skullduggery

Its been one year since my Austrian holiday - one year! - and I have been having a nostalgic browse through my photo albums these last few days. 

I had an awesome six weeks....... 

I loved spending that time with my dear mum, who I dont see often enough;

I really enjoyed catching up with my many relatives and friends;

I am so grateful to whoever invented the digital camera - without it I wouldn't have half as many great photos to drool over now!

I had really wanted to post these images last year, but well..... time moved on and it never happened. So now here they are - skulls. Lots of skulls! I was amazed at the amount of skulls and skeletons in the churches and adjoining cemeteries. 

I'm not sure of the significance - perhaps they are depicting death and decay or maybe eternal life. All the churches were old, Catholic ones that we visited in Salzburg and I think damnation and hell played a large part in the life of earlier Catholics. 

The one above was on the outside wall of the church and I think it must have been a remembrance plaque for the man named on the stone. It almost looks as if there are two arms holding the two skulls like some sort of grisly trophy. 

This fellow above has the look of someone who fell asleep and just slowly decayed on the spot...... if I give him a push he might just fall over and crumble! 

Obviously a well connected gentleman and quite old by the look of his armour. Once again he is watched by a skull. 

This one may have held holy water in the brain cavity? Just a thought, as I cant remember where in the church it was situated but I do wonder if it ever had that other tooth! And if so, was it a real one that was stuck into a hole?? Looks real!! 

I really don't know but I was fascinated with them and couldn't help wondering how I'd feel coming to church on Sunday and seating myself next to this cold stone skull that was at the end of a pew!!  

Oh oh oh, I have wander lust again.......!!!! 

Es ist jetzt grad ein Jahr seit ich in Osterreich auf urlaub war und das Jahr ist so schnell vorbei. Gott sei dank hab ich viele Foto und diese hier hab ich schon wollen lange zeigen.

Wir waren etliche tage in Salzburg und dort haben wir mehrere tage die schönen alten Kirchen besucht. Die vielen Totenköpfe hab ich natürlich müssen fotografieren!  

reindling - a sweet recipe

When you are staying in the cutest little Alm cottage, complete with wooden shutters, blue enamel wood fired stove and boxes of summer geraniums.......

.......with the sound of tinkling cow bells and magnificent views to the valley below.....

.....and your lovely cousin, Angelika, brings along a delicious, sweet treat for afternoon tea....

...... well, what is there to do but enjoy all that your holiday has to offer, and tuck in wholeheartedly with both mind and body? ?

 And then later, try and recreate a delightful moment in time? 

So thats what I've been doing - trying to replicate this very tasty morsel, that surely tasted better when eaten way up in the green heights, but tasted pretty darn good when I made it here yesterday, too!!  

This lovely yeasty cake is called a 'reindling' (pronounced rain-ling) and is eaten for breakfast, afternoon tea or supper depending on what you fancy. I enjoyed it with a cup of freshly boiled milk that had come straight from one of the ten fat cows living in the barn thats attached to the house but the relatives had a coffee with theirs. Angelika made two of them, and when the second one got a bit stale, my mum ate hers broken up in a bowl with hot milk poured over! She's very frugal, my mum and believes in eating everything, down to the last bit of plastic food on those little trays you get in the airplane! In fact, she gave me a lecture when I didn't eat all of mine!! But I digress...... 

I've fiddled around with a couple of different recipes that I found online and in my Austrian cookbook and I think this is just about right. I'm sure the basic idea is the same as those little snail like scrolls that you bake in a tray, but the association of this one with my holiday is too strong to be ignored...... and besides it's quicker to leave it in a long sausage than to cut it up!  

Reindling 

 2 teaspoons yeast granules

500 gm plain flour

60gm sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

60gm butter

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

250 ml (1 cup) milk

A splash of rum*

I use my breadmaker to make the dough, which takes about 2 and 1/2 hours.

Place yeast, flour, sugar and salt in that order into the breadmaker.

Add the butter, chopped into small cubes, the eggs, milk and rum if using. I'd add the rum just for special occasions because it's a bit decadent for everyday!

If you are doing this by hand, you could just use what ever method you normally use for breadmaking. When the dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle, about 1cm thick, then sprinkle to the edges with - 

 1 cup sultanas

Brown sugar, as much as you like (more is good!)

A sprinkle of cinnamon

Grated rind of a lemon

Roll it up along the longer side and drop into your well buttered gugelhupf (bundt) tin! 

Leave it in a warm spot to rise, then bake in a very moderate oven for around 30 to 40 minutes. Mine got a bit over done on the top but seeing as it's served upside down, it's not a problem!! 

  

Yes, we had ours with a cup of hot organic milk, although the kids preferred yoghurt on top! I'm thinking some runny custard or thick cream would go well too! 

I've made this twice in as many days and both times there were only crumbs left on the plate! It's satisfying when the family loves my kitchen creations but sometimes when I spend a long time creating, it would be very advantageous if they were a little slower at devouring the outcome!! 

*The rum seems to concentrate in the sugary sultana filling and is like a little flavour bump as you munch! I use a very nice Stroh Inländer Rum - from Austria, of course! 

Wenn man eine schöne Alm Hütte, mit Balkon Blumen und blauen Heizofen, besucht.......

......in die berge hoch und grün und so wunderschön......

.......und die liebe Angelika bringt ein süßen Reindling mit für unser Nachmittag Tee.....

...... was soll man dann machen wenn man wieder zuhause ist, weit, weit weck? 

Ja, dann sucht mann für ein Rezept dammit mann kann die guten Zeiten auch zuhause genießen!

Und das hab ich gestern gemacht - einen schönen saftigen Reindling hergestellt für meine hungrige Familie. Und natürlich haben sie alles schnell aus gegessen..... es war sehr gut!! 

Manchmal wünsch ich aber schon das sie nicht ganz so hungrig wären!! 

   

floral frenzy

I've been tidying up all the photos I took while in Austria. Its a mammoth task! There are thousands! And amongst them are quite a few flower pics....... because there are a lot of lovely blooms up in those mountains! 

With so much sweet nectar to be had, the insect population was in a frenzy to find, forage and store as much as possible, so it wasn't hard to photograph flowers complete with sated bees or flies.... in fact they hardly noticed the lens staring their way! 

All the flowers in these pics were growing by the roadside - thats my dear mother and her sister, strolling along there, admiring them. So many flowers, though its hard to see really well in the photo. This particular area had some sort of wildflower protection, which meant that the meadows could only be mown for hay once, early in the summer season and then left to flower in peace until the following year. It was a truly beautiful sight - sort of a cross between wilderness and manicured...... and so, so green! 

These bright colourful flowers were the first thing that caught my eye as I was sorting, so they made it into a post........ I will get myself together, though, and write up a bit more about something else because I vaguely remember doing a flower post while I was away?!? Might be time for some cemeteries and skulls perhaps!?

Hello!!!

Hello!

Yes, I'm here in Australia again! 

Lovely Bec left me a gorgeous comment reminding me that I have been rather lax very slack with my posting these past months, and asking if I was still around! 

Yes, Bec, I'm here and slowly getting back into a bit of a groove with the family stuff. I had a fantastic time - well, who doesn't on holidays! - and have come home feeling a renewed woman. I've got a few new perspectives on life, the universe and mothering, and will attempt to put pen to paper, then eventually fingers to keyboard, and share some of them in this space. 

Please bear with my absence just a teeny bit longer while I sort my thoughts and my holiday snaps! Would anyone still be interested in seeing some more of them? I'll try and intersperse them with some rather more mundane posts, so you don't all get holiday envy!! 

Oh, and I'll be adding some text in German, now and again, so that the family in Austria get an idea of whats going on in the pics too. My German is a bit dodgy, grammar wise, but I shall persevere none the less! 

Note: picture taken when in full holiday mode....tanned, relaxed and.... ahem... slightly tiddly! 

Lofty heights

 

Another day spent traipsing around alps....... what a dreary life we lead!!!! Anton and I even had to buy new walking shoes so we could be assured of not slipping down some shaley bank! And to top it all off, it was a perfect sunny day with only a hint of breeze....... poor us!!!!

 

 

Okay, seriously now, as you can see by the pic above, we had a fantastic time, high up in the mountains. We headed off for the Lühnersee this morning, first by train, then a big yellow bus. Oh my, the public transport system here is awesome but the places they take these buses is mind boggling! Imagine a large bus and a one lane road that winds up and up through pine forests for a very long way, turning zig zag style all the way. And imagine being the car that meets the bus on one of these tight corners and has to back up a few car lengths and then hug the very edge of the road - no railing, steep drop - while the bus negotiates the bend and powers on to the next! These bus drivers are amazing! In fact all the drivers are amazing and if I remember I'll do a post on the roads and road rules soon!

 

 

Lühnersee - 1970 metres above sea level, of which the last 500 or so was on a cable car again.......four in three days now and I think I may have conquered the fear of heights!!!! The tops of the towering mountains around the See (lake) are all approx 2500mtrs which is a bit staggering for an Aussie who is used to lesser heights! We walked half way round the lake then stopped to laze aroiund in the flower speckled meadow. Theres no grass up here, rather, lots of different herbs and tiny flowers and mum spent some time identifying some that she remembered from her youth on the alm. Sadly, I cant press any to bring home - the grumpy nice man at customs wouldn't like it!!!

 

 

I must point out that while we were lazing around in the 'grass', I was feeling like I was disobeying the rules. In most beautifuul places in Australia, you are not allowed to leave the path, but here, it seems anything goes! One of the very surprising things I've noticed is that lots of people bring their dogs to all sorts of places. Dogs are here, on leash and off, dogs on public transport, dogs in pubs and dogs in restaurants........lots of dogs!

And so it is with leaving the path too - you can sit where ever, walk where ever and not think about disobeying a law somewhere.

 

 

I took a whole heap more flower pics and these blue ones here are Enzian, one of Austria's most favorite alpen blooms along with Edelweiss. Apparently I'd need to climb up those very jagged peaks in the distance to find Edelweiss, but I don't mind missing out on a photo of those!!!!!

 

 

This one is taken from the cable car and shows the narrow hiking track that's an alterrnative to using the cable. There were quite a few hikers crawling up the steep path and the zigzag pattern looked reallly interesting from above. That long grey bit in the background is a very long rock slip made up of mostly smallish rocks. I'd say it gets added to from time to time.

 

Another day over and I'm not sure how many to go......... I'm not counting until closer to the end!

I hope you're enjoying this tour of Austria as much as I'm enjoying bringing it to you!

See you all next time!

 

 

Alm matters

 

This is my lovely nephew, Anton, who came with mum and I to find out a bit about his roots. His father, my brother, died in a tragic accident just before Anton was born, and when mum asked him to come along and meet the Austrian relatives, he said an enthusiastic yes!!

He definitely has mountain blood running in his veins because he's spent most of this week, traipsing along mountain paths and only coming home to download his photos, tell us about his adventures and eat!

 

 

Mind you, he also eats while wandering around and this meal was one he had at an Alm Hut - a large glass of buttermilk, rye bread, two slabs of cheese and a gherkin.

There are little huts all over the mountains. In the mountainous parts of Austria, farming families own various parts of the valley - a house and barn on a bit of ground in the village, a parcel of forest somewhere up on the mountain and an alm, right up above the tree line. The alm is only used in the summer months, usually by one of the women in the family. The cows are taken from the barn where they've been all winter and herded up to the alm, where the 'shepherdess' milks them and makes cheeses for the household. Once a week or so, someone comes to bring supplies up to the alm and take the cheese back down to the farm.

Of course, I'm sure that things have changed in the way the Alm's are used and from what I gather, a lot of them are just used as getaways or as useful places to sell a farm snack to people wandering around the mountains. It's such a shame that the old ways are fast disappearing in this brave new world!

Although I am pleased to see how many people still get around in Austrian national costumes. Especially on the weekends or if there is a festival somwhere, you will see young and old steppingg out in a dirndl or lederhosen. And alot of folk going up to do some hiking in the mountains wear traditional garb too.......

Are you wondering why the farmers land is owned in several different locations? In the steep valleys theres not much room to have all your hectares in one lump and no point having all meadow and no firewood, so it's been sorted out so that all the farmers get a bit of each. I suppose everyone was a farmer and living off the land once, although some would have been more prosperous than others.

All of these gorgeous photos were taken by Anton on his travels around the heights. I haven't yet had a chance to get up and do some wandering but hope to remedy that when we go to Karnten, which is where my dad is from and where I feel most at home. Mum and I have been on three different cable car/gondola rides in the past two days, which is a bit extreme, I know, but she likes to go up and down alot!!!!

Luckily Anton has a bit of flower appreciation going on, and is happy to take pics of them all...... as well as any fat cows he sees......

.......isn't she gorgeous? They are all over the mountain and you can hear their big bells tinkling as you sail over them in the cable car. Which makes me realise that there are obviously many farmers still keeping cows on the alm over the summer. Excellent!

I hope you've enjoyed the flora - I'm having difficulties with this silly Blogsy app that I bought to enable me to blog from the ipad. It's not easy uploading pics and as for cropping, forget it! They will just be as they are! I will try not to let it deter me from posting!!! ;o)

 

Shopping dream

Something a little different today. I'll leave the houses, churches and graves for a bit and tell you about the shops instead! And, oh boy, are these shops awesome! You can see in the pic above that the ceiling is curved and it's actually like that in most shops because they are all, right at the bottom of tall old buildings, and I'm guessing the curve must be stronger.

The Old City is amazing indeed! Lots of little streets or lane ways, really, and arched alley ways leading between them all. Some of the cobbled 'streets' are only wide enough for one car and two narrow walkways either side, and theres no curb - its all one level of cobble stones. And everywhere shops! Shops selling designer clothes or real fur coats; shops with upmarket dirndl and lederhosen, the national costume of Austria; tiny corner shops filled with shelves and shelves of local spirits or handmade chocolates; silversmiths, antiques, more chocolate, cowbells, tourist treasures and delicious breads and pastries! I just know I'll be a little rounder on my trip home!!

Every shop is so beautifully presented, there's nothing out of place anywhere and everyone seems to clean and primp their little space to the 'nth degree. Tourists are obviously a huge target but locals hang out here too in the late afternoon, shopping and chatting at the tiny bars dotted everywhere. Alcohol is sold in most shops. The chocolate shop, the corner store, everywhere, you can purchase a bottle of schnapps or a six pack of beer to take home or just a glass and then you can stand outside and drink it. There seems to be a very relaxed feel about alcohol in Austria.

As I was going to say right at the beginning, one of the shops that I explored was a Christmas shop which was primarily filled with baubles! Eggs, wooden cut outs and glass balls covered all the surfaces available and shone like a treasure trove of delights. I was completely awed by it all and can only imagine how a child might feel walking through this wonderland.

Can you imagine living or working in a building that was built in 803AD? Its mind boggling, isn't it? In this case though it's not actually the building that's so old, rather the inside which was carved into the rock on the cliff face and used by the monks of the nearby monastery. I dare say the front is quite an age too!

My nephew and I have whiplash now from craning our necks in an attempt not to miss a single sight!

I'm really not a city chick at all, but must say that Salzburg is a sight not to be missed if you ever get the opportunity to visit. More tomorrow!!!