The Frankfurt garden gnome

I was invited to break the fast with a Syrian friend. In Frankfurt I realize what radius is possible when you’re stuck here at the end of the world. Frankfurt and Cologne are easily doable for friendships, everything that is further away must be old friendships where the frequency no longer plays a role. We haven’t seen each other since the pandemic, but her life is going well, she now works in a big German bank now.

I used the morning to visit all the shops that aren’t in Trier. I bought a bag, t-shirts, swiss chocolate, massage oil and a jacket. A little off I bought my first garden gnome, now I’m really German.

Easter Sunday I walked a longer distance along the Main. In the city I got a city tour and learned about Maria Sibylla Merian who was a 17th century naturalist and scientific illustrator. Unusually for that time, she traveled to Suriname with her daughter to draw plants there.

We passed a place called Nice. The Nice owes its name to its mild microclimate, which is due to its southern exposure, sheltered from the wind, the favorable sunshine and the heat storage of the river. As a result, numerous plants of the Mediterranean flora thrive here, palms for example.

I also spent some time learning Italian and reading on the internet.. Catatonique shared a lovely text about getting older. It struck me when someone said he wouldn’t look for any platform other than Twitter anymore, that I’m less interested in beginnings, especially not all the time. It used to be different. I used to be basically made up of beginnings.

At home on the balcony there are now blackbirds and pigeons, recently also a crow, which still shyly turns away when I sit on it. I’m curious if it will get used to me. Avoiding eye contact seems important to me, for now. The birds usually come in the morning, just after sunrise. The wild bees have accepted the insect hotel well.

Madame macht Pasta

In meinen Zwanzigern hatte ich es einmal versucht- mit doch sehr bescheidenem Ergebnis. Seit damals sind erfolgreich Teig für Empanadas und Dumplings hinzugekommen, somit gibt es eigentlich keinen Grund mehr, sich um Pasta zu drücken. Zunächst muss ich mich aber informieren wie sie sich ohne Nudelmaschine schön formen lässt. Die Rezeptseiten streiten sich, ob der Teig mit Olivenöl sein soll oder nicht, es würde das Aufsaugen der Pasta-Soße verhindern. Ich mag Olivenöl, also kommt welches hinein = 200g Mehl. 2 Eier, 1 EL Olivenöl, Salz. Wichtig sei es, den Teig lange mit der Hand zu kneten, 10 Minuten. Anschließend eine halbe Stunde in den Kühlschrank.

Dann rolle man eine 2 cm dicke Wurst, schneide kleine Scheiben ab und rolle diese über Zahnstocher, die an einer Seite mit einem Streifen Tesa-Film zusammen gehalten werden.. Das funktioniert trotz Videoanleitung nur mäßig gut, weshalb es eben eine „Gabelmusterung“ gibt. Kochen: 1-3 Minuten wenn frisch, getrocknet 2-5 Minuten. Das Ergebnis ist tatsächlich sehr lecker und insgesamt auch schnell gemacht. Das nächste Mal: Ohne Olivenöl und den Teig dünner ausrollen, vielleicht Tagliatelle machen.

Huckelkuchen

Huckelkuchen is a recipe from the GDR that is easy to make. You need:

6 tbsp oil
6 egg yolks
6 tbsp rum
6 tbsp flour
butter
powdered sugar

Mix oil, egg yolk, flour, rum to make a dough and bake it at 220 degrees for 15 minutes on a greased baking sheet. The dough is bubbling. Melt butter and pour it over the baked cake. Sprinkle everything with lots of powdered sugar.

Orange coconut soup

So today I cooked something new: Orange coconut soup. You find the recipe below. As always, I didn’t stick to the quantities given very strictly, but rather cooked according to feeling.

Orange coconut soup with mince

2 tbsp oil
1 onion
400g leek
150g tomato puree
600g mince
0.75ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp coconut flakes
200ml orange juice
3 tbsp of tomato paste
salt and pepper

Fry the onions in oil and add the mince and season with salt and pepper. Add the leek and cook until cooked. Add coconut milk, tomatoes and tomato paste and cook a little more. Roast the coconut flakes in the pan and add.

New cookies

The first cookies baked this year. The first in the morning with walnuts and white coverture, the others in the evening with blueberries and lemons. Here are the recipes.

Otherwise slept in the sun in a park, every second of the sun is now taken away.

Blueberry-lemon cookies

½ organic lemon
125 g soft butter
150 grams of sugar
1 packet of vanilla sugar
salt
1 egg (M)
200 g flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder

Rub the zest from the lemon. Mix all ingredients, form biscuits and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Walnut cookies

100 g white couverture
40 g walnut kernels
100 g soft butter
100 g of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg (M)
1 teaspoon baking powder
200 grams of flour

Chop the walnuts and coverture and mix with the remaining ingredients. Shape biscuits and place them on the baking sheet at intervals. Bake for 8 minutes at 200 degrees.

Puff pastries with goat cheese, rosemary and honey.

Puff pastries with goat cheese, rosemary and honey.

You can also add walnuts, but I forgot to buy them. Ingredients:

Puff pastry
Goat cheese
Creme fraiche
Fresh rosemary
Honey
Pepper

Cut the puff pastry into rectangles. Fill with cheese, rosemary, creme fraiche and pour some honey over it. Season with pepper and shape into pockets. Bake in the oven at 220 degrees for 15 minutes.

Chicken soup with Italian Limoncello

Una deliziosa bevanda italiana

My stomach is feeling a little better and so I cooked normally again today. This recipe is made with alcohol and therefore is not for Muslim friends, but I think you can replace the liqueur with lemon juice if necessary. The result was very tasty. What you need:

Chicken breast (or chicken thighs)
Soup vegetables
Salted water
Carrots
Potatoes
Olive oil
Cream
Fresh sage
Salt and pepper
Limoncello

Cook the chicken breast with the soup vegetables in salted water. When the chicken is done, remove the chicken and vegetables from the water. Chop the potatoes and carrots and add them to the broth. Chop the sage and fry in a pan with olive oil. When the vegetables are cooked, add the cream, limoncello, chicken and sage. Spice to taste with salt and pepper.

Sweet Couscous, lazy Sunday (- you wish!)

I never made sweet Couscous before, so this was the first try.

Sweet Couscous

I had some hurdles because when I had prepared everything, I noticed that the ants had attacked the honey. It’s Sunday and all supermarkets are closed. I tried in vain at a bakery and a gas station. I wrote to a friend on WhattsApp and when I wanted to pick up the honey from her, the neighboring house was on fire.

Baby, you are on fire…

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

125 g couscous
2 tbsp raisins
125 ml of milk
1 tbsp honey 1
tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 tbsp walnuts, chopped
cinnamon

Heat the milk with the honey in a saucepan. Pour over the couscous and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Pour hot water over the raisins and let them steep.

When the couscous is drawn, add the nuts and desiccated coconut, drain and add the raisins, add the oil and season with the cinnamon. Decorate with honey.

Cooking: Greek lemon soup with meatballs

Recipe for a tasty soup

I first picked out the recipe for an Algerian Twitterer, but hadn’t even tried it myself. Today the test (without sauce thickener)

200g rice
500g spinach leaves, frozen
400g minced lamb or beef
1 egg (s)
2 liters of broth
3 tablespoons lemon juice
lemon peel
1bunch parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
Sauce thickener, or egg yolk

Boil the rice in 400 ml of salted water and let it cool.
Thaw the spinach, squeeze it out well and chop it roughly.
Knead the mince, half of the rice, the egg and a little oregano, season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into small dumplings with wet hands. Boil the broth and let the meatballs simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice. Add the spinach and the other half of rice to the soup. Bind with a sauce thickener (or egg yolk) until the desired consistency is achieved. Sprinkle with lemon zest and serve with chopped parsley.

Gardenia jasminoides

Bevor es auf die Reise geht noch einmal den bunten Mangold vom Balkon. Mit Knoblauch, Chiliöl, Zwiebeln und Salz. Vor dem Fenster das erwartete Gewitter. Die Balkontür offen. Regenrauschen und gute Luft. Auf eben jenem Balkon hockt seit ca. 1 1/2 Wochen zu allen Gelegenheiten ein Vogel und flötet. Obwohl ich kein Futter habe, nur nette Aussicht. Frau Stattkatze weiß Rat: Das Tierchen flötet um sein Revier und der Platz ist günstig, um das Nest gut zu beobachten. Wenn eine Katze kommt klingt es wie Herzinfarkt, sagt sie

Mangold, bunt

Die Gardenie hat ihre zweite Blüte bekommen. Ich mag das dunkle Grün und wie das Weiß sich davon abhebt. Und dass die Blüten fest und dick sind, wie Blätter: Ich lerne: Gardenien sind von Indochina bis Taiwan und dem südlichen Japan verbreitet. Ihr chinesischer Name ist Zhi Zi und ich weiß, dass die Assoziation an die österreichische Kaiserin bekloppt ist, aber ich kann nicht anders. Alle Ratgeber stimmen mir zu, schwer zu pflegen sei sie. Man solle froh sein, wenn überhaupt mal eine Blüte aufgehe. Sehr launisch. Ich lerne auch: Die Gardenie ist in allen Teilen giftig und wirkt abführend. In China war sie bereits seit dem Jahr 960 kultiviert und kam 1652 über Südafrika in die Niederlande. Die Polynesier auf den pazifischen Inseln verwenden die duftenden Blüten in ihren Blumenketten, die „Ei“ genannt werden.

Gardenia jasminoidis

Ich mag das Langsame dieses Abends, aber ich muss noch ein Taxi bestellen.