weekend

not much happening here. we've had a weekend of shopping, chores and getting things done at home before family and friends visit us this week (excited!).

we did make a trip to ikea on saturday and then had a little adventure on the way home! there is an ikea bus that departs from the bus stop opposite the opera that is really handy for people like us who don't have a car. we've made the trip many times before but somehow we managed to get on the wrong bus home (don't ask me how!). there was a little (okay, rather large panic) as we drove off into the unknown 23rd district. luckily the bus stopped at siebenhirten (at the end of the u6 line) and we managed to make our way home on the underground laden with ikea bags, a large picture frame and a plant!

i'm happy as it means i've finally reframed my gustav klimt 'the kiss' print. i've owned this print for many years and i find it quite amazing that i now only live a 15 minute walk away from the belvedere that houses the original.

we went to ikea for only a few small things and managed to come back with €175 worth of stuff. what, i'm not quite sure?! but we do have a new pestle and mortar! and our new plant now sits next to the frida khalo print.

wow. looking at that bowl of pasta (jamie oliver's working girls pasta - one of our favourites) i can't believe how greedy i am!

lubin

we had a fantastic meal at restaurant lubin last week! (a croatian fish and seafood restaurant tucked away only a 10 minute walk from our apartment). being a land locked country, you don't expect austria to have too many fish restaurants. i thought this one was really excellent. they drive the fish fresh from croatia apparently. kev had their speciality for starter, the buzara 'lubin' (amazing) and i had grilled sardines (really simple and delicious). for main i chose the scampi buzara (langoustines in a delicious tomato sauce with polenta on the side) and kev had the fish plate for one. there were many different types of fish on the plate (admittedly we couldn't identify some of them but they all tasted good). the waiter was friendly and the whole evening was a lovely experience. except maybe for the drink we decided to try at the end of the meal (if you don't like the taste of pure ethanol then maybe avoid the slivovitz. i couldn't find a single trace of plum!)

sun sun sun

lately it seems to have been mega hot and sunny during the week (when we are working) and then raining at the weekend. but, it was finally sunny all weekend for us to enjoy!
friday night was lazy with pizza on the sofa. beers were enjoyed with friends on saturday and yesterday we spent the afternoon at prater under the shade of a tree chatting, dozing and reading. lovely.

where did that weekend go?!

rather too much drinking this past weekend. in fact, i appear to have spent the entire weekend either drunk or hungover. eek. and it was SO hot. i just couldn't cool down and our electric fan broke!
all the photos were taken on saturday night (except for the mustang. by the way, how cool is the car?! we saw it parked around the corner from our apartment).
we had a fantastic evening with friends at summer stage on saturday (drinking lots of beer and eating fish & chips/burger & chips from the irish place charlie p's) and then we headed to our favourite place to play some pool (rather terribly but it was loads of fun).
definitely a lack of food photos this weekend!

holy moly

a few weeks ago we went to the restaurant holy moly on the badeschiff (which is a boat on the donau canal). they have a restaurant, a pool and a club on there!
we really liked it. the atmosphere was great, staff were friendly (if a little slow towards the end when the dj kicked in and the club started downstairs), the food was great and i loved the graffiti on the walls and ceiling. unfortunately for us, the evening we booked a table there was torrential rain but i'm sure it would be lovely on a warm summer evening (hopefully next time!).
everyone took pictures of their own food but the lighting was terrible for photos. i ate beef tartare with avocado (it was really amazing), kev had calf head (yep, calf head). sounds a little freaky i know but apparently they really slow cook it and then remove all the meat. i tried it, and it tasted good. for main i decided to not be my normal predictable self (i would have chosen the lamb shoulder) but instead i went for the squid with polenta and black beans. it was a really unusual dish but i really enjoyed it. i would say it is not a menu for the less adventurous. you might struggle to find something to eat!
for dessert all four of us chose the chocolate plate. it was SO good. there were different flavoured chocolate truffles, a mousse, a soft fondant cake thing, some chocolate sticks. it was pure heaven for chocolate lovers!

lazy weekend

a lazy weekend was very much needed. i was fast asleep on the sofa on friday night by 9.30pm. i'm not sure if that is a reflection on the film we were watching (paul) or my extreme tiredness. kev said the film was okay. so maybe it was a bit of both.

i met a friend for lunch on saturday (we hadn't seen each other for too long). we went to naturkost st josef for some yummy salads. then we went to aida for coffee (well, okay i had a soda zitrone).

kev and i went to a local italian for dinner. look at the size of the beef carpaccio!

and the rest of the weekend was spent sleeping, watching wimbledon, reading, cooking chicken tikka masala (from scratch for the first time) and generally being very lazy. it rained all day on sunday and so it was perfect for staying at home.

i've finally finished 'this book will save your life'. really loved it. it's very funny and rather random. but in a good way.