Branded

Little excursion to Parndorf yesterday. Ahem.

Am I Missing a Trend?

This morning on my way to work I walked behind this lady:

In view of the fluffy cuffs of her jacket and ankle-boots I could not help wondering if this was a new style inspired by highly a highly coiffed breed of man's best friend, the Poodle, to be specific:

source: gettyimages.com

Be that as it may, I think I'll stick to my elephant boots and down coat this winter. Then again, you never know.

Go With the Flow*

When I first saw a photo of some star or other wearing a pair of UGG boots (most likely bare-legged, with a miniskirt), I thought "what a fitting name, for ugg-ly they certainly are!". Half a year or so later, we were made believe they were out of fashion again, just as cheap fakes had swamped the European market. I had always found them highly unflattering and so they had never actually come under my fashion radar. Until...
UNTIL I went to NY this February, only to discover that they apparently were still very much in fashion there and worn by females between the ages of 5 and 95. I still couldn't quite get it. Until...
UNTIL I went to NY again this November and found out that they had apparently procreated and produced many more offspring.
They began to grow on me...
The day after my return to Vienna, I set out on a mission to find a pair of dark brown (elegant) boots. Or so I said. I stepped out of the shop with grey (to reinforce the elephantesque effect they have on your legs, you know) ugg-ish boots instead.

* Title courtesy of the Empress

A Room With A View

From our office, we have a perfect view on the beautiful Christmas decoration on Graben:

Needless to say, it looks even better when it's dark:

An Ode to the Local. (No Carpets in Sight)

Last Friday night, Kitty's friend M. who had flown out to NY with us, asked if we wanted to join herself and R., the friend she was staying with, for dinner. We sure did, eager to find out where real New Yorkers hang out since R. had promised us a place that was "very Sex and the City!". He hadn't lied as the dimly lit dining area of the Hotel on Rivington was the epitome of coolness, which arguably justified the prices on the menu. Kitty and I were glad we had changed at the hotel before venturing out into nightlife again in view of all the effortlessly chic, bright-toothed, svelte people around us.

When I was in NY earlier this year, l'Italiana also took me to really nice places. She is the one who took me to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in London some years ago, which impressed the more food-obsessed among my friends a great deal. We didn't even have a reservation, we just walked in and had Sunday lunch. The food was excellent and quite modestly priced for UK standards, by the way.

Don't get me wrong, I actually don't mind (much) what I eat on vacation and would rather hop into the next McDonald's than take a great detour to get to some exclusive eaterie I circled in my guide-book, but it's so much nicer to be taken to places by a local, be it food, culture or just any place to wouldn't have discovered yourself.

That's one of the main differences to package tours where "authentic" adventures often consist of being carted to a charmless restaurant off the motorway which run by the tour-guides brother-in-law's step-sister twice removed whose cousin incidentally owns the carpet store you're going to visit right after your meal.

And Now for the Shopping

And shop, I did.

I bought things light...
and bright...
and blue...

and many more.

I also imported things for others, such as a cashmere Burberry scarf for Snow White, a cashmere jumper for the PP, a SatC -the-movie DVD for the Empress (being of the blonde persuasion, we didn't know the country code is useless here. Bummer), iTunes vouchers for my Favourite Hamburger (FH).

It can't be a coincidence that right upon my return, the USD became stronger still. Even though this means the exchange-rate is less favourable for EUROpeans, I feel duly proud of having done my fair share of boosting the crisis-ridden American economy. Speaking of which - I think it must have been a sign of the economic crisis and attempt to make reluctant shoppers open their wallets that almost all retailers offered an "extra discount" (mostly of -20%) on a certain product group, such as already reduced items, or all sweaters, etc. In the Rockefeller Center Banana Republic branch a rather good looking guy had to endlessly repeat his greeting to potential buyers entering the store: "Hi folks, welcome to Banana Republic. I just wanted to let you know that today there's an additional 20% off all sale items."

DeLuxe

As you know, I'm not entirely adverse to bags. Nor to original design or architecture. The Louis Vuitton flagship store on 5th Avenue thus appealed to my senses in oh so many ways. The bags where somewhat beyond Kitty's and my financial reach so we just squeezed our noses flat on the windows instead:

The building looked so Tokyo, there is no other word for it but kawaii!

Impressions of New York in Autumn (or "Fall", as They Would Say)

Singlehandedly Boosting the American Economy. Again

Yesterday morning, Kitty and I arrived back in Vienna with bulging suitcases and enough clothes in our bags to dress the population of an Austrian village. Or, possibly, even the occupants of a N.Y. skyscraper, a very tall one.

More about my retail exploits soon. I'm wearing one of them (a DKNY cardigan) in the above photo as it was much to warm for my coat and I just had (HAD) to wear a cardie. The humid weather with occasional drizzle also explains the bad hair day...

Makes (Ad)Sense

I used to hardly notice AdWords ads next to my e-mails at all, whereas one of my colleagues loves reading out the most original matches to me, such as an ad by a dating agency with the headline "Is it Really Love?" next to an e-mail written by his/our boss.

I quite liked the spam recipe that appeared when I was busy emptying my spam folder yesterday:

click to enlarge

Happy reading, mailing, posting, spamming (?), clicking on ads...whatever takes your fancy, really, while I'm away on my New York adventure. Back on Monday.

Another Blogiversary

I can't believe it's three years already!

for a start

Last night, the book club a.k.a. bitch 'n binge club convened chez moi and I decided to use seasonal ingredients (a pumpkin and apples, both from my parents' garden) for the main course and dessert:

The chicken was a recipe from Anne's, the apple tarte from one of Austria's most famous bakeries, Demel.

The starter, however, was my "invention" and proved quite a hit with the girls who asked me to post the recipe. So here goes:

Herby Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Pomegranate Seeds

Ingredients (serves 4 hungry guests):

120g baby spinach

2 handfuls of parsley 

1-2 handful(s) of mint

1 handful of unsalted cashew nuts

seeds of 1 pomegranate

2 large sweet potatoes

150g feta cheese

salt

pepper, freshly ground

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

fruit vinegar (I used pear)

1 teaspoon honey

pomegranate sirup (if you can get it)

Wash and spin-dry spinach, parsley and mint. Take off the big stalks of the parsley and mint. Put in a big bowl. 

Boil the sweet potatoes in salted water like you would potatoes. Depending on size 25 mins approx until they are still firm enough to slice. Let cool, peel and cut into slices or cubes.

Cut the pomegranate in half and take out the seeds. Attention - this is really messy so wear an apron and do it in a bowl or over the sink.

Carefully roast the cashew nuts on medium heat in a non-stick pan until they are lightly golden. Let cool.

Add sweet potatoe chuncks, pomegranate seeds and cashews to the spinach and herbs. Crumble feta on top.

Mix a dressing with salt, pepper, oil and vinegar, honey and (optional) a shot of pomegranate juice.

Carefully blend in and enjoy.

Guess what

this is:

It's a shower at an easyhotel branch in London.

As I've told you, I really orange interiours, but there are limits, you know:

It was clean - something which is not the norm for London, not even in 4* hotels - and very close to the Firm's London office so it was alright, but I was glad to be the only person in this alleged double room. The other person could not have been bigger than a hamster and would have had to travel very light indeed as I had difficulty finding a space big enough to open my small handluggage trolley.  No wardrobe, no bedside table, no space to lay your stuff.

And this was the "standard" room. I dread to imagine how small the "small" room is...

One of the Reasons Why I Love Autumn

is the fact that nature colours many things in my favourite colour for home decoration: orange.

Other things I love right now: crunchy dried leaves, shiny new chestnuts and apples fresh from the trees.

I can IKEA

I decided I needed new bedside tables to make my bedroom look less cluttered (the old ones didn't have drawers). The - hardly original, but cheap - solution as so often: IKEA.

It actually makes sense to buy furntiture in pairs - you don't need to look at the manual and only need half the time for the second one.

It had been a long time since I last assembled furniture on my own, i.e. without male assistance/supervision. Shockingy quick and easy, I have to say unless it's a wardrobe or something that requires more than two hands or somebody taller than 170 cm.

Strange Things Happen...

In the world of domain-hosting, apparently so it's back to the old address for the moment while I'm trying to find out what's wrong with the redirecting.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Spaceship Sunbed at the Stock-Exchange

The nature of my job requires me to work with multiple browser windows simultaneously. Until Thursday, I made do with one (landscape) external monitor plus the laptop (right corner of the photo). As this wasn't the most ergonomic of solutions and the constant tennis-match-observer-esque motion from left to right and back again gave me a stiff shoulder I asked for a second monitor (usually reserved for software engineers at the Firm) and seized the opportunity that a field tech was visiting our office:

My boss's comment was: "Wow, a face tanner", but I like to think it is more busy stockbroker meets Commander Spock than fake tan addict.