Wow, what an interesting week. While Monday went by normally with the usual amount of work and spending the evening in the apartment, Tuesday was different – in a good way. On the one hand I met with a friend at Billabong for dinner, some beer and talking about old times, people and work. After that I went to celebrate the 27th birthday of one of my work buddies here in Vienna. The Turkish food was amazing, the raki refreshed some memories on the time in Princeton, and we had a lot of fun … as usual. On Wednesday I worked late before going directly to the weekly Volleyball, which also takes place in the 3rd district.

The Highlight

Coming home late I managed to get ready and suit up as planned on Thursday, left the office at half past two and drove to Linz, where we had cards for the culinary art festival galadinner with star-cook Steffen Henssler. At 6pm we took our seats at the famous Pöstlingberg-Schlößl, high above and with a beautiful view over Linz. I can’t translate or even describe all the flavors and details about the food, but it was outstanding … really a once in a lifetime experience, and I’m glad we did this. I have also to point out that S. Henssler is  a very nice guy, who signed the cookbook, let us take a photo with him and was open to some cooking related smalltalk. Here’s the menu with some pictures and name of the served wine:

Heiß-Kalter Tomaten Shooter
2009 Pinktour Rosè (Opitz)

Tartar vom Hamachi mit Kalbsessenz und Salsa Verde
2009 Grüner Veltliner “Kalmuck” (Gritsch)

Gebratenes Sahimi vom Tuna auf Gurkensalat mit geschmorten Pimentos
2009 Riesling Federspiel “1000 Eimerberg” (Gritsch)

Tempura von der Riesengarnele auf Asiaratatoille mit Teriyakisauce
2008 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd “Singerriedel” (Gritsch)

Duett vom Wolfsbarsch & Saibling mit Kartoffel-Zitronenthymianpüree und Olivenölbutter
2008 Cuvée Silver Lake | 2007 Pinot Noir Reserve (Opitz)

Crispy Sushi Roll “Henssler”
2007 Sweettour Beerenauslese (Opitz)

Kokosparfait mit Schokolade und Passionsfrucht
Hotspots “Apfelbrand im Eichenfass” (Reisetbauer)

And just in case you want to see some more, here are the other images as well:

What’s next

I spent the night in Linz (thanks btw), and headed home to Vienna (or directly to the office to be precise) at half past 6 on Friday. Pretty tired but happy the day went over quite smoothly. In the evening I picked up the stuff for the halfmarathon tomorrow morning, at which I’m gonna participate for the first time. I’ve number 20138 .. just in case you see me coming by :)

End of this little report, enjoy your weekend!