What I cooked this week

 

I tried this recipe this week from a German cooking magazine. You know the saying...when in Rome! Or, in my case, Austria. We cook with different ingredients in North America and sometimes it can be an exercise in frustration to find ingredients. So, I am buying German cooking magazines and trying new things. The owl in the picture says the whole family will like it. Hmm.  My son has never had leek before, but we all love chicken so I gave it a try. I bought the leek at the Farmers' Market. You pre-fry the chicken and cook the sliced leek for 8 minutes. The sauce is basically cream, broth and mustard. I used a 50% reduced fat cooking cream. I also made 2x more sauce because sauce makes a nice left over for rice for another meal. So, here is my photo...

Maybe not as colorful, but so very good. I will make this again. Served with salad. I think next time I will add some peas to the rice or something for a bit more color. But no matter, we all really liked it!

One day my husband and I wanted an afternoon snack and I quickly made these. Sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, some spices, moz. cheese and fresh basil...baked in the oven for about 12 minutes and served on bread...Small dish of balsamic vinegar on the side for dipping...so good!

My husband made this wonderful stew early yesterday morning before I was even out of bed. It simmered on the stove all day. We had it over rice with tazekki sauce late yesterday afternoon and over egg noodles late this afternoon. I love egg noodles with stew! Delicious!  And those soft potatoes, a favorite of mine. Mmmm.

We were in Vienna last weekend until Monday so it was a short cooking week. We were away 2 nights and that was plenty for me. I was starting to miss my own kitchen! We got home on Monday around noon. Usually we have Sunday left-overs to start out the week, so this week was a bit out of order. Monday night I cooked a fabulous poached salmon dinner with stir fry veggies. Poached salmon is so quick and easy when you are at a loss about what to make. ..I like to put some soy sauce with freshly chopped ginger into the pan for poaching.

Frozen bio salmon. 

I like spaghetti so much I have it at least one time a week. My son likes little sausages wrapped in bacon so we had that this week too with lots of frozen veggies and pan fried potatoes (you boil them 1st). And that is pretty much the week!

Above is a goofy photo...my husband is testing me on my German vocabulary words. We are sharing a piece of delicious apple strudel cake that I got early in the day at a bakery. Herbal tea in my favorite mugs. I always get the red kitty mug. I am studying very hard. My first test I failed, the 2nd test I got an A once I understood the test format. Next test is Tuesday. More tea with honey, please! Oh! And I was painting my nails! You can just see the corner of my nail polish box in the photo. Just a normal night at home.

It was a lovely day today in Graz. My son and I went out for a long walk...we packed sandwiches and drinks. Good thing because it was warmer than I expected. We have fall leaves, but some roses are still hanging on! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Vienna weekend in photos

Too much to write, so I am just going to share a bunch of photos from last weekend in Vienna!

The drive to and fro was very pretty!

This is an old WWII anti aircraft tower, which now houses an aquarium. 

We went to The Natural History Museum. It is huge and we did not even make it through 1/2 of it, so we will have to go again! Children up to the age of 19 are free...not 6 and under, but UP to the age of 19. Got to love that. The ceilings are super high with beautiful paintings waaay up there. The display cases are lovely old wooden cases. This is a photo from a room of sea fossils with a bit of overflow from the dinasauer room.

There is a restaurant, and we had a snack there. Pretty!

Here is a photo looking up into the dome from the entrance floor.

It was getting dark by the time we left! This is a photo of the building directly across from the museum.

I posted a few photos from the zoo in my previous post.

Wonderful getaway, but I was happy to get home, water the plants, throw in a load of laundry and cook in my own kitchen! I really think October is the perfect month to travel...not too hot or cold and no ice or snow!

Lunch at the Vienna Zoo

It was a holiday weekend here in Austria. I thought it would be nice to go to Vienna, while the weather is still nice. We went to a The Natural Hisyory Museum the day of our arrival and the zoo the next day. The zoo is world famous and I love it so much. But I have never been when the outdoor restaurants are closed. We ate lunch in the center pavilion. ..which at first was full of screaming kids. Oy! Why don't parents take screaming kids out of a restaurant, especially one this small? But when our order was brought out, the screamers had left, so thankfully we were able to enjoy our meal! And really, what a lovely little pavillion! My son had his favorite putenschnitzel with potatoes,  truly a favorite dish of Austria. We left my husband at the hotel for the day, he is just not capable of walking around a zoo!  And then we all enjoyed dinner at the hotel together. It works for us.

I always love the panda bears.  They usually sit with their backs toward the glass while they eat...They do not like camera flashes. People pay no attention to the signs so the pandas have solved the problem themselves by presenting their back sides. But the 1st time in the panda house (we went 3x and 2x in the koala house, I like to see them so much), one panda was sleeping right against the glass! The 2 year old panda is being "returned" to China this week.  The parents are on loan from China and the zoo was successful at breeding them...so the 2 year old was born at the zoo, but belongs to China, hence the quotes around the word returned! So it was special to me to see all 3 bears. The koala bear photo is on my camera so...hopefully I will figure that out sometime this week. I am just not Ms. Technology! But they are so cute, I really want to show you. I had never seen a panda, koala bear or brillen bear (photo also on my camera) before going to the Vienna Zoo.

All in all, a nice little getaway. Next post...Some photos from the drive and the Natural History Museum,  which is just amazing. But I am still Blogging from my phone and it gets tedious typing with 1 finger!