Marchfeld walk and more wildflowers..

Marchfeld is the border of Vienna´s 21st District to the north and is part of Niederösterreich ( Lower Austria). We love to come here, it´s peaceful with lots of greens.....so much natural beauty to see.

The Marchfeld Kanal is a small creek with pathways for bikers on both sides and surrounded by vegetable fields as well as cherry trees and lots of recreational area for the locals i.e. horseback riding, swimming, tennis and other sports..

It´s approximately a 5 minute-drive from our house to be on the slope of the fields.. And it is here where we used to walk our dog Ako, the rottie. 

From where I took the photo (below), you can see the skyline of the 22nd District including the United Nations Building....

The photo below is the area where we park the car and go for a dog walk... In this case, we went up and down yesterday to walk Lily, mom in-law´s 4 year old chihuahua.

There are plenty of wildflowers around this area, although it´s still colder in the night, there are patches where the flowers started to pop up to show their beauty.

To prevent the wind from sweeping across the vegetable fields, the farmers planted bushes and cherry trees along the ways... they also planted so many lilacs which are now blooming in abundance.  

And so I was tempted to pick a few for my wildflower arrangements. The beauty of nature  is everywhere, you just have to look carefully and enjoy what you see.....

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday  and were inspired by these wildflowers... Thank you for dropping by.

HAPPY SUNDAY!!!

Til next,

Mercy

pink tulips in my garden.....

Hi everyone! Looking at the size and quality of these tulips, I can still remember when I was choosing the ones to get at the garden center. There were bigger and smaller bulbs with different colored blooms.

I was wishing to have pink tulips for a long time and last Fall was my chance to do it.

The pink pack had around 60 bulbs which I painstakingly planted on the free space of my small garden... I really mean "painstakingly" because I had to bend and bend and bend that my back got sored afterwhich I was bed ridden for a couple of hours..

I had to put  a metal fence in front of the row to prevent Geisha, the neighbor´s visiting cat  to pass between each tulip,  the stems are just so senstive and she already broke around 10 of those.

I love looking at them to get inspirations and they give me a good start of the day... they really put me in a good mood and  that  makes me happy cause when I´m happy, I sing! LOL!

So..... these are my pink tulips and I hope I can still manage to make them grow with beautiful blossoms next year .

I hope you´ve enjoyed looking at the photos and wish they have inspired you too. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Til next,

Mercy

the tiny wild flowers...

Nice weather prompted us to go biking the last 2 days. We are now blessed with plenty of sunshine.. The fields around our home are now green and the wheats are now 40 cm high  swaying nicely to the gentle breeze of the wind.

We are in the outskirts of the city and one would feel this is the countryside somewhere..

Along the small path where we walked the dog yesterday, the birds were chirping as always. From the sounds that we heard, I thought they were hungry newborns waiting for their parents to deliver them food. 

The skies were blue and are tempted by white clouds halting to a  still as if they were meant to be there fixed  as part of the whole scenery.

The ones with the dandelions were picked the day before ...

I was curious which flowerettes to pick. The whole bunch I gathered  were just enough for an arrangement. I just did by turning them into a bouquet using an espresso cup as vase... it holds nicely and I love that!

I have added a few wild apple flowers , they are so gorgeous and inspiring. 

I would say these wild flowers really made my afternoon. Thanks for taking the time  to read my blog!

Have a nice Friday everyone!!!

xoxo,

Mercy

Mushroom Teriyaki

Teriyaki sauce is a condiment that I always have in my kitchen. The mixture of soy sauce , rice wine (sake) and sugar gives a fine taste to every dish that I cook particularly beef. 

Today, I have prepared a very quick one with mushrooms.  I prefer the brown champignons than the white ones as they are so firm in form when they are fresh. 

If you don´t want to spend so much time cooking, then make this dish because they are so simple to make and yet it´s a deli.. and the whole family will love it too! 

In cooking this, I always prepare the ingredients beforehand ...that way, you only have to stir-fry everything and simmer slowly under low heat until the sauce is reduced  and the vegetables become tender and glossy.. 

...so, let´s start with the ingredients and the preparations... 

Mushroom Teriyaki

Ingredients: 

400 grams Mushrooms ( Champignon) rinsed in cold water and dried, quartered

around 10 Cherry Tomatoes cut into halves

4 spring onions, cut 

1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce diluted in 1/2 cup water

salt  (optional) 

1 tsp sugar (optional)

ground black pepper

cooking oil

Preparation

1. 

In a casserole with 2 tbsps oil, fry the spring onions til  al become golden brown in color.   Add the mushrooms and the tomatoes, stir-fry for about 8 minutes or til the  liquid evaporates. 

2. 

Add the diluted teriyaki sauce and the sugar (optional). 

Let the ingredients boil while stirring constantly, add the pepper, reduce the heat and cover the casserole, simmer for about 10 minutes.

Salt and sugar are optional here, but if you want you may add them to adjust seasoning according to your taste. 

3.

Arrange o
o
on a platter, serve hot with boiled or fried rice. 

Happy cooking and enjoy it!

xoxo,

Mercy 

Linking to:

The Charm of Home

time to garden...

After a week of stormy weather, the sun is  here to stay, hopefully.. We took the chance and went to the garden center to get some newbies... 

A few pink geraniums were repotted to clay pots which by now have gotten the nice patina after a long winter.... oh gosh, it has been really a long endless winter!

The daffodils bloomed and opened -up its buds despite the cold weather. Actually, almost all were destroyed by the slugs last year.

Our top terrace has been converted into what I call my "oasis", it´s where all my container plants are placed.. I´m avoiding to plant anything edible in my backyard as cats (5 of them) of my neighbours sometimes visit us .. and then, there are the slugs which are really causing a big problem because they destroy all the flowering plants that I have in the backyard... I intend to hang all my flowering pots so the slugs won´t reach those, hmmmmm!

There were vegetable newbies included in our buying plan.. especially the sweet bell pepper, the eggplant and zucchini as well as the salad greens  and I still have seeds that my brother sent me...

I would have to put my salad greens in my cracker containers, they are so practical to use... I used them so often and the greens grew in there wonderfully.

The tulips were planted last Autumn, they are of one variety and one color,I think pink...am excited to see the flowers coming out. Their stems are a bit sensible and they easily break, to date I already had 10 broken ones!

I decided to buy a fence so the cats wouldn´t go in between the stems and break them... My neighbour on our left has a black cat named Geisha(age 3) and her opponent is Luna (age 10) whose owners are on the right house... My backyard is the place where each of them claims to have their territory and they always fight for supremacy.

The fence is low,  but it fits perfectly to protect the tulips.

Last year, when we had our vacation and left for Spain... I was unhappy to have left Ako´s yellow roses before they bloomed... There were clusters of  around a hundred buds and I was sure they bloomed beautifully. When I came back, they have dried already.. So this photo of the rose bush above , would hopefully carry so much buds! Cross your fingers for me!

I planted this peony last year and it´s now coming out...the second one is planted upstairs in a container and am wishng to see a flower soon.

We cut the forsythia too short last year and we have expected that they won´t have flowers this season. Well, there´s still hope for next season, right?

This bird´s feeder is practical as the contents are protected from the weather...

I guess, this ball is not that good! We didn´t see any of our friends enjoying its content.

A new life !!!

This rose arch was put together by hubby yesterday... Of course I helped but  it´s again those bendings that make the DIY job more difficult...oh well, the age , the age!!!

And finally, remember the spanish amaryllis from Spain? Look (!), it´s blooming again...

Hope your weekend is as sunny as mine... Happy Saturday, see you around!

xoxo,

Mercy