christmas is over for another year

well, since my last post i've been to england and back for christmas. its been a whirlwind of last minute shopping, catching up with friends, hanging out with family, and eating and drinking far too much!

the first two photos are at home in vienna. we didn't have a tree this year which made me very sad.... but the tree would have been home all alone over christmas so it seemed a bit silly to buy one (i refuse to have a fake tree).

the rest of the photos were taken at my grandparents house on christmas day. we had a lovely day together with glasses of sherry, a HUGE christmas roast (there was so much on my plate i kept discovering new things underneath!), lots of red wine, trifle, party poppers (we have a long running tradition in our family of aiming them at the chandelier to see who can hit it the most!), christmas crackers, music, a board game and snooker in the evening.

there is such a build up to christmas in december and then it always seems over in a flash. but i'm really happy i got to go home and spend it with family and friends. even if i am now completely exhausted and dreading work tomorrow!

play loud

i love the sticker on the new album by the black keys. it is good advice. you really should take a listen.

fairy cakes

i've been terrible at blogging lately. i just don't know where the time has gone to. i haven't been taking many photographs either. just no time, and daily life getting in the way.

we had a little pre-birthday celebration for our friend on sunday and i baked little fairy cakes with buttercream icing! they were rather rustic looking but i kinda preferred them that way.

lately

an out of focus christmas tree at schwarzenbergplatz.
mugs of glühwein at the karlskirche christmas market.
one litre of beer at salm bräu.
my delicious tafelspitz starter at stomach.
a frozen margarita at first floor.
a walk to the belvedere.
yummy lunch at wrenkh.
a glimpse of stephansdom in the sunshine.

christmas seems to be creeping up on me this year. the weeks are going by so fast. we've been doing lots of fun things, including having friends from england visiting us last weekend. it was a weekend of great food, cocktails, glühwein and christmas markets!

this weekend has also been busy with an awesome dinner party with friends on friday, and a birthday party last night for this lovely lady. lots of fun!

an evening at the belvedere

last week i enjoyed a few warming mugs of punsch after work at the belvedere christmas market until i couldn't feel my toes anymore (i was stupidly wearing converse!). the belvedere looks so pretty this time of year at night.

austrian countryside

a few sundays back we went for a big long walk in the austrian countryside with hannah and peter. we got the train to somewhere (the name of which i can't remember!), walked a little through the edge of 21st district and then north following some hiking paths passing through hagenbrunn and bisamberg. it was a beautiful winters day. lunch was a huge grammelknödel (which is a dumpling filled with pork crackling/fat. super healthy!), sauerkraut and a glass of wine in a heuriger in hagenbrunn. mmmmmm.

weekend

just some random photos from the past two weekends. the week passed by so fast that it seemed to all meld into one.

the christmas markets are now open and we enjoyed our first mug of ingwer glühmost (mulled cider with ginger) last sunday at the MQ. delicious!

this saturday night we saw the horrors perform at flex. i thought they were brilliant. i wasn't a fan of their music when they released their debut album but i really love their third album skying.

and yesterday i cooked red lentil and chickpea soup for lunches this week and i attempted my first beef pie. i used this recipe with beef, guinness and mushrooms. i think i will tweak the recipe a little next time (i think the beef needs cooking for longer... and there seemed to be too much liquid) but it was really tasty and pretty good for my first attempt!

berlin. part 7

these are the last of the berlin photos. now back to vienna again, i promise!