lady_of_clunn: (LOC Arnika)
This is what my life has been evolving around since Monday, including starting to work early to be able to finish early, running to the cake decorating shop during lunch and cleaning the entire kitchen at least four times. (I still find odd places covered in a light dusting of icing sugar.)





Surely this is worth several posts?

All the butter and sugar that have gone into this cake make me feel queasy just thinking about eating anything. I might be able to actually stick to a diet just by looking at buttercream-covered cake from now on.
lady_of_clunn: (LOC Arnika)
I just supervised two 12-year-old girls baking two chocolate cakes that somehow shall evolve into one castle-shaped cake by Friday. The kitchen was not destroyed. I call that success.

So, to celebrate my still-standing kitchen, and hopefully just in time for barbecue season, I give you:

Potato Salad

2.5kg small salad poatoes
2 medium onions
2 apples
1 jar sweet 'n' sour gherkins
salt
pepper
vinegar
oil

Mayonnaise, yoghurt, crème fraîche to taste for variations.

You can probably find more potato salad recipes in Germany than regions. This one is a very popular basic salad that can then be altered.

I usually make one big base salad and then halve it to have one oil salad (in Berlin we call it Swabian Potato Salad - Swabians are probably laughing their heads off) and one with mayonnaise/yoghurt.

The bad news: it takes about three days to make. The good news: the amount of work required each day is manageable.

Day one:

Boil potatoes in their jackets. Let cool completely over night.

Day two:

Peel potatoes, cut in slices, ad chopped onions, chopped gherkins and chopped apples (I leave the skin on to give it a bit of colour but you can also peel the apples). Add some oil, vinegar and liquid from the gherkin jar (for 2.5kg potatoes I normally end up using all of the liquid but I wouldn't add it all at once, the salad should not be soupy), season with salt and pepper. Let rest in a cool place, ideally not the fridge - I use the basement laundry room.

Day three:

Add more salt, pepper, vinegar or gherkin liquid as needed.

If desired, add mayonnaise, yoghurt or crème fraîche - if you do add any of those, let rest for another two hours or so. Be a bit stingy with the creamy sauces, don't drown the salad. In some regions, hard boiled, sliced eggs are also added. You can also try to add chives or parsley, some chopped tomatoes or sliced radiches - the variations are nearly endless :)
lady_of_clunn: (Christmas)
More vegetarian recipes from Germany!

The first one, Silesian Heaven, is a sweet winter dish for those times when no fresh fruit and vegetables were available. Also, it is one of those examples of how regional Germany's cuisine is. My maternal grandmother, whose family had come to Berlin from Silesia in the mid-1800's, made this dish regularly. My paternal grandmother, whose family had come from East Prussia around the same time, had never heard of it. But she made heavenly Plinsen that nobody else knew!

DSC08653

Recipes and a video under the cut. )
lady_of_clunn: (Christmas)
A little while ago, [livejournal.com profile] delphipsmith and I happened to be talking about German cooking and how all recipes seemed to be quite heavy on meat.

I think this is mostly the case as after WWII, eating (and being able to afford to eat) a lot of meat was seen as a status symbol and possibly even healthy. So, dishes that used to be reserved for Sundays or even once-a-month-after-payday, became a daily feature in the German diet.

Older people might also have been eager to indulge after decades of war, recession, war, rationing that seemed to go on forever...

So I thought I'd give you some German recipes that don't warrant a trip to the butcher.

I hope you guys like potatoes and eat eggs and dairy, though.

DSC08612

Sorry about the messy plate - Ida decided to cook with me and I was too busy to keep her from pulling the pots off the cooker or burning herself so my plating skills suffered a bit.

Recipes under the cut )


Enjoy!

I am planning on cooking "Silesian Heaven" tomorrow, so hopefully I will post that and the recipe for Stewed Cucumbers tomorrow evening :)
lady_of_clunn: (LOC Arnika)
I've been reading the Inspector Lynley series for a bout twenty years now. Indeed, Missing Joseph introduced me to English language fiction and I haven't looked back.

George is an American writer but her scenarios are usually well-researched and her characters mostly realistic.

Her last book left me a bit baffled but hey, can't love every single book an author writes, right?

Was I excited to see that a new book had come out and - since I totally missed the launch for the first time in 10 years - was on sale for half price? Oh, yes!

As usual I devoured the book in a day.

I should be ecstatic.

Instead I feel bereft.

Cut because I rave and ramble )
lady_of_clunn: (LOC Arnika)
Last Monday I found myself in the unique position of being

a) 20 minutes from Bath by train

b) having six hours to kill until I had to catch my train towards Gatwick airport.

What can I say?

Six hours are not enough!!

There shall be picspam: )
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
Two days of outings.

The first was incredibly hot after weeks of rain and autumnly weather. It must have been over 25 degrees Celsius. Scorching, I say.

First, we went up the Royal Mile, through a number of Festival visitors that seemed to exceed the entire populatio of Scotland. It was so crowded that I didn't manage to get into Riddle's Court, which was supposed to be my first stop on a find-HP-related-places project. I think I'll have to wait with that until the Festival is over.

Anyhow. We walked along the south side of the castle, found a charming farmer's market and visited St. John's:

This way to the pictures. A lot of them. )
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
Let's see whether this works better than yesterday...

Just a few more )

On another note, I just ate porridge for the first time and can't see the appeal, unless one is Oliver Twist. I certainly will not waste any more of my expensive maple syrup on it!
lady_of_clunn: (Edinburgh hill)
I know I've taken my sweet time - but here it finally is: some Edinburgh picspam!

I don't have much, yet, because I've been more concerned with non-touristic, non-scenic errands and places so far, but I hope you like what's there.

You know you want to click this )

Userheads

Jul. 13th, 2012 12:12 am
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
So.

I saw that Sherlock userhead and pounced on it, thinking I could switch between my witchy userhead and the Sherlock userhead as the mood strikes.

Only, I can´t find my little witch anymore.

*cries softly*

Did I kill her?
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
The famed bread slicer. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The Bread Slicer )
lady_of_clunn: (modicon luciusbigbang)


Hurry over to [livejournal.com profile] luciusbigbang to sign up for shaking those pom poms in front of Lucius!

Walpurgis

Apr. 30th, 2012 08:24 pm
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
Today is Walpugis and the local Manor House is holding a medieval market with tournament and concerts.

I give you picspam:

(I spent entirely too much time salivating after the band members of abInferis, who were walking around in loincloth-meets-leather-panel-skirt type things, very low on their hips, showing some incredible v-lines...)

Pics )
lady_of_clunn: (Default)


Make a wish!




Note to self: No trying to improve recipes on birthdays!!




New toooooys!
lady_of_clunn: (modicon luciusbigbang)


Sign up´s are open over at [livejournal.com profile] luciusbigbang - you know you want to!
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
It seems I have not changed since I did this last.

Your rainbow is intensely shaded red, black, and brown.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What is says about you: You are a passionate person. You appreciate mystery. You may meet people who are afraid of you. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.


I am still scary.

...

Boo!

Film Rec

Mar. 5th, 2012 07:47 pm
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
I know, I said I won´t have time for internet things but it turns out, I have the laptop all evening :)

Do you remember The Island? I think I watched about half of it and found it vaguely interesting, and otherwise pretty standard plastic Hollywood fare. I must say, that I didn´t feel overly compassionate toward any of the characters.

Today, I watched Never Let Me Go. While both films share a similar basic plot idea, this one is frighteningly realistic and so quiet and gentle at times that the cruelty of it eats right into your heart.

I cried right through the last 20 minutes of it or so and could not get a hold of myself for about an hour afterward.

As far as I remember, I added 'Never Let Me Go' to my list on a whim because Lovefilm (like netflix) told me that my list was running a bit low. We had a few boring/horrible lately films and didn´t expect much of this one. I must say, I am ever so glad I added it.

It might sound very strange, but I decided to get an organ donour ID now.
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
I left my laptop alone for an hour to take a nap while Ida was napping and came back to Tani sitting in front of it ("I did ask Oma!!"), telling me that a strange warning had popped up on the screen.

Yeah.

That kind.

Now I am on borrowed time on a borrowed laptop and it doesn´t look too good for fixing mine any time soon.

So, if I owe you emails or I am not commenting at all and am out of the loop on absolutely everything, this is why.

I will do all promised beta-ing! (But will have little to no time for other internet-y things. Borrowed time, borrowed laptop and all that.)

On a positive note, I now have a teeny-tiny job teaching English to a private group of pensioners :) YAY pocket money!
lady_of_clunn: (Default)
As every year, Valentine's day took me by surprise. I must have seen the occassional sign at the florist or a sweet shop but since there is no anticipation involved, here, it just doesn't register with me.

In fact, until I moved to the US, I thought that Valentine's Day - along with Groundhog Day - was an unlikely creation of a screenwriter. Imagine my surprise! On both accounts. o_0

My (slightly creepy) source of information:



In the German version, the film is called 'Picnic on Valentine's Day'.
lady_of_clunn: (Fuck!)
I broke two (!) toes yesterday.

Ow.

Owowowowow!


ETA: I'm back from the orthopedist. He couldn't tape the toes together because they are next to each other. He was so nice not to put my foot into a cast but to give me a prescription for some sort of shoe thingy that will keep my toes safe and sound.

My poor foot is all black and blue...

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