Happy Birthday to Blog!

  

Well, well, well - I can't believe it completely, but already a whole year ago I asked if the world really is in dire need of another blog (mine, actually). To be honest, I still haven't found out if yay or nay, but I hope, with the help of my little posts I could entertain you, distract you, encourage you, inspire you or at least make you smile a little. And if this is okay for you, I just continue!

But not today, as we all should - with all due respect to Corona limitations - celebrate a bit :-) Because this year 2020 is so chaotic and turbulent, that we should grab every opportunity to have a little fun.

Stay safe and healthy 

Alex 

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Hi, Y'all

make yourself comfortable, get yourself a cup of tea, or - in my case - hot lemon with lots of honey: 

It's getting quite nasty outside, isn't it? Suitable for fall, but nevertheless I'm very thankful for our functioning heating system and a stash of chopped wood. Due to their advanced age, our two furbabies also prefer a cosy pillow by the fireplace over a walk through wind and rain. 

And when it's ugly, wet and cold outside, I am not very tempted by salad & co, I have to say. I'm turning more to soulfood that warms not the belly alone, but also makes you feel good. In order to avoid making the same old, same old cakes every weekend, I tried something new (at least for me): Buchteln or Wuchteln. I know, it's difficult to pronounce and sounds funny (even if you pronounce it correctly), but that is caused by it's Bohemian origin. And by Bohemian I don't mean the buzzword "boho", but the historical region as part of the Czech Republic. Basically, Buchteln consist of a yeast-based dough with a filling. 

The recipe calls for an egg, and as I think that this is quite reasonable, I didn't substitute it. Nor did I replace the butter and milk, although you surely could use vegan alternatives. Anyway, to make these Buchteln you prepare a sweet yeast dough similar to Brioches, and separate them into small portions, which will be formed into balls. Then you have to flatten the balls and fill them with whatever you like, and then you form them into dumplings again. In my recipe they should be filled with Nutella, but I had plum jam at home, so that's what I used. Furthermore, there was a handful of fresh plums lingering in my fridge, which had to be consumed rather sooner than later, and so I cooked them into a fruit sauce. Vanilla sauce would have been a good alternative, too, but as the plums had to be used, I did exactly that. With a hint of cinnamon it was perfect. 

Saturday evening we were in the mood for fish, and I had Pangasius in the freezer. After defrosting I gave it the classic treatment, which means: clean it, pour lemon over it and sprinkle it with salt. Then I placed the fillets into a baking dish and covered it with a mixture of chopped hazelnuts, grated cheese and cream cheese. While that was baking in the oven, I prepared some red lentils and leek with mustard, creamcheese and some lemon juice. Please disregard the optics which are only average, but the taste was delicious. 

On Sunday evening I prepared a fall pizza which you might remember from last year. But this time I didn't use poultry salami but a veggie one from a brand which is pretty well-known here in Germany. Originally they were manufacturers of meat and sausage products, only, but in the meantime they generate more revenue with their vegetarian alternatives. I was curious and therefore, I tested a variety of their charcuterie products and was deeply impressed by their taste. And what comes in addition: They are low in calories and fat, as well - awesome, right?

Well, that's it for today. At the moment I'm waiting for my mega-delivery of fusable fleece to turn my fabric scraps into mosaics. Other than that I won't be doing a lot of DIY projects, because I don't want to add any more stuff to our moving goods. Because there might be light at the end of the tunnel, and we may be lucky to get our farm, after all - who knows...

Stay safe!!!

Being in limbo...

Hi y'all,

the title nails it... Our moving plans don't move at all right now, because there are administrative obstacles over which we neither can't jump ourselves nor make others jump. I don't want to go into detail, but at the moment we have a closer look at plans B and C and D... And as long as hubby doesn't get worn out by commuting between here and there, we don't have any pressure timewise. Feels weird having options galore again... But you never know what it's good for, and which chocolate the box called life has to offer...

I, personally, offer a plum cake with crumble because this thing here has go get damn cozy!

You guessed correctly, the thing is vegan. What's special about it is the fact, that I used a banana instead of eggs. And then the crumbs and the bottom are made from the same dough. I made it several times in the past, but usually with apple sauce, and in that case, it's finished after 20 minutes of baking. Awesome if you have bananas in the pantry and unexpected guests on the doorstep. For this variation I didn't make plum sauce but took the whole fruits, thus it had to stay in the oven for 10 minutes longer, because the plums were very juicy. And boy, was it delicous!

And speaking of options galore... Here are the next possibilities to choose from, and I can't decide - maybe you guys got an idea?

I am very keen on using my fabrics to the tiniest scraps, and therefore, I regularly sort through my stash, which fabrics can be used for what kind of project. Lately, all my woven fabrics with appropriate size were turned into face masks, and some of my knit fabric scraps I assembled to baby toys like these crackling suns, because in my office team there are babies on their way. 

I don't have any larger fabric pieces, but a ton of itsybitsyteenieweenie scraps, which I cut into 3 cm squares (wich means, a bit larger than inchies, but not much). All leftovers smaller than that will be stuffed into a dog bed I still have to sew. And now these squares await their destiny, meticulously sorted into tealight glasses from the famous Swedish furniture store: 

The sorting process somehow reminded me of these cross stitch packages where you get a matrix and assorted yarn in different colours, which granny then turns into a doily. But you can do that with fabric, too: 

And as there is a trend to make mosaic pictures from beads or rhinestones, you can find dozens of patterns. This one is unbelievably awesome, and it's made from Lego bricks! 

But when you take into consideration my fabric scraps and especially their colors, you won't find them adequately represented in the artwork of the girl with the pearly earring: 

Consequently, I should look for a template with red as dominating color, or something which doesn't require special coloring. Like that, for example: 

And once we play in a completely different, simpler league in comparison to the Lego artwork, something like this might be an option: 

Or even simpler:

That's kind of cute, and I could make a few variations in red, blue, violet - which I then could turn into three corresponding artworks. Or a quilt with repeating hearts in different color shades...

Then I realized, that I had a good amount of light blue scraps and even a few in green and brown, and stumbled over this little winter beauty:

Since we ordered wood for our fireplace just yesterday, we may start humming "Last Christmas"... And now I have so many options to choose from, that I just can't decide! I guess, I have to heat up some mulled wine :-)

Well, with or without mulled wine, enjoy your time and don't get dragged down when things don't go as smoothly as you'd prefer. I am totally convinced that things and times change. Will keep you posted...

Cheers!

Indian Summer

Hi, Y'all!

Since September first, it's meteorologically fall but according to the calendar, fall starts three weeks later. My heart still yearns for sunshine and icecream and swimwear, therefore I cling to the term Indian Summer and am so, so glad that I still can enjoy my lunchbreak sitting in the sun in our backyard.

Nevertheless I had carrots and sweet potatoes in my pantry which had to be used up - both veggies which don't necessarily yell summer in your face. Carrot salad isn't hubby's favorite and two sweet potatoes don't get you anywhere. But as it was the weekend I had to bake a cake. On Sat/Sun we usually don't have lunch, thus it's nice to have something for your sweet tooth in between breakfast and dinner. Therefore, I tried a carrot cake. Veggies in a cake? Sounds way too healthy, you might think. And although it may be a way to sneak some veg into your kids, it tastes delicious and not at all sensible or healthy :-) There is a Swiss version called Rueblitorte - it's more or less similar, but I guess, the Swiss recipe calls for grounded hazelnuts which are optional in my recipe. I opted against them because they are poisonous for dogs, and you know how it goes... Accidents happen and I don't know why, but somehow there is always that small piece of cake which slips from the table and falls right into a greedy mouth of a four-legged friend... I don't want to take a risk, and therefore we also don't use Xylitol in our house - it's simply too dangerous. Of course we could debate whether it makes sense to give human food to dogs, but let's be honest. Else is 12 years old (average life span of an English bulldog is 8 - 10 years, btw), and if she begs for a little treat looking so stinking cute, we can't resist. And in case someone is already dialing pet rescue hotline - our dogs get perfectly fine dog food and are neither too large nor too thin :-)

But I am distracting, therefore let's have a look into the super bowl: Looks like baby food but is actually a mixture of flour, sugar, rapeseed oil, baking powder, finely grated carrots and a pinch of cinnamon.

After the usual stay in the hot oven it looks like this: 

But in my opinion, it's in dire need of a frosting. Therefore I quickly mixed some confectioner's sugar with a bit of lime juice and put it onto the cake after cooling. 

And yes, this variation is vegan, and I made a close up to show, how fluffy this dough can be - even without eggs: 

Side note: I had to hide half of it, otherwise there wouldn't have been any left for Sunday... 

You might wonder what happened to the aformentioned sweet potatoes. Alas, they turned into corn chowder! Some of you might know the American clam chowder or it's sassy French sister bouillabaisse. Well, corn chowder is also a soup but with corn instead of clams or fish (you don't say...)  

Basically you have to fry diced sweet potatoes in olive oil, then add some vegetable or chicken broth, some corn and green beans and let that simmer until soft. I was out of beans and replaced them by broccoli - was awesome. Additionally, the recipe called for smoked paprika which I still haven't purchased. After my desastrous attempt to make vegetarian sausage spread it fell off my shopping list. Anyway, I winged it with the usual suspects (s+p, turmeric, onion, garlic and curry powder - delicious!). In theory you strain the whole dish and add some (plant based) milk to make it very creamy. But hubby hates soups, and therefore, I had to get creative. I pureed only a small part of it and used as little liquid as possible to leave it chunky. Topped it off with some diced and fried chicken - and he was okay with it :-)  

Enjoy the last days of Indian Summer, you guys!!!

Nothing's as constant as change...

Hi, y'all!

Let me begin with a famous and philosophical quote from Forrest Gump: Life's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get… Despite of the fact that I will finish my 22nd year with my employer in December, I can totally relate - there is never a dull moment and there is always something new happening in my little world. And now I will tell you about it!

 

Last October hubby was finally fed up with his corporate job, and I can understand, that a free spirit and visionary like him isn't in the right place in a large company. So he founded a start-up and is now kind of self-employed. As it isn't his first touch on entrepreneurship, I was optimistic that it would work out somehow, although I have to admit it's totally not my cup of tea. I need the security of a corporate job, and as my boss and team provide me with all the freedom and flexibility I need, I'm perfectly fine. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the last months weren't always smooth sailing, and the nasty virus didn't make it easier at all. But we made it and have proven: We can do crisis management, hell yeah! The start-up is developing prosperously, and hubby found investors in the nice but distant Magdeburg, and thus he officially established the company there. And it's completely consistent that the exec has to be where the team is, although they work remotely a lot. So at the moment, hubby commutes between North Rine-Westphalia and Saxonia-Anhalt; for the time being it's okay-ish but not doable on a permanent basis.

Therefore, we decided to pack our bags and start new adventures in the Magdeburg area! Of course, a first step to do that is selling our bungalow here in Gelsenkirchen, and that wasn't an easy one, I can tell you… We invested a lot of time, money and work into the design and layout, that it had become very dear to me, even if it's only a material object. But our future project will make up for it, I hope! (Boy, this post has a lot of exclamation marks…) We will buy an old farm/rest court built in 1830! (And there it is, another exclamation mark…) 

Please find below some pictures - first a view from the courtyard onto the entryway of the main house (right) and the entrance to the cartwright workshop (why does "Bonanza" come to my mind right now???):

And this is the view onto the barn and the little gate to the enchanted overgrown garden:

The whole property has appr. 770 m², and therefore, is manageable, but on the other hand there is so much to explore. The barn can (and will) be fully developed, below is a cellar, where nobody knows what's in it, then there is the cartwright workshop with all original tools you need to make wheels, the garden is in need of some tlc and raised beds, and on top we have a separate outbuilding with a new roof and new windows, but apart from that it's completely empty, and will have to be transferred into a guest house. In theory, it's turnkey (if you don't consider the fact that there are neither kitchen cabinets nor appliances right now), but two rooms have yet to be connected to the heating system, and one of these rooms is still full of antique stuff left behind by the former owner. A treasure chest to be investigated further over time. Due to the age of the building, the rooms are relatively small, and so are the windows. On the upper floor we think it's charming, but on the ground floor we would like to combine two rooms and the kitchen to a nice cosy living area. In order to do that, we have to tear down two walls, one of them might be some Kinder surprise for grown-ups, because we don't know exactly what's behind it and how it's arranged. Without discovering that we can't start planning the kitchen, and regarding the delivery time of custom kitchens, I assume I will cook on one single hotplate and the grill for the first weeks and months. But as it is an induction hotplate, it can't be that bad, right? Furthermore, we plan to change two windows next to the entrance into glass doors with a wooden deck to make the entrance area more welcoming. In combination with the vine growing on the timbered facade that will look very romantic! (And never in my life I would've imagined mentioning the work romantic with regard to our design asthetics…)

But although there is much left to do, the farm has good bones, e.g. new roofs, good insulation, new windows, new baths (even if we don't like the half bath in the basement), new electric and new heating, thus buying is not that risky. But you never know what might happen during renovation. 

Btw, here is a picture of the upper floor bath with a cast-iron tub! 

This is a pretty accurate example for the mixture of old and new - very interesting designwise and with tons of potential. Until now I only could do straightforward, streamlined and minimalistic, and in the future I might have to delve into some scandic, shaker, farmhouse styles. In any case it's a beautiful and exciting challenge, which I gladly accept! 

We have plans galore, and I can imagine a whisky tasting with some good friends in the old workshop, my team is already looking forward to our Christmas party 2021, and I hope we will make as many dreams as possible come true. Right now I can't wait to overcome all bureaucratic obstacles and tackle the selling as well as the buying as soon as possible, in order to start packing. We made our decision already in spring, and now I am more than ready to move on. It's like sitting on a rock or a hard place, and I can't stand it. The whole process of selling a house is a bit stressful for me: house viewings canceled on short notice, people criticizing to lower the price, polishing and staging the whole house, grabbing the dogs and getting out of the way to let people have an undisturbed view, and then the waiting - waiting for the realtor to call, waiting for the possible buyers to finally commit, waiting for the official closure... I could have knitted so many socks during that waiting time! But there's light at the end of the tunnel, I hope, and moreover I think that we found a home to stay for a bit longer. Alas, never say never... 

And with that in mind - let's move on to pastures new!!! (A drinking game with exclamation marks might be nice...)

Sweets for my sweet...

Hi, y'all!

At the beginning of this year I already mentioned that I have a special birthday in the family in August. My dear Wolfi (best in-law ever) unfortunately had to cancel his big party due to COVID, and so we packed him a nice present to sweeten his day. 

Sweet is a good cue… First I thought of a cable-knit cardigan/hoodie but he opted for chocolates/pralines. Well then, chocolates it is! As we had summery temperatures during the last weeks, I chose white chocolate as basis for my truffles and prepared two variations: lemon and bitter almond. The lemon truffles I rolled in powdered sugar, and the almond truffles were covered in brittle. My fridge looked like this:

Of course, I put them in a nice wrapping - my tried and tested Tetrapak-packaging: 

And through the grapevine I heard that some extravagant masks could be a nice addition… Well... I thought and thought and then I had my Heureka moment: I remembered that years ago, I collected champagne flutes, and each of them came with a matching napkin. I never used neither the flutes (not dishwasher-safe) nor the napkins. And as they had nice patterns in silver and gold, they would make some pretty face coverings.  

That's the result:

I took everything and put it in a styrofoam package together with special ice packs to keep the truffles cool, which worked although the parcel took a day longer than expected. But the birthday boy was happy, and so was I!

But I have to come back to our garden grapes… In a first attempt I harvested five or six bundles of grapes and happily munched them but then it was time to harvest some more. And then my fruit bowl was pretty full: 

We couldn't devour so many as were ripe, and then the first grapes fell from the vine, so I I picked another five kilos! We couldn't eat them all, even if we wanted to. Thus I made roughly 20 jars of grape jelly! 

Cleaning:

All ingredients:

Part of the result... Delicious - especially with banana bread!

But that wasn't enough, because there were still the ones waiting in the fruit bowl. They had to be processed somehow, and therefore, I made two cakes. I have to admit, that it might have been a good idea to use seedless grapes for baking, but let's just say, it adds extra crunch and fibers :-) 

Keep crunchin' and munchin'!!!

I heard it through the grapevine...

Hi y'all!

Well, either I was wrong when talking about my brown gardening thumb, or we are just incredibly lucky! When we moved in three years ago, whe did a bit of a redo of the garden and had someone install a lounge area with a wooden pergola. The guy did his best, but we put a sunsail over the construction which was waterproof, and the elements tug at the beams with some heavy rain and storm, so it's definitely not level. But life's path is seldom straight, and so is the pergola... We like it anyway. 

In the meantime we changed the sunsail into one which is permeable to water and fixed the beams, but they're still a bit crooked. To cover that, and because we like it, too, we planted three grape plants. First I thought, they are only for wine making or decorative, but you can actually pick and eat them straight from the vine! Well, I must admit, that one of the plants didn't make it, and the second one (white grapes) is doing quite poorly, but the third one (red grapes) kind of exploded during the last few weeks. Last year it did pretty well already, but this is no comparison to this year. I guess I could totally live of grapes for the next few days.

Zooming in you can see that there is much more to come...

And here I proudly present this year's first harvest (minus the ones which didn't make it into the bowl, but went straight into me instead...) 

I am unbelievably happy! Let's see, if I have to preserve some of them (e.g. in a cake, as a jelly/spread or as a Crema di Balsamico reduction), but I suppose they're best comsumed just pure as they are. 

To show you that these grapes are no exception to the rule of my brown thumb, please find below an update of my little lemon trees:

When my lavender finished blooming, I had to cut it in order to regrow strongly. While doing that, I made a few cuttings to see if I can propagate them. After one or two weeks, they produced tiny little roots, and therefore, I put them in soil yesterday. Will I be successful? I do hope so! 

(Isn't that picture beautiful? Yes, indeed.)

Anyway, you can't have too much lavender, and bumblebees and bees love it, too!

With that in mind: Don't get discouraged if something doesn't work out in the first attempt. Sometimes it just takes a while :-) 

Take care, guys!!!