A visit to ze Fatherland...

 

In my description of my blog, the part where I explain who I am, I state that my ultimate goal is to move back to Germany with the British Boy and hopefully some little 'Anglo-Germanic-Saxons'. We would like to own a farm and had a chance to see how beautiful it could be.

To move the dream forward, especially when feeling really low and down with our current lives, we plan annual trips to various areas in Germany who meet the following criteria:

• Within 2-3 hours of driving distance to my parents
• In an area that has some tourism to potentially rent out holiday homes
• Within 2 hours of an airport to provide easy access to British visitors (hi parents in law)
• An area that has places we could actually really afford
• An area we could see ourselves living in, i.e. even on a dreary rainy grey day and long winters and sick children, with a flu and feeling utterly down, would I still want to live here?

That's not an easy feat. So we book some off, start searching for affordable farms, contact the realtors and set up viewings. And whilst it only took me 30 seconds to write that, the actual process is fucking annoying, pain-stakingly slow and absofuckinglutely anger inducing for me, cuz I have to talk to them all, cuz the British Boy doesn't speak German.

 

Ok, I am being unfair. He does constant scouring of the websites, did a fantastic excel to consolidate the information and make it a whole lot easier for me.

 

Back to what happened:

We went to Germany to look at farms. There were some we liked more than others, one I loved and he didn't, one he liked and I didn't and then we ended up telling each other that we had plenty of time and didn't need to force ourselves to buy anything right now.

 

Staying at my parents, I had a chance to pick the last plums of the season and bake this beauty: 

 

 

Great-grandma Emmi's Plum Cake

Prior to the last day of viewings, we decided to stay in a hotel closer to the farms so that we could get a feel for the area the farms were in. It was the Castle in Wurzen, which reminded me of the castle Max and I got married in. We got there fairly late and decided to have dinner in the castle restaurant, which looked fantastically medieval.

Castle Wurzen Restaurant

We spoiled ourselves with not just one, but TWO bottles of this amazing beauty. I want to find this wine in the UK and bathe in it. Seriously, it is worth trying to track this down.

Tasted divine

Due to the wine and the general holiday feel of the trip, I went for the whole hog, Starter, main, dessert. My starter of smoked salmon tartare was sadly too salty and the mango lacked sweetness to bring it back round. Presentation was great, but let down by the overpowering saltiness.

Smoked salmon tartar with mango and a tzatziki cream

My main was great. I am a huge fan of liver and pretty much any offal. This was done beautifully. The sweet red onions worked so incredibly well with the liver and the celery in the mash was a nice lift on an otherwise quite hefty dish. It was the perfect autumn plate of 'stick to your ribs' food.

Veal liver, caramelized onions and celery mashed potato

Come dessert, despite feeling rather full, I could not resist the sound of an ice cream sundae.


Ice cream sundae for me

I have not had an ice cream sundae in a looong time. I mean, the whole hog with cream and sauce and nuts. It was tasty and I didn't wake up looking like the Ghostbuster Marshmallow Boy (which is one of my fears). The British Boy's dessert was a crème brulee that was also superb and overall the evening and food was a success.

Crème brulee for Max

If you're in the area, I can fully recommend eating at Schloss Wurzen.

Dirty food at Bodeans

Bodeans rocks...

 

How did I end up at a BBQ joint in Soho last weekend and tried to delicately eat dirty food to keep my face clean (which by the way I totally failed at)?

My burnt ends plate

 

Main reason: I am a porn addict. A food porn addict. I LOVE cooking shows and anything that describes and shows delicious looking food, where lots of people go 'mmh' and 'aah' when they eat it. We have Saturday Kitchen set up to record each weekend, in case I am out and miss it. I also love trashy Come Dine with Me. The British Boy is appalled and threatens divorce if I watch it whilst he's at home, so I indulge when he's out. Also, I am a huge fan of Triple D, aka Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, which basically showcases small food joints across the US with mouth-wateringly sounding foods.

 

After watching a DDD episode that talked about BBQ joints (although to be honest, which episode doesn't?!), I really wanted to have something smoky and meaty. Luckily, my friend and co-worker Tiffany, who handily is an American and was craving some dirty food, was easily persuaded to join me.

 

Now, going to Bodean's on a Friday night in the middle of bustling Soho pretty much guarantees a wait. We were soo lucky! We walked downstairs to have our number taken and were prepared to wait for 1-2 hours (yes, we were that set on having BBQ) and were IMMEDIATELY slotted into a just cancelled spot.

 

Burnt Ends and sweet potato fries, here we come! I really loved the meat - it was rich and deeply flavoured and a bit chewy and sticky and crispy in the right places and not too fatty. Being able to add on various BBQ sauces was an added bonus.

Burnt Ends and sweet potato fries



 

 

The sweet potato fries were moreish and I am glad Tiff was able to help me with them. We were also happy that, despite the authentic taste, the portion size was not as huge as I was used to from the US. This was a spot on meal that satisfied my craving, and, more importantly a nice night out with a friend.

In preparation for work trips...

Trips galore! There is a distinct time of travel at work that is required of me. And this time has now started. I am about to travel almost every other week up until the end of January and as I stated a few times before, travelling is difficult for me.

It's difficult for various reasons: time differences, long hours, tired, stressed, pressure to perform at work, unable to work out and the dreaded BUFFETS! Part of my problem is my greediness and a fear of missing out (especially on food - what if the other main course, that other dessert, that other thing is THE BEST ever and I miss out?). Anyway, travel time has started and I survived my first trip.

I have been incredibly lucky to have my guru with me on that trip. And it made all the difference. Having someone physically on a trip, who takes the time to remind me to breathe, set an intent, formulate a plan and then asks me to check in, scan my body, identify my feelings - it's been a huge help and it's giving me the confidence to feel I can deal better with the other upcoming trips.

At the moment, I am enjoying not travelling and making the most of grounding myself in a structure - and enjoying cooked breakfasts:

Fried egg with tomato and basil on a seven grain roll

Fried egg with toast and half a banana that was fried alongside the egg. The banana gets all sweet and caramelised. Yum.

Sunday Roast at The Alma

Another Sunday roast and surprise surprise, it's chicken for me. The British Boy and I spent a lot of our weekends fairly separately and there comes a point, where I would quite like to see my husband for a bit.

It generally does not require lots of arm twisting, especially when the pub in question is only a 5 minute walk from our house.

The Alma is a not only a dependable choice, but also a good one. There is interesting decor, there is a good atmosphere and there is yummy food and beer and cider.

 

Behold the stag!

What I also love about the Alma is that they oftentimes put on cider or ale festivals.



The Alma - note my obsession with mustard.

My chicken: The chicken tasted exactly like I want chicken to taste like. Chicken-y. Not too dry and like a bird who spent a happy life running around a barn or yard somewhere. The yorkie was not too greasy (I don't like greasy Yorkshire puddings) and the jus was delicious. There was an ample amount of veggies, and thankfully the veg were not cooked to a mush. I declared it a success and finished my plate. We'll be back.

Chicken Roast at the Alma

A night with the girls

I am the luckiest woman on earth. I sometimes feel giddy with happiness at all the things I have - a loving husband, a roof over my head I can call my own, a healthy-ish body, a family I adore and who love me unconditionally, a job that challenges me and allows me to be very flexible and a support net that is unbelievable. I mean totally out of this world amazing and unbelievable.

 

A few Fridays ago, I decided to have a night to say thank you to my support net. We are a large group and naturally, some closer friendships have formed over time. I had invited three of the ladies over for dinner. I was lucky enough to be working from home that day and started my day with porridge and fruit.  

Breakfast of porridge, yoghurt, Sharon fruit, mint and coconut shavings alongside the obligatory coffee.

I went to a body conditioning class at my local gym during my lunch break that day, which then allowed me to justify a real splurge for my meal. The night at the Dissenting Academy had whet my appetite for scallops. How fortuitous that we now have a new fishmonger in the area - Prawn on the Lawn is just a 10 minute walk from my house AND it's on the way back from the gym. A quick tweet to check they had scallops in stock and a few minutes later I was the proud owner of these beauties:

Scallops and salad

Lucky me, the British Boy had simultaneously forgotten to take his salad to work, so all I had to do was give the scallops a sear, toss the salad with dressing and dig in!

The highlight of the day, though, was the night with the girls. I had whipped up a slowly cooking, but easily thrown together vegetarian chili served with brown rice, home made guacamole and corn tortilla chips.

Brown rice, guacamole and cilantro and lime for the feast.

The largest pot of butternut squash, sweet potato and black bean chili ever.

It was delicious and I've been enjoying the left overs for quite some time (there is still more in the fridge), yet the best part of the evening was spent chatting, laughing, sharing embarrassing stories and feeling connected and supported. I loved it. Thanks, my ladies.