly happy and don’t miss being at home very much (apart from that special occasion, when my relatives send me photos and make me miss them). But once I’m home, I realize how beautiful it is, how cozy and lovely and I miss being here all the time. I am not entirely sure if any of that makes any sense – but to me it does. 🙂

Welcome to Austria ^^

My beautiful cousin in that amazing dress my sister made!

Dressed up for the wedding

Schwesterherz

Father’s day motorcycle ride

Fashion shoot

Can you spot my house 😉

1278m

I feel like a tourist, taking pictures of everything!!

Coffee and cake. Always.

😀

Salzburg

Ballett “Forever 27”

Sunset on the flight back to Rome

I’m back in Rome now – for exactly two more weeks. I’m charged with energy to finish those exams and in a bit I’ll go on holidays again: back home to Austria!

XX, Angie

Christmas at home, like always <3

When I went to live in England with my sister, our mum made it quite clear: “You can go and live wherever you please, but at Christmas you have to be at home.” – and so it has been ever since. Some years just a couple of days, a hurry almost, some other years I spent weeks of festivities and re-charging batteries at home.
And so, just two days after coming back from Sicily, I packed my bags again (full of Panettone, Torrone, Italian sweets and coffee) as it was time to fly home for Christmas. ❤

I love this time of the year! Even tough it wasn’t cold enough in Rome and not anywhere near snowy, one could feel the hustle of the last days before Christmas and even at the airport the mood seemed different to me – or maybe I am just projecting my own expectations onto everyone else.

 

Christmas at home is almost a sacred ritual for me. I know exactly who we have lunch and dinner with what days and when and where we celebrate. It hasn’t changed in years and I find it very reassuring and calming. It’s almost as if those couple of days follow a meticulous plan (full of traditions and food) which has never really been established, it just happened and now it’s there and everyone follows it. 🙂

The days in between Christmas and New Year’s were full of friends, snow, baking and happy doing nothing. I like it when being home is “nothing special”, as in: the way it always used to be, nothing extraordinary or exceptional.

On the 31st of December Gonzo came to visit and in the early morning I went to pick him up at the Salzburg airport. We spent a lovely “boring” New Year’s Eve with my family, my grandmas competed in cooking traditional dishes for us, we went sledge riding, had walks and photo shoots in the snow and Gonzo insisted on learning how to ski – and he did really well, considering he’s a Spaniard who’s not used to snow! 😉 In short, we had a couple of super cozy wintery holiday-days.

And after those wintery days in Austria we went to London – but that’s another story and shall be told in another blogpost.

XX, Angie

But first: home!

I know, I know – But you just arrived! you’d say. I know. And believe me, my fist few days in Rome were quite intense: looking for a flat, getting to know the city and straight away attending a summer school.
But since leaving London, the idea has always been that if by the end of September and before the official start of lessons at uni there is some time left, we’d be going home. Well, initially I also wanted to spend some time in Galicia, but unfortunately flight schedules and prices didn’t cooperate – so I spent a whole of 10 days in Austria!! 😀

And it was amazing! The weekend I arrived, the fair was in town (the prefect occasion to wear the Dirndl), the weather was beau-ti-ful all week long, I spent a lot of time with my little sister and my family and both my grandmas agreed that the best was to get some more flesh on my ribs was to feed me proper traditional Austrian food.
Actually nothing outstanding happened, apart form afternoon coffees and cakes in the sun, stunning autumn days, long chats with my friends, cookie binges with my mum and motorcycle rides with my dad and my sister. Everything was just normal – but a normal that has become so rare for me that it was like the best thing ever to come down after a crazy summer and let me charge my batteries looking ahead to a stressful first semester.

And all I can say is that every time I get home, I am again surprised by the beauty of Austria – I guess by now I’m annoying everyone back home with my sudden exclamations of joy when we drive down a super ordinary street. ^^ And everything is even more beautiful in autumn, when everything slowly turns orange!

Anyway, now I’m back in Italy, fully relaxed and full of food and sunshine, ready to tackle a new challenge.

Hab euch alle lieb daheim und ihr fehlst ma jetzt schon!

XX, Angie

Austrian Sunday lunch

Today started off as super sunny and almost spring-ish – and so did my mood. But as the day proceeded, clouds appeared, wind set in and eventually it started to rain. But that’s ok.  I’m still in good humour. Because I’m used to it by now. (Did you hear me, London? I know you and Sunshine have some troubles, but don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me any more. Well, at least most of the time.) And also because Gonzo and me went out for a very special lunch today. We went to Kipferl near Portobello Road for Austrian Tapas. Yes, right. 🙂

Ok, now let me explain. The other week me and Isa discovered Kipferl, the Austrian café near Angel. And doing my homework afterwards, I found out that they have another Kneipe and Kitchen at Portobello, specialized in Austrian Tapas. Of course all the Spanish people in my life found the mere idea of tapas being Austrian hilarious, but after all it was just another reason to actually go there and try them.
And let me tell you, it was amazing. Basically by tapas they mean ‘little portions’. Which is genious, because so you can order different dishes and taste them all!

And here’s Gonzo and my Menu of the Day:

mains:

• Steirischer Backhendlsalat (salad with mini Schnitzel in pumpkin seeds)
• Mushroom Gulasch with Serviettenknödel (sliced bread dumpling)
• Wiener Schnitzel with parsley potatoes and cranberry sauce

and for dessert:

• Sachertorte (famous chocolate cake)
• Marillen Palatschinken (pancakes with apricot jam)
• accompanied by two Kleiner Brauner coffees

Guys, it was great! The waiter was a happy and chubby Austrian, the food was amazing and tasted like home, I had Almdudler (herb lemonade) and Gonzo finally believed me that soup with sliced pancakes is a thing (he read it on the menu). I am so full and happy now! I think that was one of the best Sunday lunches I had in a while! ❤

We finished our afternoon with a walk in Portobello Road, shopping at the Spanish supermarket (to compensate the overdose of Austrian-ness, I suppose) and then made our way back home, trough wind and rain.

I hope you had an equally wonderful and tasty (hopefully less windy!) Sunday!
XX, Angie

http://www.kipferl.co.uk