ice skating at the rathaus

yesterday i finally got to go iceskating with sarah at the weiner eistraum! (kev refuses to skate so he stayed at home). we arrived as the sun was going down. the rathaus then becomes illuminated and it looks so beautiful (its a pretty impressive town hall!).

there are two large skating areas and then a section of ice pathways that link up. there is even a roundabout!

(there appears to be a ghostly figure in this photo!)

it was so much fun and so lovely skating in the dark with all the colourful lights and music playing. it's a shame that it ends next weekend for another year. after a very wobbly start (i haven't skated for years) i really started to improve after only an hour and a half. although i still couldn't quite master how to stop!

signs

some signs at the volkstheater U bahn station (underground). i'm not sure what the idea behind them is but 'handlungsanweisung' translates (according to google who cannot be trusted when translating) to 'guide to action'. i smiled at a stranger but (unsurprisingly) they didn't smile back!

it's friday

a photo from this morning and a photo from this evening.

yippeeeee for friday! as you can see, it was only -3 this morning... compared to the -7 it's been for the rest of the week. my morning walks to work have been VERY chilly. i'm not sure the skin on my face can take much more of the freezing conditions! (it might completely flake off). but anyway, yay for beer!

i'm still here!

hmmm... these are the only photos i have to show for the past week (rubbish).

sooo, what have i been doing. er, working and eating lots of couscous salad? i have been doing some fun stuff too.

on friday night i went to see the king's speech (the opening night in austria) and it was BRILLIANT. i thought with all the hype surrounding it that i might be a little disappointed... but i really loved it. colin firth is SO good. he has to win the oscar (if the social network takes over at the oscars i'm going to be really rather cross. i just don't get why everyone thinks its so good? i'm obviously missing something? but i didn't see the point in making the film... and in parts its actually quite boring. anyway, rant over! ha). go and see the king's speech if you haven't already!

i met up with a lovely girl on saturday (we met through my blog!). we went to theater cafe which is just next to naschmarkt. i hadn't been before but i really liked it there. it had a nice relaxed atmosphere, simple but nice decor, and the staff were really friendly. we didn't eat but the food on other tables looked really good.

on saturday night i went out for a friends birthday to down under. it was fun! there was live acoustic music which was really good. lots of beers were drunk and we ended up in a very random late night bar called salim's where the waitress tipped a whole tray full of drinks down the front of my dress (i'm not kidding). luckily it was 4am at this point and i managed to see the funny side. we 'chair danced' lots and enjoyed people watching. the birthday girl elif heard possibly one of the funniest chat up lines ever....

random man: 'is your hair real or is it a wig?'

elif: 'it's real'

random man: 'can i touch it?'

elif: 'er, NO!'

(it went something like that anyway... memory a little hazy).

i got home at 6am on sunday morning (haven't done that in a very long time!) so as you can probably guess, i wasn't good for anything on sunday.

last night i went to see a gig at chelsea. the band azure ray were playing. it was a great night and i really enjoyed the musc (i think they are described as 'dream pop'?!). it was pretty exciting when my friend and i were sitting in a restaurant eating dinner and the band members walked in and sat down in the same restaurant! (wish i knew the name of the restaurant... i ate an awesome bread thing called 'mexico brot' - basically bread topped with bacon, peppers, sweetcorn, chilli and melted cheese. YUM. unfortunately no pictures as i forgot my camera. doh).

valentines day menu

kev and i had a little romantic evening in together. we cooked a meal (joint effort), drank champagne, and it was lovely! we chose a really simple and quick menu (so we didn't spend ages in the kitchen). (the pictures are not very good, i literally took really quick snaps).

we turned to jamie oliver (again) for some inspiration and made the mozzarella and chilli crostini for a simple starter (well, our take on it anyway with the produce we could buy easily).

for main we cooked beef stroganoff (and served it with basmati rice). so easy and quick to make! and of course we followed jamie's recipe here. next time i will add more paprika but it was tasty and something i've never cooked myself before.
dessert is not pictured (i kinda forgot!) but we froze some grapes and ate them with some chilli chocolate (yummy). the frozen grapes were like sorbet without having to do anything except put them in the freezer. and i'd like to say that i thought of the idea all by myself but it was (you guessed it) a jamie oliver suggestion! (see here). i'm not being paid by him, honest!

*i've been so terrible at blogging lately (well, since i started work). hopefully i'll get better at time management (and do some more interesting things)!

my walk to work

a few snaps i took on my way to work on wednesday morning. i'm lucky that i can walk to work in 20 minutes without needing any public transport. in a few months i'd like to look for a second hand bike to cycle to work. it'll be great to cycle when the weather is clear and bright.... although i might get a bit hot and sweaty in the summer.

its not been such a great week this week. i've been feeling really poorly (head cold, sore throat, cough etc) and on tuesday morning i slipped and fell over in the shower and really hurt myself on the side of the bath. i have a really huge painful black bruise on my upper arm where it obviously took all my weight in the fall! (i'm so clumsy).

we had a table booked at a restaurant tonight but we've had to cancel as we both feel too unwell (i've given kev my lurgy). i think this weekend is going to be one of resting lots at home. but happy friday to you all!

hello from sunday

a few pictures of home.... our messy shelves, and a poster i bought at the frida kahlo exhibition (back in november) that we've only just framed and put on the wall today.

so, i survived my first week of work! it was good to do something... but i wasn't so keen on the getting up to an alarm bit! (that is going to take some getting used to). work again tomorrow and i'm not feeling that old sunday dread of work on monday... so thats a good sign!

we've had a very quiet weekend at home. mostly due to the fact that we were both REALLY hungover yesterday (oohps). friday night drinks after work and then six nations rugby at the pub turned into a major drinking session and getting home at nearly 5am (visited chelsea for the first time). it was fun though! (and england won. woo!). but my highlight yesterday was eating pizza and watching 'match of the day'. today we've been cleaning and watching more football. i haven't left the apartment all weekend.

i finally did some exercise this week. i went to my first zumba class! i didn't really know what to expect but i really enjoyed it. EXERCISE and it was FUN! i went with my friend hannah and we did spend a lot of time laughing at our inability to keep up with the moves but it made the time go super fast. hopefully we will make it a regular weekly thing. it was in german but it didn't seem to matter too much. i just tried to copy everyone else!

baked couscous

i tried a new recipe last week from my new cookbook 'real cooking' by nigel slater. i really love nigel slater as he's all about simple unfussy cooking. this dish is baked couscous with chicken and spices. in the words of nigel slater its 'a warm, homely, fragant, buttery, mildly spiced supper'... and it was bloody delicious!