a weekend of madness in two acts - part 2

Saturday started like any other day. The boys went for breakfast with 2 friends and my brother while I was busy making the silly banner as mentioned here. We met up for lunch to get a real Schnitzel - our waiter is a whole other story in itself! - just to part ways again. 

At night just before the sun was setting we met up at the Donauinsel for the annual Donausinselfest. A three day open air festival on an island in the Danube river. It's free and there are tons of stages and fun parks and food carts, etc so millions of people pass by over the weekend. It's mad!

The only thing we knew about that night was that Samy Deluxe would be playing the fm4 stage. Good Lord were we in for a surprise (I can't stop laughing even as I type this).

Sadly we missed the wonderful Giantree but were just in time for...

drumroll please.... AUSTROFRED

How do you explain that guy to the masses? He is an Austrian copy of Freddie Mercury hence the name.  To sum it up in a sentence: take the music of Queen and add the lyrics of some Austropop classics. Sound insane? It sure is, but maybe a really clever idea because we could all sing along to it haha Poor Germans had no idea what'd hit them :)

He is the gift that keeps on giving!!!!!!! Youtube him if you don't believe me.

Ulrich and the two Hannahs joined us just at the end of it and I got to catch up with our very best Raffi who was in charge of sound. Woop woop.

Finally Samy Deluxe came on stage and for the next two hours we danced the night away.

Cause we are young and free, yay.

Totally worth going and we must have been so caught up in music and moving that none of us ever noticed the fireworks that went down haha
The rest of the night was spent having drinks and laughing so so much, before we trekked across Vienna to retrieve the car and take the girls home. Finding Town Town (don't ask!) and other silly things along the way. Finally got home when the sun came up :)
I was so dead I didn't even realise when the three boys got up, packed their things(including memorabilia nr 1&2) and had breakfast. Made it just before they were on their long drive back home.
Thanks for coming lovely friends, prepare for September is all I can say. The bar is set high ahahaha

a weekend of madness in two acts - part 1

Take one of your crazy best friends

add two new friends he brings along,

a tiny heatwave

a truck load of music

and three days.

Shake it all up and what you get might just resemble a pretty perfect weekend :)

I guess the original plan was, for them to come as Beirut were playing here in Vienna, however tickets sold out and Simon ended up being the only one with a ticket (not the first time, ask him about a certain Heinz gig in Salzburg a decade ago!) haha Off he went and Alex, Markus and I set off to wander the streets of Vienna - insert silly ice cream/frozen yoghurt incident here - before heading to Adria/Donaukanal to watch Germany play Greece in the EuroCup. Outdoor screenings are the way to go in this heat!

meet Markus

and Alex

thank God Germany won 4:1 

not sure what all the 500 people watching there would have done if they hadn't

Despite all intentions to dance the night away we caved and went for hot dogs and drinks in two pubs (and we have memorabilia to prove it haha) crashing a 30th birthday party along the way

an introduction to Viennese fast food

souvenir nr 1 - Slatin Pascha - he went on to travel all the way back home with the boys 

as did souvenir nr 2 - beer glassware 

Part two and a special musical highlight tomorrow x

a day of strawberries - the canning part

rhubarb and strawberries bubbling away

I don't know how I got to this age without ever having made jam?! A mystery and it is so darn easy as well!
Anyway one of my new years resolutions was to learn how to preserve food, so I finally got to tick that box, yay. It shall be the beginning of a hopefully long journey (learning curve) of preserving and canning.
By the way, it turned out yummy :)

a day of strawberries - the picking part

doesn't look like much from the outside, but dig around and you'd be surprised

My mum and I went strawberry picking last week, after I asked around and nobody wanted to come along. It was ridiculously hot to be fair (hot as in sweating so you'll be left with salt stains on your clothes, absolutely scorching!).
Off we went, a bottle of water and sun hats in hand. After about an hour we had a full crate of the freshest and juiciest berries. It takes quite a bit of self restraint not to eat the entire time you're there haha Turns out we picked 4kg!!!!! Who knew? It never looks that much while you're at it.
More later.

current obsession

Remember this Ed Sheeran song people? Not only is it my favourite song off "+" but it had the best video accompanying it. You can watch it here.
This version is beyond ridiculous... Talk about artistry! Can't stop listening to this version, as a non-musician who is surrounded by a lot of music, I'm not that easily impressed by a lot that's going on, but what this boy does with his guitar, voice and loop pedal is just spectacular. Might be your biggest fan Ed!

frozen yoghurt

... with muesli and fruit or honey. It's become my summer staple, bye ice cream you are way too sweet.

Funny story, bestie Simon came for the weekend and brought two friends - a lot more on that later - but I took Alex and Markus to an ice cream place saying that it's the best ice cream in Vienna. When they ordered I went across the street to get frozen yoghurt, which they kept making fun of for the rest of their time here "I'll take you to Vienna's best ice cream, but I'll have something else" hahahaha 

sibling affection - a diy edition

It was my brother's last football game of the season and as his siblings it's up to us to be proud of him, cheer him on and mostly make him a little bit embarrassed haha
I called my youngest brother and we decided to make a silly banner to hold up every time Ulrich would do something during the game.
So yesterday morning I sat down and gathered scrap fabric I have in my vast collection of naturally dyed and printed fabric and hand stitched his name on a large piece of naturally dyed cotton. Joachim sacrificed two hockey sticks and together we made one kick ass banner. Taaaadaaaaa...

For some reason I thought it would be a fun thing to create a tag line a bit like "manufacturing since 1880" so I wrote down "embarrassing my brother since 1984". It's a tough life being part of our family haha

crumble mania

There is nothing quite like a crumble. Maybe because there is so much fruit involved you ultimately put it in the "healthy" drawer in your mind, at least I do. Usually I include oats in the crumble part, which basically makes it like breakfast cereal - well almost!
To be honest I could eat this day and night. This one was a raspberry-rhubarb crumble I made pretty much according to this recipe.  My all time favourite will always be a plum crumble or apple and pears or apple and raspberry. Okay I'm obsessed with all of them. Anything with fruit and I'm sold :)

summer nights

The city is boiling right now! Summer officially starts on Thursday (longest day-shortest night) but it might have made an early entrance this year.
Who can blame us for having drinks on a Tuesday night :) Flatmates are the best, especially when they randomly call you and make sure that we have all the ingredients for a gin tonic.
Here's to a fantastic summer, may it be filled with sun, lovely people and lots of belly laughs. Cheers

soul cravings - crave: calgary

Let's start this week with an amazing short film, documenting what it means to question our deepest needs as humans. I've been a big fan of Erwin McManus ever since I heard him speak in Sydney, years ago. It's a beautiful work of art and I find myself in so many of the things being said in this short.
It inspired me to go into this week with a different attitude and a longing to search for God all the more. If you have thirty minutes, go on and watch it.
Happy Monday everyone x

like a breath of fresh air

When I went to KHM which is the Museum of Art History here in Vienna, we were wandering around looking at all the different paintings. As that era includes mostly paintings on religious subjects and court portraits, it was one holy or royal family after another. Beautiful paintings but a bit repetitive after a while and all of a sudden there's this:

Fire by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (image from here)

I could have stood there staring at it for hours! Check out this link for a few more paintings and his story. Can't believe Arcimboldo wasn't burnt at the stake at a time when every other painting had a religious subject :) Quite unbelievable for a 16th century painter.
There were three more painting by him so if you ever happen to be in the area make sure to pop in and look at those paintings - they're breathtaking, seriously!
Happy weekend people xx

current obsession

Big Easy Express
Cannot wait to watch this!!! Two of my favourite bands and another one travelling by train through the States making music. Does it get any better than this?

Strawberry-Rhubarb crumble
I made it twice this week haha once with raspberries as I couldn't find any strawberries grown in Austria(shopping can be annoying sometimes, but principles are principles and you can be creative plus it was delicious). There is a wonderful recipe here or just wing it, if you have crumble experience :)

A21 @ EuroCup 2012

image via their webpage

It's been all over the news for the last couple of weeks, that there will be increased sex trafficking over the next couple of weeks during EuroCup 2012.
The A21 campaign launched this campaign in Poland and Ukraine to raise awareness and fight the tragedy about to hit these two countries. Let's not forget that every life is precious, worth far more than rubies and pearls and that 4 out of 5 girls are forced into this business!
Read their post on why A21 do what they do and keep them in your hearts and prayers. The things they deal with is nothing most of us have ever or will ever experience. Let's get behind them and spread the word.
Thanks, you guys are world changers x

playing tourist in and around Vienna

While Dave & Carol were here, I found myself being a tourist again. Always good to have an excuse to  venture out and explore the city a bit more, as I found that you hardly ever do that in the place you grow up in.

We started off in Moedling...

 went on to Gumpoldskirchen...

 and on to Baden...

the rose gardens there are extensive, I think Carol found her happy place :)

ended our night at the Heurigen with a couple of friends & family - you know everyone's feeling great when horrible jokes are being translated and fake accents are being put on haha

The next day brought more adventures in the city...

 Neue Burg museum

we saw the museum of ancient musical instruments, the arms and armour museum and the Ephesos exhibition before we headed over to KHM

taking a break and fleeing the rain at Cafe Demel

Ended our little Vienna trip with some yummy Indian food before we said our good byes and my Aussie family went on to explore more of Europe :)

signing off

I've been down with a horrible throat infection for the last couple days and it doesn't seem to get better :(
So I retreated back to my parents place (rest and relaxation, apart fromone moment when my crazy brother scared the crap out of me! feeling sorry for all neighbours as I screamed my lungs out)  and am watching the European Cup (can think of about ten better things to do but no energy!!) and reading Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer biography (so far it's holding up to all the praise and awards it has won).
Happy weekend everyone x

GIANTREE - homegrown music

As Austrian I've complained way too much about the kind of music coming out of our country - with one major exception and a few others haha anyway Giantree is a band that has me excited, quite a bit excited to be honest :)
This song made me go and watch them play last week at a tiny open air event in the city called Donaukanaltreiben. Phenomenal! I even got a free button - honestly who doesn't like free stuff haha It's also great to see girls on stage.
It was a lovely evening and the atmosphere was a very happy one. Summer you are at our finger tips!!
Here are two horrible photos but that's all I got...

Go and like them on facebook or check out tour dates and where to buy their album here, after you can come back and thank me for pointing you in their direction ha!

another quick hike

Last week two of my favourite Aussies stopped by in Vienna. I wrote a bit about them two years ago, while I was staying in Sydney they just became family. It's been four years since I saw them in London, yet it felt like we hung out a couple days ago. Love that!
After two weeks of city sight seeing around Europe they were ready for some greenery, so I took them to the Vienna woods for a little hike :)

there were quite a few hikers and crazy people on mountain bikes around

let's just say our forest is nothing like the Australian bush, so everything had to be documented :)

the wall in the background belonged to a toboggan run built in 1928

My calves were burning the next morning but it was good to get out and be surrounded by nature. Sometimes I forget that having the woods right outside the city is just plain luxury.

More about our city adventures later.