November

Hello from the past! November was sort of a strange month, also that went by really quickly and involved lots of squash but sadly no pumpkin pie. (Not for lack of pumpkin pie mix- thanks UB!) Actually due to a lack of a funktioning oven, with moving and all.

Spaghetti squash, which Milo missed out on and as far as I know has never experienced. He is skeptical. I know the truth about it and I love it. Luckily I found a one-person sized squash at the market.

Milo bought a celery root so I decided to make a salad.

For reference, this is how the celery salad from Alsace looks, finely shredded with a bit of cream.

My shredder doesn’t go that small, but I made due. Mixed with carrots and seasoned simply with olive oil, salt and pepper.

I shredded a quarter of it and had enough for lunch the next day plus a snack with garbonzos mixed in. That root multiplies when you shred it, just fyi.

In the spirit of pumpkin, I roasted one just for the heck of it.

Since I discovered that I am (I think) lactose intolerant (don’t cry for me, goat cheese in small portions seems to be okay, it is the milk and yogurt that gets me) I have been eating my muesli with soy milk, which is still really good.

Milo brought me a grapefruit from Zadar. The little tree had two giant fruits! Which tasted very lemony and bitter! But it is the thought that counts, let us not forget.

Typical salad that I have been consuming happily and regularly since summer, this one with a bit of chevre…taking a walk on the wild side.

I made a tea advent calender this year – a different variety every day with a little inspirational quote to boot! Due to the strange living/moving/chaos of December, we managed to úse it on approximately three days. Fear not, the tea will not go to waste.

And now, on to December! Which is exciting because it actually STILL IS December. Woohoo!

 

October was a blur…

Hi, so I am cheating switching things up by mushing October, November and December each into their own monthly wrap-up post. Somehow, since we got back from Zadar in September, time has just flown by. Work was really busy with being audited and fiscal year end, then switching to my new job and moving cities. Splotchy internet means I wrote a bunch of posts but never published them, and it is just more fun posting in real-time. So I am not going into too much detail, but I still wanted to share some photos from the past three months.

Kale Chips made from Wirsing (Savoy Cabbage) because we really wanted to try these but kale was not yet in season on 13.October.

Washed, patted dry, rubbed lightly with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, baked about 20 minutes or so until crispy. We also made them again the next day with a squeeze of lemon which was also quite yum.

Kale is amazing, we since eaten in many times- especially delicious braised with a bit of garlic, olive oil, salt. Also great braised then mixed with tomato sauce and pasta. It is cool because not only is it really healthy, but it is hard to over-cook. It still retains a little bite, unlike spinach which gets soggy and wilty really fast (not that that is a bad thing.)

Tea Time: Earl Gray and Orange Marmelade.

And Heide Honig is something awesome.

Habibi Falafel on Zulpicher Straße in Köln- awesome discovery! We went three times within a month. Falafel plate with amazing hummus (creamy and mild, just enough lemon and not too much garlic) and equally great Tabbouleh. Carrot juice fresh pressed and cinnamon tea on the house. 10-12€ buys a yummy and healthy (perhaps except for the deep-fried falafel) dinner for two.

Fall is in the air.

German efficiency:

Sunday nature walk.

 

A new restaurant in Alsace (Auberge L’Agneau)  because we decided to take a a risk and branch out from our usual Flammkuchen place. Very awesome! I tried real french-onion soup which was so rich that I only ate a few bites…needed to save room for frog legs provencal.

Baden Baden how we love you! (October 28- notice the snowy mountain!)

Kale Again! This time as a salad with orange, almonds, avocado, dressed in orange juice and olive oil.

De Puy Lentils. Yes, this is indeed the first time I have prepared and eaten De Puy Lentils. Look how pretty they are!

Paired with roasted butternut squash, rice, tofu.

Remixed the next day with curry powder. Squash season has begun. Whew that was a lot, how about a coffee.

See you in November!

 

 

 

 

Handmade gnocchi with steinpilze

Saturday was a rainy-gray day, not so great for a walk in the woods, but perfect for gnocchi making. I say that because although it isn’t too difficult, it is sort of time-intensive. First we boiled the potatoes.

We also re-hydrated a handful of steinpilze (could be porcini mushrooms?) to give the gnocchi some character.

Mash up the potatoes, an egg, some flour, mushrooms, salt and pepper.

Add to boiling water and cook until they pop up. Perfect mixed with lots of veggies and a sprinkle of parmesan along with the usual olive oil and sea salt.

 

Pumpkin Stoup

Fall is here!

After a walk in the woods, we wanted something warm, hearty, and filling. Pumpkin soup made with carrots, shallot, ginger, and curry was perfect.

 

 Well, actually it was more like stew because it was so thick, but it was delicious and exactly what we needed.

Happy Fall!

Fresh Mint Tea

On Thursday after work I met Miljo in Cologne. There was a slight chill in the air, and it was too early for dinner, so we headed to a little cafe. I love tea in general, but there is something special about mint tea made with fresh leaves. It just tastes…fresher, for lack of a better description.

 

Cheers!

Honey-Weekend

The weekend after our wedding, we drove down to the Baden-Baden area to hang out. On Friday night we stopped by the gym, where Milo got to play badminton for an hour or so, while I chatted with some firends I hadn’t seen since spring. Afterwards we went to the Vogelbrau for a beer and schnitzel. It was great to see people and catch up on whats been happening in life (several weddings and a baby!)

On Saturday morning, we checked out the Rastatt market, which is astonishingly quite good.

Artichoke flowers.

Apple season has arrived!

Who wants to make pickles?

Assorted celery and root veg.

Heather!

Apples are awesome, crisp and juicy and sweet.

Then it was off to Strasbourg, where we enjoyed walking around in the sun. We stopped along the way to pick up a baguette and scallop pate, which is so yummy and much healthier than liver pate (at least that is what I am telling myself). We had a little picnic on the river.

In town we stopped at Galleries Lafayette for some Macarons. YUM! I only get to eat macarons when we go to France, so it is lucky we are moving that direction very soon!

On Saturday night we ate dinner at our favorite place in Alsace, Auberge. As usual we got a classic flammkuchen, and we also had a celery salad, salad with grilled chicken and mushrooms, and naturally a sweet banana/apple flamm for dessert. And some Gewurztraminer to drink.

On Sunday, we had our first “oven roast” of the season. Chicken with root veg. Fall is definitely here.

After lunch we went to Baden-Baden, where we walked around the park and woods. And through the town as well. I want dried herbs in my kitchen window too.

 

Milo found chestnuts.

 We also visited the castle. It was a fabulous weekend!

Ni Hao Chinese

On Thursday evening we went into Cologne, not really sure if we would stay for dinner. But we were more in the mood to stay out than go home, so we decided to check out Ni Hao, a chinese restaurant we had walked by before (Brüsseler Straße 44).

We got soup to start, as well as some dim-sum dumplings which were very yummy.

We shared the veggie-tofu pot with rice, which was also great and more than enough for the two of us.

I would just like to say, that if the people sitting next to you have what appears to be a fried chicken claw on their plate, it must be authentic. Our whole meal was 15 bucks and full of veggie goodness. Perfect!

A little pep in my step

My very own first bottle of Tabasco

I bought myself a bottle of green Tabasco! I know, I can hardly believe it. I found some corn tortillas on sale, I had a half avocado in the fridge, and was thinking Mexican food. However, as you all know, the salsa here is not good. Not spicy as a salsa should be. More Ketchup-y than Salsa-y if you know what I mean. So as I was perusing the hot sauce section, I took a closer look at Tabasco. The green variety (still jalapeno mind you) is labeled as mild in comparison to real Tabasco, so I decided to be brave and give it a go.

 

 

 

HELLO! Yes, that will put a bit of pep in your step (at least in mine, because I am sensitive to overly spicy hot sauce). But it definitely added the necessary spice to turn this into at least a sort of Mexican burrito, as opposed to a veggie wrap or something. I like the sauce because it is more in the direction of Frank’s red hot sauce – adds some pep, but doesn’t light anything on fire.

The burrito was delcious by the way – quinoa, sauteed zuchinni / bell pepper / green onion, tomato and avocado. And Tabasco. And now I am sweating.

Something new and glad I tried it!

Back in Europe! Schwarzwald, blueberries, and schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Hi guys! Last weekend we arrived back in Germany and spent the weekend with Miljan’s dad. On Sunday we went for a nice long walk in the Schwarzwald (black forest). It was a great way to get some fresh air and help us adjust back to the local time zone.

Along the way the men spotted some wild bluberries. And naturally….

These reminded me of the ones we picked on Sand Island in the Apostles…tiny and delcious, although about a third of these were mouth-puckering not-quite-ripe. I had an extreme urge to go home and make pancakes…

I attempted to take a picture of the forest, to show how dark it is, thus supporting my theory of why it is called the black forest, but my camera adjusted and it appears to be well-lit. Just try and use your imagination like the Grimm Brothers.

After our indulgent US trip, we were craving healthy and light veggie oriented food, but somehow in the middle of our walk we ended up at a log cabin and ordered a piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte aka Black Forest Cake. It was a sugar bomb- fun to try (first time for me!) but not something I have to repeat soon. I didn’t take a picture at the cabin, but saw it again at the lodge by the lake and snapped a photo.

Beautiful!

Hello Mountains!

Hello from Keystone! After forty (40) hours of travelling, we finally arrived in Keystone, Colorado, USA early afternoon on Friday. Needless to say, we were so happy have finally arrived, after 10 hours in the Stuttgart airport, 9 hour flight, hotel night in Atlanta, and early flight out Friday AM to Denver. Delta provided us with plenty of meal vouchers, for both Stuttgart and Atlanta, as well as the hotel, which was nice. We spent it ALL.

Friday afternoon we took it easy, and explored around Keystone and River Run Village. For dinner, we had steak. Having awesome ingredients and a fantastic kitchen makes cooking so much more fun! We are taking advantage of this =)

On Saturday, we drove over to Frisco for the 19th Annual Frisco BBQ Challenge. Open to the public! We bought 20$ worth of “Hogbacks” to sample and try a variety of barbecued bits of goodness.

Ribs. Pulled Pork. Brisket.

Roasted sweet corn with butter, salt, pepper, and chili powder. This was my favorite! American sweet corn is the best.

After about an hour and a half our tummies were full and I was feeling a sun burn coming on, so it was time to leave.

We spent a couple hours back at the condo resting and hydrating, before our bike ride into Dillon. I was under the impression that the ride there would be easy and mostly down hill, but it was INCREDIBLY windy, and there were lots of little hills to climb, which seemed like mountains to my untrained legs.

But we made it, and found a local brewerey called Pug Ryan. That was fun.

 I ordered the wheat, and Milo was bummed when they were out of the pale ale, but then discovered the tasting option for 4 bucks, which had 7 types of beer!

That was fun to taste. But we had to be careful not to overdo.

Lake Dillon from Dillon Dam.

 

We were home by 8 pm, and again, steak for dinner. And awesome line-caught salmon for me.

Sunday: Happy Father’s Day Dad!

This morning after our chai latte at home (Third St. Brand concentrate, spicy ginger-so yummy) we drove up Swan Mountain Road to Sapphire point. There was a little loop path that was an easy 15 minute walk, and the views were gorgeous! PS Mom and Dad have cycled up Swan Mountain road to Breckenridge…seriously impressive.

In the afternoon, we drove up to Loveland Pass, and walked up the mountain for more spectacular views!

So, that is how we have been working up our appetite! Enjoying cinnamon-raisin bagels and cream cheese, sweet corn, and avocado every single day! And lots of water.