I made orange chicken.

 To be honest, I never really ate real orange chicken. We never grew up eating a lot of asian foods and by the time I discovered asian food, I was already eating vegetarian. I mostly make curry stir fry all the time and I was getting pretty sick of looking at yellow food so I decided to go for orange.

ta da! It looks pretty legit, I must say. I had a mild breakdown while cooking this though. I used two blocked of tofu and when making the orange sauce I didn't want to mess it up and waste the good tofu. The sauce tasted pretty dank before it was added to the tofu. In the sauce was water, orange juice, lemon juice, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and a few red pepper flakes. This was all mixed together then added to garlic and green onions which were already sauted in oil on the stove. Then a bit of water and cornstarch mixture was added. Here is where I had my mini meltdown. I wasn't sure why the corn starch wasn't thickening up the sauce I made and I told Juli to add more cornstarch. Which he sure did. More than I thought was needed and I was afraid it would all turn out cornstarchy. So I remade the whole sauce and then tried to add it to the fried tofu. The sauce I made (with less cornstarch) wasn't sticking to the tofu and then I tried the super cornstarch sauce which, go figure, worked a lot better and tasted better. So, I apologized for my minor freak out and learned to not be so strict about measurements. This might be the best meal I have made in a while. I think I even ate more than Juli did for a change.

dragonfruit

Dragonfruit is a kiwi in a fancier (and also more expensive) suit.  I couldn't even finish eating is. I would suggest using dragonfruits for decorations.

Ayurveda

I haven't posted in a while. I have a few pictures of me eating a passionfruit or dragon fruit, I don't even remember anymore, but the pictures are on Juli's computer which I may or may not have destroyed and besides that I haven't taken any pictures cause I haven't cooked too much or when I have, I had no camera at hand.


I did, however, go to a yoga seminar about why I should use milk products and how I can in safe way. I wasn't sure if I wasn't to shell out all that dough for some infos I probably won't take to hear but I did and so was 40 euros gone.

After about 5 plus hours at the seminar I was neither drinking milk, nor was I pro on the whole ayurveda system.


The jist of what I was taught is that there is something magical about a part of milk products that I need in my body. We melted butter on the stove and found the magical part, which I forget the name... Butterschmalz? and we learned how to make our own yogurt. It was all natural which is  exciting. Not only organic but also bought fresh (supposedly daily) from farmers. The most sound milk consuming I could have done and I didn't. I can't explain what kept me from it. When we were warming milk on the stove the one woman mentioned how sweet and nice it smelled. I thought it smelled gross. I tried to have an open mind about it but I just couldn't get over my dairy issues, despite how yogi-ish it all was.

To be fair, the whole ayurveda thing isn't just about food. According to wiki, ayurveda means "life" and "medicine" in sanskrit and is basically just traditional medicine that is usually a part of the whole yoga philosophy. According to wiki, I support almost all of what I read in the article. *Not too keen on the whole use of animal parts but I can support it a lot more than the overuse of antibiotic and chemical drugs.

The people were really nice and the idea of what you eating affecting you physically emotionally and spiritually, I do believe in. I don't believe in consuming any animal products.

free beer = kristen forgets to take food pics.

I would have written had I eaten something interesting but things have been a bit lame. I also had a bit of a camera hiccup when it decided to ignore my memorycard. But, all is well in cameraville again.

I spent the weekend in Germany. I saw my boyfriend's band play in Munich. That was fun considering I don't get to see him play often. Because of travelling and being with boys, I think I ended up not eating anything but instead drinking a few beers. Oh, actually.. I was given food before the show when the band ate. I had a vegan pasta thing that tasted a lot like seafood but wasn't. A member of the band is also vegan so I felt if he found it sound enough to eat it must be, though it was oddly creamy looking. Anyways, it was super good so I ate all the sauce and left the noodles for Juli to eat. I should have taken a picture of that but I think I was so distracted by how good the *free* food was and how nice the *free* beer tasted.

Here is a picture of him playing. I had better videos of the show; since I kept getting embarrassed of the flash of my camera and unable to find out how to turn it off. I trust my polaroid camera a lot more than a digital.

Anyways, the show was nice but getting up at 6 am and sleeping for only a few hours was not so nice. My body seems to be catching a cold *maybe from the beer and lack of healthy eating?* ha.





Anyways, I started taking yoga classes. The yoga is "Yoga in Daily Life" and sad for America, it is only offered in three locations. I have always liked yoga but never found a class that put the moves of yoga with the ideas and beliefs behind it. It makes me want to go home and move to Atlanta right away so I can be by a studio. I could blog a lot about that but due to my crunched time, I'll have to postpone.

 

ketchup dressing pasta salad?

dis pasta salad was sort of weird tasting. I wrote earlier that I was going to avoid a heavy carb load again but this was the only thing I could make that didn't require a grocery store trip (It's snow storming..)

So it was just a pretty boring pasta salad. I threw in all the veggies I could find left over and then made this sauce which was sort of super gross. It ended up tasting like Catalina/French dressing from home. The most disgusting part of the dressing was how much sugar was in it. It called for 1/2 cup of sugar. I only put half in cause I was so grossed out. It also called for oil, vinegar, ketchup (weird, eh?) and some paprika and salt for taste. In the end it's edible and sort of good looking but super vinegar-y and super hurt your teeth sugar-y. I need a new dressing idea.

Is my battery really exhausted or is that just personification?

I was fairly busy in the kitchen this weekend but my camera's battery didn't really care and told me that it was 'exhausted.' I guess I should be glad the camera is only tired and not dead. So I used the photobooth on mac to take this nice pictures of soy yogurt (vanilla, I think it was even called fine vanilla, ha.) and some organic cornflakes. I bought a 4 pack of soy yogurt on Saturday and as of 12:03 on Monday, they are all gone.


Saturday's food was pretty exciting. I tried to make eggplant lasagna. My hardest problem was breading the lasagna. I let it dry out a bit and sprinkled the slices with salt and then dipped them in oil and bread on each side. (Just like you'd make a schnitzel) The breading didn't always stay on when I put it in the pan to fry. I also fried it at first with oil then wanting to throw up because of how much oil it was using so I switched to water. Which seemed to maybe even work better. Any hints on frying eggplant?

Then Sunday I was a bit lazy and just made a stirfry of veggies and soy pieces seasoned with curry and soy sauce with rice on a bed of lettuce. Was easy and fast and full of veggies which I felt my bod was lacking from Saturday's pasta and fried eggplant fat fest. 

So now since my body is running on coffee and soy pudding, I am guessing I will head to the store and buy a ton of veggies again. Or go to the reformhaus and get that bomb tofu burger. I love how people don't bulk grocery shop here like we do in the states. Though when the stores are closed here on Sundays, I get super anxious.


Well, tomorrow I will start taking that yoga class. I better abstain from coffee and diet soda today otherwise I'll be so jacked up and nervous, thus clammy hands, thus slipping off yoga mat, thus being very unchic american Kristen.

This fruit is a total drupe:

I have discovered a new fruit here in Austria. Well, technically it's not from Austria but it was here where I first ate it. 

I introduce to you, the Lychee:



According to Wikipedia, "The fruit is a drupe." I dunno what a drupe is but that sounds a potential fake insult I could use. The fruit comes from places such as; China, India, Madagascar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Southern Africa and Mexico.

I am not sure why I never remember seeing these stateside. It is possible I saw them and wasn't too interested but I should have been because they contain lots of good things like a ton of vitamin c and something that begins with a 'p' and is good for your heart.

The downfall is that there isn't much to eat in them because they are already small and the seed inside is super huge. But new fruits and veggies are always a fun discovery for me. My so far favorite new found fruit in my life would be the Pomelo. I even tried to buy one in the states and it tasted not nearly as good, was more expensive and a lot smaller.

Besides eating just Lychees today, I also bought a really good new veggie burger. It packed a ton of protein and was made with smoked tofu. I ate it with a side of a new sauce I found at a Reformhaus *imagine whole foods but smaller. The exotic sauce wasn't as exotic as I thought it would be. Maybe a bit too sweet for dipping the super-already-perfect-tasting tofu burger into.Too bad I am a lame consumer and buy things just because they say "excotic." Besides these eats today, nothing else was exciting. A piece of vollkorn brot and marmelade for breakfast and for dinner a salad with tomato tofu, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce and some balsamico. Though, what was exciting about the salad is that I ate it from a Barbapapa *sp? bowl. If you don't know what that is, be glad.

(me with a lederhosen lad at a club after oktoberfest

Oh, yes. I do have my own Dirndl, in fact this is my second one)

I feel a bit uncomfortable writing this first post. I am not really quite sure what I envision for this blog. I plan to post food pictures of what I am eating but because of my internet usage limit, I might not be as diligent as I'd like. Nonetheless, I thought it might be interesting to show the organic and vegan options in another country.

So, why am I here in Austria? I came here last year as a study abroad student. I study German foreign language ed. and needed to study here. Then I met this one.. (well, these two..)

the one on the left is my boyfriend, Julian and the crazy one on the right is my bests, Ina.

So after falling for Julian, I went crazy and took a year off of school in order to live here and work on my language skills. Or, I stayed to be with him and the language skills is just a coincidence. ;)

 I am currently an AuPair for two little Austrian cute things and I also am taking a few classes at the University here in Salzburg. You might know Salzburg from a little movie called, "The Sound of Music." I myself, haven't seen it but it's the main reason there are always Americans walking around downtown. Oh, that and Mozart was born here, ha. Salzburg is known for selling Mozart Kugeln, or Mozart Balls (haha,) they are some silly marzipan and chocolate thingy.

There are things I love about this place, Gluehwein *spiced wine served warm, Vollkornbrot *super grainy bread that is unlike anything in the states, the mountains and lakes, the dialect and how every apartment or house is filled with Ikea things.

However, there are things I really miss about home such as vegan cheese, my friends and family, americanness *I realize it's not a real word but it's a real thing, Great Lakes beer *rep your city, and just how cheap everything seems to be in comparison to Austria. I mean cheap as in price not value, well...

Anyways, I plan to post as often as I can and since I am not taking classes next semester, I will need something to fill the coming months with. I will also be enrolling in 2 yoga classes starting next week. I have taking yoga before but am really looking forward to these classes. The program is called Yoga in daily life and is offered in countries throughout the world. Sad for America, it is only offered in I think Atlanta and D.C. The mom of the family I work for is a big Yogi and will even be going to India soon for a Yoga seminar. So, being here has reignited my yoga passion. I took one class in place of the mom one time and found the class to be really really invigorating and borderline spiritual.

Oh, I also am very passionate about music. I spend my money on food at healthfood stores, wine, overpriced fairtrade clothes and concerts. It leaves no money at the end of the month but it's worth it. Since I've been here my concert attending has gone down a bit. I did see Animal Collective in Belfast, Ireland, The Kills in Munich, Dinosaur Jr. in Salzburg and my favorite thus far Algernon Cadwallader in Munich. Ahh, I saw them twice at house shows in Cleve and A-kron and then I got to seem them here when they did their first European tour. Aw.

Me smiling like an idiot in the corner at the Algernon show. I screamed every word to every song. 

I also try to see my boyfriend's band when I can but that usually doesn't happen too often because I can't just drop everything and travel all around to watch a show. I know he understands, ha.

Well between food, music, aupair happenings and literary excitements; I am sure I will be able to come up with enough things to fill this little blog up with. I just hope people find it a bit interesting.