Saturday, December 31, 2005

Austrian Food


Spetzle, Kaiserschmarren (chopped pancake with sugar) and pastry after pastry seduced my senses during a Christmas skiing trip to Austria with the bf and the quasi-in-laws.

We stayed at St Anton in Arlberg and visited Lech, a neighbouring resort, for lunch. After which, we went up the gondola to Rufikopf (2362m elevation). It's good to see that Kombucha has made it here too. It's quite a refreshing drink, I discovered.

Austria is also home to what I call The Smoked Meat Shop. Smoked meat is ubiquitous here - the most delicious speck bacon for breakfast everyday and the tastiest hams and salamis.

We went into a Spar to look at some local food. We were so bewildered at the cheese section, because they're only described by the valley of origin - and there are thousands of them. So you don't find any Emmentaler or Gruyere, but Jerome and Mossbacher. L says that Jerome is very stinky and has bad BO. They also only sell Austrian smoked meat here. I asked for some salami to be cut and enquired, "Is it Austrian salami?" The woman frowned slightly and said, "Yes, of course."

Oh, they have a taxi company here called Harry.