Note: Before we get started, why does the title say kind of like a local??? Easy… we’re vegetarians and I’m fairly confident in declaring that most of the locals in Austria are not. But I digress…
There’s nothing better than making new friends abroad and then visiting them in their home country. Except maybe visiting them at their parents’ house where their mom fills you full of all sorts of delicious local foods. And then teaches you how to make them.
That’s exactly what happened to us. As we’ve mentioned before, we met Jutta (from Austria) and Pedro (from Argentina) while we were diving in Utila, Honduras. We all did our divemaster’s together. We left Utila at the end of January and kept in touch through Facebook… we actually missed a reunion with Jutta in Antigua, Guatemala by about 12 hours in April.
So when we ended up booking an apartment in Austria, Jutta’s home country, there was no question about us getting together. We hopped on the train in Loosdorf and, 5 hours and 3 trains later (we were too cheap for the fast, direct train), we were in Salzburg, hugging Jutta and Pedro.
Jutta showed us in and around her home city, while we sampled some of the obvious local fare… Austrian beer, Radlers, and Mozartkugeln (chocolate balls named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).
She took us to one of her favourite restaurants at the top of the mountain, and even managed to think of a delicious vegetarian friendly meal to order for us (not an easy task in the meat-rich cuisine of Austria). We followed up the meal with Austrian schnapps, which you “simply must have” after dinner out.
The meal was great, but it was just the start of our introduction to Austrian food. Jutta’s mom (a professional cook), made us a delicious lunch of knudeln with mushroom sauce the following day and proceeded to cook and then recook (with us helping and jotting down the recipes) some fantastic desserts. Even though she didn’t speak any English and we didn’t speak any German, the language of food got us past the communication barrier.
There’s no better way to experience a culture’s food than to have a local guide. Thanks Jutta! And thanks Jutta’s mom for the food and the cooking classes… we’ll send you a postcard next time we attempt the strudel!
I love that you renamed our “Knödel” in Knudel, just had a very good laugh about that.
So glad we could manage to meet up and that you enjoyed the time in my home.
Take care you two and i was a pleasure to have you here.
Lol… oops! Didn’t even realize I did that. Hope my change doesn’t make it mean something vulgar! 🙂 We were thrilled that we were able to meet up as well. Who knows? Maybe another reunion in SE Asia is still in the cards?
That sounds great!
It most certainly was. Just looking at the photos are making my mouth water all over again.
Haha, no it doesn´t mean anything. Yeah we´re still going to SE Asia, Bali first, then Singapour and then who knows, no real plans so far but at least till February, maybe longer. Don´t know yet 🙂
What are you´re plans after Bulgaria??
Right now, we are planning to head through Turkey, then SE Asia to beat the cold.