Celebrating Spring With Music at Ernstbrunn Castle and Elderberry Delights

Ernstbrunn Castle in Lower Austria

Elder flowers in the castles gardens

Two weeks ago we left behind the grey winter days in Lima to enjoy spring time in Austria.

So far so good, sounds great to enjoy two summers in one year, travelling to nice places but the truth is we were living several days of pure chaos, stumbling around lots several pieces of luggage (3months is a long time) and trying to get organized.

Now we are finally settled down and enjoying the company of family, friends, spring, cultural events and culinary highlights.

Today is a holiday here in Austria and we made an excursion to Lower Austria, assisting to a wonderful concert in a fairy tale setting, the castle of Ernstbrunn situated in the soft hills of the region of Weinviertel.

The castle dates from the eleventh century and was constantly enlarged during the following centuries.

It actually belongs to the princely family of Reuss.

Beethoven, Reger and Mozart were on the program and the musicians members of the Viennese Philharmonics.

And as concerts make me hungry,a picnic in the shadow of flowering elder bushes with an out of this world view ended the day in style.

Elder flowers are in season here and there are so many wonderful drinks, jams and desserts made with them that it was a quite difficult choice which one to share with you.

 The outline of Castle Ernstbrunn dominates the landscape what you see here is the castle's back side, which dates from another, elder period then the front side. 

The entrance of the castle of Ernstbrunn

The code of arms

The second entrance gate

A deer watches over the staircase

Details of the ceiling

A beautiful Baroque sculpture shows us how to age gracefully

A room with a view

Another courtyard, sleeping beauty like, is waiting to be restaured

So many entrance halls - this one was my favorite ones.


The Festival hall where the concert took place. There is no electricity, just gorgeous candle light.

Concert programm

A rather grim ancestor watches over the festival hall.

Sleeping beauties - pot-bellied pigs at the nearby Wild Life Parc. Any suggestions for a diet?


La vie en bleu. Starting to unpack our Picnic.

A fairy tale view.

So romantic- a pair of weather beaten horse sculptures guarding the entrance to the garden

If you are interested about information regarding the castle and cultural activities go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernstbrunn

or

http://www.ernstbrunn.gv.at/system/web/gelbeseite.aspx?bezirkonr=0&detailonr=219352929&menuonr=219189921

Elder flower Delights:

*Elder flower and strawberry sorbet:

4 cups strawberries

1/cup boiling water

1 1/4 cup elder flower cordial

Zest of 1 organic lemon

Method:
Place all ingredients in a foodprocessor and process until combined.

Fill in a freezer safe container and place in the freezer for about 3 hours.

When the sorbet starts to freeze around the edges, take it out of the freezer and  place in a food processor, process until smooth.

Return the sorbet to freezer until ready to serve.

Serve in Coctail glasses, add 1/2 glass of Prosecco (optional) and decorate with fresh mint.

Serves 8-10 p.

Enjoy!

*Recipe adapted from Donna Hay.