Eating in

Ever since I found this little restaurant in the 6th District in Vienna, all I want to eat is Indian food. And I really mean always. Not too long after my chance discovery of this place, I popped in to this culinary haven again and bought a few vegetarian curries to take home. It's a crummy little place with not much light and gross plastic covered floral tablecloths on their two greasy tables, but it smells divine and homey and totally legit. After taking my prize home, I literally ate curry for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, for two days until I sadly scraped the bottom of the takeaway container. I never feel like eating anything else when that goodness is sitting in my fridge. I also recommend ordering it to be delivered to your apartment and eating on your wooden parquet floor in the dark. Who wants to leave the house in this weather? It was just the thing I needed this day.

Natraj
Marchettigasse 18 1060 Wien
Tel: 01- 5954502

Shepherd's Pie

It's not often that I really feel like meat or even potatoes, but now and again, I miss the comforting tastes of home. On this snowy weekday, I finished work and just really craved shepherd's pie. There's something really cosy and nostalgic about this fatty, sloppy, classic English dish, but as you know, my personal spin on any recipe always involves revamping it using the colours and freshness of nature. This is what went into this good looking and yummy shepherd's pie:

Potato top:
Potatoes, peeled and diced
Milk
Butter
Chopped fresh parsley

Mince filling:
Red onions
Grated carrots

Sliced celery

Frozen peas

Mushrooms

Organic beef mince
Crushed garlic
A couple of diced, red, ripe tomatoes
A little flour to thicken any juices
A little soy sauce
Chili flakes, dried herbs, salt, cracked pepper

Before living in Europe I always thought doing mashed potatoes was a real pain. What I learnt since is that it's the easiest way to do potatoes, ever! You peel the potatoes, cube them, THEN boil them. Then after boiling for only about 8 - 10 minutes, mash them up, melt in plenty of butter to taste, add milk until you get a smooth, peaky consistency, salt. I stirred in some chopped fresh parsley. Mmm.

Fry up all the other ingredients together in olive oil, adding them to the pan roughly in that order. Don't overcook (I know that's how you make English food, but just, no) - once I was finished sizzling the veg, I just fried the meat until brown. Distribute the mince and stuff in a suitable dish and spread the potatoes over. One hearty, fresh shepherd's pie, ready to serve.

 

Sunday.

 

    

It was my flatmate Nina's birthday in the weekend, and everyone was looking lovely in the sunlight. We ate and drank to beyond contentment and reveled in the beautiful weather. Thanks, Vienna, for looking lovely for us too.

Overcast morning

Sometimes there are seagulls along the canal. They come swooping by my window. They must come a long way, I wouldn't imagine there are any fish in that rank water. 

I shot this photograph at a high ISO setting on this cloudy morning. The resulting grittiness takes me back to the days when I was in high school and would go out on winter mornings to shoot black and white film with an old manual Pentax. If only I still had access to a dark room. Printing was always my favourite part of the photographic process. There was so much you could do to tweak the picture to come out the way you wanted. Change your mind on how it should be framed? Not happy with the exposure or contrast? No worries, work your magic in the dark room under that oddly serene red light. At least my complete impatience for digital editing means that I've been forced to improve my photographing technique over the past few years and take a good picture right off. Moving forward, always.

Neighbours

Clair de lune

Our friend Werner took this picture of us while we were playing through some tunes for some last minute rehearsal before our friend Verena's wedding. The out of tune tinkerings of the rustic, clanky piano were so charming in fitting with this beautiful and most stylish wedding day.

Here is some outstanding footage of Mo and I accompanying Werner with his wonderful song, 'Salz'. My favourite part is at the end when some tech guys try to subtly come in to sort some stuff out, realise it's inappropriate then decide to back out quietly.

Check out more of Werner Kitzmüller here.

In the woods

Kahlenberg, Vienna, Austria

Vienna from the rooftops

This lovely Spring afternoon was one of my favourite days in Vienna ever. It was early May, and still a little chilly, but the sun had finally emerged, splashing some colour onto buildings and on us pale dwellers of Viennese terrain. Winter in Vienna is really something else - under that seemingly permanent ceiling of grey, I think people just die a little bit for about 4 months, then one day the sun comes out, and people - even the Viennese - come back to life and go out to play.

We gathered at the rooftop of the apartment at Traungasse - otherwise known as the Traun, home to many a night of hooliganism and lovely times with good friends - for the first BBQ of the year.

A little later on, some of us headed around the corner to the Wiener Konzerthaus to hear the soprano Measha Brueggergosman's recital. Beautiful. A perfect ending to a perfect afternoon with great people. (Slash wait, we totally went back to the apartment for a few more hours of wine drinking afterwards...)

Thanks once again, girls of Traun.