Vienna´s 1st District and its Architecture...

If you intend to travel to Europe, Vienna is a must for you! 

Come to this wonderful city to see and experience the beautiful places, parks,  people, its 
culture and particulary, its architecture.

 Vienna is full of those Baroque beauties in the 1st District.  

According to the Mercer Quality of  Living survey, Vienna has the best living standard in the world. The crime rate is also among the lowest in Europe... 

The streets are clean and the parks are enjoyable to get some relaxations after long walks.

Tourists flock Kärntner Strasse, the heart of Vienna.

The grandeur of the Stephansdome can´t be missed...built in the 11th Century, it houses underneath the catacombs  thousands of skulls.... remains of the locals who died from the pest during the medieval times.

The interior of the Stephansdome is still intact despite the WW II bombing.

Facade of the buildings were carefully planned,  beautifully designed and well constructed... The city mayor Helmut Zilk once lived in the building shown above.... his widow still lives here.

The St Peter´s Church

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The "Pestsäule"  was constructed to commemorate the sufferings of the folks and for those who died from the dreadful pest epidemic that swept Europe during the Middle Ages particularly the one in the 14th Century.

Hotel Sacher.... Queen Elizabeth II  lived here when she made a visit.

The State Opera, the venue of the world famous Opera Ball

Vienna is Europe´s city of music and according to many, the "city of dreams"  for it became home to Sigmund Freud..

The million dollar Lipizzans have their own Stalls in the 1st District, they are being trained under the Spanish Riding School... they have their own public shows.

Hofburg... summer residence of the Habsburgs that is now used for State functions..

The National Library.... When Hitler occupied Austria, he delivered his speech on the terrace above.

Above: The Rathaus ( City Hall)

Below: The building behind is the  Summer Residence of the Habsburg Dynasty now used for the government´s various social as well as political functions as well as for international gatherings.

That´s it for now and I hope you enjoyed the small architectural tour!

Vienna is truly a nice city to live in and I feel so privileged to be able to live here in this beautiful austrian capital for more than 30 years now....

TGIF...enjoy it!

cucumber juice - homemade

Whenever I make my homemade greek dip or salad called Tzatziki, I always have this juice as a result of extracting the liquid from the grated cucumber. I process this liquid and turn it into a super healthy juice. As you can see, it has an impressive amount of water when grated and this liquid is of course very healty.. 

Cucumber has plenty of nutrients and so many minerals. It is rich in Vitamin A & C which also act as anti oxidants for the body... I bet this one will become a family favorite especially in hot days.. But, of course, you can also make this at anytime of the year..

You only need to have 1 long cucumber (Bologna type) or the cylindrical type to make one glass of  juice... here´s how I make it : 

First, peel the cucumber and cut into halves. In a bowl, grate the cucumber manually. When grated, one whole piece would look like this in below photo:

Use colander or strainer to extract the juice in another bowl, the rest of the fruit will be used for the Tzatziki dip.

Add 1/2 lemon juice to the extracted liquid and add sugar to taste. If you´re avoiding sugar, add stevia powder or liquid to taste instead.

Add ice cubes and decorate the glass with lemon slice... Pronto!!!

That´s it!!! So simple to make but great in taste... By adding more ice cubes, your thirst will surely be quenched and that I´ll bet with you!

Enjoy!!! 

Partying at:The French Country Cottage

a door wreath...

The fabric was found in a flea market in Southern Spain, it was actually a rest fabric that they sold in lots.. and the design was pretty enough to make those strips that I braided. 

Three strips of about 1 meter each have been cut and the side sewn to make a tube sort of ... A tube of about 2 cm in circumference and I stuffed each with polyfill.  Of course, one can choose the size of the tube, but I think 2 cm is just the right size for my purpose... 

Actually, from the 1.5 meters of the fabric, I was able to make a total of three wreaths ... I sent the 1st one to my american girlfriend who lives in Illinois and the 2nd one was given to my german girlfriend who lives in Spain. And this one here is for my home which  I´m referring to in this blog.

 The   braided wreath  above that I prevously featured in another blog was made with crocheted red flower and with ceramic bead hangings.. 

I made all three with different trimmings. So if you intend to make yours, add trimmings that would suit your decorating theme.. The hat I used for this wreath is actually a decor I found in Manila and it was sold as part of  Christmas tree trimmings...

This wreath can be placed at the entrance door, but as it is made of fabric, I thought not to give it there because of the dust that will easily make it soiled, so.... the best place is of course inside the house, on the wall or as door wreath... 

    Thank you for visiting...

 Happy Sunday!

This post is linked to : 

Sunday Roast

Stir-Fried Rice

The last weekend had been again a busy one for us. I rarely find the time to do crafting nowadays for we have been on the road running errands for mom-in law´s new flat . Glad to have finished that  big granny square blanket  last week. I´m intending to do quilted pillowcases for a dear friend who requested them a couple of years ago, and these will be my priority project. 

The blog today is about my cooking last weekend that included what I did with the leftover rice from the previous day. Although this is very simple to make with the simplest ingredients, it is truly delicious and I´m sure your family would love it too.  What to do with those left-overs? Being frugal at home is a good deed, nothing is thrown for as long as food are still ok.

Cooking the leftover rice, here we go.....

In a pan, fry 2 cloves of crushed garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil til golden brown, add diced onions and stir til the pieces are sort of transparent in color ( a bit glassy). 

I used frozen green peas to add more taste to the rice. But first,  I steam these just enough that they are thawed and become soft. Add these to the pan with the onions and fry for 3 minutes. Stir in the leftover rice... mix well. Stir-fry for 2 more minutes and sprinkle a bit of soy sauce for taste... season with salt & pepper. The result with the green peas added was really superb. I sometimes eat this as main dish (meatless) or eat this with just a portion of dried fish (in Europe , dried fish are available in asian supermarkets).

Roast Pork Chops

This is my easiest way of roasting a whole piece of meat.. whether I´m roasting a beef, duck, goose, or pork... my procedure is always the same.

Roasting the pork

Coat or brush the meat with 2 tbsp soy sauce, if the meat is bigger, then add more soy sauce til the whole piece is well coated. Add salt and ground black pepper. If you like, rub crushed garlic onto the meat. Let the meat absorb the seasoning for about 20 minutes.

Place the meat in a deeper oven tray half filled with water, add 1 tbsp soy sauce (optional) and 1/2 tsp salt and dash of ground pepper. Turn your oven to 250°C (482°F ) and place the tray in the middle rack of the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 220°C  (428°F) and continue roasting for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Pour liquid to the meat every 15 minutes turning 3 times during the roasting process thereby adding more water if the liquid is reduced by evaporation. 15 minutes before the end of the roasting time, remove and transfer the liquid to a casserole , set aside, then roast the meat to make it more crispier. Take out the meat from the oven and cut it into slices and place on a platter, keep warm til it is served. 

You can leave the thinner consistency of the liquid. . If you want a thicker gravy, either add creme fráiche or 1 tbsp flour dissolved in 3 tbsp water, let the liquid boil under low fire consistently stirring til flour mixture is well blended. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve hot with the fried rice.

When the kitchen commotions were finished on that day, I knew it was time for a cup of freshly  brewed coffee and some sweets!

Happy Thursday !


Partying at : French Country Cottage

white hyacinth clusters...

Hyacinthus orientalis,... that is what they call this variety. A flower that is so popular for its scent and blooms in Spring... Its aroma is wonderful!

It is now the season of hyacinths and once the buds were there , a few days after, they opened- up and produce an explosion of fragrance all over my living room.

The past years, I´ve always had the blue color and sometimes the pink ones. This time I tried white... its scent makes me feel as if  I´m in a garden full of flowers. The fragrance of the white is not so strong as that of the blue ones though.... 

Each of these white bulbs produced at least 3 flower spikes and they are really so gorgeous from the day one the buds opened. I watched its growth everyday and enjoyed every minute of it.

I think whites are so fabulous in appearance, those florets are robust, thick and waxy...simply beautiful!  
I surely would try a mixture of  various bulbs in glass as well as culture them in pots next year. Meanwhile, I want to enjoy its fragrance for as long as the blooms are still here!

Have a nice Friday !

granny square blanket...it´s finally done

There is a great joy within me when I finished off the last centimeter of the yarn for this project. It took me almost two and a half months of on and off crocheting.

The squares were started during train rides to and from work. Each train ride is 30 minutes to my office and by just constantly making 1 piece per one way, it all added up to the 66 pieces including all efforts to crochet some squares while watching  a film on TV. 

Little times found in betweens at home are a pleasure  and are very much enjoyable if  I get myself indulged in crafting. Crocheting means relaxing, it takes away all the stress after a long and hard day at work, at least it works for me.

The size of this blanket was not planned at all and I didn´t realize that the pastel colored yarns of the 1st order were not that much. I also realized that the pastels were not the exciting colors I wanted , so when I ordered the 2nd lot, I got more of the bohemian colors... 

....the 2nd lot ordered were just enough to finish the blanket minus the border. I tried to finish off the border with 100% cotton yarn available from my stash. Good to know that the interchanging colors blended well with that of the squares.

Overjoyed,  I´m really happy that this blanket is finally done and I can really snug into its warmth thinking of the old days when women made them for their family to give each member comfort on a cold winter day.

Happy Wednesday!

Partying at the following sites:

 Home Sweet Home

French Country Cottage

Savvy Southern Style