How Did We Miss This!?

I blurred the picture for the blog...in reality its not blurred at all. 

When we were in Vienna, I posted about an art exhibit that was in town featuring naked men. The advertising around the city drew a lot of criticism and complaints, but also a lot of intrigue.

Dan found THIS article today....we obviously missed out. :)

The Amazing Race- Museum Edition

On Friday Dan and I set out for a big day of sightseeing. We are leaving on Wednesday for Prague so we wanted one more day to fit in a bunch of sights and traditional Viennese things that we hadn't seen yet. It also was a national holiday here so the museums were all open and discounted. Optimal time to run in, see the highlights, and go onto the next one.

The Freud Museum, the Vienna Criminal Museum,
Elephants at the Natural History Museum & the Ferris Wheel

We picked out the top things we needed to see, planned our routes, researched what we needed to know about why these items were important and set off. Now, to be honest we made it inside 1 of the many museums we planned. We actually went inside of the Art Museum to see some of Gustav Klimt's original works. In the late afternoon it was getting really cold and we had been walking around a lot all day so we scrapped the rest of the museums and went to a local brewery- 1516 -for a Austrian beer while waiting for our dinner reservations. Priorities, right?

Dan at the Art Museum, Katie at St. Leopold's Church, The ceiling of
the Art Museum, homemade pretzels, beers at 1516

At one point in the day we stumbled onto a military fair in the center of town. It was filled with old helicopters and machines, German shepherd dogs doing demonstrations of rescue/search work, food stands with authentic Austrian food, etc.

That night we had reservations at one of the recommended Austrian restaurants Plachutta. It is known for their dish tafelspitz. It is basically "boiled beef" in chicken broth with carrots, onion, potatoes, and parsnips. On the side there are two sauces- horseradish applesauce and chive creme. We were looking for authentic Austrian food and it was pretty good.

Side note about dinner: We were seated in the enclosed space that is the porch when the weather is nice. A couple came in that was a little bit older than us and the lady had her dog. We had reservations at 6 pm so it was a fancy-ish dinner crowd... She placed her dog in the chair at the table, the waiter brought out huge silver dog dishes with chopped steak and a water bowl. The woman proceeded to hand feel the small dog buttered bread. Her date/husband never blinked at this. I have read that dogs are the Austrian version of children in a lot of cases, but this took it to a whole new level...and it takes a lot to shock me with how people treat their dogs. My sisters dog is named Harry Winston and you'd think he was an actual child at my parents house. Compared to this dog HW might as well be on food stamps.

Dan at the Military Fair, Austrian Food Tent, Sister Act,
the Myers in front of the Upper Belvedere on a chilly night

On Sunday we went for a walk around town again to see the Upper Belvedere- a museum we had on our list for Friday but skipped to go to the brewery. It is where the original Klimt "The Kiss" is housed. It was really cold on Sunday and we had to get out our hats, gloves and winter coats. It was the perfect way to end our month here in Vienna. Plus,  a big big big Irish win over Oklahoma last night doesn't hurt!

We are off to Prague on Wednesday for the month. More blogs to come with new adventures in the Czech Republic. Check back this week for more stories!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Chili Chili Chili

One night a few weeks ago I clearly didn't make enough food for dinner and Dan came to bed a wee bit hungry. There is a poker forum he reads and on the site there happens to be a chili thread where guys post their best or favorite chili recipes.

When we woke up on Sunday, Dan was chattering on about this chili for dinner idea...so off to the grocery I went. Turns out it's closed on Sunday so we settled for order in pizza. However, I had to promise chili as a Monday night dinner! After thoroughly researching this chili thread and settling on a recipe posted by a guy who calls himself "El Diablo."

Since we are in Vienna where I don't think spicy chili is a regular thing there was a bit of a change/modification on the ingredients based on what I could get here. I did write down exactly what I did and used so below is our new favorite fancy schmancy chili recipe for the fall. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 red bell peppers
2 medium onions
8-10 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
5 chili peppers
1 medium sized habanero pepper
About 1 pound of beef stew pieces/chunks?
1.5- 2 pounds of ground beef or turkey or chicken. We used beef.
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1 tsp. black pepper
4 tsp. cayenne pepper (El Diablo called for paprika, but we didn't have it)
2 tsp. cumin (we didn't have that either so we left it out)
7 tsp. chili powder
1.5 tsp. sea salt
3 tsp. brown sugar
1 bottle of beer (I used Erdinger, but I read people using everything from Guinness to anything they had in the fridge)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
6 oz. tomato paste
About 16 oz. chicken broth
2 tsp. white vinegar
1.5 squares of dark chocolate chopped or grated
2 cans red kidney beans

1. Chop all of the veggies, garlic & peppers.

2. Brown your meat. Do not overcrowd it. Do it in batches so it has a nice good brown on it, not grey. I did the chunks first then put them into the chili pot. Next I did the ground beef and added it to the chili pot.

3. Save some of the fat from the meat and sweat the chopped onion and red bell pepper. Add it to the pot.

4. Sweat the garlic, jalapeno, chilis & habanero. We used all of the seeds too, but use what you want based on heat you like. Add them to the pot.

5. Add all dry spices.

6. Add bottle of beer.

7. Add tomatoes, paste, broth & vinegar.

8. Simmer for about an hour uncovered stirring every so often.

9. Add in beans and chocolate. Let it cook for about another hour.

10. Take off the heat and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. You can top with tortilla strips or chips, shredded cheese, onions, sour cream...really whatever you like.



This recipe makes a thicker chili..and a LOT of chili. We had leftovers and it may have even been better the second day! It does have a long list of ingredients, but I would say it's worth it. A little time intensive as well, but it hits the spot on a cool fall football Saturday.

What is your favorite chili recipe? Let me know if you try this one and how it turns out!

Birthday in Vienna

Yesterday for my birthday Dan and I went to do a little more touring in Vienna. We had a great day and really ended up just wandering around the city for a few hours.

Our afternoon started at Naschmarkt- Vienna's most popular outdoor market that has been around since the 16th century. It is about 1.5 km long and includes stalls selling fruits, veggies, spices, trinkets, etc. It also has a ton of restaurants for the visitors to enjoy food that is mostly purchased from the market and prepared.

On Saturdays there is a large flea market that also takes place. Since we were there on Monday it wasn't too crowded but still had the energy of a busy market space.

For lunch we had Asian food- sushi, pad Thai and a chicken dish. We love Asian food and haven't had very much success finding good Asian food in Europe. I have been dying for some raw sashimi tuna so it was top of the list on my birthday. The food was delicious and we had a great time sitting outside watching all of the people mill around while we ate.

I had looked up a few of the top rated restaurants in the market beforehand, but when we got to the market we thought it was only one section...we didn't realize it continued across the road too. So we didn't really find many of the ones I had read about. Luckily the food at the Asian Stop was good so it didn't even matter. We eventually found the other places and may go back one afternoon and try lunch there.

The market is mostly Middle Eastern and Asian focused. There are a few Viennese restaurants, but lots of kebab stops and international shops.

After wandering through the market for a while we headed down to the Opera House in the main ring of the city. It is one of the busiest opera houses in the world producing 50 to 60 operas each year and over 300 ballet performances. Daily they lead tours through the opera house and at Christmas time the Vienna Boys' Choir performs there.

Not too much else to report on our day out. More pictures though! Hope y'all are liking the new look and format of the blog. I have more recipes to add this week...some great fall recipes for the cold weather that seems to have appeared.

I totally forgot to mention this...oh Europe. As I was adding these last pictures I wanted to share just an example of their exhibitionist nature over here. As we were walking past the Museum Quarter yesterday we came across about 20 of these huge posters. I blurred out the picture a bit....they seem to love straight nudity. It showed EVERYTHING. Literally 20 posters of different soccer players just lining the street nude. I am not even sure what the exhibit is about? Maybe a trip to the Leopold Museum is in order...

Flower Garden

Dried fruits and nuts

Big ol' tub of Sauerkraut

Waving kitties

Fresh produce

Fancy an octopus?

Large truffles

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Check back tomorrow for our new favorite chili recipe!

More Vienna Sights

Parliament

Seated Dinner set up

Yesterday Dan took a half day off of work and we spent the early afternoon visiting the Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum and Silver Collection of the Hofburg- the main residence of the Habsburg Family.

They also have a summer residence a little bit outside of the city. This was simply their winter residence. Doesn't everyone have two?

Dan and I both agreed that we are not fancy enough to have been or to be part of one of the banquets/dinners held for the family. The Silver Collection was incredible and there were so many dishes...I seriously doubt that it all was used. On the upside, each guest gets their own carafe of wine for dinner which includes 9 to 13 courses. Fancy, huh?

City Hall

Afterwards we wandered through the center of town to see some of the areas we didn't see our first day out. We stopped by many of the government buildings- Parliament, City Hall, the University, etc. We looped around at a church that may or may not be completely haunted. It was mostly under construction, but still functioning as a church. But I am definitely thinking they could make some extra money by running ghost tours through there at night. For movie buffs- it is the church shown in the movie "Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy. Great indy movie that takes place in Vienna.

The Sisi Museum was probably my favorite thing we saw yesterday. Empress Elizabeth of Austria was pretty fascinating and kinda crazy. We were able to walk through their dressing rooms, bedrooms, conference areas and dining areas. She had a major weight and beauty complex, having her ankle length hair worked on for 2 to 3 hours a day. She was also known for having a super tiny waist of 16 inches around at one point. They didn't allow pictures in the Sisi Museum or Imperial Apartments, but we did take some more around town...

Old Guard Stand

Dan outside the Theseus Temple in Volksgarten

Hopscotch in City Hall park

Here is the church, here is the steeple

Stained glass windows

Statue at the University 

BieberFever Ambulance?

Other than sightseeing, Dan and I have been busy at work. Well Dan has actually been working...but I've been keeping busy trying to revamp the blog and make it more organized and functional.

What do you think?

Vienna Sightseeing

Myers statue picture

On Saturday, Dan took the day off of work and we went into the center of town and did some good old fashioned sightseeing. It feels like it has been a while since we trekked through churches and shops...we didn't do much of that in England.

On our list of places to see were St. Stephan's Cathedral, the popular shopping districts Graben & Kartner Strasse, St. Peter's Church, the Hoher Markt, Demel Coffee Shop, and Stadtpark. We covered a lot of ground!

One of the positives about Austria that we noticed...they don't charge a fee to go into their churches to see. We did have to pay a small fee to go to the top of the north tower of St. Stephan's but it has an amazing view of the city and you can walk around the large balcony and take pictures.

Overall we had a perfect day just wandering the city and getting lost. We loved all of the architecture and the old European feeling to the city. The weather was gorgeous and perfect for spending the day outside. Not much more I can say about it so here are our pictures from the day:

Old Town

The tunnel statues

Demel Coffee Shop

St. Peter's Church

Gorgeous altar of St. Peter's Church

Candles...maybe saying prayers for an ND win?

Outdoor bar in the city

Roof of St. Stephan's Cathedral

More architecture

Dan reading my notes on why these
places are famous. Little tour guide lessons.

Main altar of St. Stephan's

Famous pulpit

more prayers

stairs to the main pulpit

View from the top of the North Tower

Big bell on top of North Tower of St. Stephan's

Other part of St. Stephan's roof

fenced in

Bridal pictures in Stephandom

The Hoher Clock

Wedding Statue

Demel's afpelstrudel

Hard at work on some chocolates

Ruins...of old tourists...I mean the old city

more statues

Pinocchio

stairs in technicolor

Mural

Truffle Shuffle 

Another view of the roof of St. Stephan's

Stadtpark

Dan and Beethoven

in Stadtpark

arm shot

funniest contraption on a segway!
They added a baby car seat and he was
just sitting while they zoomed around town!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry for the picture dump, but I think it's better to see pics than for me to ramble on. We are off to see more sights on Wednesday so check back for some more posts this week!