A Styrian weekend in November

Oh dear, one more week to go until my final exam. So many long days ahead, but still so little time! To soothe one´s nerves of course nothing is better than to think back of good days, so I guess it is okay to spend a little time and blog about our last weekend in our home away from home.

We had a few errands to run so this is why we came - but also because Thursday was a bank holiday and it gave us a four day break. So off we went to relax and to live in this special holiday limbo for a while where you have nothing to do but think of the next meal, the next nap and the next walk with the kiddos. (I did some reading for my exam of course, but otherwise it was just heavenly holiday-limbo.)

The weather was quite okay, it was not too cold and not too wet, but with a little bit more sun the leaves would have shone even more brilliant. But still the colors were beautiful.

We did our favorite things, went to the Ödensee....

.... and played the "snack-game". (Sometimes I wonder if Dessa ever considers "walking" or if it is just "snacking" for her.) Go on, mom, gimme some! Now!

With the boy it is simple to detect. For him the great outdoors are superfun! And it is always too early to go back to the car.

What else did we do. Of course we ate well. On holiday we like a late breakfast/early brunch, a sample of which you can see here. And this time - on the side - you also find our "drugs bar" which we needed because Stefan had the grandfather of all colds, which he passed kindly on to me later.

And we slept well. Long in the morning, a nap after our little trips. And after serious reading. It´s amazing how sleepy you get right after you have opened your papers.

Alt Aussee in later Fall is especially nice, there are not so many people there and you can enjoy the lovely lake, the crisp air and the beautiful nature around much better. (Especially if you are a hermit like me.)

Fall can be so beautiful! And long weekends can be so cosy, fun-filled, entertaining and relaxing. Definately one of the things we should do more often.

And now back to my books. Have a good day, everyone! 

Halloween 2012

Halloween is the best time of the year! My Halloween is the Samhain/All Hollows Eve variation, not the creepy horror version that seems to be so popular in Europe now, I don´t dress like a Zombie or cook food that looks yucky. Instead I prefer to take a walk in hopefully foggy nature, contemplate and listen to the Samhain voices out there.

Then I like to decorate with happy ghosts and pumpkins and start cooking happy Halloween food. This year I planned a lot! The menue was: Home made chicken wings, pumpkin lasagna and pumpkin pie.

The chicken wings I put in marinade 24 hrs before and put them in the fridge to rest. The marinade consisted of happy things like honey, sugar, vinegar, mustard, etc, etc and promised to be extremely tasty. The pumpkin lasagna I started early in the afternoon, and it turned out to be quite time consuming. But it smelled like heaven coming out of the oven...

When it started getting dark three Halloween ghosts appeared on our living room T.V. indicating that it was time to start the feast.

So of course this is what we did! The chicken wings came out of the oven still sizzling, the lasagne was okay in the microwave, and the pie was about to cool down. So all clear for take off!

This year I did "decoration lite" because we wanted to go away over the long weekend and my mom would have had to live in a madhouse for days otherwise, but we still enjoyed the Halloween atmosphere.

Especially when it came down to FOOD!!!! The chicken wings were definately worth the efford, I will cook them again, maybe as a main dish with rice and a salad. The pumpkin lasagna was very good, but with the chicken wings and the pumpkin pie being overwhelmingly tasty it remains in memory a little bit colourless. As a side dish it was okay, but for a side dish it was a little bit too time consuming.

And voilá, here is the pumpkin pie. Thanks to my dear friend Juju from the U.S., who kindly stocked me up with Libby´s pumpkin puree (the best!! believe me!! Thank you so much again, Juju!), I had one can left for the pie and did not have to cook and mash it myself.

The rest of the evening was filled with digesting and watching horror flicks. I can definately recommend "The woman in black" - Daniel Radcliffe definately can do more than Harry Potter!

I sure hope you all had a great Halloween!

And always remember: Death is not the end of love.