Mini Holiday Weekend

Not sure if words will do our weekend justice, the pictures probably don't either. But fun it was! It was great to be 'in the nature' as the Germans would say.

Bucolic St Gallen and the pigs

Though I haven't been posting as often as I would like to, there has been lots going on and lots to tell you. Unusually, time has become a bit of a luxury. I have finally been convinced by you know who to take a German course. It is an intensive course, which means it runs daily and I have to plan all my work around it. Anyway, I am in my second week of the five week course and am learning all sorts of interesting things, like adjective endings in the Dativ and the Akkusativ. Not. I love English. I keep wondering what I did in my last life to deserve the fate of not having German as my native language and having to learn English instead. Ah well... The grass is always greener, as they say. What I really wanted to tell you is that a few weeks ago, we visited St Gallen. Husband has some friends there and we stayed with them. Unfortunately, I left my camera at a friend's place and didn't have it with me on the trip, so I'm not able to post any pictures of the quaint, little city here. I am not sure why but I really enjoyed my stay there. I kept marvelling at the old houses, the window boxes and the pretty countryside. I guess, I must have been marvelling pretty obviously, because Husband's friend commented, 'It's bucolic, isn't it?' To which I responded 'What is bucolic?' Though, part of me wanted to correct him with, 'You mean beautiful' and another part of me wanted to pretend I knew what he was going on about. I am after all the native English speaker, English instructor and all-round English expert. After our walk, said friend pulled out his mega-huge edition of the English dictionary, which contained a definition I couldn't argue with. Bucolic, as a noun, is a country person or a short poem about country life. Bucolic as an adjective, can be used to describe country scenery or rustic countryside. I am very pleased to have this new word in my clearly not-as-developed-as-I-thought vocabulary. I am starting to wonder how I ever did without it, bucolic seems to fit a lot where I am. The other thing I did was go shopping and I am still not sure how this happened but everything I bought, in some way pertained to pigs. I found it very bizarre when I looked at my purchases at the end of the day. Not very sensitive, I know, with all the negative pig things going on at the moment. Nevertheless, below you will see my new piggy friends. The first one (moving clockwise), a stuffed toy pig was bought for someone else but I can't give it away. That has never happened to me before, so I am taking it as a sign that it was meant to be mine. Notice the little black bird on its hind quarter? Too cute. The second is a pork cookbook called 'Schwein & Sohn' titled 'Pork & Son' in English but I find the German title so much better. It is an award winning French cookbook filled with amazingly photographed recipes and nostalgic stories. And what is even more freakily coincidental, is that the book cover matches exactly with my stuffed pig's nose. Must be a sign that everything I cook from here is going to be a crowd pleaser. I can't wait to cook from it. In the third and fourth picture you can see what we have named our 'Tetsuya' piggy bank. We are saving up to eat at Tetsuya's the next time we are back in Sydney. Let's hope there is enough in there by our next trip or it may just be a shrimp or schwein on the barbie for us. Which wouldn't be bad either.

Germany's Next Ugly Face

If you don't live in Germany, then you may not be aware that for the first time, in about 4 seasons of the show (I think), a black woman has been chosen as GNTM. A historical moment, I am sure you will agree. There was even a guy in the audience holding up a 'Yes she can!' sign. Just so you understand what this victory means to some. Like me, I am sure every dark skinned person in Germany has been told that she should enter next year. Now is our time, ladies. Like we have all been sitting around waiting for public acknowledgement of our beauty! Man, we knew we were hot from the get go! Now this win has even led to me being the centre of a couple of jokes, 'How wude!' I hear you say, but all in good fun I can assure you. A couple of days ago my photographer friend sent me this:Hmmm... something not quite right about that. Yikes! Now, you'd think with that kind of body, any head would work, right? WRONG! At least I can be certain of one thing now. God really did know what he was doing when he put my head on my short, belovehandled body.

For the real deal, check out this clip:

Cooking at Meera's: Tom Yum Soup

I have a friend here in Ulm named Meera. She is from New Delhi and I met her in the Ladies' Room located in the Ulm University canteen. As you do. She was really friendly and back then I must have looked like a total freshie. It was my first month in Ulm, I was taking part in a German course at the university and feeling a little bit lost. Anyway, she was very friendly, asking me where I was from and what I was doing here. We exchanged numbers and have since become good friends. The other day, we met in the city and were confronting our usual dilemma of what to have for lunch. While Ulm is not short of cafes and restaurants, nothing we suggested to each other really sounded very appealing at all. There are times when you just feel like something you can't quite put your finger on and you know you probably will have to cook it yourself. That's when I remembered, that in my own kitchen, I have been quite obsessed with all things Asian. I have a Neil Perry cookbook, I've had it for ages without really looking at the recipes and now, all of a sudden, I have been using it on a daily basis. And that is what I found myself telling Meera. 'The other day I made a chilli paste,' I told her, 'and I used that chilli paste to make my own Tom Yum soup.' 'I'll never buy the instant paste again!' I found myself declaring. Before we knew it, we were both heading to her place with all the ingredients we would need for our lunch. What a joy it was to cook in Meera's kitchen. Hers is about 20 times as big as mine, with the luxury of bench space I have not known in years!
What follows are the recipes for the chilli paste and the Tom Yum soup. You need the chilli paste to make the soup. I have added some notes with modifications of mine. This makes quite a lot of chilli paste (about 3 cups), so you could reduce the quantity by half but I wouldn't recommend it as it keeps in the fridge and you can use it to add spice to just about any Asian inspired dish. All the ingredients are available in Ulm, I usually go to Asia Shop Nguyen, opposite Galleria Kaufhoff and on top of Metzgerei Bunk. They speak excellent English and if you can't find something on the shelf, just ask, it is usually hiding somewhere.

CHILLI PASTE (Simply Asian, Neil Perry)
2 cups peanut oil
1.5 cups diced red onion
1.25 cups sliced garlic (I only had enough garlic for about 1 cup and it still turned out OK)
6 tablespoons dried shrimp, pounded (if you don't have a mortar and pestle you could just whizz them in a blender for a few seconds)
1 cup palm sugar (I added about half a cup and that was enough sweetness for me, I recommend you add sugar to taste)

1 cup tamarind pulp, mixed with 1.5 cups hot water then pushed through a sieve (while I did add the tamarind when I made this at home, I totally forgot it at Meera's, we didn't really miss it though, but then we are Indian with guts of steel. The tamarind helps to tame the chilli so don't miss this step if you feel that is what you need)

3 tablespoons chilli powder
1/2 cup fish sauce

In a wok (or a deep fry pan), heat the peanut oil until just smoking. Add the onion and fry until very dark brown but not burnt.
Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and set aside. Add the garlich and fry until deep brown, then remove, drain and set aside.
Add the dried shrimp and fry until golden brown.
Return the onion and garlic and to the wok, then add the palm sugar and cook until dark brown and caramelised. Add the fish sauce, chilli powder and tamarind water, and boil for 30 seconds.


Pour the paste into a blender and process until smooth. Store in a screw-top jar in the refrigerator, where it will keep well for several weeks.

Use this paste to make the Tom Yum soup below. Please note that if you have an outdoor stove, it would be a great idea to use it, as the chilli paste does really have a strong smell that lingers. If not just open all your windows as wide as they can go.

SOUR AND SPICY PRAWN SOUP or THAI TOM YUM (Simply Asian, Neil Perry)
4 cups fresh chicken stock (I used a concentrate, still delicious)
1 stalk lemon grass, trimmed, cut into 2cm lengths and crushed (I used two)
5 slices galangal, crushed
2-3 kaffir lime leaves, crushed in your hand
2 tablespoons CHILLI PASTE (recipe above)
4 tablespoons lime juice
5 green bird's eye chillies, chopped
2 teaspoons palm sugar (I didn't add this as I found my CHILLI PASTE sweet enough)
4 tablespoons fish sauce
6 large cooked king prawns, shelled and deveined
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped coriander leaves
6 oyster mushrooms, sliced in half

Heat the stock in a pot until boiling. Add the lemon grass, galangal, lime leaves and chilli paste. Season to taste with lime juice, chillies, palm sugar and fish sauce - the soup should be sour but balanced, and fiery hot.
Add the prawns, coriander and mushrooms. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. I chose to add about half a bunch of white, baby asparagus (these are in abundance here at the moment) and some pressed tofu.

Delicious!

Nothing to tell you

How can it be, that after a month of absence I still feel like I don't really have much at all to say? Perhaps the truth is, that there is indeed so much to tell you, and well... Where do I begin?

The Australians

We were visited by some Australians in April. The type of Australians that come and stay, expecting hospitality and tours of the country. Did I hear someone say 'high maintenance'? That would have made for a much better story, but they weren't. They were the type who didn't ask for much at all but appreciated everything to such a degree, you felt like giving them more. They left us with a super cute 'Thank You' card and some fond memories. Unfortunately, nothing juicy to write about. They were here for about 3 weeks, taking off now and then to see other parts of Europe but always returning to declare that Germany was their favourite. Now, this may have had something to do with the beer and the leather trousers but I'd like to think it was the tours and the hospitality. I am so glad they enjoyed it. They ate our food and loved it, drank our coffee and tolerated it, sat in our garden and chatted in it. Our place hadn't seen so much action since last Christmas. On parting they made promises to re-invade and invited us to do the same the next time we are in Oz. You don't have to ask us twice. After all that blood, sweat and hospitality we felt like we needed a break.

One of the Aussies twisted my arm into climbing the Münster. The view from half-way up.

The Holiday

Husband always maintained that he wanted to do nothing but lay in the sun, winter had turned his skin an interesting shade of transparent. But I on the other hand, like to think of myself as a young and sprightly adventurer. Surely a week at a resort, with nothing but sun and sea would kill me? I insisted on Madrid. I mean, what kind of person has lived in Europe for three years and hasn't even been to Spain? I put my foot down and Husband agreed. Madrid it is, he said. And that is where I came undone. If he had said 'no' I would've insisted and Madrid it would have been. But he said 'yes'. Knowing, I believe, precisely what kind of reverse psychological effect this would have on me. I started thinking and the more I thunk, I realised the very thought of scouring the city for the perfect tapas made me lethargic. Madrid isn't going anywhere, I told myself. Maybe a week of indulgence and nothingness is what I really need? And that is how we ended up in Makadi Bay, a few kilometres drive from Hurghada, in Egypt. A huge, but tastefully designed resort (almost as big as a small German village and possibly with more restaurants than one), where we could snorkel with the many multicoloured fish of the Red Sea. After 7 days of lying by the pool, swimming, snorkelling and handsome Egyptians, I've never felt fresher. And you can't see Husband's veins any more.

Where we stayed, Makadi Palace by night.

The Garden

Yes, we have one now. For those of you who know of our front garden as the bare, desolate place of wood chips, things have changed. The garden no longer serves as the neighbourhood cat restroom. It is home to life.

Photo taken on the mobile (sorry), our Japanese Larch.

A garden from Eiden

Eiden, a shop I can imagine taking my sleeping bag into and staying over night in. The porcelain ware in this shop is just so pretty, it makes for a lovely atmosphere. It feels sort of other worldly when you go in there and I am never in a hurry to leave. Luckily the owners are very friendly, and I am often treated to cups of tea and a quick catch up in between spending my hard earned euros. I don't think my pictures really do it justice but they do have a nifty website (only in German though) with some photos that will give you an idea of why this place is so special. Jan and Dagmar Eiden, the owners also feature on the website photos. They make and sell porcelain cups, mugs, bowls, vases, soap dishes, the list goes on, not to mention lamps and lights. Everything is handmade in their work shop. Unbelievable! We don't have much of a garden, but to get ready for spring I bought a few hyacinth pots from Eiden and planted some bulbs. I am so looking forward to the flowers.
As you can imagine, as with anything special, Eiden's porcelain is not cheap but worth every penny if you appreciate the hard work involved and the individuality of the product.

A vase on display in the shop
Hand dotted bowls
Porcelain ceiling light - it's on the wish list!

And since I have shown you my hyacinths here, I will also show you Husband's beloved chillies. He plants them from seeds he has dried and this is the stage they are at now. These plants usually give us a yield to keep our freezer stocked for a good few months.

The babies

Enter maximum bid

I realised today that I am fast approaching my third year of life in Ulm. Nuts! I can hardly believe it. It doesn't seem like that long but if I think about it lots has happened in that time. I wonder how I can still feel so foreign after three years here. Because I am, I guess. I still get asked if I am Indian everywhere I go. That's OK, I don't mind. I do feel that I am sort of a let down in both respects. I don't really know anything about India for those Bollywood fans and I am not really fair dinkum Australian. Know what I mean? People I know, those I consider friends here, still ask me when my friends from India are coming to visit me. You mean Australia? Yes, Sydney, Australia. That is where I am from. That is what I know. I have only been to India for about six weeks in my entire existence. It seems hard for people to get over the exterior. How can I explain it? It's like cutting into a watermelon to realise that the interior is of an orange. An orange that looks like a watermelon. That's me. A Malaysian born, Australian grown, Indian looking mish mash. This can have it's upside, I guess. I get lots of 'My! Look at your big eyes' style compliments. When I think back about growing up in Australia, I guess it wasn't really much different. Lots of people would try to guess if I was from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Fiji, India, Africa - where else do those black people live? I seem to recall that in school, and hanging out with friends I often used to forget I was different. There were times it would puzzle me when someone asked me where I was from, I would forget. Forget, that I looked different enough to prompt such a question. What do you mean where am I from? Here, like everyone else. But no, realistically, I didn't belong to that category of foreigner either. I wasn't born in Australia. But this is about Ulm. So, what have I learnt in my three years here in Ulm? What experiences have I to share?

I can start with some things I love about being here.
One of them is the distinctive change of seasons.
Flowers in Spring, red leaves in Autumn.
The proximity of where we live to Italy.
The proximity of where we live to London thanks to budget airlines.
Berlin.
The uninhibited curiousity and friendliness of small town folk - I love all the 'Guten Morgens' when I go for a walk.
I love that schnitzel is 'normal food' as opposed to 'junk food' here.
These people are serious about recycling and caring for the environment.
The bread.
No shopping on Sundays means Husband and I have a whole day to sit around staring at each other.
I can now speak a pretty good, broken version of the language.
The infamous German directness - straight faced, cuts like a knife,
nothing if not well meant.

Which brings me to the real point of this post. A friend, my German BFF (best friend forever), whom I went to visit the other day. We sat like usual, talked shop, drank espresso, ate sweets. Then he asks me to consider the possibility that people here may think I am a mail order bride. Hmmm... OK, so it wasn't as out of the blue as I have made it sound, it was in the context of what we were discussing but nevertheless, it had me wide eyed and speechless. His words were,'You know how Germans think.' They see Husband, they see you. You still look like a student. There is a clear age difference. They wonder, apparently 'How much did he pay for her?' Really? Is that what they wonder? I thought he was joking with me. My German BFF has a wicked sense of humour. But no. It seems in my third year here I have been promoted from standard foreigner, to Mail Order Bride foreigner. An unexpected title. German BFF has now been downgraded to Frenemy status (unbeknownst to him), subject to review if/when I get over this. I am already thinking of t-shirt designs. It's not nice to make people wonder. I may as well wear my status on my sleeve. What about 'He won me on E-bay' or 'I was purchased on mailorderbride.com (free delivery)'. All ideas welcome.

Chilli Walter's New BFF

This is a bit sad, I know. My thermos is my friend. She has been loyal all through 'the intensive', offering support with warm lidfuls of jasmine green tea. Thank you Husband who brewed the tea fresh and filled her up every morning, and to my 'favourite Singapore supplier' (who will, from here on, be referred to as my FSS) who gifted it to me last Christmas. I love you both but there can only be one BFF. And because I can carry her around, she wins.

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