Jan 4

Tonight our little home will turn into a Spanish Bodega. We plan to have a Spanish night enjoying tapas. Spanish tapas is at the very heart of Sapnish lifestyle and culture. Everywhere you go in Spain you will find lively and noisy bars serving small plates of superb flavours and local delicacies.

In its most basic form tapas is simply a small snack or appetizer taken with a drink or two at lunchtime or in the early evening before the main meal. Today it´s also popular to combine various sorts of tapas instead of main meal for dinner. It is essentially a style of eating rather than a form of cooking. Tapas means sociability, friends and family. The Spanish in general won’t drink without eating something as well.

Now, throughout the world, Spanish tapas has become a popular and healthy addition to the many food styles and cuisines available to us today.

Everyone is joining in and realising how pleasurable eating in this way can be. And why not? When you begin to see the sheer range of flavours available you will, I’m sure, want to find out more about ‘the small plate with the BIG flavour’.

Wherever you live, Spanish tapas will give you a tasty little mouthful of the real Spain without having to jump on an aeroplane to enjoy it! You can bring a little Spanish sunshine right into your own home - right now!

Feel free to cyber-join our Spanish night. We invite you to come with us on a journey of tapas discovery, limited only by how long you can sit here reading before your mouth starts salivating and you simply have to get up and try something out!

We´ll have…

… Chorizo - Chorizo is undoubtedly one of the most famous of cured pork sausages, available spicy, garlicky, mild, hot, smokey and red.

… Jamón Serrano - There are not many hams more highly-regarded in the gourmet world than dry-cured serrano ham. Ours is bone-in (14 lb)

… Manchego - Whilst there are many different types of cheeses produced in Spain, Manchego cheese is the most well-known and widely-available. We´ll serve an Artisan semi-aged Manchego tonight.

… Olives - the oldest and original tapas.

… Fresh bread and olive oil - One of the simplest (and one of my favourite) ways to enjoy a good, strong-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil is to simply pour it onto a plate, sprinkle some salt on it and then mop it up with some fresh, crusty bread.
Or you could use toast rubbed with a cut clove of garlic and/or tomato.
Either way, the taste is sensational!

… Albóndigas - tasty meatballs in spicy tomato sauce. This is a dish which originated with the Moors so you will usually find some exotic spices in most recipes, especially those from the Andalucian region where the Moors had the most influence.

… Empanadas de Cerdo - Pork pie. Empanadas are basically pies. You can make a whole one in a pie dish and cut it into segments, or make them into little pasties or parcels. We prefer the little individual ones, it seems to fit in with the idea of tapas better.

… Tortilla de Patatas - Spanish Omelette. I guess this has to be the best-known tapas. Some say it should be soft and others say it should be set hard; some say it should have onion and others say it should not; some serve it with mayonnaise and others serve it with tomato sauce.
This delicious tapa can be served warm or cold. If my pregnancy hormones don´t play tricks on me ours will be served lukewarm, with Aioli, containing onions.

… Champiñones al ajillo - garlic mushrooms. There are not many tapas recipes more Spanish than this. Gorgeous mushrooms infused with the exotic flavours of spices, olive oil, garlic and Spanish Sherry.

… Patatas Bravas - Crispy potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce. Patatas bravas is a simple and traditional tapas recipe. The potatoes are crisp on the outside but still firm on the inside and the sauce tastes rich, glossy and spicy.

… Crema Catalana - A popular Catalan cold custard dessert with a crispy caramel coating

We´ll serve a Spanish red wine - the Finca Allende 2003 Rioja Alta, an expressive and harmonious Rioja and Hierbas, a typical herbal liquer, for the non-pregnant people.

Now enjoy the tapas - if you´re interested in any recipe don´t hestitate to let me know =)

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.


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Mar 10

First and foremost I´d like to thank you for all those kind comments and emails concerning my Crohn´s flare-up - your good vibes are very helpful! Merci, my friends =) Now I´ll try to distract myself a bit with

Welcome to my 11th Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, Ladies and Gentlemen!
This week´s theme is “ARCHITECTURE”.
Having a look at my pictures I couldn´t decide which one I´d like to post - so I choose to introduce Lord Norman Foster - he was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture.

He is the founder and chairman of Foster + Partners. Over the past four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design.

Foster has established an international reputation with projects as diverse as the New German Parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin (the dome), Chek Lap Kok International Airport, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, the Millenium Bridge in London, the Yachtclub de Monaco in Monaco… oh, and our home =)

Thanks for stopping by,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Homer: Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.





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Jan 7

…under the mistletoe

In Germany it is a tradition to keep up the Christmas Tree until / or the day after Epiphany - the day of the three Magi. Epiphany is on January 6th. So… guess what happened today?

Yes! Exactly!!!

We´ve been listening 3 times to mouthwatering Robbie William´s Best Of Album. LOL

This means: It took us 3 * 78.45 minutes = 3.32 hours = 235.35 minutes = 14121 seconds

to take down all the ornaments, tree balls, lights, garlands and the two Christmas Tree Toppers.

Two? Yeah, Baby! A lucky break… We´ve bought a red Christmas Tree Topper in November. Not too intersting, I know. In oreder to tinker all those Advents Wreaths I went into our (tiny, little, bloody crowded managable) cellar where all those lovely Christmas decorations have a nap until the first Sunday of Advent. Ransacking and cursing I grabbed our Christmas stuff and found… a wonderful golden Tree Topper - having a rest since the last millenium. I agonized for ages which Topper we shall put on the tree…
A few weeks later - searching for the perfect Christmas Tree - we were not able to choose one - until we saw OUR tree: about 2,50 m (8.2 feet) high, small in the beam and: TWO peaks! No decision needed =)

Oh, I zone out… back to Robbie and the clearance =)

to remove all the other Christmassy decoration scattered to the four winds which we placed with lots of love in countless hours in a splitsecond

to pick the tree out of the rack by using a drill (Don´t ask!!!)

to clear the crop damage =) and finally:

Wanna have a closer look at what I´m talking about? LOL





and…


I´ve been a good girl! You know why? I´ve done my extra-exercises as well! Thanks for getting me running =)

Catch ya,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Homer: Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals … except the weasel.

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Dec 7







Welcome to our (christmassy) home! Today´s Thursday Thirteen brings you 13 random Christmas decorations out of 90 pictures I took on Sunday - realizing I´m thankful for digi-cams =)

1.)We found the Tinkerbell 2006 snowglobe at the Disney Store on our trip to Paris. One reason we planned this weekend vacation was to find some “my 1st Christmas”-stuff you can´t get in Germany… Tinkerbell decided to come with us. Now she´s living on livingroom´s davenport.

2.)Frosty and the noseless reindeer are wasting their time on the TV.

3.)Have a look inside my kitchen =) I took this pic standing on the patio.

4.)Hopefully I recover all the decorations I placed on 7th of January 2007 - the day after Epiphany is the traditional day to remove the Christmas decorations round here. There are tons of deco in every single room. Even on the vanity in downstair´s guest toilet…

5.)This Advent wreath is hanging in the hall (2nd floor)

6.)Guest toilet again. Mirror mirror on the wall…

7.)Our good old friend Rudolph stands sentinel over the living room. He moves his head from side to side - illuminating the windows. Too bad he is not a racing reindeer… A side-to-side-looking-illuminated-raindeer is sooooooo interesting! Our baby Mr L tries to study and to nibble him every single second. =)

8.)The landing between first and second floor: A little Advent wreath I threw together using the leavings of spruce and decorations. Seems to be a bit lonely… so desolated we forgot to lit the first candle on Sunday =)

9.)Please enter our living room… and have a look at the window above Rudolph. There is a little Santa sitting in the candleholder. Shake his right hand - he will thank you singing “Jingle Bells”, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” letting his huge nose blink in time with the songs. Great kitsch…

10.)Our “main” Advent wreath on the table in dining room accompanied by 2 little reindeers…

11.)The decoartion on the stair-rail make going up- or downstairs turn out to be a balancing act - but we love it =)

12.)
Little stars are illuminating the other window in the living room

13.)Little Santa is having a breather somewhere in our home. He loves to play hide with us… =)

Thanks for joining this coffeebreak,



And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Grandpa: Are we there yet?
Homer: No
Grandpa: Are we there yet?
Homer: No
Grandpa: Are we there yet?
Homer: No
Grandpa: ……..Where are we going?



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