Little trips...

The past few weeks I havent written on here, yes I am lazy, and really I havent had time either.
I have gone on a few adventures since I last wrote too. Not just cooking ones, mind you. I went to Amsterdam, Zurich, and Strasbourg. I saw a couple new cities in Germany too.

I went to amsterdam about two weeks ago, and go to see the lovely Colin & Janine Miiller. They are the lovely couple I had the great accident of meeting in Brussels. I really enjoyed Amsterdam, thanks to them. We even got to go to a festival in the Netherlands. This festival is named Pink Pop. It was a lot of fun. They even introduced me to their friend Theresa, who is Canadian as well. I went to the regular touristy places, Van Gogh and COBRA. Which are both fantastic art museums. No I didnt go to the Anne Frank house or take a canal cruise. It just didnt really fit for me. I'm really just happy to spend time with people to be honest, and I throughly enjoyed my time in Amsterdam.

After Amsterdam, my friends Chris, Ashley(x2), Kara and I rented a car to drive to Zurich. I had a really great time. Chris took control of the car, and went 127 mph on the Autobahn. Yes, this is pretty fast and very fun! Unfortunately it was really rainy and miserable in Zurich. The city we didnt really get to enjoy and ended up going home earlier than planned.

Last weekend my friends and I drove to Strasbourg, France. This lovely city lies on the border between Germany and France. We as well went to Kehl by accident and drove through the Black Forest to Freundstadt. I had a great time seeing the city and shopping with them.

“Amor Fati – “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.”Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, hello, May was a successful and busy month. There was much fun, and happiness had.
I had a wonderful time cooking new things, and spending time with friends. I was really happy because one week, I was even able to have a short dinner party. We made mexican food together, which for me was a lot of fun. I really enjoy cooking with people, and just sharing time with one another.

I feel maybe I am a sentimental person, a lot of the time. I really enjoy just spending time with the amazing people in my life that I can call my friends. Time to me is such a valuable form of currency, we only have so much of it and if I get to spend it with positive caring people I am very grateful.

 I think making food with people here in Germany, is one of my favorite things. Right now I'm really busy with getting classes together, working on projects, and going through the motions of life. I  dislike the feeling of not embracing each moment with full awareness and curiosity. I hope that the month of June, allows me to really just enjoy the places with fresh eyes and appreciation. In about a week I am going  to Amsterdam, and will be seeing two wonderful people I met in Brussels. I am really excited. I'm not sure what Amsterdam holds for me, but I'm just excited to see a new place. I really am looking forward to having time to explore a new city and see more art. I am a huge art fan. I really love going to museums, and make it a point to see art that I really can connect with where ever I go on trips to.  Another thing I will doing in Amsterdam is I will be going to the Pink Pop Festival. I'm not really sure to expect, but I think it will be fun to get to hear music live. I haven't been to a music festival in a quite a while.

After that I have a holiday from classes, and will hopefully get caught up with homework, that I have been slacking on.  The quote is by Friedrich Nietzsche, and I chose it as my headliner, because I really have been thinking about Fate. This quote spoke to me. I could go on about all my thoughts and ideas regarding life and my thoughts on it. But then this blog entry may be REALLY long. I am curious what are your thoughts on Fate and Life? Are you happy with your life? do you love your decisions past present and future? I'm still working on embracing all these ideas, and myself.  

Heres to June, and to positivity.

Easy Spicy Vegetarian Chili...

Wednesday has been busy, to say the least. I've been out searching for a new place to live next year already , as housing in Tubingen fills up super fast. When there are 28,000 students new/happy places are rather difficult to find. In order find some inner peace and spicy-ness I decided to make some yummy soul food. I love spicy food.

I have to admit when I make food I generally just look at recipes for a list of ingredients. I think just sorta throw things together. Taste test and roll it out. This probably isn't how everyone cooks but I like to change things up.
Here is a link to the ingredient/recipe I sorta adhered to:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Insanely-Easy-Vegetarian-Chili/Detail.aspx

I changed it however-
this is the what I used:

1 can 250g kidney beans, 1 can 250g corn, 1 can 250g whole tomatoes, 3 stocks of asparagus, 1/3 of a zucchini cubed, 1 carrot, 2 mushrooms, 1 of a green pepper, 1 half of a red pepper, 1 whole purple onion sliced into small bits, 3 cloves of garlic. For seasoning I used probably about 1/2 tablespoon cayanee pepper, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano and 1/4 cup olive oil.

1 deep frying pan with a lid

1. wash, cut all your veggies
2.  Put the carrots, and zucchini into the pan about a minute before all the other veggies.
3. throw all the remaining veggies in pan.( onions, garlic, mushrooms ect.)

4. Add seasonings and sautee all of veggies till tender- aka the onions will be softer/clearer. It took me about 10 mins.
5. Open all the canned items- corn, kidney beans and tomatoes. I like to put them in a measuring cup so they dont spill all over, but do as you wish, and pour them into the veggies.
6. Cover all the ingredients and bring to a simmer for about 20 mins. If it isnt thick enough add a pinch of flour and stir.
7. Good luck :)

Banana bread, Zucchini bread, sauteed asparagus spears....whats next?

Okay, I'll admit it, I've been on a rather baking/cooking with vegetables craze the past couple weeks. One reason is that being a vegetarian in a foreign country can sometimes be difficult and not leave you many options besides pasta or salad, especially if youre a student with not a ton of time. Basically it started about two weeks ago with my need to have, maybe  need is better than have,  Banana Bread. I saw over ripe bananas sitting sadly on the counter, so I decided action was needed. I really dislike wasting food, especially fruit and vegetables. Therefore I began my cooking adventure. Last weekend I made Zucchini bread. It turned out way better than i expected. I dont have measuring spoons and all the recipes I do find I have to convert to the metric system( which is really for the most part painless thanks to online conversion sites for baking). Secondly I always want to change up recipes. Tonight was no exception. I made sauteed asparagus, and added some oil with a bit of butter and garlic. Superb. I am really excited about cooking for once, it doesnt feel like a chore but an adventure. In the next weeks I am planning try some new recipes and try to make the following one at a time:

1. Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting- one of my favorite things
2. Chickpea Potato Curry- for some reason I really want to make curry
3.Spicy Vegetarian Chili- well because chili is awesome
4.Zucchini Fritters- I just like fritters in general and zucchini ones sound fun
5.Vegetarian Brownies
6.Vegan Chocolate Cake
7.Vegan Strawberry cobbler
8.Vegan Strawberry and Spinach Salad

Hopefully these will keep me busy, and help me learn more about Vegan options as well.

here are the links to the places I got the recipes for my past adventures!


http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

- I really liked this recipe because it was super simple and requires very little to make it.

Plastic trees in May with Friends.

Yesterday, was the first real weekend in May where I got the chance to go out exploring. I was lucky the weather was superb. I met a friend, kyu who had just recently returned from a trip to the USA where he visited friends. I as well met with another dear friend of mine, Genevieve  who is from Oregon and studies here in the same university as me. I was really glad to get to see them both, as I dont see them often. My friend Kyu and I went to a flohmarket, which is like a huge sidewalk sale with all kinds of interesting  used trinkets and treasures to be found. Its quiet fun to see all the tables with eccentric things on them and mixed about. I happened to find a red plastic inflatable christmas tree. I know what am I going to do with a red inflatable tree, right. I just couldn't resist, it was just so perfect. It will be nice to have a decoration in my room that is rather silly and cheerful. Not to mention I'm ready for christmas and going to an area with water having a floatation device that is a tree shape. Anyway despite its silliness I'm very happy with my purchase. My friend Kyu bought a small drum covered with animal hair and a cup, maybe a bit more useful.

After this we all met and went to Neckarmuller, which is a place in tubingen that has both a Beer Garden and a Restuarant. We all got enjoy eachothers company while having a nice beer outside in the beer garden by the neckar river.  

It was so nice to get to see both Kyu and Genevieve, I was really glad about it. So all in all a good start to May.

Erste Woche für Seminar....

( My first Easter picture from 2009 in Luneburg Germany.)

This week was the first week I started classes at the university after a very long much needed break. I admit I really do like having a really long semester break in the middle of the year, its nice. Anyway I began my classes on Tuesday afternoon. I really enjoy most of my classes, minus the one that begins at the crack of dawn. I think this class will be kicked to the curb sadly because I find it really difficult to focus in the early hours of morning. The rest of my classes i found really interesting and fun.

Secondly this week is Ostern, Easter! The first Easter I spent in Germany was in 2009 in Luneburg Germany during my first study abroad program. I studied at Leuphana Universitat in Luneburg,Germany. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a special service at beautiful church and have dinner with friends in my program. The church program was unique in that it started at 3am in the morning and went on till the mid morning. We got to see the sunrise, sing German hymn and have candles. The church was pitch black and I had my first service in German. It was a really interesting and fun way to celebrate this holiday for me. The church as well is famous for a composer who went to school there for some years. After that we decided to go to the park and enjoy ice cream. It was a really great time for me and I hope that  everyone has a fun Easter however they celebrate it :)

 My friend Brandi and I during my first Easter in Luneburg Germany 2009 at the Park. Brandi is a dear friend and neighbor of mine that I had while I studied in Luneburg. She is an amazing and talented person. I am so very grateful to her for her help and friendship. Right now she is doing a Fullbright program in Vienna,Austria. 

 Easter basket a combination of German and American Candy. 

busy...

Since I have been back life has gotten back to its unorganized chaos. 

Today I had to register for my classes that I will take at the DaF( Deutsches Als Fremdsprache Programm) program. This is the program which is at the university where they teach all the German as a foreign language classes. I really enjoy these classes and have learned a lot ! My German has improved so much these past 6 months its really quiet astonishing. Last weekend was quiet fun too. I went to this outlet place nearby with a friend of mine for 6 hours of shopping. It was epic. Six hours of hard core shopping, and naturally two coffee breaks. Sunday I hiked with my boss and her daughter, and one of their friends to celebrate her birthday. It was the perfect day for a hike I have to say. We got a tad lost on the way there, but we got help from our fellow German hikers. The path led to an old Castle that had a fantastic outdoor eatery. The view is really lovely too. I have to say that this weekend was quiet busy, but nice too. I am really glad that I got to spend time with the people around me and enjoy the lovely allergy inducing weather.