Another Side of Thanksgiving

I suppose my last post was a little mean, and maybe I was feeling sorry for myself that I was missing out on Thanksgiving with my family in Wisconsin, being here in Vienna and all. I feel much better after partaking in a Thanksgiving party put on by my friend Jake - though I could have skipped the cooking for oodles of people part of the holiday (which Jake did most of anyway). Gross consumerism (re: Black Friday) is also evident everywhere, not just in the US. I can see it quite plainly just walking out my door onto Mariahiferstrasse, the Madison Avenue of Vienna, especially at this time of the year - Christmas shopping is in full swing.

Here are some photos of the Thanksgiving party:

It really amazed me how much effort Jake went through to get a dinner for ten prepared (with all the fixings). I come from the "lazy" school of entertaining, I guess. My mom never makes anything gourmet for our holiday celebrations - it would probably never go over with the traditional side of the family anyway. She normally does recipes she knows by heart, that take as little effort as possible, e.g. scalloped potatoes instead of mashed so she doesn't have to peel 6 pounds of potatoes. In any case, she always has time to make her own bread, which is really the best part of the meal, in my opinion. And really, who can blame her? I'm a pretty lazy chef myself.

Kochprüfung, or the Perks of Being a Native English Speaker

This past Monday, I was invited to be a guest at one of my student's cooking exams at the HLW.


Short for Höhere Lehranstalt für wirstschafltiche Berufe (Higher School of Commercial Occupations), it used to be known...maybe 10 to 15 years ago...as the girls' school. More pejoratively put, the Knödel Akademie (Dumpling Academy) because the girls learned cooking, cleaning, hotel management, etc. for work in tourism-related jobs. Or how to be a cleaning lady or cook. Or just how to be a good Hausfrau. 


The boys, of course, went to the Gymnasium or the HAK - Handlesakademie (business academy), but these days, in our enlightened times, boys and girls are allowed to choose wherever they want to go to school. The Gymnasium is from ages 10-19, and is more or less an academic track that would include American middle school and high school, but is more rigorous: think AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) classes, but without the "regular" option. The HLW has academic classes - but not as rigorous - and the students learn cooking (no more cleaning, thank God) and have either a foreign language concentration, a nutrition concentration, or a business management concentration. The HAK also has academic classes, but students also learn accounting, business management, leadership skills, and so forth. The HLW and HAK are meant to get students ready for a) a job right after graduation in their chosen field or b) university studies. So, these schools are more like high school + associates degree. This actually makes it easier for graduates of these schools to find a job abroad, especially the USA, considering they are basically a year ahead of anyone their age graduating from an American high school...something I should never have mentioned in class, because now they all want me to get them "in" to the USA - or at least they ask me endless questions about America.


On to the cooking exam! Each of the 4th year students at the HLW is supposed to do a cooking exam, a serving exam and an accounting exam as part of their diploma/graduation. In the fifth year, they then do language exams: German, French and English, with which they have the option of an oral or written exam. It's a great idea to split the exams between the two years, I think, because then the students aren't so stressed out they can't perform well. With the serving exam as well, they get the chance to do their exams in a foreign language, or just in German. 


That's where I come in - one of the girls in the 4A wanted to do her exam in English, so she invited me.


The table settings were chosen by each of the five girls doing their serving exams, and the food was prepared by each of their partners in the kitchen. We had a lovely aperitif (pear bellinis) and an appetizer, tomato bruchetta on olive ciabatta, before the servers came to introduce themselves. At the end of the meal, the cooks also introduced themselves. 


Being invited to the cooking exam is quite an honor in Amstetten. The mayor was at this one, as well as certain other dignitaries, local business people, and the former superintendent of schools for Lower Austria. Also, teachers and other community members are allowed to participate.


The menu: 

Schmankerteller aus der Region

(assorted regional specialties)

Karfiolcremesuppe mit Flambiertem Karottenconfit

(cream of cauliflower soup with flambéed carrot compote)

Pikant gefüllte Roulade von der Maishendlbrust

(spicy roast chicken breast)

Bärlauch-Eräpfeltaler

(fried potatoes with wild garlic)

Mostbirnpilzgröstl

(pear-mushroom ragout)

Dukatenbuchteln auf Vanillespiegel

 (yeast dumplings with vanilla custard)

Kaffeespezialitäten - Pharisäer

(coffee specialties - Irish coffee with rum and whipped cream)

A 2010 Riesling from the Weingut Stadt Krems was served with the meal. Everything was delicious and our server tried very hard to do everything bilingual. She got nervous and made a few mistakes, but I would give her and A for effort - knowing that she did something outside of her comfort zone, and put extra effort into her exam. Extra effort should always be rewarded.

One addenda: I felt very awkward at the meal because, although I made it very clear that I'm a vegetarian, I was still served chicken. Each of the five students cook and prepare the same menu (to keep it fair, I guess). And I understood this, and wanted to be nice about it, so I had a bit of the chicken, but pushed the rest around on my plate...which the person sitting next to me noticed. 

Oops. Austria is one of those countries where you are supposed to eat EVERYTHING on your plate, and to leave something behind is rude, and indicates that you don't like the food. Well, I was hoping to go unnoticed, but by that time, I didn't want to embarrass anyone, or become further embarrassed myself...by explaining dietary restrictions that hadn't seemed to bother me until then, right? I just said that I wasn't used to eating so much in one sitting (which I'm not - four courses is a lot) and told the students that it was very delicious. 

Which it was - especially the pear-mushroom ragout. And the wine! 

Cookie Time

Today I broke down and bought a cookie sheet at the local NKD.

What is it about chocolate chip cookies that makes them SOOOOOOOOOOOO fascinating? Perhaps it is their American origins...the uniquely American cookie. The All-American Toll House. Anyway, I have been progressively feeling this homesickness thing. I cannot attribute it to anything specific, but I think the combination of small town life (where I still don't really know a lot of people) and the fact that I lived at home last year (as opposed to living at Lawrence - the transition from dorm to single living was easier my first time abroad, I think) is making my separation angst more...severe.

Also, seeing as it is Christmastime, my thought is that I could contribute a little treat to the classroom. A double whammy: Christmas treat mixed with Americana - and why not? I like brining treats into class - it breaks up the monotony. So, not only have I decided to make chocolate chip cookies, I have decided to make 200+ chocolate chip cookies for my many students. 

You may be wondering why I chose chocolate chip cookies? They are not particularly Christmas-y. Yes. But they are easy cookies - you don't have to roll them, the recipe is easy to double (triple and quadruple, too) and I've made them so much, I have no fear of baking them with metric measurements and Austrian ingredients. Plus the whole aforementioned symbol of America that this cookie stands for.

If you don't believe me, all the Europeans I know call them "American cookies"  - they even sell them in the grocery store as such! But, truly, there is nothing like a home-baked chocolate chip cookie. In my opinion.

Goulasch!

In keeping with my new theme, I must, of course, show you what I made for dinner.

Although typically Hungarian, goulasch is still considered a staple meal in certain circles here in Austria. There are some "leftovers" (tee hee) from the Austro-Hungarian Empire that are just harder than others to...throw away. Such as:
                         1) Austrians are very proud of their distinct historical and cultural heritage

                         2) Austrians can sometimes be assholes about other people's cultures because they are so   

                          proud

                         3) Austrians still eat a lot of goulasch.

OK, so here I am, little miss vegetarian sitting in the land of Wiener Schnitzel and goulasch. I can't go out and try the "authentic" versions in a restaurant because they will all be chock full of meat...I want to experience real Austrian culture, but I have my principles! And plus, I find meat disgusting, if you want the honest truth. After 15+ years of being vegetarian (thanks, Mom!) I have no desire to eat *actual* beef stew or deep-fried pork.

Yet, I am feeling a bit left out. So I decided to make my own. Substituting potatoes (and more vegetables) for the meat.  From a recipe I found in Woman. See, the magazine was totally worth it!

I ended up serving it over rice, because, although you can serve it as a soup, I am getting sick of soup (first I made a garlic-cream soup - also an idea originating in Hungary - and then all I ate was broth when I had my cold...)

My other option would have been spaghetti. So, I think I made the right choice. I do not know how to make the noodley dumpling things they serve all over the place here: Spätzle, or Knödel or whatever else there is - like twelve varieties of potato- or egg-dumplings... Plus, you can buy premade ones at the grocery store, but they are way too salty (high blood pressure, anyone?) and I don't like them. Mom's are the best anyway :)

To serve with, because I am totally nuts about wine...and getting the best bang for your buck (or Euro, as the case may be...) I got this white Hungarian wine at the the grocery store - €1.99, dude! From the Lake Balaton region, which sounds nice.

Unfortuantely, once I tasted it, I discovered that "lieblich" means sweet. Like a dessert wine. Which does not go very well with goulasch. Did that stop me from enjoying it? Hell no. I just had to have a dessert then. Manner wafers do very nicely as a follow-up to goulasch...or just about anything.