Nature Walk

On Sunday my finace and I went for a really nice 4-hours hiking trip. 
It was a most beautiful day and for me it was the first time really exploring the nature around my little town here. I had no idea how beautiful it is! Now I am waiting for spring to come so that I can make the hike again... but than with green trees ans green grass all over :)

Some German Food

As I told you the other day, we were planning a German Dinner for my friends here in Ohio...

I've been a little nervous about it during the week because I thought maybe the people will not like the food. We wanted to prepare something simple, that we eat in our daily life in Germany, not something fancy. So we went for a soup and a stew. For desert we had the famous Rote Grütze, a red fruit pudding that you eat with vanilla- sauce. Unfortunatly I forgot to take pictures of that one.EVERYBODY liked the food a lot and that made me very happy. Even my picky friend from Pakistan who never eats anything except pakistani food said "oh wow, this tastes as good as pakistani food". So I was really happy and relieved :) 
We had a wonderful night and a lot of fun and if you want to prepare some simple, typical German food too, this is what we did:

For the potatoe- soup we cut lots of potatoes, carrots and turnips...

We then added parsley, garlic and onions. Boil for about 20mnts in vegetable broth and add some pepper. 
After 20mnts add German sausage, cut into small pieces. If you can't find real German sausage you can take Franks or Wieners. 
Before serving add some fresh parsley

For the lentils stew you need carrots, onions and leek. Cut everything into small pieces and fry in a little bit of oil for a few minutes. 

Then, add vegetable broth, parsley and the lentils. Cook for 20mnts and add German sausages cut into small pieces. Add some pepper and salt and cook for another 10 mnts.
We made a vegetarian version without sausage too, but to make it really Geman I think you will need the sausage ;-)
I also added a little bit of cream into the potatoe soup and a little bit of maple syrup into the lentils.

 Before dinner we had some German beer and German bread with German cheese. You can also use Pumpernickel bread which is somehow similar to German bread. 

This is really a very easy dinner (except the fact that you have to peel and cut vegetables for hours ;-)) and also easy to prepare in advance. 

For the desert (Rote Grütze) we used some frozen fruits, some canned fruits (all kind of red fruits- strawberries,raspberries, cranberries, cherrys...) and we then boild them in a little bit of cranberry juice (you can also use milk or another juice). Then we added a little bit of vanilla pudding pulver and removed it from the heat. It then becomes a red fruit pudding which is really delicious!

Happy Monday everyone!  

When the day is grey, make it pink!

This week is once again driving me crazy...

the weather is unpreditacble, I have so much to do for uni (both uni here and my home uni in Germany which is asking for when I am going to present my thesis... and I cannot give them any answer to this question) and since my fiancé is here I really want to spend some time with him too. Unfortunatly that's almost not possible. 
Yesterday I was really in a bad mood because I just felt stressed and exhausted and it was once again raining... so I thought I better wear some pink, get some more color in my life and stop moaning and complaining and remind myself of enjoying a little more! (Usually I am much better at enjoying than at moaning, it is just this week which is so tiring!)

 

 

Happy weekend to all of you!

This Ohio-weather...

Since I live here in the US, I experience the whole Global Warming issue in a new way...

One day it's minus 10°C, the next day it is plus 10°C, one day it is snowing, the next it is super sunny, then it is storming and raining... and slowly it is driving me crazy ;) 
Or maybe this is normal here in the mid-west? 

Today it was freezing again and I spend most of the day in the lib because it was really too cold to spent much time outside...

Hope the weather is better where you live ;)

Happy Wednesday :)

This green blouse

 Another one of my favorite blouses...

 My fiancé arrived on saturday and we went for a nice walk in the sunshine this morning. It is freezing but really beautiful outside so I took him down to the river. 
Yesterday I showed him around the town and I am happy that he really seems to like it here. 
We will prepare a German Dinner for my international friends this weekend and I am really looking forward to it! I will keep you updated about what we are going to cook and how to do it ;)

Have a good start in the week!

Becoming a Laos- Lady

At the Indonesian night...

 ... my friend at I wanted to dress up indonesian- style...
but we did not have any constumes so we went for the traditional clothing of Laos instead. My best friend here in the US is from Laos and she brought several outfits from her country. 
We had a really good time and my Lao-sister and I got lots of compliments ;-)

 There were lots of great performances (dances, singing, traditional way of fighting...) and the food was delicious! Since last night I think that I should travel to Indonesia :) 
Have any of you ever been there?

 

The necklace that I am wearing is made out of real pearls from Thailand! I' ve been borrowing it from my friend because she told me that we wearing a Laos- dress you need to wear necklaces. 
Later that night she said that the necklace looks so nice on me that I should keep it. I tried to convince her that that's a crazy idea but she insisted and this is then the story of how I got my first real pearls! 
They are lovely and each one looks different from the other. I've been really really happy and grateful for this gift!

Around the old factory...

Another small exploration trip that we did the other day :)

The sun was shining, it felt like spring and we were soooo hapy to find this old factory where we were able to wander around and take lots of pictures!

Happy friday to all of you! I hope you will have a wonderful weekend! 
I am super exited as I will go to get my fiancé from the airport tomorrow!
And before that I will go to an Indonesian night tonight to see some Indonesian dances, dance myself and eat lots of great food. So I think this weekend will be just perfect :)

This Blue Blouse

Hello There!

Lately I spent too much money on beautiful new blouses. I don't know why I never thought about wearing blouses before... however, now I I have the impression I have to catch up and get a whole bunch of them. Not good for my bank account but good for the soul :)

 I hope you are all enjoying your week so far!? Are you all exited about Valentine's Day? We do not celebrate Valentine's Day that much in Germany so I am somehow exited about experiencing a Valentine's Day here in the US. 
I got some Chocolates for my room mates and my best friends even though I never bought chocolate for my fiancé when I was spending the Valentine's Day in Germany. It must be the US- air that makes me all exited about this holiday I never cared about before ;)