The first signs of spring

I wish you a wonderful morning!

Do you wonder why I am in such a happy mood?
Well, sun is shining, it is sunday and birds are singing: we do have the first signs of spring!

Jogging at dusk

Today I plan to go on a hike with friends to a really charming castle. I've been packing an enormous lunch package with bread, fruits, vegetables, cheese...
My temper is even better as I don't have anything to do this weekend because I did all my work on friday afternoon. And i started the weekend with a lovely breakfast with my friends in town as you can see below.

Breakfast on Saturday morning

Regarding my valentine's surprise I don't have any news yet. If you have any hints, please let me know!
The rest of the week was calm though. One of my friends celebrated her birthday in a club but I didn't went with them because I was too tired. On Thursday the new season of Germany's next Topmodel began which I welcomed with a friend by having nice dinner and a relaxing night in front of the TV.

Salad & Onions & Chicken Stripes & Bread & TV

Seems as if I only ate this week which so not true! But unfortunately I can't come up with different topics with this week because there were only few events that took place. I don't want to complain as I know that next week will be much more to do which is why I enjoy my relaxing time even more. Anything you want to be informed about? Fashion? Blogs? Holidays? Food? People?

As promised last week, I'll post another recipe which I tried when I went back home three weeks ago.

Tarte aux carottes et poireaux

Puffed pastry

3 carots

2 leek sauces

1 egg

1 onion

Grated Cheese

Salt, Pepper, Red Pepper (powdered), 1 spoon of oil

1 pot of Crème Fraiche (or cream)

Enroll the puffed pastry and fit it into a tarte tin. Then heat the oil in a pan and cook the cut onions in it. Afterwards add the cut carrots and leek for about 10 minutes. Now fill the tin with the vegetables. In another bowl you squirl the egg with the crème fraiche (maybe add some milk to make it more fluid) and season it with the spices. Pour the cream into the tin as well, so that the vegetables are well covered. To finish you can spread some cheese above and season the tarte before putting it into the preheated oven (180°C) for about 30 to 45 minutes.

The pastry in a tarte tin

Ingredients

Vegetables in the pan

Bon Appétit!

Thank you for reading and commenting!
XoXo

P.S: I want to apologize for the spelling mistakes last week. It was 4am... might be that I was nearly asleep!

4am - early in the morning

Don't be astonished that I write to you that early in the morning (it's about 4am). But I'm just coming back from a birthday party where I had a lot of fun. There was even a motto, called "Be what the other gender dreams of". Despite of a lot of female police officers (classic), the people thought of extremely innovative disguises, such as baby, captain, stewaredess, secretary... Although there were mainly people from higher semesters, I had a lot of fun meeting new people and talking to them. By the way I went as a mixture of pin-up and navy officer after having got my wardrobe in a mess.

Last Tuesday was Valentine's Day: I won't deny that I am no fan of this day. So far. Of course, I think that Valentine's Day is an invention owing to the flower and consumer market industry but however there was one suprise that changed my mind about this particulary day.

When I went to my combox in university (which is kind of a locker), I found a bar of chocolat with the following card:

Unfortunately there was no name written on it which is why I now can't stop thinking about who I got the nice surprise from. On one hand it could be a really good friend - one of my girls for example -, on the other hand it also could be a secret lover...? From a pessamistic point of view I even have two other options: the present wasn't supposed to be for me or someone is making fun of me.
As I believe in the good of people, I still go for one of my first suggestions. But still... where does the card come from? A good friend would probably write his/her name on the card, wouldn't he/she? But isn't it kind of childish to send Valentine's presents in university anonymous?
I have some assumptions, but I can't be sure whether they are right or not, and moreover I have no clue how to get those assumptions to be proven.
It is likely that I interpretate too much into this whole story, though I absolutely want to know where I got the card from. What is your opinion? Any ideas how I get the answer?

Another highlight this week was my brother's arrival on Wednesday. He spent a few days visiting me and following my life. I was enormously glad that he came because we  have a quite close relationship and I wanted to share a few aspects of my "new" life here. He went to classes with me, we went out together (there was another Pub Crawl) and last but not least - and the main reason why he came - he played at the graduation with my Jazz Band. Our bass player only cancelled a few days before which is why I was very proud to present my brother as a back-up. He did a really good job and even my solo on the clarinet went well while playing in front of 600 people.

I now go to bed, but next weel another recipe will follow! With this mind, good night!
Xoxo

Still Frozen

Dear followers,

Still feeling as if I lived at the Northpole. Honestly, I don't care too much because I spent a lot of time at university again. Compared to my last year's schedule, I have a lot of spare time which I mostly use to go home instead of eating in the university's restaurant. Not only that the food is unhealthy, it often isn't tasty. So I prefer going home and cook my own meals.

Two weeks ago I told you about my planned vacation to the US. I must admit, that I have already booked all the hotels and apartments which I have never done before in such an extense. During my researches I even found a really good homepage that I can only recommend:
http://www.vrbo.com/
On this page you can rent apartments and houses (as well as you can put your own offer) for a couple of days which is often less expensive than a hotel. What I personally appreciate is that you have the feeling to be a real citizen. I don't want to be recognized as tourist wherever I am, so I always try to "hide". In San Francisco and near the Grand Canyon I found nice places where I will stay with my parents and brother.
Out of boredom I had a look at different cities as well. If I have a good time in summer, I will probably rent something else when I plan vacation in future, for example in New York City or Paris. Of course I will let you know how my experience was.

I started this week with an enormous shopping haul at the nearby outlet where I was quite successful: new (tight!) skiing pants, a shirt and Nike trainers for less than 80 Euro.

The week was merely occupied by university stuff. Although my classes are really mathematical this year (mainly based on accounting stuff), I like them so far and hope I can keep up.

We also had a party where I danced until 4 am... and had classes at 7.30 a few hours later. After one hour of sleep I was suprisingly awake and could follow finance and accounting.

Last but not least Friday I invited some friends to my place to have dinner. We had smeat fondue: you put meat into hot slop and let it cook there. Before eating we mixed some sauces like a Fry Sauce and Mustard Sauce. Together we spent some hours talking, eating, drinking, watching TV and hanging out: Thank you!

See you on next Sunday! Enjoy the week and don't freeze too much :)

Lang Lang

Good morning,

I can't believe that my two weeks of holidays are almost over. Only a few hours left until my train leaves and that I must suffer 7 hours in the train. It gives me time to read the Steve Jobs Biography.

My last week was again really relaxing and calm. On Wednesday I skied in the Swiss Alps where I couldn't see anything at first because it was too foggy. The first hours I was as blind as a bat hoping not to leave the slope and trying to orientate myself along the rods. Luckily, it brightened up in the afternoon and I really enjoyed then the powder snow while skiing off-slope.

Actually I wanted to ski a lot more in these holidays but either the weather wasn't good enough or it was just too cold. Within the last days the temperature fell to minus 15 degrees Celsius. Beyond that there is a strong and cold wind blowing that doesn't improve the situation. Therefore I prefer drinking tea, eating cookies and listening to music while sitting in front of the fireplace. Here is a song I really like these days: Many of Horrors by Biffy Clyro:

I also went to a concert this week. My Mom gave me tickets as a present because she knows that I really like piano concerts and especially famous Lang Lang who played in Geneva this night. We went there together and it is incredible what his fingers are able to play. What a tempo, what a tension, what feelings!

Well, as I said, my week wasn't any kinf of spectacular which will probably change when I am back at my own place. Indeed. I have lots of plans for next week and I am not even back. What are your plans? Is it as cold as here?

In order to help my mom in the kitchen I prepared some nice finger food, easy and fast to make:

Cheese straws

Puffed  pastry

1 egg's yellow

1 bag grated cheese

To begin enroll the puffed pastry and preheat the oven (180°C). Then smear the pastry with the egg's yellow. Now spread the grated cheese all over the pastry. Cut the pastry into 2 cm thick and approximately 15 cm long stripes. Each stripe must now be rolled: Take the endings of each stripe and turn them in opposite directions so that the cheese is on the inner side. To finish, arrange them on a baking tray and put it into the oven for 10 to 15 minutes (until the straws have a nice golden colour). 





Now I must continue packing my stuff and later catch my train.
See you next week!

Holidays

Dear followers,

You've probably recognized it: I changed my blog's design a little to bring some fresh air on the site. Hopefully you like it, but for now I am quite satisfied with the result. Still, I am discovering new gadgets and options on my account each time I look, so it might be that further changes will be made.

At the moment, I am back at my parents' and I have just spent a marvelous week here. My brother celebrated his birthday and offered himself the best present: He won a music competition in school and is now allowed to go to London for the next competition. Congratulations! He really played well on his bass guitar although he must have been extremely nervous - I was it, too. 

The last week was calm as I only skied a little, spent a lot of time reading books (snuggled in bed or in front of the chimney), did some shopping with my Mom and had some delicious Sushi with a friend on friday. Beside those activities, I reorganized my desk:

Before

The new desk fits so much better into the room and I am really glad I bought it (IKEA). Personally I love all kind of boxes to organize myself and to throw things inside - all hidden in matching boxes. The old desk seemed to be overloaded, whereas the appeal of the new one lies in its simplicity and organized structure.

After

Today I go skiing another time. I can't believe that I have already spent one week at my parent's and that university only starts in 7 days. Actually I could need some extension...

To end today's post I want to come up with a totally different topic: I am going to spent my summer holidays in California, Colorado, Utah and Nevada with my family. We will start in Los Angeles, then driving to the Grand Canyon and to the Arches (Tuba, Moab & Cedar), followed by a stay in Las Vegas, then heading to Yosemite National Park and finishing in San Francisco. As this route is really popular we need to organize now and book hotels soon. Do have any recommandations? Any tips where to stay, where to go and what to see?

I hope, everything is going well for you.

See you next week.

End

It's done! Done! Done!

Sorry, I have to write it three times as it is over now. All 7 exams are written, we had a great party yesterday and I am looking forward to two weeks of holidays.

First: Exams. Some have been more diffcult than expected, whereas others less. In conclusion I think that my way to prepare was quite right (including working throughout the year), though I can only juge this when I get my grades.

Second: Party. It was called End of the World and now my mind is reset for the next year - mission completed. We partied in an old theatre which was really nice and fitted perfectly to the theme Hollywood. Finally I went as a kind of Cat Woman. The masque was the best as some people couldn't recognize me.

Third: Holidays. I am glad that I can spend them at my parents where I can ski again and just relax. No work, no duties - only free time. It's my brother's birthday on wednesday that we will probably party in a restaurant having fondu.

To finish: A recipe I tried this week as it was a nice distraction from work. I had a lot of food rests in my fridge, so I used them to make an apple pie.

Apple Pie:

4 eggs

500 g flavor

200 g sugar (white)

Vanilla sugar

Baking powder

200 g melted butter

8 apples

Cinnamon

Preheat the oven at 180°C. Mix all ingredients except the cinnamon in a bowl. Peel and cut the apples into small pieces and add them to the pastry. Fill the pastry into a greased baking tray, spread some cinnamon above and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Bon appetit!

6 days left, 6 exams to go, 0 life.

I've to admit that I thought a long time about what I could post today.
Actually my headings tell you everything. 

Important notice:
Maths:  ✓

The rest is coming this week which is why I spent the whole morning by learning "Organizational Behavior" and will continue by "Business" and "French" later.

After the exam yesterday I went to a nice restaurant in the centre where I had delicious pasta with a good friend. The atmosphere is cosy, people are nice and food is good. I love such places!

As I said, my week wasn't any kind of spectacular as I spent most of the time in university or in the library or in my room - always for studying. I'm looking forward to Saturday when we have our "End of the World" party. This year's theme is Hollywood and I have no clue what I will wear. Any ideas? I thought of going as Audrey Hepburn but I don't want to ruin my dress. Besides it is the standard disguise, such as Marilyn Monroe. I am gladful for any tips from your side.

I know that this post is not really of any interest, but next week I will be more relaxed and can tell you about how my exams went and - this is of even higher importance - how the party was!

Xoxo

Motivation, where are you?

Only 5 days left until my first exams. OMG, I'm so nervous. But still, my motivation is hidden somewhere. Help! Did you see it? If, let me know. Please.

I am back in Germany in my own apartment, with no parents asking weird questions. But I am also here, knowing that have seven exams coming up soon and that I must kick off some learning sessions. It's easier said than done.

I am not that kind of person who sits down 10 hours a day to learn. I do 7 hours maximum (I was so shattered afterwards), but I need some time to relax as well. Let me tell you what I did this week to motivate myself and to relax:

• shopping (found a really nice pullover in sale and a waistcoat)
• chocolat fondu at a friend's
• walking around
• reading
• watching one episode after the other of Gossip Girl
• watching TV in general
• watching movies on the internet
• cooking

And hey, yesterday I tried a new dish: It was easy, inexpensive, delicious and still extraordinary. Here is the recipe and some photos I took:

Stir-fried chicken and pasta (4 persons)

270 g jar sun-dried (sun-blushed) tomatoes in oil

3 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

2 garlic cloves, crushed

125 ml cream

2 tablespoons of shredded basil

400 g penne pasta, cooked

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Method:

Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, reserving the oil. Thinly slice the sun-dried tomatoes.

Heat a wok until very hot, add one tablespoon of the reserved oil and swirl it around to coat the side. Stir-fry the chicken strips in batches, adding more oil when necessary.

Return all the chicken strips to the wok and add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and cream. Simmer gently for 4-5 minutes.

Divide the pasta among serving bowls, top with the sauce and sprinkle with the basil and pine nuts.

Chicken

Sauce

Done

So, next Saturday first exam: Maths. Let's cross fingers that it works out. 

Xoxo