Sunday, December 30, 2007

The hills are alive...

After we returned from a few days in Minneapolis and Stevens Point, we had a chance to enjoy our Austrian Christmas celebration. On Friday, we hustled home from work to put together our meal and settle in to watch "The Sound of Music."

I had consulted a few Austrian cookbooks, but because of time -- and taste -- constraints, I opted to buy some beef tenderloin instead of trying to boil beef. Colin took charge of making the meat and it was delicious. We also enjoyed an Austrian potato and apple salad, as well as a gurkensalat (cucumber salad). For dessert, we savored some butterhornchen (Viennese butter cookies).

After dinner we were transported from Vienna to Salzberg and the world of the von Trapps. One of the reasons we picked Austria for Christmas this year was so we could watch "The Sound of Music," which Colin had never seen...and which I've seen at least two dozen times. He was surprised at how much he knew about the story -- he kept saying, "I didn't know this song was from this movie!" He also now gets why my sister-in-law, Molly, has been teasing him that she's going to make him some pajama pants out of her living room curtains. But he was a very good sport and even put up with my singing.

Here are some pictures from our night -- Fröhlich Weihnachts und Glückliches Neujahr!

(P.S. In the car last night, we were discussing possibilities for next year's holiday selection -- Colin wants to get out of Europe...we're taking any suggestions if you have them!)

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Frohe Weihnachten!

That's Merry Christmas to you and me. We're well into our Austrian holiday celebration. Here's a shot of our Adventkranz, a wreath with four candles, one of which we'll light every Sunday until Christmas.

We also cheated a little bit and decorated our tree well before Christmas. In Austria, the parents decorate the tree and surprise the children with it on Christmas Eve.

We'll also be baking some hornchen cookies -- those are buttery Viennese nut crescents. Mmm...And with all the snow we've had in the last week, Madison is a regular winter wonderland, the kind we wish for every Christmas.
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