deepgreen18 | Entries tagged with food

I'm home again. This is quite interesting. I and the family did not want to leave Florida, but we had to come back. We are settling easily into old routines. I'm watching lots of TV, knitting a bit, and avoiding homework and practicing like there's a tomorrow to do it in. The good part of the TV watching is getting rid of the old taped stuff. It piled up a bit these last few weeks.
The sock is going swimmingly, and I'm now on the toe of the first one. I anticipate some Second Sock Syndrome, or difficulty getting through the second one due to boredom/whatever. It should be okay, though.
Me and Tim are making meatloaf. That word looks horribly wrong. Meat and loaf together with no space? Also, I just found out that the version we made is not kosher. We put milk and beef together, and having two products from the inside and outside of a cow is forbidden in the Jewish tradition. Thank goodness we're Protestant.

I think I'll leave now.
Greene

Current Mood: calm

Really, not one. In any case, life is good. There has been sleeping in accidentally, getting up far too early today on purpose, and lots of little slightly interesting things. I'm having a real problem just finishing Tim's mitts. I have all the materials I need, but no motivation. I have also started a new project. A random washcloth with some very pretty cotton yarn (Lilac...yum). Having finally gotten bored enough (or that's my excuse, anyway), I (re-)started the never-ending task of entering my Dad's financial stuff. It is good to be useful.
Do you like tuna? I do, a lot. I wanted some yesterday, but all we had was a can of salmon. Never having had canned salmon before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it tastes quite a lot like tuna. There was also quite a bit more of it than the little tins of tuna contain.

Ahh, the rambling continues...later.

Greeny

Current Mood: lethargic

I finally got enough sleep. This seems to be a never-ending battle with the forces of "Let's go do stuff!" Anyway, today has been very low key. I knit more on Timothy's mitts (started 'em yesterday morning, I had a car ride to fill). The first one is now six or seven inches long. This time I have more than enough yarn to finish both at pattern length, but I'm shortening them because I think they're too long. I've never worked with black wool before. A very interesting experience. One needs good light. I also have to do it in short bursts because it's kinda scratchy, especially against the finger that is continually in contact with. I was rather proud of myself, last night, for being able to cable and not having made any mistakes. Then, of course, I made one: a dropped stitch, right under the cable. However, the repair skills I learnt during Victoria's top came to the rescue, and I was able to fix it without ripping out whole rows. I am continually amazed at how pretty knitting is. It's even, stitch after stitch, and it has more possibilities than I can think of or do right now. Presently, I'm fixated on doing cables. Once I get that out of my system I'm trying some color work. I've never done more than switch colors, but I could create pictures with two or more colors!
Erm, sorry, I get excited at the creative possibility.
There is more going on here than knitting, of course. My older sister and her fiance are still here, and today they made sushi fixings. Sticky rice, avocado, cream cheese, crab, chicken, cucumber, ginger, wasabi sauce, and mayonaise. I re-learned how to make it, and the rolls are quite good (best I've had, in fact). I also helped Mom grade papers, which is good, because she is very behind. Other than that, not much going on. I am slowly converting over to books on tape so I can knit and 'read' at the same time.

I'm hungry, gotta go.

Greeny

Current Mood: good
Current Location: A secret location in the city.
Current Music: Tim's video game sounds

This, my friends, is likely the last post I will make in Vienna, or abroad, for that matter. I am filled with inexplicable nostalgia and longing. I guess this kind of trip makes an impression.
I have already posted what little I can string together about what happened here, so I shall just be rambling for a short while.
Today (my last here) I went and proved my love to my family. What else would you call walking around and taking pictures (lots and lots of pictures) for hours? Well, I find "tourist" too transient a word to describe my...um...passing through? No, I embraced my inner tourist, which is something, considering how much bad press the word was given when we got here. I went and saw quite a few places that were my first sights in Vienna, including the Bank-o-mat. I have not lost my passion for detail.
After putting this off for nigh two weeks, I know why. It took a while, like, three-four hours. And at the end I was exhausted, so I stayed in, made dinner (more spaghetti, but with lots of vegetables, and Almdudler), and read until now.
Other things also happened before this, however. Elana and Kenya took their leave, I talked to our landlady, Elly, twice. I bought two (english) books for amusement purposes on and off of the plane (it will never cease to amuse me to buy American/British things here). I had lunch at Zanoni and Zanoni's, a huge crepe with ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato, and an Eis Schokolade. An Italian-looking dude flirted with me at a distance, and I made a conscious effort not to be cold. I also noticed that a few guys were looking at me today. It was a good hair day, I (brace yourselves) blow-dried my hair for the first time since coming here, and dang if my clothes are not spiffy. But, is it just looks? Have I changed in some fundamental way in order to attract (or simply notice) this attention? Ahh, my mind, it spins.
Overall, a really good day. Not as exhilarating as yesterday, perhaps, but still very nice (the weather was great). Last, but not least, I also bought flowers for my landlady at the request and euro donation of my now gone roommates (bless their hearts). I bought a live plant of yellow roses for 7 euro! I hope she likes them.

I intend to post, though less often, after I return to the States.
Talk to ya then. (Old dude in Monty Python: "I feel happpyy!")
Greeny

Current Mood: Calm and happy
Current Location: Apartment
Current Music: The silence of me, myself, and I

Today was fantastic.
Let us see, I -big breath- shopped at three yarn stores, two of which I had never been to before. The first one I found with no difficulty, the second I went to I bought a zipper at, and at tge third I went in every wrong direction possible before finding it. The upside to getting' lost' is that it was a great part of town with huge, wonderful buildings, so I didn't mind. Then I got there, and it was locked! I looked inside and found the yarn I was searching for. Sigh. Remembering the clamor for visual reminders of my trip, instead of leaving right away, I took a picture of the really colorful sign for the shop. And lo and behold, the owner comes and opens the shop again. I get my yarn, and thank my lucky stars that you all demanded pictures.
After that, I went to "Hancock" (in English), and enjoyed the music so much at the end I was dancing on my way out. As I made my way to the U-bahn entrance on the street, I was happy and content. Then I thought, "When did living in Vienna become normal?" I thought it again as I walked down 'my' street that connects to the apartment.
When did I get accustomed to this crazy place? This is where I have witnessed three violent drunken outbursts, where it is fashionable to wear tights instead of pants, and where hearing English is as rare as a blue moon. I heard people speaking English twice today, and I spoke to the people the second time. They were students from Florida and...somewhere only staying a couple of days. They seemed impressed by my six weeks. I told them that hearing English "in the wild" here is rare, and it's true.
I can now mentally read signs with the correct consonant and (mostly) vowel sounds in my head. I started that at the beginning of my trip.
This is a place of unspoken and spoken rules. Greetings at coming and going in a shop are mandatory, you do not take up two seats in public transport even if you have a giant backpack and a violin, people are on time (the movie started on time, too), and the ice cream is perhaps the best in the world.
What did I do besides all that? Well, I bought two scarves and a shirt. Packed partially, did laundry, and went and had ice cream with everyone who is still here. We went to Zanoni and Zanoni's, which was huge. They are the Walmart of ice cream here, open every day every hour, except the quality is excellent. I want to go to lunch there tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and I made biscuits not thirty minutes ago.
I realize that I am getting random, it's 1:22am here,

I think I'll go to bed now.
Greeny

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Apartment

Let us see...It all started with me and Andrew going to church (on time! Our apartment is getting notorious for lateness, I blame the other girls and Kenya) at Stephansdom. This is a very old and very famous church in the smack dab middle of Vienna. We actually found seats, which was nice, and some other girls from the program came and sat with us. The music, of course, was very good. The actual words were unintelligible. It was Mozart's Credo Mass, with some extras by Schubert and...dang it! My memory fails. I almost fell asleep towards the end. But life goes on, and we went to "brunch" (it was really lunch) with the rest of our respective apartment mates. The Eurocup, by the way, is interfering with navigating the streets by glutting it with red and white checkered wearing fans, who have these little horns that sound like saxaphones and have the annoyance quotient of kazoos. The restaurant we went to was far too expensive for students on a budget, so we just had the daily dessert: apple strudel! It was very yummy, I also had an Eis Schokolade. Which is non-hot chocolate with ice cream in it.
The Viennese don't believe in ice. I learnt this early on when I wanted some ice water, but there was no ice in the apartment. I asked our German student RA, Ben, for ice molds. He had to get them back from Elly, our landlady originally from NY. Elly then came by and told us that the Viennese think ice is unhealthy. They believe that having it in a drink or chewing it leads to headaches and stomach pain, which is true for them, actually. Psychosomatic lunies. However, "eis" or ice cream is okay because... it is sweet. Huh? I really don't understand these people sometimes.
It is bad enough that their toilets are backward and you have to think creatively to find the flush handle/pull/push, but they believe ice to be evil, as well.
Well...that was an interesting diversion. Back to the story of today.
After lunch I went home and read knitting blogs for an hour while waiting for the Stitch 'n Bitch knitting group to start. Then I left to join it. I found the place (a Starbucks, there are only six in the city because the Viennese are really proud of their own coffee and a generic place just won't do) after a bit of walking around. At this point in time, the meet should have been in full swing, but when I get there, nobody is knitting! That is how I was going to find them. I was going to look for the happy, chatting group of people who were knitting. Oh well. I went back to the apartment. I will look online to see if they changed where or when they meet, the article I looked at was three months old.
However, on my way home, I thought about where would be nice to knit. I concluded that semi-deserted U-bahn stops are good for this. They have a nice occasional breeze from the trains coming and going, and there are seats and people to watch and good lighting.
Once back, the others were about to leave for another IES apartment for Elana's birthday dinner. I joined them, knitting during the trip. We arrived and cooking commenced. The main cook for the other apartment is Ehjen (eejen), who has gone to the French Culinary school in NY for a summer. She made Risotto with mushrooms (looks suspicious but tastes divine), Potato Pancakes (I am envious of her skills), and Tiramisu (coffee-soaked lady fingers are not my thing, but the cream was). Elana made Kugel, which is a Jewish ethnic dish resembling bread pudding. It was a base of fairly bland bread pudding with raisins, a layer of noodles, and then crunchy baked cinnamon-sugar sprinkled corn flakes on top. This is supposedly a main course. It tasted like dessert to me. I especially enjoyed the crunchy top.
During this whole making and eating, I knitted, read, and watched the Eurocup with the others. Two matches we saw: Austria vs. Croatia and Poland vs. Germany. I didn't get into the matches enough to know who won. I assume Croatia and Germany (Austria is not renowned for its soccer team, and Ben said he was proud of his country's game). After I had tried and enjoyed (for the most part) everything, I 'donated' money for the groceries, and decided to leave.

I got home safely, and practiced for and hour and a half. Since then I've made a sandwich for tomorrow, and written this post.

I need to read Music History, and start my paper.

Haley is overdramatic, and has a rather overpossessive boyfriend.

Good night, all!

Greeny.

Current Mood: tired but satisfied, sort of
Current Location: Apartment

I am hungry, but I had to check whether anyone was around and had commented first. I think the German is affecting my placement of adjectives. Otherwise, life is good. Nothing interesting happening, just got done with Music History, and I have two rehearsals in 45 minutes. Food! Sorry, my stomach's wishes are my commands.

See ya.
Greeny

Current Mood: and hungry
Current Location: IES

I can't help it. I am a obsessive counter. There must be a number somewhere. Ergo, week 2. The week end was somewhat busy. Friday night I went to a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic (this is where you go "Oooh" appreciatively'). They played Brahms' 2nd Symphony, which was absolutely smashing, and 2 Hungarian composers. They had weird names that I cannot remember. But one of them Julie has mentioned to me before: the _____ hand signs for teaching music? I liked his better than the other one. The adventure came after the concert.
Andrew, Haley, Elanna, Brooke, and I all decided to go to the Danube. This isn't all that hard in Vienna. The U1 Line stops at the Alte Donau, or old Danube. But we didn't take the U1. Instead, we took the U4 or U2 and stopped at Schwedenplatz because the map showed the Danube Canal was near there. Schwedenplatz is not the nicest neighborhood. There was graffitti everywhere, though it seemed overall safer than some of the neighborhoods in my city. We decided that we wanted the real Danube, and set off on the U2 line, Andrew was thinking we could catch a train from there. But the trains are not included in the passes you buy for transport, and only come every hour or so. That plan was caput. So we looked on the map, and went to the very end of the U2 Line. Then we walked about eight blocks, over a bridge, and through a Hilton Hotel to find the Danube. At that point it was dark, but we could still see the rushing water, and hear it, and smell it. It was peaceful there. We stayed there for half an hour, took pictures, they talked. Then the hotel started locking its outside doors and we left. We were a bit worried that the U-Bahn lines would quit before we got home, but we made it. They stop running about 12:30. We got home, and I read for far too long, but I realized how nice it is to be 'not here'.

On Saturday there was a class trip to Rohrau and Eisenstadt. We saw where Haydn was born, baptised, grew up, worked, but not where he died, that is tomorrow. My only problem was leaving all my stuff on the bus and having to borrow money to buy lunch. Not to mention it was hot enough to sweat in a bus without proper airconditioning. On the plus side, I did get more knitting done. I also found out that I am unreasonably jealous of people who speak German even a little better than I, and that my flatmates are children when I would rather be around adults. Again, on the plus side, the lemon (zitrone) ice cream (eis) here is fantastic.

Sunday I slept in, got up and ate, and then we all went to the Albertina. The Albertina is an art museum. They had a big collection or collection of collections that went from Monet (impressionism) to Picasso (abstract expressionism). That is like 1700's to mid 1900's. I enjoyed it, wrote down the pieces I especially liked. Perhaps I will try to find prints for later. Then we had lunch at Cafe Central, which was quite good, and went for dessert at Cafe Sacher. Aparrently the Sacher Torte is a big deal, we had that. It was just chocolate cake (kinda dry) with a apricot flavored chocolate covering. They served it with unsweetened whipped cream. I thought it was weird at first, but the flavors really mesh well, and they had this little chocolate medallion that said 'Hotel Sacher'. Also, there was Austrian ginger ale.
After that we all went home, about half of the apartment went to a concert. I thought about it, but there was homework to do. I am determined that I shall go to a string quartet concert in Vienna while I am here.

Today I suffered through German, and made it through Music History. Only a rehearsal (our first violin trio rehearsal!) and Music Performance to go (I will be performing the Meditation from Thais. 'cringe').

Talk at ya'll later.
Greeny

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: IES

I did it. Hehehehe! Being afraid of a street vendor is easy enough to overcome, apparently. Just don't be shy, tell 'em what you want clearly, and pay, of course. I am not full yet, it is hard to do that here, oddly. I did walk at least ten blocks just to get to and from the street cars and buses. I don't know. Is it the exercise or the stranger in a strange land business? Oh well. I need to get to class. I will try to describe the experience of living here later tonight or tomorrow.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: IES

I don't want to go to lunch. This is not because I am not hungry, this is because I don't want to face possibly unfriendly people who I have to buy food from. Here I am, unhappy and thwarted because I am afraid of embarassing myself. The people I've had transactions with haven't been openly unfriendly, some just look disgruntled, or put upon, and I think it is because I don't speak German. Ich bin eine ninny. I give up. I am hungry, and anyone who knows me knows I like to eat. In America, do we really care if the McDonalds people are happy with us? No. We just want our food. I think I will go now, there is a kebab sandwich (that is lamb) calling me.

Greeny