30 days of blogging

Yes, I am out of the habit of blogging, but I still like to blog! I'm always thinking, "oh, I could blog about that!", but then I don't because I've got so much stuff that happened before that to blog about. There's been a blog backup!! But as am whittling the hours away (my German course doesn't begin until the 8th of Sept), I'm finding myself kinda lacking in the entertainment realm. So, back to the blog I come and boy have I got things to share!

I promise to blog every day for 30days, so basically a month. Except week-ends. Let's say that I can stop the last day of September, then, shall we?

Here's something to share: I stubbed my toe the other day and this is what happened!


complete with toe jam!

Here are some other things that I need to inform y'all about:

Dad's visit. We saw Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Freiburg, Zurich, Düsseldorf and Aachen together. He went to Cologne alone, lost my cell phone and drove around Neuss (where I live), lost, for an hour despite having directions and a map.

I've been working on making friends in Düsseldorf and organized a couchsurfing meeting there last Saturday.

I met with an old couchsurfing friend from Hamburg in Cologne. It was lovely. We had breakfast in a vegan-friendly café and a had a Soyamilchkaffee (I'm not sure if that's all one word, but knowing the Germans.... Anyway, it's a soy milk coffee.) and it kicked asparagus. Yes, these kinds of things will make my week-end.

I read this book called "Tales of a Female Nomad" that's inspiring me to move to a developing country; perhaps as an aid worker? I was thinking a French-speaking african country.

I'm going to Lille, France Sept 5-7th for a couchsurfing meeting. I should be looking for a couch to surf, but I'm not!

I did 45 push-ups yesterday! so what if they were on my knees?

I'll leave you with this beautiful italian marinated tofu that me and Dad picnicked with on the Rhein in Düsseldorf. The marinade is absolutely perfect and comes from Vegan with a Vengance. If you don't use any other recipe in the book (which would be silly), this recipe alone is worth the price of the book. So simple and great!

Maastricht CS Summer Meeting '08

I went to Maastricht, Netherlands on whim last week-end for a CouchSurfing meeting. It was a very good decision.


crossing a bridge on the Saturday city tour

At CS meetings, I always meet a huge variety of people, most all of them big travellers. Some have been on the road for months, some (like me) enjoy attending CS meetings in the area, some travel for work, others travel because they don't know what else to do with their money, some stay in one place and let the travellers come to them. By the end of it, I always make a bunch of great friends and have to say goodbye, hoping that we may cross paths again.


Couchsurfers surfing and airmattress.

On Sunday we went and played in a lake in Maastricht. It was stupendous.


Chaotic group photo.

On Saturday we had a party at a CSer's house in Belgium. It rained, but we danced and sang all night, and look what the morning brought us!

Soup! Complete with crimp.

If you don't know what a crimp is, you need to watch The Mighty Boosh right away!

Soup, Soup - a tasty soup, soup

A spicy carrot and coriander, chili chowder!

Crouton, crouton - crunchy bread in a liqid broth

I am gaspachio - uh! I am a summersoup - mm!

Miso, miso - fighting in the Dojo

Miso, miso - oriental prince in the land of soup!

Me!!

There was this one time that my hair looked good....

This is what I REALLY look like. Please ignore all the worse-r photos out there of me. That's my ugly double because I'm too rambunctious to stay still.

Baden-Baden in Baden-Württemberg

I had a two week vacation after two weeks of working for my current host family. What luxury! It also meant that I didn't have too much money saved up, but I travelled down to Baden-Württemberg with a couple friends anyway. Baden-Württemberg is a state in Germany (like Bavaria or Nord Rhein Westfallen, where I live) in the southwest. I contains the ominous Black Forest, which you've probably heard of.

On my birthday, we hiked up to this old castle. It was really fun to explore and quite pretty.


flower!


Castle + forest/mountain backdrop

I turned 21 in Baden-Baden! There was a casino in the town, so we visited it on that special evening because it seemed like a 21-year-old sort of thing to do, even though in Germany, you can do everything once you turn 18. Only two of the girls went into the fancy area where they were playing Black Jack and Russian Roulette. I went down to the slots with the boys, where I was given a free drink because it was my birthday! I had Jack Daniel's because it was expensive and because I was nostalgic for home.


Opening up a local Pilsner on my Bday. Thank you for all the phone calls!

Baden-Baden was a real cute town. It also had a thermal spa, which we visted. The verb for "to bathe" in German is "baden," so we got to say, "Wir baden in Baden-Baden in Baden-Württemberg!" It was very fun.


just a pretty building.

Blogging again!

Yes! I am back to the blogging world! I was sick of communicating to everyone through e-mail. The quick, anti-social response, "Just look at the blog!" prevents wasting my meager time on you individuals. Besides, I have bigger goals. Like writing the best cult zombie film and bringing the goodness of vegan food to the world.

This is the 1st time I've cooked in ages. I mean, I've cooked, but what I really wish to connote is cooking in the elaborate, zen-chef sense. I mean, spending two hours on just one dish for myself and then telling a whole bunch of people (who could probably care less) all about it. This sort of cooking is much more preferable because otherwise I eat something that doesn't really hit the spot, so I look for something better and then, 2 kilos later, I still don't have what I want. Additionally, it leaves me feeling like I've accomplished something great in the day if I've made something uber tasty, however temporal. SO, if you haven't lately, get out and make yourself something good. You deserve it.

I give you Marinated Italian Tofu à la Vegan with a Vengance (otherwise known as VwaV, to everyone that's cool) with a side of black beans and raw kohlrabi, a kind of German turnip. I made a gravy with the marinade by heating it then adding a bit of nooch (vegan pixie dust), extra water and flour, to thicken in up. The marinade is perfect and simple and gives you a good reason to open up that bottle of white wine that someone left at your last house party.


unphotoshopped. be gentle

While taking a photo of this (okay, I took about 16 and then settled on this one, you happy?), a neighbor walked by the window where I was in my artistic trance and says loudly, "Sehr schön!" ("very pretty!") and I was both startled and embarassed, like I was photographing real porn, not the food kind.

July 4th

I skipped a really great July 4th CouchSurfing party in Bonn to celebrate Independence Day with one of my favourite ex-pats and some Germans.

Amanda had the idea to make this flag cake. I baked a yellow cake (vegan, of course) with sprinkles on the inside!! You know, like what you get when you're five? Amanda got soywhip, blueberries and strawberries from the store and then the magic happened.

Flag cake!

Amanda also had the idea from her Auburn days to pour vodka into a watermelon. You don't taste the vodka, but you do taste the nastiness that is watermelon.

Me and my friends out on Timo's balcony.


They found sliced cheese at the store, decided it looked more like playing cards than food and turned it into cards, however crudely.


The whole shibang. note the ketchup/mustard tube mix, american buns, tons of booze. also, quinoa salad. not pictured: tofu dogs.