Bread and Butter

Most Saturday mornings, my husband Julius gets up early and runs into town to the bakery. He goes to buy kipferl, the crescent shape rolls that Austrians insist are the predecessor to the croissant. (This should not be confused with a vanillekipferl, which is a ground-nut-and-butter shortbread crescent shaped cookie.) Kipferl come with and without …


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Window Shopping

Salzburg really is so pretty, especially when the Christmas markets are open. Click through for a slideshow.

Book ’em Dan-o!

Last week I read a little blurb in the paper about a “bucherbazaar” or used books sale up at Schloss Trautenfels. The Schloss is a former palace turned museum and it’s just up the road from us. We got in the car and drove up there where our minds were promptly blown by the incredible …


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Socialist Choppers

Dental work is something you don’t want people selling you unnecessarily. It’s painful and expensive. My dentist back home has been telling me this: “We really need to replace a bunch of those fillings. Maybe you should consider getting a crown on that one tooth.” I dumped my previous dentist because he kept trying to …


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Diplomacy starts with a smile.

This morning, I am off to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist, even when my teeth are totally fine – which they are. I’m seeing the dentist here because I don’t have any US dental insurance right now. The contract agency I worked through wouldn’t sell me dental and optical only and I …


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The Baker’s Apprentice

My reputation as a cook, which I’ve done nothing to export beyond the US borders, ensured that I was recruited as the baker’s assistant long before I arrived here for the winter. This is why I spent the better part of the day dusted with flour while baking Scheehaubenkeks and Linzer Augen in Josefa’s kitchen. …


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