Cooking Alone.

And that’s really the only way to do it,  since I don’t know of too many cooks* who really want anyone else hanging around. 

Or,  as one of Travelling Companion’s former associates used to say,  when he meant “hanging around”, he’d say, “Hoovering”.   He was trying to say, “Hovering”,  but his first language was Dutch, and there was the odd time when some things would come out a wee bit wrong.   Like the Bay of Foondy (Fundy).   We never did offer to correct any of these little slips,  since it was so entertaining.  Was that mean?

And besides,  correcting folks who are using another language other than their mother tongue to communicate all the time is just rude I think.  Who gives a shit,  really?

Having said that,  (the cooking alone part that is)  there are times on the weekends when Travelling Companion and I will muster up some sort of joint effort.  Last weekend wasn’t one of those times.  Some times we’re just not hungry.  I think it’s some sort of lack of discipline during the day,  as we tend to graze just a little too much.   All I seem to recall was the steaks we had Sunday night. 

This is what they look like before adding some  Denninger's Steak spice and Worcestershire sauce.

(Click that link for a clue as to what exactly Denninger’s is…)

The butcher actually cuts them from a tenderloin,  and will cut them as thin (not good) or thick as I’d like.   Thicker is better,  since then we don’t end up with insoles instead of steaks.  Travelling Companion likes hers a little more done than me,  so hers might just be a little thinner.  That’s heaps easier than trying to stagger cooking times.   Staggered cooking times!  Ha!  Please, are you kidding?

See,  I took that damned picture,  and I had to figure out a way of sticking it here.  So there you go.

*ahem*

Speaking of simple.  I was,  sort of, right?  I usually try and keep meals simple.  Because well, I AM.  It’s taken me a lot of years to realise that I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer,  and after I came to that contusion  (I mean,  conclusion) everything got easier.  Believe me.  Just accept it.

Which is why preparing last night’s meal was a bit of an undertaking.  It’s one of those that is usually at least a joint effort.  Well,  either that or I just stay safely off to one side.  It’s a one person kitchen after all.

 

This is a recipe that we got from my sister-in-law from WAY around on the other side of world,  off there in West Vancouver.  Thanks “L”!

 

Yes,  I was actually using FOUR pots!  Jumpin’!  There’s only four burners,  so I suppose that’s pretty much the limit.

Now,  I just realised that I’ve run out of segues.    It’s an unfortunate situation really,  but I haven’t a clue how to make the jump to this next idea.  I must have used them all up in November.  Sad, really.  I apologize.

 

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There’s an expression that one should be mindful of whenever you find yourself on a boat. (this will make sense,  just wait)

And I’m not really kidding around here.  Whether it’s a sailboat,  powerboat, doesn’t matter.  It’s simply this:  “One hand for the boat”.  

What that means is,  whatever you’re doing, wherever you’re moving,  you need to be hanging onto something.  One hand or the other.  Boats can do some unpredictable things.  Sailboats even more so.  Trust me,  it saves a great deal of blood letting or having the rest of the crew do a “man overboard” drill.  

Mind you,  if you’re tying a bowline in the clue of the headsail, and need both hands, my preference is to be right down on the deck.  But that’s just me.  Tougher to get hurled overboard that way.

 

As an example of the mumbo jumbo confusion that I’ve long ago realised is the best that I can possibly do when it comes to “thinking”,  this was a thought that occurred to me as I was stirring the rice while whipping up the Chicken Risotto..

“One hand for the glass.”

Not that I wanted to make the whole procedure more complicated or anything,  it’s just that the recipe calls for white wine.  I figured, to be on the safe side,  I should really test it.  We must err on the side of caution after all.

 

 

But then,  really and truly, I think it’s a pretty good cooking motto!  “One hand for the glass” people!  Look sharp!

I can’t see why that wouldn’t catch on.

I’ll alert the media.

 

With that,  I’ll bid you a pleasant day.

And, as usual,  thanks for stopping by.

 

*I’m using that term “cook” in an overly generous fashion when referring to myself of course.

 

 

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Back to the post office.

It’s always a busy place,  and it doesn’t seem to matter what time of day it is,  or the season.  Well,  except possibly in the summertime when most of the Austrians are on vacation,  but I coincidently never seem to go to the post office then.

Seems like an archaic kind of thing. Sticking these little bits of paper onto bigger bits of paper.  Kinda fun to get those bits of paper in the mail I suppose.

In answer to the question a couple days ago as to whether or not we actually bought something on Saturday,  I thought I had said that, yes we did.   The thing was,  I couldn’t say what it was,  since it involves Christmas presents,  but I think I said that too.   So today’s “mission”,  was to try and come up with some combination of box or boxes in which these items can then be shipped home.  I think I may have found something,  but there will be no pictures.  Hello? Christmas presents.  Remember?

We need to work on our comprehension skills here people.

I’ve always been an advocate of gift certificates myself,  and just last week I ordered something from the Canadian version of Amazon that has already been delivered to the recipients.  They’re now on their honour to not peek,  put it under the tree and open it on Christmas morning.  My idea of Christmas shopping. 

My total today at the post office was only €15,50.   I have a few more on my list,  but they’re within Europe so I can put those off for a couple days.   The post office lady asked if I wanted stamps or to just put it into the computer? (I know,   I was a bit confused too)  I simply said for her to do whatever was easier for her.  So she then proceeds  to go to the stamp book and rip out the appropriate number of first €1,00 stamps,  and then €,70 stamps,  moisten them all,  and stick them on the envelopes. That took forever.  I was hoping that I didn’t have to do that chore,  but still.  The girl yesterday did it differently,  and much more efficiently I thought.  Nothing like the “old” ways!  Shouldn’t there be some automated way of doing that?  Just wondering. Besides,  they have those peel and stick stamps these days,  or at least I’ve used them in Canada and the Netherlands.  Not sure what’s up with the Austrians.  Maybe licking is cheaper.  So it’s no wonder there’s always a line at the post office.  And handling post is less than half of it.  They sell cell phones,  DVDs,  CDs.   I suppose they’ve had to diversify.  You can even do you banking with them,  although they were bought out by BAWAG in 2005.  BAWAG is a proper bank.  Not that you care.

 

As is the case with any metropolitan area,  we have our share of beggars and other homeless types.  We’re certainly not going to enter into any philosophical discussions regarding that situation,  but I did want to point out this one individual that I see from time to time.  He/she tends to hang around on Neubaugaße for the most part,  and is a bit of an enigma.  

He/she was sitting off to the right of the “Blue Tomato” store.  By the way,  what the hell kind of a name in “Blue Tomato”?  (wait,  just looked it up,  apparently it’s a snowboard and surf shop,  who knew?)

 

Anyway,  I pretended to take a picture of the boys on the scaffold,  and zoomed in on him/her.

Yes,  he/she is wearing a helmet.  The only time I’ve ever seen that is when there’s a danger of epileptic seizure.   There never seems to be any interaction between this person and anyone else,  so it’s not as if he/she is a beggar.  Although,  maybe the cup off to one side is for a collection?  Not sure.  Just the same, a little troubling.

 

OK,  on a less troubling note,  I thought I’d include this picture of a rather nice Triumph that’s on display at the front of the Gerngross.  One of my nieces has a “scooter” of some sort,  so I figured I’d put it here for her.

 

I can just hear her now saying,  “Scooter?  scooter?  I don’t have no damned scooter!!”

 

See,  this is her bike.   It’s a crappy pic,  since I stole it from her Facebook profile.

 

Hers is the red one.  Pretty sure that’s not a scooter.  So just calm down.   She and her hubby have “his and hers”.  

 

I think that’s it for today’s missive.  Nothing too exciting going on.  Just waiting for those kids to arrive.

Keep it between the ditches,  and thanks for stopping by.

 

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Hold on to yer hat!

This will sound silly,  and I know it doesn’t work that way,  but it’s almost as if we’re getting the tail end of the winds they had in parts of California over the last couple days. 

I took Travelling Companion to work this morning, since I have a couple errands to run,  and there was no wind when we went out the door,  but as we got half way to our destination it sure picked up.   They’re calling for gusts up to 80 kph.  I realise that’s no where near the 80 mph winds of California,  but you know,  it’s California,  they can’t be outdone.

To quote an oft used down east expression,  “The wind is just pickin’ things”.

We won’t get into just how grammatically incorrect that is,  too hard to explain. It’s that whole “transitive/intransitive” thing.?

 

Managed to drop €25,50 on postage this morning for Christmas cards,  and we haven’t quite wrapped up the Christmas card program just yet either.  Those were just T.C.’s half of things.   She does her family,  and I do mine.  That’s the deal.  Of course,  I end up doing all of my/our “Pub Buddies”,  which isn’t quite right,  since her handwriting is considerably better than mine.  Somehow I don’t think that would be a convincing ploy to try and get out of it though. 

Since the traffic was extra heavy coming back into the city this morning,  I took a shot of the heating plant on the way in. 

I sit in traffic.  I get bored.

(um ya,  there were a couple more,  but they kinda suck)

This is a site where household waste is incinerated and then the the heat generated (hot water in this case) is piped out to roughly a quarter million customers,  both residential and commercial.

Bit of an odd looking thing, what?  I’ll not repeat the word we use when we refer to this particular landmark.  It’s a family blog.

The building was designed by Hundertwasser.  That link takes you to a wiki article,  but suffice to say he was NOT an architect,  but more of an artist.  Other than that I have no opinion. 

All the articles are in German of course,  but I did find this nifty little diagram,  it might help:

 

I did find this video on Youtube that’s only about a minute and a half long..

 

 

Thanks there “Manfred”.   Nice and short.

As you can see,  Hundertwasser had a unique take on building design.  The scuttle butt is that, the “Hundertwasserhaus”,  which is a housing/office project a little farther down along the Danube canal,  is having some structural issues since well,  this guy wasn’t an architect.   Didn’t I just say that? 

On a positive note though,  I do tend to admire the guy,  since he figured that even though a family might have to live in “public housing”,  that shouldn’t mean living in some cinderblock jail cell.

Now let me just say this about that.  In our extended family,  we have a couple architects.   Comes in handy,  I might add.  One of these days I dig up some pictures of our shed back home.  It ain’t too shabby.  Not designed by me by any stretch of the imagination,  but by one of my brothers-in-law,  who just happens to be an architect.

But here’s the thing,  architects can some times come up with some really nifty ideas,  that builders have a shit of a job building.  One of the aforementioned architects has bounced ideas off me on more than one occasion,  just to get the point of view from somebody who has swung a hammer from time to time.  I’m about as creative as a post,  but I can tell you within a couple minutes of looking at your design,  whether there’s any way in hell it can be built.  Well,  and not fall down.   And don’t get me wrong,  I mostly don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground,  but sometimes just asking questions can lead to solutions.  And besides,  it’s fun to be asked.

 

Speaking of holding on to your hat,  did you see the size of that bomb they defused yesterday up in Germany?   Holy crap!   It was the size of a forty gallon hot water heater,  weighing in at 1.8 tonnes!    It was called a “Blockbuster”,  since it was big enough to take out an entire city block.  Gah!

It’s something that we do tend to take for granted in Europe,  but when you host a war,  there’s going to be some left over crap.  It’s surprising to see the amount of ordinance that gets unearthed every year.  The war ended some 65 years ago. 

 

I’ll leave you to chew on that for a bit.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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