Green Thursday?

Some musings about menus! These are interesting to plan here to say the least. We are told (and have experienced) that locally people are very conservatve in their tastes. But then there are some who are willing to try new things and, of course, in the summer we are catering for more 'outsiders' than we are locals. Also, try as I do, I can't get terribly excited about Austrian food, which is certainly satisfying but rarely stimulating.

Now we are planning some menus for Easter weekend - starting with Green (Maundy) Thursday - a meat free day. So a 'green' menu looks a good idea - something like Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup), Spinach Pie with a Green Salad, Kiwi Mousse. Luckily the favorite local white wine is called 'Grüner Veltleiner' so a glass of that can go with!!

Good Friday (Karfreitag here) is fish day - so fish & chips will be on the menu definitely, and perhaps a prawn salad and something with salmon. Can't get Hot Cross Buns though - pity, they would be very popular I think!

Any ideas out there?

Birthday Time!

Party time at the Hochalmspitze! We celebrated John's birthday yesterday with an international group of friends from Austria, Germany and Hungary. John was let out of the cellar and the DIY for the day and instead prepared some super new recipes which we tried out on our very willing 'Versuchskaninchen' (my German word of the day - 'Guinea Pigs' for the uninitiated!). More pictures on my facebook site.

The weather isn't in very celebratory mood though. It rained all day yesterday and overnight the rain turned again to snow! And this after the clocks have changed? The snow is again rapidly melting but Spring is forecast for later this week, so we remain optimistic.

Our next big event is Easter. We learned last night that what we know as Maundy Thursday is Green Thursday here (not sure why), so we are busy preparing a (meat-free) green menu for that evening! Friday has to be fish day - British Fish and Chips for an Austrian clientele? We also learned of an event called 'Kugelwerfen' which seems to be a form of mobile petanque which winds its way through the whole village with very competetive teams taking part. Apparently the tradition is to stop at every pub on the way where the current losers have to buy the current winners a round - as you can imagine the incentive to be in the winning position is high! So at least this time we will be prepared for the influx of guests, not like our total ignorance at Fasching! The event takes place on 2 days, Sunday and Monday - hopefully another blog in the making.

Meanwhile we look forward to visits next week from my two sons and their partners, and especially the 2 grandchildren. Just hope the weather improves for them!

The trouble with DIY....

... is that it just goes on and on and on! And things never happen as quickly as you think they will. And things get a lot worse before they get better. Hence the pictures of what was just a week ago a reasonably organised office cum living space now transformed into total chaos! Still a shower room, however small, will be an improvement and the guys have been working hard as well as coming to terms with the very unexpected differences between the plumbing and wiring here in Austria compared to the UK. The cavalry, in the form of the local plumber, (known to all as Charly Wasser!) and his son, meant that not too many English swear words have echoed across the Malta valley. Thanks Charly!

Meanwhile the weather continues to fool everybody. We have had a few glorious spring days with temps in the mid teens and loads of sunshine but then back comes winter! The sun is still shining so from inside you can be fooled. But outside the wind is blowing a hooley and its cold again! Still apparently yet again Carinthia is doing much better than the rest of Austria where snowfall has been a regular feature again for the last week. Good for the skiing industry of course, who are hoping to hang on to the snow for the Easter holidays at least. The rest of us just want Spring to get here and stay please!

DIY and all that

Greetings blog readers.

John and I are back from the UK where we spent a hectic few days seeing friends and relations and celebrating Steffi's 21st birthday. Now its time for real work! John's friend Andi is here helping as we begin the long list of updating, renovating, repairing and preparing for the summer season. First big task - create a small studio flat in the cellar where we can live while the hotel is full of coach tourists. Not a straight forward task as anyone who has ever been into DIY will guess, especially as the plumbing and wiring systems here are very different from what we are used to. Still progress is being made and hopefully some pictures soon!

Then there is repair and renovation in the hotel and restaurant and all the summer patio furniture to get into shape. Plus just a little bit (not) of gardening - and all this while working at trying to persuade some nice people to come and stay with us this Spring. There is real untapped potential in this area for Spring and Autumn visitors, particularly anyone who likes walking and cycling.

Spring is definitely here now - flowers are appearing and the sun does not go down till quite late. Midday temperatures are in double figures most days and everybody seems more cheerful.

We are pleased to say that our colleague Klaus Rüscher is now mayor of Malta, having won the 'play-offs' with a convincing 59.9%, so we have higher hopes for the tourist office in the town. Our summer staff are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things too.

We are also looking forward to visits this Spring from most, if not all, of our offspring, and especially looking forward to having our grandchildren here for the first time. Can't wait really! Lots of photos for the blog then, I am guessing. Also John's birthday next week to plan. No rest for the wicked then!

Winners, losers and not quite sure yet!

So last nights's post election party didn't quite go to plan! As expected polls closed about 4pm and by 5.30 first results in the regional elections were in and Carinthia had voted overwhelmingly for the BZÖ - not the result we wanted to hear. But locally no news from the counting in Malta. At 7pm people began to arrive for the party - still no results from Malta. Everyone stood in reception watching the computer screen and the numerous IPhones and other mobiles intently. 8pm - the regional results are in. Malta too has gone for the BZÖ - despondency! But still no local council or mayoral results and our candidate had now joined us here to wait. The regional government website showed Malta and one other are the only two areas not to have returned. Tension mounts - the drink orders increase! One of the party goes down to ask what is happening - 100 votes left to count and the 3 candidates for mayor are neck and neck! More tension! Finally Klaus's phone rings! Everyone gathers round - first the council - a close thing - the BZÖ have the greatest percentage of votes but no overall majority. Our group are the second highest and will be able to link up with the socialists to make a majority. Then the mayor's votes - the votes are 469, 479 and 495 and our man has won! Initial jubiliation! Then reality dawns - as no-one has more than a 50% share of the vote there has to be a re-run between the 2 highest candidates in 2 weeks time - we have to go through all this again! Undaunted the champagne is uncorked, the celebration cake is eaten, the outgoing mayor gives a speech of encouragement and Klaus thanks everyone for their support and they carry on drinking! Good for business but not for the nerves! Sadly the next vote is while we are in the UK but we have already applied for our postal vote and Klaus has promised to text us with the result. Fingers will remain crossed until then.

European Democracy in Action

Just got back from casting our first vote outside the UK. Our membership of the EU and documented residency in Austria allow us to vote in the local (Gemeinde) and Mayoral elections although not those for the Regional Government (interesting distinction?). So along with our fellow Maltingers, we queued patiently this morning to cast our vote and to have what influence we may on the way the local council spends out hard earned taxes! Politics is taken very seriously here - there has been a constant stream of people going past on their way to the polling station. Votes are counted as things go along and after the polls shut at 4pm, a result will be announced within 2 hours! Then we shall see whether tonight's in-house event is a celebration or a wake!

Meanwhile Spring has definitely come to Carinthia (although the weathermen are warning of a fightback from winter in a few days) and the sun is shining warmly, so, as our guests have either paid up and left or gone skiing, its not really a time to be sitting in here! Till next time!