On the House!

I panicked when, stepping on the weighing scale this morning, I registered 2 kg more than my usual! Karma you say for skipping a day of my daily 20-k run? Give me a break! It has been foggy at 5:30 a.m. the last couple of days where I live so I thought that was a good excuse not to run. Dark and chilly, too! Oh, drat that scale!

But then again, you win! I only have myself to blame. I'd been pigging out the whole week at the wet market: crispy duck on Monday, ramium noodle soup and tempura on the side Tuesday, spicy Bali soup with king prawns Wednesday, yet another ramium-tempura combo Thursday, and then grilled baby squids Friday. All these washed down with my daily dose of white g'spritz. That was my lunch schedule last week. I usually don't eat breakfast and always try skip lunch, surviving mostly on hot tea with milk. I prefer dinner over lunch because I don't have to think of going back to work after. Also, it is the time when I can have one too many of my favorite chauvignon blanc.

Oh, yes, I had been absolutely bad that week I ought to be punished. Too many temptations I couldn't resist. I didn't only have lunch, I also had dinner! And that was every day, mind you! Think also of those sinful desserts I had: plum streussels, banana cake with yoghurt and choco mousse a good friend baked for me because she never liked Twiggy, she said. Twiggy who? Excuse me but when was the last time I heard that name mentioned? Not for a loooong while, really. Talk of time standing still for her. But anyway, she should see me now. I am more than perfect for the slaughterhouse, thanks to the sturm season as well.

And anyway again, next to our table at this fusion resto was this young Austrian guy attacking vigorously his noodles topped with slices of ripe mango and chopped coriander when the manager came to him to say that there has been a mistake - that what he was eating wasn't what he ordered. His face turned red as the manager put down on his table what he was supposed to get - another kind of noodles. He brightened up as soon as the manager said to consider what he was eating as a starter, "On the house!" There was a big laugh from the other tables when my colleague complained in a loud voice for everbody to hear that he, too, got the wrong food. Well, it could easily happen to every one, especially for beginners in exotic cuisines and have no idea of what they're getting.


BTW, attached is a photo of one of the sinful meals I had for dinner last week: Viennese pasta with ham. Very light dinner but it was soooo good , as always when Walter does it, that I could not resist another big serving. And since I'm into this pigging binge might as well pig out more and deal with the butcher later. So Walter, where's the streussel?

Of Italian resto running out of spaghetti, Fusion resto, and Sturm

Ridiculous! It's like ordering noodles in a Chinese resto only to be told that they didn't have any. A friend and I went to check out this newly opened Italian resto at the famous wet market of Vienna - the Naschmarkt. That was last Saturday - Oct. 6. Beautiful autumn day, sunny and bright. Temperature was around 23-25 C, suprisingly warm for this time of the year. It was like October was making up for what August could not deliver last summer. It was 1:30 pm and my favorite sushi bar was crowded. We got seated Ok but the staff was definitely under stress, always on the run, screaming orders in Chinese! Yes, the bar is Japanese but no one speaks the language. Only Chinese and Tagalog. Chef is a Pinoy who can easily pass for a real Hapon. Much as I like the place, it was chaotic that day. Before we could place our order we decided it was best for us to go some other place where we could have our meal in a relaxed environment, thus we found this newly opened resto which is still within the market place.

The place was teeming with diners bragging about their newly acquired treasures from the flea market located just opposite the restaurant. We were lucky to find an empty table by the windows. The place has been a shop for tiles and ceramic wares until it was converted into another spacious dining place with high ceilings and large windows, letting in so much natural light. We ordered pasta: spaghetti with basil pesto and parmesan for me and spaghetti with garlic and olive oil for my company. Both dishes were a disaster. The pasta was overcooked and swimming in oil. We thought of giving them to the customers sitting next to our table. We overheard them ordering spaghetti but were told to order another dish as spaghetti was finito for the day. No, you're kidding! Talk of mediocre Italian dining places. At least their gruener veltliner (Austrian white wine) was excellent which helped us keep our spirits soaring high!

Yesterday, Monday, was another beautiful day that my colleagues at work and I got this blitz idea to have lunch at the Naschmarkt. Went to Li's Cooking - a fusion resto. Fusion restaurants are getting popular in town. People fancy them and I just wonder why Pinoys who have a penchant for running turo-turo - and they're good copy-cats mind you, the Pinoys- could not follow the trend. There used to have two eat-all-you-can Pinoy places, listen to this - in the heart of Vienna, in a building the Pinoys fondly refer to as the Philippine Plaza (the Philippines has its embassy there, a beauty parlor - a term I think should be open to interpretation-, video shop, two eateries, a branch of the PNB which has since moved to another place). One of the carinderias closed shop recently, leaving the other standing might but does not make an effort to improve what it can offer. It's sinigang na baka or pork every day, with matching pancit and chop suey. If that's not fusion enough then I don't know really. Here's to fusion!

Since that first bowl of rice and a few spring rolls I am now a bona fide Stammgast (regular guest) at Li's Cooking; the waiting staff already know what I want - fried noodles with crispy duck on hot Thai coco sauce, and a glass of g'spritz - white or red wine, mixed with sparkling mineral water - any time. My colleagues were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic welcome the waiting staff gave us, especially when a plate of appetizers composed of fried wontons on hot sauce was delivered to our table. "On the house", our waiter said with a big grin when he saw the confused expression on our faces. Hmm...big grin, big Trinkgeld (tip), one could not help but wonder.















A few steps from this fusion resto is a wine shop selling Sturm (storm in English). That was our next stop, you bet. Might as well have my first Sturm this season. Sturm is wine still in the process of fermentation. October is wine-harvest time - the time of the year when Sturm is consumed at its best. It tastes just like a regular fruit juice but unlike any other, a glass can be one too many. We had one glass each costing 6 Euro together. My colleague bought a bottle to go and paid 8 Euro. Cheaper by the bottle than when served in a wine glass I guess. Oh, well...

More of the Things We Did Last Summer

Pigging out, what else. And gardening, too. My kalabasa was a late-bloomer. For a while I thought the seeds I got from my Chinese green grocer were gene-manipulated as they were just growing like mad, taking over a big portion of the garden but wouldn't be productive. Not a single blossom to start with. I've read somewhere that some seed producers do alter the genes, or whatever you call them, of their precious plants so as to have a monopoly of the market. Turned out that mine were late bloomers. They did bloom but too late to see them become what they should be - kalabasa, what else! Anyway, I am uprooting them this weekend as it's time to clean up the place. Sad. Soon after this, weekends would be spent in the living room of our respective flats and curse the long and grey days of winter. Winter could take forever. But then we have our photos to look at, to keep us warm, and to remind us of the things we're gonna do again next summer. And maybe more. V.

BTW, we have to support the roses with "tukod" (stakes) as the clusters get too heavy for the twigs; the sunflowers, like out tulips, have multi-layered petals; the cake was our neighbor Sisi's strawberry-poppy seed cake which is always lecker (delicious, finger-licking good); entertaining friends - becoming a ritual.

Vienna Calling

Hello from Vienna, Austria. This is my maiden post here. Would like to share with you some of the things I, or rather we, did last summer in the garden house where we spend so much time in spring, summer and early fall - when it isn't cold. Summers here could be cruel at times. This year it was short. August was very bad - cold rains and winds. Not good for my herbs and flowers. But when the sun was shining you'll never find me in my flat after work. Fact is, I seldom cook in my kitchen in summer. Like back home we have a dirty kitchen in the garden house where I don't have to worry if the kitchen becomes a battlefield. It's in the open! Here in the garden we can entertain till late without worrying that the neighbors may call the police when the spirits get high. Oh, yes, the neighbors can be nasty and call the police after 10 pm - the time when the party is just getting in full swing. Ask my Pinoy friends whose idea of a party is karaoke. Anyway, that's another story.

The garden per se has a size of 350 sq m. Small but needs a lot of time and energy to maintain. It's fun though except in the Fall when leaves start to fall - that means constant raking. Fall is also the time when you plant tulips. This year we thought of including the multi-layered-petal variety. The petals have streaks of light pink, old rose and purple hues.

Photos show the garden house, me with a huge carp (8 kg) caught from the Danube river by a friend who loves fishing but doesn't eat fish! It took me ages to clean that fish with those thick scales. That's me again with a neighbor under the plum tree. Next photo shows Walter de-seeding plums for his streusel. Would like to show you more pix but seems like I can only send a few per blog. Will try next time. Have a nice weekend. V