A Happy And Prosperous New Year

Wishing you a fulfilling New Year
Excellent Customers service and best product quality will again be our top priority for the New Year.

Thank you for your visits and support of our ventures. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Erich & Team &

Your Editor

Frank N. Furter

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN

Merry Christmas to all friends and customers of Erich's Wuerstelstand and Backstube.
Erich and his team and Frank N Furter

Silent Night, Holy Night

The Xmas Carol "Silent Night" is the most famous Christmas carol of all time!

The origin of the song is still being investigated. Again and again new historical facts are discovered. The origin of the Christmas carol we know as “Silent Night” was a poem that was written in 1816 by an Austrian priest called Joseph Mohr. On Christmas Eve in 1818 in the small alpine village called Oberndorf it is reputed that the organ at St. Nicholas Church had broken. Joseph Mohr gave the poem of Silent Night (Stille Nacht) to his friend Franz Xavier Gruber, a teacher, and the melody for Silent Night was composed with this in mind. The music to Silent Night was therefore intended for a guitar and the simple score was finished in time for Midnight Mass.

A traditional Christmas in Austria

Christmas Eve (Dec.24) around 6 pm, a little bell rings, the family enters the Christmas Room "Silent Night, Holy Night" sounds from the CD player, all eyes looking banned to the beautifully decorated fir tree and start singing along the tunes.

The kids usually can’t wait till the singing is over because then it’s their turn to find the presents lying under the tree. It’s them to pass on everyone’s gift and then the long awaited moment is here and everyone’s question is, did I get the present that was on the wish list?
It’s still quite common that especially kids don’t know what the “Christkind” (literally: baby Jesus) an Austrian equivalent to “Santa Claus”, did get for them.
They might have been guessing but nothing was confirmed. So it’s most exciting to unwrap the presents.

After that the family will have their dinner. Still very common are the Bratwurst (sausages, like Erich’s) and Sauerkraut (cabbage) or European carp. The dessert would be coffee or tea and the delicious homemade Xmas cookies although many cookies are now bought in Supermarkets or bakery shops.

At midnight the whole family goes to church to attend the “Christmette” (Midnight Mass).

So or quite similar would be the start of traditional Xmas celebrations in a common Austrian household. The style of celebration varies if living in a bigger city or in the countryside where folks used to be more religious and keeping up of traditions is more common.

Erich’s Wuerstelstand fully supports Singapore’s bid to host the Youth Olympic Games in 2010

Youth and Sport are important for a healthy and successful nation.
Coming from Austria a country that has been supporting sport activities for young people since decades, it is great to see a change in Singapore’s long time attitude: ”Studies first” in introducing and promoting more sports in schools.
Austria has a long history of offering various sport schools from primary school onwards up to universities. Since PE or sport has never been seen as a waste of time (as by many parents and institutions here) they have developed a school system that allows a coexistence of education and sport.
The goal was to develop a healthy lifestyle cum education that will make a major contribution to the health of the nation.
Increasing children’s involvement in sports from an early age not only supports and encourages them to become more active but also keeps them away from drugs. Thus makes Erich’s Wuerstelstand support Singapore’s bid.

Dear readers, we encourage you to visit Singapore’s website and voice your support there as well.

A Funny Wuerstelstand Game

A renown Austrian sausage producer has posted a cute game on his website. Many celebrities,the Austrian Chanceler, other politicans and VIP's and even Arnold Schwarzenegger (Erich's still dreaming about his visit some day) are swinging by to order sausages which the player has to grill and serve. It's quite funny however in German only. Check it out: Click the Photo

Changi Airport Terminal 3: Update

Latest update: Terminal 3 is open now. Click here for a detailed MAP and FLIGHT INFORMATION

TERMINAL 3 FLIGHTS DEPARTING TO
Americas: Canada, USA
Europe: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
North Asia: China, Hong Kong, Japan, *Korea, Taiwan
SouthwestPacific: Australia, New Zealand

TERMINAL 2 FLIGHTS DEPARTING TO
Africa: Egypt, South Africa
Europe: Russia, Turkey
Middle East: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

For detailed information check Singapore Airlines website.
Top of the notch Terminal to open soon. Singaporeans had the chance of a sneak preview at Terminal 3 which will officially start its operation on 9.01.2008.
I was open to public last month before carrying out the final touch-up for the grand opening.
Approaching T3 by car and driving towards the departure level you will already be impressed by the size and brightness of the building. But first you pass by the First class check in facility which is a building by itself. Other travelers however are pampered as well, because this new T3 is first class down to economy check in and all other facilities.
It is so much more than I expected to be. Not only the size ( 380,000 square meters) is impressive but also the design with all the fancy details.
Changi airport goes Green: Natural greenery is everywhere in the building. Flourishing nature with live plants, flowers and even trees and advance technology co-exist at T3. This new terminal building is designed as an Eco friendly and energy efficient facility.


One of the highlights is the Green Wall a 300m long and 5-storey tall vertical garden with 4 waterfalls and layers of tropical gardens. It can be seen from anywhere in the land side of the terminal.

A natural lighting system has been developed to cut down power usage for lights. 919 skylights fitted with an intelligent computer controlled system of butterfly shaped reflectors, are illuminating the inside with a soft natural light. These ski light panels are automatically adjusting to the sunlight and at night or on a cloudy day artificial lighting is added to create the same soothing ambience at all times. A top notch air con system diffuses cool air at a low level within dwelling spaces ensuring efficient cooling where it's needed most.
Almost all walls are made of glass which allows easy orientation. Your friends
And relatives can almost follow you into the plane or on arrival see you coming from the gate, follow through immigration and watch you waiting for your luggage.Despite it's huge size there is no need to worry missing a plane:
If your connecting flight departs in one of the 2 other terminals a new sky train service allows you to commute easily between them. 6.4 km of elevated train tracks and 16 train services link the 3 terminals. A total of 8 gates are ready for passengers boarding and disembarking the new A380. Comfortable holding rooms for up to 1500 passengers were built to cater for the high volume of people this giant can swallow in its 2 storey body.

The designers have not forgotten about Singapore's 2 favorite past times. Shopping and Eating has playing an essential part in the new T3. More than 100shops over 30 restaurants and 20 service outlets take up 25,000 sqmtrs.
This terminal has so many firsts, too much to cover in this post. To mention a few I need to highlight Brewerkz 1st micro-brewery in an airport or Guylian Belgian chocolate Café outside Belgium.
Ferrari's travel retail outlet (outside) Europe, airport outlets for Sony and Apple are also firsts.

T3 is an extraordinary beautiful , simple but functional building that requires little maintenance. It's the next level in airport terminals. All you travelers out there you can be really looking forward to take off or touch down in Singapore's latest jewel box.
Singapore Airlines will be moving its operation to T3 and all but 2 flights will be operating from there.

Departure Hall

Arrival, conveyor belt

I want to thank our lovely airport guide Sue who made out T3 tour a highly interesting, informative journey .

HO, HO, HO, HO! Santa has finally arrived!

He was just in time for the 1. Advent Sunday. But I guess we cannot blame Santa, he's getting really old now which slows him down quite a bit. However he looks better than ever and customers and passer-by's were happy and excited seeing him back. He was busy with grilling sausages and posing for photos, to cope with this workload he brought his Santorina as well.

A gentle reminder from Santa Erich: "Ho, ho, ho. Do not forget to preorder Christmas cookies. You have to understand it takes me longer every year to full fill all your wishes. So please fax the wish list (which you can download from my blog) or drop it at the Backstube or Wuerstelstand".
Here are some the the Christmas goodies Santa is offering. But see yourself they are all on display at the Backstube. Another VIP Santorina in Chinatown. Our Erdinger and Tiger Lady from Sawasdee coffeeshop.

4. Austrian-International Fruehschoppen

Santa finally arrived just in time to celebrate the 4. Austrian - International Fruehschoppen.

Well it was actually a Daemmerschoppen ("Sundowner") and it lasted....................As always when Helmut comes to town he's bringing a lot of goodies for a great feast at Erich's. Austrian Speck, Kantwurst, Essiggurkerl, Senf and Erich' bread made it a delicious afternoon.
Besides that we had to celebrate the 1. Advent Sunday and someones 34th (??) birthday(no names please!one hint: female). A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a very special lady!

After sunset the 1st advent candle was litLater that evening Santa had hats for all of us.
Santa's helpersPosing with the most famous Santa in town.
But honestly: Erich is the one who brings life into Chinatown Night Market with his different faces for all kind of occasions.

Christmas without snow? Not even in Singapore!

Kids and adults as well, all over the world are enjoying snow, especially when Xmas time is near. Covered mountains, trees and rooftops that makes it feel like Christmas. Unfortunately in warmer regions there's no such white stuff.

To make it up Tanglin Mall, a Singapore shopping centre, is causing man made "snow storm's every year during Xmas light up. And man that is popular. Kids and parents are queueing to catch the storm.

Now where else you're able to play with "snow" in shorts. In Singapore it's the cooler season from November to January, it's only around 27 Celsius, quite cool actually.

Brave young man fighting the elements.

After the snowstorm no need to worry for parents that kids are freezing or catching a cold, no need to sit around the fireplace to warm up their shaking bodies, just take a shower rinse of the snow (soap) and off you go for something really cold: Ice Cream.
Check out more photos:

The Perfect Storm

See the video:

Some more impressions from Orchard Road light up..........


.....and the Singapore Tourism Board Head Quarter