Kisses to you and you and you...

The cats are taking a catnap and I woke them up accidentally. Sophie
wakes up and wonders what all the noise and light are for. Anything to
get away from finishing my American taxes...although they absolutely
need to be finished this weekend. :-(

Only In Deutschland

I think that it can only be here in Germany that one can buy beer at the gym. I have yet to see someone buy one, but they wouldn't bother stocking it if it wasn't being purchased. Maybe it is so unfathomable for me because I only work out in the morning. I guess people who finish their days with sports might drink a beer before going home.

Schiltach Ready or Not

I keep hearing about what a beautiful town it is, so am curious now to see the old Schwabian town next week during our kickoff workshop and interviews. Our hotel is apparently a nice 5 minute walk from the client. Sounds like some nice hiking in the area as well. So day looks like this (?) Wake up, do team yoga (Britta encourages us...), get dressed, go meet the clients, do the interviews and meetings, document, wrap up, go for evening walk, dinner, head to bed....OR...work all evening? Let's see. Hoping for the best.

If you feed them they work harder

Our account director brought us breakfast this morning so we would
come in earlier. ;-)

Turquoise Blue

On the way back from lunch, saw this specimen...

Am buried in all-day workshops at the moment in preparation of meeting the client and kicking off the new big project in Schiltach next week. I have to giggle at the fact that if you google Schiltach, the first link you get is one for the city. You click the link, and the second navigation field on the page is "Unser Städtle" - classic Schwabian dialect. :-) Means "Our little city."

Between finishing up taxes and finishing prepping for the client meetings next week, looks like the weekend will be pretty busy with work...

Vote for Sunglasses

Had a margharita and chips for dinner together with Britta, Katja and Marcel this evening. Katja played with the sunglasses lying around the table. We thought she looked better in the second pair....

We talked about the project that kicks off tomorrow, the team, about Britta's recent yoga retreat on Ibiza,

and you know,

the state of the world.

Beate Learns to Blog

My friend and colleague, Beate, wanted me to show her how a blog works and how easy it is to create one with Blogger...or well...WORDPRESS. I think Wordpress has snazzier templates, but blogger is a no headache solution most of the time.

So, Beate is watching carefully and will create her own blog tomorrow. I hope.

Passion, Start to Finish

Otherwise known as afternoon snack.

It was time...

...to get a new project.
And now there are three or so...or four.
Simulataneously.
It's always like that. Feast or Famine...

Photo of the clock tower near the Volksbad close to work. Photo doesn't do the clock justice - really beautiful facade...

Needing a Smash Shack

At the moment, I need this.

What is it? It is a totally crazy concept that I could really use right this minute. Namely, in San Diego, there is a place called Sarah's Smash Shack where you can pay to throw dishes (glasses, vases, etc.) against a wall. Doing US taxes this year is NOT A PLEASURE. Normally takes me two hours, print the forms, sign them, send them in, and done. This year...not the case.

So I think I would really be ready to pay twenty five bucks to throw some plates against a wall. Instead, I guess I will be paying a couple hundred to a tax specialist.

Inside Outside

Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls for dinner. Light, tasty, easy to make.

Meanwhile, I am pulling my hair out about my US taxes. NEED ACCOUNTANT with international experience - anyone? anyone? Got a recommendation? Have 14 days to go until the deadline for expats.

Argh.

P.S. the passion fruit kiwi cocktails help a bit with the tax stress....well until I look at the red number at the top of the screen.

Beer garden time

Met up with friends (old and new) yesterday evening. Enjoyed talking about food innovation, Christo-like and inspired art projects, polite and impolite usage of iphones while socializing, and just general catching up.

Leftovers: Variations on a Theme

It all started with a book review I saw yesterday morning in the New York Times. Three food memoirs (a new genre) reviewed by Christine Muhlke. All sound really good. I think I even put one on my "to buy sometime in the future" list over on Amazon. One of the authors, Molly Wizenberg, ("A HOMEMADE LIFE, Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen") also writes a blog called Orangette. (Although unfortunately, it looks like she is taking a break from blogging at the moment).

Anyway, so after reading the review, I was curious about the blog and headed over there to take a look. I had asparagus in the fridge, and no real ideas on what to do with them, and happened across a recipe that she posted for Roasted Asparagus with Walnut Crema and Pecorino. Sounded really good. So that was dinner last night with a piece of salmon and a tomato salad. I ended up making only one ammendment to the recipe for the crema. Molly didn't add any salt or pepper, but I thought after tasting it, that it needed a bit. So I added a couple pinches of both.

The walnut crema was incredibly rich though, and I didn't use that much of it. Thought about what to do with the leftovers, and decided to mix it with tomatoes, thai basil and parsley, a chunk of leftover salmon, a couple cloves of crushed garlic, and pasta. Which was a good idea. Lunch today...

Cilantro

Three stores to find cilantro today. Really not a good thing when you cook with it by the handful as I tend to do. One extra weekend day and you would think stores were closing for a week with the lines. One of those things about Germany...they take their holidays very very seriously....shopping for food - not allowed.

Sheep Wolf Dilemma

Still loving Hugh.

Eyes in the back of my head

Mid-morning sun nap in the middle of a path. A little eery how ducks
can turn their heads 180 degrees.

Music to Cook By

This morning I was scrolling through some articles and had to smile when I came across this one: an article about Bay Area chefs and what they listen to when they cook . :-)

I laughed and looked for some inspiration in it...checked out quite a number of the artists on iTunes, and even bought one or two songs.

These days, when I have a longer cooking session (perhaps 2 hours or so), I like to listen to Bebe's "Pafuera Teleranas" and the ever-favorite Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.

Transplant

Just ran into this silly site, where I learned how to do brain and heart transplants on ...gummi bears. :-)

In Sweden Not Everything Is Snowy White

Thomas, who is working on a project in Stockholm at the moment, just made it back to Munich for the weekend. He brought us some of the toilet paper from the apparently more stylish bathrooms in Swedish hotels. :-)




















I received one sheet as a present. Perfumy...

He didn't want to pose for the photo.

Home sweet sleep

Am tired after my 18 hour day. Was fun to post photos throughout. Meeting went relatively well and we'll see what comes of it. Meanwhile, I get to sleep a while and work somewhat less tomorrow. Yawning..,