Sunday Schnitzel & Strudel

One of the best ways to learn about a city, the people and the culture is to take a class whether it be learning how to cook a local dish or how to make a local craft. How do you come to Vienna and not learn how to make schnitzel and strudel?!  We found an AirBnB experience that included both so of course we signed up for it!  Not only did we learn how to make two of Austria's most famous dishes, we made some new friends along the way in Schnitzel & Strudel: Cooking with Lena. Steven and Andrew were in town for a few days and definitely help make the experience a memorable one for us.  

Our host, Lena, lives in the same apartment her grandparents lived in and her great grandparents moved in to the building before World War II.  In Vienna, it is more common to rent apartments versus owning them as it is so expensive to own.  There are all sorts of government regulations in place that cap the amount rent can be raised from year to year.  Whomever is in an apartment can pass down the lease to their children so in theory the apartment can always stay in the family.  Because of this, the tenants do treat their apartments as though they owned them and often make renovations as Lena did to her place.

On the menu today was Old Viennese Potato Soup, Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream, Chicken Schnitzel and Apple Strudel with Whipped Cream. Lena put us each to work with our own tasks:  LuLu was on salad duty, Steven & Andrew were on strudel prep and I was in charge of soup.  We all participated in the schnitzel.  Everything we made is what Lena learned to cook from her grandmother and was all quite delicious...Lena said it was the best meal and best group ever...of course she doesn't say that to all the groups, right?  One of the things I learned is you can schnitzel any meat and many vegetables.  Schnitzel is the cut not the recipe.

It's a three step process to make schnitzel.  First you put the meat in flour.  Next you dip it in an egg and milk mixture.  Finally you dredge in very finely chopped unseasoned bread crumbs and lightly pack it on the meat.

Had to capture the sound of the schnitzel cooking

At last, time to enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Schnitzel should be served with a
lemon wedge and lingonberry jam

We all promised Lena we would make strudel and schnitzel when we were back home and help pass on the tradition of strudel making as said it is a dying art in her generation.

Settling In…Finally

After leaving Charleston on June 29 at 4pm, we finally arrived at our apartment in Vienna on July 2 at 7:15pm! All was going well until an hour before we were supposed to leave Amsterdam for Vienna when the pilot told us there was a mechanical issue with plane that couldn’t be fixed and since they didn’t have a backup plane, our flight was cancelled.  To our surprise and that of the KLM gate agent, people took it very well. While she was helping me rebook (they sent everyone else to the Transfer Desk but she helped us…it pays to be nice to the gate agents), I asked if the response was normal and she said “NO, I am very surprised”.  Between KLM and Delta, it took about an hour to find us a flight (it’s summer holiday season in Europe so flights are full) and then we were on our way to baggage assistance as we needed our bags pulled from holding since it was going to be 2 days before we could get on a flight to Vienna. Not a bad way to start a trip…two days in Amsterdam compliments of KLM. 

It took about an hour and a half for our luggage to get pulled so we enjoyed lunch and people watching in the airport. With bags in hand, we headed to Uber pick-up and were on our way to the Marriott. I asked the KLM reps if rather than staying at their airport hotel I could book a hotel in town and get reimbursed and they said “of course and keep all transfer and meal receipts too”. They were so accommodating and apologetic for the inconvenience. I don’t know about you but an unexpected stay in Amsterdam is a pretty good trade out for not being on a plane with mechanical issues. 

The hotel had these complimentary
refillable water bottles in the room.

 

We spent the morning and early afternoon on the hop-on/hop-off bus and boat as this was LuLu’s first time in Amsterdam.  Tuesday afternoon we went to mass at the Basilica of  St. Nicolas (first time I’ve been to mass at this church in English as on previous visits they only had Dutch) before heading to the airport. Here's a few pics from our short time in Amsterdam.

A little snack of crispy chicken (aka chicken tenders)
and mini frikandellen (basically a fried cocktail sausage)

Police in Dutch

After collecting our luggage and meeting our driver in Vienna, we were off to our apartment where Thomas met us and gave us a quick tour before leaving us to unpack and settle in.  Here are a few pics of our home for the next 4 weeks.

Time to rest our weary heads...more to come as we begin exploring Vienna!