No more Cheesy Omelettes for Muffin

Muffin’s blood test results arrived in the mail and are indeed excellent.

Not that I can understand them but almost all of them are highlighted with green – which I assume is good.

The only ones in yellow are the Cholesterin and Triglyceride and, on the assumption that the yellow is an indicator of impending problems, we are going to cut down her intake of cheese and eggs.

So no more cheesy omelettes until after the next checkup.

We went for Cate’s birthday dinner to Meinl am Graben, which is one of the highest rated restaurants in Wien (18 von 20 in Gault Millau)

In a word – Underwhelming.

The view is great – first floor with a view down the Graben, and the food was really good. But it was outrageously expensive and the portions were microscopic.

I had a lobster entrée for €26 and this was a very small lobster indeed. Cate had a quail which was the size of an emaciated canary.

My main course, filet steak, was €35 and was quite literally the smallest piece of steak I have ever been served. It may have been 50 grams – and came with almost nothing else.

Cate had chicken – and the size was just OK – but the side serve of roasted potatoes consisted of 7 pieces of potato the size of croutons.

We laughed out loud when we saw it (the Chef is having a lend of us we thought – there is a hidden camera) but sadly no.

The cheese was superb – some of the best we have ever tasted – but once again microscopic portions.

There was a wine list that consisted of 90 pages. Certainly the most extensive I have ever seen (but I have never eaten in any of the multiple starred Michelin restaurants in France).

We paid for this extensive inventory – the mark up on the wine we had was at least 100%.

A great experience – but not one we will repeat in a hurry.

Better value restaurants in Wien include Wein and Co, Ellas, Cantinetta Antinori, Plachutta, Yohm, Indochine 21 and Fabios.

It was of course stuffed full of beautiful people (we were the exceptions). Many dressed formally and either going to or coming from the Opera and similar events.

There was also a older man with a young lady who we thought initially was with his granddaughter – but after the third bottle of wine he started to paw her so we suspect the worst.

I have been reading about Blogs that are promoting thrift and providing people with invaluable household hints on how to save money in these difficult times.

One of these sites is http://frugalfrontporch.blogspot.com/ and it averages 8,000 hits per day!

These include tips such as

“Be sure to load dishwasher according to manufacturer's instructions and use minimum amount of dishwashing detergent to gain optimum results with minimal price”.

Sound advice indeed and a practice I certainly follow on a daily basis.

Obviously I have no chance of ever getting into that 8,000 per day league unless I refocus my Blog on real issues instead of the ephemeral stuff that I serve up now.

So in future my Blog will include snippets of advice about how you can save money and run your life more efficiently in these difficult times. Today’s advice is:

Don’t go to Meinl and Graben unless you have more money than you know what to do with and are not hungry.

OK and here’s another – I know it’s not news day but this can’t wait – your economic future depends on it. From the Austrian Times:

“Scientists have told government economic leaders how they can jump-start their credit-crunch economy - by breeding edible frogs.

Boffins in Belarus say that exporting the local delicacy could turn the former Soviet state into an agriculture super-power."We have immense reserves. The republic could expect a huge foreign currency inflow if it developed the industrial breeding of these amphibians," explained Ruslan Novitsky, a member of the country's National Academy of Sciences”.

So don’t delay. You can get in on the ground floor with this one by investing in frogs.

But I will save you the hassle. Send me the money and with the enhanced buying power I will make bulk investments and send you the colossal dividends in either cash or frogs – your call.

Email me for a prospectus.

Tomorrow you will find out about Harvelina and the accelerated KAP (do you know what that is? Have you been paying attention?)