So, first a bunch of photos for your viewing pleasure and then a short story about how knitting, Vienna and the internet saved a birthday cake. Enjoy!
Our favorite chef threw a farewell party for us a week before we left Vienna.
Friends from Germany and Vienna came to see us off.
We drank good Wiener Wasser (Vienna water) and a lot of wine.
Gino was sad to be saying goodbye.Or maybe he just wanted to be in the middle, just like Loyd.
We took a break from packing to visit Bratislava.
I took a break from packing to knit with Rita who gave me this gorgeous handspun, hand-dyed (with Chestnut) yarn.
We spent our last evening in Vienna on the Kitchen Deck, eating a wonderful meal.This is "my" rhubarb/beet/potato soup.
Chicken skewered on cinnamon sticks with couscous.
the cheese course
Rhubarb Tart for dessertVielen dank, Angelika!
Fast forward a month... We've settled back into our MN home. We're loving having a dog in our life full-time again; missing Loyd was our only symptom of homesickness while we lived in Vienna. I returned to work. People keep asking, "what was the best thing?" At first I thought this was an impossible question to answer - how do I pick just one thing from a wonderful five months? Then, one time I didn't think, I just answered, "the people. I made amazing friendships there." So, if you're planning a trip to Vienna, we can give you recommendations of sites to see and things to do, but we're also going to tell you to make a reservation at theDiningRoom so you can meet one of our favorite Viennese and then I'll tell you to find a way to meet some new friends of your own.
My circle of Viennese friends keeps growing. Last week, I decided to make a Red Wine Chocolate cake like Jutta made for Curt's birthday. Yesterday was the 8th annual Leo picnic and one of my fellow Leos thought she'd really like that cake. Jutta had given us a couple of recipes in German. I tried one and it was a total failure. I had to guess at the amount of baking powder in a "packet." Instead of using my brain and mixing it like I always mix cakes, I tried to follow the vague instructions. It was AWFUL. I posted about it on my personal (mostly knitting) blog late at night, while waiting for it to cool a bit before tipping it out of the pan. By morning, there was an email waiting for me. A woman who had seen me at World Wide Knit In Public day in the Volksgarten wrote to tell me that, while she hadn't talked to me that day, she admired my yarn and found a link to my blog at Rita's website. She offered her Grandmother's recipe for the cake which I gladly accepted. She sent it and a translation, including the number of grams in her packets of baking powder (VERY helpful) and I made it late Friday night. It was a big hit at the party, especially with vanilla ice cream.
So, the answer to that question: "what was the best thing?" has become so easy. My favorite thing about Vienna is the people. IS, not was.
My circle of Viennese friends keeps growing. Last week, I decided to make a Red Wine Chocolate cake like Jutta made for Curt's birthday. Yesterday was the 8th annual Leo picnic and one of my fellow Leos thought she'd really like that cake. Jutta had given us a couple of recipes in German. I tried one and it was a total failure. I had to guess at the amount of baking powder in a "packet." Instead of using my brain and mixing it like I always mix cakes, I tried to follow the vague instructions. It was AWFUL. I posted about it on my personal (mostly knitting) blog late at night, while waiting for it to cool a bit before tipping it out of the pan. By morning, there was an email waiting for me. A woman who had seen me at World Wide Knit In Public day in the Volksgarten wrote to tell me that, while she hadn't talked to me that day, she admired my yarn and found a link to my blog at Rita's website. She offered her Grandmother's recipe for the cake which I gladly accepted. She sent it and a translation, including the number of grams in her packets of baking powder (VERY helpful) and I made it late Friday night. It was a big hit at the party, especially with vanilla ice cream.
So, the answer to that question: "what was the best thing?" has become so easy. My favorite thing about Vienna is the people. IS, not was.
3 comments:
We're sure glad you're back.
Awesome story about the cake! I love that you were making it for the Leo party -- how fitting since it represents so much of what you were up to for the last year. I think you should post the recipe.
Oh, what surprise that Midwester Wienr is alive again ! Thank you so much, my friend, for all your kind words, and you know that you are somehow the Godmother of theDiningRoom ! So - if I finally send your birthday package, will you send me the photos ? Would love to see you smile, but I can imagine... much much love, angelika and gino
Post a Comment