Partytime!

Saturday 29th November 2008

Having spent 2 weeks catching up with friends and relations back in the UK, we arrived back in Austria on the Tuesday 26th to find the whole place transformed into a winter wonderland - the snow has come! This weekend is the first of Advent and heralds both the start of the Christmas shopping season and the opening of many of the ski resorts - guess who is most interested in which?

Last night we held a small party evening for friends and neighbours to say 'thanks' for having us and making us feel so welcome. Live music was provided by both a local father and son duo 'The Turachtaler' , otherwise known as Viktor and Günther from Tamsweg and, more unusually our insurance agent - Rudi - who turned out to be a real star on the keyboard and kept the music coming until 3a.m. Enough people braved the elements to eat, drink and be merry and our upstairs neighbour, Herman, took turns to sweep all the ladies off their feet on the dancefloor - a real 'party animal'! We were surprised that a number of people brought us gifts - lovely Christmas plants, a cake, candles and a very useful German-Carinthian phrasebook so we can brush up on our dialect!

Its now just under a month until Christmas and although, as yet, we are rather quiet on Christmas day itself - it is unusual for peole to go away for Christmas - we do have nearly a full house for New Year - a truly international gathering with guests from the UK, Russia, Romania and Germany. We are busy planning our programe of events and hoping the snow will last so that everyone cn enjoy its beauty (not to mention a little wintersport!)

Irische Nacht in Malta

Samstag 25. November 2008 kam Irisches Essen, Getränke und Musik nach Malta. In dem Gasthof Hochalmspitze genossen mehr als 20 Leute vom Ort und der Umgebung einen Menü von Kartoffel-und-Lauch Suppe, Irisches Stew oder Rind-und-Guinness ‚Pie’ (unter Teig), ‚Champ’ (Kartoffel Puree mit Frühlingszwiebeln gekocht) und Gemüse. Auch war als Nachtisch ‚Apfel Crumble’ da. Mit den Gerichten könnten die Kundschaft natürlich aus irische Getränke wählen – Guinness oder Kilkenny Biere, irische Whiskey oder Baileys Likör und Irischen Kaffee waren zur Verfügung und den ganzen Abend spielten irische Musik von z. B die Dubliners und der Video von ‚Lord of the Dance’ mit Michael Flatley. Immer schwerig mit solchem Musik die Füsse still zu halten!

Die Inhaber des Gasthofs, die Familien Thomas & Gowers aus England, hoffen andere solchen ‚Themenabenden’ zu arrangieren, zuerst eine Franzözische Nacht am 24ten Januar, und laden alle mit Ihnen neuen Geschmacken und Erfahrungen zu genießen ein.

The Little People Come to Malta

On Saturday October 25th Ireland came to Malta! In the Gasthof Hochalmspitze more than 20 people from the area enjoyed an evening of Irish food, drink and music. On the menu were potato and leek Soup, Irish lamb stew or beef and Guinness Pie with Champ and vegetables and apple crumble as dessert. Guests could choose from a range of Irish drinks, Guinness and Kilkenny of course, but also Irish whiskey, bailey’s liqueur and Irish coffee and music from the Dubliners and other Irish favourites was interspersed with the video of ‘Lord of the Dance’ with Michael Flatley – hard to watch and keep your feet still!

The English owners of the Gasthof aim to offer other, similar theme evenings during the winter season, starting with a French Night on January 24th and look forward to sharing new tastes and experiences with you all.