Dinner from the balcony - tomatoes

I enjoyed the chilly, rainy weather by sleeping in late and then eating a large lunch. So by dinner time I was more in the need for a little snack than a meal and had not so much energy to cook. Good thing my downstairs neighbor pointed out to me that my tomatoes are 'ganz rot' today. ;-) I responded that I would definitely be eating them tonight, which was an acceptable response. (I love my flat and my neighbors. I could never have a stalker, because there are eagle eyes around the building, and they miss not a single thing.)

Here are the before photos. The green clump in the bottom right corner of the pot is basil. The yellow in the right of the photo are the yellow tomatos.

And here is the after photo. The basil went into olive oil with a sprinkle of garlic herb Mrs. Dash (which I brought from America for such culinary laziness) and fresh black pepper. The red at 12 o'clock is Nasturtium.

Tuesday's balcony lunch and Nasturtium

Right now it's tomato season on the balcony in the tiny town of B. We have our usual culprits:
-lettuce
-the never-failing cucumber
-cherry tomatos in excess (there's one yellow, and a tiny undersized red one hidden there)
-nasturtium (the red flower petals mixed in)
-olive oil (not from the balcony)

So what's with the Nasturtium, h? My Polish teacher knows I'm into gardening and gave me a few seeds two months back. For kicks I threw each in an empty spot. And boy did the suckers sprout up:

I researched online, the whole thing is edible. (OK, not that buggy leaf in the bottom right). The leaves and/or the flowers may be used raw in salads, or in a myriad of recipes. I was reading online that it's close to watercress in taste when raw, and when dried the leaves can be used as a substitute for black pepper.

Wowie does it have a sharp taste. I researched further, the younger leaves are less sharp, so I gave them a spin, no dice. I've resigned myself to only eating the red blossoms, as it's the only thing I can reasonably tolerate; as well as they look so lively in the salad with the bright red color. But in the meantime, because I'm not chopping off leaves, it's gaining steam. This was three days ago, and and since then I have 3 more blossoms.

One day I may wake up to a giant red flowered plant knocking on my closed balconey door (demanding I don't know what?) if I don't find an alternate use soon...

Weekend plans - Speyer

Scroll down a bit on this page, we're going to a 'Pretzel Party'. I think I would have translated it as 'Pretzel Festival', but ok.

Or you can go to this page in German to see photos or read all about it.

I think they're missing a market here, by not going after the non-German speakers. Granted, we're going to Speyer primarily to see Philly's greatest rock band, but I would have been tempted to go only for the Pretzel Party alone.

But then again, I'm from Philly, land of the soft preztel. I may just spend the entire weekend eating pretzels down there in Speyer. ;-)

Summer in Europe - August

As summer is currently grinding most offices to a halt here, I'm making the jump this year from a 2 week summer holiday to a 3 week summer holiday in August. I was busy with a large work project earlier in the year, so I have not taken any holiday yet this year.

Last summer was camping in the Faroes, the summer before was Iceland. This year, I'm going a bit domestic--I'm taking an intensive summer German course at a VHS in Germany, with a goal to perhaps take one of the Goethe tests in the fall. To make it a 'real' holiday, though, I chose a VHS over an hour away, and I'll be camping near it. However, I'll still be able to pop home once or twice a week to water the garden and pick the tomatoes, and do laundry.

So class 3.5 hours each morning, then the afternoon to relax at the outdoor lake, or to be a tourist in the larger cities nearby.

And after 3 weeks away from the office? I'll be taking one more week off, but not losing vacation time. The state of NRW graciously grants five days of Bildungsurlaub per year. I'll be taking a 5 full day course (in German, at B1 level) at my local VHS, 'German for the workplace'. It includes topics such as writing business letters, health and safety, and the rights of workers. I expect it to be quite interesting in subject matter, as company J is an American company, I suspect much of work life here is filtered through an American view, so I'm interested to hear how it is presented from a German perspective.

So if you're keeping track at home--I will be working one day during the entire month of August (Friday the first). And I'll still have 3 weeks of vacation to use yet this year. :-)

Language week Friday - German 2

das Letzte von der Sprachwoche/el último de la semana de la lengua/the last of language week from me :-)

Ok, ist ein bisschen teuer, aber, sehr toll--ein 'Blumenkasten' Grill. Vielleicht naechstes Jahr oder? Aber schwer zu aendern, von Blumen zu Grillen und zurueck?

Ok, it's a little expensive, but very cool--A flower box grill. Perhaps next year. But would it be difficult to change, from flowers to grill and back again?

(The text in the above link is German, but the photos are worth a look to see this nifty item. I'm sure the top right photo is tofu dogs. ;-))

Language week Thursday - Spanish 2

Ayer no tuve mucho tiempo para blog, entonces, yo pruebo español una vez más.

Yesterday I didn´t have much time to blog, so I try Spanish again.

Pero no tengo mucho tiempo esta noche tampoco. Fue a la piscina con mi colega de trabajo (de la oficina de Francia) después la oficina, y entonces fuimos a cenar. Siempre es interesante, con esta persona de Francia, pq hablamos de las noticias y culturas. Por ejemplo, ahora en las noticias en Francia, ella ha oido algo que Hilary dijo a Obama, que las periodistas de Francia piensan es importante...pero ella quiere saber...es algo importante en America o una cuenta de las periodistas franceses?

But I don´t have much time today either. I went to the pool with my work colleague (from the French office) after work, and then we went to dinner. Always it is interesting, with this person from France, because we talk about the news and cultures. For example, now in the French news, she had heard that Hilary said something to Obama, that the French journalists think is important...but she wanted to know...is it something important in America or a story from the French journalists?

Y le pregunté, ¿es las noticias sobre Angelina en Nice importante a la gente en Francia? Sí, es muy interesante a la Fraceses que una persona famosa como Angelina con mucho dinero, ella puede escoger cualquier lugar en el mundo para el nacimiento, y ella escoja Francia.

And I asked, is the news about Angelina in Nice important to the people in France? Yes, it´s interesting to the French, that a famous person with a lot of money, she can choose anywhere in the world to give birth, and she chooses France.

Tal vez necesito vivir en Francia después Alemania. O sea, apprender la lengua Francés sería un principio interestante...entonces no necisito para repetir en language week. :-)

Perhaps I need to live in France after Germany. Or maybe to learn French would be an interesting start...then I don´t need to "repeat" in language week. :-)

Language week Wednesday - Spanish

Estoy cansada y mi duele la cabeza.

Language week Tuesday - German

Letztes Wochenende haben wir Buchenwald besucht. 'Jedem das Seine' und nicht 'Arbeit macht frei' ist hier.
Last weekend we visited Buchenwald. 'To each his own' and not 'work makes one free' is here.



So so gross.
So so big.

Hier ist das Denkmal für die jüdischen Steinbrucharbeitskräfte.
Here is the memorial for Jewish quarry workers.

Von 1954-1958 wurde das Manmahl gebaut
From 1954-1958 the memorial was built.

Dieses Denkmal ist sehr Ostdeutsch
This memorial is very East German.

Language week Monday - Polish

(English below photo)

Co to jest?
To jest 'kalafior z bułką tartą'.
Jest tylko kalafior, bułka tarta, i masło.

To jest polskie przepis?
Oczywiście. ;-)

What is that?
It's 'cauliflower with bread crumbs'.
It's only cauliflower, bread crumbs, and butter.

Is it a Polish recipe?
Of course. ;-)

My photo skills don't do this one justice, but if you get a young, fresh cauliflower, this is superb. Better photo and recipe here.

the return of language week

Mausi mentioned, Langauge week has come around again:

time to get crackin.

Lunch from the balcony - Tuesday

OK, excluding the goat's cheese, from the balcony. Assembly required. We have today:

-baby lettuce (growing too closely together, so a plethora of little leaves)
-a tiny strawberry hidden under the lettuce
-a turkish or hungarian pepper at the top (more pepper flavor than hot)
-tomatos
-basil
-sage (a little spicyness to balance out the mild favors)
-and taking center stage - cucumbers (will they ever stop??)

Lunch from the balcony

Fresh from the balcony this morning, everything in this salad was grown on my balcony. We have:

-lettuce (2 different types)
-tomatos (the yellow guy on the right is from my dwarf yellow Dutch cherry tomato plant, the red ones are from a balcony tomato plant, not exactly cherry tomatos, they get slightly larger and are more like 'regular' tomatos in taste and texture)
-half of a cucumber (from the never-ending supply)
-peas (2 pods, 1 bottom left)

now if only i could figure out how to cultivate olive oil and goat's cheese on the balcony.

word cloud

How amusing, which words I use.

In case you want to wear your blog words on a t-shirt, check it out. Wouldn't this make for a fun 'guess the writer' game at the next whiny expat meetup. ;-)

The garden upon return

While I was in the US for 14 days (while Germany observed high temps from 13-30 C), a special someone was 'drafted' to come and water the garden every few days.

I was pleasantly surprised at his results. He never saw fresh lettuce growing in dirt before and has a self-proclaimed lack of talent with green things, but I think it's just a front... ;-)

I'll be using the peas with tofu tonight in a stir-fry:

The berries will be going to the office tomorrow. These are my German plants, which are slightly later and sweeter than my Dutch strawberry plants.

This is my dwarf yellow tomato from Holland. He's in a planter box, currently overshadowing the lavender. The tomatos are there, but still green. I've thinned out a few of the branches today (at 6 AM because I was jet-lagged awake with nothing to do), and because the tomatos are heavily shaded by the greenery so they could use a little more sun.

While in the US, I was not impressed with the Salmonella outbreak and the lack of tomatos everywhere. Even more reason to plant your own food these days, I guess.

And finally, the flowering vine corner. Here are the cucumbers and squashes. Cucumbers have been my bumper crop so far this year. I've eaten 10 of them and had eaten all the baby ones before I left leaving only flowers and minute ones on the vine. I came home to 5 more, 3 of which were hanging off the balcony due to weight on the vine, intruding upon my very nice neigbor below (who pointed them out as healthy looking and impressive), as well as viewable by the general population.

I'm pretty sure I'm now known in the building this month as 'that crazy American, with the cucumbers'. I've brought them back up, and situated them so that they're resting on the 4 inch ledge and wrapped the vines back through the railings. They are mini-gurkens (so the recommended grow size is 10 cm), which I whole-heartedly recommend if you have a container garden. If the keep up at this pace, I'm tempted to look into making pickles or putting them in the hallway with a 'free' sign.

packed and ready to go...

back from the US June 14th.

as i'm packing, how is the weather where i'm going? (current high temps in C this week)
Philly - 27
Orlando - 33
Tampa - 33
small midwestern city - 21 (boooo!)

back with you in a few weeks...

nothing like a trip back to the US

to get one moving on the 'to do' list, including something that's been on my to do list since 2003.

One of Philly's greatest bands has been coming to Germany the past few summers, and the fates were always out of alignment and I could never go to see them.

Tickets now purchased.

Pleasantly surprised: London calling

I had the pleasure to take a shot day trip to the UK on the Thursday holiday, Cologne to London. This time with passport controls was similar to last time. Since it was an intra EU flight about 98% went into the EU line leaving the rest of us in the non-EU line. There were already 3 people ahead of me, with 2 passport officers.

Another line opened which took the third (in the meantime at least 200 people had gone through the 'EU quickie' line and and it was empty, so one of the officers came to this side. I was next in line, meaning 2 persons were still with the passport officers since the 5 min I'd been there, and the 3rd got the new one.

A space finally opened, two desks side by side with the other occupied by an American visitor. Out of all of Europe, I still hold that the UK is the most difficult for an American to visit. The lady is flipping through my passport (remember that I have a UK work permit in there from before as well as various UK stamps since 2003), so I am inadvertently listening to the conversation 3 feet away from me because the hall is now silent except for this guy.

The fellow looked like a typical middle-aged American tourist, and he had left his American wife in the UK for three days while he went to Germany and she visited a friend. The officer was leading him through a detailed itinerary of what he had visited in Germany, where he stayed, how he travelled, then for the continuation on in the UK, more questions, what was the name of the hotel he was staying at that night, what was the address, etc. Ugh.

As she's reaching the end of my passport (I have the extra pages) she asks, "and how long will you be in the UK....no wait, you're a permanent resident?"
-Um, no, I work in Germany, and only today, I leave tonight.
"So you're here for business meetings then?"
-Yes.

I see her scribbling something on my card, KA-THUMP! goes the stamp and that was that.

I am absolutely amazed what 5 years of Germany permits seems to buy me in the eyes of the UK passport officer. Having been through some of those serious UK question marathons--recalling even when I had my 6 month work permit there--
'and what was your purpose to visit Belfast?'
um, it was a cheap weekend flight and sounded interesting
'and why did it sound interesting?'
(thinking...let's not dig this hole any deeper and involve politics) because Dublin is so expensive it's my only chance to say I went to visit Ireland.

I didn't think it would be possible to ever visit the UK as an American without the 20 questions, so I can thank the Germany work stickers for that. Although, I'm starting to get increased questions on the US side in the past 2 years I've noticed, including being sent to Agriculture for a bag scan in Philly last time, so the universe seems to balance out. :-/

How life in Germany treats me well

A few years back, those of you who know me way back when, remember when I moved to sunny California. It represented a sea change in life for various points. At one time, I wasn't feeling so well, and my new, California, new-age, 'just-out-of-med-school doc' with plenty of time on her hands and my phenomenally good health insurance had run some blood tests and gently suggested that I cut out red meat for a month, just to appease her as my genetically awful cholesterol clocked in above 240.

Keep in mind that at the time I was an average to below-average sized female with decent physical activity, under 30 years old, non-smoking, with very limited alcohol consumption, so 240 was simply obnoxious. Not sure of what I'm talking about? Study up.

I felt phenomenally better four weeks later and the cholesterol had dropped to 222, so at that point in 2001 I decided to go cold-turkey and become a vegetarian. Six months later when I went back to her as a vegan (no meat or dairy products) for three months already, I was certain it was going to be much lower as I felt so much better and was at the peak physical point in my life. Uh-uh, not even close, barely lower and still over 200 (when the goal was 180) and vegans clock in around 140.

Crestfallen, I gradually came to the conclusion that there was nothing that I could do, genetics was in action here. I bumbled along, remaining a vegetarian or vegan, because it made me feel physically better, but disheartened. When I first came to Europe, I was in the UK for five months and the transistion was smooth. UK life is similar to US life as a vegetarian. Many of the same brands/products are available, or close equivalents are nearby. For fun, when I went home to the US, I went to the doctor where they ran their usual barrage of tests. The only one that came back flagged was the cholesterol, in the low 200's, but I wasn't surprised.

Fast forward a bit. I moved to Germany and officially transferred to be a German paid employee. I decided to put the whole cholesterol thing on ice, as the last thing I wanted what a lecture from a Germany doctor. So we carried along merrily for a few more years.

Fast forward a bit more, 4 years. Company J was doing a 'health day' including free cholesterol check, body fat check, infos provided, that sort of thing. With extensive trepidation I showed up, ready for the worst, having held off for four years, but drawn by the idea of the cost-free checks and no associated bad notes on file.

The woman was very impressed with my ability to produce blood upon her pinprick. (Yeah, I'm good like that.) She smears my finger on a little strip that is in a little box, then we sit there as it counts down from 200. It finally gets to the end of its analysis and it blinks 171.

My initial thought--like everything else, this must be in a different scale...Miles/Kilometers, cups/millileters, gallons/liters, ft and inches/cm, pounds/kilograms--everything is different. No, this is one of the few things that is the same...it's 171 on my scale. You.have.got.to.be f'ing.kidding.me.

More funnier. I am smashed in line among lots of too highly numbered people. My first though was--her machine is broken. I checked with a colleague later, he confirms that it came in as he knows his to be, so it's not broken. So assuming she didn't take a bad read on me personally, to what can we attribute such good news? I'd go with the following:

1. The lack of processed and convenience food.
I get none of my favorite brands of frozen, snack, and prepared foods here. In general, the only 'processed food' in my diet would be frozen pizza and an occasional can of pringles. I find a lot of the prepared sauces (which I so loved as a quick fix meal in the US or the UK), to be much more salty or sweet, as well as limited in options. And overall, there just isn't the same culture of prepared, frozen food here.

I make about 95% of my meals here, (mainly out of necessity). There's just not the same processed convenience options here, and one can only eat so much frozen pizza.

2. The lack of fast food
No, I'm not expecting fast food in the tiny town of B (the population of B and the surrounding countryside is 17k). However, my closest fast food is Burger King/McDonalds in Leverkusen--25 min drive from home, or McDonalds in the other direction for 25 min. When I put 25x2 travel to and from), plus waiting time, I may as well just make my food, for that time effort.

3. The walkable culture
I walk a lot in general in the US. However, here it's more incorporated in my lifestyle every single day. Usually on the weekend, I don't use the car, unless I'm going to see D or to the supermarket to pick up a crate of water. In general, it's easier to walk than drive into the tiny town of B as parking is limited and everything is centrally located.

Why I didn't expect such a result:
A. I go for 30-45 min walks at lunchtime, and walking for errands and shopping, but I get no formal sport beyond that and an occasional trip to the pool.

B. My alcohol consumption is much higher here than in the US.

C. I eat a lot more cheese here than I ever ate in America. Cheese/any dairy product in the US makes my not feel well, so I avoid it. Cheese here doesn't have the same result (not sure why) and sometimes it's the only veg option on a menu.

Sunday happenings in the tiny town of B

Recommended musical selection while reading this to set the mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eDkAG3R0h8

Normally Sunday in the tiny town of B is quiet, except for the church bells. However, the past Sunday had big happenings, it was 'Shopping Sunday/Spring Festival/Family Fesival' all in one. Many (but not all) of the stores were open, there was a stage with entertainment, and lots of street stalls selling various wares, some for local charities, others commercial, and plenty of food, beer, etc.

My favorite part of the weekend?
Here are the people waiting at the 'Bahnhof' (train station):



The 'train' has arrived:

OK, ok so it's a tractor on the the front. There's plenty of them around here as we're in farm country. Curiously it wasn't raining, although it was rather chilly.

It goes for a circle around B, and then winds back up through the shopping street. The photos don't really give it justice, but it's actually packed to the gills with adults and children, with flags from around the world adorning each car, including a US one.

V is for Victory

In keeping up with news online from the US, catching up on news stories which are promoting 'new' Victory gardens in light of rising food costs and the environmental trend of eating locally.

If I had to quantify my reasons for my balcony garden they would probably be:
1. I'm lazy. I like to wake up and step outside for fresh tomatos.

2. Freshly picked tastes better.

3. I'm a vegetarian. I eat a lot of vegetables. My corner of Germany is very seasonally oriented, and it's difficult to find out of season or non-locally grown produce. This way, I can prolong my ability to have strawberries.

4. Building on #3, if one does find, say strawberries from Spain perhaps, they are hella expensive. (Which I guess makes sense when you figure in transport costs from Spain to Germany.) So I'm cheap.

5. It's an expectation in this building that something belongs on the balcony. Flowers are a money pit and hardly pull their own weight, expect for a few petals in a salad. If I'm going to provide water, dirt, a pot, and loving attention, I expect you to pay your own way here. The only flower that gets real estate here, are sun flowers.

6. Eating organic. Perhaps I've been here too long, but I'm always slightly nervous when I see green beans from Egypt or Morocco and am curious as to what kind of chemicals they may use. Since they're outside of the EU I have an inherent distrust.

7. Food miles/kilometers, an interesting concept, although I see it more as a taste issue. An apple picked not far away which spent limited time boucing along in the back of a truck tastes better than one all the way from Japan or New Zealand.

Current roll call:
Lettuce (from seed):

Tomato corner. So far I've had approx 14 cherry tomatos, with lots of flowers and tiny green ones in progress due to the great weather. I'm keeping a rough tally of tomatos eaten as I'm generally curious as to how many I can grow.

The overall view. The left corner is the tomatos above, and is what my neighbors like to ask me about as it overlooks the front walkway into the building and one can see the bright red tomatos easily from below.


More about victory gardens:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html
http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/