Lost, Found & Fresh

Lost, Found & Fresh

Since we’ve been pounding the cupcakes lately, and that ‘diet’ way back when only lasted three weeks, I thought I’d throw something fresh your way. I sort of lost my way just like Chloe’s black winter coat last week. She left it on the public bus Friday afternoon, the first really warm day of the year. I couldn’t blame her…It was one of those days where you forgot how cold the morning had started and by the afternoon you were practically peeled down to your skivvies…. practically nothing that is. So of course it’s like ‘what coat’? It was fortunate she even realized where she left it. We (O) called the HVV(public Hamburg transport) yesterday and the coat was indeed located and we needed to bring in identification and some sort of proof that it was ours. Like in case someone else left a black winter coat on the 283, direction Bahrenfeld between 3.15 and 3.45pm. O found a year old photo on the computer. Can you imagine rustling through boxes of snapshots or negatives looking for a picture? My idea was to bring the detached furry hood that Chloe refuses to wear, as proof we are the rightful owners. Our particle reference number in hand, we arrived at the Fundbüro. It was like walking into an OCD dream. The quiet, organized main office had two employees and no que… and racks on six walls with hundreds of lost, stranded keychains, all tagged by location found, date and a reference number. It was amazing.

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Sushi for St Patty

Sushi for St Patty

We strayed far from a traditional St. Patty’s Day meal. No cornbeef. No colcannon. No Guinness chocolate cake… although that’s definitely on my list. No green or otherwise beer. We had an evening at the sauna, and Irish meals after an evening of swimming and sweating, I do not crave. Sushi on the other hand, like spring rolls, is perfect. Having filled my luck quota this weekend with the coincidental green liner and napkin under the last round of cupcakes meant no tuna for us on Saturday. I literally was behind the man who bought the last tuna steak at our fish monger. The tuna I had imagined, during my twenty minute wait, spicing up with chili oil and mayo. The tuna I would place next to sweet mango and avocado. I guess I wasn’t the only one thinking tuna for St Patricks Day.  I’ve honestly never made sushi without fresh tuna. We still enjoyed fresh salmon, smoked salmon, shrimp and tofu.

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Rumblings, Frogs & Scones

Rumblings, Frogs & Scones

I know you are asking, “What the….?” Well, I’ll tell you. First off, it started this morning reading Joy the Baker. She wrote this week about rumblings and the desire to shake things up a bit in her world. Now here is a blogger who is doing quite well in my book. Popular writer, lives in a sunny place and has a new cookbook ready to order that’s getting good reviews and she has rumblings? And did I mention young? I know I’m simplifying, and we don’t know the complexities we all face in life. But I do wonder, do rumblings, stirrings, the need to shake things up a bit seem to permeate all people irrelevant of age, stage of life, success or gender? Or can it be pinned to a certain personality type? Are there people continuously satisfied with life? I’m not talking about happiness but satisfaction. Or do they go hand and hand?

Frogs came to the forefront today when I went out for a little nordic walking and saw these signs that are posted annually in March to protect the wee ones crossing the road. Is that sweet or what. They even put up an eight inch barrier and cover the manholes so the little guys don’t drop in.  This is a sign for me in Hamburg, that spring is on the way.

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My Muesli and early signs of spring

My Muesli and early signs of spring

Just a little mention that this was scheduled to go out yesterday when it was written (my Tuesday) but got pushed back due to last minute realization of pancake day and my urgent need to pass on my realization. x wt….

Hello sweet early crocuses and snowdrops…

~

We had an extended weekend with friends who stayed over Sunday night and turned our Monday into an extended Sunday… love that. So is today really Tuesday? Doesn’t feel like it because Chloe is on winter break for a week and O is on his semester break, it’s 9.30am and I’m writing from bed with lemon scones, kumquat marmalade and tea that O just brought down. Don’t hate me.

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Rosen Montag, Shrove Dienstag & Pancake Day

For those of you who don’t follow Foodimentary… you should. Then you, too would be reminded of the fact it is Fat Tuesday (party folk), aka Shrove Tuesday (praying folk), aka Pancake Day (foodie folk). Pancakes were made to rid the pantry of the good stuff before Lent. If I was giving it up, I’d better make chocolate chip pancakes with nutella.

St. Petri Weihnachtsoratorium and steak tartare

Sankt Petri Choir, Hamburg on Saturday Dec 17th,2011

Saturday night we partook in a very traditional German event, the Bach Weihnachtsoratorium. Here’s the wiki entry for Bach’s Oratorio. And here is a little idea of the 2 hours spent at St. Petri Kirche, downtown Hamburg. (this is a Dresden choir)

Dresdner Kreuzchor – Weihnachtsoratorium (Johann Sebastian Bach)

Granted 90% of the time, well at least 75% of the time, I listened intently, feeling my cultural integrity expand by the minute. I even read along with the German passages in the program. Though I will say, there was the tendency to repeat the same 3 sentences over and over to stretch out the show.. go Bach.

The other 10-30% of the time, I thought about blog posts and what I would order at Cafe de Paris. I quickly came to Steak tartare and Frites. Really though I don’t mean to sound like a cultural cow. It was beautiful.

We also spent the evening with 5 other couples. This was our first real couply social event. Yeah us!

Choir concert

Our choir sang today at Santa Fu prison in Hamburg. We all met with smiles at the S-bahn (train) in Blankenese and made our way north about 45min. We stepped off the train in Ohlsdorf into a light slushy rain, randomly cursing the weather amongst ourselves. We walked 15 maybe 20 minutes in one large group to the facility. We stepped inside the first entrance, handed over our passports and placed all our possessions in lockers. We sang a few warm up notes while waiting to be led in small groups through the scanner to another room. Each time, the door closed and locked behind us. All but one of the choir were chatty and a little nervous, unaccustomed to visits to correctional facilities. The exception was Stephen, a defense attorney who works with some of these inmates. He set up the gig for us. I would say the majority of our conceptions of prisons had been provided by the media and movies. About 30 minutes later, after each of us had been separately taken behind a curtain to be searched, we walked back outside across an inner courtyard, up another set of stairs and locked doors to the hall and dining room. We were debriefed with a little history about the prison and inmates and the fact that these men were only allowed to see their children in an open setting once a year at Christmas. This is what struck my heart. Continue reading

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