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.
Cochem is a typical tourist village on the Moselle. Known for wine (like all the villages here) and the imperial castle, which was first mentioned in written sources in 1130. It’s 45 minutes from my apartment, so it’s perfect for a weekend getaway. The village has narrow streets and is relatively crowded this weekend, so I also wear an FFP2 mask outdoors. The guest house’s wife says it is the first weekend when tourists come again as usual. Last year there were a lot of tourists in the summer, but this year many are trying to go abroad. The Dutch are also missing, who have high corona numbers again and have to be quarantined here for 14 days – which nobody wants. This region is a typical region for Dutch tourists as it is the mountains that are closest. In return, people here go to Netherlands because it is the sea that is closest. In addition, people avoid the train, most of them come by car, she tells me.
Activities that are done here: hiking, buying wine, visiting the imperial castle, riding the chairlift, boat tours, general shopping, eating and drinking, visiting a historic mustard mill and buying mustard. Many motorcyclists also drive the route along the Moselle and stay for one night.
Chairlift
I was too conceited to take the chairlift, so I hiked to the summit cross on foot, but it was very steep and it took me almost an hour. On the way back I walked another path that ended behind the train station and there were almost no people on it, very pleasant.
A little drawing
In the afternoon I made a little sketch on the bank of the river. I have made up my mind to draw more again, but who knows if that will work. I just have too many interests, which has been annoying me for several months because I feel like I’m only halfway through with everything.
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.
On the banks of the Rhine, photographer Till Eitel exhibits his street photography of Paris in public spaces. Disturbing: a sign indicates that in May all pictures of same-sex couples, people of color and non-Christian religions were stolen. The police are investigating. The Rhine has a lot of eddies, as a lifeguard I can see that, but signs warn against swimming.
At the Bundeskunsthalle I see an exhibition about the philosopher Hannah Arendt, which is refreshing because it is actually based on the intellectual works of Arendt and is less biographically structured. I am particularly interested in the work about the Jewess Rahel Varnhagen, whom I was not familiar with. I am familiar with Arendt mainly because of her work Vita Activa and I am sympathetic because of the emphasis on practical work and the relationship to the public. Of course, I am also familiar with the work on the Eichmann process.
What I love very much about Bonn and which I haven’t noticed so far: The many small flower shops. Trier is more characterized by two large garden centers, Lambert and Dehner. In Bonn there are small shops selling flowers and plants in many corners, as well as stalls in the squares.
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.
The botanical garden of Hamburg is part of the university and is a scientific collection for teaching and research tasks of the biological institute. It was renamed Loki-Schmidt-Garten in 2012, after the wife of the former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Both were heavy smokers and at the 2013 International Garden Show I smoked a cigarette in memory of her, but I stopped smoking quite a while ago. The first botanical garden of Hamburg was opened in 1821 and was located on the ramparts. The tropical greenhouses are still located there today. In 1973, as part of the former International Garden Show, it was decided to move the garden to its current location to the western part of the city. In the entrance area there is a sculpture called „Adam plunders his paradise“.
The first and oldest botanical garden in the world, which is still in its original location in, is the Padua Botanical Garden called Orto Botanico di Padova. It was founded in 1545. Other early botanical gardens were founded in Pisa by Luca Ghini in 1544, as well as in Florence (1545) and Bologna (1568).
In order to enter the botanical garden of Hamburg you have to book a time slot – as everywhere at the moment – and wear a mask. The garden is divided into three areas: plant systematics, plant geography and plant and man. I am particularly interested in the poisonous plants and I have to think of Curare and how it is shot with arrows. It creates a Apnea. I was surprised that many of them were yellow in color, like Greater Celandine (Schöllkraut), Golden Rain (Goldregen) und Welsh Poppy (Wald-Scheinmohn). The celandine in particular is a weed that is widespread in Germany. I didn’t recognized the Welsh Poppy before but it seems to be widespread as well.
It quickly becomes clear that there are far too many plants in the 25 acres to delve into all of them. You have to visit the garden several times and can only devote yourself to a few plants at a time. This time I was particularly fascinated by the Brazilian Giant Rhubarb (Mammutblatt). The plant grows up to three meters high and I can stand under it perfectly. It doesn’t seem to like living here, however, because in winter it has to be protected from freezing with leaves or brushwood outdoors in Central Europe. Originally, the plant grows in the cool and humid regions of southern Brazil, where it occurs in bog and marshland, on rocky streams or at the edge of water.
Like many botanical gardens and parks, this one also has a Japanese Garden. I learned that there are differences between Japanese and Chinese gardens: in Chinese gardens there is a house in the middle. They should be viewed from the inside of the house, whereas Japanese gardens should be viewed from the outside. Above that Chinese gardens were inspired by Chinese inland landscapes, particularly Chinese lakes and mountains, while Japanese gardens often use miniaturized scenery from the Japanese coast.
