29 on the 29th

Image from the birthday card I gave her

I have just been to London to spend a few days with my sister for her birthday. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing her age with you (too late now) but it was a great time and we did many memorable things to celebrate. Our days were full but a leisurely type of full, if you know what I mean. If you don't, it was as follows. Wake up when you are good and ready. Eat some cereal. Get dressed and if you aren't happy feel free to have an outfit change or three, with your sister as your audience, sitting on the bed, nodding or grimacing accordingly. Head into town for a spot of shopping, stop for a drink or a bit of lunch. Hit the shops with renewed energy. Perhaps pop into a gallery and take in an exhibition. Discuss the finer points as you stroll over to Covent Garden, where you meet up with some friends and drink a pear cocktail or two. If you are feeling peckish, make a quick stop at the local GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) before heading over to West End for a musical (in our case Oliver), before hopping back on the tube humming musical tunes (resisting the urge to burst into song and trying to control your dancing feet) all the way home. Yes, it was a special trip. We found some great bargains (leather boots for 19 pounds, the cutest silk skirts for 15 pounds) but I won't go into too much detail, I hate to be the cause of envy. Speaking of which I haven't yet mentioned the show stopper, icing on the cake, rice pudding with a cherry on top moment that was Nobu. A birthday gift from my parents to my sister. The best type of present - one that I could share. So, between checking out the 30 000 pound cooking ranges at Harrods (dreaming is free daaarling) and more shopping at Knightsbridge we wandered over to Park Lane for a celebratory lunch at the restaurant Nobu. Walking past Fergie (not of The Black Eyed Peas variety, rather, the Duchess of York) on the way there and spotting Mr. Liz Hurley, Arun Nayar, leaving the restaurant just as we sat down at our table overlooking Hyde Park. Consider yourself at home!

What we ate, in the order the dishes arrived...

Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Spicy Sauce

Black cod with Miso, our favourite, it had a texture that my sister described as 'silky'

Beef ''Toban'' Yaki, this came sizzling with really tender, rare pieces of beef

Chocolate Bento Box: Flourless chocolate fondant served with green tea ice cream

Pine nut Cake: Sabayone cream, pine nut mousse, purple potato ice cream and yoghurt

We enjoyed really helpful service on our visit. From the young French chap who collected our coats when we arrived, to our waitress who was very free with her recommendations (something I appreciate), to the Swiss waiter who told us to try the pine nut dessert. We probably wouldn't have ordered it otherwise (we planned to share the Chocolate Bento Box), he also kindly offered to take a photo of us. Whether it was all this, or the Saint Clair Sauvignon (closest to home we could find on the wine list - we get nostalgic on birthdays) that we washed it all down with, we were feeling rather giddy when we left. Each secretly wondering how the parents would react to the bill, and if we'd have to pick a pocket or two (or worse! stay away from the shops) to make it up to them.

Goodbye-ee-eye

One of our last peppermint teas in Ulm at a cafe where all the furniture is for sale - even that orange lamp

Of course, she brings me flowers when she is the one leaving

A first on her last day, we ate cake at a cafe she had been boycotting because of it's name Mohren Kopf
(I will overlook any number of things for good cake)

Last day in Ulm

Yamas, quite yummy really.

There is a new cafe/restaurant in Ulm. Yay! That is in itself exciting. A new place to explore! Yamas, is owned by the son of the same family that used to own Paradies, where you could really find the best Greek food in Ulm. Paradies is still running under different ownership but the son has moved to the city centre to start a cafe/restaurant style eatery with some Greek and American (bagels, doughnuts) influences. What I am most familiar with at Yamas is the tea menu. We were going there quite regularly when we were on our post Christmas diet. They have a whole selection of chai blends and from memory I think there is also a whole page devoted to green tea. All the teas have interesting names, like Tension Tamer, so you can order one that suits your mood. I guess I was feeling like some sort of Vanilla Elephant because that's the one I have been drinking. Yamas has the most extensive tea menu that I am aware of in Ulm and for a tea drinker like me, that is good news.
Yippeeee! Our diets are finally over, so we went to Yamas, our first time in the upstairs restaurant section, to celebrate. We were a party of three: Husband, Foodie Friend and I. We all ordered starters, Husband had the haloumi with oyster mushrooms (yum!), Foodie Friend had the seafood salad and I had the scallops. Nothing to complain about here, everything was delicious and devoured hungrily. Servings were big for starters with Husband and Foodie Friend commenting that they didn't have to have mains at all, not me though!



From the top & moving clockwise: our wine in the sexy glasses, haloumi with oyster mushrooms, baby calamari, seafood salad

For the mains, Husband ordered a beef fillet steak served with broad beans and potatoes. Foodie Friend had the baby calamari served with potatoes and a drizzle of homemade pesto (there was also a herby, yoghurty sauce on the side that Foodie Friend said she didn't really need). While there were quite a few seafood dishes on the menu, I was feeling carnivorous after such a long period of deprivation and decided on the lamb with a thyme and rosemary flavoured sauce. While the meat dishes were not bad, Foodie Friend's baby calamari was great. Tender, fresh and flavoursome. I'll go back for a plate of my very own. Of course, I wasn't going anywhere without dessert, so we decided to share the dessert plate. It came with a few things on it - most notable for me was the honeyed yogurt. It was really nothing to write home about, so I'll stop here. A bit of a shame really, because there were some memorable desserts on the menu at Paradies. After my first visit to Yamas, for a meal that is, I would say that seafood is the way to go. This is a plus for Yamas as it can be difficult to find fresh, well prepared seafood in Ulm. Yamas also features a wall to wall selection of wines (great to look at) which include an interesting selection of Greek bottles. Not all the wines are listed on the wine list, the owner (who recognised us from our Paradies days) accompanied Husband to the wall of wine and talked him through some of them. Very nice touch. We ended up with a nice Greek bottle, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. It was poured into beautiful glasses big enough to sniff and swirl the wine in and decanted at the table. I will go back to try more seafood, for the tea and perhaps for a bagel. They are quite new and with the reputation of Paradies behind them, I think they will only get better with time.

She's clever!

After weeks of warning my students that I wouldn't accept any silly spelling errors in the exam, here is what I go and do (or is that went and did?)...

Pointed out to me during the exam by an understandably perturbed student. Yup.

Ahem... Well you see Manfred, in Australian English we uhhh... ummm...

Work

Some people may wonder (Izy, Rajee it's you I am referring to) what I really get up to here. You know when she says work, teaching English, off to class now - what does she really mean? Life has gotten more interesting since starting at the University of Applied Sciences. I say jump and they ask how high Frau. Walter? If only. Recently I asked a few groups to present, in English of course about a skill or talent they might like to share with the rest of the class. I was totally überrascht with the effort they put into this task and by some of the things these young engineering students could do. I had gymnasts, pilots and truck drivers under my nose all semester and didn't even know it. Bright little buttons they turned out to be. Needless to say (and I can hear the groans) the presentation activity is a keeper.

The gymnast

Demonstrating some self defence moves

Fish in tanks & a hunting story.

The view from our balcony, schön no?

Coming from Sydney and now being in small town Ulm can be described a little like this. I feel like a fish plucked out of the ocean and put into one of those fish tanks you see in a Chinese restaurant. It is not crowded here but small it is. Like those fish that have to float around in their tanks all day looking at the same fish faces until someone has the hankering for steamed with ginger, soy and shallots, it is a rare occasion when I am out and about in Ulm that I don't see somebody I know. Those same faces. On the bus. Drinking coffee. Pushing their trolleys at Aldi. I have to admit, I envy those fish at times. They have a forseeable end. I on the other hand, may be here till I am on first name basis with the entire population. Forget anonymity. I have a running count on one couple that just keep turning up, these meetings seem random but I am seriously starting to think stalker. If you are out in Ulm on a Saturday, give yourself at least 30 to 40 minutes to factor in all those people you will bump into and stop to have a wee catch up with. What can get awkward, is when you bump into the same person twice. Do you stop and do it all again? Is a quick smile and a nod OK or is it better just to avoid eye contact and walk briskly on? How do the fish do it?
For a lot of Germans around here, who are used to living in smaller villages just outside of Ulm, Ulm is the big smoke. When I talk to people about wanting to get an apartment right in the middle of the city (I am about 15 minutes away by bus), they wonder why on Earth. It isn't close enough to nature for them, too many people, people are unfriendly etc etc etc. Ulm is small but it is thriving. There is an industrial area where I work a few times a week and it employs lots of the people who live around here. Hence, finding an apartment in Ulm is like going to the Boxing Day sales in Sydney. Be aggressive! The early bird catches the worm. Get your bottom out of bed and be the first to get your hands on the local paper, scour out the possibilities and make those phone calls pronto, lest you find yourselves in our sorry predicament. Our apartment hunt is approaching its one year anniversary. Ways to celebrate, anyone?
Tell friends, colleagues, neighbours anyone who will listen that you are looking. The more eyes and ears you have out there the better your chances are. We were extremely bright eyed in the beginning. If there was no balcony, we said, 'no.' If there was no garage we said, 'no.' If the neighbours looked at us funny, we said... well... 'no.' Oh my. What fools we were. A year on, and I guess you can say we finally get it. No balcony? Surely we can find some other use for our outdoor furniture! Street parking? So be it! The neighbours you say? Gosh! I'm already planning the party!

Ways to make a Chilli smile

There are some things that make me really happy. Contrary to popular belief, I am really not that hard to please. It is really the simple things that put a smile on my face, though if you would like to overwhelm me with extravagance (I can point you to a 900 euro cashmere cardigan I have been eyeing), I will not stop you. That is testament to just how unfussy I am. I will not stop you from showing me you care. Express it in whichever way you will. Am I an egocentric vanity smurf? Perhaps. But it is just nice to know that people back home in Oz are thinking of me. That they remember that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I just moved to Germany.

Here are a few things that arrived in the mail from Oz courtesy of thoughtful friends.

The cover of a beautiful card...


Imagine finding these in a parcel...

It's always nice when there's something in there for the man of the house too...


Now, this did not arrive in a parcel but is nevertheless the cause of much amusement to me. Husband is overdue for a haircut, hence the Charlie's Angelesque bed hair when he gets up in the morning...


* The first picture is of a shadow cast on my living room wall of a miniature bike given to me by my brother. It appeared for a fleeting moment before the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

The Cricketers

On our recent trip to London, over New Year, we were accompanied by a friend who is a huge fan of Jamie Oliver. Just to knock her socks off, we considered having dinner at Fifteen in London but didn't know if we could fit it in with all the other things we wanted to do. One of the things we did have planned was a drive to the country. We don't usually venture out of London proper when we are there, so we hired a car especially for a short tryst into the country side. The night before, it came to me in a moment of brilliance, that Jamie Oliver had his start at his parent's pub somewhere in the country. A quick google search determined that it was indeed still up and running and by his parents no less. So we decided on a trip to Cambridge with a short stopover for lunch in Clavering, Essex at The Cricketers.

The Cricketers is a cosy, charming pub where you feel like you can sit and enjoy the atmosphere for ages with a good bottle of wine. There is also accommodation if you would like to explore the surrounding area (I think the Maldon salt company is nearby) and stay overnight. We didn't have the luxury of time so we settled for a three course lunch and then we were on our way.

Husband was appointed photographer and was a bit slack it seems as we don't have pictures of all the courses, but you will get the general idea. My sister had a typical pub meal of fish and chips, the fish was cod and very, very good. Our Jamie Oliver fan chose the corn-fed chicken, Husband had the pheasant (not surprisingly, the best photo is of the pheasant) and I ordered the game and Guinness pie. Everything came with your choice of boiled potatoes or chips and cooked vegetables, which were brussels sprouts, spinach and carrots or salad. Phew! In the end, it really was a lot of food! I should add, that we were all very satisfied with our choices.


Here is our Jamie fan, taking her chips very seriously. They were as good as they look. Appropriately, you can see the Jamie magazines in the background.


Husband's delicious pheasant, stuffed with prunes & chestnuts, wrapped in pancetta.


The dessert was delicious. Of course we didn't need it but it was the perfect way to finish off the meal. We shared two desserts between four. See! We aren't excessive!

A lemon tart served with a berry sorbet. Light, zingy & worked really well after the rich meal


And this, not a great shot but let me assure you it was absolute divine dark chocolate heaven! Served with a dollop of creme fraiche, the flavour will never leave me. I will try to scout out the recipe - it was so subliminal it affected my memory. I have no idea what it was called on the menu.


I'd recommend this place to all foodies, whether or not you are a fan of Jamie. Although if you are a fan, signed copies of his latest cookbook were available when we were there. The menu is seasonal, but you can get an idea of it here on their website thecricketers.co.uk

Unconventional Tom Yum

Husband and I have been detoxing since the 4th of January. There was so much excess throughout the holiday season that we felt like we must. The difficult thing about this was not just that we couldn't enjoy the warm hearty meals that go perfectly with the subzero temperatures but also the fact that there wasn't much to do in the kitchen. We both realised how much our lives revolve around shopping for food, preparing food and best of all, eating food. This is probably the reason why I am posting about this relatively unspectacular meal. It was spectacular to me becase it was just nice to have something cooking on the stove again. After 10 days of disciplined eating, I am happy to report that we can fit comfortably into our jeans again! Not only that but our detox period is officially over and we are easing ourselves back onto a normal diet.

To celebrate our success, Husband requested my version of tom yum soup. This is not at all a traditional tom yum soup. I just use the tom yum flavour for the soup and add whatever I think fits. My method springs from the same philosophy as Nigella Express (a Nigella cookbook that is dedicated to quick, uncomplicated meals. She even has a recipe for potato cakes that uses packaged, instant mashed potato. Yikes!). I don't make the soup from scratch but am always sure to have some bought tom yum paste in the fridge. Try any one in your Asian grocer or supermarket but preferably one without flavour enhancers.

Follow the instructions on the container and before you know it you will have a delicious soup boiling on your stove. Taste it to see if the flavour suits you, add more paste if you can handle more of a punch. While the soup is coming to a boil, I usually chop up my veggies. I like to add brocoli, mushrooms and carrots but anything goes really. This time, after our recent visit to Chinatown in London, I had some fish balls (that is really what they are called) and fried tofu in the freezer, so I added those too. If you have some shelled, cleaned prawns in the freezer (always a good idea), you could add those. Tonight, I threw in some rice noodles after everything had been boiling for a few minutes. Once the carrots are done and your noodles are soft, you are ready to eat.

Here it is boiling away on my stove, those puffy things are fried tofu


You can see what I mean by fishballs here


If you are in Sydney and in the mood for tom yum soup, a more traditional version that is, try any of the ones on the menu at Spice I Am in Surry Hills. You can have a look at their menu here spiceiam.com It is the most memorable tom yum I have eaten.

Motto for 2009

This is a wonderful Christmas present from my sister, one of my faves! I have been using it daily and for those who know me personally (those privileged few), you are probably nodding knowingly. This is the perfect motto for me.
Here I come 2009.

There is a little bit of history behind this too. If you have never seen this before it comes from a British war propaganda poster. You can read more about it here www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/pages/history

First Post

I am sitting at my computer having mental images of people shaking hands with me and patting me on the back. You may not get it but this is what it means to me, to have started my very own blog! I first had the thought some time in 2007 that perhaps writing a blog is something I would like to do. I have mulled over it and mulled over it and now finally here I am or here IT is. Don't ask me why it has taken me so long to get my act together. There were the understandable initial thoughts, like what will I call it? and what on earth will I write about? At first, I thought I would write about food, and it seemed logical given my passion for all things edible (OK, maybe not all things) but I decided against that. I realised as I was mulling over this blog and writing imaginary posts in my head (I tend to do that a lot), that there are many non-food related things I can post about as well.
Being an Australian, living in the South of Germany makes my perspective on everyday German life quite unique. I'd like to think so anyway. While I was mulling away here in Germany, a good friend back home started her own food blog and sent me the link. How the hell did she beat me to it?! Anyway, it is probably good that she did beat me to it, as she has been a big inspiration and a dedicated blogger since she started sydneyfoodieblog.com
The second thing I'd like to explain, in this my very first post (more pats on the back, even a few cheers), is the name 'Chilli Walter'. Besides having a nice ring to it Chilli is a name that I could have imagined naming one of my children one day. I am at present, childless but I can imagine a little Chilli running around one day. But the problem with this, is that I got married last February and this is not a name Husband can imagine. Husband is from these parts, that is, he is German and the name Walter belongs to him. Not his first name but his family name. Naming a child Chilli is beyond Husband's comprehension. In Germany they take baby naming quite seriously. They have laws about what are acceptable names to be giving babies and Chilli probably wouldn't be one of them.
So, Chilli vs Chilly in Southern Germany is about me and how I handle every day life here in this oh so cold and foreign land and how I eat for the cold too. I will definitely be posting about my chilli collection that I cook with to help keep me warm during the cold winter months. Not that it is always cold here but I am a little preoccupied at the moment, as it is somewhere between minus 5 and minus 14 outside. I haven't been brave enough to venture out all day. And Walter, well long story short, I can't imagine giving up my family name for Walter and haven't yet (Husband is a tad old fashioned and is waiting patiently for me to accept my fate) but I am considering it. I am hoping Chilli Walter will help me to get used to the idea.