Tuesday 14 July 2009

A Wonderful Time . . .

Greetings Everyone!

We arrived home, safe and sound, from our Austrian Holiday last evening, after almost 24 hour trip! Boy are we zonked! We had a truly wonderful time in this stunningly beautiful country. Clean, gorgeous and very friendly. I took some 300 + pictures, that I still have to vet and categorize, and the holiday is not over yet, as we are off to Broadstairs tomorrow to visit some friends for a few days! But fear not, I will have a complete travelogue for you at the end of it all.

In the meantime, here is a little teaser of some of what we experienced!




A really COMFY hotel room, which became our home away from home for the week that we were there. Lovely shower, much better than the one we have at home and beautiful views from the window of the gorgeous Austrian countryside!




A wonderful coach crew, that were helpful, very informative and wonderfully entertaining. This was Steve. (Note the cheeky grin! This fella was a real character!)




Gorgeous mountains and flowers . . . everywhere we looked!




Beautiful Baroque churches, filled with stained glass, gold, stunning statuary, gilt and gorgeous painted murals.




Gorgeous wooden chalet type houses, draped with stunning window boxes, just filled to the brim with beautifully coloured flowers.




Ardent admirers that dogged my every step . . . (It wouldn't have been so bad if I had the type of allure that attracted Bad Pitt look alikes, but . . . as you can clearly see . . . I'm not quite that alluring . . . )




Life sized Pinocchio's . . . . wait . . . . I think that's Todd getting all Austrian on me. (Note the hat!) Apparently the size of the feather on the hat has something to do with a Male's prowess with the females. Todd removed his before he was told that little bit of information and then promptly had to go out and buy another one to replace it, lest he be found as lacking in that department!



Wonderful new friends made on the coach. This lovely couple, (the two Phil's, Philomena and Philip) are Irish and hail from Blackpool. We really enjoyed their company and will be popping up to visit them and see the Blackpool Illuminations later this year!




Fantastic food . . . Bratwurst, Schnitzel . . .

And these totally delicious fruit dumplings, which I was fortunate enough to get the recipe for!




*Germknodel/Yeast Dumplings*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Todd had this one day for his lunch. It is a typical Austrian fruit filled dumpling, which they served nestled in a delicious pool of vanilla custard.

9 oz ( 1 cup and 1 TBS) flour
1/4 cup (2 oz) milk
1 oz fresh years or 1 TBS dried yeast, plus 1 tsp sugar
pinch salt
1 egg yolk
1 oz butter, softened
4 oz plum jam, 1 tsp rum
pinch cinnamon
2 oz ground poppy seeds
2 1/2 oz icing sugar, sifted
2 1/2 oz browned butter

Sift the flour into a large bowl. In separate bowl, blend lukewarm milk, yeast and sugar; add to flour. Add salt, egg yolk and soft butter. Beat with dough hooks until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

Mix plum jam with rum and cinnamon. Divide dough into 4 to 6 equal pieces. Put one teaspoon of prune filling in the middle of each piece, fold dough over filling and roll in floured hands to form dumplings. Let rise for 20 minutes. Simmer dumplings in salted water over low heat, turning after about 6 to 8 minutes. (total time 12 - 16 minutes) Drain gently, serve and place in bowls. Sprinkle with ground poppy seeds, and powdered sugar. Drizzle with browned butter.



Now, that, folks . . . is a really happy face!
(I'll be re-posting some of my inspirational thoughts from my old blog to fill in the time whilst we are away.)

Psst . . . and I did it all without gaining an ounce!!

17 comments:

  1. LOOKS GORGEOUS..WHATS LOVELY PHOTOS!! SO GLAD YOU HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME!

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  2. I'm glad you are home and hope the remaining days of your holiday are just as nice.

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  3. Welcome back...at least temporarily. Can't wait to her more about the trip. Austria has always been on my list of places we want to visit.

    Congrats on not gaining weight on your trip. Wonderful!

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  4. Austria is a place I myself would love to visit Marie.All the rest have my family have been there and loved it.Sounds you had a wonderful time.Looking forward to reading more.I think you will find Blackpool a little daunting after Austria LOL!!Take Care God Bless Kath xx

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  5. What a wonderful holiday! Can't wait to see more pictures! Enjoy your continued time to relax and appreciate what we love most!

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  6. We loved Austria. Europe offers some of the most exquisite visions in the world to visit & view. So glad you had a lovely time. TTFN ~Marydon

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  7. All that and you didn't gain an ounce!!!???? How can that be??? I am proud of you.

    It sounds like you two had a wonderful trip. Have fun with your friends and then hurry back and tell us all about it.
    Love, Lura

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  8. Gorgeous! Tasty food lovely flowers ...I'm glad you had a great time!!!

    Thanks for sharing photos and trip:)

    Welcome~~~
    http://foodcreate.com
    SignUp for Our Newsletter, Post your comments:)
    and if you can visit me I can visit you:)


    Have Wonderful Day ~~~

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  9. I'm so glad you had a good time!

    LOVE the pic of Todd and his feather...

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  10. What a wonderful trip Marie! It looks so beautiful there! So glad you had such a nice, relaxing time! How fun! And now you're off on another adventure - yay! Have a great time!

    XOOX
    Jen

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  11. Looks beautiful, Marie! And, wow, that is HAPPY!!! :)

    XO
    DI

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  12. Hi Marie!

    Loved seeing the pictures so far! My grandparents as well as my husbands came from Austria so this is "very special post" for us. Our grandparent's relatives currently live in Slovenia which prior to World War I was part of Austria.
    Glad that you enjoyed your trip!!!!

    Judy

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  13. You look like you are having a great time. I'm happy for you. I can hardly wait till my hubby retires and we plan such vacations. Love your blog.

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  14. Hello, Dear Marie! So glad you made it come safe & sound--welcome back! So good to see you here... and just LOVING the photos! Can't wait for more news and photos when you have time to share. It looks like you have a very grand time--so happy for you all. And that you're keeping your diet going--hooray. Happy Days, sweet friend. LOVE YOU HEAPS ((BIG HUGS))

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  15. Mmmmm bratwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes - lovely! And fruit dumplings - how did you not put anything on? Do tell. I wouldn't have dared go near the scales!

    We're going to Blackpool on 30th October to see the illuminations. Blackpool must have something to recommend it or the Phils wouldn't have migrated there. I wonder if I can do a photo Foodalogue while we're there?

    love, Angie, xx

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  16. Hi Marie,

    Welcome back.. and I like that happy face of yours!.. Yes, I do.. so cute.

    Yes, Austria is lovely.. I was there in 2002.. beautiful churches and the mountain scenery simple awesome.

    We just came back from a holiday oursevles.. we went to Switzerland for 18 days. Mountains, nature, flowers, roses, vegetables, lakes.. all the things we love!

    BTW, I have a blog now.. some 4 months now. Drop by when you're free.

    Angela KL

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  17. Glad you are baaaaccccckkkk. Austris is on my places to visit!

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