Traditional Austrian dishes – Jause

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Austrian Jause platterAustria is well known for many different types of food – some you will definitely have heard of: strudel, schnitzel, goulash etc. Each region also has specialities they call their own. Though consider that Austria has nine states in a total of 84,000km² (compare that to Australia’s 8 in 7.7million km²) – this means that a dish ‘local’ to one area is very often found in other places too.

I live in the state of Carinthia (Kärnten) and I work in the state of Steiermark (Styria), so I’m familiar with quite a few.

We’ve already talked about Kärntner Nudeln and Glundner Käse and this week I’m focusing on Jause.

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Shutting down and staying home

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Closed playground coronavirus
Playground in my street… closed

It’s been 10 days since I had close contact with anyone apart from my hubby, visited a shop or left the house for anything but exercise. With Coronavirus’s alleged 5-7 day average for symptoms to show, right now I am fairly comfortable in assuming that we are in the clear. That means we’ve kept ourselves safe, and haven’t contributed to spreading it around

Which is good, because since my post last week we now have reported cases here in my little town. The latest nationwide update brings the total to over 4000.

A lot of people in Australia have been asking me what’s going on here in Austria. Well here’s the latest.

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There is a weird vibe in the air – but hopefully nothing actually in the air

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Coronavirus
Ready for lock-down

Is it just me or does anyone else out there feel like today is the first day of a really weird holiday? We’re in the midst of a worldwide crisis, united in a mutual fascination and fear of COVID-19.

Here in Austria the government announced this week that from Monday more extreme measures will be put in place to help contain the spread – inessential shops will be closed along with schools and universities, restaurants must close at 3pm, visits to hospitals and elderly homes are off the cards, medicine can be prescribed over the phone, and certain areas and towns are locked in quarantine. Along with that are the strong recommendations that social contact should be kept to a minimum and anyone who can work from home should.

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Short Trips – Halls Gap – The Grampians – Gariwerd

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Grampians The PinnacleDuring our recent trip to Australia, hubby suggested we take some time out for ourselves to see a little bit of the country. When you use up a big holiday period to visit home, it’s often hard to see it as a holiday, as opposed to hopping between the same places and people each time.

The place that came to mind instantly (remembering that we have to be practical, we can’t venture too far from Melbourne), was Halls Gap, a place where I used to go camping with the family as a kid.

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An Austrian Pork Roast – Schweinsbraten

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Austrian roast pork - schwinsbratenAustrians love pork. They love it on the barbie, they love it in a pan and they love it in the oven. I waited 4 years for my first, traditional, Austrian, home-cooked pork roast, but it was well worth the wait.

Sure, I’ve had it in restaurants – it’s on every Gasthaus menu, right up there with schnitzel and Kärntner Nudeln. But somehow it’s different when it’s home cooked.

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Short Trips – Bangkok OC (Oriental City)

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Bangkok OC (Oriental City) - breakfast hotelI’m not exactly sure what I was expecting from Bangkok when we arrived for a 4-night stopover on our way to Australia at the end of last year. And maybe it was because we’d been in India just a month earlier, but what struck me immediately was how clean it was, how sweet-smelling and how super organized.

Look… I know it’s a big city, and also a big tourist city, so that’s probably what most people would expect, but I hadn’t been. We arrived very early in the morning, and after breakfast in our hotel at the Lamphu Tree House, were delighted to have access to our room just after 9am for a quick nap after our overnight flight.

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