Vienna

Last New Years Day, we watched a concert in a spectacular concert hall on our French TV.  Lyle told me then....."Find out where that is and let's go!"  Well, after googling it, I discovered it was the Golden Hall in the Musikverein concert hall in Vienna.  It's an annual thing and tickets are well over 2000 euros...if you can get one! After researching some quick get-aways to Vienna, we spent 4 days there last weekend, NOT New Years!

  We arrived on a crisp, sunny day, took the train into the city, marvelling at their shiny efficient subway and train system.  Problem was, we somehow got on the express train and didn't have the correct tickets.  Oh well...the conductor just asked for 20 euros and went on his way.....

Vienna is the musical capital of Europe....full of concert halls, opera houses, and musical events everywhere.  We spent one evening at the famous Musikverein and looked forward to a Haydn concert.  The problem was....it was an opera...in Italian...translated into German.  But it was a pleasant surprise, and we throroughly enjoyed it.   Sitting next to us were two friendly women who were both opera stars and tried to tell us what was going on, but conversation wasn't welcomed well into the play.  We just sat back and enjoyed the Concentus Musicus playing "L'infildelta delusa", whatever that was......We were where we wanted to be and the evening was wonderful!

Earlier that day we walked around central Vienna on a walking tour, learning about the Hapsburgs, Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Maria Theresa, and the confusing Franz Josephs and Joseph Franz's.  I was just starting to understand a little of the French monarchs...but now this?  All I could relate to was that Marie Antoinette was one of Maria Theresa's 13 kids who were all married off to further the Austrian empire.

We visited Marie's winter home and summer home.....Hofburg in central Vienna

.....and a short train trip out to the country side on a beautiful Sunday to Schonbrunn, similar to Versailles....

Besides serious concerts, Vienna has plenty of "touristy" shows with music and waltzes from Strauss and Mozart.  Lyle gave in to my longing to do that too, since I didn't totally understand the concert the night before.  We got some tickets off the street for another enjoyable concert in a small "salon" and were entertained with more classical music and dances.  I loved it!

It was a relaxing weekend of  music, walking, and just relaxing in coffee shops, which Vienna is famous for.  But we couldn't believe the food portions (I guess we are used to the French sizes?).  Our weiner schnitzel covered the entire plate, the bratwurts were huge, and the breakfasts were full of carbs!  And we had to bring home the famous sachertorte from Demel's.

 

 

 

 

Julia Child I am not

I have been enjoying reading "My Life in France" about Julia Child and her husband, living as ex-pats in Paris in the late 40s to 50s.  I know where she lived and the streets that she walked, but the identifying with her ends there.  She was a newly-married wife who plunged herself into Parisian life, learning the language quickly, and adored the shopping and French meals.

I am not there.

My speaking French still sucks, even after 18 months of working on it.  I shy away from the fresh markets because the overwhelming selection of fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, and cheese totally intimidate me.  I have a hard time asking for what I want, and am embarrassed about my child-like French.  I am not sure whether I am getting a bargain, or just getting "taken".  I know that not speaking French is the main problem.  I can't communicate what I want very well.

So, I'm afraid that much of my shopping is at the small little grocer's around the corner, or the bigger "Carrfour City" a few blocks away.  Neither are huge supermarkets, but the selections are clear and I can load up my bag with just enough to carry home.

I need to take a cooking class.  I have tried recipes from a French cookbook written in English, and have found some good ones that I can handle.  But when I sampled some "potimarron" soup (kind of like a pumpkin) and boeuf bourguignon at our last Bloom workshop, I wanted to try these recipes at home. Peeling the pumpkin was a bit of a challenge, especially with our dull knives, but it turned out well. By the way, all of their soups are started in the food processor.  No clear soups here!

Promising to make the "B.B" for Lyle, I went to the boucherie down the street and told the butcher, in French, that I needed 1 kilogram of beef for the B.B.  He smiled and brought out a beautiful chunk of beef from the refrigerator, cut it up, asked if I wanted a bone too (sure, why not...maybe that's the bacon part I am supposed to get?).  Price: 15 euros.....yikes!  Then headed over to my little store to buy some cognac and Burgundy wine (another 12 euros).  Add to that the mushrooms, veal stock, carrots, onions....well, that wasn't very much....but it was adding up.  All this for the two of us?  We needed to ask someone over to share it.  Frances and Steve could come Sunday evening.

The recipe actually was fairly simple.  I was a little hesitant about lighting the cognac, though, and told Lyle that was his part.  He did it with a match, as I did not want to spend another 10 euros for one of those torches.  Cheap and Cheaper were cooking!  Well, the fire from the cognac was tame, not flaming 3 feet high into our kitchen, just a little blue flame in the pot...

Mission accomplished....

It turned out great, except a little salty (did I really put in 2 tablespoons of salt in it, or was that my imagination?).  Lyle told me he would love eating it every week!

Not.

So, yesterday I thought I would try fish.  I found an easy recipe to follow, using leeks as a sauce, so I headed to the poisonnerie on Rue Cler.  I needed sea bass, which is "loup de mer" in French.  Looking over all of the fresh fish on ice, I didn't see any, so had to ask the fish man.  He pointed to a whole fish, which I wasn't expecting.  Nor did I want to cut off the head and fillet it.   Julia Child would have known what to do with that whole fish.  But my seventh grade cooking teacher  never taught me how to fillet fish, even though my mother did it often (my other cooking teacher).  I bought some salmon instead.

So.....I am a bit disgusted with myself that I haven't embraced this wonderful part of French life.  I guess I need to take the plunge and actually take a few classes before I go home.