A heartfelt Hello

Hi, Y'all,

I relocated a lot but when asked for my hometown, I'll answer Eschweiler. As you might have heard in the news, the city was severely damaged by heavy rain and floodwater by the river which runs right through the city center. Family and friends are affected, and my thoughts are with everybody who was hit by the flood!

May I post something nice anyway? Or is it inappropriate in light of the catastrophe? I considered and reconsidered and finally came to the conclusion that it is okay. I am grateful that we and our river Elbe were spared, I am relieved that nobody of my relatives was bodily harmed, I am proud for my nephew who is constantly out there in the field with his fire department and actually saved someone's life the other night, and I am deeply touched by the solidarity not only in my family but in the whole area. People help each other, spontaneously, solidary and unrequested - just so. Everybody contributes in his or her way, and this is f....ing amazing!

And if I can offer only a minute of distraction with this little blogpost, then this is exactly what I intended. Nothing more, nothing less. And therefore, a heartfelt hello from my kitchen counter:

Right now, we are BBQing all the time, and after our monkey bread experience I wanted to try something else as side dish. And as my new casserole needed to be put into action, I thought of focaccia bread. Basically, that is a normal yeast dough, but with added olive oil and baked in a flat pan. I got hand on a finely ground spelt flour which I tested right away: 

You could leave it like that but I added some cherry tomatoes and dried rosemary needles as well as some herbal salt (thank you, sis) and of course another good drizzle of olive oil. Looked like this:

Although this was a dough made of 500 g of flour, the bread was done after 20 minutes in the oven. Please have a look at the golden fluffy awesomeness! 

Last weekend friends visited us in the afternoon, and in this situation, Germans usually serve coffee and cake. Due to the heat I wanted something light and summery - sorry, no Black Forest Cherry cake for now :-) And as I wanted to avoid using my oven, I made a Key Lime pie. Which means: crumbling some oatmeal cookies and mixing them with melted butter. Put that in the fridge and in the meantime, whisk cream cheese with lime juice, lime zest and whipping cream. Add gelatin, put it on the cookies and again let it sit in the fridge for quite some time. Decorate before serving, and note to self: Add the icing prior to the cookie crumbles. If you put the cream/icing on top of the crumbles, they slide sideways. Therefore, please excuse the somewhat unsymmectrical placement. It's called cake artists for a reason, right? But it was yummie!  

And as we are talking summer and coffee - ever heard of Dalgona coffee? Totally new to me, but thanks to Pinterest I now have an alternative to iced latte. 

With Dalgona (I believe, it's from Japan) everything is different: Not the milk is frothed, but the coffee, and the milk doesn't go on top but comes first into the mug. But one thing after the other: You need instant coffee powder, milk (any type you prefer - oat, soy, you name it), sugar and ice cubes. Pour the milk over ice into your glass and then take three table spoons of instant coffee, one and a half table spoons of sugar and three table spoons of hot water into a separate bowl. Whip it up with a handheld electric mixer. I didn't believe my eyes, but that mixture turns light, fluffy and creamy in 30 seconds only - simply wonderful! And heavenly when the warm coffee foam gets mixed with the cold milk! I don't recommend freezing the milk but I might consider testing a bit of Bailey's or caramel syrup...

Btw, this is how it looks like:

Just. Stay. Safe.

 

From head to toe

 Hi, Y'all!

Long time no see - yep, guilty as charged! But I offer compensation in form of pretty cute pictures, and moreover, some doggie content at the end :-) 

My work team recently got a new member, which means, one of my colleagues is a new father since March. And I established my own tradition of welcoming babies of colleagues with something handmade. But I couldn't decide whether to sew a teddy bear plushie or a bathing blanket or something completely different. I changed my thoughts again and again, had new ideas and threw them away and started all over again.

But then I caught sight of a few skeins of yarn in my stash and just started to crochet. And again, I could not make up my mind what to do and so little man ended up with three hats and three pairs of booties. Now he can be stylish and wrapped nicely from head to toe in three different outfits!

Let's start at the top:

And here in detail - smallest hat, a little doggie:

And then a medium sized polar bear: 

And lastly the largest hat, a funny owl with tilted head:

Now let's turn to the lower end and please find below the smallest shoes, little Vans:  

And then we have classic chucks, made them often and people always liked them:

But if you know me, you also know that my all-time-favorites are the ones with the yellow seam :-) And they inspired me to the following adorable booties - you have to lay a foundation for good taste early, right? 

Aren't they absolutely stinking cute???

And as we are expecting another little tenant in the apartment on the fifth floor I just carried on and made these here for head and toes: 

But now let's come to the promised dog content... It's summer with according temperatures, and our two flat-nosed furry friends can't stand the heat like their long-nosed fellow species. Therefore we have to cater for refreshment... 

Our granny dog doesn't jump into the makeshift pool but tries to drink from it instead :-) But to cool her off, we bought her a cooling mat. 

New objects might be dangerous, therefore, you have to approach them veeery carefully... :-)

But - YAY - she finally made it! 

And I think you can really see how proud she is.

So stick to something, even if it takes more time than planned. :-)

Take care and stay safe!

Somewhere over the Rainbow...

Hi, Y'all!

Usually I like watching international tournaments like the European or World Soccer Championships, at least when the German team is in the game. But this time I wasn't as involved - until now, and thad is caused by seven colors arranged in a special order...

At first, one had to check if the captain of the German team was allowed to wear his captain's armband in rainbow colors. Yes, he is allowed - but is that in question or has to be subject to investigation, really??? 

And then, some genius had the idea to light up the Munich soccer arena. That specific architectural artwork usually looks - at least in my eyes - as a large truck tyre. But in rainbow colors - awesome, I like that! A bit tricky is only the planned time for this action: Explicitly during the match Germany vs. Hungary the arena should be illuminated as a rainbow. A political issue, while you normally don't mix sports and politics. 

Sure, sports and politics should stay separated, but you can (and maybe should) make a statement against conditions which are not okay - just think of the kneeling players during national anthem in the US. Therefore, I can't understand UEFA's decision, because I regard the rainbow colored stadium as a good sign: for an open and colorful society, against exclusion and for the joy of the game and sports in general. Well, I guess I'm not alone with my opinion, because this decision is criticized by many and you even hear voices wanting that decision board to be eliminated. I keep myself out of this discussion, but I already saw some very nice reactions in the adds this morning (e.g. SIXT and Edeka). 

And in light of this, please find below my personal breakfast rainbow. (Without violet, because that mug already crossed rainbow bridge, unfortunately.)

Usually, I don't speak publicly about socio-political topics. But somehow it is very dear to me. And like you shouldn't think of your parents only on mother's or father's day, you should wave the rainbow flag not only in pride month June, but the whole year long!

Mic drop.

Summertime

 ...and the living is easy...

Hi, Y'all,

Indeed it is! Since June first, hubby and me are fully vaccinated, and now that our two weeks waiting time is over, we are back on track to normal. Bars and restaurants are re-opening, the first concerts are actually taking place, and shopping is no longer limited to online services or window shopping only. 

And while all that is happening, I was lacking the drive to write a new blogpost. But as all this blogging should serve as entertainment for you AND for me, I don't stress myself out. If I'm in the mood for a new blogpost, I'll do that, and if not, please rest assured that I'm totally fine. Bad news travel fast, you know.

Because I was offline so long, here are many, many pictures as compensation!

Let's start in the kitchen: Before the asparagus season ends in Germany, here is the umptieth recipe for a salad:

I fried the asparagus pieces in a pan and mixed them with orange fillets. I roasted some cashews and walnuts fatfree in a pan and put them on top of it. With the orange juice and some maple syrup and olive oil I made a dressing. Together with a healthy dose of parmesan cheese it was absolutely delicious!

That salad is - like any salad tbh - a perfect match for some BBQ, and in this regard I definitely should mention my monkey bread. Don't know exactly why it's called like this, but it sounds funny and I like it. Basically it's simple, but pretty (well, that sounds familiar...): Start a yeast dough, and after the first setting period, form little balls the size of a tennis ball or golf ball (or whatever ball you find suitable - just leave out basket balls...). Roll these balls in different toppings.  

I took roasted onions, spiced tomato paste and shredded Parmesan cheese. The balls were placed close to close in a baking pan. They had to set for another 20 minutes or so and were baked afterwards. 

Please don't forget to grease your pan thoroughly, otherwise the wreath won't come out of it. I had exactly that problem and therefore, there is no monkey bread picture after baking... 

But once you're done with the main course, you need dessert. Surely you could throw some pineapple, peaches or bananas on the grill, but as we still are in strawberry season, I opted for the classic strawberry sponge roll. 

Don't want to brag, but I was asked twice if that cake was store-bought. :-) Took that as a compliment...

Lately, the older daughter gifted me with a bunch of different yarns. And as some lightweight shawls or cotton socks would have been appropriate, I had a basket full of cosy wither yarns to work with, which I did: 

And here in detail: First, a crochet hat in puff stitches (which means, several double crochet stitches connected).

A second hat, also crocheted, but with an alpine stitch, and as I liked it, with a large pompom. 

But not only the head has to be kept warm, the throat is as important. Therefore I crocheted a loop in a 3d shell stitch: 

Knitting cables isn't so complicated, once you understand the underlying principle, therefore please find below a cabled shawl in a beautiful teal color: 

But I was busy in the home decor department, too. Last Saturday, I stumbled upon a super chunky silver grey yarn. My white pillow covers I sewed a few weeks ago look great on my sofabed, but little paws, noses and snouts prevent them from staying white very long. Therefore, I decided to knit a pillow cover in said silver grey and hope it's not so sensitive colorwise. And with German needle size 10 it was quickly done. 

To avoid my sewing machine feeling neglected, please find my latest sewing projects. Perfectly in line with spring and summer, I made flowery baskets. They could contain lots of different little knickknacks, and may be used even for plants, if you like. To give them the necessary stability, I fused both layers of fabric with stabilizer. Have a look: 

 

These flower baskets are admittedly dainty, delicate and girly. Usually, this is not my cup of tea, but I just had to try them. But sometimes, less is more, and therefore, I also made a more minimalistic version of fabric containers: 

All of them bear a small label from vegan leather adorned with a fabric flower, because I intended to use them for plants. You could tilt them up or down, and the best thing: They don't take very much space when tucked away in the closet. 

I hope, you are all fine and 

are enjoying the summer time as much as I do!!!

Dumplin'

 Hi, Y'all!

In my German Blogpost I started with a reference to some bavarian thriller series and that pun is almost impossible to translate. Don't judge a book by its movie, but in this case the books and the movies are deadly funny. One of them has dumplings in its name which leads me right to my first project. For international reference I used the title of a Netflix movie about a teenage girl that gives a sh... about conventions and beatuy standards. Nothing Oscar or Pulitzer-worthy but nice. And it also leads me to my first project :-)  So, there we are...

A friend of mine made some prime boiled beef and handed me some of the broth in a tupperware container - that's what friends and tupperware are for. My original plan was to add some veggies and noodles and be done with it. But hubby wanted dumplings, and his wish was my command. Besides, that was the ideal opportunity to try something I've never cooked before. Semolina is a staple in my pantry (for pasta and cheesecake), so let's try!

Thus I prepared a dough from semolina, butter and egg and spiced that with nutmeg and S+P. The mass had to rest for half an hour (in order to let that gluten develop its power, I guess), and then I formed the dumplings with two spoons.

Then they get thrown in boiling water and have to stay there until done - that takes about 15 - 20 minutes depending on their size. You could boil them in the broth, but then the broth doesn't stay clear. If you don't want your broth to be cloudy, boil the dumplings separately and add them to your broth afterwards. 

So I heated the broth, added some carrots, leek and some noodles, said dumplings and some spring onions on top. Not bad, right? 

And after a long tedious period of rain and cold, there is finally some sun! Therefore, I don't need hearthy warming souldfood any longer but lean more towards light dishes like salads and such. 

For example, I had a cucumber in my fridge and loads of garlic (aka hypertension prophylaxis). The perfect basis for Greek zaziki, don't you think? But you cannot live on zaziki alone, you have to add some ouzo! Just kidding! Instead, I baked two flat breads with yoghurt and sunflower seeds, and with some feta cheese, olives and roasted bellpeppers that made a delicious dinner. And we had no vampires visiting that night...

As we are in the middle of asparagus season in Germany, here are two recipe ideas for the green one:

First idea is an asparagus salad. I blanched the asparagus for about three minutes and then dumped it in ice water to keep the color and to prevent it from getting too soft. I added a diced onion, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese. A dressing I mixed from lemon juice, maple syrup and mustard. Awfully yummy!

Second variation is pan-fried asparagus. I cut the spears in bite-sized portions and threw them in a frying pan together with chopped onions, garlic and brown mushrooms. Stirred it well, fried it well and deglazed it with a healthy dash of balsamic vinegar. It was delish! Please ignore the massacre on top of the veggies - fish and pan didn't ever want to part...

But as I spent most of the time in the kitchen, I'd like to change into my office/guest room now. After we dumped our futon we designated two mattresses as guest bed. They are quite comfy but with a colorful quilt and tons of mismatching throw pillows it didn't go with my aesthetics. Therefore, I bought some fabric and a nice bedspread. First I made some matching pillow covers and then some kind of fitted sheet for the piled mattresses. With that I don't have to re-tuck the spread every time someone sits on the mattresses. And I even had some leftover fabric which I turned into another cushion I filled with fabric scraps. Killed to birds with one stone, if you will. And now my mattress pile almost looks like a proper sofa:

And once I had my sewing machine on the desk, I decided to make a birthday present for my brother in law. Pouches and baggies for girls I made galore, and therefore I chose something more rough and robust this time. Took some denim and canvas and adorned it with a leather patch from a pair of jeans. Wanted it in portrait instead of landscape format because I thought shampoo and shower gel could stand in it. This is how it turned out:

My little sis has her birthday only a few days after, and therefore I took out my crochet hook and made this ombré shawl for her. 

The colors might look good on her and I hope she might like it.

I especially liked it because it doesn't look like the typical crochet stole from the seventies and therefore, I instantly made another one. Some time ago, our youngest gave me a skein of yarn and I crocheted a dragon tail from it- sounds funny but is in fact a scarf with spikes. Looked weird, I had to admit, and it has been staying in my drawer since the day it was finished. Thus I tore it apart and crocheted a shawl with a similar pattern as my sisters' because the colors are beautiful. And I think I actually might wear this one:

Stay safe and soak up some sun!!!