"Vienna Christkindl Markt" (Vienna Christmas Market)

Rathaus Christkindl Markt ( Vienna City Hall Christmas market)

It´s the time of the year that Christmas markets in Vienna open its door to the public. This is an old tradition that goes back to the middle Ages. Centuries ago before Christmas, locals were allowed and privileged to open up a market to enhance more Christmas spirit. Those who have stalls offered various goods... whether food, drinks or self made creations to decorate their homes and even gifts to loved ones are being sold to the public.

In the modern times, the Viennese Christmas markets still maintained its old-age tradition, The most visited Market is the one from the City Hall. There are international choire singing and even the kids have their own area where they can bake their

own cookies over the weekends.

 It is the unique backdrop of the City Hall building that makes the market so famous, and if you´re already there, you would feel as if you´re in a wonderland so to speak....

Vienna City Hall Christmas Market

Its also the aroma of the Christmas baked goodies as well as the famous  hot punch called "Glühwein" that really adds to the pre- Christmas  athmosphere.

Freyung Christmas Market (1st District, Vienna)

When we moved to a new office site this year,  we could not believe our eyes!!! The view is priceless!!

This is the Belvedere Palace/ Castle which was erected by Prince Eugene, a french Field Marshall  who ran the army for the Habsburg Monarchy. He was from the Savoyen Clan from  Alsace ( eastern France).

 This is the view from my office window and I´m enjoying every minute of it! The glorious front of the palace  with it´s baroque backdrop is also very popular among the locals and tourists alike. Here you can find many christmas decor that are so unique as well as those special culinary delights.

 Belvedere Palace -Christkindl Markt

One that every visitor would not miss is the "glühwein", a hot punch which is a mixture of wine, juice and different spices. It´s a hot drink that would keep you warm during the freezing temperatures...

 Glühwein

If you are visiting one of these Christmas markets,  don´t forget to get a few unique christmas decor

to bring home...

These decors are one of the best souvenirs to get for your tree and will remind you how nice it is to experience the Christmas spirit of  the "Christkindl Markt " in my 2nd home.....Vienna.

Happy 1st Advent Sunday to all!!!

missing the white sands...

Palawan Beach

The frost is just around the corner and may come anytime from now.
Those of you who live in countries with tropical/warmer climate are very lucky.

During this time of the year , we now have a gray in gray skies in Vienna with temperatures

ranging from 0 °C to 8°C... 

Pamalican Island, Philippines

I never like it when skies are cloudy and gray, it´s so gloomy...I miss the blue skies, the blue seas and white sands of the beaches in my home country, the Philippines.

I have no motivation to do anything when it´s cold. It´s the winter blues, perhaps ? The winter blues, oh my, I´ve been hearing about it!

Despite the weather odds, I´ve been doing a few projects that are still in progress... and because of this same cold weather...I´ve been postponing to finish those.....no motivation, no elan! hhhhhmmm :-((

These days, I dragged myself and finished all the 66 granny squares  for the blanket project.. I ran out of yarn for the frame and lace, so I ordered them already and this time, I wanted strong colors!

I think the bunch of new yarn would pep-up the boring color of the pastels... let´s wait and see.

Meanwhile, I´ll keep you posted on my projects..

Be safe and enjoy your Tuesday!

xoxo,

Mercy

Stir-fried Aubergines (Eggplants)

This is a favorite of our family.  The recipe came from my Dad who cooked this on weekends. After tasting the first spoon, you won´t stop eating this, it´s delish!!!

And if you´re vegan, you can skip the meat, you won´t notice the difference... It´s so yummy that I eat this even  without a side dish. 

So here, I´m sharing with you a recipe that is not only yummy in taste but will surely save you a lot of money. 
You can prepare this in advance and even freeze in portions... 

Stir-fried  Aubergines ( Eggplants)

Ingredients :

 1 Kg Aubergines ( around 3 huge eggplants)

200 grams pork filet 

1 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves crushed garlic

cooking oil ( olive oil preferrably)

3 eggs

2 tbsp soy sauce

salt & pepper

Preparations:

1. 

Wash, dry and slice the eggplants thinly.

2.

Cut the pork filet into small pieces and marinate this in 2 tablespoons soy sauce. let stand for 10 minutes. Fry in a hot pan with 1 tbsp oil for about 4 minutes. After frying, take out meat out of pan and set aside for later use.

3

 In a large frying pan or skillet, heat 3 tbsps. olive oil...add the crushed garlic and fry it  til the pieces become golden brown, add the onions... then the aubergine slices.

4.

  Stir fry the pieces until the aubergine becomes

 limpy and  soft.  Continue stirring until the

 whole slices crumbles... this may take to around 30 minutes or more of stirring.

Add  a spoon olive oil from time to time if the pieces are still dry.

 In the last minutes... the consistency of the

     aubergines should look similar to the above photo

 (all pieces crushed).

5. 

Season with salt, pepper,

 and 1 tbsp soy sauce. Stir properly so the seasoning

gets evenly distributed in the mixture.

6. 

Beat the  3 eggs, add these to the aubergine mixing properly so that the crushed pieces are well coated with the eggs.

 Stirring more often, cook for about 5 minutes more until egg becomes solid and cream in color . Adjust seasoning if necessary.

 This goes well with cooked rice.

Happy cooking!

    

autumn in the garden

The leaves of the trees have now turned yellow and anytime they´re about to fall down and leave the branches and twigs bare. And of course, aside from the fog each morning, sometimes the sun would shine around mid day.. But still, it´s becoming colder now particularly in the night.

I was damming it that I didn´t have the time to plant the rest of the orange tulip bulbs when it was still warmer.. After planting the pink ones last week, I was dead-tired after I finished-off those 60 pieces....Sign of old age, hmmmmm!

Perhaps, I´ll still be lucky to have warm temperatures as what they have forecasted for next week.. I´ll make efforts, and if not ...maybe I´ll plant them indoor in a pot...

The colors of the wild vine leaves have now turned yellow and all those berries  are looking so delish

that one might think they are blue berries. I really have no idea,  but .. I don´t think that they are edible at all. 

The patina of the wooden panels of the pergola has gotten the green color now and that´s because of the wet weather sweeping the whole of Europe. 

I love taking macro photographs of berries...they´re interesting to look at.... love to zoom those tiny ones ! 

Soon my trees will be stripped-off its leaves, but I guess I have to be ready to face the challenges

of winter and hope for a nicer Spring... 

Here´s hoping that you´re Saturday is nice wherever you are in your part of the world.

Ps. My apologies for the typo errors, those are not intentional... my keyboard always gets stuck and sometimes I only notice them when the post has been published..

Thank you for taking time to read my blog.

grandma´s chocolate muffin

 I want to share the chocolate muffin that I bake using

hubby´s  grandma recipe. 

I remember her as a lady with a very strong character, a good provider and very practical person... very creative and independent... If you thought of emancipation, she could be the leader of that generation in the 40´s & 50´s...

I´ve had the privilege to have known her , she would come to our house, taught me how to bake the austrian way. She didn´t  follow a recipe for she had  kept those in her head. 

So I´d like to share with you that recipe.  It´s really scrumptious and mouthwatering ... 

Grandma´s Cocolate Muffin 

(makes 6 big muffins)

Preheat oven at 180 °C

Butter or margarine to coat the muffin forms or use 

paper liners

Ingredients:

5 tsp. butter-liquified by heating up in the microwave ( for about 45 seconds or until it melts)

100 g bitter chocolate bar - chopped coarsely

300 g Flour

150 g sugar

1 pck. Vanilla sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda 

salt

3 eggs

225 ml milk

150 g milk chocolate bar

plus:

120 grams chocolate bar  for coating

milk to melt chocolate

walnuts to top the muffins

Preparations:

1.

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

Coat each muffin form with butter then with flour...or use paper muffin liners for the forms.

2.

In a mixing bowl.... combine the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.

In a second bowl.. 

..beat the eggs, add the milk and the liquified butter...add this to the flour mixture using a spatula or wooden spoon  mixing thoroughly until the dry ingredients get moist. 

Add the coarsely chopped chocolate, mix once more.

3.Fill each form with 3/4 of the dough and bake for 20 minutes placing the ceramic forms on the tray (middle rack of your oven). After the baking time, remove from the ovenand let the muffin rest to cool down. 

4.  

To melt the chocolate for coating the muffin top, break the bar into small pieces, place in a saucepan, add 1/3 cup milk.

  Cook under low fire while constantly mixing it til chocolate pieces and milk are well blended. If the melted chocolate is still thick, add 1 tbsp milk or more, mix until you achieve the right consistency. 

5. Place the muffins on a platter, pour the chocolate on each muffin top to coat partly , top each with one walnut. 

Can be served warm or cold.

This blog post is linked to :
 Savvy Southern Style

Happy Baking!

apple pie and five o´clock tea

This is always a favorite at home, Apple Pie... quickly baked yesterday for our afternoon tea... this time, I added a dose of plum marmalade..

Apple Pie

Preheat oven at 180°C / ca. 350°F

Ingredients - Pie fillings:

1.5 kg apples

100 g sugar

50 g brown sugar

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup chopped almonds

6 Tablespoons plum marmalade

1 egg yolk to coat the grid topping

Cooking apple fillings:

Peel the apples and remove the seeds, slice into small pieces, slow-cook in a casserole adding all ingredients until apples become medium soft (about 10 minutes) and liquid has evaporated. If more liquid comes out from apple cooking, remove excess liquid or drain the cooked apple, set aside and let it cool down.

Preparing the crust:

1.

Combine below ingredients in a bowl, knead into a smooth dough, form into a ball then cover with plastic foil and refrigerate for about 30 minutes:

500 g all purpose Flour

30 g Sugar,

a pinch of salt,

200 g Butter, 

cut into cubes

1 Tbsp table vinegar

10 Tbsp cold water

2.

Roll- out the dough on a floured surface using a rolling pin. Use dough to line the pie form carefully pressing all the inner sides to shape the crust. Run the rolling pin over the pie form to remove excess pastry . Keep excess dough material as grid to decorate the pie top later.

3.

Fill crust with the cooked apple mixture and arrange strips of dough to cover pie in grid form. For a golden brown appearance, brush the grid with egg yolk. Bake the pie for about an hour in the preheated oven.

Serve arm or cold with whipped cream ( optional).

Shared at :

Savvy Southern Style

ENJOY!!!

oven-roasting

There is nothing especial about my weekend, just the normal chores...but, I was into 

finding out on how to take good images .

I had a marathon cooking yesterday and these are two of what I cooked. I thought of practicing a bit ... and I needed to have a good light , so I went to set up the table outside in my backyard so I get most of the natural light.

Photography is such an expensive hobby, you need to get all those  gears & accessories that are

essential to make good images.

But I´ve just started and I´m learning fast..
In food photography, you have to know the tricks on how to make the object the focal point of the camera.. like making the background blurred so as the main object would stand out... just a sharp image of the object in front, etc..

As far as the recipe is concerned on this post , well, it was an easy task... You won´t need a special knowledge on roasting, the oven will do the job.

Here how to do it:

1.

Preheat your oven at 220°C 

2.

You need a piece of meat, i.e. pork belly, whole dressed chicken, 1 whole pork chop. duck, etc..

The meat is a matter of your choice... you can roast any meat as you like....

3.

Clean the meat/chicken thoroughly, wash then dry with paper towel , rub the outer part or skin with crushed garlic, season with salt & ground pepper,...or if you like, coat with 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce..

4.

Prepare the oven tray by adding 1 liter of water, add 1 tbsp soy sauce (for the colot), add 1 cube Knorr chicken or beef  crumbled  into pieces... add the seasoned meat and roast for about 1.5 hours, lower rack, under 220°C,....

5.

 You should pour tray liquid onto the meat every 10-15 minutes to prevent the skin/ outer part from  draing or burning, If the liquids get lessened, add more water by and by, turn each side every 20 minutes... until all sides are golden brown and crispy  within the roasting time.

6. 

Take out the meat  from the oven and put on a platter, 

keep it warm..

Meanwhile, you can process the sauce either to make it thicker, add more seasoning or leave it natural .. 

you may add creme fraíche or 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, adjust the seasoning.. 

7.

Serve hot on a platter with a separate gravy container and a good green salad

or a bowl of braised vegetables

and then your set for lunch

Hope your Sunday is nice!!!