Austrian Supermarket Finds

Truly, there are few things i find as delightful as perusing the aisles of a foreign grocery store. I took advantage of our two-hour lunch break to walk down to the outskirts of town (which takes a whopping ten minutes!), and there i found all sorts of amazing and intruiguing items! Vegan gummy bears, Austrian muesli (I love the muesli here!), couscous mix with dried fruits, soy milk for my morning muesli and coffee, soy yogurt, and a great little sampler pack of various dense German breads like pumpernickel and such - I love that kind of bread! I'll need to make another run soon,since I'm almost out of soy milk.... So maybe I'll pick up a few more treats to bring home - especially some good fruit teas.

This morning was one of the most beautiful mornings ever. I was up with the very earliest light, and went out with my camera to explore the world with about 6 inches of fresh snow. Here are a few shots for you to enjoy:

Wonderful Fruit Tea of Austria!

One thing I've really been enjoying here in Austria are the many delicious fruit "teas" available here. I've never been a tea drinker, despite multiple attempts to appreciate it... But i am really grooving on the fruity concoctions here. Usually it's some sort of wild berry flavor, or a fruity rose hip tea. They're warm and light and I am a real fan.


Of all the fruchtetee I've had though, none can compare to this marvelous cup of tea that I had. A couple of days back, we had one afternoon off from the lessons, which was a welcome break. A friend and I walked for about an hour through the snowy valley to another nearby village. We cruised around town, which didn't take too long, checked out the beautiful little local church on top of a hill, had a great time meandering though the grocery store (more on that later!), and finished it off with a wonderful cup of tea. This fruit tea was so mind-blowing, the tea baggie was full of big strips of orange peel and other unknown fruity bits. The tea was so deliciously aromatic and equally deliciously tasty. I couldnt figure out what brand it was, so I was forced to surrender and enjoy the moment. Which I did!

Also, that soy yogurt was totally RAD. I wish we could get this one at home. Loved the flavor, loved the texture... Yums

Here are a couple of pictures from our walk back home. It was soooooo beautiful:

What's for lunch? ( Austrian style )

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, the food here in this spot is not totally great. It's not terrible either, but I'm certainly not regretting that I showed up with a suitcase full of food.

I brought along a bag full of individual hummus packets, dehydrated bean flakes, dried soup mixes, a few Lara bars, roasted almonds, Tabasco sauce, and a few other odds and ends. I'm so glad I did, because I've been heavily supplementing most meals. Here are a few samples of what I've been eating:

This was actually one of our better meals. There's one other vegan here, so at least I'm not the only one! Often they don't have too much for us, but this time there was a veggie soup, and some zucchini stuffed with spinach, which were actually quite yummy!

This is a typical meal... Pretty spartan! You can see my little hummus packet in the back. Before leaving, I ordered a whole box of these little individual-serving hummus packets from Wild Garden. They're great! I've been having one a day with my lunch. Here I've got some steamed veggies, fresh tomatoes, cabbage, grated carrot, and two pieces of rye bread. Yum?

This time around, I've resorted to my dried bean flakes... With a little Tabasco sauce and some seasoning from a bean soup mix (to avoid death-by-sodium, I've been stretching out one spice packet over many meals.) These bean flakes are hardly gourmet food, but it's a great way to get something warm and hearty and full of protein. Plus the usual side dishes... Which are more functional than thrilling.

Let's end on high note! Here was another successful meal - a hearty stew type thingee with beans and veggies with some rice, and cabbage on the side. Actually, I have to say, I'm rather of fan of that little raw cabbage salad. I like cabbage! Plus you can see my vitamins, just waiting to energize me!

So, I'm not eating gorument vegan food, but I'm not dead yet either! And the beauty of the place and the beauty of the lessons definitely makes it all worthwhile!

Greetings from Austria!

Hello friends!
You might be wondering what the hell happened to me! I'm here in a little spot in Austria called Piesendorf, studying yoga philosophy. The course is great, but the it's hardly a vegan paradise!

The place we're staying does offer us a very nice breakfast, though. I bought some soy milk and soy yogurt at the store near town to supplement. Atypical breakfast for me here has been some muesli with nuts and raisins, coffee, fruities, and a little yogurt. Sometimes I have a little bread and jam too. I guess it's sort of carbo-loading, but a girl's gotta eat! Plus, lunch and dinner leave much to be desired, so it feels good to fill up while I can.

It's so beautiful here... Really, really amazing. There are mountains, covered in snow! Frost and icicles and snow falls and sunny days, it's all a big experience for someone used to living in Santa Cruz! This is the view from our yoga room, where the discussions are held... Not so bad, huh?!

P.s. I'm trying out something new with this post, posting from the blogger app on my iPad. I hope it works, because if it does, I have more pics to share!

Doggie Treats for Xmas - and Cookbooklette Winners!

As promised, I bring you Snoopy in his Santa outfit! He doesn't like the hat at all, but he loves wearing his little Santa jacket. (Don't worry, I only make him wear the hat for pictures.) I'm not sure why, but he is oddly crazy about wearing jackets. My only guess is that whoever had him before we adopted him made him wear lots of jackets. Whenever he has his Santa outfit on, his name officially becomes "Santa," and it is against the law to call him Snoopy again until he takes off his outfit.

In fact, I got Snoopy a new raincoat from Lands End, because he really doesn't like getting wet. It doesn't quite cover his rear end, but I hope it's better than nothing.

It even says "Snoopy" on it! Squee! You know you are in trouble when you start buying doggie jackets with their names embroidered on them. God help me.

Speaking of doggies, we have three excellent doggies and everyone knows that doggies need christmas presents too. At least, that's what "Santa" told me! So, I decided to try my hand at homemade sweet potato chews. I looked around online and found some easy guidelines:

Cut a bunch of sweet potatoes into scant 1/4" slices (excellent time to use your mandoline!). Put them in the oven straight onto the racks (not on baking sheets), preheated to 250 F, and cook for 3 hours. Easy! They are crunchy and the doggies love them so much! Merry Holidays to all our Doggie Friends.

Lastly! Santa wants to send out Holiday Cookbooklettes to all the winners of my annual cookbooklette giveaway!

Congratulations to:

Celyn, Tahinitoo, Caitlin, Kirsten, Lauren Lowe, John P, Catherine Denis, Amber Shea, Kaycee, Nichole, Emily, Rebecca, Ela, Hannah, Fanny, Hannah, Kaite, Meg, Luciana, Molly G., Becca, Lizzie Bordello, Agati, Eat Me Delicious, Jared, Kirsten, MizzBzVegan, Jolca, and Bean!

Merry Holidays to You All!

I'll email you for your address, so go check your inbox!

Gingerbread Yoga People

Lotus Pose/Padmasana, Warrior III/Virabhadrasana III

Plough Pose/Halasana, Tree Pose/Vrksasana, Triangle Pose/Trikonasana

When I saw these cookie cutters online, about a month ago, I just *knew* I had to have them. Finally, a craft project that combines my love for yoga AND my love for baking.

Here is the counter full of little Gingerbread Yogis. SO CUTE. (and SO YUMZ)

I surfed around and actually found a couple of different yoga cookie cutter options. These ones looked pretty cute, but when I was shopping, they were all out. So, then I came over here... where there are two sets to choose from. After much deliberation, I chose Set #1 - but they were all out and I had to wait! Ahhh, the pain of waiting! They arrived this week, just in time for me to make a big batch for two of my classes. I love how cute and chubby they are!

ps. don't forget!

You have until noon on Monday the 19th to enter my giveaway for

this year's Vegan Eats & Treats cookzine!

Recent Advent Calendar Delights

Remember my post about the amazing advent calendar I won? This little treasure has been bringing me such joy! Every day I carefully hunt for the right little sock, carefully untie it, and discover a new treat. It's been so exciting!!! Seriously friends, if you need some more good karma in your life, make one of these for someone... because every time I open a little sock - heck every time I look at it or even think about it - I am filled with good thoughts for sweet Cara who sent this to me. I thought I'd share some of the very cool, and varied, German goodies I've gotten so far:

Special fun & fancy baggies of tea!

marzipan candies. LOVE!

SchokoLolly!! (chocolate lolly pop)

tea & speculoos cookies

(uhh... the cookie didn't quite last until the photo shoot!)

special German spices for potatoes!! YUMZ!

I can't wait to try these!

Adorable mini jar of Rose hip jam!

traditional Bavarian mustard! whoa!

I love mustard, so I really look forward to trying this.

a little marzipan log.

little Christmas chocolates!

SO MUCH FUN. Thank you, Thank You, a million times, Thank You, Cara!

ps. don't forget to win a prize of your own and enter my giveaway for a copy of my annual holiday cookbooklette!

Annual Holiday Cookbooklette Giveaway!

Friends! Romans! Veganmen!

It's that wonderful time of the year when I finally finish my annual Holiday Cookbooklette and offer a giveaway to my blog readers.

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately... Well, honestly, I also haven't been washing the dishes, folding the laundry, or responding to emails either - every spare moment I had was diverted to crafting up my annual cookbooklette. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work! I finally finished - yesterday! This year I splurged and paid a little bit extra to have them all automatically folded and stapled for me - instead of spending hours watching the Colbert Report and stapling until my wrist is sore. Good decision! It was such a thill to open the big box and see them all sparkly and ready to go!

After the thrill wore off, I spent some serious time cleaning the house and washing the dishes (plus, the dishwasher broke, right after our big holiday potluck, and I had to empty it out and wash everything by hand. Rubbing salt in the wound!). Next up, I've got to tackle my email inbox!

This year I will randomly pick out 30 folks and send you a cookzine! Open to friendly readers All Around The World! Just leave a comment here, and please make sure I can contact you through your blogger ID or leave an email address... I'm not going to track people down! I'll pick the winners a week from today, on Dec 19th.

Bonus Picture of Adorable Snoopy Snoppy. I love this special little way that he has of sitting. You have to look closely at his back legs, and how he crosses them and then tucks them up against his front leg. MAN, I love this little guy! I'm about to bust out the holiday decor, so maybe next week you'll see him in his Santa outfit!