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End of the Season

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

We took one last ski trip to finish out the season, so I’ll do one more blog about my favorite winter sport.  We spent a great long weekend in Kitzbuhel and got in a few final days of skiing.  We learned the lesson quickly that the best snow conditions were first thing in the morning before the beautiful sunshine had time to make it slushy.

Kitzbuhel is a lovely town, but there were signs that the season was ramping down.  There was not much apres-ski and some of the slopes, including the famous Hahnenkamm were getting muddy at the bottom.  Bring on Spring!

If you want to see glamour shots of the mountain, check out our photo galleries (link at right).  Here’s a few alternate views of the trip:

Each of the gondolas has a plaque for a different ski champ. Most of them are Europeans who I’ve never heard of, but I had a good feeling about the weekend when we got on the first time and saw this…

Freshly groomed!  First one down this slope…

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A good day graphed

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

The photo below could be a graph of anything – maybe seasonal unit sales data or a cardiogram.  It is, however, a graph of a good day on the ski slopes.  We recently spent 2 of the last 4 weekends on overnight ski trips, the first at Zell am See and the second to Obertauern.  Nearly every weekend we’ve been going to the local ski slopes, and in reality neither of these resorts is that far from where we live.  However, there is definitely something different about not having to drive home after a long day on the pistes, and rolling out of bed the next morning onto the mountain.  And then there are the outdoor hot tubs for sore muscles.  Ahh!

The apres-ski thing deserves it’s own blog for some other time too, but I should wrap up by explaining the graph.  Some of the mountains have a tracking system tied to the chip in your lift pass card.  Every time you go up a lift or ski down a hill, it is recorded.  When you stop at a hut for a break, you can scan your card and it prints the details of where you’ve been.  Some of the resorts also have an app for your mobile phone that track your skiing via GPS.

We got a few more runs in after this was printed.  It’s very strange to see a fun day quantified this way:

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Box of Chocolates

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

As the “Forest Gump” saying goes, you never know what you’re gonna get.  Living here in Austria is a bit like that.  Our town organizes all sorts of events and really brings in the tourists.  If you read the local papers (which is still pretty difficult for me) or stop by the tourist office, you can find out all the activities from art exhibits to concerts.  I tend to just wait and see what’s happening, and since we live on the main square it usually doesn’t take too long for us to find out.

However, sometimes it’s still a surprise…  Last Thursday the peaceful afternoon was disturbed by what sounded like firecrackers being set off.  The loud popping turned out to be men dressed in old-fashioned outfits cracking whips walking down the street past our house.  They were followed by  something I can’t really describe, so I’ll just post a picture of it below.  These things each had a few huge cowbells tied around their waists and make quite a racket while they danced down the street.

In about 15 minutes they were gone, leaving me stunned and stumped.  After a little research on the internet, I found out that they are called Kurents and are from Slovenia.  They help scare away Winter, and were invited here as part of a cultural exchange as we get ready for Fasching this week.  Hopefully they bring some nice weather!

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad, Slovenia | 1 Comment »

Just Do It

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

I can’t believe it’s the end of January already.  I guess I owe you all a belated Happy New Year (of both the Western and Chinese varieties).  I keep saying that I’m going to write a blog, but every time I try to do it there seems to be something else I need to do. No excuses, I’m just being lazy.

We spent about 2 1/2 weeks in the US visiting some family and friends and getting a little work done.  It was great to go shopping and eat out – I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate getting a good burger, taco, and curry (not all at once).

Back in Austria we are faced with Winter. The cold and the darkness can be hard to deal with, but we’re coping by doing what most Austrians do.  There is just enough snow to cover the ski slopes and the lakes are all frozen, so that means every weekend is a ski-skate double header for us.

I must admit that I’m enjoying it a lot more this year.  Last year at this time we were scrambling to find furniture and appliances, to build our Ikea bed and closets, and to move into our apartment.  We squeezed in a few outdoor activities whenever we could.  This year we’re settled in and know the good resorts and the best times to go.  Here’s what we’ve been up to:

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K is for Cookie

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Actually K is for Kekse, but I don’t think the Cookie Monster song translates well into German.   Another thing that doesn’t translate well are my Christmas cookie recipes.  I started out with 5 target recipes and went shopping.  I found the ingredients for 3 of them.  Some things like Reese’s chips or instant oatmeal just don’t exist in our village.  It’s not that Austrians aren’t into baking.  There are huge displays in the grocery store of flour, sugar, nuts, spices, and all the stuff needed to make cakes, gingerbread, and all sorts of Christmas treats, just not cookies.

I should have taken the hint when I tried to buy an extra cookie sheet and couldn’t find one among the 20 types of cake pans and spring forms.  Instead of swapping between two trays, I decided to just use the one that I had brought from the US.  This would have been a good plan except that when I went to put the first batch into the oven, it didn’t fit.  It was about 2 inches too wide.  After a brief panic, we ended up using the broiler pan set on a higher rack.

Considering the pan situation and a few ingredient substitutes, the M&M (yes! they have those) cookies turned out close to normal, but a little crunchy (read: rock solid).   We’ve been eating them anyway, so they can’t be too bad.

A few other things I’ve learned: Vanilla is called Bourbon Vanilla and is a powder, not a liquid.  Backpulver is something like baking powder, there is no baking soda, and cream of tartar is called Natron and sold in organic health food stores. I’m going to try my new knowledge out on batch of peanut butter cookies tonight.  Stay tuned.

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad | 3 Comments »

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