Until last week temperatures here had been holding pretty steady at around 10 degrees overnight and up to 17 during the day (although with a bit of a wind chill factor). I think one morning last week when I woke up it was 9.5 degrees and then it rained for a few days and the temp came back up. This week is different, 7 degrees yesterday and 4 this morning and it went down to 3 overnight as well. So I've had the windows closed at night time although I'm still leaving them open during the day so that there's a bit of air in the place when I come home. I think no matter where else I might end up living, I'm always going to want German windows. You can open them fully to the side (like a door) or you can open them by tilting the top inwards.
I have taking to wearing a hat in bed again even though I don't really need it yet. It's a comfort thing. I really should knit myself a nice proper nightcap sometime.
I don't remember when I turned the heat on for the first time last year, must look back through the blog and see if I made a note of it. My brother is coming to visit tomorrow for a long weekend so it's likely it'll be on a while then. He tends to stay up much later than I do watching DVDs and listening to music and sitting around while the temperature is dropping rather than sleeping under a warm duvet could get a bit cold I imagine.
Normally I make an effort to clean up when people are coming. Admittedly often less effort when he is coming because he knows me so well it doesn't matter if there are piles of paperwork lying around or if I didn't get around to putting the laundry away. But I've basically done nothing but basic cleaning for about a month and the place is, to say the least, a bit of a mess. All of the chutney I made as well as the salsa and piccalilli is in jars in boxes stacked in the kitchen and hallway. I have two big cupboards in the hallway and I wanted to clear out stuff from one of them and but all the jars in there instead. I did actually start clearing one of them out on Sunday so now I have a pile of shoes and boxes lying around in the hallway as well. Will try and get up early in the morning and do something about that lot at least. Of course I could be doing it now but I'm just in after choir practice and I am tired so I'm just going to head straight to bed instead.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
WW - week 9
1.2k (just over 2.5lbs) down this week. Wow. I definitely need to keep up on all the long walks at the weekend. After the chocolate and wine tasting on Friday followed by the constant nibbling at various bits and pieces on Saturday I really didn't think I'd be down this week. And to be down that much is just amazing. I was so convinced that I hadn't had a great week that I did all that cooking yesterday to make sure I had lunches covered for the week and I have the chickpeas on cooking now which should give me something to eat on the evenings I'm not going to be able to come home straight after work. So that gives me a good start into the new week anyway.
Total weight loss since August 6 kilos (just over 13 lbs)
Total weight loss since August 6 kilos (just over 13 lbs)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A few photos
I made pizza sauce today and have another batch of tomatoes in the oven roasting now for a second lot. The farmer at the market yesterday said he expected to have tomatoes for a few weeks yet. He'll probably pull the plants up in the next week or two and then it'll be a couple of weeks before everything that's left on them is finished. Feels like a long time - I must remember to make a note of the last week they have tomatoes so that I can remember it for next year.
In an attempt to do something nice and autumnal at home (Germans are very into their 'deko' stuff and will kit out their houses according to the season all the time - we're not talking just about a few flowers either), I made up a little platter with some of the things I've found while out walking the last couple of weeks and added a candle too. It's a small start but although I take the piss out of the Germans sometimes the idea of making small decorative adjustments insde to reflect the seasons outside is something I really like.
And here's a picture of the first two tomatoes I harvested from my plant at home.
I ate these with some bread and cheese for lunch. They weren't very big but very, very sweet. There are a few more just turned red now and others nearly there so I'm going to wait until the end of the week to eat them. My brother will be over for a visit then and it's always nice to share the harvest. I planted some spinach and lettuce in my window boxes a couple of weeks ago as well and they have sprouted now so I might even get to have my own supply of salad leaves during the winter. We'll see.
In an attempt to do something nice and autumnal at home (Germans are very into their 'deko' stuff and will kit out their houses according to the season all the time - we're not talking just about a few flowers either), I made up a little platter with some of the things I've found while out walking the last couple of weeks and added a candle too. It's a small start but although I take the piss out of the Germans sometimes the idea of making small decorative adjustments insde to reflect the seasons outside is something I really like.
And here's a picture of the first two tomatoes I harvested from my plant at home.
I ate these with some bread and cheese for lunch. They weren't very big but very, very sweet. There are a few more just turned red now and others nearly there so I'm going to wait until the end of the week to eat them. My brother will be over for a visit then and it's always nice to share the harvest. I planted some spinach and lettuce in my window boxes a couple of weeks ago as well and they have sprouted now so I might even get to have my own supply of salad leaves during the winter. We'll see.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Seed and plant swap
Today was my first proper day volunteering at the Bio-Garten but as it was the annual autumn seed and plant swap, it wasn't really a proper day at all. So it was a longer day than usual as it only started at 1 and went on till 4 so I was there from 10.30 setting up and then until nearly 5 putting everything away again. But it was fun and nice to meet some of the other volunteers. There seem to be quite a lot who only volunteer on Tuesday afternoons and since I work on Tuesdays I won't often get a chance to see any of them.
I did feel a bit in the way from time to time waiting for someone to tell me what to do but once we started putting tents and things up (we've had the worst weather today that we've had so far this autumn and it rained a LOT) it was okay. Being tall does make one useful on occasion. There was also loads of lovely food to eat which various people had brought along. I hadn't brought anything as I thought the usual gathering for tea and a bite to eat wouldn't happen because of the event but they had a table set up inside for all the workers to come in and take a break from time to time. I spent most of the time the event was actually taking sitting in there, chatting to some of the older members and washing up whatever cups and plates and things were used. I'm going to make an apple tart to bring along next week though as I felt bad to have turned up with nothing.
The seed exchange was amazing to look at. It was raining so hard I didn't bother to bring my camera but there were one or two short sunny spells in between which would have been good for taking pictures. Oh well. There were hundreds and hundreds of different types of seeds which had been collected from the garden. You could bring your own seeds in and exchange them for ones from the garden or just get some seeds in exchange for a small donation (about 1 euro for each type which is a very good bargain in my view).
The garden is in the middle of a huge park in Dusseldorf so all the big stands with the plants and so on were just outside the entrance in the main part of the park. As I don't have a garden I didn't look too much (it was very, very difficult to stay away from the seeds as it was, never mind plants too). But I did buy two surprise bags of tulip bulbs, which will make nice presents I think.
By the end of the day I was getting a bit bored but at that stage it was time to start taking everything down again so I got stuck into that. I got home just after six (having made a quick stop in town to buy a new small backpack to use for every day - needed a new one so I can start carrying rain gear with me every day again. One day I'll have enough to buy a really good one that will last for years but for now it was another 5 euro jobbie) and changed into my pyjamas straight away and put all the muddy clothes I'd been wearing straight in to the washing machine. I had to ring my brother and lay down while I was doing so as my legs and feet were killing me after having been standing for such a long part of the day. Once I'd spoken to him I actually ended up falling asleep until nine o'clock. Bad idea normally but actually now that I've been up for a couple of hours and had a lovely toasted ham and cheese sandwich along with a few cups of tea (decaf - since I can't drink caffeine I do always have some decaf tea on standby although I norally just stick to herbal and fruit teas). I even made a pot of tea instead of just one cup and dragged out a milk jug too. Great end to a great day really.
I did feel a bit in the way from time to time waiting for someone to tell me what to do but once we started putting tents and things up (we've had the worst weather today that we've had so far this autumn and it rained a LOT) it was okay. Being tall does make one useful on occasion. There was also loads of lovely food to eat which various people had brought along. I hadn't brought anything as I thought the usual gathering for tea and a bite to eat wouldn't happen because of the event but they had a table set up inside for all the workers to come in and take a break from time to time. I spent most of the time the event was actually taking sitting in there, chatting to some of the older members and washing up whatever cups and plates and things were used. I'm going to make an apple tart to bring along next week though as I felt bad to have turned up with nothing.
The seed exchange was amazing to look at. It was raining so hard I didn't bother to bring my camera but there were one or two short sunny spells in between which would have been good for taking pictures. Oh well. There were hundreds and hundreds of different types of seeds which had been collected from the garden. You could bring your own seeds in and exchange them for ones from the garden or just get some seeds in exchange for a small donation (about 1 euro for each type which is a very good bargain in my view).
The garden is in the middle of a huge park in Dusseldorf so all the big stands with the plants and so on were just outside the entrance in the main part of the park. As I don't have a garden I didn't look too much (it was very, very difficult to stay away from the seeds as it was, never mind plants too). But I did buy two surprise bags of tulip bulbs, which will make nice presents I think.
By the end of the day I was getting a bit bored but at that stage it was time to start taking everything down again so I got stuck into that. I got home just after six (having made a quick stop in town to buy a new small backpack to use for every day - needed a new one so I can start carrying rain gear with me every day again. One day I'll have enough to buy a really good one that will last for years but for now it was another 5 euro jobbie) and changed into my pyjamas straight away and put all the muddy clothes I'd been wearing straight in to the washing machine. I had to ring my brother and lay down while I was doing so as my legs and feet were killing me after having been standing for such a long part of the day. Once I'd spoken to him I actually ended up falling asleep until nine o'clock. Bad idea normally but actually now that I've been up for a couple of hours and had a lovely toasted ham and cheese sandwich along with a few cups of tea (decaf - since I can't drink caffeine I do always have some decaf tea on standby although I norally just stick to herbal and fruit teas). I even made a pot of tea instead of just one cup and dragged out a milk jug too. Great end to a great day really.
Monday, October 05, 2009
WW - week 8
Another 500g (just over a pound) down. Yippee. Am very surprised after the amount of food I ate this week but I did go for that very long walk on Saturday and a couple of times last week I walked home from town rather than getting the tram the one or two stops it takes. Exercise really does make a difference it seems. So, renewed determination to keep going and try to do better this week at sticking to just eating what I've planned to eat. No harvest festivals to go to this week so that will help :)
Weight loss since 13 August = 4.8 kilos (10.5 lbs)
Weight loss since 13 August = 4.8 kilos (10.5 lbs)
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Things I still need for the apartment
I'm also in a bit of a list frenzy at the moment and have decided to put them up here so that I can keep track better.
Still to do in or buy for the apartment, some still just haven't been done since I moved in, some have been on the wishlist for a long time and are not so important
1. Cooker, gas hob and electric oven if possible
2. Kitchen cupboards, at least one floor to ceiling one
3. Possibly a cupboard to put the washing machine into and give me some worktop space
4. Gas cylinders for cooker
5. Coffee table - I'd like to get one of the plastic kids tables from Ikea, covered with a cloth it'll look fine and if I have kids to visit they have somewhere to colour etc. without their mothers worrying about them making a mess (which always seems to bother visitors way more than it does me, even if it's my home that the mess is being made in)
6. Lights in the bathroom and kitchen
7. Put up curtains
8. Paint kitchen
9. Paint hall
10. Paint bathroom
11. Paint sitting room
12. Paint bedroom
13. Make curtains to hang around butcher's block to stop everything on the shelves of it from getting so dirty
14. Reupholster kitchen chairs
15. Reinforce middle shelf in kitchen dresser
16. Really good big kitchen knife
17. Tiles for the bathroom.
18. Bed
Still to do in or buy for the apartment, some still just haven't been done since I moved in, some have been on the wishlist for a long time and are not so important
1. Cooker, gas hob and electric oven if possible
2. Kitchen cupboards, at least one floor to ceiling one
3. Possibly a cupboard to put the washing machine into and give me some worktop space
4. Gas cylinders for cooker
5. Coffee table - I'd like to get one of the plastic kids tables from Ikea, covered with a cloth it'll look fine and if I have kids to visit they have somewhere to colour etc. without their mothers worrying about them making a mess (which always seems to bother visitors way more than it does me, even if it's my home that the mess is being made in)
6. Lights in the bathroom and kitchen
7. Put up curtains
8. Paint kitchen
9. Paint hall
10. Paint bathroom
11. Paint sitting room
12. Paint bedroom
13. Make curtains to hang around butcher's block to stop everything on the shelves of it from getting so dirty
14. Reupholster kitchen chairs
15. Reinforce middle shelf in kitchen dresser
16. Really good big kitchen knife
17. Tiles for the bathroom.
18. Bed
Slow Food and Bio-Garten
On Thursday evening I went to my first Slow Food event. I've been meaning to join for years, with a renewed decision to do so when I moved here as a means to meet people but when I still hadn't gotten around to it by May this year I decided to wait until January. The annual membership fee is based on the calendar year so even if I joined now I would have to pay for the full year and then again in January and although it's not a huge amount of money it seemed silly not to wait. Then I found out that non-members can still attend some events and signed up to the harvest thanks one "the secret of shining bread" - an evening with wine, bread, cheese and olive oil. The baker who was the main speaker runs a bakery which is not too far from me called Hercules. It's not close enough to be an everyday bakery for me but from looking at the map it's only about half-an-hour's walk away, which is a nice distance to walk for some really great bread. Not so long it feels like a chore but long enough there and back to feel like I've earned an extra slice. So something to do next weekend perhaps.
One thing I found fantastic was that not only did they not try to sell us anything (it was held in a big wine depot, Lust4Wine and I really did expect to feel obliged to buy at least a couple of bottles of wine or something) they pulled out a load of paper bags when people started to leave and tried to get everyone to take as much bread away as they could carry. I found that very refreshing. I ate lots of bread and cheese, including a fabulous chilli cheese. When I asked where the cheese came from though the baker's wife said she had just bought it in from the organic wholesaler so I may need to do a bit more digging to find out where exactly it came from. I also had two slices of Zwiebelkuchen or onion cake, which is a fab seasonal favourite and in fact was the thing which persuaded me that onions might not be all that bad to eat (way back in 1994, the year I was here for a semester in college and still mostly only ate potatoes and meat and bread). It was the best one I've tasted for a long time.
When I first arrived it seemed like a lot of groups of people had arrived together and I felt like I'd end up sitting on my own, eating a bit and leaving again but once people sat down to eat the conversation flowed, not easily exactly but sufficiently well to be enjoyable. So I chatted a bit to those around me and of course, being foreign always make the first conversation a bit easier because it's answering all the 'where are you from, why did you come here' questions. And it was really nice to talk to people who are interested in Slow Food as well.
Then, yesterday morning I went to the organic community garden run by the local community college. I went during the summer to volunteer and found out they try now to just take volunteers on twice a year and do a proper introduction to the others who are members of the 'Arbeitskreis' or work circle and to the garden. In a way it's also to make sure that the people who show up really are interested before they start spending time explaining everything about what they do etc. So I had to wait for a few months but finally the day arrived. I'll be working there every Saturday from 10 until 13 and most weeks people bring something to eat, perhaps a cake or something, and after work is finished everyone gathers in the small house/big shed and has a cup of coffee and a bit to eat while discussing what's been happening in the garden, what needs to be done etc. I hope to learn a lot and think I am really going to enjoy working outside again for a few hours a week. They seem like a nice bunch of people. Next week is the annual plant exchange so there won't be much work in the garden itself but I'll go along to help set it up at least and have a wander. I'll try to remember to bring my camera and get some photos as well.
After that I met a friend to go for a walk in the woods which was great as well. Altogether I think I walked for about two and a half hours because I also got a tram that doesn't stop too close to home but instead of switching trams to one that does, I just walked the rest of the way as well. There were bunches of people out collecting chestnuts as well, whole families. It was great. Although somewhat dangerous sounding in the woods in general as you never seemed to know if the next wind was going to bring an acorn or something similar crashing down on your head. I'm loving the autumn here. Today it's a beautiful sunny day so although I've had a slow start and spent the morning watching Iron Man I'm going to hop in the shower now and then head out for the rest of the day.
One thing I found fantastic was that not only did they not try to sell us anything (it was held in a big wine depot, Lust4Wine and I really did expect to feel obliged to buy at least a couple of bottles of wine or something) they pulled out a load of paper bags when people started to leave and tried to get everyone to take as much bread away as they could carry. I found that very refreshing. I ate lots of bread and cheese, including a fabulous chilli cheese. When I asked where the cheese came from though the baker's wife said she had just bought it in from the organic wholesaler so I may need to do a bit more digging to find out where exactly it came from. I also had two slices of Zwiebelkuchen or onion cake, which is a fab seasonal favourite and in fact was the thing which persuaded me that onions might not be all that bad to eat (way back in 1994, the year I was here for a semester in college and still mostly only ate potatoes and meat and bread). It was the best one I've tasted for a long time.
When I first arrived it seemed like a lot of groups of people had arrived together and I felt like I'd end up sitting on my own, eating a bit and leaving again but once people sat down to eat the conversation flowed, not easily exactly but sufficiently well to be enjoyable. So I chatted a bit to those around me and of course, being foreign always make the first conversation a bit easier because it's answering all the 'where are you from, why did you come here' questions. And it was really nice to talk to people who are interested in Slow Food as well.
Then, yesterday morning I went to the organic community garden run by the local community college. I went during the summer to volunteer and found out they try now to just take volunteers on twice a year and do a proper introduction to the others who are members of the 'Arbeitskreis' or work circle and to the garden. In a way it's also to make sure that the people who show up really are interested before they start spending time explaining everything about what they do etc. So I had to wait for a few months but finally the day arrived. I'll be working there every Saturday from 10 until 13 and most weeks people bring something to eat, perhaps a cake or something, and after work is finished everyone gathers in the small house/big shed and has a cup of coffee and a bit to eat while discussing what's been happening in the garden, what needs to be done etc. I hope to learn a lot and think I am really going to enjoy working outside again for a few hours a week. They seem like a nice bunch of people. Next week is the annual plant exchange so there won't be much work in the garden itself but I'll go along to help set it up at least and have a wander. I'll try to remember to bring my camera and get some photos as well.
After that I met a friend to go for a walk in the woods which was great as well. Altogether I think I walked for about two and a half hours because I also got a tram that doesn't stop too close to home but instead of switching trams to one that does, I just walked the rest of the way as well. There were bunches of people out collecting chestnuts as well, whole families. It was great. Although somewhat dangerous sounding in the woods in general as you never seemed to know if the next wind was going to bring an acorn or something similar crashing down on your head. I'm loving the autumn here. Today it's a beautiful sunny day so although I've had a slow start and spent the morning watching Iron Man I'm going to hop in the shower now and then head out for the rest of the day.
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