Australia Day has different meanings for different people. For indigenous Australians it has always been steeped in unpleasantness, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. I’m here to tell you that Australia Day for me was never about the arrival or subsequent invasion of the British. For me, Australia Day has, at least from when I was a teenager, been about the Hottest 100.
Because I’m a simple little thing.
The word Krapfen may sound like a swear word. But in simple terms it’s just the Austrian version of a donut. My favourite donut of all time is the classic hot jam variety, best sourced from a roadside truck or market in a pack of 6 (buy 5 get one free), so hot you burn your tongue and so sugary it can’t be eaten indoors.
Austrian’s go crazy for Krapfen. But while they may look like a donut, they have a different kind of dough – it’s denser than the classic hot jam, but somehow still manages to be fluffy. And there’s no hole. Krapfen are available all year round, but they also have a ‘season’ – basically as soon as you hit November 11 – marking the beginning of Fasching – they are everywhere.
One regretful random afternoon in Austria, hubby and I were out shopping and decided to nick in to one of the many supermarket cafes they have here. I won’t say anything bad about these places – they have good, standard fare, it’s generally cheap, and they almost always have a salad bar – man I love Austrian salad bars!
But on this particular day, when I was pondering what to order, hubby made a suggestion for me – Herrengoulasch. Sounds interesting, methinks, so that’s what I went with.
Here’s what I got:
When you’re a kid, you kind of just assume that whatever your family does, it must be the same as what everyone else’s families do. This can lead to some awkward moments – an offhand comment and suddenly everyone’s staring at you like you’re mad.
When I was younger, I had no idea that my family’s favourite desserts were at all weird.
From our binge-watching sessions of cooking shows on Netflix, an idea emerged to undertake our own cooking challenge while my friend visited in the summer. Hubby would be the judge/host/timekeeper and my friend and I would be the duelling challengers.
Snips. Interesting, I thought. What could these be? I liked the name when I first saw them – Snips – that is a cool name for chips. Thomas told me they were great – as a kid he used to eat them a lot – all Austrians love them.
And I love chips – I am a chip lover.
So I bought a packet to try.
Go with me on this journey… imagine fluffy little morsels that taste kind of like…
Shortly after we moved into our house, hubby and I started up a tradition – Friday Night Dinners. Friday Night Dinners is exactly what it sounds like – on Friday nights we go out to dinner. How indulgent of you, I hear you say. Well, not always.
I am a lover of chips – a chip lover, you could say. You can put chocolate in front of me and I can keep my cool… but chips… I have absolutely no control. My favourite chips before Austria were Samboy salt and vinegar, crinkle cut, of course. And I still love salt and vinegar chips – but it’s hard to remain in love when there are literally three people in the whole country that share the same enthusiasm.
And I’m not saying I have moved on, but I have found something in Austria equally as good.
When I first came to Austria I got extremely excited by the prospect of ordering a sandwich at the deli. Yes, yes, I know… the bubble I live in is a strange and wonderful one. But back to the story – at most supermarkets, you can grab yourself a roll (be it white, round, long, or if you’re like me, a Kornspitz), then ask the staff behind the counter to fill it with ham, cheese and gherkins.
I love checking out the selection of rolls (even though I now always stick with my Kornspitz, kind of like how I always order a Big Mac). I love considering the different ham and salami options – but here I’m a creature of habit too, and I can’t move past the garlic-salami. Cheese and gherkins are added, and then my instant sandwich is packaged up at a ridiculously low cost. We often resort to these for quick lunches on the go and we buy one every time we are about to get on a plane in Austria.
Damn I love aeroplane food.
I always have.
Admittedly, the taste isn’t always the best and the offering isn’t always what I’d choose. But somehow, just the fact that I’m going to have a small tray of goods delivered, each in their own separate compartments, direct to my chair, is too good to be true. Not only that, usually there’s a choice of two different mains, and there’s drinks, often alcoholic, to go with it. Now, I know I’ve paid through the nose for the flight, but somehow it still feels like free food and drink, and it gets me every time!
an aussie in austria 