Despite loving being here in Austria and knowing that there will soon be spring, then summer and both with a garden to dig in, this interview with Stephanie Alexander on The Design Files has me longing for Australia.

We have a copy of Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion which has turned out to be completely true to its title. Faced with a new ingredient, a wish for a certain dish or just looking for inspiration we ask each other “what would Stephanie do?” As best I can I source Australian-style ingredients and return to the realisation that Australian food is different, not only because of the climate, but because of the people who have grown food there over the last centuries.

Back in Adelaide there’s a particular patch of soil that I used to grow food in. Angelo, Dad’s Greek gardener planted and grafted olive trees so that we’ll be able to make our own olive oil. “Koroneiki,” he said, “they give the best oil”.

Slowly, the lemon and lime trees that I planted must be growing taller and as my Dad’s not much of a cook, any fruit is hanging there, waiting for a visitor to pick them. Maybe it would have made more sense to plant the citrus along the fence line where it would overhang onto the street, letting lemontreeless dog walkers take their pick.

Lemon trees overhanging into the street? It seems like a dream now! While I can pick wild bärlauch and find berries without problem, lemons are something you only find in stores here. Yet, after early years spent cooking in Australia I need to have lemons in my kitchen, the Mediterranean ingredients grown in Australia and now transplanted to Linz.

It’s always at this time of year that life in northern Europe continues to remind me of how very different my climatic upbringing was and how very diverse this world is.  As an Australian I struggle amongst English labelled, European concepts to find the right words to describe the seasons and weather of my childhood. Now, despite helping out on some other gardens, I’m finally in charge of my own 16m² plot and having struggles transplanting and translating my Antipodean Mediterranean/Tandanya bioregion gardening experience to Upper Austria.

My old garden in Adelaide – Purple Cabbage, Red Orach, Broad Beans, Beetroot.

Will sweet potatoes grow here? What about mulching, do I need to do that to reduce evaporation and  can I get pea straw easily? Could I plant broad beans this early and where on earth would I get the seeds? Will mulching with pea straw protect against frost? And should I be able to buy Cavalo Nero seeds, will they be producing through to November?

My old Adelaide garden – Broad Bean Seedlings.

It is a reminder that I am a migrant here, that not only do I struggle with language and the existing culture around me, but that I leave my traces on the people and land around me.  Just as waves of settlement to Australia have brought wheat, cabbages, brocolli, olives, broad beans to Australia, my own culture and homesickness prompts me to import the food and plants of my upbringing. It might just be that sweet potato will grow here.

Before planting time comes there are the first signs of rhubarb.

67/365:2013 – Rhubarb emerging at the Hafengarten

67/365:2013 – Strawberry and Rhubarb emerging at the Hafengarten

I spent a lazy saturday at home hemming linen to make a set of napkins. I’m considering dip dying them, but really quite like the look of the grey linen.

68/365:2013 – The linen is currently quite stiff, but with use it feels like it will soften up.

68/365:2013 – I bought some grey linen from Ikea to make a set of napkins. I pulled threads to make folding the hems easier.

65/365:2013 – Some days require early bedtimes in the hope you’ll feel less cranky the next day.

There should have been a warning sign around my neck over these last days. Luckily going to bed early on Wednesday made Thursday much better. In between classes I went to the hall and rubbed in another layer of oil on the dining suite. It’s looking good.

66/365:2013 – The model dining suit – I still had the miniature mode switched on when I took this photo.

66/365:2013 – Danish Chair

63/365:2013 – Hallstatt

Hallstatt sits on the edge of the Hallstattersee (Lake Hallstatt). I’m not convinced that it’s ever warm enough to swim in, but one day I hope that we’ll sail on it.

63/365:2013 – The air feels different and there are little clues like these which tell me that spring is really coming.

If there ever was a town to make a copy of, it’s Hallstatt. Recently Hallstatt made the news when a Chinese developer announced plans to make a full size replica of the town in Guangdong Province.

64/365:2013 – Hallstatt in miniature mode

64/365:2013 – Hallstatt carpark

I can’t imagine where else I’ll use the miniature mode, but Hallstatt was the perfect place to test it out.

Hallstatt – Building a Model Town from battlecat on Vimeo.

62/365:2013 – During winter you can kind of forget that shadows are even possible. Then the sun returns and so does the excitement of seeing your shadow self.

We followed the locals and went along the edge of the Rivar Isar.

62/365:2013 – The River Isar, Munich

Then we came across a crowd of people watching something. Had there been an accident? When we walked over we say that they were watching some very cool river surfing at Eisbach 21.

Eisbach21 Surfing – Munich from battlecat on Vimeo.

I’m finally working out how to use Black Radishes. I’ll almost be upset to farewell them when the spring deliveries begin to come.

58/365:2013 – Black radish, celeriac, apples, carrots, pre-cooked beetroot, brocolli sprouts and feldsalat.

Has anyone done research into the effects of baking on mood? If I’m feeling depressed, baking a cake and sharing it with others always makes me feel better.

59/365:2013 – Some grumpy days can be improved by baking cake and then eating a slice with a glass of cold milk.

I drove back from teaching and English class and took a different exit home via a Volkshilfe thriftstore. I didn’t buy this coat, but I did find a bargain Danish dining set to repair.

60/365:2013 – You can save money by thriftshopping, but you save even more money when you don’t buy things at all. This coat was great, but it was just too tight.

We went to buy some oil to refinish the dining suite and exited Bauhaus via the cafe. It was a mistake.

61/365:2013 – The most disappointing Leberkase Semmerl ever

51/365:2013 – The Canvas Bag Sewing Ukelele Playing Non Swedish Strudel Making Chef

This is some of the best mail we’ve received lately:

52/365:2013 – Good Mail – Tim received a copy of the Critical Making Journal / Zine in the post.

We did some walking in the snow down to the harbour. On Friday it was just lightly snowy.

53/365:2013 – There are three arms (Becken) of the main trade harbour in Linz that were created in the 1940s. All three have been shortened.

On Saturday it was properly snowy.

54/365:2013 – We walked down to Time’s Up through the snow. Everything was stripped of colour.

I finally made a good poached egg. I am now a proper grown up.

55/365:2013 – My wish for poached eggs finally coincided with some very fresh eggs and I finally poached a very successful egg.

Some of the thinking I did in Berlin the week before was a good reminder to get things done. I came back home and made preparations for a quilt I’ve been thinking about for a long time. There are scraps of fabric from clothes my Mum made for me as a child, clothes I’ve worn to bits, things I’ve found in thriftstores.

55/365:2013 – Stage one of the technicolour dream quilt. I’ve been storing and hoarding these fabrics for years. Now they’re finally getting made into a quilt.

I needed a green smoothie for breakfast. I’ve missed those early morning vitamin bombs over winter.

56/365:2013 – First Green Smoothie of 2013

There was a bunch of drilling and filling on the Tuesday. Teeth and boats both require maintenance.

57/365:2013 – The final filling in a series of dental repairs following 4 years without dental treatment.

57/365:2013 – We (i.e. mostly Tim) have been working hard at replacing the keel bolts in Sarcelle and repairing the minimal rot we found when we removed the old bolts.

40/365:2013 – It is said that you should be able to read the newspaper through your strudel dough. Tim’s been practicing his technique for years.

I took a trip up to Berlin to catch up with old friends and to teach a webskills workshop. I ate leftover strudel on the train for lunch.

41/354:2013 – Some of the most beautiful things about the train up to Berlin are the fields of solar panels and wind turbines.

42/354:2013 – I rarely went to the north west side of Berlin when I lived there, but my friends moved across town and I get to explore Alt Moabit while I stay with them.

Even though Berlin used to be home it isn’t any longer. I had a pretty bad day that felt even worse because I was away from Tim and our own space.

43/365:2013 – A bad day in Berlin. To make myself feel better I prepared tea and sweet potato felafel for my friends.

44/354:2013 – I was teaching a webskills workshop in Berlin.

I really enjoy teaching basic web development knowledge in a more relaxed workshop environment. Now I need to learn how to enjoy writing this up into a more cohesive course like structure.

45/365:2013 – Eisbox may be the archetypal Berlin business. It’s a boutique icecream seller with an art exhibition in the salon.

46/365:2013 – I really am committed to taking at least a photo a day. Often this results in desperation.

47/365:2013 – The Metamorphosis.

48/365:2013 – I was drinking a glass of wine at Bateau Ivre and could hear a Finnish accent at the same table. I rudely interrupted the conversation and made friends with Andrzej and Topi, an old acquaintance of his from Finland.

I was writing in my journal as well as drinking wine and was thinking about revisiting Finland when I heard Topi’s accent and was reminded even more strongly of the friends I miss. This was a sign that couldn’t be ignored, so I’ve organised a visit to Helsinki in May.

49/365:2013 – An evening with Barbara and Ollie who had over 10 types of icecream in their freezer. I stuck with a modest assortment of 4 scoops.

50/365:2013 – Heading Home. For two years we were long distance between Linz and Berlin. Now, I can’t imagine how we managed it for so long.

I’ve either been working, or the weather’s been overcast, so Friday was the first time I could capture the sun in our flat this year.  I lay on the couch and napped and the sun hit my face and I devoured what I could of it.

39/365:2013 – Finally, a clear day and a moment at home in the afternoon to catch the sun.

None of those books are particularly good for being organised but are very useful for getting ideas down.

Last year in an attempt to get organised I also had an A5 diary / planner that never seemed to be around and which didn’t fit in all the bags I use. As I never wrote in it it didn’t seem like buying a new diary in preparation for 2013 would be a good idea.  But then I noticed that I was writing down all my teaching times on small pieces of paper that I’d lose before I transferred the information into my phone.  And then there were the lists of meal plans and things that were coming up that never got transferred into an electronic format after our weekly “Strategy Sundays”.

So a tiny little blue diary that I can find (and carry) easily was required.

37/365:2013 – Did I mention it coordinates with my winter coat? And our bedspread?