Wine Food Pairing - Munchin or Bust!

Wine food pairing hits the road once again and this time we are going to make it to Munich .... we go by way of Grieskirchen, the small village where BigAl was born. Actually, the closest we got was the sign post, but all the same it was a trip down memory lane!



We get on the freeway ... or autobahn ... that interesting road system where you have the unusual dichotomy of very expensive cars going very fast and normal cars going semi fast and then a whole lot of truck traffic that would like to go fast, but can't and they make you crazy ... !

This picture shows us entering Germany from Austria. The EU "states" have no official border patrol crossings and it is terrific that traffic is no longer backed up while very official "guys" with big guns scrutinize your passport and decide if you may pass into their country. Just having to go through one of those crossings makes you feel guilty .. remember the time you snuck that extra cookie when no one was looking ... lol?


















YIPPEEE!!!! We are finally in Munich!

We go to our friend Juergen's apartment in the Schwabing district where we will spend the night and some quality time chatting, eating and drinking ... what are friends all about?

Juergen has an eight floor penthouse that has a terrific wraparound deck that gives you wonderful views of Munich. You can see a lot of park area as well as skylines of this pretty neat city. Off to the left a few blocks we can see the stadium that was used for the Munich Olympics ... this evening, blue neon lights ring the top of it signifying which soccer team will be playing.

Many years ago, the Schwabing district was known for its "Bohemian" culture, but now it is one of the more sought after places to live in the city because you have access to just about
everything.

We take a short walk up the tree lined street and come to an Italian restaurant.




This fall afternoon is perfect for the outdoor garden setting. The food is diverse and plentiful . The Chianti is a wonderful pairing for all the dishes.

Cousin Franz is checking out the Octopus. YIKES! I have never been a big fan of it, but Franz said it was great and Houdini gave it a "4 tail wag"!


I went with shrimp fettucine with a marinara sauce and loved it. It had just enough heat in it to make it interesting. The Chianti cooled the palate right down!

A great late afternoon meal ..... our last in Europe for a while ....

Wine food pairing bids our second home goodbye. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing Visits Waizenkirchen .... !

Wine food pairing makes an overnight stop to visit some of BigAl's relatives before we get to Munchin.  Cousin Franz has graciously been chauffering us around and our evening stop is to visit his sister and her family in Waizenkirchen.

The Austrian's are always such terrific hosts and out came the bottles of wine ... a local Blauer Zweigelt and a large platter of cheeses and cold cuts ..... teamed up with fresh bread and pickles and other assorted peppers and veggies ... YUMMO!

Here we are in their comfy kitchen with the "boys" Wolfgang and Christian.

You can see that the tableware is from Gmunder Keramik.  This is used in almost all of the households in Austria ... BigAl and I have a set also ... and it seems that these are all hand made and known worldwide for their distinctive green ripple design!

Another comfortable evening in Austria for the wine food pairing adventurers.  CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - Oldtimer Road Trip!

Wine food pairing has been a lot of fun in Austria, but our time is getting short here. Six weeks has gone by in a flash and we are on the downward slide, so to speak. We are starting our trip home to Florida by taking a road trip ... from Breitenau, Austria to Munich, Germany .... eventually and then catch a flight to the USA.

It will take us a couple of days .. not because it is all that far, but we plan on enjoying ourselves along the way!

A stop we always make on our road trips is to the Oldtimer Restaurant. These motorway eateries that dot the Austrian autobahn's always have great food ... you can either order off the menu or go the the food bar where you can find almost any type of food you want.

Crazy advertisements, also!



We are about 3 hours into our trip and it is a perfect time to stop and "rest" ... lol!




















The Oldtimer has fuel as well a restaurant and plenty of grass for Houdini to exercise his little legs.










A little lunch and a little wine ... after all I am not driving ... you think these guys would let me drive on the autobahn???? I enjoy the back seat with Houdini!













A quick coffee for the road ... I had a melange .... a Viennese specialty .... half coffee and half frothed milk ... so tasty and always served with mineral water on the side, very European!

Back into the car for another hour of fun!

Wine food pairing takes a road trip ... always an adventure.  CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing- Corn Flake Schnitzel, Oh My!

Sunday, Sunday .... wine food pairing is looking for great food in a relaxing location. What better place to go than the Dorfwirt Gasthaus in Peisching Austria? Just the next village over it is always a good place to stop by and with Cousin Franz in tow we head on over!


The Dorfwirt was hosting a big event for the morning with a band and dancing ... this is just winding down and everyone is starting to kick back and relax a bit ...... the servers are joking around and cleaning up from the standing room only crowd.

We decide that a good way to begin our dining experience would be with their super yummo pumpkin soup! Kuerbissuppe is always a wonderful treat on a sunny, but chilly fall afternoon. They serve it just right, too ... with a dollop of creme fraiche and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil!

Creme fraiche, prounounced "krem fresh", is a thick and smooth soured cream with a rich and velvety texture. This matured cream has a nutty, slightly sour taste produced by culturing pasteurized cream with a special bacteria.


For my main course I decided to pair my Zweigelt, local red wine, with another one of my favorite "schnitzel's" .... this one is a puntenschnitzel or turkey schnitzel. I am always of fan of this, but the Dorfwirt Gasthaus makes it extra special by dredging it in cornflakes first ... OH MY ... it gives the whole thing a terrific crunch!

It is served with a half of peach and a compote of lingonberries. Lingonberries are sometimes called the mountain cranberry and are a bit sweeter and less tart than the traditional cranberry and pair beautifully with the turkey schnitzel.

BigAl decided to take advantage of the fall season by going with "Bambi" ... wild meat this time of year in Austria is plentiful and he really doesn't have the opportunity to eat it very often in the US. Florida tends to offer more fresh fish than wild game on the menu ... lol!

Of course, the usual semelknoedel, or Austrian bread dumpling sat proudly on his plate!

Cousin Franz, being a vegetarian in this country of "meat," chose his usual veggie plate and ate every morsel!

The food was great and the wine exceptional. Another wine food pairing adventure for the blog history books. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - An Afternoon with Franz Strebinger

Enjoy Franz' home and gallery with my photo show ...

A crisp fall day in Austria and wine food pairing decides to spend the afternoon with BigAl's old friend Franz Strebinger. These two grew up together in Austria and had a bit of catching up to do on all the latest goings on.

Franz, a well known Austrian artist, has been very busy with his art career. He began photography at the age of 25 and then when his children got a bit older he began to paint. As he told me, they were old enough to know not to eat the paints ... lol! His prestigious career has continued and he now is known worldwide for his work in ceramics and pottery.

He has traveled to exotic places and gotten inspiration from many different locations. His home in Neunkirchen Austria is a stunning gallery of just a few of his works, but he also spends a great deal of time in Thailand.

We spent lunch time enjoying a yummy Thai dish that his wife prepared and a delicious red wine while discussing his many adventures and watching some of his home videos. What could be better than wine and food along with good conversation?

Houdini, of course, found a nice place to watch all the activities snuggling up with the girls on the couch ... he is such a "chick" magnet!

A great afternoon and another successful Wine food pairing adventure.

CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - a Tasty Tinhof Treat

A get together with Cousin Michaela and some of her friends turns into quite the celebration when the Blaufrankisch Rose is poured!



We are at Weingut Tinhof, of course, a place that we enjoy for the terrific wines as well as the traditional food. Hans and his wife Angelika always make us feel so welcome.




















I chose the "ham bread" ... as you can see, it is an open faced sandwich served on a dense rye bread and topped off with delicious ham, peppers, pickles and grated horseradish that has enough zing to make me whistle dixie!

Cousin Franz had a veggie platter and the produce was taken right out of the garden ... YUMMO!

Alfred and Houdini went for various "wursts" that I like to call "mystery meat" due to the fact I really don't want to know all the preparation details ...lol!

A great time was had by all .... another successful wine food pairing. CHEERS!

A World in a Pan .....

A wonderful new website has just come to my attention ... it is called A World in a Pan
..... the new culture sensitive cooking school concept!

It features recipes from all over the world for you to try out and enjoy ... This month they have added a recipe from my own kitchen ... the "Austrian Quickie"

Be sure to stop by and browse their site and check out my addition ... lol!

Wine Food Pairing - Old Pilot Meet Up!

Don't be a show-off. Never be too proud to turn back. There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.
E. Hamilton Lee, 1949

BigAl and some up his "old" pilot buddies had a meet up at the Weingut Tinhof. Wine food pairing is tagging along to watch the festivities.


Hans Tinhof is actually one of the crowd also, but he just isn't quite as old!


These guys go way back together with crazy, scary stories that they tell about their flying adventures ...



BigAl was very big into precision flying .... coming in 2nd in the World Championships held in Canada in 1979.


Here he is holding up a picture from one of his acrobatic stunts ..... YIKES!!!! I'm glad he doesn't do that anymore ... that upside down plane looks pretty close to the ground to me!


I had to have a couple of glasses of wine just to look at that picture .... lol .... of course, I chose a Blauer Zweigelt to settle my nerves and it seemed to do the trick. Pretty soon I was ready to join in the terrific feast that the Hans Tinhof crew prepared.


All traditional Austrian dishes from the fresh breads to the different wursts .... YUMMO!

Here are the boys posing together ... BigAl, Karl Zimmerman, Fuchs, and Hans Tinhof.

Wine food pairing toasts all the old pilots. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - A Schnitzel Throwdown!

Wine food pairing says move over Bobby Flay ...

We are having a schnitzel throwdown here in little Breitenau Austria!



Schnitzel is one of many Austrian claims to fame, but the Wiener Schnitzel ... oh my! Named after the capital of Austria, Vienna or "Wien" as it is called in the German language, it traditionally is made using veal .. but schnitzel nowadays can come in any meat variety. Schnitzel, of course is any cutlet pounded thin, breaded with flour or crumbs and sauteed quickly in butter.

If I am feeling saucy then the pusstaschnitzel is the best ...... pusstaschnitzel is smothered in

flavorful peppers, onions and tomatoes ... YUMMO!



If I am in the mood to be "healthy" ... then putenschnitzel is for me ... made with white meat turkey .... and then a garnish of fresh lemon to be squeezed on top ...

I can't decide ... both are great and the Gasthaus Sindlhofer in Breitenau Austria makes them best ...

Does a throwdown need an absolute winner? Wine food pairing decides not to decide ... lol. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - Wine and Cheese Feast!

Wine food pairing has learned a lot about the European customs of Austria. One thing I know for sure ... if you go visiting you always must bring something .... flowers, wine or a sweet treat. Of course, for me, I love it when someone visits us and brings a new wine into the house!

A surprise visit from our friend Hans and in his sack of goodies was an Italian wine ... Oh Boy!!!!

Giordano Vei Cavour ... the name rolls off my tongue .... and good manners means we all sit down to enjoy the wine! A ruby red wine made with selected black grapes that was smooth and gentle in flavor. We had just come back from the market and we had a terrific "stinky" cheese and fresh pumpkin seed rolls to pair with this food and wine bounty.

If that wasn't good enough, I remembered seeing some of our neighbors red grapes hanging over our side of the fence. I sent BigAl out to clip a few and we added the grapes to our wine and cheese feast!

Does it get better than this? The freshest foods, good friendships and super wines ... a wine food pairing success. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - Must Love Wine!

Wine food pairing has been surfing the net and found a cool new wine site "Must love wine"

....... Must Love Wine is a social network for wine lovers to chat and share knowledge about their favorite wines.

What's not to love about that!

Be sure to check it out ... and enjoy. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - Breitenau Austria Headquarters

Wine food pairing is giving you a glimpse of our Breitenau Austria headquarters. For winter, it is definitely Florida for us, but BigAl inherited his parents home in Austria just a little over a year ago and it has been nothing, if not an adventure for this American girl as we visit and stay for a few weeks in the late spring and fall!

The lifestyle and the culture is so different from what most Americans live with. The villages are wonderful little jewels that you pass through in a blink of an eye and it seems that all are well maintained and ready for show. Especially considering most of it is old .... I mean really old .... Breitenau, where our house is located was first mentioned in documents dating back to the 1100's ... that's older than me and BigAl put together ... lol!


Things that we take for granted in the US are also different ... for example..... you go grocery shopping and want a shopping cart? You must put a 1 euro coin in the chained lock on the cart and pull it out ... yes, you get you 1 euro back when you return your cart. This is everywhere.

When you complete your shopping ... do you want your items bagged? You must bring you own bags then ... no paper or plastic over here! The first time back when we shop I always forget and have to juggle with my purchases.

Dogs are welcomed in all eating establishments. This is great for Houdini who loves to sit at the table and enjoy his meal along with us ... of course all the dogs are well mannered that come into the restaurants . Water and even sometimes treats are brought out be the wait staff ... many times before we are served!

Now to get REALLY SERIOUS about the differences in countries and talking about something close to my heart .... WINE!

The wine is wonderful in Austria, the Germans even import it and mixed it up with theirs and still call it German wine ... lol! There are vineyards everywhere and wine is served almost like water here.

Another really great thing is that the local wines are extremely inexpensive. It is not unusual to pay only a couple of euros for a wonderful bottle of wine. We even have wine farmers that make the rounds here and deliver! They have been coming to the house for so many years they just pull in and open the cellar windows and stock us up for the next year ..... how cool is that!

We have the "party" room in the cellar that is specially made to hold over 100 bottles of wine and it is all set up like a traditional wine house ... perfect for BigAl, the wine babe and our friends!

It is certainly a different lifestyle over here and I must say, other than my language skills that need a lot of improvement, I enjoy coming over here and spending time. BigAl, of course, is my translator so I know what is going on and so far I have managed to stay out of trouble (pretty much)!

Wine food paring toasts Austria. CHEERS!