Category: Recipes

Categories
Bakes Blog

New Year’s Day

My New Year’s Day this year was notable for 3 things.

Firstly, I used up the last of the puff pastry and mincemeat from the festive supplies, baking the final batch of mince pies of the season (see my photo above). When this point in the season is reached, you really do know that Christmas is officially over.

Secondly, my wife and I joined a beautifully scenic group walk along our local section of the English Coastal Path. The walk leader explained that it has now been renamed the King Charles III Coastal Path, reflecting our new monarch’s aim of promoting access to the realm’s green and pleasant land. Well done, sir! I did wonder whether he and Camilla might surprise us somewhere along the route, popping up with some mince pies of their own, to wish us all a happy new year. It was not to be, however.

Thirdly, I fulfilled a New Year aim by launching a channel for A Different Kitchen on Instagram. Mission Control for the blog remains firmly here on WordPress, and there are no plans to change that. The tools on here for online writers are excellent, and I love the support, talent and inspiration within the WordPress community (yes, that’s you!).

However, people engage in different ways, and just as ADK also has an accessible Playlist on Spotify and a channel on X/Twitter, I thought it was time to open another on Instagram. I think of it like a restaurant chain, opening an outlet in a new town or community to meet another set of people. The concept remains the same – a personal view of the world through a lens of Good Food, Great Music. Whichever platform people choose to engage with, they will encounter the same style, attitude and values (oh yes, and the same jokes – thank you there at the back).

One week on, and so far it seems to have been well-received. I’ve had lots and lots of likes, comments and follows, and a few invitations to join groups and networks. It’s helped take my total follower count across all my platforms past 2,500.

If you are on Instagram, do please pop over to @differentkitch and say hello, so I can follow back.

All in all, a busy 24 hours to start 2024. Naturally, today’s musical choice is U2 with New Year’s Day. I saw them perform this live when it was still a relatively new track. I’d seen them in their even earlier days, and the main development of their sound by this point was the introduction of an electric piano. On stage, the Edge managed to play it with one hand, at the same time as playing the lead guitar slung around his neck. Oh, and he was also providing the backing vocals to Bono. What an all-round talented chap he is. I suppose these days you would call it multi-tasking.

Enjoy U2 with New Year’s Day.

Categories
Mains Recipes Sides

Spicy Bean Burger and Salsa

Whenever I look at the above photograph, I just want to place the fingers of both hands on the top of the roll, my thumbs underneath, scrunch it all together and take a large bite.

Which is a pretty good clue to what happened next, the moment I’d set my camera phone to one side.

I love the taste of a good veggie burger, and many times will choose one over a meat version. So when a bag of freshly harvested pulse beans arrived from our local farm, I had little doubt what to make them into.

I soaked the beans overnight and then boiled them for around 45 mins, before draining, cooling and mashing. However, you can just as easily use a can of beans that are ready to use.

Mixing the mashed beans with breadcrumbs and an egg gives a good texture that ensures the burgers, once shaped into patties by hand, stay together during the cooking process.

A fun part of the exercise is deciding what spices to add, and you can really go to town on tailoring it to your tastes. I opted for chopped red chilli, ground cumin, freshly chopped coriander and nigella seeds. Hey, you want garlic? Crush it in!

Here’s another shot just before the lid was positioned, showing the toppings including raw red onion, chopped lettuce, sour cream and my home made tomato salsa. Don’t worry if some pieces topple over the side while building it – this is real food. The scrunching down of the brioche roll between your hands will hold everything in, as you go to take that first bite….

Getting hungry, yet?

Servings

This mixture made 6 burgers, each the size of a brioche bun.

Timings

If cooking the beans from raw, they need to soak overnight, then be boiled for around 45 mins before draining and cooling. You can save time on this by opening a can of beans instead. Otherwise, prepping the burger mixture and salsa takes about 20 mins, with another 20 mins to fry/keep warm.

You Will Need

For the bean burgers:

  • 400g cooked beans e.g. kidney beans, butterbeans
  • 100g wholemeal breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 2 red chillis, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
  • 1 tbsp nigella seeds

For the tomato salsa:

  • 4 – 5 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
  • half a red onion, finely chopped
  • small bunch of coriander, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • juice of half a lime
  • a splash of white wine vinegar

To serve:

  • 6 brioche buns
  • chopped lettuce
  • soured cream
  • chopped raw red onion

Method

  1. Mash the beans on a plate with a potato masher, and scrape into a bowl. Add in the breadcrumbs, egg and all the spices.
  2. Roll up your sleeves and get your hands in there, squidging the mixture between your fingers till it is all well combined.
  3. Pull out just enough of the mixture to make one burger, and flatten it down between the palms of your hands. Set aside on a tray. Repeat to make 6 burgers in all. Place the tray in the fridge to chill while you make the salsa.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine all the salsa ingredients and give them a stir. Set the bowl in the fridge.
  5. Switch on the oven to 140C. Fry each burger on the hob for 4 – 5 mins on each side, then transfer to a tray and place in the oven. This will keep the burgers warm until serving time, and also round off the cooking process, making them browned and crisped all over.
  6. Serve each burger in a toasted brioche roll, on a bed of chopped lettuce, and topped with a dollop of the salsa. Add raw chopped red onion and sour cream.

Customise It!

The sky really is the limit here. Add slices of avocado to the bed of chopped lettuce if you want. Top it off with your favourite cheese, grated, and slam it back in the warm oven for a few mins to melt, before adding the salsa. Engage imagination!

The next band to feature on the ADK Playlist has been around for over 20 years, and is finally enjoying some well-deserved public attention, following a collaboration with Taylor Swift. Two critically acclaimed albums released in 2023 have also helped their cause. Their sound reminds me of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Arcade Fire, so they are definitely worth a listen if you haven’t heard their stuff. Here’s a good one to start with, included on 2023’s Laugh Track. From Cincinnati, Ohio, this is The National (featuring Bon Iver), with Weird Goodbyes.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Cranberry, Orange and Pecan Muffins

Just as I thought the UK season of imported fresh cranberries was coming to a close, what should I find? Only that a whole new batch of them has just appeared in Morrisons. North American friends – you have answered my prayers!

Time then for another round of muffins, obvs. This time I have blended the cranberries with the zest of an orange and chopped toasted pecan nuts, finished off with a whole pecan garnish. They can be enjoyed as a breakfast, a dessert or, erm, a naughty snack.

The pecan on the top gets a nice, deep roast as the muffins bake. Sometimes I save that whole to the last bite, to savour its rich smoky and nutty taste.

What better way to start 2024! Here we go, then…

Servings

Makes 12 muffins.

Timings

15 mins to make, 20 mins to bake in the oven at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 280g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 110g fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped in a food processor
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 240ml milk
  • 90ml veg oil
  • 60g chopped, toasted pecan nuts
  • 12 pecan nuts to garnish

Method

  1. Prepare a muffin tin or mould. Switch on the oven to 180C.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and stir in the sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, chopped cranberries, orange zest, milk and oil, and stir to combine.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir so that no dry ingredients are visible. Add in the chopped pecan nuts with the last few strokes.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the tin/mould, and top each muffin with a pecan. Bake for 20 mins.
  6. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Customise It!

Omit the nuts if they are not your thing – the mix of juicy cranberry and orange will still taste great.

Fresh cranberries aren’t the only great American export featuring in the ADK Kitchen in these first few days of 2024. I’ve been playing a lot from Interpol, the group that the NME once described as the most important band to come out of New York. Hmm sorry, they’re not – just pause for a moment to think of some of the competition to that claim: The Velvet Underground, The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Strokes to name a few.

They are very good, though. I went to see them live a few years ago at London’s Kentish Town Forum. It was on a weeknight, and I remember telling my boss that I had to leave work early that day to get to London to see Interpol. A look of fear and intrigue flashed across her face, worried that I had become entangled in a mysterious web of international crime.

At least I was able to see them play this track, which is one of my faves. Here are Interpol with C’mere.

PS. Happy New Year!

Categories
Blog Drinks Mains

Lo/Hi

We’re nearing the end of 2023. I’ve been fortunate to travel to many interesting places this year, and have enjoyed sharing my experiences of the local food, drink, culture and the music it inspires, in my posts here on A Different Kitchen. As the year draws to a close, there is one more fun place to tell you about.

In December I spent a few motorhoming days in the picturesque town of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. The place is actually made up of two distinct towns: my main photo above is taken in Low Town, by the banks of the River Severn, looking up towards High Town.

My photo below is then taken having climbed up to High Town, where there are great views looking out over, er, Low Town.

From the Middle Ages, traders’ boats travelled up the River Severn to unload their cargo at the Quay in Low Town. The goods were then wheeled up by hand cart to the market hall in High Town via The Cartway – a twisting, cobbled path. You can still walk this route today, see my photo below.

It is as steep and winding as ever, though many of the cottages along the way are now cosy, bijou holiday residences, judging by the number of lockboxes on the frontages.

The goods imported were mainly rum, spices and exotic foods from distant lands, and they were exchanged for local ceramics, metalwork and coal. The market hall still stands in the centre of High Town and hosts a market, though these days it features regional meats and speciality cheeses.

Trade continued until the mid 19th Century when, according to the Town Guide, it was overtaken by the arrival of the railways. My own alternative theory is that, after years of hauling their beautiful rum, spices and exotic foods up to High Town, to exchange them for a few of our pots, pans, and pieces of coal, the tired and hungry importers eventually realised they were getting rather the bum end of the deal.

Among the many curious features of High Town is the Castle Keep. It is all that remains standing of the Castle, which was largely destroyed in the English Civil War of the mid 17th Century. I say standing, but leaning is a more apt description – see below.

To borrow a word styling from American Football commentators, it is amongst the most leaningest structures in the world. In fact, it is 4 times more leaningest than the Tower of Pisa in Italy. How it hasn’t fallen over, I don’t know. Even though it moves a few degrees each year, it is reportedly safe – there are no cones or hazard warning tape to keep pedestrians at a distance. I can only assume the Town Council’s Health and Safety Department has a commendably relaxed attitude to risk. Still, I wouldn’t dawdle while going past/under it, if I were you.

Food options are many, varied and good quality. I stopped for lunch in High Town’s Coffee at d’Arcy’s, tempted by the seasonal vegan toasty – a hot panini filled with slices of nut roast and cranberry sauce. Delish!

I accompanied this with a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I have to confess to being somewhat late to the party with this concoction. For some time I have held the puritan view that, if the coffee beans are good quality, roasted with expertise and ground by a skilled barista, the drink should not then be ruined with a shot of sweet syrup. That was before I had the benefit of trying one, however, when I realised how great it tastes. I am now a convert who believes that, used correctly, a shot of syrup can complement and enhance a good quality coffee, rather than overpower it.

The unique geography of Bridgnorth kept reminding me of this track, which played a few times on my headphones as I walked around exploring. I am quite sure The Black Keys – those heavily blues-influenced rockers from Ohio – didn’t write this about a picturesque market town in Shropshire, but it’s a great song and the title fits well. Here they are with Lo/Hi.

Happy New Year everyone! Onwards to more travel, sounds, food and frivolity in 2024.

Categories
Breakfast Recipes

Spiced Port & Cranberry Compote

It’s nearly Christmas, and today I’m sharing the fruity breakfast topper I’ve made to last the family over the holidays. It’s made with fresh cranberries, oranges, sugar and spices, and comes with a heavenly taste and fragrance that’s sure to conjure up a festive mood. It is designed for spooning over muesli, or stirring in to porridge.

Christmas on a spoon!

The compote contains a glass of Port. Well, we wouldn’t want you to lose out on those healthy polyphenols over the holiday period now, would we?

Servings

You should get about 8 – 10 servings from this.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, 20 mins to boil/simmer.

You Will Need

  • 250g fresh cranberries
  • zest and juice of 2 oranges
  • 1 glass of Port
  • 75g light brown sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 star anise
  • 5 cardamom pods

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and leave for 20 mins to reduce/thicken.
  2. Er, that’s it. Leave to cool and keep in the fridge, then stir a dessert spoonful in to a bowl of muesli and greek yoghurt, as shown in the photo above. It is also great stirred in to warm porridge.
  3. You can leave in the spices, as they will continue to flavour the compote. The cinnamon and star anise mustn’t be eaten, however, so be sure to pick around them when you are filling your spoon.

Customise It!

The first time I made this, I used a glass of sherry instead of the Port and it was fine. Feel free to swap in your favourite tipple of choice, or leave it out if you prefer.

It has to be a Christmas track this week for the ADK Playlist. If you are looking for some quality festive listening that’s a little different from the fare commonly served up in shops and on commercial radio, check out Tracey Thorn’s 2012 album, Tinsel and Lights. Here’s a lovely track from it called Like A Snowman.

Have a great Christmas everyone. See you back here next week for another serving of kitchen fun and madness.

Categories
Blog Breakfast

Solstice at Stonehenge

Fancy an online breakfast watching the sun rise over Stonehenge on the Winter Solstice this Friday? Read on.

We’re approaching that time of the year when those of us here in the northern hemisphere experience the shortest day. The Winter Solstice is a special time at Stonehenge, which I visited during my recent motorhome trip to England’s west country.

Now a World Heritage Site, Stonehenge is a very mysterious place. Historians still do not fully know how or why our Neolithic ancestors built this grand arena of standing stones some 5,000 years ago, when tools were primitive and scientific knowledge rare. However, the stone circle manages to correctly align with the movement of the sun at two key points in the year, every year – sunrise on the Summer Solstice, 21 June, and sunset on the Winter Solstice, 22 December.

The mystery has imbued the place with a magical significance. Coachloads of people from all over the world visit the stones every day of the year, to stand and gaze up in awe and wonder as to their original purpose (see my photo at the top of the post). And on the Solstice, many people make a pilgrimage here to witness the event for themselves.

To give a sense of the mystery, I took some photos of the scene under a turbulent, evolving sky. All of the shots in this post were taken within a span of around 15 mins, while I walked around the stones. A cold wind was whipping across the exposed landscape, the quality of light was changing, and the clouds gathered and churned. My final photo below shows how the scene can suddenly turn very dark and brooding. Quite an atmosphere.

This Friday, I’ll be settling down with a breakfast bowl of Brainfood to watch English Heritage’s free, live streaming of the sunrise from Stonehenge, here. Expect things to kick off after 7.00am, with the actual sunrise forecast for 8.09am. All times are GMT, so check the corresponding time for wherever you are in the world. North America, you may need to set an alarm!

Comments below will be open if anyone wishes to chat, while I’ll also be on my Twitter/X channel @differentkitch.

There aren’t many hippie artists on the ADK Playlist, but I think the nature of this post, and the time of year, justifies the addition of this track: Jethro Tull with Ring Out, Solstice Bells.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Cranberry, Oat & Yoghurt Muffins

It’s that one time in the year when the UK’s lovely friends and allies over there in the US and Canada share with us your precious treasure of fresh cranberries. Thank you!

The rest of the year, we have to make do with jars of Ocean Spray Sauce. Not that I am complaining about that, though – they are a reliable addition to the winter dinner table. We also have dried cranberries, of the sort I used to make Cranberry & Pistachio Cookies, for example. However, none of these ever tastes quite the same as the fresh article.

So how excited was I this week, when I saw packs of fresh cranberries imported from America, sitting there in Sainsbury’s fruit and veg section, nestling up alongside the blueberries. I quickly threw a couple of packs in the trolley and began making plans.

Here I am sharing with you my fresh cranberry, oat and yoghurt muffins – just follow the recipe below. I like these because they bring out the natural sourness in the berries, which we can’t usually taste as the processed varieties have been sweetened before they reach us. That sourness is enhanced by the bitterness of the yoghurt, while there is also a chewy, nutty bite in the rolled oats.

The light brown sugar provides a complementary sweetness in the cake mixture, making for an overall, pleasing blend of flavours on the tongue. What’s more, as the fresh cranberries burst with the baking, they infuse the muffin with juice that will keep the cake moist. Irresistible!

See my main photo above for the muffins, including one I cut in half to show the richness of the filling. A highly satisfying, healthy muffin to be enjoyed at breakfast, as a snack or a dessert.

So, to all our North American friends – as you can see, we are taking care of your special gift to us, and turning them into healthy, tasty treats. Please keep these little fellas coming!

Servings

This will make 12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, 20 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 85g rolled oats
  • 140g natural yoghurt
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 egg
  • 120g light brown sugar
  • 140g fresh cranberries
  • 90ml milk
  • 90ml veg oil

Method

  1. Switch on the oven to 180C. Prepare a muffin tray or mould.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
  3. Pulse the cranberries in a food processor with blade fitted, for a few seconds, 2 or 3 times. Light chopping will help them fully bake and soften in the muffins. Tip into the bowl of flour and stir so the fruit is coated.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the oats with the yoghurt and bicarb. Leave for a couple of minutes, then stir in the egg and the sugar. Finally, stir in the milk and veg oil.
  5. When the oven is up to temp, combine the wet ingredients with the dry, and stir until no dry ingredients are visible. Spoon in to the muffin tray/mould, and place in the oven for 20 mins.
  6. When they are looking browned, as in my main photo above, remove to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Customise It!

If I was making one change to this, I would swap in broken pieces of white chocolate for some of the cranberries, at a ratio of up to half and half. That also helps bring out the sweet and sour contrast.

There really can be only one band to accompany this post, so I’m adding this track to the ADK Playlist. Limerick’s own The Cranberries with Dreams.

Categories
Blog Breakfast

Brainfood

If there’s anything guaranteed to give your sense of wellness a morning boost, it’s a breakfast of genuine Bircher Muesli, served with a fresh fruit topping in the form of a smiley face 🙂

I’m due to catch a plane back to London shortly, after a thoroughly enjoyable stay in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and then Graz, Austria. I’ve enjoyed some great, tasty fare while here and, before leaving, wanted to find an authentic dish based around fruit and veg.

I’m pleased to say I found it on our final morning, with a party of 4 of us meeting for breakfast in a branch of Graz’s Martin Auer delis. Billed on the menu as Brainfood, it featured oatmeal, wheat, rye flakes and linseed that had been soaked overnight in natural yoghurt. Pieces of freshly chopped apple and nuts were then stirred through. Grapes, blueberries and a raspberry had been added to make the smiley face, and honey drizzled over.

The invention of Bircher Muesli is attributed to Swiss medic Maximilian Bircher-Brenner around 1900, when he put together a mix of oats, grains, seeds and fruit for his patients. These ingredients have various health benefits – oats contribute to lowering cholesterol, for example. The name of Brainfood is likely to stem from the dish being slow to digest, meaning one stays feeling fuller for longer. Hunger is therefore less of a distraction from accomplishing one’s daily tasks and challenges.

I certainly enjoyed it, alongside the cappuccino shown in my photo. I’ll be expecting now to easily conquer the killer sudoku I’ve saved to do on the flight home!

This is me signing off from Austria. It’s been a great trip, catching up with family and friends and sampling some authentic food and drink. My next post will be from back in the UK.

Hey, with my newly heightened intellectual faculties, I’ve just worked out that the word Brainstorm is only a couple of letters away from being Brianstorm. Regular readers will know that I need little excuse to feature the Arctic Monkeys on ADK. So here they are.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Categories
Blog Mains

Gösser und Gulasche!

While here in Graz, we have moved indoors from the freezing, yet festive Christmas Markets (see Walk Out To Winter) for our next tasting of traditional Austrian food and drink. We are now at the Gösser Bräu, a long established beer hall and restaurant over towards the River Mur in the west of the city centre.

Originally the site of the Gösser brewery, it has been serving traditional Austrian fare since 1902, along with some terrific beers. The place has a warm, modern and stylish interior, but still carries the look and feel of a classic European, high-ceilinged beer hall, with the chink and clatter of glasses and echo of lively chatter from the bench tables, mainly occupied by large groups of friends.

There were 6 hungry people in our party, all in search of some warming, filling and tasty rustic fare. My starter was a dish I have had before in Austria and really wanted to have again on this trip. It is Styrian Bean Salad, a regional speciality from this part of Austria. It consists of dark pulses the size of butter beans, tossed in green, nutty-tasting pumpkin seed oil. The salad is topped off with grated white radish, raw red onion rings and segments of hard boiled egg.

It was as delicious as I remembered it.

For mains, the Gulasche (or Goulash), was a popular choice with our group. It is shown in my main photo at the top of the post – a hearty dish comprising chunks of tender, slow cooked beef in a rich gravy, served with a Semmelknödel, a bread dumpling. I have only ever eaten dumpling on a very few occasions, and here it was skilfully prepared and cooked, with a mild herb flavouring. It held its shape when sliced and did a grand job soaking up the tasty gravy.

The beers are excellent. I chose the Bock beer that is brewed specially for Christmas and holiday occasions, having had a reliable recommendation on this (thank you, Kelvin!). It is a little stronger than their usual beer and packs a memorable, caramelish taste. I was enjoying it so much that, er, most of it had gone by the time I remembered to take a photo for the blog (whoops).

I noticed they were also serving a darker beer, so tried some of that. I liked the colour, which was somewhere between brown and ruby, and the thick foamy head. Predictably, the taste was maltier than the Bock.

Both made a really enjoyable accompaniment to the Goulash. It says a lot that everyone was sufficiently full to render a perusal of the dessert menu unnecessary.

My final challenge, before leaving Austria for home, is to find some traditional local fare that is oriented around fruit and veg. Tune in to my next post to see how that search goes.

In the meantime, with all this snow around in Austria, I can’t think of a better time to add a track to the ADK Playlist by these Scottish and Northern Irish alt-rockers. I saw them live at the time the album A Hundred Million Suns was released, and this is one of the many tracks I enjoyed. Here’s Snow Patrol with Engines.

Categories
Blog Snacks

Walk Out To Winter

After a fab few days in Slovenia, we have now arrived in a very chilly Austria, to meet up with a group of friends and family experiencing the Christmas Markets in the city of Graz.

With the start of Advent, wooden chalet stalls have popped up all over the city’s main public squares, selling a range of hot drinks to help insulate visitors against the effects of the freezing cold. A typical range is shown in my photo below.

I tended to stick with the Rot Gluhwein – a ceramic mug of hot red wine flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves – though there were also white and rose varieties available. The non-alcoholic offering included herbal and fruit teas, and the tantalisingly named Harry Potter – a hot mango punch.

I also enjoyed a hot chocolate, which was precisely that. I may have been expecting a mug of creamy cocoa, but what arrived had the volume and texture, no less, of a large, melted bar of dark chocolate in a cup. Needless to say, I had no trouble polishing that off.

The food options were simple, tasty and filling. Staples like Bratwurst (they really do love their sausages in this part of the world), or Kasekrainer (sausages with an inner lining of melted cheese), sizzled on the hot griddle in the chilly evening air – usually served up with a generous portion of Pommes (fries).

My favourite though was at the Racletthauschen. A log of Swiss Raclette cheese is placed under a flame until the top layer melts. The server then scrapes it off (see below) and spreads it on a slice of lightly toasted Ciabatta bread.

The choice of toppings included herbs, bacon lardons or prosciutto. I chose Kurbiskerne – roasted pumpkin seeds – adding a nutty crunch to the salty, melted cheese.

A delicious snack, washed down (of course) with another mug of Gluhwein.

The Markets are delightful to stroll around, enjoying the sights, sounds and scents of the seasonal displays, such as the gingerbread, below…

The choice of colourful ceramic decorations for the Christmas tree is bewildering…

The Austrians make it an event for the whole family, as this old, classic European fairground attraction shows. The traditional waltz music emanating from the barrel organ made for a perfect soundtrack.

I have really enjoyed my visit to the Graz Christmas Markets. Although we have had ice and snow, and the temperature has remained around freezing point, in some strange way I did not actually feel the cold – a combination of warm clothes, ample Gluhwein, simple and satisfying hot food, the festive cheer of the surroundings, and the bonhomie of family and friends.

The Raclette experience has inspired me particularly – it never occurred to me before to sprinkle roasted pumpkin seeds on melted cheese for a tasty snack, but this is something I shall try to recreate at home in the ADK kitchen, whenever I have pangs of hunger. Maybe, to get the full authentic Austrian effect, I will even turn all the heating off, don my hat, scarf and gloves, and raise a tea cup of mulled wine in salute to the citizens of Graz. Prost!

Here are Aztec Camera with Walk Out To Winter.