Marin Headlands

Every time I return home I am reminded of the feelings I first had when my parents moved to California. Just an overwhelming pleasure and feeling of satisfaction from the sight of the tree-covered mountains, the smell of wild herbs, the intense sun and dry heat. There's no place like home, but I didn't even grow up here, it's just my adopted home. Munich is great as well in its own way, and I love it there as well, it's just not....the natural beauty of California. The Alps are gorgeous too, just in a different way. Anyway, if there is something I have learned over the years, it's that comparisons are not really fair, not with places, not with people, jobs, things, etc. Everything is unique.

So minute philosophies aside, I had a great day with my mom yesterday. We started out with a workout in the gym (of 7 days of vacation thus far, I have been in the gym for 6 of them, feels great), then a trip over to her favorite cafe in Larkspur for a quick coffee, then a drive down to Sausalito for a walk around and then lunch at Sushi Ran, and then on to the Marin Headlands, for a hike I had never done before. Really beautiful and a good chance to enjoy California for a bit before I head back to Germany. Despite the typical summer fog hanging over the bay, the short hike was incredibly refreshing. Will try to do the same today.

Max, the irresistable cat

He likes to chirp at you. Chirp chirp chirp...

The Opening

Visiting home is always great, but today was especially nice. My Mom had her 65th birthday (Happy Birthday again, Mom!) and my Dad arranged a surprise party for her at a favorite Mexican restaurant. She was surprised. :-) I didn't get any really good snaps, though (maybe someone else did....will have to check). :-( I kept the iphone in the purse most of the time.

But before that, we went to Amy's art opening at a local gallery. Of the five artists who showed, she was the only one who sold anything at the opening (the one with the red dot on the label). Nice way to start a show. Hope that continues and she sells all five in the next three weeks.

There are all different ways to sleep

Gosh, I wouldn't want to be this guy when he wakes up with a stiff neck. I ended up watching 3 movies and a couple tv shows ...better than sleeping like that. oh the joys of cross atlantic flights in economy class....:-)

Travelin' Cat

Sammy was not liking the packing this morning...but I promised I would take him on the next trip...

When Life Gives You Watermelons...

...make watermelon ice cream.

Ok, so the blog pause didn't last that long.

In honor of July 4th, it seemed to be a good idea to celebrate with watermelon, if not fireworks. Decided to try something new.

Step 1: remove watermelon "meat" from shell. De-seed.
Step 2) simmer cream and eggs on stove for 4 minutes, pour over watermelon. Let cool.
Step 3) blend watermelon and custard mixture with hand blender
Step 4) chop chocolate and put in fridge so it doesn't melt
Step 5) freeze ice cream in ice cream machine of choice (mine is not doing that well these days! :-( )
Step 6) Put chocolate chips into icecream before it fully freezes and then spoon it into hollowed out watermelon shell.
Step 7) Eat and Enjoy.

Taking a Break From Blogging

Mixin it up in London

The view from the 5th floor of our company building helps to showcase the chaotic mix of architecture here in London. Chaotic...but I like it much of the time. It all comes together somehow.

And...scouting around in a Marks & Spencer's on my way back to the hotel last night turned up some craziness. Check it out - you can literally buy...a glass of wine. The glasses were made out of plastic and there was a plastic film glued to the top to keep the liquid in the glass. I abstained from buying one. Can't imagine it tastes any good...

Health and Happiness

A perk of some time in London is that lunch time is a particularly nice experience. Yesterday - a burrito, today some health and happiness.

The Big Easy

Remember that film with Kyra Sedgewick called "The Big Easy?" I think it must have come out around 15 years ago - maybe even before that (Oh god. I just looked. It was 24 year ago...here's a really bad trailer...). It was a murder mystery. I don't even remember most of the details. I remember her southern accent - and it took place in the South. I think New Orleans. She was some kind of police officer or detective. I remember it was a steamy movie, both because of the location and the mystery storyline, the time of year, but also because of the side romance theme throughout. Co-starred what's his name...Dennis Quaid. Who was looking pretty good at the time.

Anyway...this morning I downloaded a couple episodes of "The Closer" - some US crime drama series that was recommended to me by one of the clients I have been working with in Zurich. He gave me a whole long list of around 8 series to check out...because I have only really been watching Bones lately and I think he felt sorry for me. hehehe. Anyway, long story short, Kyra is the star of this series. She must have been cast in it as the star because of The Big Easy. And it's good. I watched two episodes in the gym today, so that is telling.

But subconsciously this all came together obviously. Here is how this stuff influences me: I think southern US...and crabs and crab boils and recipes from there...(Louisiana crab cakes) and I had about a kilo of frozen crab in the freezer looking for a recipe. And normally I don't really eat crab. They are too much work and too messy. But I had no big plans and plenty of time to zen out peeling a kilo of crabs. Boiled them up and peeled away and peeled and peeled and peeled. I think for about an hour and a half. My cat, Sophie, watched with fascination and in the hope that I would abandon the bowl of meat for a half a second. In the end, I think I ended up with 300 grams of crab meat. What to do? Crab cakes, of course. But I always try to cut the fat and calories out...so I put almost no mayo in there...and I didn't really fry them - just a spot of oil in the pan so they wouldn't stick.

Result - good. But obviously no Big Easy. And no Big Tasty. But good.

I have no idea either

Wandering around client office...you come across these things....and don't ask too many questions...

Riddle is solved

Please Tell Me What This Is

It's in my hotel room and I have really really no idea what it could be.

You Underestimate That 14%

One and half glasses later, you are swimming with the fishies....well,
I am.

Wondering what the rest looks like

Just before I parked my bike and walked into my gym yesterday afternoon, did a double-take when I saw this guy and the car. Wedding, I am guessing. I think the guy standing against the building wall there was some kind of secret service agent...can't imagine that the groom was literally standing and waiting. But who knows what the real story was. The car and driver were waiting outside of this place...I didn't bother to go press my nose against the window to see who/what was inside. ;-) I'll let it remain a mystery. (License plate of the car had two names on it with hearts...)

Catch Up: Berne

My work in Switzerland continues these days...the client keeps tagging two or three weeks on here or there. So I have a week or two at home, then they realize they would like to have me back...so then I have a couple weeks in Switzerland...and then home...etc. The work travel is getting wearisome. I don't like train rides there and back, I don't like packing on Sunday night/Monday morning, I am not a big fan of eating out every day, and the hotel beds leave something to be desired most of the time. Leaving aside completely...the issue of family, friends and kitties...

But...I do like the work, which makes it difficult - my work with Sapient continues to be the best I have found yet. I learn something new with every single project, even if I am repeating myself sometimes. I like my colleagues a lot. So...it would be hard to say goodbye just to rid myself of the business travel.

And obviously there are the "perks" when you get to a new city. If you have a few free hours, you can walk around, check things out. Which I got to do last week in Berne. It was really just a couple hours of walking from the hotel to the central area of the city. But still, it was my exercise for the day, and Berne is quite lovely. I only got to see a corner of the old town, so perhaps next time I will see a little more. Here are a few photos from the wandering...

The hotel I stayed at was not direct in the center, so I had to walk down into a valley and then up a little hill to get the city center. So the photos are somewhat reflective of that and the fact that as usual I only had the iphone with me...my little Pano application let me do the panorama shot from the top of the hill, but the city shots were kinda useless...you only get a vague idea. What was impressive was the fact that the old buildings were SO WELL maintained. When I compare to Munich, also a beautiful city, I am really astounded by how shiny/new the buildings appear. (No wars, lotsa money to keep things spick and span).

Sometimes You Feel Like Blogging...

...and Sometimes You Don't.

Papaya

This half a papaya cost me 4.25 euros. Why oh why oh why can't papayas grown in this climate?!!!! Maybe some genetic engineering would be appropriate.

Sit Down And Pay Attention!

Great ad from deutsche bahn this morning. All those little red seat
covers on the bikes outside my gym??? A campaign to promote the one
day train ticket for all of bavaria. For 20 euros, you can ride
wherever you want all day on the db rails. I assume that price
includes a bike pass as well... Wish i had arrived some 30 min earlier
so they would have put a seat cover on my bike too!!!!

You say Baerlauch (ramps), I say Brot (bread)

The English garden is again teaming with ramps. Fields of it. Never-ending pastures full of the garlicky herb.
So, time to make some bread. I headed over to there late this afternoon when the sun decided to grace us with its presence for 15 minutes today (annoyed with this schizophrenic April weather - who said we wanted it cold and snowy again?!?!?!) and collected a few handfuls of the stuff.

They sell the bread in the bakeries, of course, but fresh, hot-out-of-the-breadmachine (ok, CHEATING - but hey, I had a lot to do today) Baerlauch brot - yum.

Ingredients:
400 gm white flour
300 gm rye flour (i was out of whole wheat)
3 eggs
1 package yeast (fresh)
2 tsp salt
2 Tbl brown sugar
approximately 125 gm chopped up Baerlauch
2 Tbl olive oil
about...150 gm water

Recipe called for whole wheat flour and also for yogurt - but for once - I had no yogurt or substitutes in the house, so did without.

Will post photo of loaf in about an hour or so - as soon as it is done baking. Smells good though.
___________
And...there we go. But....results need some work. Not enough salt for my taste. And I would even add more sugar to give it a slightly sweet edge. Also, next time I need to have the yogurt in there for some heft - it's a light airy bread, and I am used to a bit denser. But now is only the beginning of the season, so I have some time left to try out another loaf or two.